Frank Sinatra
Guarin "Willie" Moretti was the notorious Underboss of The Genovese Crime Family in New Jersey. He was born in Bari Italy in 1894. Moretti was shot dead Gangland Style (Whacked) at Joe's Elbow Room in Cliffside Park, New Jersey on October 4, 1951 ...
In the mid - 1930's Willie Moretti's name came to light when he became friends with an unknown singer named Frank Sinatra. Sinatra's then wife Nancy Barbatp was related to John Barbato who was a soldier in Moretti's crew. At the time Sinatra had a tough time booking singing ingagements so Moretti helped him book New Jersey Clubs in return for a percentage of his earnings. By 1941 Sinatra was known throughout the United States and was on the verge of signing a lucrative contract with a national promoter. However years earlier he had signed a contract with band leader Tommy Dorsey who was reluctant to let Sinatra out of the contract. With the help of Moretti, Frank was able to get out of this contract. Moretti shoved aPistol down Dorsey's throat and threatenedto Kill Dorsey if he didn't release Sinatra. Sinatra was then free to sign a lucrative Record Deal as well as the contract with the national club promoter.
Around the same time Moretti also became acquainted with up-and-coming comedians Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis who performed several nightclubs he frequented. Jerry Lewis and Dean Martina s well as Milton Berle and Frank Sinatra all performed at the Wedding of Moretti's daughter in Hasbrouk Heights New Jersey. That wedding was the inspiration for the wedding scene of Don Vito Corleone's daughter Connie in Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo's The Godfather.
Willie Moretti lies dead on the floor of Joe's Elbow Room
Cliffside Park, New Jersey
October 4, 1951
MARIO PUZO'S Best Selling Novel
The GODFATHER
It is without question that Frank Sinatra is the inspiration for Johnny Fontane and Mob Boss Vito Corleone threatening to Kill band leader if he didn't release Frankie from his contract they had together . Frank Sinatra would never admit this, but all those close to him at the time, know that it is the factual truth.
In the novel and film, Fontane is a famous crooner and occasional film star in the vein of Frank Sinatra. He is also the godson of Vito Corleone, the head of a major Mafia crime family. The Corleone family intervenes four times to aid his career. The first, years before the novel's and film's main time frame, Vito used violent persuasion (an "offer he can't refuse") to buy out Fontane's ironclad contract with a big bandleader; after the bandleader declines Vito's first offer to buy out the contract, he orders his personal assassin Luca Brasi to place a gun to the man's forehead, telling the bandleader that either his signature or his brains would be on the contract.
The second, the infamous "horse-head" scene, is an act of intimidation, carried out at the Godfather's behest to ensure Fontane is cast in a war film that could revitalize the singer's career. The film's producer, Jack Woltz, despises Fontane for "ruining" an actress he was grooming for stardom and had been having an affair with, and thus blacklists the singer from the production. After Corleone family consigliere Tom Hagen fails to persuade Woltz to cast Fontane, Woltz awakens soon after to find his prize racehorse's severed head in his bed as a warning. Terrified, Woltz relents and casts Fontane. Months later, Vito uses his Hollywood connections to ensure that Fontane wins the Academy Award for Best Actor. Finally, the Corleones finance Fontane's film studio.
"You can act Like a Man" !!!
Al Martino (left) as Johnny Fontane
and MARLON BRANDO as Don Vito Corleone
THE GODFATHER
by Francis Ford Coppola
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