"We Just Hope"

Taking a gamble on Frank

When I was 65, it was a very good

year.

It was a very good year for

President's pals and Capital

show, For birthday affairs and Las

Vegas dough.

It was a very good year.

So Frank Sinatra might have crooned last week after asking the Nevada Gaming Control Board for a gaming license so that he can become a consultant to Caesar's Palace. He once had an operator's license but lost it in 1963 because of his reputed association with Chicago Mafia Don Sam ("Momo") Giancana.

Board Chairman Richard Bunker reminded Sinatra about his conversation that year with Edward Olsen, then chairman of the State Gaming Commission, which was recorded in a memo. "Listen, Ed," said Sinatra, when told that he was being investigated. "I haven't had to take this ... from anybody in the country, and I'm not going to take it from you people." When Olsen warned that the singer might be subpoenaed to testify, Sinatra said: "You just try and find me. And if you do, you can look for a big, fat surprise." Was that a threat?

Bunker asked last week. "Absurd," replied Sinatra.

Sinatra has acknowledged acquaintanceships with several gangsters, including the late Lucky Luciano. But the singer denied having willingly posed backstage at the Westchester Premier Theater in Tarrytown, N.Y., in 1976 with several gangsters, including New York Mafia Boss Carlo Gambino. Explained Sinatra:

"He came in and took a picture of me with the little girl [Gambino's granddaughter], and, before I knew what happened, eight or nine men were around me."

On his own behalf, Sinatra brought seven character witnesses, including Actors Kirk Douglas and Gregory Peck, but made no mention of another friend: President Ronald Reagan, for whom Sinatra helped raise some $500,000 in campaign donations and organized a preInauguration gala. Reagan has said of Sinatra's reported gangland ties: "We've heard those things about Frank for years, and we just hope none of them are true." The control board decided that there were "no substantive reasons why he shouldn't have a gaming license" and issued Sinatra a temporary one that may be made permanent Witness Sinatra after six months.

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