Crypt 33: The Saga of Marilyn Monroe - The Final Word

L.A. private investigators Gregory and Speriglio recount anew the almost mythic tale of Marilyn Monroe's rise to stardom, her marriages and affairs. The familiar story is well and sympathetically told, with the addition of contentions about her liaisons with John and Robert Kennedy. But readers will take special notice of the arguments that the actress was murdered. The authors claim to have identified the friend (Johnny Roselli) who, visiting her on the evening of Aug. 4, 1962, knowingly opened her door to the Chicago hit men sent by Mafia chief Sam Giancana. Monroe had to be silenced, according to the authors, because, stung by her rejections by the President and the Attorney General, she had threatened to publicize her affairs with both and to reveal that RFK had leaked security secrets to her (e.g., that the Mafia and the CIA together planned to assassinate Castro). The authors discuss photos they vaguely maintain ``were released to the press'' of JFK and Monroe having sex. (Although PW has not seen the book's pictures, we're told that these are not included). The authors also allege that a tape recording was made of the murder. Speriglio and Gregory are fluent, convincing writers, but their most damning charges--for example, that JFK and his father complied with Monroe's killing--smack of gratuitously savage hearsay. (Aug.)