Today, my blog entry focuses on the “Memphis Mafia”, a group of friends, employees and associates, who hanged out with Elvis Presley in the streets of Memphis. A lot of them had important functions for Elvis, such as bodyguards, who protected him on tours. In the most cases, Elvis didn’t pay them salaries. He preferred to give them gifts, houses or cars. Time after time, the Memphis Mafia grew and new members joined the group. But basically, a core group of individuals spent plenty of time with Elvis.
Elvis generally favored people, who were loyal as well as reliable. For instance, the Memphis Mafia included his first cousins Junior and Gene Smith. Also his high school friends Red West and the rockabilly singer Cliff Gleaves were part of the gang. Additionally, the woman Judy Spreckels, an American writer, publisher and trial historian joined the group. For her side, she felt like a sister to Elvis and kept a lot of secrets of Elvis’ early career. Other persons, such as Sonny West, a rock/n/roll musician, Joe Esposito, a veteran author and publisher as well as Charlie Hodge, an American singer and vocal coach counted as members of the gang. (Source: Wikipedia)
Just for my part, I haven’t heard that much about the interesting group. But they mostly hanged out in Memphis and its surrounding areas.
What is your opinion about the Memphis Mafia? Have you ever heard about it? Do you know where you can find milestones in Memphis, which point to the fact about the group?
Very interesting that you focused your last entry on the Memphis Mafia. I’ve just heard the name of the group, but I didn’t know that the group includes employees as well as family members of Elvis! Cool entry!
ReplyDeleteYour blog entry is definitely very interesting. Indeed, I’ve already heard something about the group. Originally, the name was tagged by an American reporter. For the recognition value, Elvis convinced his members to wear black suits.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I’ve never been to Memphis, but if I get the chance to travel there, I certainly try to find out, where I can find information about the Memphis Mafia.