Johnny Stompanato

Johnny Stompanato

John Stompanato Jr. was a United States Marine who became a bodyguard and enforcer for gangster Mickey Cohen and the Cohen crime family. In the mid-1950s, he began an abusive relationship with actress Lana Turner. In 1958, he was stabbed to death by Turner’s daughter, Cheryl Crane. His death was ruled as justifiable homicide because he had been killed in self-defense.

About Johnny Stompanato in brief

Summary Johnny StompanatoJohn Stompanato Jr. was a United States Marine who became a bodyguard and enforcer for gangster Mickey Cohen and the Cohen crime family. In the mid-1950s, he began an abusive relationship with actress Lana Turner. In 1958, he was stabbed to death by Turner’s daughter, Cheryl Crane, who said she did it to defend her mother from a vicious beating. His death was ruled as justifiable homicide because he had been killed in self-defense. He was described in the press as the \”new right hand man\” and bodyguard of rackets boss Mickey Cohen, replacing Neddie Herbert, who was slain in an ambush the previous month.

In 1948, Frank Sinatra asked Cohen to tell him to keep away from Ava Gardner. But the mob boss instead told Sinatra to go back to his wife and children, because he never got between men and their \”broads. \” By December 1952, StompAnato was dating 20th Century Fox contract player Helene Stanley. The following year, she became his third wife; however, they divorced two years later. In 1957, he built a house in Hollywood, California, where he lived with actress Helen Gilbert. He also had a series of box office flops.