Music Corporation of America

The MCA was a major entertainment corporation that became entangled in investigations related to organized crime and the broader network that Danny Casolaro termed "The Octopus."

Organized Crime Allegations

MCA was the subject of a FBI wiretap investigation which, according to Cheri Seymour, was supervised by the federal prosecutor Marvin Rudnick and later by Richard Stavin of the Justice Department's Los Angeles Organized Crime Strike Force. These investigations, which also involved FBI agent Thomas Gates, led them to believe that MCA had been penetrated by organized crime. Specifically, the wiretaps recorded communications between Robert Booth Nichols and Eugene Giaquinto, then president of MCA home entertainment division. Giaquinto was also a board member of Nichols' holding company, MIL, which was under FBI investigation as a source of funding for narcotics and the allocation of drug trafficking proceeds.¹

The intercepted conversations reportedly revealed connections to La Cosa Nostra, including members of the Gambino Crime Family and Bufalino Crime Family. The wiretap application itself stated that the purpose of the interceptions was to determine the "source, type and quantity of narcotics/controlled substances, methods and means of delivery, and the source of funding for purchasing of narcotics/controlled substances." It was also apparent from the intercepted conversations that Eugene Giaquinto had a special relationship with John Gotti.¹

Leveraged Buyout and Investigation Shutdown

At the time of these investigations, MCA was being offered in a leveraged buyout to Japanese interests. An FBI investigation could have jeopardized this sale. In her account the wiretaps were then sealed by the DOJ, and no case against MCA or its executives followed. The Los Angeles Organized Crime Strike Force was disbanded, Richard Stavin resigned, and Thomas Gates closed the FBI investigation. The Japanese ultimately purchased MCA in what was reported as the largest corporate sale in U.S. history at the time.¹

Marvin Rudnick, who lost his job for refusing to drop the investigation, later had part of his story told in the 1993 book Stiffed: A True Story of MCA, The Music Business, and the Mafia by William Knoedelseder.¹

The prosecution that did come out of the investigation was of Salvatore Pisello, a middleman in MCA's dealings. In June 1984 MCA gave Pisello 30,000 dollars to study a "Latin record label" and in January 1985 another 50,000 dollars; he also received payments from Sugar Hill Records in connection with efforts to have MCA distribute its records and buy its catalog. Indicted in 1986 for evading taxes on this income, he was convicted for 1984 and 1985 and sentenced to four years' imprisonment and three years' probation; the Ninth Circuit affirmed on June 8, 1989.²

Connection to "The Octopus"

Danny Casolaro's investigation into "The Octopus" included MCA, and he was reportedly told by Robert Booth Nichols about the leveraged buyout. Dan Moldea, in his 1986 book Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob, had previously labeled MCA as "The Octopus," a term that likely inspired Casolaro's own use of the phrase.¹