HAPPY HALLOWEEN

So, I was looking around for something to post that had to do with Charles Manson or the Family and Halloween.  You'd think with all the talk of Satanism and Witches there would be a little something but I couldn't find anything worth while.  This pumpkin carved in Charlie's likeness will have to do.

How about you telling us some Halloween stories?  Spooky, funny, embarrassing, we're all ears!!!

Remember be safe and drive safe tonight, there's lots of little kids out, all jacked up on excitement and sugar.

Manson and Calley, to the death

This is another Manson related article published by the Los Angeles Free Press that did not make it into the pdf that they are offering with all (so they say) the Manson articles.  This piece is an obvious satire,  a complete 180 from the first articles published in the Freep about Manson.   So much for peace, love and understanding.



Volume 8, No. 14 (Issue No. 350) April 2-8, 1971

"An immodest proposal

Will Lt. Calley kill Charles Manson for charity?

Sam Eisenstein

A suggestion made in jest some months ago, then spread as a rumor, finally reached the ears of the people in a position to deal with it seriously.  That suggestion is about to bear fruit.  Naturally, until the "package" is ready for publication, all names involved and the exact details must remain confidential.  We can say at this time however, that the necessary changes in local and state laws and the governor's approval are almost certain.

The linking of Lieutenant Calley and Charles Manson in a public exhibition to raise money for extremely worthwhile causes is, all agree, a stroke of genius.  Nobody involved with the extremely sensitive negotiations can recall just who thought of it first.  But here it is: Sometime just after school begins again in the fall, Charles Manson will be publically executed by Lieutenant Calley in the Los Angeles Coliseum.  The event will be carried live by closed-circuit television and satellite to millions of homes across the planet.  In addition, there will be a lottery to determine who will get parts of Charles Manson's body.  Manson's co-defendants have agreed to burn themselves to death separately during the execution.  Calley is certain that he can prolong Manson's death throughout the immolation of the girls, and if there are any others of Charlie's "family" who wish to step forward, he is sure that the timing of Manson's death can be adjusted accordingly.

If the plan is approved, it will be the first public execution in California in over a century.  It will be the first time a legal lottery has been held in California.  And last but not least the first lottery and execution carried on closed circuit television.

These are the obvious "firsts" involved, but behind the scenes, the excitement is for very different reasons.  And you guessed it, all the reasons sift down to just one: money.

Even those who were horrified when first approached for their opinions, when they were told the very real financial gains possible, changed their position.  Even those firmly opposed to capital punishment, when presented with a signed testimony by Charles Manson (not available for direct quotation at this time) to the effect that he and his Family were glad to present and example of how bravely and calmly it was possible to die, to be an example against the cowardly hypocrisy of the society that condemned him to death, while in fact, the society itself was sick and dying.  And the fact that society was willing to pay enormous sums (that could have been spent on restoring medical, welfare, etc.) to see him butchered, proved to him and his Family, how morally bankrupt the society was.

The officials most closely involved with negotiations were happy to give Manson his propaganda "victory," as they believed, and so it turned out, that the benefits to the poor, elderly, the educational establishment, etc. were going to prove to be enormous.
 

Examples:  With the estimated $50,000,000 gross take for tickets, TV, lottery, etc. all budget cuts to the University of California, the State Colleges, Medi-Cal, Rural Assistance, and many others will be restored.  Many more students will be able to enter colleges in California. Many elderly will get the kind of care they deserve and are entitled to.  Stalled legislative programs for re-education of out-of-work aero-space engineers will be implemented.

"Wait a minute," the wary taxpayer protests.  "Fifty million dollars is a lot of money, but not THAT much."  True, the officials admit.  But Calley-Manson, or CM is just a start.  With the necessary laws enacted, and the expected carried to and tested by the Supreme Court, CM will be only the first of semiannual or even bimonthly exhibitions.

It is expected that many variations of the basic execution will be worked out and held in different localities.  The punishment will be designed to fit the crime.  Knife murderers, such as Manson, will have pieces of their bodies cut off, little by little.  "An eye for and eye, a tooth for a tooth."  Calley, in his turn, will after full military honors, band playing and a 21-gun salute, be torn apart by four-to six year old Vietnamese orphans.  The estates of the two men will be richly endowed.  And it will be in their own interests to speak to the press at length before the executions.  Other public enemies will die by drawing and quartering, being placed on the rack, poisoning.  Naturally, not all executions will lend themselves to large public gatherings.  For less famous criminals smaller facilities will be rented.

A few indirect comments by religious, political, and social leaders might be in order:

From a priest: "Our Lord was executed publicly.  Without the crucifixion there would be no Christianity."

From a rabbi: "If the social beliefs of an act are great, the individual serves society and himself well by lending himself to it."

From a retired deputy sheriff: "This will prove a deterrent to anybody thinking about committing a crime in cold blood, and it will provide more peace officers to keep the people in line."

From the governor's office: "We're quite hopeful this will go through.  The governor has pledged himself to keeping taxes down and providing relief for homeowners.  Now, homeowners will be able to sleep better at night, pay less, and justice will be served."

From a mortician: "We will have facilities for public viewing of the remains, in a tasteful way, and in a way the will increase the public fiscal benefits of the whole idea.  I'm for it."

From a Mother: "I say let children see the results of misbehaving.  It'll teach them a good lesson.  You just can't get away from that sort of thing, immorality, and sleeping around.  Good for them, I say."

From a pacifist: "I think the state is going to reap too much glory and loot from this, but a person has a right to dispose of his life the way he wants to.  I can't say he shouldn't go this way."

From someone against capital punishment: "Well, it isn't really capital punishment.  They could stay in jail, they could keep appealing for years.  I'm not against suicide."

From a war prisoner's wife: "Maybe this will get my husband home."

From a psychiatrist: "This is what Manson really wanted. The public convinced him he was the devil in the flesh.  He won't feel a thing as he's cut up. He knows he's supernatural and above all human laws."

From an English teacher: "All this is a poor take-off on  Jonathan Swift's 'A Modest Proposal.' "

So there it is.  The most daring break with the past ever suggested in California State history.  Who knows how far and wide the idea will spread, how much positive social good will come of it, how much legal revenue without new taxes will be generated, while at the same time Justice is served?

Now is the time for the public to be heard.  What do you think?"

Book Review: Charles Manson Behind Bars: The Crazy Antics and Amazing Revelations Of America's Icon of Evil

It’s worth mentioning before I begin that few things bother me more than spelling errors in a published book. This one had scores of them. There’s really no excuse when you (Guillermo Mendez) have an experienced co-author (Mark Hewitt). I lost my shit when the chapter devoted to Manson’s time at McNeil Island spelled it “McNeal Island”. No excuse, sorry. Aside from spelling errors it did other things to irritate me and make me sorry I spent my Sunday reading it - like referring to Richard Ramirez (The Night Stalker) in the present tense. The sonofabitch is dead!

Instead of writing a short, traditional review I’ve decided to let the book speak for itself mostly in its own words. If you have any plans to buy it, don’t. It sucked. Truly.

Willie Mendez met Manson in 2003 when he was transferred to Manson’s unit at Corcoran during the twenty-first year of his own incarceration for the near murder his cell-mate who was a convicted child rapist.

Charlie nicknamed him “Boxcar” after Boxcar Willie Nelson.

Shortly after Mendez’s arrival, Manson began conversing with him from the next cell.

“He was just over five feet tall, and no more than 140 pounds. His yellow, state-issue jumpsuit was creased with wrinkles. The old man reminded me of my own mortality. Is this how I will look when parole is granted to me? Will I look like that while I am still waiting to be released? With the exception of his pasty-white skin, he could easily have passed for my tiny grandfather.”

Mendez being a large, imposing figure was surprised by Manson’s diminutive stature:

“In appearance, he was more an affable grandfather than a physical threat. If he were intentionally blocking a doorway, he would not even slow me down. One swing and he would be stretched out on the floor. A knife probably wouldn’t give him any advantage over me, not even an exceedingly large knife.”

But, he said his size was deceiving:

“Rather than being impotent, he revealed himself to be a person of great inner constitution and determination. His eyes gleamed with a focus that was piercing. His stance always demanded respect and fear: he carried himself with a strong presence, yet remained coiled like a rattlesnake giving the impression that he could strike out at any moment.”

Mendez stated that although he had made the acquaintance of many well-known prisoners, that Manson's stature was different:

“Apparently, Charlie was not a mere name to be dropped. He was a celebrity’s celebrity.”

Guns ’n Roses:

“… he was responsible for creating some of the music made famous by the rock band called, ‘Guns ‘n Roses.’ According to him, a prison guard in Vacaville named Sergeant Rose really enjoyed Manson’s music. The guard happened to be the father of Axil Rose who was at the time building his band in Sacramento. Some of the music and lyrics that Charlie composed were shared with Axil who used them to make millions of dollars…. 

“…Though he was the composer, Manson never received the proper credit due him, or any royalties, for his compositions. This infuriated him to no end.”

Mendez felt that unlike others in prison, Manson was actually honest in his words:

“He spoke from the heart, and I could tell that it was painful for him to describe his early years. He demanded the truth from me and was never satisfied with partial truths or manufactured facts. In time, I learned to accept as truth the things he told me, and to reciprocate an honest presentation of reality.”

As to the uncle forcing Charlie to waer a dress to school in response to Charlie being bullied by a bigger boy, he related:

“Once school had been let out, as his uncle had instructed him, he sought out the bully and punched him in the face. The bully was felled by the smallest kid in his grade. The fighting didn’t end, however. Charlie straddled the larger boy and began hitting him again and again. Another student ran to summon the teacher who promptly arrived to pull Charlie off of the bully… 

“…being forced to wear the dress, was now empowered to take matters into his own hands when necessary.”

On Manson’s views on the environment and ATWA:

“While he sojourned in Mexico [as a boy], he was warned to not consume any water. He was told stories about Montezuma’s revenge, the diarrhea that visitors incurred from microscopic microbes within the country’s water. This greatly troubled Manson and was one experience that led him to a deep concern for the environment.” 

“He cares about animals, plants and the entire natural realm. He loves nature: anything that is not human is important to him….

“…He couldn’t have cared less for human beings, however. He considered people to be no more than meatballs, or hunks of flesh that often did more harm than good. The human race, to him, was a bother, a nuisance, and a waste of space. He often criticized people for being brain dead or for belonging to a group of mindless followers. He pointed out that people did things that were so horrible that no animal would even consider them. Animals never caused a holocaust, never went to war over an insult, and never killed anything it didn’t intend to eat. His distain for people was palpable.” 

“Charlie viewed himself as a savior of plants and animals. Only he, the advocate for an environment that can’t verbalize its many ailments, could save nature. He alone cried out on behalf of the natural world, he believed. At times, he was at the edge of despair thinking that it was too late for us to help the world, that too much time had transpired, and too much damage had already been done.”

“I have heard the arguments against Charlie: that his philosophy is a convenient way to induce guilt and fear in others, that it is a way to excuse his own actions, and that it is a means to give him something to hold sacred in light of his loathing of all humans including himself. I don’t buy it, though. Despite his pessimism, Charlie has much to teach the world about the importance of nature, and the natural processes of our world.”

On his growing friendship with Charlie:

“Charlie would often say to me, “We are one. There is no you, me, him, they, or them. There is only one!” I heard it over and over until I was sick of hearing it. It became a kind of mantra for him. Whenever I would get angry at someone and vow revenge, whenever someone else’s actions irked me, whenever I spoke of an enemy, Charlie tried to get me to see things a different way, “We are one. There is no you, me, him, they, or them. There is only one!” Hearing that phrase impressed upon me the foolishness of all anger I harbored toward others. Over time, Charlie helped soften my rage. As the months went by, whether due to my maturing or the instruction I was receiving from my friend, I felt the urge to strike back and hurt others less and less.”

Manson's philosophy on friends:

“All of us need to help each other, or as Charles Manson would sing on the tier, “Love one another, help your brother.” One person at a time, we can make a difference. That is the revolutionary movement that is needed to correct our world’s problems.”

On Manson’e seemingly always changing appearance:

“Charlie changed his hair style from time to time. This may be a reason that others consider him crazy. He was not interested in current hair styles, fitting in with others, or appealing to anyone’s taste but his own. Once, he shaved half his head, leaving the hair on the other half long and flowing. He left his goatee intact. It looked truly bizarre. He explained to me that by attempting to be halfway between good and evil, he could control them both. Jesus had worn long hair, and the devil appears bald in most pictures. By representing them both in his body, he was praising them both. 

“I told Charlie that he had to choose one or the other. In my mind, you couldn’t be both the Satan and God. “There is no in between.” I explained to him. “It’s one or the other.” Charlie disagreed. He “wanted to be an abraxas in his own body, a perfect representation of both good and evil, possessing power over them both.”

On controlling others:

“It isn’t knowledge or wisdom that allows someone to gain control over another. It’s the character and confidence an individual displays that makes the difference. Even the dimmest of people can attract a following, he had concluded.”

“To control other people,” he told me, “you have to let them do what they want to do.” He acknowledged the contradiction, but said it was true: “If you want people to follow you, you have to let them do what they want to do. If you let others be free, they’ll follow you wherever you fly. You just gotta let them be free.” 

On Manson being treated as a tourist attraction:

“Every week, there were people who came to Corcoran to tour the prison facility. They came from junior colleges, universities, and different law enforcement agencies. All these groups visited to learn how the system works, and possibly find employment among the ranks of the Department of Corrections. In addition to these educational visits, some juvenile probation officers brought their charges to participate in a “Scared Straight” program, designed to scare the living hell out of youngsters to steer them away from a life of crime. Part of many visits included a walk past Charles Manson’s cell, as a zoo tour would include a trip to the tiger cage. Most participants never approached his cell directly, staying some 30 feet or more away from it as though they could sense danger. They hoped he was not asleep, but if he was, a guard would tap on his window. “Charlie, you’ve got some visitors,” they would say, or “Girl’s, Charlie, girls!” 

He usually got up to the window and put on a show for the guests. Sometimes, he would wave his arms around mimicking an octopus or he would jump around his cell like a monkey. The visitors usually went away laughing. Once, he put on a fierce expression, and appeared to growl at the spectators. He may have been trying to look like a grizzly bear. Even in his seventies, it was apparent to me that Charlie could still move quickly and be entertaining.”

On the beginnings of The Family:

“He looked for girls that bought into the free love atmosphere of the 1960s, ones he could continue to shape and mold. It was a numbers game, he confided in me. Sure, he had difficulty finding a girl and grooming her to trust him in everything. However, the more women he talked to (and he talked to hundreds, if not thousands), the better chance he had of finding one receptive to his teachings and willing to follow him. As his harem grew, so started the Manson family.”

On the TLB murders:

“Charlie told me that he heard nothing about the Tate murders until after the events had occurred. He suspected that it was a robbery gone wrong. “I think the girls were there to find food and cash,” Charlie speculated. “They were pretty deep into drugs at that time. I tried to get them to cool it with the hard stuff.” 

He also postulated another theory. “They may have been trying to cover up a previous murder,” Charlie added. “Our friend Bobby Beausoleil had killed a guy named Gary Hinman. Some words were written in blood on the walls of Gary’s apartment. The girls may have figured that if they committed a crime and wrote things on the walls, the police might have concluded that the murderer was still on the loose, and Bobby may have been released from prison. I think the girls went to steal, but somehow things got out of hand.” 

“I went with the group the next night.” Charlie told me. “We were looking for food and cash. That’s all we ever took. It’s not like we meant to hurt anyone. We just wanted the rich people to share what they had, just as we shared with each other in northern California. When I was done tying the couple up, and taking the food we needed, I returned to the car. 

“I have no idea why the girls killed those two,” Charlie claimed. “They never did anything to us. We didn’t even know them. I think the girls were just plain crazy. They were intending to write on the walls. That’s it. There was no plan for murder. I got blamed because they were younger than me.” Charlie sounded like an accused older sibling who was wrongly implicated in the disobedient act of a younger brother or sister.”

“I asked Charlie, one day when we were having a heart-to-heart conversation, whether he in fact ordered the killings that were committed by the Manson Family. He replied, “I didn’t have to.” When I asked him to clarify, he explained to me that leaders are able to insulate themselves from blame for what their underlings do. He pointed out that American presidents regularly claim that they didn’t order this or that illegal activity, even though they had full knowledge of what was going to take place. A president’s advisors will take the fall, if criminal activity is ever discovered. Charlie claimed similar executive privilege for himself.

“So you knew about the killings and let them happen even if you didn’t order them?” I asked.

“All I’m saying is that I didn’t have to order nothing.” Charlie changed the topic and would not answer any more of my questions on the topic.”

And oh yeh, every book about Manson needs a revelation - something new we didn't already know, right? Ok... here it is. Ready????? Charles Manson is homosexual. <yawn>

Austin Ann's Recommended Reading!

My latest library find was a helluva selection! "Life After Murder: Five Men In Search Of Redemption" by Nancy Mullane is a MUST READ for anyone interested in reading about crime & punishment in the state of California, and Tate/LaBianca case researchers everywhere. Why, you ask? Well, let me put it this way: After reading this book, you will understand why Pat, Leslie, Bobby, Bruce, Tex & Charlie aint ever gonna see the outside of a prison! While the book doesn't mention anything about the Tate/LaBianca/Hinman/Shea murderers, it does explain in great detail the California parole system, and how, if you are unlucky enough to be convicted of murder in California, the small chance you will ever have of returning to free society. In other words, after reading this book, I have no doubt Manson, and his ex-disciples will ever get out. The author also writes a lot about how unfair it is that the governor can make an inmate wait up to 150 days, and then take his/her parole date away, which happens most of the time, and how the inmates suffer horribly from the torture of not knowing their fate. It will definitely make you think! Of course, I am for victims rights too, but in some cases, I think change, and redemption can happen. Anyway, here is the "official" description of the book:

Life After Murder is an intimately reported, utterly compelling story of five convicted murderers sentenced to life with the possibility of parole, who discover after decades in prison that their second chance, if it comes at all, is also the challenge of a lifetime. It follows their struggle for redemption, their legal battles to make good on the state’s promise of parole, and the lives they found after so many years inside.

Charles Mutherfuckin' Manson, Who the Hell is He?

Happy Birthday, Liz!!!!

Burned by Susanna Lo!

A  reader recently wrote in to let us know how his experience bidding on eBay for a walk on
role in Susanna Lo's Manson Girls:

Hi, I came across your blog entry on Susanna Lo and the Manson Girls movie. She scammed me out of 2,000 dollars by selling a walk on role in the film. She is still refusing to refund me the money. The financing of the film fell apart almost two years ago and she is still maintaining an IMDB.com page and listing all these famous actors as being in the movie even though they aren’t involved. I have screen captures of the auction I bought and I have emails from the guy who ran the auction detailing all the issues with Susanna Lo. I also have an email from the manager of  (an actress) where he says (she) was no longer involved with the film because financing fell apart. But Susanna still keeps her listed as one of the people starring in the film. 

Here are some of the emails: 

To: "Eviliz Reader"
Subject: Manso (sic) Girls film Walk On Role 
Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2013 14:47:38 -0400 
From: "MSA"

Hi, I got a message from T that you were trying to get a hold of me. I actually tried calling you last year and even left a message and emailed you c (sic) few times but never heard back so I assumed you had already worked out something with Susanna Lo. Did you change your email and number since you won the auction? 

Unfortunately she will not pay you a dime as well as the other guy who won the walk on role. We advanced her a lot of money as a deposit and she refuses to give us anything and hasn't even offered to try and work it out somehow. Basically she defrauded all of us and now we are forced to sue her and her company. I really wish it didn't have to be that way but I guarantee that no one will ever invest a dime with her for the rest of her life when we are done. This is my personal email address so if you need to reach me. We may want to include you in the law suite (sic) if that's ok with you. We just want to get everyone's money back including ours. She has repeatedly told anyone who has money tied up with her that she is filming or will start up again, saying that over and over. In the meantime can you put together all of her email correspondences with you and forward me that? that would help a great deal. Thanks. "MSA"

From: "Eviliz Reader"
Sent: Sunday, October 13, 2013 6:46 AM 
To: "J"
Subject: Manson Girls 

Hi, About two years ago I paid for a walk-on role in the movie "Manson Girls". I never received what I paid for as the movie has not gone into production. The auction I bought on Ebay stated that I would be entitled to a full refund if the movie did not go into production within 18 months. I have not been able to get my money from Susanna Lo or SloMo Productions. I know that your client (the actress) was one of the producers on the film. I would like to see if you could help me get my money back since Susanna Lo refuses to cooperate. Thank you, "Eviliz Reader"

From: "J"
To: "Eviliz Reader"
Subject: RE: Manson Girls 
Date: Mon, 14 Oct 2013 17:58:05 +0000 

Hi– I’m sorry to hear about your situation with the production. That is truly unfortunate, but Susanna is certainly the right person to contact. (The actress) was not a producer with producing responsibilities. The production was not able to meet her financial quote. So instead, they offered her an additional “producing credit” as a way to entice her onto the project. From what I understand, the film fell apart due to lack of financing. (The actress) never worked on the project and was never paid. She has since moved on to other projects. I asked (the actress) if she had any contact information for Susanna and she informed me that all of her contact information was out of date and she did not know how to reach her. Sorry about that. I wish I could be of more help. All the best, "J"

Well! How rude, huh? Patty confirmed that "the Actress" is no longer listed on the IMDb record accessed on 10/23 (above) . Susanna is making friends all over, it seems. Perhaps she earned some bad karma by not sending Liz the T-shirt she promised? ooEEoo

Joel Rostau's FBI File

DEBUNKING THE BUNK PART 1: A Look at Joel Rostau

Introduction | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

We first meet Rostau on page 24 of Schreck's book, The Manson File, where he writes: "New Jersey underworld figure Joel Rostau delivered a large amount of mescaline and cocaine to Sebring and Frykowski." 

On page 490, Schreck calls Rostau the "Boiardos' chief bi-coastal middleman…a major broker in the operation." 

Later, on pages 540-541 Schreck connects Jay Sebring to New Jersey mafia man, Abner "Longie" Zwillman (Zwillman's FBI File ) and Joel Rostau through Sebring's house on Easton Drive.  According to Schreck, Zwillman, uncle to Joel Rostau handled the estate and therefore the home of Jean Harlow (the former owner of the Easton Drive house).

Schreck writes: "When Jean Harlow died of uremic poisoning in 1936, a friend of the family, Zwillman, handled her estate. From then on, the house (Easton Drive) was administered as the property of the Lucky Luciano/Frank Costello syndicate that later became known as the Genovese Family. And those luxurious digs stayed in the family business when Jay Sebring moved in. Literally, a family business. There, Sebring bought vast quantities of drugs from Zwillman's nephew, Joel Rostau, whose boss was Ruggiero "Richie the Boot" Boiardo. Richie the Boot's boss was Gerardo "Jerry" Catena, who answered to Luciano and Costello's successor, Vito Genovese himself."

First of all, Jean Harlow died on June 7, 1937. Second, from newspaper articles dating August 27, 1937 following Harlow's death we find this: "Mrs. Jean Bello, mother of the late film actress, who was named administrator said the value of the estate was $35,000…Mrs. Bello said the estate included very little cash, three autos, some furs, jewelry and clothing."

It would appear that at some point Harlow sold the Easton Drive home because later in the article, an attorney representing the owner of the home occupied by the star and her mother, a Mrs. Harnett Breese, demanded that a $50,000 bond be posted to cover the alleged damages Harlow and her mother made to her property.

As a note: We cannot confirm who Jay Sebring purchased the Easton house from. There is a lot of confusion surrounding this due in part to the Samuel Marx/Joyce Vanderveen book Deadly Illusions: Jean Harlow and the Murder of Paul Bern. In the book on page 121, the duo wrote of the Easton Drive home: "It was rented for a period of two years by Jay Sebring. …At the time…owned by screen actress Sally Forrester and her husband Milo Frank…". In the next paragraph, the authors write that owners Forrester and Frank saw Sebring the day before the murders and made plans to speak with him the following day, along with Sharon Tate, to talk about his lease option to buy.  But, of course, that meeting never took place.

We believe this account to be inaccurate because we know through property records that at some point Jay Sebring did indeed purchase the Easton house and later, the estate of Jay Sebring sold the home to the Hale family who still holds the title to the property deed today. This would have been an impossible sale if Forrester and Frank owned the home at the time of Sebring's murder. If Forrester and Frank did own the home at some point, and Sebring did indeed rent from them with an option to buy, then it could be surmised that the above incident happened, it's just that it happened years before the murders when Sebring purchased the property from the couple.

The above information, along with the fact that Zwillman died in 1959 (Zwillman's FBI File ), are indicative but not proof that the Easton house was not in Zwillman and Genovese associates possession at the time Sebring moved into Easton Drive. So, if anyone has information that will help prove Mr. Schreck's claim or information of who Sebring purchased the house from, please notify us and we will post it here.

On Page 643 Schreck notes another tie to the New Jersey syndicate by stating that: "The Genovese (crime) Family's, Robert Cudak, (was) a close associate of Joel Rostau."  

With his New Jersey Mafia ties in place between Rostau and the Genovese and Boiardo crime families, Schreck, goes on to weave a web of mafia, the FBI, Naval Intelligence, and ultimately a top-secret division of the FBI known as Department 5.

According to Schreck, Cudak and Rostau were under constant surveillance by Department 5 due to their alliance with the Genovese/Boiardo crime families in what was to be a huge sting operation.

What was the huge sting operation? Airport mail courier thefts, which included highly classified government intelligence documents that were sent via these stolen mail items along with cash, jewels, stocks, and securities. Schreck claims that it was actually the Genovese crime family behind these U.S. Mail heists being carried out by their trusted associate/family members Robert Cudak and Joel Rostau.

Now, for the truth. Will the real Joel Rostau please stand up?

DebS did a complete search on the Zwillman and Rostau families looking for a connection that would prove Schreck's claim that Joel Rostau was Zwillman's nephew. Here's is what she found:

Abner "Longie" Zwillman was born to Abraham Zwillman and Ella Slavin. Along with Abner the couple had 6 additional children, 3 female, 3 male. Zwillman's sisters each married into the Warshowsky, Morganstein, and Oliner families. Longie married Mary Mendels Steinbach (Mendels was her maiden name, Steinbach from a previous marriage that gave her a son John). Longie and Mary had a daughter named Lynn.  To the best of our knowledge, Lynn married a man named Edward Tuttle. Longie Zwillman died in February of 1959—roughly 10 years before Rostau's troubles with the law began.

Joel Rostau was born to Morris Rostau and Beth Snerson. There is no record that a Snerson ever married a Mendel, Zwillman, Warshowsky, Morganstein or Oliner. Morris Rostau had one brother named Eugene. I found Eugene was married to a woman named Ella.  She was from San Salvador and was Spanish speaking; I do not know her maiden name.  The two of them lived in San Francisco in the first half of the 1930's

Aside from Eugene in San Francisco and Morris' father Joseph moving to England after his first wife died, the Morris Rostau's lived a majority of their lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.

So, one might ask, how in the world did Schreck connect Joel Rostau as Zwillman's nephew? DebS probably solved the mystery when she found this bit of information:

There is another Morris Rostow who appears in a 1930 Census and he was living in East Orange, New Jersey, the same town as Abe Zwillman.  But this Morris, whose last name is truly Rostow, was Russian, two years older than Joel's father, had a wife named Minnie and a daughter named Blanch. 

For the sake of civility, we're going to assume that if this was Schreck's connection that it was an honest blunder on Schreck's part and not an intentional mislead to his readers in order to support his motive for the murders.

Now, with what we believe to be confirmation that Joel Rostau was not Longie Zwillman's nephew and that as opposed to being a Jersey boy Rostau was actually a Massachusetts boy, let's have a look at the airport mail heists. (We used other sources for the following information, but for a full FBI profile on Joel Rostau and the mail heists, as well as articles pertaining to the case, please visit truthontatelabianca.com for their extensive collection of materials under one site).

To reiterate, Schreck writes in The Manson File that Robert Cudak and Joel Rostau were working for the Genovese/Boiardo crime families while doing the JFK (along with numerous other airports) mail heists.

But, according to newspaper articles from that period, Robert Cudak (along with friend James Schaefer) eventually testified that he and his group were not part of any syndicate, but instead fenced the millions stolen to the mafia for 15 cents on the dollar. Cudak testified that, "Everyone I went to was in the mob," he said, but he himself remained aloof from organized crime control.

Cudak also testified that the most important of his partners was William Ricchiuti who Cudak said, "Had very good connections with the principal mob of people in New York and New Jersey", and, who Cudak said introduced him to most of the fences the gang used.  This would be indicative of Cudak not being part of any New Jersey gang, let alone the Genevese and Boiardo families if he needed Ricchiutti to make the introductions for sale.

Both Cudak and James Schaefer, testified that they did indeed find top secret military documents, but that they refused to fence them: "We frequently found government documents, some of them marked Top-Secret…Finding this material in the bags always scared us…we burned the missile diagrams and then ran over the ashes many times with a truck." Other times, Cudak testified, they threw the documents in the ocean.

Furthermore, Cudak testified, that due to a warning by an FBI friend that these top-secret files would put them on the FBI and CIA's radar, Cudak never tried to fence these items because it would be a life sentence of treason by authorities and a death sentence from the Mafia for putting them on the FBI and CIA's radar for having said documents.

What Schreck does not go into great detail on is Cudak's crime prime partner, co-defendant, and turncoat, James Schaefer along with Schaefer's brothers, Charles, Edward and John who were from Rostau's home state of Massachusetts.

As opposed to being connected through the Genovese/Boiardo crime families, a more likely link between Cudak and Rostau was that they knew each other through Massachusetts partners Schaeffer. Being friends, Cudak and/or one of the Schaeffers did offer and sell jewels, securities, and bonds (and whatever else heisted from the thefts) to Rostau for 15 cents on the dollar… And then, Rostau got greedy.

With jewels, cash, and securities taken during the mail heists and probably passed on cheaply to Rostau, Rostau then hooked up with another friend from Massachusetts and the two began fencing their lower end merchandise for much more than Cudak could have ever imagined.

With their success, Rostau and his partner then hooked up with a powerful Massachusetts crime boss to fence the higher priced merchandise, which they successfully did. They were so successful that Rostau began staying in very expensive hotels and freely spending grand amounts of cash wherever he went to sell the items. Rostau was tracked from Florida, New York, LA, Paris, London, and Geneva where they suspected Rostau hid the securities in a safe deposit box.

During his travels, Rostau began getting a reputation as someone with little discretion and a very big mouth. Adding to Rostau's loose lips trouble was the fact that the powerful crime boss he worked with was arrested for murder. The crime boss' trial was to begin within weeks prior to Rostau's murder.

Rumor had it (within the mafia) that Rostau (with his indiscrete mouth) was going to testify against this powerful mafia boss in exchange for immunity on the mail theft scams. As a result of this rumor, after renting a car in Massachusetts, Rostau drove to NY for unknown reasons and was murdered, possibly to eliminate him as a witness in the murder trial.

As a side note to the New Jersey Mafia connection, Schreck also writes that Jay Sebring had an independent connection with the Boiardo crime family through a gentleman by the name of James Sanatar who was also connected with the mail heists. On pages 644-645 of The Manson File, Schreck writes:

"One interesting link in the network was a certain hairdresser named James Sanatar, who did mob business under cover of a Long Island beauty parlor funded by the Boiardo Family blood money. It was through placing Sanatar under constant surveillance that Department 5 discovered that fellow hair dresser Jay Sebring—who dropped in on Sanatar eight times in a seven-month-period—was part of the Boiardo laundering scheme."

We had DebS research Mr. Sanatar. While she did find a James Sanatar with an extensive rap sheet relating to drugs, who appears to be the man Schreck is referring to in the book, she also noted the following:

When I looked up Sanatar in all the different state barber and cosmetology licenses I just used the last name in case another relative of his might have had the shop or license.  I got nothing.  I also spelled the name Sanator and  Sanatore because it looked to me like that may have been the way the name was originally spelled.  

Looking at property records for NY, there were properties owned by a few Sanator's but I couldn't tell whether they were residential and/or commercial properties.  A Joseph Sanator purchased a property in Queens in 1969 but nothing before then for anyone by that last name.

In the news articles, numerous men were mentioned as being purchasers or sellers of these mail heists: William Ricchiuti, Vincent Pisano, Frank Mannarion, and Anthony Cappucci to name a few.

Oddly, what DebS did find in researching the gentlemen named in the mail heists, was a strange connection to an Anthony Cappucci that is worth mentioning:

There were only 5 Anthony Cappucci's in the 1940 census, three in Mass., one in RI and one in PA.  I followed the youngest one who was born in 1922 in Mass.  I was able to locate his obit and it is notable that he was a hairdresser.  This Anthony Cappucci (we have no idea if it's the correct A. Cappucci) was born and raised in East Boston, MA. Later he moved to Tewksbury, MA where he was a well-known member of the community and owned a salon called House of Cappucci.

Why is this connection worth mentioning? Well, we like to give Schreck the benefit of the doubt that perhaps he was confused in his research and there was indeed a hairdresser involved in these mail heists. And, because it would seemingly discount Jay Sebring's connection to this supposed Department 5 stakeout on Sanatar if Sanatar was not the hairdresser in question.

We're certainly not calling Schreck a fabricator of facts, but we would very much like to know where the Sanatar information came from because with the other snafus in the East Coast Mafia connections that we were able to debunk, we have our doubts about this. If anyone has corroborating information about the James Sanatar/Jay Sebring connection, please contact us so we can post your findings. Until then, this will remain an unsubstantiated mystery.

With all of the above in mind, let's now go back in time with Joel Rostau to the months before the murders.

On page 485 of The Manson File, Schreck writes of a robbery against Rostau that he believes was conducted by Bruce Davis and Charles "Tex" Watson on April 13, 1969.  Please see Schreck's book for a detailed description of this event. For now, we will summarize it.

Schreck claims that Davis and Watson were doing a string of drug burns (a la Bernard Crowe). For the Rostau burn, Schreck has Watson and Davis entering Rostau's apartment at 6AM with the buntline revolver later used in the Cielo Drive murders. At gunpoint, Watson ties up Rostau and his girlfriend, Charlene McCaffrey, while they ransack the apartment looking for Rostau's drug stash. After a beating by Watson, Rostau tells them where to find the drugs. The heist, Schreck writes, brought in "Quite a haul for one morning's work: roughly $15,000 worth of the highest quality of uncut cocaine, hashish, and marijuana." Before leaving the property, Watson shoots Rostau in the foot.

In further corroborating his story, Schreck quotes McCaffrey as saying that the robbers both had southern accents and that one of them referred to the taller one as "Charles."

An interesting note that contradicts Bruce Davis being able rob Rostau on April 13, 1969 comes from the archives of Dennis Rice's now defunct site that DebS found:

I was able to find a portion of Dennis Rice's now defunct website on the Wayback Machine where Davis says that he left the US aboard a Portuguese freighter and turned 26 on that trip.  Davis was born Oct. 5, 1942

On the site, Davis wrote: "I turned twenty-six that fall aboard a Portuguese freighter. Hashish, Hess's Siddartha and Joplin's Ball and Chain did a lot to fill the time until the Acores anchored off the Biscay Bay in the Spanish Basque port of Bilbao. Spain and then Portugal led me to North Africa. But even Tangiers' abundant drugs were unable to satisfy me. I drifted to Gibraltar and then to England."

Now, remember, that on October 1 we posted a document that shows Davis was still in England on April 25, 1969

For the record we have not seen the police report on this incident so we cannot contradict nor corroborate what Schreck writes here about McCaffrey's ID or about the .22 caliber bullet that may have been recovered from Rostau (though Schreck states that the bullet stayed in Rostau's foot) or the apartment in order for Schreck to surmise that it was the .22 Buntline revolver used in the Cielo murders. What we can probably conclude is that if any part of Schreck's version of this event is true, Rostau nor McCaffrey gave the police an inventory of stolen drugs for Schreck to report on the $15,000 finding. If anyone has seen this police report or can confirm Schreck's findings please let us know ASAP.

Here's what we can conclude:

DebS found an article from March 10, 1969, which indicates that Rostau was robbed of $23,000 worth of jewelry (this article can also be found on TOTLB).

There is a notation about this robbery in the Tate Homicide Report, but it is unclear whether they're reporting on the March robbery or an entirely new jewel heist from Rostau's apartment (with an April date).

In the police report it's noted that Rostau was tied up with Charlene McCaffrey and robbed at gunpoint. The robbers ransacked the house taking jewelry and other valuables, and then shot Rostau in the foot before leaving.

Rostau (or more probably a neighbor) called the police to notify them of the robbery and shooting. When police arrived and investigated the scene, it was noted that jewelry and other valuables were stolen from Rostau, but apparently the robbers weren't interested in his drug stash because the police found enough narcotics to file charges against Rostau for "Possession of narcotics for sale". McCaffrey was also taken into custody, but then released for insufficient evidence.

At the time of her LAPD interview for the Cielo murders, McCaffrey failed to mention the drug bust and her arrest, but she did say that Rostau told her that he went to the Cielo house in the early evening of August 8 to deliver drugs to Frykowski and Sebring.  McCaffrey further stated that Rostau told her that Sebring and Frykowski had wanted additional drugs so Rostau had promised to return later that evening for another delivery, which he never made.

After the McCaffrey interview, with suspect Rostau placed at the scene of the crime on the night of the murders, Lt. Bob Helder put Rostau under 24-hour surveillance.

After weeks of what Rostau termed harassment by the LAPD, he tried to secretly relocate to another apartment to avoid them. Our findings show that Rostau wasn't avoiding LAPD to talk about the murders or his supposed drug delivery to the victims, but for an entirely different reason, the U.S. mail thefts.

Thirty-six hours after Rostau moved into his new place, LAPD left him a welcome-to- the-neighborhood card. With that, and under the advice of his attorney, Rostau finally agreed to talk to LAPD with the contingency that the Cielo murders would be the only topic of conversation so that he could not incriminate himself on any other crimes/pending charges.

During his interview/interrogation with LAPD, Rostau admitted that he concocted the whole story about being at Cielo the night of the murders to impress Charlene McCaffrey (Jay Sebring's receptionist and Rostau's girlfriend) and his friends, much like half of Hollywood was supposed to be at Cielo that night for a party.

During the interview, Rostau also stated that while he was on friendly terms with Frykowski, he'd only met Sebring a handful of times. His association with Jay's receptionist, Charlene McCaffrey, began because he frequently got his hair cut at Jay's shop—but not cut by Jay. For what it's worth, Rostau also passed a polygraph test implying (though not absolute proof) that he was not at Cielo on August 8.

In the circumstantial evidence department we might question that Rostau is lying to LAPD about being at Cielo on August 8 to save his own skin. But then we'd have to go with circumstantial reason: what was there to save? He didn't commit the murders. He didn't set up the drug burn. We know from other witness interviews that the LAPD offered immunity to other charges if suspects came clean with their information, so Rostau need not worry about being busted for selling drugs (example, suspect Thomas Harrigan supplying LAPD with MDA for testing). And, if, as Schreck claims, Rostau was so tangled up with the mafia and protecting this big syndicate of the Jay, Frykowski, himself, and ultimately the Genovese/Boiardo crime syndicate, why would Rostau be foolish enough to insert himself into the arena of a huge homicide crime scene/investigation that had nothing to do with him and everything to do with (according to Schreck) two low-end drug burners, Watson and Kasabian.

We could go with the theory that Rostau had a big mouth, but with the other circumstantial evidence presented, and Rostau's own admission to LAPD, the more logical answer is that there was no huge Rostau, Sebring, Frykowski, Genovese, Boiardo operation at risk of exposure and Rostau was just another poor slob looking for his 15 minutes of fame by claiming he was with the victims the night of their murder—a non-existent brush with death that so many people have claimed over the years.

We do not deny that Rostau sold drugs. We do not deny that Rostau was selling stolen goods. And, we do not deny that Rostau had mafia ties. We don't even deny that Jay Sebring had clients/friends who were tied to the mob.  What we do present is a case of doubt that Rostau was the "New Jersey underworld figure", with deep ties to the Genovese and Boiardo crime families as depicted by Schreck in The Manson File and therefore, we present the first of many cavernous gaps in Schreck's motive for these murders.

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Added 10/22/13

While McCaffrey did not offer up the information to LAPD about her arrest with Rostau during their interview, it should be noted that on page 4 of the second Tate homicide investigation progress report it states:

McCaffrey was arrested on 4-13-69, along with Rostau after two armed men had entered Rostau's apartment at approximately 0600 and tied both Rostau and McCaffrey up and subsequently shot Rostau in the foot. When Sheriff's investigators arrived at Rostau's apartment, they conducted a search and found a quantity of marijuana, cocaine, and hashish. The District Attorney refused to file on McCaffrey, but did file Possession of Narcotics for Sale against Rostau. Rostau is presently out on $5,000 bail awaiting trial in Beverly Hills.