How One Mafia Lawyer Owned All of Hollywood
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- čas přidán 11. 02. 2023
- If I say “Hollywood in the 60s”, you might think of Marilyn Monroe or Kirk Douglas. But in reality, true power in LA’s movie industry was off-screen.
It laid in the hands of none other than the Mafia - More specifically one man known as “the fixer”.
Very few people know the name Sidney Korshak, which is exactly how he wanted it.
The Chicago-born lawyer was the Outfit’s legal counsel, not only consorting with mobsters like Sam Giancana and Johnny Roselli but also with labor leaders like Ronald Reagan.
It was a phone call from Korshak that enabled Al Pacino to play Michael Corleone when he was contractually obligated to another film. And it was he who revived Frank Sinatra’s acting career when it was on the brink of dying, earning him an Oscar afterward.
It was safe to say he was the most powerful man in Holywood. And his influence extended far beyond that too.
He was one of Al Capone’s top consiglieres., acquiring a reputation for conducting all his business orally and always keeping a large supply of coins on hand to make calls from pay telephones that were less likely to be tapped.
In fact, he was labeled “the most important contact that the Mob had to legitimate business, labor, Hollywood, and Las Vegas”
And until the day he died in 1996, no one was ever able to indict him.
For the full story of the man who dominated all of Hollywood, click the link in the comments.
In the land of dreams, Korshak was a shadow among shadows, a wisp of smoke curling around the brighter lights. The tall, immaculately dressed Mafia attorney was a Chicago-born Jew of Lithuanian descent who climbed from the westside ghetto of Chicago to the glitter of Hollywood as a shadowy advisor to big business, show business, and organized crime figures. And his influence extended beyond what most people know.
In fact, the Justice Department described him as “the most important contact that the Mob had to legitimate business, labor, Hollywood, and Las Vegas”
"Well, let’s just say a nod from Korshak, and Santa Anita closes. A nod from Korshak, and Madison Square Garden stays open. A nod from Korshak, and Vegas shuts down. A nod from Korshak, and the Dodgers suddenly can play night baseball.” Wrote former Paramount Pictures chief Robert Evans.
Unsurprisingly, it was a call from Korshak in 1966 that elevated Evans to the position as chief executive at Paramount Pictures in the first place.
The signature film during Evans’ time at Paramount was The Godfather.
Director Francis Ford Coppola was determined that Al Pacino play the role of Michael Corleone. But Pacino was contractually obligated to another film whose producer would not release him from the contract. Korshak made a phone call on Evans’s behalf, and within twenty minutes Pacino was free to play Michael Corleone.
The son of a wealthy Chicago contractor graduated from the University of Wisconsin and received a law degree from DePaul University in 1930. His grades had slipped to a C+ average, and, curiously, the only A’s he received in two years were in Partnership, Trust, and Property Law-subjects well suited to his future successes.
Within months of opening his law practice, he was defending members of the Al Capone crime syndicate. And When necessary, he would arrange for a judge to be paid off so as to guarantee the desired verdict.
Korshak moved to California in the late 1940s and found Hollywood executives as eager as Chicago businessmen to hire him even though he had no law offices in Los Angeles, and wasn’t even licensed to practice law in California.
His reputation was made in 1943 when a mobster on trial for extorting millions of dollars from Hollywood movie companies testified that when he had been introduced to Korshak by a high-ranking Capone mobster, he had been told, "Sidney is our man."
In a city like Hollywood, where fame is the calling card most residents crave, Sidney Korshak shuns the spotlight. He never allows his picture to be taken. As the Chicago Outfit’s legal counsel, Korshak not only consorts with mobsters like Sam Giancana and Johnny Roselli, but also with labor leaders like Ronald Reagan, who at the time was the president of the Screen Actors Guild. And by controlling unions such as SAG, the Mafia effectively controls Hollywood.
these types of people don't exist without a nod from our own government
Mafia had the FBI in their hands for many years. J.Edgar Hoover mostly.
Being low key always pays off
Great video! As always :) He's a truly enigmatic figure, and I like it (in the sense of learning about him, not necessarily what he stood for).
Thank you! It was very interesting to learn about him while doing the research for this video, I'd thoroughly recommend the book Supermob, or the article written about him in Vanity Fair.
@@bad_money Thank you for the tips, I'll definitely grab that book (if I find it anywhere in Norway, I don't use Amazon out of choice really) and that article will go perfect with my morning coffee right now!
Good presentation.
You’ve earned my subscription.
Fun fact.
The real reason he didn’t use a credit card?
The first one didn’t exist until 1958.😊
Another great video (I'm commenting before watching as I know your video never dissapoints 🐧)
Haha thank you so much! I truly appreciate that!! 🙏🙏
This crazy high quality content keep it up upload on tiktok and shorts will get people to yt chanel
Thank you! Tiktok already closed two accounts of mine without any prior notification or warning, and for no apparent reason 😂
@@bad_money Could it be due to the use of movie clips? I'm currently working on building my youtube channel and I use short clips from different movies to illustrate my point. Did you encounter problems in monetization your channel on youtube for this?
@@Nexyps not at all no, just make sure you're not using too long of a specific scene at once, magnatesmedia has a great video on how to use movie clips without getting into trouble, give that video a watch
💅🏻👳🏻♂️💅🏻
Thanks for this great piece🖤
Thank you for watching! 🙏
🍺👱🏻♂️ YOUR VERY WELCOME, U IMBECILE
Keep up the quality content dude!
Will do thank you!
Great video!
Although imo you should pot the name of the movies/shows you use in the clips, they seem interesting.
Bad ass thumbnail bro! Great job!
Thanks a lot!
🍺👩🏼
Sidney was the MAN in LA for 50 years! He was so powerful that mafia boss Jack Dragna wouldn't mess with him. Jimmy Frattiano describes getting called in to Cicero by Outfit Boss Joe Auippia because he had the audacity to drop in to discuss a Teamsters issue with Sid at his Beverly Hills Bistro in 1976. Auippia told Jimmy that "Sid can't be seen in public with guys like us.....if you need to talk to him come and see us next time".
A very interesting individual Sidney Korshak was! It's men like Korshak who have brought an interest in Mob Lawyers in my research on the study of organized crime!
Starting with the fictional character from The Godfather Tom Hagen, I was inspired to read the books Mob Lawyer by Frank Ragano and Selwyn Raab, and SUPERMOB by Gus Russo, which is a biography about Sydney Korshak.
The Mafia could never have existed without Mob Lawyers.
He was sugar daddy to Stella Stevens for years.
TOM! Dragna. It's JACK Dragna, come on man!
I met Mr Korshak a couple of times. His wife, Bee, was my client.
Very interesting, how were they like?
@@bad_money I knew Bee very well for many years, and she was always lovely and one of my favourites. I only met Mr Korshak a couple of times, and he was quiet, always had a nice smile and a kind greeting.
That is despicable of them. Thats okay because God does not like ugly. Our lives are all about Karma. And they will get theirs. Im so sorry to Bob and his son. May Bob rest in peace.
Not many people know about Sid
Sidney Korshak was a son of one of five brothers who initially came to the US in the late 19th and early 20th century. They were from what was then Imperial Russia, specifically Kyiv and Odessa in Ukraine, not Lithuania.
Amazing 👏 heard of this person but not his name. Is The Mogul a book about him? Matt
The last mogul was about Lew Wasserman, another guy who was a legend in Hollywood. There's a different book on Korshak called supermob.
Ooooh two books.. Thanks From Ozone Park NY (The Old Neighborhood) Matt
Supermob book is about him.
Oops. I thought i was commenting on the Bob Ross story.
Seems like I've found a hidden gem on CZcams today
Haha thanks a lot! Hope it doesn't remain hidden for too long 😂
Ever single time
Horschack came a long way from the Sweathogs. Mr Kotter must have been very proud.
You sure do mispronounce a lot of names for someone so in the know. Also you misnamed one picture sensationally.
Definitely one of the most powerful OC figures of the time. FBI couldn’t even track him