#213: Who Killed Dorothy Kilgallen? —Mark Shaw

Although not well known today, Dorothy Kilgallen was a popular celebrity reporter and one of the panelists of the hit 50s-60’s game show What’s My Line?  “Miss Kilgallen” as they called her, was a rare  mixture of intellect and glamor who exuded down-home charm.

The world was shocked when was found dead in her bed on the morning of November 8th, 1965.  The coroner’s report said, “alcohol and barbiturates” with circumstances “undetermined.”

What really happened, and why should you care?

My guest this week is a former criminal defense attorney and author Mark Shaw. Two of his 30 books are about Kilgallen’s death and he is convinced she was murdered by, most likely, a combination of rogue (?) government agents and mafia figures. All of it tied to the assassination of President John F Kennedy and what she knew about it. When Jack Ruby, who killed the alleged Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, went on trial in early 1964 (the world’s first televised trial) he gave two interviews to Dorothy Kilgallen. He trusted her integrity and admired her writing skills.

He must have told her something world-rocking, which is why Mark Shaw’s first book on Kilgallen is titled, The Reporter Who Knew Too Much.

In this episode, you will learn

• Why Kilgallen’s knowledge of what Jack Ruby told her led her to fly immediately to New Orleans, the location of mobster Carlos Marcello
• The overlooked details of the coroner report and death certificate
• The prime suspect in the case, one Ron Pataky
• Researcher Shaw’s ongoing efforts at having Kilgallen’s cold case reopened as a murder investigation and how current law enforcement agencies are stonewalling him
• How the actions of the Deep State persist to this day
• Why justice matters for every victim of violent crime

Resources mentioned in this episode

• The Reporter Who Knew Too Much: The Mysterious Death of What’s My Line TV Star and Media Icon Dorothy Kilgallen by Mark Shaw
• Denial of Justice: Dorothy Kilgallen, Abuse of Power, and the Most Compelling JFK Assassination Investigation in History by Mark Shaw
• Mark Shaw’s website devoted to all things Dorothy Kilgallen, from videos to photos
• Bishop Sheen’s 1956 appearance on What’s My Line? with Dorothy (start 16:20)
• Dorothy’s last appearance on What’s My Line?, November 7, 1965, hours before she was poisoned.
• Legal petition by Mark Shaw for the exhumation of the remains of Dorothy Kilgallen and Richard Killmar

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