Backbeat Gangsters

The Rise and Decline of the Mob in Rock Music

Jeffrey Sussman

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9798881855307
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: Social Sciences

During the early days of rock and roll the mob used every tactic they could, from creating their own record labels, bribing radio DJs and stacking jukeboxes with their own artists, to exploiting and intimidating performers, and creating their own black market of bootlegged records, to make millions.
In the 1950s, when rock and roll music burst upon the scene, the major established record companies thought that the new music was a passing teenage trend, but mobsters were there and pounced on the new business opportunity. They opened small independent record companies, signed ambitious young singers and musicians, and produced truckloads of 45 rpm records. To make sure that their records would be successful, the mob bribed disc jockeys in major cities to play the records and made sure jukeboxes, which were already mob-controlled, were filled to capacity with the new music. Whatever it took to gain airtime and repeated plays of their songs, the mob made sure it happened.
Backbeat Gangsters includes the stories of the most sinister people who took control of the record business during the early days of rock and roll, as well as those of the numerous, young performers who were exploited and received threats and beatings instead of the compensation they were promised. The Mafia used intimidation and violence to achieve their ends and made millions from denying royalties, maintaining copyrights and trademarks, bribing DJs, and numerous scams like flooding the market with counterfeit records which didn't have the burden of paying royalties. In yet another well-researched and thorough account, Jeffrey Sussman, details how the mob was able to infiltrate and control another aspect of American culture with devastating results.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Jukeboxes and Rock and Roll
• Chapter 2: Morris Levy: The Godfather of Rock and Roll
• Chapter 3: Alan Freed: Rock and Roll’s Broadcast Wizard
• Chapter 4: Vincent “the Chin” Gigante: Though Morris Levy was known as the godfather of rock and roll, it was to Vincent “the Chin” Gigante that Levy paid tribute.
• Chapter 5: Jimmie Rodgers: A Star Is Born and Reborn
• Chapter 6: Frankie Lymon: Sweet Voice Junkie
• Chapter 7: Sal “the Swindler” Pisello: The Great Cutout Swindle
• Chapter 8: Drugs, Music, and the Mafia
• Chapter 9: The Return of Payola
• Chapter 10: Pop to Doo Wop to Hip Hop
• Chapter 11: Scalping and Skimming
• Appendix
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author