Johnny Carson: A Hitman’s Missed Mark and Sinatra's Heroics
The Dark Side of Laughter: Johnny Carson's Brush with Death
In the spring of 1971, a heavily intoxicated Johnny Carson nearly met his maker due to a series of unfortunate events that took place at Jilly's Saloon in Midtown Manhattan. The incident was shrouded in secrecy for decades, thanks in part to Henry Bushkin's book, Johnny Carson, which spun a web of distortions and half-truths about the entire ordeal.
According to sources close to the matter, including Tom Dreesen, a comedian who opened for Frank Sinatra for 15 years and appeared on The Tonight Show over 60 times, the events that transpired were nothing short of terrifying. It all began when Carson, accompanied by his sidekick Ed McMahon and Robert Coe, McMahon's manager, stumbled into Jilly's Saloon, already in a state of advanced inebriation.
Dreesen recounted the story as it was told to him by both Jilly Rizzo, Sinatra's best friend and sometime bodyguard, and Frank himself. "You gotta remember," Dreesen explained, "that Johnny was a naval officer, a college grad, a well-educated, well-mannered guy until he had a couple of drinks. Then he became a fool."
The sequence of events unfolded like this: Carson spotted an attractive woman at the bar and, in a moment of sheer stupidity, reached up under her miniskirt. The lady screamed, alerting Jilly Rizzo to the situation. Recognizing that the woman was the girlfriend of "Crazy" Joe Gallo, a notorious enforcer for the Profaci crime family with a trigger temper, Rizzo knew he had to act quickly.
As Dreesen recalled, "Rizzo told McMahon: 'Get Johnny the f**k out of here!' But Johnny resisted. He didn't want to go." However, McMahon was eventually able to drag Carson out of Jilly's Saloon, leaving the poor woman still screaming and hyperventilating in her boyfriend's arms.
Gallo, it seems, was not pleased with Carson's actions. According to Dreesen, "When Gallo returned, his lady friend was still screaming... Joe asked her what was wrong. She was hyperventilating and couldn't answer. So, he smacked her so hard she fell to the floor." The poor woman finally managed to gasp out the truth: that Johnny Carson had reached up under her dress and grabbed her.
Gallo's reaction was immediate and terrifying. "Go find him right now!" he ordered his boys. "Go find him and beat his brains in!" But by the time Gallo's goons arrived on the scene, Carson, McMahon, and Coe were already gone, having made a hasty exit from Jilly's Saloon.
The Hit is Called
Gallo's words to his associates that night sent shockwaves through Manhattan: "Carson's a dead man... He's gotta go into hiding." The word spread like wildfire among the city's underworld, with one source claiming, "The five dons of New York couldn't reason with Gallo. Neither could Dave Tebet, NBC VP of talent."
Tebet immediately sprang into action, reaching out to Rizzo and Sinatra in an attempt to broker a deal between Carson and the mob. It was a delicate situation, as Gallo's reputation for violence was well-known.
To smooth things over, NBC allegedly brokered a deal with Joe Colombo, the infamous mob boss, through Ed McMahon's connections. In exchange for Carson's safety, NBC News agreed to air a positive story on Colombo. However, sources close to the matter suggest that this deal may have been more of a Band-Aid solution than a genuine attempt to resolve the issue.
Frank Sinatra Steps In
Despite Tebet's efforts and the deal brokered with Colombo, Sinatra sensed that something more was needed to ensure Carson's safety. According to Dreesen, "About a week after Gallo put the hit on Carson, Sinatra put a simple plan into action."
Sinatra invited Gallo and his family backstage after one of his shows at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. He lavished attention on them, showering them with affection. When they left, Gallo thanked Sinatra for his graciousness but then turned to him with a look of pure malevolence.
"You tell Johnny Carson that he breathes only because he knows Frank Sinatra," Gallo hissed, before storming out of the room in a fury. Rizzo, who was present during this meeting, later recounted seeing Gallo's fingerprints on Sinatra's cheeks.
"It was a very tense situation," Dreesen recalled. "But I don't believe anybody but Sinatra could have saved Carson's life."
The Aftermath
In the end, Carson's brush with death served as a stark reminder of the darker side of show business and the underworld that lurked beneath its glamorous surface. Love Johnny Carson: One Obsessive Fan's Journey to Find the Genius Behind the Legend by Mark Malkoff, published on October 21 by Dutton, sheds new light on this infamous incident, painting a vivid picture of the chaos and terror that ensued.
As we reflect on this sordid chapter in Carson's life, one thing is clear: Johnny's reputation as "America's most beloved entertainer" was not just built on his wit, charm, and charisma – but also on his narrow escape from death itself.
