Vincent Bugliosi ( /ˌbuːliˈoʊsi/; born August 18, 1934) is an American attorney and author, best known for prosecuting Charles Manson and other defendants accused of the Tate-LaBianca murders, and for defending Stephanie Stearns in the Sea Wind murders of 1974. His most recent books are Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy (2007), The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder (2008), and Divinity of Doubt: The God Question (2011).
Bugliosi, who is of Italian ancestry, was born in Hibbing, Minnesota. Bugliosi is a graduate of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, which he attended on a tennis scholarship. In 1964, he received his law degree from UCLA, where he was president of his graduating class.
He is married with two children: Wendy and Vince Jr. He often refers to his wife, Gail, in his books, referencing her understanding and patience with him. He has also stated that he is an agnostic, although open to the ideas of deism.
As a Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney, he successfully prosecuted Charles Manson and several other members of his "family" for the 1969 murders of Sharon Tate and six others. He lost only one of the 106 felony cases he tried as a prosecutor, which included winning 21 out of 21 murder cases. He later wrote, jointly with Curt Gentry, a book about the Manson trial called Helter Skelter. The book went on to become the biggest selling true crime book in publishing history with over 7 million copies sold.
Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was, according to four government investigations, the sniper who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.
A former U.S. Marine who had briefly (October 1959 – June 1962) defected to the Soviet Union, Oswald was initially arrested for the murder of police officer J. D. Tippit, on a Dallas street approximately 40 minutes after Kennedy was shot. Suspected in the assassination of Kennedy as well, Oswald denied involvement in either of the killings. Two days later, while being transferred from police headquarters to the county jail, Oswald was shot and killed by nightclub owner Jack Ruby in full view of television cameras broadcasting live.
In 1964, the Warren Commission concluded that Oswald acted alone in assassinating Kennedy, firing three shots, a conclusion also reached by prior investigations carried out by the FBI and Dallas Police Department. In 1979, the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that Oswald fired the shots which killed Kennedy, but differed from previous investigations in concluding he 'probably' did not act alone. The evidence used to form this conclusion has since been disputed.
Charles Milles Manson (born November 12, 1934) is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction. He was convicted of the murders through the joint-responsibility rule, which makes each member of a conspiracy guilty of crimes his fellow conspirators commit in furtherance of the conspiracy's objective.
Manson believed in what he called "Helter Skelter," a term he took from the song of the same name by The Beatles. Manson believed Helter Skelter to be an impending apocalyptic race war, which he described in his own version of the lyrics to the Beatles' song. He believed his murders would help precipitate that war. From the beginning of his notoriety, a pop culture arose around him in which he ultimately became an emblem of insanity, violence and the macabre. The term was later used by Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi as the title of a book he wrote about the Manson murders.
Based on the true story of the Manson murders.
How did one man turn all-American teens into cold-blooded killers?
Charles Manson: How can I be a hippie when I hate hippies?
Charles Manson: This court is out of order.
Charles Manson: They would die for me.::Vincent Bugliosi: Well, they all might get their chance to.
Charles Manson: Do I look like a Chuck?
Susan 'Sadie' Atkins: [of a dead body] Yes, that was the thing I saw.
Charles Manson: Come to now, where suddenly no sense, makes sense.
Charles Manson: The time is now. Helter skelter.
Clem Watkins: Are you still in love with him?::Linda Kasabian: Some of the things he said were true. But he is real good at taking the truth and making a lie out of it.
Susan 'Sadie' Atkins: Bitch, I have no mercy for you.
Sharon Tate: [cries] Please don't kill me!::Susan 'Sadie' Atkins: Look, bitch, I have no mercy for you.::Sharon Tate: Please let me live so I can have my baby...::Susan 'Sadie' Atkins: [Susan stabs Sharon, then Patricia joins in]
Plot
This is a true crime story based on the book of the same title by prosecuting attorney, Vincent Bugliosi. (Bugliosi is the L.A. prosecutor that put Charles Manson away.) On December 11, 1966, a murder occurs in a small neighborhood of El Sereno, CA. In the middle of the night, Henry Stockton is shot three times in the head and twice in the chest and then his house is set on fire. The murderer left no clues, baffling the police, until a year later when a young pregnant woman is found bludgeoned to death in a Jaguar. Strangely, these two murders are related. As the mystery unfolds a horrific tale of greed, lust and ambition are revealed.
Keywords: based-on-novel, based-on-true-story, murder
Plot
Chilling story of the investigation and trial of Charles Manson, leader of a strange cult which under his direction and 'control' committed numerous murders.
Keywords: 1960s, 1970s, attorney, based-on-book, capital-punishment, charles-manson, commune, counter-culture, courtroom, cult
Charlie: It ain't nice to snitch, Shorty.
Charles Manson: "You beat a man with a whip... and he likes the whip... (laughs) you're just makin' a fool of yourself!"
Housekeeper: MURDER! MURDER! MURDER!
Dist. Atty. Vincent Bugliosi: [narrating] It was so quiet, one of the killers would later say, you could almost hear the sound of ice rattling in cocktail shakers in the homes way down the canyon.
Dist. Atty. Vincent Bugliosi: Are you always this happy?::Cindy Jane Orelia: Uh-huh.::Dist. Atty. Vincent Bugliosi: What's the secret?::Lisa Armbruster: We found the truth.::Dist. Atty. Vincent Bugliosi: What's the truth?::Lisa Armbruster: Charlie is love.
Dist. Atty. Vincent Bugliosi: Good Evening, you're about to see a dramatization based on actual facts. We may not like to accept the fact that those in the story of Helter Skelter exist in our lives. Yet, they do. And while they do we can not say that the story of Helter Skelter has ended.
Prison Inmate: What's your name?::Susan Atkins: Sadie. Sexy Sadie.
Dist. Atty. Vincent Bugliosi: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Sharon Tate... Jay Sebring... Voytek Frykowski... Abigail Folger... Steven Parent... Leno LaBianca... and Rosemary LaBianca are not here with us right now in this courtroom. But from their graves, they cry out for justice! And justice can only be served by you returning to this courtroom with a verdict of guilty.
Dist. Atty. Vincent Bugliosi: Boots is no longer with us.::Danny DeCarlo: What do you mean, Boots is no longer with us?::Dist. Atty. Vincent Bugliosi: He's among the dead. He shot himself the other night, playing Russian Roulette.::Danny DeCarlo: Oh, terrific. Who was with him?::Dist. Atty. Vincent Bugliosi: Cisco Budge.::Danny DeCarlo: Cisco Budge. That's it. I ain't talking no more. I'm riding out of here on the wind, mister.::Dist. Atty. Vincent Bugliosi: There are a couple of warrants outstanding against you, Danny. I don't think you'd feel very safe in prison. That's where Charlie is.::Danny DeCarlo: [slight pause] That sure is cold, man.