Marilyn Monroe’s death has been debated for more than six decades. Officially, the screen icon was found dead on Aug. 5, 1962, and her death was ruled a “probable suicide.” Pills were part of the story, and for years, that explanation has been the one that stuck.
But a new claim is ripping that narrative back open — and insisting the truth is far darker.
In a new book, Mafia Secrets: Untold Tales from the Hollywood Godfather, actor Gianni Russo (who later appeared in The Godfather) alleges Monroe wasn’t a troubled star who took her own life. He claims she was silenced.
The core of Russo’s story is blunt: Monroe had become “dangerous” to powerful people and was no longer willing to play quiet.
According to Russo, Monroe was furious in the summer of 1962 and was allegedly talking openly about a relationship with Robert F. Kennedy. He also claims she was discussing pregnancy, pressure, and an abortion — and that she was threatening a tell-all press conference that could publicly humiliate the Kennedy family.
In Russo’s telling, that looming press conference was the breaking point.
The book claims RFK and actor Peter Lawford went to Monroe’s Brentwood home on the night of Aug. 4, 1962, to stop her from going public. Russo says they pleaded, argued, and warned her — and that she refused to back down and told them to leave.
That’s when, according to Russo’s account, a separate decision was made.
Russo cites a man named Joe DeCarlo — described as a well-connected nightclub owner — who allegedly told him the situation was “handled.”
And “handled,” the book suggests, meant a death that wouldn’t look like murder.
No obvious violence. No dramatic scene. No clear forensic giveaway. Just a version of events the public would accept.
Russo’s account then turns chilling: he claims Monroe was on the phone with a friend named Louise when intruders allegedly entered through a window. The call, he says, wasn’t disconnected. The friend allegedly heard Monroe cry out and say names, followed by sounds of a struggle — and then silence.
From there, the book points to an overdose scenario that wasn’t a typical swallowing-pills story. Russo echoes claims that Monroe was subdued, and that drugs were administered in a way designed to leave minimal visible evidence.
The story also leans on an alleged medical detail: that the coroner noted discoloration in Monroe’s lower colon, which Russo frames as suspicious and inconsistent with a standard suicide narrative.
Then comes the part that reads like a warning straight out of a noir movie.
Russo claims the FBI questioned “Louise,” but she refused to identify the men she allegedly heard that night — saying she couldn’t do it if she wanted her family to live.
Russo adds another ominous detail: he says mob boss Frank Costello had warned him Monroe was “talking too much,” and that certain people had too much to lose.
To be clear, these are allegations presented in Russo’s book and repeated in tabloid-style reporting — not proven facts, and not an official determination replacing the 1962 ruling.
Still, the claim taps into the reason the Monroe mystery refuses to die: the contradictions, the rumors, and the nagging question of whether America’s most famous blonde was a tragic casualty of addiction… or a scandal powerful men couldn’t afford to survive.
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