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Doonesbury, Saint Ronald and the Mob (Original Post)
Scuba
Oct 2015
OP
No offense to the OP, but I want to rec this comment more than the cartoon... nt
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
Oct 2015
#3
Octafish
(55,745 posts)1. MAFIA helped Ronald Reagan move into White House
EXCLUSIVE: Revealed, how the MAFIA helped Ronald Reagan get to the White House. Shocking documentary reveals Mob connections that catapulted him to the presidency - and how a probe was thwarted at 'the highest levels'
President Reagan owed his acting and political career to Hollywood mogul Lew Wasserman, chief of entertainment behemoth MCA, who was in bed with the Mob
An investigation into the relationship between MCA and the Mafia was halted and Federal prosecutors believe it was one of the 'political favors' that can be traced back to Reagan's White House
'Ronald Reagan is a complete slave of MCA who would do their bidding on anything,' one secret Justice Department document revealed
According to the producer of the documentary, Wages of Spin II: Bring Down The Wall, one MCA executive had ties to Mob boss John Gotti
'Reagan's whole career in politics was subsidized by MCA,' he asserts, and helped him financially because for a long time he was living above his means
The Mob was probably working Nancy Reagan too, according to the producer. 'She was a driving force behind Reagan'
By JERRY OPPENHEIMER
Daily Mail, PUBLISHED: 13:22 EST, 21 May 2014 | UPDATED: 03:42 EST, 22 May 2014
A shocking new documentary screened exclusively by MailOnline exposes the chilling conncections between the Mafia, one of Hollywood's most powerful entertainment companies and its head honcho Lew Wasserman and President Ronald Reagan and his Justice Department.
SNIP...
But there was a dark side to Wasserman - and to Reagan - all of which is revealed in a shocking new documentary, Wages of Spin II: Bring Down The Wall, that, according to the film's producer and those interviewed, links both of them in darkly shadowed ways to the Mafia, and the killing of a U.S. Department of Justice organized crime Strike Force investigation into Mob influence and infiltration at the highest levels of MCA.
SNIP...
Richard Stavin, a former veteran federal prosecutor who was assigned to the Justice Department's Organized Crime Strike Force in Los Angeles and was an integral member of the MCA-Mafia probe team, declared in the film for the first time:
'It's my belief that MCA and its' involvement with Mafia individuals, Mafia-dominated companies and our inability to pursue those was not happenstance. I believe it was an organized, orchestrated effort on the part of certain individuals within Washington, D.C. to keep a hands-off policy towards MCA.
'At the time, Ronald Reagan was the President of the United States and Edwin Meese was the Attorney General of the United States (Stavin's ultimate boss). A little known fact was MCA and Lew Wasserman supported Ronald Reagan when he wanted to become president of the Screen Actors Guild, which was the launch of Mr. Reagan's political career.
'I would like to think that the people in the highest levels of this government were not protective of MCA...But I'm not so sure about that.'
SNIP...
SAG's bylaws had always banned talent agencies like MCA from producing any form of entertainment, such as TV programs and movies. But during Reagan's fifth year as the guild's president a secret blanket waiver was negotiated with SAG, and it gave MCA and Wasserman the platinum opportunity to not only market talent as agents but also to move into TV and film making.
CONTINUED...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2635094/EXCLUSIVE-Revealed-MAFIA-helped-Ronald-Reagan-White-House-Shocking-documentary-reveals-Mob-connections-catapulted-presidency-probe-thwarted-highest-levels.html
Well. That's a "wow" as they used to say in Hollywood.
One very important name that was left out: Dan Moldea, an investigative reporter who actually uncovered and documented the story in the early 1980s and wrote about it in "Dark Victory: Reagan, MCA and the Mob."
Well. That's the reality of it, like Doonsbury said. Wouldn't know it, seeing how this history is missing from the school books and tee vee screens.
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)3. No offense to the OP, but I want to rec this comment more than the cartoon... nt
Scuba
(53,475 posts)4. I concur!
Scuba
(53,475 posts)15. The honor is mine.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)10. Cartoonists put it on paper.
Here's another great work from Gary Trudeau:
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)5. PLUS ONE, a huge bunch!
daleanime
(17,796 posts)6. Thanks for information....
Always appreciated.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)7. As always Octafish, you come through with the background and facts
Thank you again.
1norcal
(55 posts)13. Thanks to all...
Thank you Octafish, you are the reason I come to this site. Thanks as well to Doonsburry, what would we do w/o him? And thanks for the post...
Gothmog
(145,168 posts)2. Reagan is not a saint and was a bad president
eggplant
(3,911 posts)8. I believe that the OP was being ironic. n/t
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)9. I didn't know old blue eyes got the medal of freedom
Sounds like a bit of quid pro quo with Nancy. I guess Saint Ronnie probably wasn't surprised as that's how she got off the black list.
KansDem
(28,498 posts)14. Also an honorary doctorate...
oberliner
(58,724 posts)11. Bill Cosby was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom as well
A few other unsavory characters too.