Marilyn Monroe spent her last night alive at Frank Sinatra’s lodge with a Mafia boss, according to extraordinary new claims.
The Hollywood actress is said to have spent the evening with Sam Giancana after taking the singer’s private jet to Cal-Neva Lodge in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
There the gangster - with whom she was allegedly in love - apparently tried to persuade her not to go public about her affair with President John F Kennedy.
She flew home to Los Angeles early the following morning and was found dead that night. Later a coroner ruled that the death was a “probable” suicide.
The claims are the first time that any mention has been made of such a trip in the days before Monroe died in 1962. If true, they would rewrite the final act in the actress’s life and raise fresh questions about her death.
The disclosure was made by George Masters, Monroe’s hair and make-up stylist, in recordings he made a month before his death in 1998. The cassette tapes were found by his nephew, Jeff Platts, and have now been made public.
In a frail voice, Mr Masters can be heard on the recordings saying: “The night before she died, the last time I saw her, was in Lake Tahoe at the Cal-Neva Lodge. She was there with Sam Giancana, who was the head of the Mafia.” Monroe and Mr Masters apparently flew back to Los Angeles where he dropped her off at her home around 9am on Sunday August 5 1962.
It has been documented that Monroe was at Sinatra’s lodge two weekends before her death, but now it appears that she was called back for a one-to-one chat with Giancana, a friend of Sinatra.
Mr Platts, 60, a sales consultant from California, said: “What if this trip George talks about was a last-ditch effort to get her to agree not to talk (about the Kennedys)?
“What if Sam Giancana said, “Look, Frank, you didn’t get it done. She’ll listen to me. Let’s bring her back again so I can have a shot at it”.
“George specifically told me that Marilyn spent the evening with Sam Giancana. The only other person he mentioned that was there was (singer) Buddy Greco.
“No Frank Sinatra, no Dean Martin. George also said that the person she was really in love with at that moment was Sam Giancana.”
Following Monroe’s death a host of conspiracy theories emerged, but on the tapes Masters is clear about the reason why she died. “It was because of the Kennedys. I really think the FBI did it,” he says.
Masters also appears to confirm the theory that Monroe was moved around before she died.
“Did you know she was pronounced dead, and then they brought her back to the house, and she was still alive, and they took her back to the hospital, and brought her back home, and then the coroners came over, and they found her dead in another bed - somebody moved her,” he says.