Taming the Beast: Charles Manson's Life Behind Bars (51 page)

It talked about in Revelations 9 and 10 of the Bible—Mr. Manson I heard even is still quoting the Bible. He could quote the Bible very well, but twist it to mean what he wanted it to mean.

INMATE MANSON: [Inaudible].

MR. KAY: Mr. Manson felt that there was going to be this black-white revolution and the Family was going to be the beneficiaries because the blacks were going to kill all of the whites, except for Manson and the Family. And Manson and the Family were going to escape to the bottomless pit talked about in Revelations 9 and 10 of the Bible. And they would live in this bottomless pit for 50 to 100 years in miniaturized form and then they would’ve grown to the size of 144,000, the 12 tribes of Israel.

And at the end of this 50-to-100-year period, Manson and the Family would come out of the bottomless pit and there would only be blacks left—black president, black senators, black congressmen. But Manson, who is a real racist, thought that blacks were too stupid to maintain power. And as soon as he and the family came out of the bottomless pit, the blacks would rush up to him and turn over all power. Now it was never clear whether he was going to rule the world, but at least he was going to rule the United States.

Now I know this sounds bizarre, but the problem is that Manson and his followers believed in this motive enough to kill innocent people. At the trial we showed that Manson was so serious about this that he went to a sporting goods store in Santa Monica and bought expensive golden rope that he was going to lower himself into the bottomless pit. He rented scuba equipment because he thought the entrance to the bottomless pit was under some underground river in Death Valley and he was looking for the entrance.

He brought topographical maps because he felt that he and the family were going to have to fight their way out of L.A. from the Spahn Ranch to Death Valley to get to the bottomless pit. He got an alliance with the Straight Satans motorcycle gang in Venice that they were going to help protect him and lead him to the bottomless pit. He had one of the Straight Satans members, Danny DeCarlo, who ran a gun room out in Spahn Ranch where he had machine guns and other armaments and DeCarlo would pack bullets.

Now there are four separate occasions of murder here. The first occasion of murder, the Hinman murder, was tied into Manson preparing for war. He needed money because he was buying armaments. He was buying dune buggies. He had his own dune buggy. He had a machine gun mounted on the dune buggy and he had a sheath for his sword that he kept on the side.

Well, he met Gary Hinman, who was a rock musician. He met him at Dennis Wilson’s house, the same place he met Tex Watson. Dennis Wilson was the drummer for the Beach Boys. Manson thought that Hinman had come into an inheritance and he wanted his money and his property and he wanted Hinman to join the Family.

So he sent Beausoleil, Atkins, and Brunner to Hinman’s house to get the property. Hinman was not interested in doing this. He hadn’t come into an inheritance and he didn’t want to join the family.

When he wasn’t cooperating, Beausoleil called first Bruce Davis—and I know there’s been some misconception here about who was Manson’s chief lieutenant. Make no mistake about it. Bruce Davis was Manson’s chief lieutenant, not Tex Watson. Tex Watson was certainly the major killer here, but when Manson was not at the Family—at the ranch in charge—Bruce Davis was the one in charge. When Manson wanted somebody to study Scientology more—because that’s how he used that a lot to control people to get into their minds—he sent Bruce Davis to London to the Scientology headquarters to study Scientology.

Anyway, Manson and Davis then went the second day to Hinman’s house and tried to force him to turn over his property and when he wouldn’t cooperate, Manson sliced his ear off with Davis holding a gun on him. And then they left and let Beausoleil know, get the property or else, and of course it turned into, or else, with Beausoleil killing him on the third day and Atkins holding a pillow over his nose so he—and his mouth—so he couldn’t breathe while he was dying from the stab wounds.

Now Manson always felt that the blacks were going to start the revolution. And when they didn’t, he was very impatient. And finally on the evening of August 8, he told his Family members, “The only thing blackie knows what to do is what whitey shows him and I’m”—that’s a quote—”and so we’re going to have to show blackie how to do it. Now is the time for Helter Skelter.”

And so he told Watson, Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Kasabian to go to the residence. Now the motive for the murders, make no doubt about it, was Helter Skelter, but Manson had an ulterior motive. He was very mad at the prior residents of the Tate house. He had been there before. He knew the layout. He and Watson had both been to a party there. But he was very mad at Terry Melcher who—Doris Day’s son and his girlfriend Candice Bergen, because Manson wanted a recording contract from Melcher and Melcher auditioned him and wouldn’t give him the contact.

So the reason that this particular residence was picked out was because Manson wanted to send a message to Melcher and Bergen that there but for the grace of God go you. And he knew that they moved out. He knew that somebody else lived there at the time. He didn’t know who they were. He didn’t know any of these people at the residence. He knew that somebody famous lived there.

And he told his followers that he wanted some gruesome murders. He even talked at one point about gouging eyeballs out and smashing them against the wall. And when they left the ranch, he told the girls—he said, do what Watson tells you to do because he knows the layout of the place and leave a sign, something witchy.

Well, they followed his instructions because the victims at the Tate house suffered 102 stab wounds. Sharon Tate, who was eight and a half months pregnant, was hung while she was still alive. And I should tell you that Watson took a long rope in there because Watson and Manson both knew the living room had high beam ceilings that you could throw a rope over and hang somebody. So that was planned from the very beginning. Susan Atkins wrote in Sharon Tate’s blood on the front door, pig, the letters P-I-G. Now this wasn’t good enough for Mr. Manson.

PRESIDING BOARD COMMISSIONER KOENIG: Excuse me, Mr. Kay.

MR. KAY: Yes.

PRESIDING BOARD COMMISSIONER KOENIG: We’re retrying the case is actually what you’re doing. We should be talking about suitability on parole.

MR. KAY: Right. Yes.

PRESIDING BOARD COMMISSIONER KOENIG: We know he killed the people and we accept that—

MR. KAY Right.

PRESIDING BOARD COMMISSIONER KOENIG:—the findings of the court. So I would like you to speak to suitability, if you would, please.

MR. KAY: I will. I’m just about finished with this area, but this goes to suitability, what he did in the life crimes. That’s a part of it, that’s a part of your hearing, and I just don’t want people to forget what he did, what he’s responsible for. I’m not going blow by blow like I would in the Watson hearing and in Van Houten. I mean, I would do that, blow by blow there. I’m not doing it here. But I’m telling about his directions.

On the LaBiancas, he met in the bunkhouse on the ranch and he scolded the people who were there at the Tate murder and told them they had been too messy and that he was going to show them how to do it this night.

And so they went—he led them on a four-hour trip around the county of Los Angeles, at one point even stopping at a Congregational church in South Pasadena and knocking on the door trying to find the minister so that he could kill the minister and hang the minister upside down to the cross in front of the church.

Now in the LaBianca house, he went in by himself, got the drop on Mr. and Mrs. LaBianca with a gun, tied them up, tied their hands, assured them they were going to be okay, that it was only a robbery.

He took one thing from the house when he went outside. He took Mrs. LaBianca’s wallet, And the reason that he did this, because he had it later planted in what he felt was a black area, because he wanted a black person to find the wallet and to use the credit cards, Mrs. LaBianca’s credit cards, so that the blacks would get blamed for these murders and that would start the revolution.

On the Shea murder, Shea was a ranch hand at Spahn Ranch and knew that Manson and the Family were up to no good, but he knew that Mr. Spahn, who was 80 years old, was too old to do anything about kicking Manson off. And so Mr. Shea conspired with a neighboring rancher to kick Manson off the ranch. That, and the fact that Mr. Shea, who was white, was married to a black woman when Manson just couldn’t understand that. For those two reasons, he decided to take care of Mr. Shea.

Now six of tire nine victims who were murdered were murdered in the supposed sanctity of their own homes, and seven were complete strangers. Now what has Mr. Manson learned in the 23, almost 23 years, that he has been in prison for these murders? I thought Mr. Brown really hit the nail on the head here.

In my estimation, Mr. Manson has learned nothing. Other than physically aging, and Mr. Manson’s going to be 58 this year, Mr. Manson is exactly the same person he was when he was arrested at Barker Ranch in Death Valley on October 12, 1969. He has no respect for authority, he has no respect for society or desire to be part of it, and he has no remorse for directing the murder of any of these nine victims.

His adjustment in prison has been horrible. His record is replete with assaulting prison guards and staff, including punching them, spitting in their face, throwing hot coffee. And I thought Mr. Manson’s talk here about spitting on the guard, you would think listening to him that this was some man that he spit on. It was a woman, that he spit in her face.

Mr. Manson doesn’t like women. I think that’s pretty clear. His record’s also replete with threatening staff and guards, either that he’s going to kill them or he’s going to have somebody else kill them.

His record is—also has in his possession of contraband, he had L.S.D. in his cell in Vacaville and tried to smuggle in a hacksaw blade when he was transferred to San Quentin, and he was caught with escape plans when he was in Vacaville.

Now, Mr. Brown said that he had 60 C.D.C. 115s. I counted 571 but that’s pretty close. But one of the important things is that he has nine since his last hearing. And at the last hearing, the Board directed him that one of the things they wanted to see him do was to be disciplinary free. And yet, what has he done? He’s picked up nine C.D.C. 115s, the same type of violations that he’s had since he’s been in prison. He hasn’t changed one iota.

What else has he done? He refused to cooperate with the schedule of psychological evaluation and he refused to appear at his 1982 and ’89 parole hearing. I think that we have to face the fact that based on Mr. Manson’s words and actions that he’s really not serious about being paroled.

In 1981, he said that he did want to be paroled, but since he hated people, he wanted to be paroled to Death Valley so that he could live with his friends, the spiders and the snakes or in the alternative, be paroled to space. Here this time he told Correctional Counselor …

[Off the Record]

DEPUTY BOARD COMMISSIONER BROWN: This is Tape No. 3 in the hearing for Charles Manson 04/21/92, California State Prison, Corcorcan. Proceed.

MR. KAY: This year in the Board report, he told Correctional Counselor Montero—and I’d like to say about that, that this Board report by Correctional Counselor Montero—this is the forty-fourth parole hearing I’ve been to for Manson, Watson, Atkins, Van Houten, and Krenwinkel—is the best Board report I’ve ever read. This is a crackerjack Board report.

Anyway, he told Correctional Counselor Montero that “he has no plans for the future, that he was not interested in paroling and that he would be lost in our society.” Well, I can tell Mr. Manson that our society feels the same way about him. We don’t want him back. The Board has received over the years over 352,000 cards, letters, petitions signed by individuals, all directed and sent to the Board in Sacramento asking you members of the Board not to parole Mr. Manson or the other four defendants convicted of the Tate-LaBianca murders.

Charles Manson told his followers that Adolf Hitler was his hero and he tried to emulate him. We can see even today he still has a swastika on his forehead. Can we ever risk setting a man like Charles Manson free in society, a man who, in essence, tried to destroy our society? I think not.

I would respectfully ask the Board to find Mr. Manson unsuitable for parole and to give him the maximum five-year denial. Thank you very much.

PRESIDING BOARD COMMISSIONER KOENIG: Thank you, Mr. Kay. Mr. Manson, would you speak to your suitability for parole, please?

INMATE MANSON: Is there any way that we could take a recess where I could use the rest room?

PRESIDING BOARD COMMISSIONER KOENIG: Certainly. We’ll recess at this time. The time is now 1507 hours.

[Off the Record]

PRESIDING BOARD COMMISSIONER KOENIG: We’ve reconvened the panel hearing on Charles Manson after a brief break as requested by the prisoner. All participants are present now who were present prior to the recess. The time is 1515 hours. Go ahead, Mr. Manson, with your closing statement regarding suitability.

INMATE MANSON: You’re going to limit me to suitability?

PRESIDING BOARD COMMISSIONER KOENIG: I’ll let you ramble a little bit, but I’d like you to stick to suitability.

INMATE MANSON: Is that what you call it, rambling, huh?

PRESIDING BOARD COMMISSIONER KOENIG: Well, no, I didn’t mean it that way. I will allow you to talk about what you would like to talk about, as long as you don’t stray too far from suitability, please.

INMATE MANSON: As long as I don’t say anything, it’s okay if I talk?

PRESIDING BOARD COMMISSIONER KOENIG: No. I’ll allow you to say—

INMATE MANSON: You see nine dead people. That’s just—that’s not even the tip of it. That just set one little blaze to this thing that you call Helter Skelter that you created for Rambo movies, so all the Italians can move over from New York and move into the District Attorney’s office and this Anglo-Christian girl don’t seem to know which whorehouse is—got the red light on it.