EXCLUSIVE: A documentary about the relationships between Frank Sinatra, JFK and the mafia has been snapped up by Channel 4.
The UK commercial broadcaster has pre-bought Sinatra, Kennedy and the Mob from Leaving Neverland seller Abacus Media Rights’, with more sales understood to be in the offing.
Produced by Peninsula Television in Ireland, the doc focuses on the man that the beloved singer really wanted to be friends with, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, whose brother-in-law was Sinatra’s friend, the actor Peter Lawford.
Both Sinatra and Kennedy had developed dubious relationships with the mafia and were hiding some dangerous secrets. The two had benefited from their contacts with organized crime figures – the mob had promoted Sinatra’s career and had also helped the Kennedys buy votes to win elections. Sinatra basked in Kennedy’s glory and used his associations with the glamorous president to promote himself in the eyes of his friends and the American public, but, in March 1962, Sinatra was unexpectedly and abruptly ejected from JFK’s gang.
This documentary weaves together interviews from both experts and first hand accounts with the likes of the acclaimed historian James Kaplan, who wrote biographies on Sinatra, and Helen O’Donnell, who brings a personal account as she is the daughter of Kennedy’s right-hand man Kenneth O’Donnell.
The show will air later this year on Channel 4 and is being sold as either two one-hour episodes or a 90-minute special.
Channel 4 has been busy pre-buying docs of late. Yesterday, Deadline revealed it had acquired World War II: Women on the Frontline, which tells astonishing stories of female heroism and bravery during World War II.