by Mark Shaw
43 Besides Kilgallen being excited about the book, apparently she was expecting photographers from Twentieth-Century Fox to visit with her regarding a Murder One movie deal on the day she died.
44 At the end of the letter, Kilgallen called Bennett Cerf “as pleasant a slave driver as I have ever known.”
45 As part of a multi-part feature story about Kilgallen in the Journal-American following her death, Louis Sobel reported that producer Joseph E. Levine and Kilgallen met with lawyers on Wednesday, Nov. 3, five days before she died, about legal issues concerning Murder One becoming a television series. This would provide another indication that Kilgallen had no intention of committing suicide since the television negotiations, with apparently a six figure option price on the table, were ongoing. Sobel also noted that Kilgallen had plans to travel to London on November 11, the Wednesday after she died.
46 Curiously, according to researcher Kathryn Fauble, within a month of Kilgallen’s death, Detective Doyle, the father of six children, resigned without a pension from the police force. He left New York City and opened a restaurant near LaGrangeville, New York. Describing a brief interview with Doyle, Fauble told this author he “sounded to us like a tough guy from Brooklyn—Goodfellas style.”
CHAPTER 23
If Dorothy Kilgallen was murdered, what was the killer or killers’ motive for doing so? Did those responsible carry a strong grudge and decide revenge was in order due to something she wrote? Was it personal based on Kilgallen’s actions during the months leading up to her death? Or, did the reporter know too much about important matters, ones threatening exposure of those in her crosshairs requiring her to be silenced?
Any fresh investigation of a cold case 50 years old requires focus on motive. It also requires considering the homicide detectives’ remaining best friends: means, opportunity, and benefit from the crime. Certainly use of these tools would be of much more help in determining how Kilgallen died if the case were considered in a court of law. Then witnesses could appear with proper cross-examination.
With respect to who may have caused Kilgallen’s death, the suspects must include husband Richard Kollmar as well as Frank Sinatra and other celebrities criticized through the years in Kilgallen’s Journal-American columns and articles. Since she was obsessed with the assassinations investigation, those suspected of being involved in JFK’s killing (the CIA, the State Department, the Russians, Cuban dissidents, and President Lyndon Johnson) are suspects. Also of interest are two individuals with much to gain from Kilgallen’s death: FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and New Orleans Mafia Don Carlos Marcello.
While many in the entertainment world mourned Dorothy Kilgallen’s death, many did not. Along the way to her reaching the summit of being the most successful and best-known newspaper columnist of her era, the hard-charging Kilgallen made enemies. Her daily words could be career poison. Some were insulted with a scathing review or being slighted with no mention in the column. Others may have been upset with a curt remark about their private life. Still others objected to an inside story about them they believed crossed the bounds of professionalism. Any one of them could have killed her, or had her killed. Police, or the D.A., if they had investigated Kilgallen’s death at all, could have followed up on any threats. They did not do so.
One celebrity objecting to Kilgallen’s journalist credo was Christina Ford, the second wife of Henry Ford II, chief executive officer of the Ford Motor Company. During his videotaped interview, Marc Sinclaire said Mrs. Ford was incensed with Kilgallen writing about Jackie Kennedy instead of Lady Bird Johnson following Lyndon Johnson being sworn in as president. “Mrs. Henry Ford didn’t like the Kennedy’s, a lot of people did not like the Kennedy’s and wanted them out of office, you have to understand what I am saying,” Sinclaire stated. “She gave me a toy gun once and told me to give it to Dorothy to dry her eyelashes with. And it was a very vulgar gun and if it had been real, it could have blown Dorothy’s head off. I threw it in the trash can. I wouldn’t have taken it to Dorothy.” Sinclaire added he did not think Mrs. Ford had anything to do with Kilgallen’s death but the gun implied Ford believed someone should kill Kilgallen.
Many suspects exist with strong dislike for Kilgallen both on a personal as well as professional level, but chief among those who hated her is singer Frank Sinatra. It was a well-publicized public war. Kilgallen pounded his reputation on a daily basis for months at a time. He struck back.
That Kilgallen and Sinatra’s battle became personal is a given. Kilgallen not only blasted his career and his private life but also his close friendship with members of the Mafia. At one point when Sinatra’s career was languishing, Kilgallen printed his New York City address. When he moved, she printed it again. Sinatra, in turn, had a tombstone with Kilgallen’s name embossed delivered to her office. Whether it was sent in jest or portended of evil intent, was unknown.
In February 1956, Kilgallen, as noted, had infuriated the My Way singer by penning “The Real Frank Sinatra Story” by making fun of his girlfriends and alluding to his Mafia connections.47 In another seething column answering a reader complaint about JFK being friendly with Sinatra, she chastised the singer for being, “a successful tough guy who refers to women as ‘broads’ and gets off airplanes with a drink in his hand…in the true Sinatra fashion, no rules and plenty of booze and girls anywhere you look.”
At a Copacabana appearance in New York City, Sinatra, called by Elvis Presley “a cretinous goon,” hit Kilgallen with a nasty diatribe of his own. As a part of his act, Sinatra told the audience, “Dotty Kilgallen couldn’t be here tonight. She’s out shopping for a new chin.” He then added to laughter and applause, “C’mon, let’s all chip in and buy Dorothy a new chin” before lifting his glass toward the fans. “This is a toast to my enemies,” Sinatra shouted before spitting the whisky to the floor. He then added, “That one was for Dorothy Kilgallen.”48
When friends told Sinatra, the son of a Sicilian-born fireman, he was berating Kilgallen too often, he roared, “I’m not being rough enough.” During a performance at the Sands Hotel, he held up a car key while asking the cheering audience “Doesn’t this look like Dorothy Kilgallen’s profile?” Later, Sinatra, while performing at the Villa Venice outside Chicago with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. said, “I’ve met many, many male finks but I never met a female fink until I met Dorothy Kilgallen. How’s that for an opener? I wouldn’t mind if she was a good-looking fink. The town where she came from had a beauty contest when she was 17 years old and nobody won.”
After Sinatra learned of Kilgallen’s death from his PR man, Jim Mahoney, Sinatra showed little concern. He calmly said, “Dorothy Kilgallen’s dead. Well, guess I got to change my whole act.”
To say that Kilgallen’s enemy had Mafia connections in New York City, and around the country, is an understatement. Sinatra’s close friendships include gangsters Charles “Lucky” Luciano, Sam Giancana, Frank Costello, “Bugsy” Siegel, Mickey Cohen, and Tampa crime boss Santo Trafficante. In 1947, Sinatra had flown to Havana. There he frolicked with all of the heads of the U.S. crime families including Carlos Marcello, Mickey Cohen and others.
FBI reports obtained by this author through the Freedom of Information Act confirmed Sinatra gave Melvin Belli’s client, Mickey Cohen, $20,000 ($150,000 in today’s currency marketplace) following his release from prison. This happened after New Orleans Don Carlos Marcello had also given Cohen cash when the gangster visited him once he was paroled.
Sinatra’s connections to Frank Costello and Mickey Cohen stretched from coast to coast. In California, Sinatra became close friends with Cohen after the gangster assumed control of the L.A. Mafia.
Kilgallen knew all about Belli’s client and close friend Cohen since he was a newspaper favorite. Columnists called him “colorful” and always available for a spicy quote. Cohen had helped Sinatra when the crooner went through difficult times: “I love Frank,�
�� Cohen said, “I have a very great respect for him, and even when he was at his worst, I was his best friend.”
Frank Sinatra’s links to New York City crime boss Frank Costello were widespread. The singer joined the Mafia kingpin ringside for feature boxing matches at Madison Square Garden. Like Belli, whom close friend Milton Hunt told this author was “an unofficial member of the San Mateo [California] mob,” Sinatra enjoyed the mysterious aura of gangster. His association with them made him feel as dangerous as the killers, robbers, and racketeers he admired.
Evidence of Sinatra’s violent temper exists in the number of brawls he engaged in during his career. On many occasions, he was saved from conviction and imprisonment. Crime victims and witnesses suddenly disappeared or dropped charges when paid to do so. One person who witnessed the Sinatra method of dealing with those who crossed him was Kennedy family friend Peter Lawford, married to Patricia Kennedy, JFK’s sister.
Lawford, a member of the infamous “Rat Pack” with Sinatra, boasted of his relationship with the singer. However, a violent argument between the two men happened after Lawford dined with Sinatra’s love interest, Ava Gardner. Lawford said of the crooner, “I was panicked. I mean I was really scared. Frank’s a violent guy and he’s good friends with too many guys who’d rather kill you than say hello.”
If Sinatra wanted to rid himself of his archenemy Kilgallen, his “good friends” in the underworld could have handled the task. Motive was a given since he detested her and he certainly had the means and opportunity to rid the world of the famous reporter. Without doubt, the bitter Sinatra benefited from her death. There was no more Dorothy Kilgallen to badmouth him, his private life, and his Mafia connections.
Whomever Sinatra, whose mother Dolly had said of him, “Yes, my son is like me. You cross him, he never forgets,” directed to kill his enemy could hide the crooner’s involvement so there was no link to the singer. However, proving Sinatra ordered Kilgallen’s death is difficult if not impossible 50 years after she died but he must remain a strong suspect. Perhaps in the future, someone close to the singer will provide evidence that he was complicit in Kilgallen’s demise. If this happens, he will finally be held responsible for silencing his longtime nemesis, the courageous reporter who sought to expose the truth about Sinatra’s diabolical ways.
* * * * *
By all accounts there was no question Kilgallen and husband Richard were at odds in their marriage with the New York Post Daily Magazine reporting in 1960, “[They] go their separate ways for the most part.” Certainly, the marriage was in name only in late 1965. Richard was a ghost of the man he had been when Kilgallen married him, an alcoholic with very little means of making an income. He was a “kept” husband who was depressed, having tumbled from being a successful businessman and Broadway producer, to a lonely man fallen from grace. The Post Daily Magazine called Richard “a muddling amateur” as a producer.
To many, Richard was a laughingstock, a failure, a man with little hope who kept up the pretenses of a happy marriage, one pockmarked with his affairs and being a drunk. Charlotte Manson, a successful radio actress who knew both Kilgallen and her husband, said Richard’s “whoring” was well known. Apparently Richard boasted to Manson of his female conquests at parties she hosted.
After 14 years of marriage, the couple was headed in different directions; Richard was a has-been while Kilgallen was at the top of her profession, in good health, and highly successful. Kilgallen had lost respect for Richard and the marriage—appearing so vibrant during the Edward R. Murrow television interview—had disintegrated. For all practical purposes, it was a sham.
Author Lee Israel, after speaking with Richard’s attorney Edgar Hatfield, discovered Kilgallen’s philandering husband had actually impregnated several women. Hatfield confirmed he worked out financial settlements with many of them. No mention was made of whether any of Richard’s conquests had a child or if Kilgallen knew of the pregnancies.
An additional account of Richard’s dalliances came from pianist Lee Evans who performed at Richard’s Left Bank restaurant. He reported Richard rented a third floor apartment where he met the women. Evans noted none of the affairs was long term but many were one-night stands.
According to Kilgallen, the two rarely met since “Dick works every night except Sunday and I’m out at least four nights a week to cover [Broadway] openings and usual rounds of a columnist.” She also mentioned, “When I’m home and Dick isn’t, I occasionally have friends in. He came home at four a.m. and was very amused to see me let seven men out the front door! We had been playing cards. Just a couple of years ago, I learned to play poker and blackjack.”
Unhappy, Richard spent time at a neighborhood bar and prowled New York City seeking female companionship and understanding of his plight. Both of the nightclubs he had owned, the Left Bank in Manhattan and Paris in the Sky in East Orange, N.J., finally closed. He spent most of his time collecting classic Victrola records, toy banks, and sculpted hands. He mostly quit accompanying Kilgallen on the New York City social scene. When he did go with his wife, he embarrassed her with his drinking. This behavior provided the rationalization for the famous journalist seeing other men, first Johnnie Ray, and then Ron Pataky. In essence, Kilgallen was the famous one; the television star, the respected columnist and the crack investigative reporter. Richard, whom Marc Sinclaire called, as noted, “Mr. Kilgallen,” was a forgotten man.
Key to understanding Richard’s state of mind is hairdresser Marc Sinclaire, the eyewitness come to life in startling videotaped fashion decades after Kilgallen’s death. Sinclaire revealed facts about Richard, portraying him as a desperate man threatened by actions his wife intended to take shortly before she died. If Kilgallen had succeeded, Richard would have been in even more dire straits than before or at least he believed he would be.
The starting point is to note the shocking statement Kilgallen’s mother Mae made at her daughter’s funeral after she and Richard posed for a photograph appearing in the Journal-American. Glancing at the photo, Sinclaire, during his videotaped interview, said, “They [Mae and Richard] had a big fight. It says down at the bottom of [the newspaper page] that they are fighting and [Mae’s] pointing a finger at Richard and said ‘You killed my daughter and I will prove it’ and Jim Kilgallen took her away.”
Marc Sinclaire points at Journal-American page chronicling Mae Kilgallen/Richard Kollmar confrontation.
By all accounts, no one, not the police or the District Attorney, ever investigated Mae’s claim. To them, the bold accusation was simply that of a grieving mother looking to blame someone and poor Richard was caught in her crosshairs.
In no publication to date, has Mae’s accusation been given credence. That is, until now triggering two significant questions: Was Mae right—did Richard kill his wife? And if so, why?
Based on credible accounts, at the center of the rough edges of the Kilgallen/Kollmar marriage was singer Johnnie Ray. With Richard leading his own private life amongst a boatload of beauties, Kilgallen had become “smitten” with the rock and roll singer. Exactly when the romance finally produced sexual fireworks appears to be in question, but the extent of the sexual explosion was not.
Lee Israel, based on interviews with Johnnie Ray, believed Kilgallen was deeply in love with Ray, and the sexual nature of the relationship was torrid since Kilgallen and Richard had not had sex in several years. Kilgallen’s friend Jean Bach backed up this comment using nearly the same words Israel noted stating, “Dorothy was terribly in love with Johnnie. Anything that he introduced was interesting to her. She was on cloud nine because it was all so perfect.”
One indication of Kilgallen’s true love for Ray, who sent Kilgallen lavender roses from time to time, was her gifts to him from expensive stores like Bergdorf’s and Cartier. Recall Ray’s manager Alan Eichler stating there was a “genuine love affair, sexual in nature.” Ray’s biographer Jonny Whiteside said that one guest at Ra
y’s “63rd Street” parties told Whiteside, “[Kilgallen] drug [Ray] out of the living room into the den, in which there happened to be a long leather couch. We would sit in the living room and listen to all the activity that was going on in the den. It was lust out of control...”
Apparently, Kilgallen did little to keep secret her relationship with Ray from Richard or anyone else. The couple was seen necking in a corner booth at P.J. Clarke’s. A television columnist reported seeing the two kissing at both El Morocco and the Stork Club.
As the continuing love affair was thrown in Richard’s face, he must have been embarrassed beyond imagination. He was terribly unhappy while she pranced around New York City having replaced Richard not with a heterosexual but instead a known bisexual. One may only imagine the jealousy and rage boiling up inside Richard and finally that jealousy and rage boiled over during an early 1960 confrontation.
It happened after Kilgallen and Ray appeared together one evening at Richard’s Left Bank nightclub, and “necked.” When the bartender confronted Richard and asked him what he was going to do, Richard simply ordered another drink despite being humiliated.
At the couple’s townhouse, Richard, drunk, apparently caught Ray and Kilgallen fondling each other in the Black Room and a screaming match ensued. Richard threatened to kill the singer if he ever saw the two together again. Ray defended Kilgallen and said it was her choice. Kilgallen reportedly told her husband she wanted to leave with Ray who told Israel, “I thought very fast. I knew that if she were to walk out—and she was ready—everything would collapse for her.” Ray then explained that Kilgallen would lose the television show, the newspaper column, all that she had worked for if there was a scandal, but that Kilgallen didn’t care. Apparently, Ray reasoned for both of them and said to Israel, “And I thought about Kerry. I told her, ‘I’m gonna have to walk out and leave you here.’”