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The issue of his gangland connections was discussed in the latest book on FS---written by his long time valet---a very perceptive man.

It seems that Frank's attraction to the mob was not b/c they rubbed people out---but b/c they were skilled businessman, and knew how to make money, especially in Las Vegas and Hollywood.

The valet wrote how people in the entertainment business gravitated to the mob for financing projects b/c they took the financial risks Wall St would not.

That was then. It's a lot different now.

I'll have to check out the book you're quoting. But my understanding is that he was also attracted to the violent side of it, which is one reason he looked up to Bugsy Siegel, and is reflected by for instance how he sent people to intimidate Jackie Mason for making jokes about Mia Farrow. Regarding the financing thing, which is an interesting point, I know that was still going on pretty recently with Hollywood producers turning to the mob for film financing in the 1970s-1980s. Here's an interesting quote about that:

An FBI agent told the LA Times in its June, 1982 series on the Perainos that Hollywood doesn't care about dirty money. "If you find that, in general, the people who should be your witnesses are not willing to give you the sweat off their brow, then you realize that you are faced with a situation where there is a community acceptance of a set of standards that might be offensive in some areas, but not here. And we have to look at it that way, just like we look at pornography, based on community standards. Unfortunately, we have a set of standards about how to finance motion pictures in Hollywood that is incredibly lax. In the last ten years or so, we've made six or seven efforts to try to ferret our allegations of organized crime in the movie business. And we got zero support from the industry. They don't view it as a threat. It's good money to them. It's a way of life, condoned, even embraced. Nobody wants to expose it." (LA Times 6/15/82)