Silver Screen Stabbing: Did a Starlet Cover Up a Gangster's Murder?

A sea of paparazzi swelled around Lana Turner's mansion. And LA police chief Clinton Anderson was right in the thick of it. The chief was probably annoyed he wasn't the first one there, but it's to be expected for a Hollywood legend's house besides, he had bigger fish to fry. Someone had been murdered. To make matters worse, it wasn't Lana that let the police chief inside, but her lawyer and a celebrity fixer, experts in covering up the crimes of the rich and famous. Chief Anderson was outraged. From here on out, he knew that anything he saw had to be taken with a grain of salt. And what did he see? Lana Turner's mobster boyfriend dead on her bedroom floor, fatally stabbed. In the killer, Lana's teenage daughter. But as chief Anderson learned later, the fingerprints on the murder weapon were smudged off. Thus the victim was killed by some accounts, two hours before chief Anderson arrived. Chief Anderson likely looked at the movie star, the daughter and the fixer's wondering, are they telling the truth? Or are they protecting someone? Welcome to Conspiracy Theory's A Spotify Podcast. I'm Carter Roy. New episodes come out every Wednesday. We'd love to hear from you. So if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts or check us out on Instagram @TheConspiracyPod. This episode contains discussions of murder, intimate partner violence, child abuse, abortion and sexual assault. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. To get help on mental health and domestic violence, visit spotify.com/resources. Stay with us. You've reached tell me a ghost story. Get this woman just really disappeared. A podcast featuring true ghost stories from collars just like you. And I turned my flashlight around and I couldn't see anything. I suddenly felt this present. All I know is the light you're staying on when I sleep. I'm your host, Michelle Newman. Follow and tune in wherever you get your podcasts. And tell me a ghost story. I'm Leah Owens, professional crime analyst by day and host of the podcast Last Scene Alive by Night. Last Scene Alive is a podcast focused on little known, unsolved and underreported upon homicide and missing persons cases, all potentially just one tip away from an investigative breakthrough. My co-host Scott and I are on a mission to give these cases the public attention and thoughtful storytelling they deserve. So join us as we explore the compelling unsolved cases you've never heard of every week. Last Scene Alive is available wherever you listen to podcasts. March 26, 1958. The 30th Academy Awards in Hollywood. Just like today, the Oscars were filled with glitz and glam, stars sparkling on black and white TVs across America, legendary western cowboy John Wayne. An ounce that Joanne Woodward had won for Best Actress. She couldn't help but run to the stage to accept her win. Watching her in the audience that night was one of the other best actress nominees. Old Hollywood legend Lana Turner. For the last 20 years, she climbed her way up in the movie biz, becoming the era's number one femme fatale. From her beginnings at age 16 to her star turn in the 1946 classic The Postman Always Rings Twice, she was always recognized for her beauty. And not just in the US. Eva Peron, the first lady of Argentina, modeled herself after Lana, copying her makeup and fashion. And speaking of Lana's good looks traveling the world, her pin-up poster was a staple for World War II soldiers abroad. They loved her after she offered a kiss to anyone that bought $50,000 in war bonds. That's about $995,000 today. What a kiss. She raised millions for the US defense budget. And now, Lana's career had reached a pinnacle. Tonight was her first Oscar nomination. While she didn't win, she stopped Lana from shining in a strapless, mermaid dress, especially in the eyes of her date. Her 14-year-old daughter, Cheryl Crane. Lana was absent for much of Cheryl's childhood. Handing the girl off to nannies and grandparents, Cheryl felt like she had to fight for her mother's attention, leading to a tumultuous relationship. However, thanks to a recent trip to London, they were on the upswing. The happy times allowed Cheryl to be in awe of her mother. Her radiance, her poise, her command of the room. Cheryl wanted to give her mother an excited, affectionate kiss that night. But, Cheryl knew better. You never risk messing up the Lana Turner's hair and makeup. She wasn't the only one in awe of Lana. That night, Sean Connery whispered into Cheryl's ear. That's what I call a star. But, not everyone that evening looked at Lana with admiration. When the mother and daughter arrived at their hotel suite after the awards, Lana stepped into her separate bedroom. She turned on the light and found a tall, frightening figure sitting on the lounge chair waiting for her. It was Lana's boyfriend, Johnny Stomponato. A handsome man with dark hair and a marine core physique. People around L.A. knew him as Mickey Cohen's bodyguard. But Lana knew him as the boyfriend she couldn't leave. No one knew that Johnny regularly beat Lana. In the year they'd been dating, he'd threatened her life, her beauty, and even her family. He once told Lana that if she ever left him, he'd have Cheryl kidnapped or killed. Who knows how long Johnny waited in the hotel room that night, stewing in his anger. Lana knew an argument was coming just by the furious look in his eye. She also knew that Cheryl would be able to hear them from her room. At this point, Cheryl was oblivious to the abuse. She actually liked Johnny. Lana wanted it to stay that way. She tried to quell the fuming mobster. They'll talk tomorrow. She was tired from the festivities. She needed to go to bed and so on. And while she hid her shaking hands, she then told Johnny. And it was time for him to go home. His response was a slap to the face, followed by fists. At one point, the back of Lana's head slammed into the wall. It left her face swollen and her mind rattled and groggy. When the ram page ended, Johnny forced Lana into bed where they both lay awake for the rest of the night. And in the other room, Cheryl was hearing the abuse for the first time. As we mentioned, Cheryl liked Johnny. She appreciated that he didn't try to impress her like many of Lana's flings did. And more importantly, he had a horse. Cheryl was a horse girl, so that was all she needed to hear. However, after the Oscar night, assault, the facade was broken. About a week later, Cheryl heard the couple arguing again. After Lana convinced Johnny to leave, Cheryl finally asked her mother what was going on. Lana came clean. Cheryl insisted that Lana leave Johnny or call the police. However, Lana feared the publicity that would come with the police report. It wasn't just a fear of embarrassment. In this era of Hollywood, the press had an intense amount of control over an actress's career. So did the movie studios, who had all of their stars sign morality clauses. If the press caught wind of a star doing anything that the public could deem immoral and God forbid, make them not want to see their movie, the studio immediately fired them. These clauses gave studios complete control over an actor's life. Even if a studio didn't like who you were dating, they could take you off a film and maybe even blacklist you. Lana had already felt the morality clause in action. and Cheryl's father, Steve Crane. were separated when Lana found out she was pregnant with Cheryl. However, the studio was afraid that a child out of wedlock could ruin Lana's box office numbers. So they insisted that she remarry Steve, or she'd never work again. Steve and Lana remarried, then divorced again about a year later. But that wasn't even the worst of it. You see, Lana was married before Steve and in a similar situation, learned she was pregnant after her divorce. This time, the studio forced Lana to have an illegal abortion. They hired a back alley doctor to terminate the pregnancy without anesthesia. And they took the doctor's fee out of Lana's paycheck. So it's no wonder Lana was afraid of bad press. However, her autobiography implies that things changed once Cheryl knew about the abuse. Lana saw how a afraid Cheryl looked when she learned the truth about Johnny. Cheryl seemed more afraid for Lana than for herself. And perhaps her daughter's fear of Johnny made her reconsider. Lana caught Johnny in a lie, one that snowballed into an infamous night. April 4, 1958. There are many different narratives, takes and interpretations, but we'll start with the official story taken largely from Cheryl's autobiography. That afternoon, one of Lana's friends told her he went to school with Johnny. Lana thought this was odd since Johnny was 43 and the friend was much younger. Well as the friend revealed, Johnny was actually 33 years old, five years younger than Lana. He'd lied to her. This was the last straw. Lana told Cheryl she'd end it with Johnny that night. But she also warned her daughter. She needed to be prepared for whatever happened. Quote, "It won't be pleasant." Remember, Johnny had threatened Lana and her family's lives multiple times. And he was a mob bodyguard. Those threats were serious. Still, Lana canceled her and Johnny's plans to see a movie that night. Johnny came over to Lana's house, yelling and cursing at her for cancelling. She'll heard the shouting through her bedroom door over the TV that she tried to focus on instead. They argued for an hour before Cheryl overheard Johnny saying, "You're not getting rid of me that easy. I'll cut you up first." Alarmed, Cheryl rushed from her room. She saw Johnny following Lana up the stairs. While Cheryl had heard Johnny's Oscar night tie-rate through the walls, seeing his rage in the flesh was different. Beyond terrifying. Her autobiography notes that Johnny's neck vein stood out and his hands at his sides clenched and writhed like a snake's tail in death. To protect her daughter, Lana led Johnny into her own bedroom, but Cheryl could still hear the fighting through the walls. Johnny threatened again, telling Lana he'd always find her. He'd cut up her face so she'd never work again. He'd attack Cheryl too. Panic raced through Cheryl's veins. She needed to stop this. To call 911. But that would end up in the papers and make everything worse. She ran into the kitchen and grabbed a butcher knife, hoping to scare Johnny out of the house. Cheryl went back upstairs, standing in front of the closed door to Lana's bedroom. Johnny threatened to kill Lana again and again. Cheryl pounded on the door, begging to be let in, begging to talk to them. She pleaded with Johnny through the door to stop cursing and threatening her mother. She gripped the knife in her hand. Lana told Johnny to leave one more time and whip the door open. Behind her mother, Cheryl saw Johnny. His hand raised high, holding something. A weapon, a gun, Cheryl described a split-second impulse that sent her hand forward with the knife, right as Johnny approached her. As Cheryl put it, "For three ghastly heartbeats, her and Johnny's bodies fused." Johnny uttered his final words. "My God, Cheryl. What have you done?" He walked backwards. Cheryl's eyes never left his until she noticed the bloody knife still in her hands. Cheryl had just stabbed Johnny. The blade punctured his kidney into his vertebra and aorta. Horrified, Cheryl screamed, dropped the knife and ran into her room. She feared Johnny would come after her. What all that came was Lana's repeated screams for Cheryl's help. Cheryl fearfully tipped out back into Lana's room where Johnny still gasped for life. Lana was on the floor giving Johnny CPR. A realization sinking in, Cheryl ran back into her room, trembling and sobbing. She called her father for help. Meanwhile, Lana called a doctor. Soon Cheryl's father, Lana's mother, the doctor and a lawyer all arrived at the scene. Both Lana's mother and the doctor tried to resuscitate Johnny to no avail. Finally, anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours after the stabbing, depending on your source, they called the police. And with the police, came Lana's greatest fear, the media. And Papa Razzzo even talked his way into the house, standing with the cops in the bedroom crime scene. Soon the whole world would know Lana Turner's mobster boyfriend was dead killed by her teenage daughter. Within days, the state charged Cheryl with murder. All eyes were on the corner's inquest. Lana basically a trial, think the old Hollywood equivalent of the Johnny Depp and Amber Herd trial, or maybe more appropriately the OJ trial. Lana's testimony aired live on ABC. Audiences at home saw Lana detail, Johnny's abuse. She also revealed to the world that Johnny was actually on his way out of the house when Cheryl killed him. I remember how Cheryl saw his hand raised above her mother, possibly with a weapon. He was actually holding a close hanger raised high so its suit jacket and shirt wouldn't drag on the floor. He'd finally listen to Lana, the detail racked Cheryl with guilt. Cheryl never appeared on the stand. Her lawyer convinced the judge that she had gone through enough already. Following her police statement to the jury would be sufficient enough testimony. It was taken in the police station right after the murder and detailed how she stabbed Johnny to protect Lana. And despite Cheryl's absence and the close hanger detail, the jury ruled that the killing was a justifiable homicide. Cheryl would not be sent to prison or thankfully to death. So Cheryl's life would not be easy from here. The court ordered that she move in with her grandmother and when threats of revenge came in from the mob, the police stationed an officer outside at all times. Cheryl felt constantly judged. Being gossiped about as a teenager is hard. Imagine if it was about you being a murderer. One of the running jokes around school was that Cheryl was in charge of the cafeteria's knives. As the years passed, Cheryl struggled to find her place in the world. She spent time in institutions and psychiatric hospitals. Meanwhile, Lana's career stalled. Movie offers were dropped thanks to the scandal. However, she'd eventually become top of the call. She'd again in a Nod niche, playing mothers who had tumultuous relationships with their daughters. At first of these films, ironically called "Imitation of Life" became her career's biggest box office success. And eventually, Cheryl too found her footing again. As an adult, she thrived in her father's hospitality business, moved to Hawaii and in 2014, married her partner of 44 years. But the shadow of Johnny's stomping out of his killing still followed her. Angie and Lana referred to the event as "The Paragraph" since any article about them included at least one paragraph about it. And some of these paragraphs raised an important question. How did a 14-year-old manage to knife down an ex-Marine Mofioso? Well, perhaps she didn't. Maybe her mom did. On April 4, 1958, 14-year-old Cheryl Crane overheard mobster Johnny Stompinato abusing her mother, Lana Turner. After an hour with no end in sight, Cheryl needed to protect her mom. She grabbed a knife and fatally stabbed Johnny in the abdomen. At least, that's the story both women told police chief Clinton Anderson when he brought them in for questioning on the night of Johnny's death. But according to the book A Murder in Hollywood by Casey Sherman, Lana didn't want chief Anderson to question her daughter at all. She nervously ordered him to only talk to her. Lana would tell him everything he needed to know. She said she needed Cheryl's testimony. So Lana acquiesced, but not quietly, at one point when Cheryl was telling chief Anderson about stabbing Johnny, Lana interrupted, adding that she didn't know what was happening. Perhaps it was just her nerves getting to her. She likely hated seeing her daughter go through this terrifying ordeal. But perhaps she wanted to make sure it was on the record that she wasn't involved. Just in case this testimony was leaked to the press. In the end, both mother and daughter's testimonies matched up perfectly. Case closed. Chief Anderson dismissed them. Lana was free to go home, but Cheryl however needed to stay the night. Locked up in the station cells. Lana was shocked. She didn't know Cheryl would be detained. According to author Casey Sherman, Lana thought this was not how it was supposed to go. Wait, pause. Not how it was supposed to go. What does that mean? Now, Casey Sherman notes that Lana's lawyer didn't tell her that Cheryl would be jailed. So she was caught off guard. But supposed to go is a very specific phrase. Just like something wasn't going as planned. And that rumored plan is our first conspiracy theory. Many people, including Casey Sherman, believe Lana was Johnny's true killer and Cheryl took the fall. Why? Well, at that time, murder was often punishable with the death penalty. The court was much less likely to hand a death sentence to a minor. And it's not just a theory that formed in hindsight. Lana's televised testimony was questioned from the start. Some called her testimony the greatest performance of her life. A one person in the courtroom said out loud, "What an act she's putting on." The papers ran pictures of her testimony alongside stills from her movies. Specifically, scenes where she was on the witness stand. These fueled the question even further. Was she telling the truth or acting? Now, there was one particularly well-known and outspoken critic of Lana's story, notorious mob boss, Mickey Cohen. Mickey was head of the West Coast mob and Johnny's boss. He told the press, "Lana was lying about the abuse. She and Johnny were madly in love." And Mickey would know, since he and Johnny were close, he thought of him as a little brother. And he knew that he wasn't a weakling. He was an ex-marine trained in combat hell. He was even Mickey's bodyguard. Some Mickey wondered how the hell did a little teenager get one over on him. He thought something was being covered up. And he had a theory. Lana committed the crime after catching Johnny in bed with the underaged Cheryl. Was there any proof to this claim? Well, not exactly. According to author Casey Sherman, Mickey thought Johnny would have defended himself if he saw Lana and the knife coming. So he must have been distracted by something else. A.E. being in bed with Cheryl for Lana to sneak up on him. However, it does make me think of two other incidents. Examples that show Lana would be capable of murdering anyone who harmed her daughter. Before dating Johnny, Lana was married to her fourth husband, actor Lex Barker. He was perhaps best known for playing Tarzan in a series of 1950s films. What wasn't known was that for about three years, Lex violently sexually abused Cheryl. It started when Cheryl was just 10. When 13-year-old Cheryl finally told her mother, Lana went into her bedroom. She saw Lex sleeping and picked up a revolver. Lana put the gun to his head. She held it there, debating if she would pull the trigger. According to Cheryl's autobiography, Lana thought, "Is this rat worth the rest of my life in prison, the end of my career? What if I turned him in? The headlines. Lana lowered the gun and proceeded to kick Lex out of the house. Cheryl speculates in her memoir that Lana didn't turn him into the police for the same reason she didn't shoot him. Her image was more important than justice. However, this wouldn't be the last time Lana almost killed Lex. A short time later, Lana drove Cheryl to a dentist appointment, but as she parked the car, a hand shot into the window, grabbing Lana's steering wheel. It was Lex shouting at the pair. He ordered Cheryl to tell Lana she was lying. Lana threatened to run Lex over. He replied with an icy stare toward Cheryl. So Lana floored it. Lex clung to the steering wheel, dangling out of the car's window for several feet before letting go and crashing into the asphalt. Lana left him in the road as they drove away. Now Lex survived the tumble, but these instances show how far Lana would go to protect her daughter. Is it possible that she did catch Johnny abusing Cheryl and she went one step further than before? Or perhaps Johnny's threats to Cheryl's life finally made Lana snap? And if so, just like how Lana didn't want killing Lex to end her career, she wouldn't want killing Johnny to do the same. So Cheryl had to take the fall. Tracy Sherman's book, which is a biography of Lana and gangster Mickey Cohen, presents another possible play by play. Some parts are the same as Cheryl's. Lana found out Johnny was lying about his age. They fought. Johnny threatened Lana's life and Cheryl overheard while watching TV. However, in Sherman's telling, Cheryl never left her room. Lana's fight traveled throughout the house at one point, stopping in the kitchen before winding up in Lana's bedroom. There Johnny threatened to mutilate Lana, her mother and Cheryl. At that, quote, "Lana went black." In the kitchen she picked up an eight inch knife. She stabbed Johnny, killing him. After Johnny died, Lana called several people before the police. One of them was lawyer Jerry Geesler. He was Hollywood's go-to lawyer to get a celebrity out of trouble, especially murders. Like I mentioned, murderers at the time could get the death penalty, but out of the 70 alleged killers Jerry defended not a single one was executed, including mobster Bugsie Siegel and a famous boxer who had already confessed to murder. So if you wanted to get away with murder, Jerry was obviously your guy. Now maybe Lana called him to protect her daughter. She never tried to cover up his presence at the crime scene, but Jerry called someone else to come over. A person both Cheryl and Lana's biographies never mentioned. Fred O'Tash. An notorious Hollywood fixer and former cop. He was the inspiration for Show Times anti-hero fixer Ray Donovan. He'd done cover-ups for Marilyn Monroe and Jimmy Huffa. Again, Jerry could have called Fred to protect Cheryl, but Fred's biography, the fixer, moguls, mobsters, movie stars in Marilyn by Josh Young and Manfred Westfall, tells a different story. All based on Fred's private files. Now Fred was already well acquainted with Johnny before the murder. Cheryl's father Steve actually hired Fred to keep an eye on Johnny. Steve wanted to make sure she was safe. One day Fred saw Johnny helping Cheryl ride his horse. He didn't like how Johnny's touch lingered on Cheryl's body. Johnny was being inappropriate. So Fred met with Lana to tell her. Lana was defensive at first, thinking this was some kind of smear campaign. Her ex-husband against her new boyfriend. However, she began to see the truth. This meeting supposedly prompted Lana to come clean to Cheryl about Johnny's abuse. Fast forward to the day of the murder. When Fred arrived and entered Lana's bedroom, I didn't see a young girl that just killed a man. He saw a guilty Lana turner, but Fred took charge. Told no one to move and wiped Lana's prints off of the murder weapon. Both he and Jerry pleaded with Lana. Let Cheryl take the blame. She's a kid. They'll go easy on her. If you don't, you'll be executed by the state. Lana eventually agreed and Jerry had Cheryl hold the knife. Now the prints would point to her. Fred's account doesn't speak for how Cheryl felt at this moment, but from what we know about her, it's possible she wanted to protect her mom from the death penalty. Seeing the fall may have just been the best out of two terrible options. After everyone had their story straight, they finally called the police. But it wasn't over yet. According to Fred's files, three days later, Chief Clinton Anderson called Fred in for questioning and accused him of tampering with a crime scene. Chief Anderson knew Lana killed Johnny and that Fred put Cheryl's prints on the knife. He just couldn't prove it and was trying to scare Fred into confessing. Fred didn't take the bait and maintain the cover-up, but he did go straight to Jerry's office afterwards. Jerry turned gray when he told him Chief Anderson was on to them. Jerry reportedly said, "There is no statute of limitations for murder. Do me a favor, Fred. Don't ever tell that story to anybody until I'm dead and buried." Jerry died about four years later. According to authors young and Westfall, Fred told the truth to a handful of trusted confidants. But as it turns out, Fred wasn't the one Jerry needed to worry about. In 1996, Eric Rout, Lana Turner's hairdresser, wrote a biography about his friendship with the star. And it includes a bombshell. According to Eric, one day years ago, he and Lana were watching a TV show about Hollywood scandals when Lana and Johnny's pictures showed up on screen. Eric tried to turn the TV off so as not to upset Lana, but she wouldn't let him. She then said, "I killed the son of a bitch and I do it again." Whoa! She allegedly then told Eric, "Tell the truth so I can rest in peace. Don't let my baby take the rap all her life from my mistake." In later interviews, Eric claimed Lana caught Johnny sleeping with another woman in Lana's bed. It resulted in an argument where Johnny shook Lana violently. He screamed at her for not calling ahead of time in an act of self-defense, Lana stabbed Johnny. Eric started writing as a memoir when Lana died in 1995 and included the confession so she could rest in peace as requested. However, Cheryl called his claim far-fetched and said it was "the only way he could get his book published." Perhaps she'd say the same thing about Fred O'Chache's account. Some may not believe a mother would make their daughter take the blame for a horrible crime. But remember, even in the official story, Cheryl wanted to protect her mother. And back when Lana found out Lex Barker had abused Cheryl, she put her career in reputation over justice for her daughter. But of course, this is all just theories proposed after the fact by journalists, acquaintances, and even Mickey Cohen. They're all looking for answers to make sense of a shocking story. Well, maybe not all of them. As well newspapers covered theories about Lana and Cheryl, one thing kept coming back up. Johnny was in the mob. Could they have been involved? That could explain why Mickey Cohen was so outspoken. He had to point fingers so no one would get too close to finding him out. When Johnny Stomponato died, mob boss Mickey Cohen was quick to talk to the press. He refuted the official story that Cheryl Crane stabbed him to protect her mother from Johnny's abuse. Mickey Cohen claimed that Johnny was never violent with Lana and the two were madly in love. He didn't understand why Johnny was being made out to be a monster. But perhaps he just said this to cover up his own crimes. According to Johnny's FBI file, Johnny was Mickey's errand boy, bodyguard, a bouncer in his club, and possibly laundering Mickey's money. He was also Mickey's main man for blackmail. Mickey knew Johnny was, for lack of a better word, dreamy. And he knew how to seduce women so they came up with a plan. For the alias Johnny Valentine or John Steel, Johnny would target wealthy actresses and lure them into relationships. Or at least a few steamy nights. Once he gained their trust, he'd ask for money, and just a hundred or two to spot him until next time. Then these loans would get bigger and bigger. Sometimes as much as $5,000, the equivalent of almost $60,000 today, when the women refused, he'd drop the Lover Act. Pay up, or the world will see pictures. You see, once Johnny seduced the women, he or one of Mickey's associates would secretly film or photograph them having sex. Through blackmail, they'd bleed the women for all the money they were worth. A slew of actresses were allegedly Johnny and Mickey's victims, including Marilyn Monroe. A Lana was unfortunately another one. Not only did Mickey secretly film the pair having sex, but Johnny also drugged Lana and photographed her sleeping naked. Mickey's blackmail plots began to unravel when Johnny's feelings for Lana changed. At some point, she stopped being a mark. Johnny was in love. Now that the relationship was real for Johnny, he tried to cut ties with Mickey. Seemingly by ghosting, I.E. he stopped hanging out with him, Johnny planned to cut ties completely by leaving the country. He made it all the way to New York before he gave up. Perhaps he knew that the mob could probably find him wherever he went, or perhaps he couldn't pair to leave Lana. It's unclear how she factored into his escape plan. According to one account, he claimed that he did somehow get out of the mob, but it meant he had to always keep a gun on him. He never knew when someone was going to take you out. Supposedly it would be a lower ranked little guy mobster who'd kill him to make a name for themselves. But what if Johnny was actually afraid of Mickey? After all, if Johnny was ending the blackmail plot in the middle of scamming one of the biggest movie stars ever, Mickey could have been out a huge chunk of change. So perhaps Mickey, feeling betrayed and angry, took Johnny out. It's not impossible. Perhaps he went to Lana's, knowing he would find Johnny there and confronted him. He could have threatened Johnny to go through with the plan, or maybe even pay Mickey the potential blackmail money he would be losing. Johnny, not wanting to look weak in front of his girlfriend, and with his notorious temper, could have fought back until Mickey stabbed him. Since Mickey already had the illegal sex tape and photos, he could have used them to force Lana to take the fall. I say Lana because why would he make the teenage girl do it? Well perhaps Cheryl or Lana made that suggestion. Mickey wouldn't care, just as long as it wasn't him. And get this. According to author Casey Sherman, Mickey did actually show up at Lana's mansion on that infamous night. And he learned about Johnny's death after a reporter contacted him for a quote, "Micky rushed to Lana's where Jerry Geesler told him that Johnny was already at the morgue. Mickey went there to officially identify the body for Johnny's family back home." But who's to say that Mickey wasn't really at Lana's from the very beginning? Kill Johnny, left her head for Lana and Cheryl to take the blame, then showed up later with an alibi about a reporter. Stranger cover-ups have happened. Now, there's not much evidence to support this theory. However, it is interesting that Mickey paid for Johnny's funeral. Could this have been some active retribution for Johnny's family? Some mobs have what's called a death allowance where they provide monetary support to the families of whacked mobsters. Some reports claim it could be up to $260,000. But while it's not unheard of for mobsters to do this for their victims, it's usually reserved for their own guys, so Mickey could have just footed the bill as his loyal boss, not as his killer. Plus if Mickey did kill Johnny, he probably would have been so outspoken after his death. He'd want to keep quiet so as to not draw suspicion. But as we mentioned, Mickey thought of Johnny as a brother and couldn't stand idly by as the press solid his name. He even gave the press all of Lana's love letters to Johnny to show that he "wasn't exactly unwelcome company." And while Mickey did accuse Lana of killing Johnny, it wasn't his only theory. He believed it could have been rival mobsters. He didn't ever seem to name anyone specific or explain their motive. While this theory was popular at the time, it was based less on facts and more on selling papers. The story of a movie star's daughter killing a mobster was already a tabloid gold mine, add in that it could have all been a mob cover up. The public ate that up. Who doesn't love a good mafia story? And in the end, that's partly why the story of Johnny's death grabs so much speculation. It's a great headline. It's why it always shows up as "The Paragraph" as Lana and Cheryl called it. It's easy to forget that at the forefront was a mother and daughter. Tormented by years of abuse and splintered by Hollywood expectations. The murder didn't make any of that easier. After Johnny's death, Cheryl self-medicated with pills. At the same time, Lana was drinking. And they seemingly couldn't come together and work on their relationship until decades later. By 1980, Lana quit drinking and Cheryl was a thriving restaurant tour in Honolulu. And the two began airing their grievances to each other. They talked about Johnny and the aftermath of the scandal. And reportedly, thanks to Cheryl's partner, they opened up about their love for each other. It was something Cheryl always wanted. She spent her childhood handed off to nannies and family, always vying for Lana's love and attention. She'd receive brief glimpses of it, like being her Oscar date. But now, decades later, it seemed to be staying. Lana was proud of who Cheryl became. Just like Cheryl was always proud of her movie star, Mom. And both refused to let Johnny's stomp a nado separate them. Thank you for listening to Conspiracy Theories. We're here with a new episode every Wednesday. And be sure to check us out on Instagram @theconspiracypod. If you're watching on Spotify, swipe up and give us your thoughts. For more information on Fred O'Tash and his career as a fixer, amongst the many sources we used, we found The Fixer, Mogles, mobsters, movie stars, and Maryland by Josh Young and Manfred Westfall and Detour, a Hollywood story by Cheryl Crane with Cliff Yar, extremely helpful to our research. Until next time, remember, the truth is always the best story. And the official story isn't always the truth. This episode was written by Brandon Rosuto, edited by Maggie Admeyer, researched by Brandon Rosuto and Maggie Admeyer, fact checked by Sophie Kemp and engineered video edited and sound designed by Alex Button. I'm your host, Carter Roy. [BLANK_AUDIO]