The documents, dating from the 1930s to the 1970s, were released under US freedom of information law following 30 separate requests from news organisations and individuals after the death of the legendary singer and so-called Chairman of the Board on May 14, at the age of 82. According to the FBI, Sinatra saw the material after filing his own requests in 1979 and 1980. The FBI came up with 1,300 pages on Sinatra, and released all but 25 of the pages. The papers cover many things but theprimary interest to researchers centred on whether they could shed light on mafia links.Throughout the singer's life he was dogged by allegations of underworld connections. They became firmly entrenched in the public mind by the similarity between Sinatra and the fictional mob-supported crooner Johnny Fontane in Coppola's Godfather.

But although Sinatra allowed himself to be photographed with mob leaders was known in his youth as a nightclub crony of the legendary mobster Charles `Lucky' Luciano, he angrily denied any links with the mafia. ``We aren't talking about that,'' an FBI spokeswoman, Linda Kloss, said regarding questions about Sinatra's connections. ``We're just going to let the records speak for themselves.''

However, one newly released FBI file from 1971 linked Sinatra with a veritable rogues' gallery of organised crime bosses -- among them the New York mafia capo Carlo Gambino -- in an alleged plot to extort $100,000 from a former stockbroker, Ronald Alpert, after a failed investmentdeal. There was no immediate sign of any documents which might help to establish one of the oldest allegations, that he was go-between for Giancana in dealings with Ambassador Joseph Kennedy which helped finance the 1960 presidential election victory of the ambassador's son Jack.

Another section of the papers included a March 1955 letter -- written at the height of the Cold War era of McCarthyite red-baiting -- from special agents in the FBI office in Philadelphia to the bureau's director, J. Edgar Hoover. The letter said a confidential informant had ``advised that Frank Sinatra, well-known radio and movie star, is a member of the Communist Party.''

When he was forced to testify about his mafia links in an appearance before the House of Representatives' select committee on crime in the late 1960s, Sinatra accused the committee members of ``indecent and irresponsible'' action, in allowing underworld informers to deliver hearsay evidence.

Yet he personally approved the script for a 1992 CBS televisionmini-series, produced by his daughter Tina, which documented his role in making links between Giancana, the Kennedys and the mob-run teamsters union.

The Observer News Service