Johnny Stompanato

About Johnny Stompanato

Who is it?: Bodyguard of Mickey Cohen
Birth Day: October 10, 1925
Birth Place: Woodstock, Illinois, United States, United States
Died On: April 4, 1958(1958-04-04) (aged 32)\nBeverly Hills, California, U.S.
Birth Sign: Scorpio
Birth name: John Stompanato Jr.
Nickname(s): Johnny, Handsome Harry, Johnny Stomp, John Steele, Oscar
Place of burial: Oakland Cemetery
Allegiance: United States
Service/branch: United States Marine Corps
Years of service: 1944–1946
Rank: Private
Unit: Service Battalion, 1st Marine Division
Battles/wars: World War II *Battle of Peleliu *Battle of Okinawa
Spouse(s): Sarah Utish (m. 1946; div. 1947) Helen Gilbert (m. 1948; div. 1950) Helene Stanley (m. 1953; div. 1955)
Other work: Mob Bodyguard

Johnny Stompanato Net Worth

Johnny Stompanato was born on October 10, 1925 in Woodstock, Illinois, United States, United States, is Bodyguard of Mickey Cohen. Johnny Stompanato may be known as an underworld figure and enforcer of Los Angeles crime boss Mickey Cohen but there was more to Stompanato than his crime records. Not many know that he was once a war hero. Yes, as astonishing as it may seem to be, Stompanato served in the United States Marine. Over his lifetime, Stompanato gained various nicknames—Handsome Harry, Johnny Stomp, John Steele and Oscar. He used his aliases at different points in his life to work out his way in acts of crime and misdeeds. A philanderer, Stompanato was known to be physically intimidating and verbally abusive. He often dated financially well-off women double his age, whom he would use for his personal gain. Stompanato’s personal life and relationship status was also a controversial one. He dated quite a few women in his lifetime before meeting his last partner Lara Turner. Turner herself was five husbands old and mother of a daughter, Cheryl Crane, when she met him. Stompanato’s insecurities troubled their relationship so much so that he became abusive to Turner. It was due to his violent behaviour that Crane,who couldn’t bear the torture her mother went through anymore,stabbed him to death at their home.
Johnny Stompanato is a member of Criminals

💰 Net worth: Under Review

Some Johnny Stompanato images

Famous Quotes:

B-picture good looks... thick set ... powerfully built and soft spoken ... and talked in short sentences to cover a poor grasp of grammar and spoke in a deep baritone voice. With friends, he seldom smiled or laughed out loud, but seemed always coiled, holding himself in ... had watchful hooded eyes that took in more than he wanted anyone to notice .... His wardrobe on a daily basis consisted of roomy, draped slacks, a silver buckled skinny leather belt and lizard shoes.

Biography/Timeline

1890

Stompanato is interred at Oakland Cemetery, in Woodstock, McHenry County, Illinois beside his mother Carmela (1890–1925), his father John (1890–1952), and his stepmother Verena (1901–1967). His brother Carmine (1912–1961) is buried nearby.

1916

John Stompanato Jr., was born into an Italian American family in Woodstock, Illinois. His father, John Sr., owned a barber shop and his mother, Carmela, was a seamstress. Both parents were born in Italy but were married in Brooklyn. They had moved to Woodstock in 1916. Stompanato was the youngest of four children: he had two older sisters, Grace and Teresa; and an older brother, Carmine. Six days after his birth, his mother died of peritonitis. Johnny's father soon married a woman named Verena Freitag.

1940

In 1940, after Stompanato's freshman year at Woodstock High School, his father sent him to Kemper Military School for boys in Boonville, Missouri. In 1942, he graduated at the age of 17. In 1943, Stompanato joined the U.S. Marines serving with the 1st Service Battalion, 1st Marine Division. He served in the South Pacific theater, in Peleliu and Okinawa, and then served in China. Stompanato left the Corps in March 1946, being discharged in China.

1946

Stompanato met his first wife, Sarah Utish, a Turkish woman, while stationed in Tianjin, China. Stompanato converted to Islam in order to marry her in May 1946. They returned to Woodstock, where they had their first son, John Stompanato III. During this time, Stompanato worked as a bread salesman. However, after his wife walked out on him (she would later remarry and live in Hammond, Illinois), he moved to Hollywood, California in 1947.

1948

After moving to Los Angeles, Stompanato owned and managed "The Myrtlewood Gift Shop" in Westwood. The Business sold inexpensive pieces of crude pottery and wood carvings as fine art. Through connections to the LA underworld, he became a bodyguard for gangster Mickey Cohen and as well as an enforcer for his crime family. Stompanato also established himself within Hollywood society. In 1948, Frank Sinatra asked Cohen to tell Stompanato 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.” In the same year, Stompanato married for a second time, to 33-year-old Actress Helen Gilbert. In August 1949, Stompanato testified at a coroner's inquest into the shotgun slaying of Edward "Neddy" Herbert, an associate of Cohen. Within a year, Gilbert had filed for divorce. She said of Stompanato "[he] had no means. I did what I could to support him.”

1950

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 by Stompanato. His death was ruled as justifiable homicide because he had been killed in self-defense.

1952

In October 1952, Stompanato left Cohen and started dating Helene Stanley, a former 20th Century Fox contract player. By December, he was working as her manager. The following year, she became his third wife; however, they divorced two years later. Throughout the 1950s, he was arrested seven times by the LAPD for various Criminal charges ranging from vagrancy to suspicion of robbery.

1957

Their relationship was stormy; it was often punctuated with frequent arguments and fights. In 1957, Stompanato became so jealous about Turner's relationship with Future James Bond actor Sean Connery, he flew to the United Kingdom. He stormed onto the set of Another Time, Another Place threatening Connery with a gun. Unperturbed, the 6 ft 2 in Scotsman, who was a former body builder and karate black belt, bent Stompanato's hand back forcing him to drop the weapon. He was reported to the police and quietly deported from the United Kingdom. After Stompanato's death, it was rumored that at least one LA mobster held Connery responsible, leading the actor to go into hiding for a short time afterwards.

1958

On April 4, 1958, Stompanato was stabbed to death by Turner's teenage daughter Cheryl Crane at her mother's home in Beverly Hills, California. She claimed that Stompanato had been violently attacking her mother, so she stabbed him. A coroner's inquest returned a decision of justifiable homicide. After the ruling, Stompanato's family sued Turner for $750,000 (later settled for $20,000).