The indictment al­leges that Bulgari used the “empty box” scam to illegally allow customers — including Henry Kissinger, Frank Sinatra, Mary Tyler Moore, and Donald Trump — to avoid paying New York State sales tax.

“Put him in a raincoat and trademark fedora and have him walk the streets of metro­politan America, and he comes alive on screen. His cockiness and swag­ger make sense on a street”

As Raymond Chandler once wrote, “All us tough guys are hopeless sentimentalists at heart.”

“Nobody who played jazz was considered able to walk in and do a studio call. They were convinced you couldn't read, or you wouldn't show up, or you'd fall down drunk”

“Many jazz musicians don’t like singers, and some will go to great lengths to avoid play­ing for them. Not without rea­son. Frank Sinatra is a rare excep­tion.”

“Sinatra remained white America’s last completely satisfying definition of masculine style — to somewhat disconcerting effect, let me add”

“Like Garbo or Chaplin, he looms over the cultural life of the century, defying analysis, because every generation has to figure him out from scratch.”

December 12 is Frank Sinatra’s birthday. Celebrate with a Village Voice special tribute from 1995.