People, August 10, 1992

ONE DEATH, MANY THEORIES

Marilyn Monroe committed suicide. The Mafia murdered her for revenge on the Kennedys. It was the Communists; no, it was her shrink; or was it Colonel Mustard with the lead pipe in the conservatory? For every theory there seems to be a theorist claiming to have solved the riddle of the actress's death. Here are some samples:

The mob did it, because they were mad at the Kennedys -- says Chuck Giancana, younger brother of mob boss Sam Giancana, in the 1992 best-seller Double Cross. Giancana Sr. had expected JFK's allegiance because the mobster had once saved Joe Kennedy Sr. from a hit during Prohibition days. Instead, Robert Kennedy went gunning for organized crime. Giancana had Marilyn killed to embarrass RFK, but Bobby Kennedy foiled that plan by removing compromising evidence.

Robert Kennedy, aided by agents of the Secret Service and CIA -- says Robert Slatzer, in his soon-to-be-published book, The Marilyn Files. "No, he didn't apply the final touch -- that fatal dose of Nembutal. But like the general he was, he gave the command."

The mob, and a mystery guest -- according to Crypt 33, due this fall, by Milo Speriglio, a private detective who has been investigating the case for the last 19 years."She was murdered by the Mafia," says Speriglio, "and there is a Kennedy connection, but it is neither Bobby nor John."

The Communists -- said right-wing journalist Frank Capell in The Strange Death of Marilyn Monroe (1964). Capell, a self-described dedicated anti-Communist, theorized that the Reds killed Monroe -- possibly acting on orders from RFK.

Monroe's psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson -- says James Hall, who claimed to be an ambulance driver on the scene, as quoted in James Spada's Peter Lawford: The Man Who Kept the Secrets, currently out in paperback. "Just as Marilyn started coming around, the doctor arrived. . . . I believe it was Dr. Greenson. He . . . pushed her breast to one side and gave her an injection."

The child she once was -- says author Lucy Freeman, in the just published Why Norma Jean Killed Marilyn Monroe, "She had an absolutely horrible childhood, no father, no mother. She never thought anyone loved her."

The mob, on orders from the Kennedys -- so goes the story in The Murder of Marilyn Monroe, due in bookstores this week. At the very least, the authors, four psychics, get special credit for creativity. They claim to have conducted seances in which they interviewed JFK, RFK and Marilyn.

Suicide -- stated the official 1962 Los Angeles County Coroner's report.