Johnny Stompanato
| John Stompanato | |
|---|---|
Stompanato with Lana Turner
|
|
| Nickname(s) | Johnny |
| Born |
October 10, 1925 , U.S. |
| Died | April 4, 1958 (aged 32) Beverly Hills, California, U.S. |
| 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 |
| Other work | Mob Bodyguard |
John "Johnny" Stompanato (October 10, 1925 – April 4, 1958), also known as "Handsome Harry", "Johnny Stomp", "John Steele", and "Oscar", was a former United States Marine who became a bodyguard and enforcer for gangster Mickey Cohen and his 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 by Stompanato.
John Stompanato, Jr., was born into an Italian-American family in . 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.
In 1940, after Stompanato's freshman year at , 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.
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.
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