Talk:Lew Wasserman

Hollywood Walk of Fame
How is it that a 12-year-old Dakota Fanning gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but Lew Wasserman, with a 7 decade run as the most powerful man in Hollywood only gets one 5 years after his death?

Maybe the most powerful man in Hollywood didn't need the ego boost of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. You do have to pay for your own star, after all. It's not a recognition of anything. 66.65.41.238 (talk) 14:35, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Looking for help
Hi I was wondering if someone could help me out with this page, some one who could contribute on Wassermans relation to Jules Stein, Sidney Korshak, his alleged mob ties etc. i feel this article is still a stub. Thanks

It Hollywood politics at its best... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.89.84.86 (talk) 22:23, 23 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Try folding the below information into the article — Sparky 17:33, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)


 * plagiarized from
 * http://purplepinupguru.blogspot.com/2005/04/reagans-darker-side-reagans-mob.html


 * (The name Sparky comes up in that blog, so maybe not plagiarized; but the information is specious -- the allegedly suppressed 1972 novel The Kingmaker is is readily available at Amazon, and it was reprinted In paperback in 1978; used copies of both editions are readily available at Amazon for as little as a penny plus shipping. If it was 'disappeared' by Reagan's friends, there wouldn't be so many copies around 40 years after publication.


 * and folks wonder why blogs aren't taken as reliable sources...

Bustter (talk) 12:59, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

Reagan's darker side: Reagan's Mob connections hid
Why does this section have Maffia with two f's but earlier in the article it only has one (Mafia)? Are they different things?

A long time friend of Reagan, the powerful and connected Lew Wasserman —  Chairman and CEO of MCA (Music Corporation of America), the parent of Universal Studios, until 1990 when it was sold to Matsushita for $6.6 billion — protected Reagan from any taint of dirty money. Wasserman was "connected," but that it was not known precisely how and few wanted to know. Julius Stein and Wasserman had had little choice — in order to succeed in show business in their day, they had to deal with the Mob — especially Stein, who started out in Al Capone's Chicago, and formed a liaison with James Petrillo, the head of the American Federation of Musicians local in Chicago and, eventually, its national president. They did what they had to do — in the world of the Great Depression. When MCA bought Universal Studios, federal regulators forced Wasserman to dissolve MCA's agency wing because MCA was representing performers as their agent while its production company was hiring them; as this violated anti-trust laws in 1962. Wasserman made an estimated $350 million from the sale, and was retained as a manager. When Seagram bought MCA in 1995, he retired from management, but remained on the board of directors until 1998. Paradoxically, he was a committed Democratic and one of Bill Clinton's earliest backers.

In an recent article Death Valley Days John Waters reminds that: Connie Bruck stated in her book on Lew Wasserman When Hollywood Had a King: The Reign of Lew Wasserman, Who Leveraged Talent into Power and Influence, that Reagan used to go out whoring with the Hollywood mob fixer and lawyer Sidney Korshak.

Also Deadline Hollywood: Bye Bye, Bonzo talks of many examples of Reagan's double-dealing long before Iran-contra, Nikki Finke reports: Henry Denker, a well-known theater, TV and radio writer, penned a thinly disguised roman à clef about the “TCA” talent agency, its ties with the mob and a has-been actor turned Western state governor. The Kingmaker disappeared soon after publication, reportedly because Wasserman had it deep-sixed. It remains one of the hardest books about Hollywood to find. More easier to find is mystery and screenplay author Roger L. Simon's 2nd Moses Wine novel Wild Turkey which features mobster Meyer Greenglass who is clearly based on Sidney Korshak and deals with a mystery that focuses on that era in Hollywood.

Crusading muckraker Dan E. Moldea shows the three were connected as the rise of MCA and its move to Hollywood paralleled the rise of the Chicago Mafia and its infiltration of the motion picture industry. While MCA was representing some of the top motion picture stars, Chicago mobsters took control of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the major Hollywood labor union — through Willie Bioff, a small-time hood, who was supervised by Chicago mob lieutenant Johnny Roselli. Though soon Hollywood was told Sidney Korshak was their representative.

If the author is going to falsely accuse Reagan of being beholden to the Mafia the least he can do is spell mafia correctly. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 104.129.194.79 (talk) 00:42, 26 April 2017 (UTC)


 * Whew! Online, one may find archived columns from February 1988, about one Donald Trump's pitch to own a majority stake in MCA. After the October 1987 stock market fiasco, Trump bought a couple hundred thousand shares of MCA stock at a rock bottom price. A few months later, in February 1988, Trump filed with the SEC to purchase 24.9% of the company and this got the attention of stock market analysts; as announcements of Trump's purchase greatly and suddenly inflated the price of MCA stock.
 * Now both Trump and Wasserman had their mob connections--"mob" cement had built Trump Tower--, but Wasserman, who at that time was pondering selling the company and stepping down as MCA president, was suspicious of Trump's play; knowing that Trump already had a history of "greenmail"--forcing companies to buy back their stock from him at inflated prices, just to rid themselves of an unwanted investor.
 * In any case, Trump never followed through on buying more MCA stock and eventually sold what he had, but for a few days there Lew Wasserman was snarling up a storm at the thought of Donald Trump taking control of MCA. Even the stock analysts were suspicious of Trump's interest in an entertainment company--his greenmail activity occurred with casino-hotel operators Bally's and Holiday Inn--and their conclusion was that what Trump really wanted was MCA's Universal Studios--to raze so he could build condos! BubbleDine (talk) 13:49, 4 November 2021 (UTC)

Does this Reagan and mob stuff really belong here?
'According to Dan E. Moldea's survey Dark Victory : Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob .. organized crime allegedly pushed Reagan's career within the Republican Party, obtaining many favors in return from the politician.'

A fairly huge amount of bandwidth goes into this discussion. The article isn't about Reagan. I am skeptical of these crazy-quilt tie-ins Dan E. Moldea makes. Maybe he could be questioned about his tactics or sources or conclusions. I know that he also has a book about how organized crime and the N.F.L. are cozy. Some really hot stuff. He raises truly disturbing questions about connections. But I have questions about too much sloppy journalism, and errors and unfounded insinuations. If I mention "The Killing of Robert F. Kennedy: An Investigation of Motive, Means and Opportunity", then hope I can let you guess what is in it. Can't guess? Well, everyone loves a good conspiracy theory. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy was arranged by union boss Jimmy Hoffa and the Mafia. Outrageous? I say 'sure', and also, Hoffa and the mob are just a few of the stories that Moldea has written about in his career as a .. well, okay, as a journalist, I suppose, but how did his libel suit against the New York Times over its lying review of his 1989 book about professional football and the Mafia turn out? Dismissed. So we don't have to take my word for it about, in so many words, 'sloppy journalism'. DanLanglois (talk) 05:22, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

"it made Stewart enormously rich"
Wasserman brokered James Stewart to Universal for Winchester'73. So why made this only Stewart enormously rich, but not Wasserman?? I cannot imagine Wasserman brokered Stewart (who was before tied to MCA) to Universal just for the sole profit of Stewart (and Stewart's own "one-man-company"). Why didn't made this Wasserman enormously rich too? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.133.204.231 (talk) 19:08, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

What is the connection to Debbie Wasserman-Schultz?
I know they're related. What is the exact family relationship? Is Debbie involved with the Foundation in any way? Tks. Benefac (talk) 16:24, 21 February 2016 (UTC)

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External links modified
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Disruptive entries re Capone & The Outfit
There's info available to the effect that MCA had strong mob connections. I've never read the assertion that Capone and/or the Outfit controlled it outright. An editor added this info not bothering about little details like reliable sources for reference. The info's been removed and the editor will be notified. Tapered (talk) 02:37, 26 April 2018 (UTC)