“Time Magazine, Nov. 1, 1943, wrote, ‘In the witness chair in Manhattan’s Federal Court sat bland, wily Willie Bioff (pronounced Buy-off), blackmailer, panderer, labor leader, and now star witness against eight ex-pals, who are charged with shaking down $1 million from the movie industry’…Question: ‘Was it true that Bioff once had a five-year plan for taking over 20% of Hollywood’s profits-and eventually 50% interest. In the studios themselves?’ Bioff (wistfully): ‘If we’d lasted that long, we would have’. Question: Did you ever say you were boss of Hollywood and could make producers do whatever you wanted?’ Bioff: ‘Yes – and I could make them dance to my tune.’ Although Bioff rolled over on his pals and ended up getting car bombed, that didn’t stop the mob/Mishpucka infiltration and control of Hollywood. (Bioff had tried to save his public image by helping Walt Disney settle his labour dispute with the mob-led unions, but Walt wisely relected his offer of help, and made sure he didn’t offend the Chicago mob leaders who were disgruntled with Bioff). Hundreds of millions of dollars were poured by the Mafia and Mishpucka into real estate in southern California, by using legitimate local businessmen to launder the money. Hollywood was declared a ‘free zone’ where all the Mafia/Mishpucka families could operate without a fear of a turf war.
Let us backtrack slightly to 1930. Columbia distributed Disney cartoons from 1930 until 1932, when Disney switched to United Artists, because Columbia wasn’t bothering to pay Disney the money they owed. In 1930, Cohn, President of Columbia Pictures, got Disney off the financial hook with Powers by intimidating Powers with some street toughs carrying a legal suit. If Disney wasn’t indebted to the mafia before, he was at that point.
Biographers have been puzzled why Disney went into such a traumatic depression after Henry Cohn ‘helped’ him. Tough guy Henry Cohn made sure Walt knew who was boss. His attitude was that Walt should be happy to be paid at all by him for the cartoons Walt supplied Columbia. After this, Walt would lock himself in his room and weep uncontrollably for hours. He was impossible for anyone to get along with. He was unable to focus on anything, and would stare for long periods out of the window.
Biographers blame Walt’s behaviour on the fact that his wife was pregnant. They also blame it on his friend Iwerk’s defection to another company. Frankly, Walt had treated Iwerk like a dog, and deep down must have known why Iwerk left such an abusive relationship. To claim that he wept for hours day after day because he realised he might become a father is too much to swallow. When Walt was asked years later about why he was so depressed he said it was the stress of the financial situation. Walt said, ‘I had a nervous breakdown. Costs were going up; each new picture we finished cost more to make than we had figured it would earn when we first began to plan it. I cracked up.’
This author submits to the reader that part of his breakdown may have indeed been the financial stress from having come under the heel of the mafia. They had all the means to make or break him, and he had no choice but to surrender to their overwhelming power to blackmail and destroy him or to get out of the business. What this did was place Walt in a position where his two strongest traits had to clash – his overwhelming obsession to be his own boss, and his creative obsession to create animation which was wrapped up with his ego and his deep phobias and psychological needs. His mind couldn’t give up its independence nor its creativity without great mental anguish, and therefore Walt was very saddened, knowing that he would have to admit defeat, and buckle under the heels of the big boys. Just when he needed emotional support, his wife was going to have a child, and his best animator left. Walt had abandoned Iwerk years before, and Walt’s wife had wanted a child for some time. Iwerk’s departure and his arriving child do not in themselves account for the long intense nervous breakdown that Walt experienced. Biographers point out that Walt was very reluctant to have children, and that he was impotent with women including his wife much of the time. His impotency to carry out normal sex may help explain his secret sexual habits. Walt’s masonic brother Carl Laemmle offered Walt a good deal to help him recover from Henry Cohn’s abusive control of Walt, but Carl wanted the copyright to Mickey Mouse in return for the help, and Walt wouldn’t part with Mickey Mouse.
Instead, Walt signed a contract offered by Joseph Schenck of UA (United Artists), who was one of the Mafia’s illegal drug kingpins.”
Some Mob History (part two)
“Time Magazine, Nov. 1, 1943, wrote, ‘In the witness chair in Manhattan’s Federal Court sat bland, wily Willie Bioff (pronounced Buy-off), blackmailer, panderer, labor leader, and now star witness against eight ex-pals, who are charged with shaking down $1 million from the movie industry’…Question: ‘Was it true that Bioff once had a five-year plan for taking over 20% of Hollywood’s profits-and eventually 50% interest. In the studios themselves?’ Bioff (wistfully): ‘If we’d lasted that long, we would have’. Question: Did you ever say you were boss of Hollywood and could make producers do whatever you wanted?’ Bioff: ‘Yes – and I could make them dance to my tune.’ Although Bioff rolled over on his pals and ended up getting car bombed, that didn’t stop the mob/Mishpucka infiltration and control of Hollywood. (Bioff had tried to save his public image by helping Walt Disney settle his labour dispute with the mob-led unions, but Walt wisely relected his offer of help, and made sure he didn’t offend the Chicago mob leaders who were disgruntled with Bioff). Hundreds of millions of dollars were poured by the Mafia and Mishpucka into real estate in southern California, by using legitimate local businessmen to launder the money. Hollywood was declared a ‘free zone’ where all the Mafia/Mishpucka families could operate without a fear of a turf war.
Let us backtrack slightly to 1930. Columbia distributed Disney cartoons from 1930 until 1932, when Disney switched to United Artists, because Columbia wasn’t bothering to pay Disney the money they owed. In 1930, Cohn, President of Columbia Pictures, got Disney off the financial hook with Powers by intimidating Powers with some street toughs carrying a legal suit. If Disney wasn’t indebted to the mafia before, he was at that point.
Biographers have been puzzled why Disney went into such a traumatic depression after Henry Cohn ‘helped’ him. Tough guy Henry Cohn made sure Walt knew who was boss. His attitude was that Walt should be happy to be paid at all by him for the cartoons Walt supplied Columbia. After this, Walt would lock himself in his room and weep uncontrollably for hours. He was impossible for anyone to get along with. He was unable to focus on anything, and would stare for long periods out of the window.
Biographers blame Walt’s behaviour on the fact that his wife was pregnant. They also blame it on his friend Iwerk’s defection to another company. Frankly, Walt had treated Iwerk like a dog, and deep down must have known why Iwerk left such an abusive relationship. To claim that he wept for hours day after day because he realised he might become a father is too much to swallow. When Walt was asked years later about why he was so depressed he said it was the stress of the financial situation. Walt said, ‘I had a nervous breakdown. Costs were going up; each new picture we finished cost more to make than we had figured it would earn when we first began to plan it. I cracked up.’
This author submits to the reader that part of his breakdown may have indeed been the financial stress from having come under the heel of the mafia. They had all the means to make or break him, and he had no choice but to surrender to their overwhelming power to blackmail and destroy him or to get out of the business. What this did was place Walt in a position where his two strongest traits had to clash – his overwhelming obsession to be his own boss, and his creative obsession to create animation which was wrapped up with his ego and his deep phobias and psychological needs. His mind couldn’t give up its independence nor its creativity without great mental anguish, and therefore Walt was very saddened, knowing that he would have to admit defeat, and buckle under the heels of the big boys. Just when he needed emotional support, his wife was going to have a child, and his best animator left. Walt had abandoned Iwerk years before, and Walt’s wife had wanted a child for some time. Iwerk’s departure and his arriving child do not in themselves account for the long intense nervous breakdown that Walt experienced. Biographers point out that Walt was very reluctant to have children, and that he was impotent with women including his wife much of the time. His impotency to carry out normal sex may help explain his secret sexual habits. Walt’s masonic brother Carl Laemmle offered Walt a good deal to help him recover from Henry Cohn’s abusive control of Walt, but Carl wanted the copyright to Mickey Mouse in return for the help, and Walt wouldn’t part with Mickey Mouse.
Instead, Walt signed a contract offered by Joseph Schenck of UA (United Artists), who was one of the Mafia’s illegal drug kingpins.”