Music

Frank Sinatra allegedly tried to have Howard Stern killed

by Jeremy Mersereau

Did Ol’ Blue Eyes get so mad about some errant comments about his children that he ordered the death of a beloved media icon through his Cosa Noastra connections? Answer: almost definitely no, but….maybe?

A upcoming biography of Howard Stern makes the case that the shock jock went too far when he criticized Sinatra’s children, Frank Jr. and Nancy, and an irate Chairman of the Board ordered his Mafia contacts to silence Stern…permanently. Or so notorious celebrity unauthorized biographer would have you believe, and I think we can absolutely trust a guy who looks like this:

In an interview with Page Six, Halperin says that Stern “criticized Frank Jr. and Nancy, and Frank lost his cool,” and that “everybody who ever knew Frank knew he was a nice guy, but you don’t want to piss him off. He had a big temper. And Frank ­allegedly put a hit on [Stern]. I have extreme corroboration on this”. Did you hear that? Extreme corroboration. That’s like, a million times better than plain old corroboration.

Halperin also claims that his sources tell him an unnamed victim may have been mistakenly killed in Stern’s place due to physical resemblance. “A guy very similar to Howard’s profile — same height, same look, was killed in that era,” said Halperin. Sounds airtight. I expect the author of Kardashian Dynasty has nothing but the most rigorous investigative standards.

A spokesperson for Sinatra’s estate refuted the claims, calling them “absolutely and completely ludicrous, and it’s someone using Frank Sinatra’s name to get their 15 minutes of fame”. How dare you besmirch the sterling name of professional vulture Ian Halperin, unnamed spokerperson! For shame.

A similar allegation was made in a recent biography of Woody Allen, Woody by David Evanier. In it, Evanier says Sinatra asked his Mafia contacts to have Allen killed after hearing about Allen’s mistreatment of Mia Farrow, Sinatra’s ex-wife.

Sinatra was well-known to be friendly with several prominent underworld figures, including heavy hitters like Lucky Luciano and Bugsy Siegel, so the Allen and Stern claims aren’t entirely out of the realm of possibility. Impeccably-dressed crooner to cowering nebbish: “You done somethin’ stupid, kid. Get ready to meet Mack the Knife”. “Aw, jeez. This is more stressful than taking the 6 train during rush hour”.

[H/T Page Six]