u/Impressive_Review

Manson's parole officer, after his release from prison in 1967, was Dr. Roger Smith, a research criminologist who had launched the drug treatment program at the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic:

Charlie was the most hostile parolee I've ever come across. He was totally up front about it. He told me right off there was no way he could keep the terms of his parole. He was headed back to the joint [prison] and there was no way out of it. In another era, I think Charlie would have been back in prison in short order. But now the patterns have changed. You have a very transient, mobile delinquent population, and many of them end up in scenes like this. They pick up the rhetoric and sort of blend in and exploit and manipulate the scene. I think that's where Charlie fit in.

In a sense I think Charlie was really sort of shaken by it all – by the fact that people were friendly, open and willing to do things with him. The first night he was in the Haight, the chicks were willing to go to bed with him. They didn't care whether he had just gotten out of the joint. That was a real shocker for him.

Drugs give you something but they also take. In the case of Charlie, he redefined what reality was. He began to drift farther and farther away. He certainly wasn't operating on anything vaguely related to reality. He did become more articulate, began to develop a distinctive kind of philosophy. He no longer seemed angry or hostile, only more intense.

They talk about the hypnotic kind of state he was able to produce. Always in the back of my mind I felt he was a con man. Charlie's rap was always a little bit too heavy, a little bit too polished. Tenderness toward girls? Not a damn bit. I never sensed he had any real warmth toward the girls. They were his possessions.

There are a lot of Charlies running around, believe me. He's just one of several hundred thousand people who are released from prison after a shattering, soul-rending experience, not prepared for anything except to go back on the streets and do more of the same – but bigger. You get them back in the community and there's no place for them to stay. I couldn't get Charlie into a halfway house because the only one was too small. I couldn't get him training because somehow he didn't meet the state requirements. The only place he was accepted was Haight-Ashbury, and doesn't that say a hell of a lot about the system.

Courtesy: Gene Anthony/David Smith archives

Photo #1 Painted door marking entrance to detox clinic across the street from Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic (1967)
Photo #2 Inside the Haight Ashbury Clinic (1967)
Photo #3 Dr. David Smith outside Haight Ashbury Free Clinic (1975)

Sandy and Lynette October 1970

Manson received over 100 incident reports, this one from Vacaville, CA, Nov. 5, 1976, assigning an employee to investigate possession of contraband, after Manson was found to be harboring 'half a razor blade hidden in the pages of a small bible' He refused to sign a waiver and added "I dont want any of your mother-fucking dogs for police investigations!"

Other infractions he incurred included repeatedly hiding cell phones and hacksaws in his cell, possession of weapons, fighting with guards, spitting on staff, attempting to flood his cell, setting his mattress on fire, threatening prison guards, and refusing to provide urine samples for drug testing.

On August 10, 1969, the Los Angeles couple Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were found murdered at their home by Rosemary's adult children. Leno LaBianca was a wealthy coin collector who owned a large collection of rare United States coins. The unknown killers had left a violent crime scene with words carved onto the two bodies with knives and written on the refrigerator in their blood the words "Helter Skelter", the title of a song. The police found a metal case full of coin collector items and a gallon jar full of coins.

Leno LaBianca was a serious coin collector who owned a collection valued at over $20,000. The fact that Leno was a numismatist was widely known by his friends and relatives. The police concluded that theft was not a motive for the murders as many valuable and easily fenced items were left by the intruders, but they had to investigate Leno's coin collecting activities anyway. In 1967 Leno showed another friend the collection including three suitcases full of uncirculated silver dollars which had a face value of $3,000. Leno also had several books full of various coins. $400 in uncirculated nickels were recovered from the trunk of Leno's vehicle.

The police found notes and business cards at the LaBianca home from numismatic organizations and coin dealers. They contacted the secretary of the American Numismatic Association of which Leno was a member. Also visited were several Los Angeles coin dealers. The Coin Gallery Coin Shop owner told police that he had no transactions with Leno LaBianca. The Superior Coin and Stamp Shop owner told police that he had numerous business transactions with Leno LaBianca. Leno had purchased many thousands of dollars of coins and the last purchase was in 1965 or 1966. This transaction involved approximately $5,000 worth of coins.

The Los Feliz Coin Shop owner was an acquaintance of Leno LaBianca. He stated that he went to the LaBianca residence in January 1969 and appraised a part of Leno's collection at $10,000 and described Leno's collection as mint coins, both foreign and domestic. He sold a very rare 1909-S Indian Head penny to Leno for $250. The police found that Leno's neighbor was being investigated by the IRS for tax evasion of more than $100,000 and they found at his residence a collection of foreign coins.

CHARLES MANSON APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN ACTING AS A COIN DEALER AS HE SENT TWO FAMILY MEMBERS TO LONDON IN 1968 TO SELL SOME RARE COINS AND SILVER DOLLARS. One returned to the United States and the other was found murdered in a London hotel room, again with blood messages on walls. A Family member told police that after she returned from the LaBianca house, Leslie Van Houten, one of the LaBianca suspects, showed her eight dollars in change in a plastic sack. Because of Leno LaBianca's coin collection, the detectives were interested in the bag of change. The member told them that some of the coins she saw were from Canada.

Somewhere the LaBianca 1909-S Indian Head Cent is still out there. As professional coin grading and serial numbered slabs were far in the future in 1969, it would be almost impossible to locate. Some coin collector probably has the coin without knowing it's history.

Courtesy: Willy Boyd @ US Coin Forum
Photos: LAPD photos of Leno LaBianca's coin collection

Frank Struthers Jr, the 14 year old son of Rosemary LaBianca being helped to the car by his father, Frank Struthers. The younger Struthers found his mother and step-father fatally stabbed in their Waverley Drive home.

Courtesy: Bettman/Getty Images

San Quentin, 1985, an inventory of the contents of Manson's cell, to which he adds his prisoner number and a note: "missing one doll + scorpion"

Leslie Louis Van Houghten, in a yellow dress, being taken by policewomen to a jail cell in the Hall of Justice, after she and two other girls waive arraignment on murder charges in connection with the Tate-LaBianca Slayings. The three allegedly were members of a hippie cult led by Charles Manson.

Photo: Bettman

Bruce Davis
Charles Manson
Tex Watson
Lynette Fromme
Susan Atkins

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The April 1972 issue of Inside Detective magazine featured stories "Susan Atkins of the Manson Family Sues Lawyers" "Bonnie & Clyde Return To Haunt Us" "Two State Troopers Gunned Down by Bandit Team"

In January 1972, convicted Charles Manson follower Susan Atkins filed a $2 million malpractice and fraud lawsuit against her two former defense attorneys Paul Caruso, Richard Caballeros, and the prosecutor, Vincent Bugliosi. Her complaint alleged that her former lawyers improperly recorded a confession in December 1969 without her knowledge and accused them of playing the recording for Bugliosi and allowing him to conduct an interview where he rehearsed what she was to tell the grand jury.

Why is it that Gypsy, Little Paul, and Charlie are all seen sporting the same shirt? I can't help but think that this was deliberate and there's a reason.

Between her second and third murder trials Leslie Van Houten was released on $200,000.00 bail. During this six-month window of freedom in 1978, she quietly attended the 50th Academy Awards, worked as a legal secretary and was photographed here taking a walk on the beach.

Photo Charles Manson took in 1968 of three girls in his "command vehicle", an armor plated dune buggy with fur camouflaged gun mount

The "The New Year's Wail / New Year's Whale" on January 1, 1967 at the Panhandle near Golden Gate Park in San Francisco was organized by the Hells Angels as a thank you to the Haight Ashbury community for crowdfunding the bail money for their member Chocolate George after a traffic arrest. This is months before the “Summer of Love” The Diggers helped to promote the event which featured Big Brother and Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, and the Orkustra with BOBBY BEAUSOLEIL. The bands played on a flatbed truck.

Here’s an account by BEAUSOLEIL of the band’s involvement with the Diggers:
Our first significant performance, and a defining one for the band, took place on a Sunday afternoon in the Panhandle section of Golden Gate Park. It was the very first in a series of free concerts that would take place in that location, organized by the notorious Diggers. By this time, hundreds of young people had already migrated to the Haight community, and more were arriving every day. Many of them had but recently left the homes of their parents on a wing and a prayer, arriving in the Haight with little or no money, no street experience, and ill-prepared to provide themselves with the necessities of basic survival. The Diggers had declared it their mission to coordinate relief efforts, finding and providing essential food, clothing, communal housing, and medical treatment to the migrants, all free of charge. The free Sunday concerts in the park were urban guerrilla theater events staged by the Diggers, all in the spirit of fun and good times, to bring a sense of harmony and unity to the growing throngs of erstwhile hippies. In addition to live music, huge pots of savory vegetable stew were on hand for anyone who might be hungry.

The Orkustra’s association with the Diggers was initially an outgrowth of simple proximity to one another. The old warehouse on Page Street that we used for a rehearsal studio was located directly across the street from a row of derelict wooden garages that the Diggers had procured and made into their headquarters. Above the doors of the garages was a whimsical sign proclaiming them to be “The Free Frame of Reference,” the Diggers’ free store, where second-hand clothing, blankets, kitchen utensils, and sundry household items could be had for the asking. As members of The Orkustra and some of the Diggers encountered one another on a daily basis, a casual relationship was formed. Emmett Grogan, one of the Diggers’ founding members and chief instigators, took a particular shine to The Orkustra. He liked our free-form musical style and devil-may-care attitude, being so much like his own nature, and invited us to play the first of the free concerts in the Panhandle. A makeshift stage was set up under the trees and a generator was brought in to provide electricity to power the amplifiers.

As we began to play, a crowd grew quickly around us. Our performance was very well received by everyone save for the cops who showed up to inform us that the crowd exceeded the number of people who could lawfully be gathered in a public park without a permit. We were allowed to play one more song before we had to shut it down. We made it a long one. Thereafter, the Diggers made prior arrangements with city officials to obtain permits, and with a flatbed truck to serve as a stage and power source, the weekend concerts in the Panhandle became a regular feature of life in the Haight for some time. The Orkustra played that venue several times, along with The Grateful Dead, The Charlatans, Big Brother, and other San Francisco rock band luminaries of the period. We played so many of the Diggers’ events, in fact, that we became known in some circles as The Diggers’ band. One of the most memorable of those events was the inaugural ceremonies that launched the infamous Invisible Circus festivities at Glide Memorial Church, wherein The Orkustra performed musical accompaniment for a troupe of half-naked female belly dancers who had been brought in for the expressed purpose of kick-starting the event. Our collective efforts were a rollicking success from my point of view, but the church fathers and city officials saw it from another perspective.

Courtesy: https://diggerfeed.org/2019/09/09/the-orkustra-first-psychedelic-electric-symphony-orchestra/

Associated Press wire photograph, titled "The Many Moods of Manson" captures Charles Manson making various facial expressions for photographers while on his way to lunch during the TLB murder trial detailing an incident on Monday, December 21, 1970, involving a courtroom outburst that led to the ejection of Manson and his three female co-defendants: Leslie Van Houten, Susan Atkins, and Patricia Krenwinkel. The disruption reportedly began when Van Houten attempted to dismiss her court-appointed attorney, who had replaced the missing Ronald Hughes. When Judge Charles Older denied the request, the situation escalated, resulting in Van Houten shouting at the court and struggling with bailiffs before being removed. Manson, seen here in high spirits despite the conflict, was also barred from the proceedings due to his own participation in the disturbance

In 1969 Charles Manson was found on Elvis Presley's property at 1174 Hillcrest Ave, Trousdale Estates, Beverly Hills, Ca. (Photo) How he got there, why he got there, and his intent for being there remains…speculative. When discovered on Elvis’ property Manson was said to have called out the names of people “well known” in Hollywood’s musical scene. He also, in between rants of profanity, began to assert that he was a singer/musician himself. At some point he affirmed that he was, and had, “lived there before” As was customary, when fans or others were discovered on the property without notice/permission, the person was removed and informed not to come back. Such was the case when Charles Manson was discovered on the property of Elvis Presley.
 
Charles Manson, in several non-specific interviews, told his version of events as follows: "I lived in Elvis Presley’s house, man. He ran me out of the yard. I got mad at him, I was going to throw some rocks at him, because I thought he was an idiot, an egotistical fucking punk. I never liked him even a little bit, but everybody else always kow-towed to him because he was rich and everything. But to me that don’t mean shit. I don’t give a fuck how rich you are, I’ll bust you up anyway"

In an interview in later years Charles Manson said that “Bing Crosby was a diamond and Elvis Presley was a rhinestone”.

At some point Charles Manson got a newspaper and he took it back to the ranch. While going through the various sections Charles Manson became more and more “bolden” about his success but then his demeanor changed and he slammed the newspaper down and screamed “look at this…look at this”! As members of the family gathered they looked down at the headline proclaiming “Elvis Presley is back in Las Vegas and SOLD OUT”

After the murders occurred Elvis had taken steps to procure guns both in Memphis and in California. Since Tennessee had a Law prohibiting citizens from openly carrying guns Elvis had been appointed a “Special Deputy” and was given a Badge. This event (i.e. the Charles Manson Murders) propelled Elvis’ desire for guns and police badges and would one day bring him to Washington DC (unannounced) to obtain a Federal Narcotics Badge from President Richard Nixon with the photographs becoming…infamous

A few months later Elvis Presley was threatened with being murdered. A letter had been delivered to Colonel Parker saying that Elvis would be killed. Another threat was made at the Hotel Elvis was performing at. The Colonel notified the FBI and every precaution was taken. As Elvis confided to his friend from his hometown Memphis, named Sonny West, that he (Elvis) had a fear of someone shooting and killing him for no reason. Elvis actually broke down and cried in the dressing room. He then called in Red, and Jerry Schilling, (note: they were part of the Memphis Mafia and were part of Elvis Bodyguards) into the room and said, “I haven’t done anything to anybody to get shot. I haven’t hurt anybody. If some SOB tries to kill me, I want you guys to get him; and I want him done up right. I don’t want him sitting around like Charles Manson, with a grin on his face or a claim to fame that he killed Elvis Presley”.

Courtesy: Elvis Collector Archives (portions)