This is one of those books that I had to finish quickly. I stayed up late for several nights in a row. It is about the 1958 Johnny Stompanato murder at the hands of either Lana Turner or her daughter Cheryl Crane.
This famous murder case has so many interesting facets. Was it really Cheryl or did her famous mother Lana Turner kill him? How much cover up did the legendary attorney do prior to notifying the police? Stompanato’s association with the mafia and his partnersip with the infamous Mickey Cohen makes the story even more juicy.
The murder happened before my time but has alwys intrigued me. I aways thought that Cheryl Crane killed him but this book addresses why Lana Turner most likely killed him. Stompanato was a brutal thug who was an enforcer for the notorious Mickey Cohen. Cohen eventually ended up in Alcatraz.
Sherman goes into detail regarding Turner’s tough early years. Apparently, she slept with many of her male costars and other famous men, including the notorious mobster Bugsy Siegel. The Howard Hughes and Joan Crawford tidbits are especially entertaining.
She appears to have been an unfit mother who exposed her daughter to a sordid life filled with a series of vile boyfriends and husbands – including one who sexually abused Cheryl for two years. It is difficult to feel empathy for Turner – not doing a better job of protecting her daughter and letting her take the blame for Stompanto’s murder.
Turner hired the most definitive powerhouse Hollywood attorney of the time to handle Cheryl’s defense – Jerry Giesler. Other famous cases he handled include: Errol Flynn, Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe and Bugsy Siegel. Supposedly, Siegel had once told Turner to hire Giesel if she ever got into trouble. Interestingly, in his tell all book, Giesler omits the Lana Turner case from his memoir.
NO time for boredom today 