On November 5, 1954, Joe DiMaggio and Frank Sinatra teamed up to catch Marilyn Monroe cheating. After nine months of marriage, the Hollywood actress filed for divorce from the New York Yankees outfielder. DiMaggio clearly didn’t take this well, and he enlisted the help of his friend, Sinatra, and a private investigator named Barney Ruditsky to try and catch Monroe having a fling.
The plan would later be dubbed the Wrong-Door Raid, which saw them fail to catch Monroe cheating. It did, however, see the friendship between DiMaggio and Sinatra sour.
DiMaggio’s and Monroe’s relationship
DiMaggio and Monroe met through a mutual friend in 1952. Their relationship moved quickly, and despite coming from different worlds, DiMaggio being a sports star and Monroe a Hollywood actress, they were drawn together by their mutual admiration and affection for each other.
On January 14, 1954, DiMaggio and Monroe tied the knot in a low-key civil ceremony at San Francisco City Hall. The media frenzy surrounding their marriage made it challenging to maintain privacy and put significant strain on the relationship. Nevertheless, the couple tried to make it work and they genuinely cared for each other.
Their marriage faced many challenges, including the demands of their respective careers, public scrutiny, and tabloid rumors. The media’s constant intrusion into their personal lives took a toll on the couple, and after just nine months of marriage, they decided to divorce in October 1954.
Wrong-Door Raid
While going through their divorce, DiMaggio believed that Monroe was cheating. In an attempt to catch her in the act, he enlisted Frank Sinatra’s help as well as that of a private investigator. On November 5, 1954, while Sinatra and DiMaggio were having dinner at the Villa Capri restaurant in Hollywood, Ruditsky, DiMaggio’s private investigator, told him that Monroe had been seen with another man.
DiMaggio and Sinatra jumped into action and drove to the house at the corner of Kilkea Drive and Waring Avenue. They then reportedly kicked in the door while bearing a camera. To their surprise, Monroe was not there. Instead, it was a woman named Florence Kotz, who was unsurprisingly quite startled by the intrusion.
DiMaggio was reportedly mad at what had just happened; however, Sinatra saw the funny side and allegedly jumped up and down smiling.
Kotz sued DiMaggio, Sinatra, Ruditsky, and three others who were said to be accomplices. She was awarded $7,500 by Sinatra’s lawyer in an out-of-court settlement.
The aftermath of the Wrong-Door Raid
The damage done by the Wrong-Door Raid caused a rift between DiMaggio and Sinatra. DiMaggio was deeply embarrassed by the event and stopped talking to Sinatra. To make matters worse, in the early 1960s, Sinatra is rumored to have had an affair with Monroe after her marriage to Arthur Miller. This was around the same time that DiMaggio and Monroe reconciled.
DiMaggio and Sinatra would never be friends again. DiMaggio and Monroe, however, remained close even after their divorce. Monroe’s death in August 1962 deeply affect DiMaggio. He planned her funeral, ensuring that it was a private and dignified affair. He even barred Sinatra as well as members of the Kennedy family from attending.
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After her death, DiMaggio remained a guardian of Monroe’s legacy and is said to have sent roses to her grave three times a week for 20 years.