1989 SPECIAL REPORT: "HOLLYWOOD & THE MOB"

LOS ANGELES -- Organized crime elements from the East Coast and Chicago have strong connections within the motion picture, television and music industries, particularly entertainment conglomerate MCA, the CBS News program '60 Minutes' reported Sunday.

The program detailed federal investigations of the last several years, two of which focused on people associated with MCA, or the Music Corporation of America, a $3 billion conglomerate best known for its Universal Studios and its record division.

Evidence that MCA was doing business with organized crime was first uncovered four years ago, when the Justice Department's Organized Crime Strike Force in Los Angeles began prosecution against Salvatore 'Sal the Swindler' Pisello.

Pisello, a meat and seafood wholesaler identified by the FBI as having mob connections, had full run of MCA's offices, met with top MCA executives and also arranged a series of multimillion-dollar deals that gave MCA the rights to the prized Chess-Checker Record Catalogue of black artists of the 1950s and '60s.

Marvin Rudnick, a member of the strike force, said in an interview with '60 Minutes' that he was surprised to find 'somebody involved in the meat business and had these organized crime ties would be doing any kind of business over in Hollywood.'

'There was not reason to believe that Sal Pisello knew anything about the record business,' Rudnick said.

In a separate federal investigation, '60 Minutes' said, wiretaps revealed that two New York crime organizations were competing to produce a movie on the life of the legendary crime boss Meyer Lansky. One version was backed by the Gambino family, which had connections with the vice president of MCA's home video division, Eugene Giaquinto.

The competing version, backed by the Genovese family according to wiretap information, belonged to actor James Caan, who portrayed the hot-headed son of Marlon Brando's Mafia don in 'The Godfather.'

'The Mafia looks at films about the Mafia as though they have a proprietary interest in it. And if a movie is going to be made about the Mafia, you had better consult with the Mafia before you make that movie, and pay your tribute,' said Richard Stavin, a lawyer who investigated the Lansky film deal while with the federal strike force in Los Angeles.

Rudnick and other strike force colleagues told '60 Minutes' that when MCA executives, who include politically powerful chief executive officer Lew Wasserman, complained about his investigation, he was told to leave Los Angeles.

MCA also hired a new lawyer, Bill Hundley, who just happened to be the former head of the Justice Department strike force. '60 Minutes' said Hundley was easily able to meet with Rudnick's bosses to discuss the MCA investigation.

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