Manhattan DA’s office probing death of reporter with possible JFK ties
New York Post By Susan Edelman January 29, 2017
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office is looking into the mysterious death 51 years ago of newspaper writer and “What’s My Line?” star Dorothy Kilgallen, who was investigating the JFK assassination, The Post has learned.
The stunning development comes after a new book, “The Reporter who Knew Too Much,” suggests Kilgallen was murdered to shut down her relentless pursuit of a Mafia don linked to JFK and Lee Harvey Oswald.
Joan Vollero, a spokeswoman for DA Cyrus Vance Jr., confirmed that a staffer has read the book, and reviewed a letter from author Mark Shaw citing new leads, medical evidence, and witnesses overlooked when Kilgallen, 52, died suddenly on Nov. 8, 1965 at the peak of her career.
“I’m hopeful DA investigators will probe any records available and interview witnesses still alive today who can shed light on what happened to this remarkable woman,” Shaw told The Post, which featured his findings last month.
“Victims have rights whether their name is Dorothy Kilgallen or Dorothy Doe, and Kilgallen was denied justice in 1965. That’s why I’m fighting for her.”
Shaw said he has received dozens of e-mails from readers demanding an official investigation. One “called her ‘a patriot’ who should be revered for risking her life to solve the JFK assassination.”
Kilgallen, who wrote a widely syndicated column for the New York Journal-American, was the only reporter ever to interview Jack Ruby, who shot Oswald, and published Ruby’s closed-door testimony to the Warren Commission before its official release. Her enemies ranged from Frank Sinatra to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.
The morning after Kilgallen appeared on the hit TV game show, she was found dead in her Manhattan apartment, naked under a robe and still in make-up. The Medical Examiner ruled it an accidental mix of booze and sleeping pills.
But Shaw contends Kilgallen was drugged. He cites a powdery residue on a glass by the bed, and records obtained from the National Archives showing two additional barbiturates in her system.
“There was no evidence that Kilgallen was a drug abuser,” Shaw said Saturday. “Despite the odd death scene and heavy doses, there was no investigation.”
Former ME toxicologist Dr. Stephen Goldner told Shaw the Mafia controlled the Brooklyn ME’s office, which inexplicably conducted the Kilgallen autopsy even though her death occurred in Manhattan.
Weeks before her death, Shaw learned, Kilgallen bought a gun for self-protection and planned a second trip to New Orleans to investigate Mafia don Carlos Marcello.
“If the wrong people knew what I know about the JFK assassination, it would cost me my life,” she confided to hairdresser Charles Simpson, one of several witnesses who gave videotaped interviews unearthed by Shaw.
Shaw urges the DA to interview Ron Pataky, an Ohio newspaper columnist and ex-lover seen huddling with Kilgallen at the Regency Hotel the night before she died. Pataky, now 81, later penned a poem called “Vodka
Roulette,” typed next to the image of a bartender mixing drinks, that reads, “Make one of ’em poison.”
30 comments:
Very interesting. She was a good journalist if I remember correctly, back in the day when that word meant something different than what it does today. If there is something there I hope they find it.
Stories like this have been swirling since her death.
Why the mob would whack her is a mystery unless she knew how deeply in the bag Kennedy was to the boys and was ready to expose it - rather risky in the days when Jack was busily being deified by the media.
But, yeah, the good old days.
The reason is simple ed. She had something on Carlos and was ready to spill it. You know the story about how he was deported by Bobby Kennedy right? That's when Presidents knew how to handle their enemies. Kennedy scooped him up and left him in the jungles of Gutamala. No judges writs. No ACLU. No bullshit.
President Trump should take a lesson from RFK. Just saying.
Stay out of kitchens and avoid dudes who use the same name twice?
The Mob hit several newspaper men. The ones that were corrupt like Jake Lingle. Even the ones who get too close to the truth like Dorothy did in this case.
You do know that Ted Cruz's father got the contract right?
Which one of you wise guys whacked bags? He doesn't come around here anymore.
He is moving his business out of Cali and I think he is very busy.
He was just on vacation before the big move.
Hitting journos was a competition sport back then, as I recall.
Boy, glad I didn't mention that.
The old ways are the best ways ed.
Some of these journalists need to have a terrible car accident. Maybe a hit and run with a driver-less Uber or something like that there.
People have no concept of history and what is was like.
I was on a blog the other day and they were talking about the Kitty Genovese case and mangling the whole story. What is never talked about was that Kitty was a bar maid and a cousin of Vito Genovese who was one of the most feared and hated mobsters of his day. Her murder had something to do with that. The mook they arrest was just as much as pasty as Lee Harvey or Jerome Johnson. The mob specialized in getting patsies to take the fall for mobbed up guys.
Never heard that about her.
Interesting.
Another interesting fact. She was a muff diver and you know how those old school mob guys thought about that.
Vito Genovese murdered a made guy so he could marry his wife. He was ubatz and he actually caused the end of the Mafia. Valachi was in prison with him and thought he put out a contract on him and that was why he became a rat. It was the beginning of the end for the Mob.
One thing about Kitty Genovese if it was a mob hit - suddenly all that "I didn't want to get involved" takes on a whole new significance.
Which makes it a lot more understandable.
What's an Italian Goomba? I know Goomba from Nintendo's Mario Bros. as a species of sentient mushroom.
Apparently this video is hilarious. Apparently epic. Apparently they "obliterate" Hollywood leftists. But I'm too thick of comprehension to appreciate it properly.
These two Italian goombas were having none of it. To hell with political correctness, as they went after Hollyweird with a vengeance. The sound is so tinny it cracked my eardrums, clawed my hammer, pounded a horseshoe on my anvil, kicked cowboy boots into my stirrups, collided gondolas in my semicircular canals, cocked up my cochlea, squeezed my eustachian tube right in the middle, plucked my last good auditory nerve like a banjo, and clogged up my ear canals with nobody's bee's wax. TURN DOWN THE TREBLE ALREADY! But apparently it's funny.
Exactly ed. Fake News has always been with us. The mainstream media lies all the time. They don't have a clue about the real story of what is going on.
Goomba means cousin in slang Chip. Or friend or mentor. It is somebody close to you who is not your immediate family. Sort like a compadre in Spanish.
It is also just slang for low class Italians like the more popular gavone.
Old song sung by Rocky Graziano(?), "Hey, Goombadi".
Didn't they find a note "I can't go on chinless" in Dorothy's chiffarobe?
So, Troop, if the mob were involved this investigation will go nowhere, right, as the mob is still involved. Maybe not quite like the old days but still.
I don't know how good a reporter Kilgallan actually was. She was a gossip columnist, no?
I know she gets some sort of credit for Sam Sheppard's retrial. She spoke to the judge during his first trial,it wasn't an interview, the starstruck judge invited her to his chambers to chat and he told her Shepperd was guilty as hell. She obviously didn't know what she had and sat on the information for a long time.
The only thing they found in Dorothy's closet was Johnny Ray.
What did in the mob was old age and government doing the job that mob guys wouldn't do anymore.
Gossip, though it may be 95% BS, does have its uses on occasion. Herb Cain, and Winchell, made a damn fine living off of same, too.
It is the 5% that may be the truth of gossip that bothers certain people who want zero exposure.
Then again, they took serious measures back in the day to prevent such...
Metal Masks
Crap, only read him for 15 years and still misspelled his name.
Herb Caen. Thinking of Abel I guess.
Yea, I'm just unusually busy, and will be all year moving my factory and the 80 families I'm trying to persuade to follow. So far, so good, but it's an overwhelming challenge. Moving tons of equipment and creating new supply chains is hard enough, but I also need to find homes for all those people. The hardest part is convincing people to take a risk. We really fear change when the decision shows up. I personally thrive on it, but most people prefer a known bad situation to an unsure opportunity.
I've always only wanted the people who work with me to achieve middle class lifestyles, which is still how I live, and all I ever wanted. In Los Angeles, I'll never be able to provide them all that opportunity. The corruption of state and local governments take too much of our time and money, and the crazy cost of living takes the rest. Besides, L.A. is old and worn out, and Vegas is new, growing, and affordable. I'm moving into my new home there today. Twice the house for half the money as my one in L.A. on a lot 8 times the size. The dogs can run, I have room to tinker, and enough room for the harem to spread out, which reduces their infighting now that the small trinkets I used to placate them with have lost their power.
bags, You're a good man. The attempts here to vilify you during this election are a stain. Good luck to you, and the people fortunate to work for you.
No stain is sacred!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dVwAFkCUG4
Sheesh, my comment about "whacking bags" was supposed to be a set for Trooper's spike. instead, he got all serious.
Thanks for getting the levity back, MamaM!
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