In the late 1940s, Hollywood shifted its attention away from the Mafia's infiltration of the film industry to its infiltration by communists. Ronald Reagan, a young actor who was represented by Wasserman and MCA, was a star player during the investigation and hearings by the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), serving as both an informant for the FBI and a friendly witness for the committee.
After his performance in the war against communism--which included support for IATSE, the union formerly controlled by Bioff that was still run by his same executive board--Reagan was rewarded by being elected as president of the Screen Actors Guild, serving for five consecutive one-year terms.
In 1952, during his fifth term, Reagan engineered a "blanket waiver," exempting MCA from SAG rules prohibiting a talent agency from also engaging in film production. Reagan's second wife, actress Nancy Davis, was also a member of the SAG board of directors at the time the MCA-SAG deal was made. MCA was the only such firm to have been granted such a favored status, giving it the ground floor in television production. It placed the company in a position where it could offer jobs to the actors it represented. Other talent agencies complained that this situation gave MCA an unfair advantage.
Soon after Reagan's tenure as SAG president ended, he found himself in serious financial trouble. With his film career on the skids, Reagan was saved by MCA with jobs in Las Vegas and on television. According to Justice Department documents, several government sources believed that the preferential treatment Reagan received from MCA was a payoff for services rendered while Reagan was the president of SAG.
In 1959, the SAG membership reelected Reagan as president of SAG for a sixth term to lead an impending strike against the studios--despite the fact that Reagan had been producing episodes for MCA/Revue's General Electric Theater. According to SAG's by-laws, producers, even if they were primarily actors, are disqualified from serving on the SAG executive board. Previous board members faced with similar situations had resigned; Reagan refused to do so.
Although MCA and a handful of smaller studios made an early, separate peace with SAG and continued production, the major motion picture companies held out, causing the strike to last six weeks. In the end, according to the president of IATSE, Reagan's final settlement with the big studios came with the help of Sidney Korshak--with whom Reagan had allegedly been associated. The 1960 contract was so unsatisfactory to the SAG membership it has since been called "The Great Giveaway." Reagan resigned in midterm soon after the strike.
After several abortive attempts to investigate MCA for antitrust violations, the federal government--upon the election of John Kennedy as president and the appointment of Robert Kennedy as attorney general--began a concentrated probe into MCA's business affairs. The government had evidence that MCA had engaged in numerous civil and criminal violations of law and empaneled a federal grand jury to hear the specifics of its charges, which included restraint of trade, conspiracy with SAG to monopolize talent and film program productions, extortion, discrimination, blacklisting, and the use of predatory business practices.
SOURCE: http://purplepinupguru.blogspot.com/2005/04/reagans-darker-side-reagans-mob.html
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The above link is the source for the excerpt. Moldea documented the story. I was very surprised to see that the article on the documentary, "Wages of Spin," was not on DU. After GOOGLING it, the film's only mentioned in a few places online. For some reason, mention of the film and the Reagan-Mafia ties didn't make it into the New York Times or on the tee vee.
Thank you for reminding me about your pal, grasswire. I remember mentioning Mr. Moldea on DU long ago and someone posted that he was a friend.
I shoulda known.
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