Central to the Onassis revelations is Monte's claim that the Greek magnate had a string of young gay lovers and that he held all women in contempt.

His scorn for women even extended to his late daughter Christina and wife Jacki - the widow of slain American President John F Kennedy.

"At first he was fascinated by Jackie's breeding and position, but by the time I came on the scene in the early Seventies he'd become bored with her and had ordered her out," Frank says.

Frank's assertions are causing such a worldwide sensation that the super sleuth is now being swamped with lucrative offers from the major publishing houses of Europe and the U.S.

"I'm lifting the lid to set the record straight on a lot of things," the worldly and debonair Frank says from his plush central Sydney offices. And lift the lid he certainly does.
He tells of dealings over his 26-year career with the likes of the Rockefellers, Arab royalty, the FBI and CIA, and even talks about his run-ins with fallen Australian tycoon Alan Bond.

And he has just completed negotiations with U.S. movie giant Tri-Star for the Hollywood version of his escapades - a movie that has a $33 million budget.

But it's the four months Frank spent in Onassis' employment 18 years ago that is attracting most international attention.

Frank, 46, leans back in his highbacked leather armchair and recounts how he first became involved with Onassis, then 71 and one of the world's richest and most powerful men.

"It was mid-1973. I'd successfully handled a major investigation for a cosmetics company in Australia and they sent me to Italy to meet their senior European executives.

"They took me to a society party at a suite in the ritzy Eden Hotel. Onassis was one of the guests."

According to Frank, the Greek businessman was impressed by the private eye's style and credentials as a "break and enter and bugging expert".

The next day Frank was summoned to the tycoon's two-storey Rome apartment and accepted an offer to become a investigator-cum-bodyguard for Onassis.

"I had to move into his staff quarters upstairs that same day and I was given a Beretta pistol.

"He was paranoid about his business associates and rivals, and wanted me to spy on them for him. I even had to tape them making love to women we had procured so Onassis could later use it against them if necessary."

Frank went to work immediately, debugging the Onassis headquarters and compiling dossiers on his mainly Japanese and Arab business associates.

But the European born Australian detective was soon to realise there were other duties Onassis wished him to perform.

These included attracting glamorous women to adorn his business meetings and social gatherings.

"I soon realised Onassis was a very spoiled, loud and rude man," Frank says. "He wasn't pleasant to anyone because he couldn't see the value in it.

"His personal hygiene was abysmal - he rarely washed and often would spit on the floor and expect others to clean it up. He was an uneducated pig but a cool and ruthless businessman.