Authors: Adela Gregory
Crypt 33 (36 page)
Source after source gave testimony, confirming this statement. How could the District Attorney's Office be considered responsible if they didn't respond to a major charge in the facts of a case and further investigate. Eunice Murray had lied initially, and a responsible investigation should have alarmed the district attorney that facts had been altered; key evidence was unraveling in the details of Monroe's death. Perjury is not only punishable by law but the perjurer is usually discredited.
Chief Daryl Gates of the LAPD was asked to release what he called the “police report of Marilyn's death.” In September 1985, just days before the scheduled airing of
20/20's
report, Gates held a news conference. He said he would charge the media $12.50 per copy for the “report.” It was not the “lost” official police report he had claimed; instead the documents were findings of records gathered by the late Thad Brown, chief of detectives. Many of the documents and all of the photographs from Brown's personal files were not included. The media were disappointed.
20/20's
report, Gates held a news conference. He said he would charge the media $12.50 per copy for the “report.” It was not the “lost” official police report he had claimed; instead the documents were findings of records gathered by the late Thad Brown, chief of detectives. Many of the documents and all of the photographs from Brown's personal files were not included. The media were disappointed.
TV Guide
announced the
20/20
air date, and news reporters mentioned the TV special. The program would have topped the ratings chart that night. But without mentioning cancellation of the half-hour segment, it was preempted by a special report on the 1985 Mexican earthquake. The tremor was not earthshaking any longer, it was already considered old news, reported over and over by the networks. This gave ABC time to determine what, if anything, would be reported about Marilyn's death.
announced the
20/20
air date, and news reporters mentioned the TV special. The program would have topped the ratings chart that night. But without mentioning cancellation of the half-hour segment, it was preempted by a special report on the 1985 Mexican earthquake. The tremor was not earthshaking any longer, it was already considered old news, reported over and over by the networks. This gave ABC time to determine what, if anything, would be reported about Marilyn's death.
In New York, ABC-TV editors began to cut the story; the original edited twenty-eight minutes would be chopped to twelve if Arledge approved. He watched the film's original seven hours of raw footage. “Cut it more,” he ordered. The final cut left six minutes of air time, just one short segment. There was never a question of its being approved by the network's legal department.
Once again ABC announced that the Marilyn Monroe segment would air. From New York, two hours before the scheduled broadcast of the then very condensed version, Stanhope Gould called. “The bastards killed the story,” the furious producer reported. “They told all of us not to talk to the pressâABC put us on a paid three-week vacation.” Had Roone Arledge succumbed to pressures from LAPD, the D.A.'s office or the Kennedys?
The network's cover-up would not be forgotten.
People
magazine quickly printed a major expose. All key members of the staff had watched the raw footage and all three of the edited versions.
People
quoted a
20/20
anchorman saying it was the best report done on television since Watergate. The most outspoken reporter was Geraldo Rivera. He went on record saying, “If a politician pulled such a power play [cover-up] ABC News would have been all over the story.”
People
magazine quickly printed a major expose. All key members of the staff had watched the raw footage and all three of the edited versions.
People
quoted a
20/20
anchorman saying it was the best report done on television since Watergate. The most outspoken reporter was Geraldo Rivera. He went on record saying, “If a politician pulled such a power play [cover-up] ABC News would have been all over the story.”
A local free paper, the
Los Angeles Weekly,
with a large circulation in the southern California area, ran a brief column in its November 1, 1985, edition, entitled “Incensed Censor,” about ABC TV's censorship of the Monroe story. The paper stated, “An absolutely reliable ABC source told the
Weekly
Arledge called in Rivera immediately after the
People
magazine article came out to tell him his career with ABC was over.” Years later, Geraldo confirmed to Speriglio that he was terminated by ABC.
Los Angeles Weekly,
with a large circulation in the southern California area, ran a brief column in its November 1, 1985, edition, entitled “Incensed Censor,” about ABC TV's censorship of the Monroe story. The paper stated, “An absolutely reliable ABC source told the
Weekly
Arledge called in Rivera immediately after the
People
magazine article came out to tell him his career with ABC was over.” Years later, Geraldo confirmed to Speriglio that he was terminated by ABC.
But this
Los Angeles Weekly
edition was to also have an in-depth story, listed as a major feature: “The Marilyn Monroe FileâStill Missing After All These Years.” The byline credit was given to Jordon E. Cohn, and the story was to appear on page 28. When the paper appeared on the stands the article was missing, and only paid advertisements appeared on page 28. No explanation was given to the readers.
Los Angeles Weekly
edition was to also have an in-depth story, listed as a major feature: “The Marilyn Monroe FileâStill Missing After All These Years.” The byline credit was given to Jordon E. Cohn, and the story was to appear on page 28. When the paper appeared on the stands the article was missing, and only paid advertisements appeared on page 28. No explanation was given to the readers.
28
The Cover-up Continues
T
wenty years after the death of Marilyn Monroe, with more evidence uncovered, another grand jury investigation was prompted. Grand juries operate behind closed doors and wield extraordinary powers to subpoena and indict. A grand jury consists of a panel of eighteen lay persons selected by a pool of judges with the objective to carry out justice. A district attorney is overseer of the grand jury and obviously must be impartial and not part of any cover-up. Unfortunately this requirement had stymied every effort to form a grand jury indictment.
wenty years after the death of Marilyn Monroe, with more evidence uncovered, another grand jury investigation was prompted. Grand juries operate behind closed doors and wield extraordinary powers to subpoena and indict. A grand jury consists of a panel of eighteen lay persons selected by a pool of judges with the objective to carry out justice. A district attorney is overseer of the grand jury and obviously must be impartial and not part of any cover-up. Unfortunately this requirement had stymied every effort to form a grand jury indictment.
The district attorney's 1982 report discredits key witnesses such as the acting Los Angeles Police Department watch commander and deputy coroner's aide who called Marilyn's death a murder. The report did admit the police department seized Marilyn's phone records, something denied by the authorities for two decades. Admission was made of calls to the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., headquarters for Bobby Kennedy.
The then district attorney, John Van de Kamp, stated: “We received a tape recording of an informant, associate of wiretapper Bernard Spindelâit was in reference to a secret Hoffa room bug in Marilyn's house the night she died. The District Attorney was provided with the tape and transcript by Nick Harris detectives. The informant said an unidentified voice on the tape asked, “What do we do with the body now?”
At the same time the names of a prominent Washington, D.C., attorney and other persons were given to the district attorney by Speriglio, whose informant stated these persons had copies of the entire Monroe bugging tapes. The district attorney made no effort to obtain this evidence.
Van de Kamp, a staunch Democrat and Kennedy admirer and a man who still belived in the “Camelot myth,” concluded: “We examined documents and witnessed statements without any preconceptions, bias or prejudice.” The district attorney added, “However, as the various allegations were subjected to detailed examination and as the scenario of Marilyn Monroe's death was fitted into place, we were drawn to the conclusion that the homicide hypothesis must be viewed with extreme skepticism. ”
News of the “official” public investigative report was not making front pages anymore. On Friday, December 29, 1982, just four days after Christmas and three days prior to New Year's Eve, the district attorney made his findings known. The time was purposely selected to avoid major press notice during the holiday period.
It was difficult to cover up the massive information assembled during the probe, even after discrediting some witnesses and evidence. From a quick reading of the district attorney's two-page press cover, as the media did, it appeared the second paragraph summed it up: “Based upon the evidence available to us, it appears her death could have been suicide or come as a result of an accidental drug overdose.” Reporters around the globe hastened to release the “findings” while preparing for the holiday.
Examining in more detail the twenty-nine-page report which followed, something not reported by most of the press, one saw a disclaimer that reveals what actually was discovered during the limited probe: “We conclude that there are insufficient facts to warrant opening a criminal investigation into the death of Marilyn Monroe, although factual discrepancies exist and unanswered questions surfaced in our probe.”
In 1982, John Van De Kamp explained to the press, “The District Attorney's review has been undertaken since there had been no District Attorney investigation or full-scale case review in 1962.”
Frank Hronek, a special criminal investigator in the District Attorney's Office in 1962, conducted an extensive probe into the death of Marilyn Monroe. He reported to his superiors that she had affiliations with organized-crime members, among them Giancana and Roselli, that the Mafia was probably involved in her death. with some CIA intervention, and that the Los Angeles Police Department was part of a cover-up. What he wrote in detail was never revealed. “We have no record or file of any investigation conducted by Hronek,” the District Attorney's Office countered. While not making it official, D.A. investigator Hronek told relatives he suspected Marilyn had been murdered by organized-crime figures.
While Marilyn's autopsy was in process, coroner's aide Lionel Grandison had sent a staff member to Marilyn's house to search for her address book. A red book was brought back, and Grandison looked through it to find a next-of-kin's phone number. However, the volume turned out not to be a phonebook but a diary which, twenty years later, would receive worldwide public notice. Grandison placed it in a property locker-safe, which also contained a crumpled note. The paper was discovered by a police officer, but its contents were never made known. Grandison swears the diary and note were stolen after the autopsy from the locker to which Dr. Curphy and other officials had access. “Other property, some jewelry and items of clothing were also stolen,” Grandison claimed. The latter may have been taken as mementos.
During the 1982 district attorney's investigation, twenty years after Marilyn Monroe's death, the issue of her property was raised. “No property was recovered from the victim,” District Attorney John Van de Kamp insisted. The publicity-seeking district attorney, who went on to become California's attorney general, made a concession. “The property report in our possession is a photocopy of the original,” he said, adding, “so it is impossible to state categorically that it has not been surreptitiously altered to reflect the failure to recover property.”
When Dr. Thomas Noguchi was interviewed by the district attorney during the 1982 investigation, he went on record saying, “I saw no such item [red diary] as part of the Monroe property.” From these two statements, we must wonder who is right. The district attorney said there was no property, Noguchi said there was [some] property.
Increasing public pressure fell upon local politicians. County supervisor Mike Antonovich was given the facts. Rather than a grand jury inquiry, on October 8, 1985, Antonovich called for an investigation into Marilyn's death. His request was approved by all members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the same board that demoted Dr. Noguchi. The investigation was put in the hands of the new county district attorney, Ira Reiner. The ball was in his court, taking the heat off the Board of Supervisors. But, like his predecessor, the district attorney wanted no part of the investigation. Though he was ordered to investigate the facts and allegations surrounding Marilyn's death, in defiance of the Board of Supervisors, Reiner proclaimed the probe was just a “review” and a “threshold investigation.”
In July 1985, Sam Cordova had been elected foreman of the Los Angeles County Grand Jury. The respected fifty-six-year-old businessman was selected as one of six members to serve on its investigation committee. Cordova accepted his appointment, leaving behind his profitable business endeavors.
The Los Angeles County's Grand Jury investigation committee began its preliminary probe into Marilyn's death. Cordova soon told the media that all committee members had signed an order calling for the first ever grand jury investigation into the actress's demise. His announcement infuriated Ira Reiner.
The grand jury foreman suspected that Monroe had been murdered. His investigation might have caused the cover-up to fall apart. Before the media could learn of the grand jury's intentions, judicial adviser and supervising criminal judge Robert Deuich, who had an excellent working relationship with Cordova, was advised of its decision.
October 28, 1985, was black Monday for Cordova. The honorable Judge Deuich terminated the grand jury foreman, a step never before taken in the history of Los Angeles County. Like the deputy coroner's aide, Lionel Grandison, Sam Cordova would be removed from office and effectively gagged because he had questioned the “official” report of Marilyn's death. Cordova's dismissal, many consider, was at the direction of the district attorney. Immediately after Judge Deuich fired Cordova, the judge went on a two-week holiday to an undisclosed location, conveniently unavailable to answer any further questions.
Shortly before the eleven o'clock news on October 30, just two days after the grand jury foreman was fired, KABC, the Los Angeles ABC network station, broke in with a promotion. Anchorman Paul Moyer announced there would be a surprising new development about Marilyn Monroe's death. As the late evening newscast unfolded, Dr. Thomas Noguchi was on camera. He had lived in America for thirty-three years, but his command of the English language was limited. This is an exact quote of the coroner's televised statement: “She had a bruise in the back, or hip, that had never been fully explained. We did not look for corroborating evidence, and further I saved the specimens, but before we had the chance to study the stomach contents, the contents of the intestines specimen were no longer available.”
Moyer was overwhelmed and the medical examiner continued, [sic] “I wish we had the tissue, it might give an indication today that we have something to hide.”
The assigned reporter from San Diego, Paul Dandridge, asked a direct question, “Was Marilyn murdered?”
Noguchi responded, “Could be.”
Â
A still defiant Ira Reiner responded on November 7, 1985, to Noguchi's recent admission of possible foul play, the Board of Supervisors' demands for another investigation, and to the recently dismissed foreman of the Los Angeles County Grand Jury: “For this office to approach the Criminal Justice Committee of the Grand Jury with a request for an investigation into the death of Ms. Monroe, we would first need to have sufficient cause to believe that a crime has been committed under the California Statute of Limitations. Murder, of course, is not barred by the statute of limitations; however, no evidence, new or old, has been brought to our attention which would support a reasonable belief or even a bare suspicion that Monroe was murdered.”
Ira Reiner backed out of a new probe into Monroe's death, even though more evidence was presented and witnesses uncovered. “As public prosecutors we cannot support a Grand Jury investigation concerning matters of historical interest by artificially cloaking them in the guise of a criminal inquiry.” His response was not challenged by the county, but it is nevertheless questionable. The district attorney was not interested in newly exposed changes in the facts, which could act to implicate that office even further.
Throughout the years, the District Attorney's Office has claimed there is no evidence of foul play in the death of Marilyn Monroe. On April 25, 1986, under the Freedom of Information Act, public release of the district attorney's files was again demanded. Richard W Hecht, Director of the Bureau of Central Operations, under the direction of District Attorney Reiner, referred the request to his assistant director, Dan Murphy. For reasons unexplained, the District Attorney's Office denied the request and refused to release its “investigation” file.
The time will come.
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