Bugliosi Recalls the .AP Mastermind of the Murders of Sharon Tate and Others

A lingering evil Bugliosi recalls the .AP Mastermind of the murders of Sharon Tate and others. Charles Manson, behind bars at San dark days of 1969 Quentin. has been denied parole seven times.

Los Angeles Herald Examiner Tuesday, August 8, 1989 By Bob Groves 54, says of his as-yet-untitled Herald Examiner staff writer tome. "The Manson book was important, but it didn't alter history." e spends his days chasing. Yet it is the. public's fascination - the ghost of one killer with Manson -- not Oswald - H• while being haunted by the that made Bugliosi famOus and notoriety of another. dogs him to this day. Every day; Vincent Bugliosi wants to re- Bugliosi says, someone in a store write history — but he can't -- or a long-distance operator escape his own celebrated past. recognizing his name.— will stop Because whatever else he does, him and and ask about Manson. Bugliosi (pronounced "Bool-yo- Manson, who is the same age as see") will probably always be Bugliosi, is serving a life sentence remembered as the former L.A. in San Quentin.Quentin.. Their only con- County prosecutor who convicted tact has been letters from Charles Manson for mastermind- Manson, one of which; Bugliosi ing the grisly murders of preg- says, contained a veiled death nant actress Sharon , Tate and threat. Bugliosi hasn't seen him in eight others, 20 years ago this person since 1971;- yet Manson week. lurks in his life like„ati evil twin. In the .15 years since writing "There's. no way . I can really the book "Helter Skelter" about separate myself from Manson," the 1969 Manson murders and the says Bugliosi, a miry, intense man 1971 trial, Bugliosi has switched given to bursts of infectious from being a prosecutor to a Actress Sharon Tate was eight laughter. "It's like trying to get defense lawyer; and from writing away from your own shadow. It's non-fiction books to novels — and months pregnant when she pretty tough to do." back again. was murdered by Manson fol- Why has Manson — more than Since participating in a posthu- lowers 20 years ago this week. other mass murderers such as mous mock trial of Lee Harvey Richard Speck.or Juan Corona -- Oswald on British TV in 1986, "the conspiracy buffs" that the achieved the almostat mythic repu- Bugliosi has spent hundreds of slain assassin acted alone in ,kill- tation of a- Jack the Ripper? &nits researching thousands of ing John F. Kennedy,. - . "One of the reasons," Bugliosi official documents for a book he "I view it as the most impor- says' will prove conclusively to tant book I've written," Bugliosi, Bugliosi, C-4 b Los Angeles Herald examiner, Tuesday, August 8, 1989

crazy, speaking in riddles. But it's not easy to speak in an enigmatic Bugliosi "He's not a dumb guy. way and have a message under- • From C-1 neath. And he's not insane. His He sounds crazy, values are abnormal, but in my speculates, "is the extreme bi- opinion, Manson knows exactly zarreness of the case. Here's this speaking in riddles. what he's doing." little goon, 5-foot-2 — though he Manson's "evil genius," accord- gives the sense of being taller ... But it's not easy to ing to Bugliosi, was his "ability to Here's this little guy, and his detect weaknesses and fears in followers and ultimately killers speak in an enigmatic people and exploit them." Using — were kids from average Ameri- isolation, LSD, philosophical gib- can homes." way and have a berish and sexual perversion, the ' While someone such as Ted man known variously as "Jesus," undy may have murdered more message underneath. "God," "Soul" and "Satan" con- tictims, "Manson sat back pulling trolled his followers and "reached *trings and getting other people And he's not insane." into their psyches to go after their to go kill strangers without asking convictions." questions. When people come Vincent Buglosi Manson has been rejected tip and ask me about Manson, seven times by his parole board. they don't ask how many times Bugliosi believes he will, never be Someone was stabbed, they ask, ing, coffee heiress Abigail Folger released from prison. bow did he control these people? and her lover Voytek Frykowski, Bugliosi, meanwhile, collabo- When I was first assigned to and teen-ager Steven Parent, who rates on more books, one of which he case, it was called the Tate had stopped by to buy a stereo he recently sold for a record $1 case. Then Manson comes on the from the house's caretaker. million-plus to TV. Occasionally scene, and he's so bizarre and, in The following night, another he defends murder suspects, but his own way, charismatic, that he Manson death squad murdered only if convinced of their innoc- Upstaged the victims, and it be- wealthy Los Feliz grocer Leno ence. One such case he is recount- came the Manson case." LaBianca, 44, and his wife, Rose- ing in -And the Sea Will Tell," a In the summer of '89, manipu- mary, 38. The hideous crimes new book about a San Diego lative ex-con Manson and his were marked by vicious multiple yachting couple murdered in 1974 roving band of middle-class mis- stabbings and cryptic slogans on a South Seas island. fits lived at the remote Spahn "Death to Pigs" and "Rise" - He also continues to plow Movie ranch north of Los Ange- scrawled on the walls in the through all 26 volumes of the les. and later in Death Valley. victims' blood. The murders - Warren Commission Report - Here they prepared for what the "family" later claimed to have and 12 volumes of the House Manson predicted would be a committed dozens more — pan- Select Committee report — on the racial Armageddon he called icked Hollywood, and confirmed Kennedy assassination. rHeiter Skelter" after one of mainstream America's worst As for Manson, "I never bring several current Beatles hits in fears about the sex, drugs and the case up — never." Bugliosi which he found warped, apocalyp- rock 'n' roil of the hippie '60s. pauses. "I shouldn't say never; tic "messages." "He's not a dumb guy," Bug- but extremely rarely. Because On Aug. 8, 1969, Manson sent liosi says of Manson. "He sounds people always ask about it." four young members of his "fam- ily" to a house at 10050 Cielo Drive off Benedict Canyon. There, in the early hours of Aug. 9, they brutally stabbed to death I Mond actress Tate — the 26-year- old wife of director Roman Polan- V Ski, who was away in London - and her unborn baby of eight months. They also killed leading TN , Hollywood hairdresser Jay Sebr- Javiet meMotaJHesod Examiner Famous for his successful prosecution of Charles Manson, Vincent Bugliosi is now working on a book that he says will prove Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the John F. Kennedy assassination.