Origin of The Nickname
Around 1960, the media dubbed these people "The Memphis Mafia." This first referred to their image, as they usually cruised the city in black mohair suits and dark sunglasses. According to one account, a crowd of people in front of the Riviera Hotel watched as two big black limousines arrived. Elvis and his friends got out of the two cars and someone in the crowd yelled, "Who are they, the Mafia?" and a newspaper reporter picked up the story. The Memphis Mafia members themselves say on their website that Elvis liked the name and it stuck. However, Presley's former wife Priscilla wrote that Presley didn't like the name because of a frightening Mafia connotation which the general public was then unaware of, and that members of organized crime had attempted to take over Presley's career, something reported as having happened earlier to Frank Sinatra. It's important to note that Elvis might have chosen to surround himself with such friends because he knew that it might have been the only way out of poverty for all his childhood friends.
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