'TOUGHEST LAWYER' DIES AT AGE 88\Korshak linked to moguls, mobsters.

Byline: David Robb Special to the Daily News

Sidney Korshak, an attorney identified by authorities as a longtime liaison between Hollywood and the Chicago mob, has died.

A grief-stricken Korshak, 88, died of heart failure on Saturday at his home in Beverly Hills, one day after the death of his brother, Marshall Korshak, a former state senator in Illinois.

Sid Korshak, once described by movie producer Robert Evans as "the toughest lawyer in America," moved easily between gangsters and movie moguls. Though not licensed to practice law in California, where he lived for many years, Korshak served as an adviser to many of the top Hollywood studios.

At the same time, authorities said, he was also an adviser to the such mob figures as Tony "Big Tuna" Accardo, Sam Giancana, Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky and Gus Alex.

In 1978, the California attorney general's Organized Crime Control Commission issued a report stating that Korshak was "the key link between organized crime and big business," and that he was a "senior adviser" to organized crime groups in California, Chicago, Las Vegas and New York. Korshak, in a rare interview, denied the allegations. "I've never been cited, let alone indicted, for anything," Korshak told the Los Angeles Herald Examiner in 1978.

Korshak, who specialized in labor law, had been linked to a number of corrupt union officials, including former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa. An FBI report states that when Korshak came to Las Vegas one night back in 1961, Hoffa agreed to let Korshak have his plush suite at the Riviera Hotel. Hoffa, the report states, "was moved across the hall to a smaller apartment when Korshak checked into the hotel."

Korshak didn't only represent unions. He also represented some of the biggest companies in the country. In 1985, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission refused to grant Hilton Hotels a license to operate a $300 million hotel and casino it had built there. In rejecting Hilton's request for a gaming license, the commission found that Korshak, who had been Hilton's labor consultant for the past 13 years, was "a key actor in organized crime's unholy alliances with corrupt union officers."

Hilton chairman Barron Hilton, in an attempt to distance himself from Korshak, told the commission: "I wish to hell we would have never hired him."

In Hollywood, Korshak helped broker numerous deals for some of the top studios. In 1973, he mediated in the negotiations that led to the sale of MGM's theaters and properties in its overseas markets to Cinema International Corp., a joint venture between MCA and Paramount. MCA chairman Lew Wasserman and Charles Bluhdorn, whose Gulf & Western owned Paramount, personally negotiated the deal with MGM owner Kirk Kerkorian - with Korshak as mediator.

One of Korshak's best friends in Hollywood was producer Robert Evans. In his book, "The Kid Stays in the Picture," Evans states that Korshak "was not only my consigliere, but my godfather and closest friend . . . my lifelong protector."

Evans, the former head of Paramount Pictures, said once that he met with Korshak "every day" during the seven years that Evans was running the studio.

In his book, Evans also said that at the age of 21, a young Sid Korshak "had been one of Al Capone's top consiglieres," but maintained that Korshak was not a gangster - just a good lawyer who represented gangsters.

Korshak's ties to the Chicago mob - and to Hollywood - go all the way back to the days of Al Capone. In 1943, his name came up during the sensational trial of some of Chicago's top mobsters on charges that they'd extorted more than $1 million dollars from Hollywood's movie studios.

The scandal began in the late 1930s when the Chicago mob seized control of one of Hollywood's most powerful unions - the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which represents all the behind-the-scenes film workers.

Frank Nitti, who was running the mob while Capone was serving time for income tax evasion, controlled the union's bosses, including Willie Bioff, who was convicted of extorting money from the studios in exchange for labor peace.

During the trial, Korshak's name came up when Bioff testified that he had been introduced to Korshak by one of the mob defendants, who had said: "Willie, meet Sidney Korshak. He is our man. . . . Any messages he might deliver to you is a message from us."

A few years after he was released from prison, Bioff was killed by a car bomb. Bioff's testimony dogged Korshak for the rest of his life, turning up in one FBI report and newspaper article after another. It didn't seem to hurt him in Hollywood, however. Questioned by FBI agents in 1963, Korshak identified numerous Hollywood stars as his friends.

One good friend was actor George Raft, who FBI documents show had once bailed Al Capone's brother out of jail. Raft, a longtime friend of mobster Bugsy Siegel, died in 1980. Korshak gave the eulogy.

Korshak is survived by his wife Bernice, and by his sons Harry and Stuart, a labor attorney. Funeral services will be private.

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Sidney Korshak Never cited, never indicted