Hollywood stars with ties to the mafia: Robert De Niro, Madonna

In 1980, reports appeared accusing Wayne Newton of using his co-ownership of the Aladdin Hotel (which later became Planet Hollywood) to act as a ‘front man’ for the mafia.

Worse, other reports said the star “spread the beans about the mafia to law enforcement officials.” Although Newton insisted he knew nothing of any wrongdoing, there was danger in the fact that, as he explained, “the gangsters didn’t know that I didn’t know about them.”

Things got worse for Newton when he was listed as a “government witness” in the trial of alleged gangsters Guido Penosi And Frank Piccolowhich resulted in a ‘mob death threat’. The singer, who was given a bulletproof vest by authorities to protect him from a blow, reportedly told his wife: “I’m a dead man.”

Luckily for the star, he survived the ordeal, although it likely made him reconsider any links he may have had to organized crime.