Godfather of Harlem - Historical Accuracy Thread (S01E04)
*Taken from Reddit*
So finally we meet Cassius Clay in this episode. The acting and portrayal of historical figures in this show is remarkable and even though some things are not true it does keep you entertained. Here are some facts, fiction and one thing I'm really unsure about.
As always, if I may have missed something or gotten something wrong please let me know in the comments.
FACT:
The whole Doug Jones-Cassius Clay fight is real. It was the called fight of the year in 1963. Clay really did belittle Jones and called him an “ugly little man” and he was as animated as the series portrays him to be.
Frankie Carbo was a real life boxing promoter and mobster and was actually arrested for managing boxers without a license in 1961 and serving a 25 year sentence for conspiracy and extortion. Him and other mobsters controlled the contract of the current heavyweight champion Sonny Liston.
Vito Genovese was in fact serving a prison bid after being convicted of conspiring to import and sell narcotics. He still was able to give orders and order hits.
Vincent Gigante did actually fight at the Garden four times, fighting Frankie Petrello, Vic Chambers, Andy Peppe and Luther McMillan. His record at the Garden was 3-1, losing to Peppe.
Stella references “Puff The Magic Dragon” by Peter, Paul and Mary. The song was released in January 1963, so I’m glad they have a music reference that is right for once.
Bobby Robinson’s reluctance to sign Teddy Greene due to a political song is representative of the time. I remembering hearing a story that the R&B group, The Drifters were supposed to release a song called “Only In America”. One of the lyrics in the song, references a kid growing up to be president and although the Drifters recorded it, the label never released it because they feared the image of a Black group singing about possibly becoming president was too much for some to handle in 1963, so the aptly named Jay and the Americans ended up with the song. Unless it was Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez or The Kingston Trio, labels and radio really shied away from political or protest songs. Even Black-owned labels like Motown didn’t release overtly political music until the late 1960’s.
The FBI opened a file on Malcolm X in 1950 while he was still in prison after he wrote a letter to Harry Truman stating his opposition to the Korean War and calling himself a Communist. They began surveillance of him in 1953 due to his rapid rise in the ranks of the Nation of Islam.
Ross Todd and “Possum” were real and two of the eleven businessmen managing and collecting on Cassius Clay at the time. There was a Sports Illustrated article on them:
The Nation of Islam did in fact want Cassius to become champion first and then publicly announce that he was a Muslim. He did this after he won in 1964 and he was given the name Muhammad Ali by Elijah Muhammad
Malcolm X and Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali did have a close relationship and Malcolm served as a mentor to Clay.
Malcolm X did in fact call prizefighting a racket in response to a question from a newspaper. His quote was “Commercialized sport is the pleasure of the idle rich” and that “The vice of gambling stems from it.” He did as expressed in the episode understand the role that Black sports figures played in terms of symbols of prosperity to the masses.
FICTION:
Amy says Bumpy has been out for twelve weeks and still hasn’t come into contact. Bumpy was released in March and it is still March 1963 because the fight took place on March 13th.
Stella shows Teddy a magazine story of May Britt and Sammy Davis Jr. talking about their upcoming marriage. The two were married in 1960, three years earlier.
Frankie Carbo was in jail after being charged with conspiracy and extortion having been sentenced to 25 years. He was paroled early due to ill health.
Mayme Hatcher and Doug Jones were never involved in an affair.
Joe Bonanno never had a son named Lorenzo and none of his other sons were killed in Washington Heights by African Americans. He did however say his son was killed in Washington Heights in 1957 and that reminds me of this story:
The Bonanno-Gigante is fictional because as I said before: Gigante’s base of operations was never in East Harlem or Harlem, he never had as high a status as the show portrays him to have until later in the decade and he was still serving time. His presence is more representative of the overall Mafia in Harlem.
Gigante never kidnapped Ali
While the mob fixed a lot of fights at the time, the Jones-Clay fight was not one of them. It is rumored that Ali’s fight with Liston fight was fixed.
The then Cassius Clay began attending Nation of Islam meeting in Chicago in 1961. He met Malcolm X in Detroit in 1962 and no one would know he was a Muslim until the Miami Herald broke the story in 1964 before the Liston fight almost causing it to be canceled as was the concern in the episode.
Malcolm X was not at the fight as that would bring attention to allegations that Clay was indeed a Muslim.
Billy Graham never said “Catholics were worse than commies”.
UNSURE:
Could Lillian be Lillian Lampkin?:
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