According to a new biography, Frank Sinatra traveled everywhere with a golden Uzi given to him by Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir — which nearly got him into trouble with the law.
In “The Way It Was: My Life With Frank Sinatra,” author Eliot Weisman writes that on one occasion, Sinatra and his entourage, including Weisman, flew on Ol’ Blue Eyes’ private plane to Verona, Italy — and a customs agent came onboard. Weisman, who worked for Sinatra from 1975 till the crooner’s death in 1998, claims that the agent asked if the travelers had anything to declare, and they said they did not.
The book reports that a tense couple of minutes ensued as the group worried that the agent would find the Uzi, which was hidden in the floor of the plane.
But instead, the customs official ended up taking a Polaroid with Sinatra and leaving happy.
Weisman also claims his boss was “smitten” with Jackie Onassis. The author was dispatched to escort Onassis to a dinner at a nightclub with the sometimes-rabble-rousing Sinatra.
“I could tell Sinatra was smitten,” he recalls. “There were eight or 10 of us, and only one other woman besides Jackie O. Everyone was on guard and . . . on their best behavior. Unlike our usual raucous dinners, no one spoke loudly and there was not a curse word . . . Of all the dinners I would come to have with Sinatra, this was the most boring.”