This is topic I.A.T.S.E. and the Mafia in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 12-05-2002, 07:03 PM:
 
Many years ago crime figures like Bugsy Segal, Lepke Buchalter and the like had infiltrated the I.A.T.S.E. locals (especially in N.Y. and L.A.) like they had so many others. I wonder if any of our older F.T. members may have had any "colorful" memories that they may like to share?
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-05-2002, 09:35 PM:
 
When I was a young sound engineer, one of my first assignments was in a large southern city that had a strong local. After several weeks, I decided to ask the guys if I could meet the BA for lunch, to introduce myself. They said I'd have to wait a few years, because he had just been thrown in jail for arson! Evidently, one of the circuits in town was trying to bust the union, so a group of men and the BA decided to "send a message" by burning a theatre down.

I immediately began to wonder what I'd gotten myself into! Talk about your baptism of fire!
 

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Posted by Mark Ogden (Member # 43) on 12-06-2002, 03:43 PM:
 
Yeah, the mob used to be all over the IA, ever since the thirties. The real problem areas were NY and Local 110 in Chicago, where Paulie the Waiter used to run things, and with Roy Brewer out in LA. I don't know how much influence they have these days, though I have the feeling that with the way the union operators have been decimated it's not very much.

Coupla years ago I posted my run-in with the mob story, if you search Film-Yak with the terms "mob faction" it'll pull up. Enjoy!
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 12-07-2002, 11:45 PM:
 
I think it was Sam Giancana(spelling)that used to list Projectionist as his occupation on his income tax return (After watching Analyze That it Coulda been Charlie The Tuna for all I know:)). I was told this by a higher up person in local 110 a number of years back. I also remember an episode of The Untouchables(the series with Robert Stack) where Al Capone forced theatre operators to hire union projectionists.
I can see a sequel to "Analyze That" with Robert DeNiro and crew trying to re-establish the projectionists union!
Mark
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-08-2002, 02:33 PM:
 
Mafia or no Mafia, I think the I.A.T.S.E. organization has lost much of its clout.

A great deal of feature film production and TV series production has headed to Canada, Mexico, Austrailia, New Zealand, other parts of Europe, South America and the Far East thanks to some of the more blatant cost abuses the union has put against productions in America.

I.A.T.S.E still has a good foothold in places like network owned TV stations. But with networks and major TV station properties changing hands in key markets, the union is not going to fare well in that financial shell game.

And I would not be surprised if a major network moved its principal studio operations from cities like New York and Los Angeles to some place else like Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal or even Mexico City. NY and LA are the "centers" of mass media in the world. However, with everything converting over to digital and broadband communication I see a great deal of decentralization happening. It isn't really necessary to live in NY or LA anymore to be able to communicate with the world. The baggage that comes with that is cost cutting. And unions have never really been able to do anything in the face of that. The math just doesn't work out.
 

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Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 12-08-2002, 07:07 PM:
 

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It isn't really necessary to live in NY or LA anymore to be able to communicate with the world.

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No, but the problem is that is where the bulk of the talent happens to be. The same predictions were made about the the dotcom boom hitting Anywhere, U.S.A., but for the most part, they settled in clusters because of the skilled labor pool needed to keep the infrastructures going.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-08-2002, 11:14 PM:
 
NY and LA are still important. But as far as "talent" goes, it is easy to fly the important names in and out and on location. And then when it comes to casting unknowns, there are actors everywhere.

I would have thought it to be impossible years ago for someone to make a movie or TV series in someplace like Dallas or Mexico City. But it is very do-able. And with cost savings to boot.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 12-09-2002, 03:33 AM:
 
Actually IATSE doesn't even have most of the televison network O&Os anymore. In LA for instance, most of the stations are NABET or IBEW. IIRC only LA channels 5 and 13 are IA now.

The IA locals that are signatory to the Hollywood Basic Agreement still have jurisdiction over a lot of motion picture and stage work, but of course there is lots and lots of non-IA work in LA (and here in Las Vegas) too.

I was recruited into the IA here in 1974, pretty much at the beginning of the end of the mob era. Don't have any good personal stories to relate, but the guys I knew that worked in the business during the mob's heyday universally say that the hotels here were much better places to work at when "the boys" ran things. It's an impression that I am left with as well--that up through the '70s the joints were smaller, warmer, more congenial places to visit and work at. As long as one didn't try to steal from them, they treated the workers very well--much better than the colorless, humorless, chickenshit, stuffed-shirt corporate accountant jerks that run the joints today. Maybe feelings of nostalgia have clouded my memory, but I (and a lot of other locals my age and older) really miss the days when those guys ran things here. Gee, how terribly non-PC of me.
 

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Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 12-09-2002, 12:09 PM:
 

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I would have thought it to be impossible years ago for someone to make a movie or TV series in someplace like Dallas or Mexico City. But it is very do-able. And with cost savings to boot.

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