What would the mob stand to gain by having Sonny Liston whacked?

Heroin can be smoked or snorted in addition to injected.
Lots of heroin users are afraid of needles. they're just more afraid of not being on heroin.

I personally think the guy used a little recreationally and his heart just stopped. Maybe he was there with some friends or a woman (his wife was out of town) and they cleaned up and bailed, which would explain the scene not matching an overdose. And it's possible it wasn't even an overdose, but contributed to an pre-disposition to heart failure due to stress, genetics, etc.

Unless the hypothetical mob hitman who killed liston is still alive and free, a near impossibility, I find it hard to imagine it would still be a secret.

 

I see where you're coming from but the theory is they got him drunk (which wouldn't have been hard to do at all considering Liston's history with alcohol) then gave him the hot shot.

I agree it'd be much easier to shoot him, and throw him in a river with concrete shoes but forced overdoses were a popular method of execution by the MOB as it didn't draw much attention from law enforcement (as opposed to say a shooting). That is a fact that many here don't seem to understand.

Liston very well have died from natural causes (or at least at his own hands) but the way, any thought of a potential murder is immediately dismissed in this thread just doesn't sit right with me. If their was nothing there, it wouldn't have made it to unsolved mysteries, a very popular international TV show. Facts are, Liston had a known connection to the mob, the entire situation was very iffy, and Liston had no shortage of enemies to say the least.

 

Marilyn Monroe?

 

He died of cardiovascular disease, guys. The autopsy is out there.

 

My mother-in-law died at home. My sister-in-law died at home. My grandfather died at home. (Not all together, years apart. Different cities. Don't get me wrong.) Everyone in the US doesn't die in a hospital.

And nobody called the cops. That's my point.

People still give birth at home. People still die at home. You don't necessarily need the police for either.

The guy I was responding to said the police weren't called for five hours. People die at home every day and their wives, mothers, adult children call to have the bodies picked up.

They don't call the cops to pick up their loved ones. (Oops, grandma's dead. Quick, call the police ... isn't something heard 99 percent of the time. Every death in the home isn't a Dateline episode.)

Especially if their husband is a drug user, there's a syringe on the counter, you find him in bed and he is SO DEAD and bloated experts didn't even know how many days he'd been dead.

That was my point.

IF nobody called the police until five hours after Liston's wife got home (as was said), and others had shown up and were there for a while and said maybe you should call the cops, that time gap is not "suspicious."

That's all.

 

She left the day after Christmas, as I recall, to visit her family out of town. Sonny didn't want to go. Married couples actually go to visit relatives separately, as shocking as that may seem. (That's sarcasm)

People overdose. Famous people overdose. Famous people die unexpectedly. Lots of relatively young, famous people died unexpectedly in those few months around Liston (and Sonny wasn't even 27), all having something to do with drugs and syringes.

It happened in the 1970/71 and it happens today.

 

And Jim Morrison officially died of a heart attack. And Brian Jones officially died from drowning. And Jimi Hendrix officially died of asphyxiation (from choking to death on the vomit caused by all the drugs he'd taken).

 

I don't understand why people dismiss the idea that the mob would use drugs to fake an overdose. If they wanted a death kept silent, then it's certainly not above them to do that. They could've just shot Jimmy Hoffa on the street too.

 

Because they didn't kill people like that. If they wanted them dead, they'd kill them and leave them for others to find ... to make a statement, or they'd dispose of the body if they didn't want people to know (like you brought up with Hoffa).

They weren't mystery writers. They weren't staging scenes. Hell, even the Russian mob just left you to be found to make a statement or made you disappear.

That boxer Sergei Kobozev (who beat John Ruiz) was killed by a couple Russian mobsters. And they never found his body for years. I remember Real Sports on HBO had a whole segment on "Where is Sergei?"

I don't know why it's so hard to believe someone doing drugs with a syringe might die in their own home, especially when Liston was like the third celebrity in four months to go in a similar fashion. And he wouldn't be the last, as Morrison died in his tub some months later.

And, as the thread starter asked, why would they go to the trouble of staging a fake scene in his own house? Sonny Liston was always out running around. Get him while he was out.

I mean, SOME people ACTUALLY think Kurt Cobain was the victim of a "hit" paid for by his wife, and documentaries have been made about that. And I feel like you have to make a similar "leap" with Liston being murdered and his death staged.

Sometimes leaps aren't necessary. It is just what it looks like.

 

I sense that you’re resistant to the idea that alcoholism, high bmi, tobacco (?), and being a black man entering middle age (depending on grnetics) were significant risk factors for Liston.

 

Probably just a guy with a troubled past finding escape in heroin . Mates of mine have done it some didn't survive

 

You, being sarcastic? Now that is shocking. Wow, that one would’ve gone right over my head without your following qualification (that’s also sarcasm, btw ).

I’ve conversely read that she was away over Xmas - so that needs to be confirmed. And no, a lot of couples do visit their respective families together - as torturous as that can be - and it’s provided good material for a lot of movies - don’t you know?

Of course some can and do elect not to visit family together but leaving on Xmas day not just to visit but also stay for a period is worth questioning - and investigators would’ve/should’ve done same - so it’s obviously not unrealistic to address it.

Not sure back then but spouses are often treated as the first call for suspicion and possible implication - what were Geraldine’s and Sonny’s conduct in terms of prior Xmas’ plans and whereabouts - when Sonny didn’t actually kick the bucket? I doubt anyone knows the answer.

Due respect but you do seem prone to easy dismissals and apologetic arguments to reach a predisposed conclusion.