Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob

Dan E. Moldea

Aug 2023 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Lee Goettl

About this audiobook

Founded in 1924, the Music Corporation of America got its start booking acts into speakeasies run by such notorious Chicago mobsters as Al Capone. How then, in only a few decades, did MCA become the driving force behind music publishing, radio, recording artists, Hollywood, and the burgeoning television industry? Enter Ronald Reagan. By the late 1950s, Reagan was a passe movie actor. As president of the Screen Actors Guild, he was also MCA's key client. With Reagan's help, MCA would become the most powerful entertainment conglomerate in the world. And with MCA's help, Reagan would secure a fortune (resulting in a federal grand jury hearing), be marketed to the public as a viable politician, and ascend to the presidency of the United States. But according to reporter Dan E. Moldea, there had always been another catalyst behind MCA: Ties to organized crime that reached back to the company's inception-and through Reagan's Teamster-backed candidacy-had never been severed. From the author of The Hoffa Wars, this is an epic and serpentine investigation into the insidious links among Hollywood, the Mob, and politics. Contains mature themes.

About the author

A specialist on organized-crime and political-corruption investigations since 1974, bestselling author and independent investigative journalist Dan E. Moldea has published ten nonfiction books, including The Hoffa Wars, The Hunting of Cain, Dark Victory, and Interference.

Lee Goettl resides in the Midwest with his wife, daughter, and three dogs, enjoying all things book-related. He has recorded over eighty audiobooks, including playing two characters in Seth Rogen's Yearbook. He also works as a voice artist for commercials, e-learning, and medical narration.