Tommy James and the Shondells: Mony Mony and Mafia-Sanctioned Hits
DISGRACELAND
Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 13.4K Ratings
🗓️ 17 August 2021
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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.
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This episode was originally published on August 17, 2021.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. |
| 0:15.8 | The stories about Tommy James and the Chondells are insane. |
| 0:21.1 | He was obsessed with guns. |
| 0:23.1 | His hits were sanctioned by the mafia. |
| 0:25.8 | He was heavily addicted to pills and a one-time supplier of speed |
| 0:29.7 | to the vice president of the United States. |
| 0:33.0 | Tommy James came up during a time when the music industry |
| 0:35.9 | was in part controlled by New York's Italian |
| 0:38.5 | Mafia. And for a period in the 1960s, that power was centralized at Roulette Records. |
| 0:45.6 | The record label was run by convicted extortionist Morris Levy and operated in partnership |
| 0:50.8 | with the Genevieve's crime family. This was where Tommy James made some of his greatest hits, |
| 0:57.5 | Great Music. |
| 0:58.8 | Unlike that music I played for you at the top of the show, |
| 1:01.9 | that wasn't great music. |
| 1:03.7 | That was a preset loop for my Melotron called Frank's Nice and Sleazy MK2. |
| 1:10.5 | I played you that loop because I can't afford the rights |
| 1:13.9 | to Monday Monday by the Mamas and Pappas. And why would I play you that specific slice of |
| 1:20.2 | wrecking crew cheese could I afford it? Because that was the number one song in America on May 21, 1966, |
| 1:30.1 | and that was the day Billboard magazine reported that the rights to re-release Tommy James |
| 1:35.5 | and the Chondell's regional hit Hanky Panky had been purchased by Roulette Records, |
| 1:40.8 | an event that would drastically alter the chorus of Tommy James' life and very nearly |
| 1:47.1 | lead to his death. On this episode, music, the mafia, Moni, Moni, and Tommy James and the |
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