Episode #86 | 8.17.21
Tommy James and the Shondells: Mony Mony and Mafia-Sanctioned Hits
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In this episode
Tommy James came up during a time when the music industry was in part controlled by New York’s Italian mafia. And for a period in the 1960s that power was centralized at Roulette Records. The record label was run by convicted extortionist Morris Levy and operated in partnership with the Genovese crime family. Tommy James’ hits were sanctioned by the mob, the same mob that would threaten not only his career, but his life.
Sources
Me, the Mob, and the Music: One Helluva Ride with Tommy James & The Shondells, by Tommy James
TommyJames.com: TJ’s Biography
Goldmine Mag: Tommy James Shares His Stories of Mobsters and Drugs
Forgotten New York: Mutual of New York Building, Columbus Circle
Disgraceland is a podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. It melds music history, true crime and transgressive fiction. Disgraceland is not journalism. Disgraceland is entertainment. Entertainment inspired by true events. However, certain scenes, characters and names are sometimes fictionalized for dramatic purposes.
Music
Score by Jake Brennan.
Mixed and Engineered by Sean Cahalin.
Disgraceland theme song, "Crenshaw Space Boogie" written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak