Memphis Mafia - Early Members

Early Members

Elvis preferred men around him who were loyal, trustworthy and deferential. Thus family members and friends of his youth were very important to him. "For the first time in his life, he had a group of male friends to pal around with, and he relished being the leader of the pack." The group began with Elvis' first cousins Junior and Gene Smith (Gladys Presley's sister Levalle's children) who accompanied Elvis everywhere, along with Elvis' high school friend Red West and rockabilly singer Cliff Gleaves. At that time Judy Spreckels seems to have been the only woman. She describes herself as having been like a sister to Elvis, a companion, confidante and keeper of secrets in the exciting days of his early career. "Elvis was surrounded by the first wave of what would become known as the Memphis Mafia." She says that she "was with him and the guys all the time." They drove bumper cars in Las Vegas Valley, rode horses in California and hung out at Graceland. "There wasn't a crowd then, just a few guys," and she emphasizes that she "had nothing to do with being a yes man for him and obviously he trusted me." Among "the first to live, travel and play with Elvis" were Sonny West, Billy Smith, who was with Elvis from the start to the end and the only original member still with Elvis after 1976, Charlie Hodge, Lamar Fike and Marty Lacker "Over the years they were joined on the payroll by the Stanley brothers - Ricky, Billy and David, Jerry Schilling, Larry Geller, Joe Esposito, Dave Hebler, Marc Luciano and numerous others."