Exclusive | Manhattan DA wont investigate famed journalist Dorothy Kilgallens 1965 death but Hollywood set to suggest foul play

Manhattan authorities have refused to take a fresh look at the suspicious 1965 death of famed journalist and TV celebrity Dorothy Kilgallen — but Hollywood actress Jessica Chastain will star in a movie portraying the reporter’s ill-fated investigation of the JFK assassination as a “murder mystery,” The Post has learned.Detectives with the NYPD and Manhattan District Attorney’s Office have brushed off a plea by City Councilman Robert Holden to dig into whether Kilgallen’s death was a homicide — not “accidental,” as authorities quickly labeled it at the time.Kilgallen, a famed columnist for the New York Journal-American, was hot on the trail of a Mafia kingpin she suspected had planned the 1963 shooting of President John F.Kennedy when she was found dead in her Manhattan apartment.

The cause was quickly deemed a drug and alcohol overdose, aborting a probe of possible foul play.Last year, Holden, (D-Queens), formally asked the NYPD and the DA’s cold-case unit to reopen the Kilgallen case, but got only “lip service,” he told The Post. “I was told there was going to be an investigation, but it turned out there wasn’t,” he said.” They just looked at it on a superficial level and decided it wasn’t worth doing.”A police spokesman confirmed, “The NYPD, along with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, declined to reopen the investigation.” The decision was not explained.Holden said DA cold-case officials gave him a reason: “Even if we do find foul play, who do we prosecute?”But New York may have egg on its face when Hollywood looks for answers and does justice to Kilgallen’s courageous pursuit of the truth.In 2025, Barry Levinson will direct “Assassination,” starring Chastain as the intrepid reporter, along with fellow A-listers Al Pacino, Bryan Cranston, and Brendan Fraser, Deadline reports.“Kilgallen’s journey will put her up against the CIA, Mafia bosses and the FBI – all who would love nothing more than to m...