TONY BENNETT'S WILD RIDE FROM RAGS TO RICHES!

THE road from dirt-poor singing waiter to music superstar was incredibly rocky for Tony Bennett, who survived a cocaine overdose, chronic depression, two divorces, money woes and dangerous ties to the Mafia to become king of the jazz crooners.

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"Tony lived the good life, but paid for it in spades," says a source. "He was lucky to live as long as he did!" Brazen Bennett, a notorious skirt chaser, left his heart in San Francisco, but he nearly left his corpse in Las Vegas in 1979 after crossing notorious mob killer Tony Spilotro, who inspired Joe Pesci's crazed character in the hit Casino.