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I've removed the Playboy and Piggy Lipton paragraph. Neither give any reference to the memphis mafia.
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Each man had specific duties. Joe Esposito officiated as chief road manager. Sonny West was responsible for security at Presley concerts. [[Red West]] was one of Presley's earliest friends from their school days and in 1954 had acted as a driver for Elvis, [[Scotty Moore]] and [[Bill Black]] when they first toured the [[American South]] performing as the "Blue Moon Boys." In her book, Priscilla Presley said these employees were paid an average of $250 per week during the 1960s, which rose to $425 per week in the 1970s. Each [[Christmas]] all Presley employees received bonus checks. Some members of this inner circle became close friends who served as replacements for a lack of normal everyday friendships Presley's fame would not allow. Known for his generosity (attributed by Presley himself to an impoverished childhood), he bought some of these employees homes as wedding gifts and frequently bought new [[Cadillac]] automobiles for employees, relatives and friends. Presley also supplied the Memphis Mafia members with alcohol, illicit drugs, and prostitutes. Interestingly, Elvis's father Vernon distrusted and disliked the guys of the Memphis Mafia, whom he felt exercised an unhealthy influence over his son.
Each man had specific duties. Joe Esposito officiated as chief road manager. Sonny West was responsible for security at Presley concerts. [[Red West]] was one of Presley's earliest friends from their school days and in 1954 had acted as a driver for Elvis, [[Scotty Moore]] and [[Bill Black]] when they first toured the [[American South]] performing as the "Blue Moon Boys." In her book, Priscilla Presley said these employees were paid an average of $250 per week during the 1960s, which rose to $425 per week in the 1970s. Each [[Christmas]] all Presley employees received bonus checks. Some members of this inner circle became close friends who served as replacements for a lack of normal everyday friendships Presley's fame would not allow. Known for his generosity (attributed by Presley himself to an impoverished childhood), he bought some of these employees homes as wedding gifts and frequently bought new [[Cadillac]] automobiles for employees, relatives and friends. Presley also supplied the Memphis Mafia members with alcohol, illicit drugs, and prostitutes. Interestingly, Elvis's father Vernon distrusted and disliked the guys of the Memphis Mafia, whom he felt exercised an unhealthy influence over his son.

A 2005 [[Playboy magazine]] article by Byron Raphael and [[Alanna Nash]] relates that Raphael, an assistant to Presley's manager [[Colonel Tom Parker]], worked for Elvis in 1956-57 and procured several girls to climb into bed with the star, including some well-known movie stars. This was also one of the tasks of the men from the Memphis Mafia, as many girls wanted to get in close touch with the star. On p.172 of her memoir, ''Breathing Out'' (2005), model and actress [[Peggy Lipton]] writes that Elvis "was virtually impotent" and that she felt trapped in his bed as she "couldn't just amble out into the next room to get a breath because all his guys were in the front of the suite gearing up for show time. I could hear their piercing laughter and loud voices against the background of the blaring TV." According to Raphael's eye-witness account, actress [[Natalie Wood]] was upset when Presley refused to have sexual intercourse with her. She made a snide remark to the members of the Memphis Mafia that she "was not the only one to think Elvis and the guys might be [[homosexuality|homosexual]], especially since Elvis often wore pancake makeup and mascara offstage to accentuate his brooding intensity ..." The authors add that "tongues wagged" that Elvis and his best friend [[Nick Adams]] "were getting it on."


Since the late 1970s, some former members of the Memphis Mafia wrote books on Elvis. The first exposé book appeared in 1977 shortly before Elvis's death. This so-called Bodyguard book came from the West brothers and Dave Hebler. They wrote about Presley's years of [[prescription drug]] abuse which eventually led to his death. According to [http://www.elvisinfonet.com/stanley.html David Stanley], Elvis's youngest step-brother, the singer "was devastated by the book. Here were his close friends who had written serious stuff that would affect his life. He felt betrayed. Red was honest with Elvis about his medication problems and I think this was one of the reasons he was fired. For the guys they were fired, but not by Elvis. That must have hurt." Patrick Humphries adds that Elvis had "even offered the publishers money not to go ahead with it. For Vernon the book was proof of his long-held distrust and dislike not just of those three but of the whole of the Memphis Mafia ..." (p.79)
Since the late 1970s, some former members of the Memphis Mafia wrote books on Elvis. The first exposé book appeared in 1977 shortly before Elvis's death. This so-called Bodyguard book came from the West brothers and Dave Hebler. They wrote about Presley's years of [[prescription drug]] abuse which eventually led to his death. According to [http://www.elvisinfonet.com/stanley.html David Stanley], Elvis's youngest step-brother, the singer "was devastated by the book. Here were his close friends who had written serious stuff that would affect his life. He felt betrayed. Red was honest with Elvis about his medication problems and I think this was one of the reasons he was fired. For the guys they were fired, but not by Elvis. That must have hurt." Patrick Humphries adds that Elvis had "even offered the publishers money not to go ahead with it. For Vernon the book was proof of his long-held distrust and dislike not just of those three but of the whole of the Memphis Mafia ..." (p.79)

Revision as of 06:00, 22 April 2006


The Memphis Mafia was the nickname for a group of friends, associates, employees and "yes-men" whose main function was to simply be around Elvis Presley from 1956 until he died. Several of these men filled practical roles in the singer's life. For instance, they were employed to work for him as bodyguards or on tour logistics and scheduling. In these cases Elvis paid a salary to them, but most of the guys lived off of fringe benefits such as gifts, cars, houses and bonuses. Over the years, the number of members grew and changed, but for the most part there was a core group who did spend a lot of time with the singer.

Elvis preferred guys around him who were loyal and trustworthy and deferential to him. Thus family members and friends of his youth were very important to him. "For the first time in his life, he had a group of male friends to pal around with, and he relished being the leader of the pack," says Earl Greenwood in his book, The Boy Who Would Be King (p.192). The group began with Elvis' first cousins Junior and Gene Smith (Gladys Presley's sister Levalle's children) who accompanied Elvis everywhere, along with Elvis' high school friend Red West and rockabilly singer Cliff Gleaves. At that time Judy Spreckels seems to have been the only woman in the group. She describes herself as having been like a sister to Elvis, a companion, confidante and keeper of secrets in the exciting days of his early career. "Elvis was surrounded by the first wave of what would become known as the Memphis Mafia." She says that she "was with him and the guys all the time." They drove bumper cars in Las Vegas, rode horses in California and hung out at Graceland. "There wasn't a crowd then, just a few guys," and she emphasizes that she "had nothing to do with being a yes man for him and obviously he trusted me." In his book, Elvis The #1 Hits: The Secret History of the Classics, Patrick Humphries states that among "the first to live, travel and play with Elvis" were also Sonny West, Joe Esposito, Charlie Hodge and Lamar Fike. "Over the years they were joined on the payroll by the Stanley brothers - Ricky, Billy and David - Jerry Schilling, Larry Geller, Marty Lacker, Dave Hebler and numerous others."

Around 1960, the media dubbed the guys "The Memphis Mafia." This nickname originated as an ironic reference to their image, as they usually cruised the city in black mohair suits and dark sunglasses. According to one account, a crowd of people in front of the Riviera Hotel watched as two big black limousines arrived. Elvis and his friends got out of the two cars and someone in the crowd yelled, "Who are they, the Mafia?" and a newspaper reporter picked up the story. The Memphis Mafia members themselves say on their website that Elvis liked the name and it stuck. However, in her 1985 book Elvis and Me, Presley's former wife Priscilla wrote that Presley didn't like the name because of a frightening Mafia connotation which the general public was then unaware of. Priscilla wrote that members of organized crime had attempted to take over Presley's career, something reported as having happened earlier to singer Frank Sinatra.

In his book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia, Jerry Capeci calls the guys from the Memphis Mafia the "party animal buddies of Elvis Presley." In a Rolling Stone article of July 12, 1969, William Otterburn-Hall describes the men as close around the star "like a football scrum after a loose ball." He relates that they were a "friendly bunch" who, when Elvis began to sing just for fun during his interview, followed "suit, singing, clowning, all on their feet". But there was more. According to Patrick Humphries, they "acted as Elvis' bodyguards, babysitters, drug procurers, girl-getters, mates and carbuyers." The author also mentions other functions of the guys: "various members of the Memphis Mafia had ... played vital roles in keeping the King's numerous dirty secrets out of the public eye. A couple of them had been arrested with false prescriptions attempting to collect drugs for Elvis, quite a few had taken physical hits in the service of protecting Elvis and none were paid more than $500 a week. For that they were often shouted at, abused and belittled by the King when he felt like it." (p.79) Greenwood (p.234) calls the guys Elvis collected as buddies, "men who lacked any real ambition or abilities. The one trait they did share was a willingness to do Elvis's bidding and contentment to take whatever handouts Elvis was offering. Typically, he doled out the presents regularly and basked in his sense of largesse. But for as well as he treated his army buddies, Elvis showed flashes of unaccountable meanness, bordering on cruelty, with a lot of people..."

Presley and his friends and employees also adopted the acronym TCB which meant "Taking Care of Business", officially named his band [1] the TCB Band, had the tail of his private jet painted with the initials "TCB" and a lightning bolt and gave away TCB gold chain necklaces as gifts.

In his book, ''Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley, Peter Guralnick writes that Elvis spent all day and night with the members from the Memphis Mafia. "For Elvis and the guys," the reputed Elvis biographer says, "Hollywood was just an open invitation to party all night long. Sometimes they would hang out with Sammy Davis, Jr., or check out Bobby Darin at the Cloister. Nick Adams and his gang came by the suite all the time, not to mention the eccentric actor Billy Murphy, longtime friend of John Wayne and Robert Mitchum ..." Guralnick adds "The Colonel joked that they looked like a bunch of old men, but the Memphis Mafia had become almost as well known around town as Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack" and that Elvis and his guys were all "living on speed and tranqs." For Joe Esposito, "it was a party like you wouldn't believe. Go to a different show every night, then pick up a bunch of women afterwards, go party the next night. Go to the lounges, see Fats Domino, Della Reese, Jackie Wilson, the Four Aces, the Dominoes - all the old acts. We'd stay there and never sleep, we were all taking pills just so we could keep up with each other."

When Presley emerged as a major celebrity in 1956 he was constantly besieged by adoring fans and the press, making a normal lifestyle impossible. He would pay the cost of renting a movie theatre to watch a film or rent an entire Memphis amusement park to ride a roller coaster. At the time professional handlers and celebrity security experts hadn't yet evolved. Presley faced repeated threats of physical violence from outraged moral extremists and death threats from fanatics (as would later happen when he performed in Las Vegas). These threats were kept out of the press for fear of triggering even more (the danger of crazed stalkers and the like later entered public consciousness in 1980 when Mark David Chapman murdered John Lennon).

For both his security needs and touring support Presley hired people chosen from among those he could trust and depend on to manage his public appearances. This entourage included first cousins and several of Presley's friends from his boyhood in a poor Memphis housing project plus junior and senior high school friends and early employees from Memphis such as Alan Fortas, nephew of U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Abe Fortas. Many people were employed with the group through the years but some of the more prominent members were Joe Esposito, Lamar Fike, Alan Fortas, Larry Geller, Charlie Hodge, George Klein, Marty Lacker, Bitsy Mott, Jerry Schilling, Billy Smith, Gene Smith, Red West, Sonny West and Patty Perry (the only female member).

Each man had specific duties. Joe Esposito officiated as chief road manager. Sonny West was responsible for security at Presley concerts. Red West was one of Presley's earliest friends from their school days and in 1954 had acted as a driver for Elvis, Scotty Moore and Bill Black when they first toured the American South performing as the "Blue Moon Boys." In her book, Priscilla Presley said these employees were paid an average of $250 per week during the 1960s, which rose to $425 per week in the 1970s. Each Christmas all Presley employees received bonus checks. Some members of this inner circle became close friends who served as replacements for a lack of normal everyday friendships Presley's fame would not allow. Known for his generosity (attributed by Presley himself to an impoverished childhood), he bought some of these employees homes as wedding gifts and frequently bought new Cadillac automobiles for employees, relatives and friends. Presley also supplied the Memphis Mafia members with alcohol, illicit drugs, and prostitutes. Interestingly, Elvis's father Vernon distrusted and disliked the guys of the Memphis Mafia, whom he felt exercised an unhealthy influence over his son.

Since the late 1970s, some former members of the Memphis Mafia wrote books on Elvis. The first exposé book appeared in 1977 shortly before Elvis's death. This so-called Bodyguard book came from the West brothers and Dave Hebler. They wrote about Presley's years of prescription drug abuse which eventually led to his death. According to David Stanley, Elvis's youngest step-brother, the singer "was devastated by the book. Here were his close friends who had written serious stuff that would affect his life. He felt betrayed. Red was honest with Elvis about his medication problems and I think this was one of the reasons he was fired. For the guys they were fired, but not by Elvis. That must have hurt." Patrick Humphries adds that Elvis had "even offered the publishers money not to go ahead with it. For Vernon the book was proof of his long-held distrust and dislike not just of those three but of the whole of the Memphis Mafia ..." (p.79)

Books by former "Memphis Mafia" members:

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