Neil Diamond Talks about his early career, including his clash with the Mafia. 2002.

This may be one of the most revealing interviews ever given by Neil Diamond, who rarely talks about his private life. He certainly, until that day, in 2002, in a recording studio New York where we did this interview - the third I had done with Diamond - had never discussed in such detail his conflict with the Mafia during the early years of his career. In fact, I was told that when I raised the subject while sitting alone with Neil in that studio, a member of his management team in the control room said aloud, "Did he just ask Neil about the Mafia! My God!" Either way, as you will hear, Neil himself had no problem addressing that or any issue with me. Then again, the guy knew I loved his music and the fact is that we had always gotten on great. This is part one of two podcasts that I guess I could have called 'The Neil Diamond Story - as you never heard it before.' Btw, these tapes are copyright Joe Jackson and must not be broadcast or quoted in print without my permission.