Hanky Panky

Give me good loving, mama.

My baby does the Hanky Panky.

My baby does the Hanky Panky.

My baby does the Hanky Panky.

My baby does the Hanky Panky.

Nice and slow.

My baby's fine.

My baby does the Hanky Panky.

That was a preset loop from my Mellotron called Down Mexico Way MK 1.

I played you that loop because I can't afford the rights to Hanky Panky by Tommy James & The Shondells.

And why would I play you that specific slice of Genovese cheese could I afford it? [gentle music] Because that was the number one song in America on July 18th, 1966, and that was the day Bobby Fuller's body was discovered in the parking lot next to his Los Angeles apartment.

[upbeat music] On this episode, undeniable talent, unrealized potential, unimaginable violence, and getting to the bottom of one of rock and roll's greatest mysteries.

At the very least, Bobby knew that Morris Levy and Roulette Records financed, produced, and released hits.

Joey Dee and the Starliters, The Playmates, Jimmy Rogers, Jimmy Bowen.

By the early '60s, they all had Roulette singles at the top of either the Billboard Top 100 or R&B charts, and right at this moment in the spring of 1966, a new Roulette artist, Tommy James, was about to hit number one on the Billboard chart with his recording of Hanky Panky.

What Bobby probably didn't know was that Morris Levy's Roulette Records was partially owned and operated by the Genovese crime family in New York City, and that Morris Levy had been in business with the mafia his entire career.