Ron, Charles Manson never asked anyone to be killed.
This is simply not true. He was the leader as all of your citations concede. He was the general and had his troops do the killing. I can't see how that is any different than doing it yourself? Even so, Manson was
convicted of 7 counts of
First Degree Murder, 1 count of Conspiracy to Commit Murder and subsequently sentenced to death in the gas chamber. Manson was also
convicted of 2 more counts of
First Degree Murder for the murders of Gary Hinman and Donald "Shorty" Shea, in which he received a sentence of life imprisonment. You seem to be stuck on this "Tex did all the killing" thing and this is not the point at all.
And I have read those books and some others like:
Manson by John Gilmore and Ron Kenner; John Gilmores
Manson: The Unholy Trail of Charlie & the Family and many other books, articles and press releases published during and after the trial. All of these have concluded that he was ultimately responsible for murders the "Family" were accused of doing.
As far as Bugliosi's submission in the
book he co-wrote (not by himself, as you seem to believe, but with Curt Gentry and the T.V. movie teleplay was written by James Miller that was "based on" the book) just because he exaggerated (like the defence lawyers did as well) the truth, doesn't mean that the truth wasn't exposed to begin with. That's what lawyers and cops do. I don't know if he had his eye on Hollywood, but facts are facts and the proven fact remains that Charles Manson was the leader of a "family" that was bent on murder and chaos as described in the "Helter Skelter" proclamation from Charles Manson himself. I suspect you've read this already? His plan? He was one fucked up individual and would stop at nothing to have his plan put into action and could care less about who he got to do it.
There are several news articles stating that Vincent admitted to lying during the court proceedings as well as in the book he wrote about them. He has had lawsuits filed against him for libel because of the lies he printed. His account is not in any definition accurate.
And finally, as to the libel suites against Bugliosi, one was from the lawyer Paul Fitzgerald who represented Patricia Krenwinkel for "making Fitzgerald look incompetent" and the other, from another defending lawyer at the trial, Earle Partington was also claiming to have been made to look incompetent by the book "Helter Skelter"..." libel by implication in portraying him as incompetent. The Court ruled that the book and movie were opinion and did not address the public figure issues."
These are the only libel suites that were filed against Bugliosi. Both were dismissed. So, where is your proof that he lied? What evidence do you have to back up your claims? It would seem to me that the evidence I found showed that he did NOT lie and was proven true in court. Please show me your sources for these findings of guilt for libel?
Cheers,
Ron_Dogg