Mark Shaw’s book

(From the Palo Alto Daily Post, Feb. 1, 2017, by Emily Mibach, staff writer)

A Burlingame man’s new book that claims journalist and TV personality Dorothy Kilgallen was murdered in 1965 has prompted the New York City District Attorney to re-open the case. Kilgallen died while she was investigating leads in the assassination of
President John Kennedy.

Mark Shaw’s book, “The Reporter Who Knew Too Much,” delves into the circumstances surrounding Kilgallen’s suspicious death.

Kilgallen was the only journalist to interview Lee Harvey Oswald’s killer, Jack Ruby, and she disclosed Ruby’s testimony to the government before it was officially released to the public, creating an enemy in FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

In addition to being a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist, Kilgallen was also one of the original panelists on the popular game show “What’s My Line?”

On Nov. 8, 1965, Kilgallen was found dead in a bed in her five-story New York City townhouse. The medical examiner initially ruled her death accidental due to the amount of sleeping pills and alcohol in her system.

But Shaw contends that the examiner’s office was controlled by the Mafia, which likely wanted her dead.
Kilgallen was 18-months deep in researching Kennedy’s assassination.

Shaw said she was in the process of unearthing whether Oswald had acted alone in killing Kennedy when she died.

According to Shaw, immediately after Kilgallen died, her files regarding the Kennedy and Oswald case disappeared.
She was planning on writing a tell-all on the assassinations of both men.

Shaw and those he interviewed for his book believe that she would have pointed the finger at New Orleans crime family boss Carlos Marcello. Shaw also believes Marcello may have orchestrated her death as well. Marcello died in 1993.

Shaw also said that the room Kilgallen was found in was not where she normally slept, and, according to her hair dresser, the bathrobe she was found in wasn’t one she normally wore. She was found in full make-up and had her hair still up from that night’s episode of “What’s My Line?”

“It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realize it (her death) was staged,” Shaw said.

On Dec. 4, Shaw sent a letter to New York DA Cyrus Vance Jr. asking him re-open Kilgallen’s case, saying that what he uncovered while researching the book, points to the idea she was murdered.

“Even though the events surrounding her death are now five decades old, I do not believe your office’s re-opening of the investigation will result in futile posturing. There are strong leads based on credible witnesses and a primary suspect is indeed still alive,” Shaw wrote to Vance.

DA spokeswoman Joan Vollero told the New York Post earlier this week that a staffer had read Shaw’s book and reviewed Shaw’s letters, and that the DA was re-opening the death investigation.

Shaw, 71, has written 25 books and has lived all over the country before moving to Burlingame four years ago. However, he had lived in the Bay Area five other times.
Shaw worked as a legal analyst for CNN, ESPN and USA Today on the O.J. Simpson, Kobe Bryant and Mike Tyson cases. Prior to becoming a legal analyst, he was a criminal defense attorney, which is one reason why he wants to see Kilgallen’s murderer brought to light.

“I’ve always been interested in the underdog and making sure people get justice,” Shaw said. “After (Kilgallen) died she was just about erased from the face of the earth.”