Question about Liston

He died at home, possibly an overdose.

He didn't jump off a building, but I think Eddie Machen might have done so.

 

The heavyweight that jumped to his death from a building was the Spanish muscleman Jose Urtain.. suicide..

Sonny was found in his home asleep , he was found to have a large quantity of recreational drugs in his blood...

Although many around him knew he was cleaner than the board of health..

Ash Resnick his closest confedent said that Sonny was scared shitless of needles, yet the drugs were hyperdermically injected..

 

The real question is to what extent was the polices story derived from the truth?

With so many varying rumors for the cause of death, there is perhaps 10% of truth in the common circulating theories.

 

He was murdered I reckon, as do a lot of people.

 

I think it of use to point out that the police, finding the dead body and drug paraphernalia, hypothesized that Sonny died of a drug overdose. This was a not unreasonable assumption, given Sonny's age.

The autopsy findings as quoted by Nick Tosches in THE DEVIL AND SONNY LISTON did not back up the theory. "The small arteries and the arterioles in the heart show considerable collagenous intimal thickening." The cause of death was "probable myocardial anoxia due to coronary insufficiency" In other words he died of a heart attack due to coronary artery disease.

I would point out that the police were merely speculating, while the autopsy is the best evidence of the true cause of death. Unless you are willing to believe in a rather far-fetched conspiracy theory involving not only the medical examiner but the labs which did the work on the tissues, Sonny actually died of natural causes and there is no mystery at all.

That conclusion just does not seem romantic enough for most interested fans, though.

 

I just read this on Wikipedia:
"A friend of Liston's also told Unsolved Mysteries that Liston had been in a car accident a few weeks prior to his death. Liston was hospitalized with minor injuries, and received intravenous medicine. This is believed to be the source of the puncture wound that authorities found upon discovering Liston's body."

 

It is interesting that his wife after discovering the body apparently didn't call the police for three hours or so.....

 

It is interesting, but I wonder how out of the ordinary it is. Have you ever had a sudden death in the family? People are often in shock. They don't necessarily think logically.

 

Yes I read this recently too Chris ,Liston had a phobia about needles ,wouldn't have flu shots etc,the amount of drugs found in his system was actually very small,I think he was murdered,he was reportedly muscling in on some local "action" ,maybe he upset some one?