Mario Puzo's 'The Godfather', written in 1969, draws an analogy between the character of Don Vito Corleone's godson, the singer Johnny Fontaine and larger than life singer and American icon Frank Sinatra. Al Martino, a singer, was selected by Coppola to play Fontaine in his movie adaptation of the novel in 1972.

Frank Sinatra had connections to Willie Moretti, a New Jersey mobster also called Willie Moore. Sinatra performed for Moretti in his casinos in Vegas, The Riviera amongst them. In 1943, Sinatra's was trying to get out of an unfair contract he had signed with band leader Tommy Dorsey, but failed. It was his godfather Moretti who made Dorsey an offer he couldn't refuse. In the movie, Al Pacino describes a similar incident concerning Johnny Fontaine to Diane Keaton at the reception of his sisters wedding.