Italian-American fireman, professional boxer, and bar owner, best known as the father of singer and actor Frank Sinatra.
On 21 December 1903, he emigrated to New York City from Palermo, Sicily, on the SS Città di Milano with his mother Rosa Saglimbeni Sinatra, his sisters Angela and Dorotea, and his brother. His father, Francesco (1857-1946), born in Lercara Friddi, was already in the city working in a pencil factory earning eleven dollars a week, and his mother went on to own and operate a small grocery shop. Sinatra himself apprenticed as a shoemaker, until he started prize-fighting, calling himself Marty O’Brien, because Italians were not welcomed in boxing.
On 14 February 1914, Sinatra eloped with Natalie Garaventa (also known as “Dolly”), in Jersey City, New Jersey, as Dolly’s parents refused to host a wedding and did not approve of Marty, as he was illiterate, inferior at boxing, and was a Sicilian, whereas the Garaventa family were Ligurian. The couple eventually moved to 415 Monroe Street, Hoboken, New Jersey. Their only child, Francis Albert Sinatra, was born on 12 December 1915.
Sinatra continued his boxing career until he broke his wrists after 30 professional fights. He then attempted to find marine work but was rejected due to asthma. Dolly helped him find work as a fireman, and he was eventually appointed to the Hoboken Fire Department in 1927, where he attained the rank of Captain without having to take any formal exams. While still a Captain in the fire department, Sinatra and his wife opened a tavern, called Marty O’Brien’s.
Anthony Martin Sinatra suffered a fatal heart attack on 24 January 1969 at age 76 in a hospital in Houston, Texas. His wife, Dolly Sinatra, died on 6 January 1977.
Link to Wikipedia biography