Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob

by Dan E. Moldea Narrated by Lee Goettl

Overview

Founded in 1924, the Music Corporation of America got its start booking acts into speakeasies run by such notorious Chicago mobsters as Al Capone. How then, in only a few decades, did MCA become the driving force behind music publishing, radio, recording artists, Hollywood, and the burgeoning television industry? Enter Ronald Reagan.



By the late 1950s, Reagan was a passé movie actor. As president of the Screen Actors Guild, he was also MCA's key client. With Reagan's help, MCA would become the most powerful entertainment conglomerate in the world. And with MCA's help, Reagan would secure a fortune (resulting in a federal grand jury hearing), be marketed to the public as a viable politician, and ascend to the presidency of the United States. But according to reporter Dan E. Moldea, there had always been another catalyst behind MCA: Ties to organized crime that reached back to the company's inception-and through Reagan's Teamster-backed candidacy-had never been severed.



From the author of The Hoffa Wars, this is an epic and serpentine investigation into the insidious links among Hollywood, the Mob, and politics.



Contains mature themes.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Moldea's investigatory report, ostensibly a history of MCA, the $2-billion Hollywood conglomerate (Universal Pictures, etc.), is especially concerned with the firm's long-standing and, claims Moldea, questionable ties with President Reagan. The resulting tale of ``power and manipulation'' is so complex, involving Hollywood, mob and political figures as well as government investigations, that it may try the patience of many readers. Recounting MCA's 62-year rise from Chicago dance-band booking agents into the ``General Motors of Hollywood,'' Moldea (The Hoffa Wars charges that Reagan, while Screen Actors Guild president in the early 1950s, helped create the unprecedented deal that made MCA a powerful force in TV. While wrongdoing has never been proven, Reagan has since benefited financially and politically from close links with MCA heads Jules Stein and Lew Wasserman, he charges. Moldea uses government documents to raise serious questions. 50,000 first printing; author tour. (October 7)

Library Journal

A smoldering indictment of the Hollywood entertainment industry's guilt-by-association ties to organized crime. Using previously classified documents, crime reporter Moldea spins several tales in this extraordinary book, principally the rise of Music Corporation of America (MCA) from a fledgling band-booking company in 1924 to Hollywood's most powerful TV, film, and recording conglomerate, and the entwined journey of MCA client Reagan from mediocre actor to U.S. President. Moldea's story is no easy read, with its plethora of characters, facts, and footnotes. The sad conclusion is that although, for the most part, MCA and Reagan have done nothing technically illegal (i.e., indictable) in their ruthless quest for power and success, they have used every means available, including mobsters and corrupt politicians and union officials. Sure to be controversial. David Bartholomew, NYPL

Product Details

BN ID:	2940159968708
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	08/31/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged

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