Morris Levy was an American music industry executive, who ran Roulette Records.
He was widely known to have close ties to the Mafia, namely the Genovese family, and had a reputation for cheating his (largely African-American) artists out of royalties. The most well-known lawsuit is that against John Lennon, band member of The Beatles, for borrowing a line from Chuck Berry's song, "You Can't Catch Me" for his song "Come Together." Lennon ultimately settled with Levy.
After law officials caught up with Levy in 1986, he opted to leave the country, passing away from illness a short time after.
He may have been the inspiration for the character Hesh Rabkin in the HBO series The Sopranos. Like the fictional characer, Levy kept race horses and had ties to the Mafia.
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