Stiffed
Subtitle: a true story of MCA, the music business, and the Mafia
By: by William Knoedelseder.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 1993
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 480
Subjects: MCA Inc.; Sound recording industry -- Corrupt practices -- United States.; Mafia -- United States.
Description: A shocking expose that leaves the reader questioning: Is the Mafia involved in every nook and cranny of the record business? Is MCA such a powerful corporation that it can dictate actions in the United States Department of Justice? Like the great bestselling Indecent Exposure, Stiffed is an epic story that begins with a small incident - an income tax investigation - which explodes to show the pervasive corruption of an entire industry. When a federal prosecutor discovers.

That a reputed mafioso, Sal Pisello, is selling MCA cutouts (record remainders) and cheating everyone along the way, the investigation grows and expands to involve the FBI, the Justice Department, extortion, counterfeiting, payola, and bribery, and uncovers the ubiquitous presence of the Mafia in the record industry. . . as well as the immense political power of MCA. Filled with an utterly memorable rogues' gallery of characters, from Irving Azoff, the colorful former.

President of MCA Records, to Joe Isgro and Fred DiSipio, major players in "The Network" of independent promoters who influenced which records got airtime, and Pisello himself (record salesman, veal importer, restaurateur and alleged heroin dealer), Stiffed takes us behind the scenes of the hit songs and star performers to show who is really in control in a fast-paced, exciting, and informative look at the record business and the powerful characters who run it.
Notes: Includes index.