There are all kinds of shady and dangerous creatures lurking in the music industry. Since about the mid-20th century, the mob has found ways to extract money by getting involved in record labels, radio stations, artist management, and live music venues.
Although things aren’t what they used to be, the mob’s involvement played a key part in the development of the music industry for decades.
One of the key figures in all this ran a New York-based label called “Roulette Records,” which started business in 1957. One of the co-founders was Morris Levy, who got his start in jazz clubs.
At his peak, Levy headed 90 companies employing over 900 people, including music publishing, the independent record label game, running record stores, operating record-pressing plants, tape-duplicating facilities, artist management, and a music distribution company.
Some called him an “entrepreneur”…but the truth was Morris—“Mo” or “Moishe” to his friends (and a few enemies)—was a crook who controlled far more of the industry than people realized…and much of his business was connected to organized crime.
Morris was probably the most mobbed-up music man in history…a lot of people were ripped off for tens of millions of dollars…and more than one person got hurt.
I’m Alan Cross, and this is episode 47 of Uncharted...Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry
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The Life and Crazy Times of Ozzy Osbourne : 46
You don’t get much more Rock Star than Ozzy Osbourne. Through more than 50 years, his wild persona and crazy behaviour not only made him an icon of rock 'n' roll, but also a larger-than-life cultural figure popular with three or four generations. Given the abuse that he inflicted upon himself, it’s a miracle that he made it to age 76.
On this edition of Uncharted, we’re going to trace the insanity that was Ozzy from birth to death. And you can’t do that without honouring his music. He will be rightly remembered as the Godfather of Heavy Metal.
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Green Day's Cigarettes and Valentines Stolen Album Caper: 45
Theft is rampant in the music world, and it takes many forms. Musicians regularly deal with stolen gear…guitars disappearing from stages, rehearsal spaces being robbed, or entire vans being emptied. These losses hurt, but they’re tangible…physical items taken by
force or opportunity.
Then there’s the more invisible kind of theft…the kind that bleeds artists
financially. Fraud, embezzlement, and dodgy managers can silently drain income. In today’s digital age, streaming fraud has emerged as a new threat, with royalties being diverted through suspicious tactics. Identity theft, stolen song credits, and outright plagiarism all fall into this category, along with illegal file sharing and bootlegging from inside CD factories.
But the rarest and most cinematic form of music theft? Stealing the recordings themselves right from the source, at the recording studio.
Such a theft like this should be entirely impossible, yet this is what Green Day says happened to an album they were working on called “Cigarettes and Valentines”. They went into work on the record one day, and the tapes were just…gone!
Green Day has always insisted that these tapes were stolen. However, there was never any police investigation, no suspects were named, and no trace of the tapes or the music contained has ever been found anywhere outside official channels.
This is episode 45 of “Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry”… the real story behind Green Day’s stolen “Cigarettes
and Valentines” album.
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The East-Coast West-Coast Hip-Hop War: 44
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Missing and Presumed Dead : 43
Before the internet, it was reasonably easy to just disappear. Get a fake ID, leave the country with some cash, and you were gone.
These kinds of mysteries can also be found in the world of music; artists who disappear without a trace…and I’m not talking about musicians who retired and then become recluses…there are plenty of those.
We haven’t seen much of Steve Perry since he left Journey…he’s very much alive but isn’t interested in being famous anymore…Syd Barrett tripped out on too much LSD, got fired from Pink Floyd, and was rarely seen by anyone until he died of cancer in 2006…John Deacon of Queen gave up his music career after Freddie Mercury died…we haven’t seen anything of him.
Then there are the musicians who disappeared involuntarily…one day they were here and the next day, they were just gone…and this has happened a lot more than you may realize.
This is episode 43 of “Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry”…and the next of this program is “Missing and Presumed Dead”.
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About Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry
Have I got a story for you! Award winning Music Historian and host of the chart topping Ongoing History of New Music Podcast Alan Cross unleashes his next amazing podcast. In every episode Alan Cross takes you inside unbelievable true stories of crime, murder, scandal, strange deaths, unexplainable events, and the general mayhem from the music industry through the decades.There is a lot of bad behavior that needs to be talked about. It’s a one-of-a-kind podcast featuring true crime stories from the world of music.
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