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| Danny DeCarlo 1959 |
The latest document drop from Cielodrive was a group of rap sheets. We have seen a few of them already but one we haven't seen is Danny DeCarlo's rap sheet.
According to Danny's father's naturalization records Danny was born June 20, 1944 in Toronto Canada. The family came to the United States March 18, 1952.
Almost all of the rap sheets we have seen were issued by the California Department of Justice in Sacramento (even Charles Manson's rap sheet) but Danny's was issued by the United States Department of Justice in Washington DC so the form looks a bit different.
At sixteen years old Danny was arrested for the possession of a snap blade in Los Angeles County. Today a snap blade knife is a utility knife with short blades that can be snapped off when becoming too dull to cut.
Back in 1961 a snap blade knife differed from a switch blade knife, which was opened by pushing a button, lever or switch so that the blade could extend by either coming straight out of the handle or pivoting from the handle. A snap blade knife could be opened by simply snapping the wrist so that the blade would pivot out from the handle.
July 5, 1961 Danny joined the United States Coast Guard at 17 years old. He appears to have served his four year committment before getting in trouble with the law again. His service number is provided if anyone wants to try to get his service records though it may be impossible because unless you are the person named in the records you will need to show that the person has died.
Nov. 6, 1965 Danny was arrested for possession of a weapon in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Four months later he was arrested by the US Marshal's for smuggling marijuana. He must have crossed state lines or possibly country borders for the US Marshal's to be involved. There are three entries for that arrest but other than the Los Angeles Sheriff's Office being involved there is no indication where the smuggling took place. My guess is that he was smuggling across the Mexican border. There wasn't much homegrown back in 1965 and most of the pot in California came from Mexico.
Danny had a couple of traffic violations in 1966 and 1967.
On Dec. 5, 1967 Danny was arrested for rape by force but those charges seem to have gone nowhere since in the disposition column it is noted "rel" which I take to mean released. I do not believe that Danny had hooked up with Manson at this point in time.
But by the next arrest on Mar. 29, 1969 Danny had hooked up with Manson. Both were arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. The victim was Miriam (Romo) DeCarlo, Danny's wife. About ten days later the LA DA declined to charge the two because Miriam told the DA she wanted the matter dropped.
Danny was arrested using the name Richard Allen Smith during the Aug. 16,1969 Spahn Ranch Raid. Richard Allen Smith was the same name he used to illegally purchase a gun on July 14, 1969 in Los Angeles County. It appears that the illegally purchased gun caught up with him Sept. 12, 1969 as there was a Title 78 USC (United States Code) charge filed by the US Marshal's on that date.
Then on Oct. 15, 1969 there was a grand theft charge filed against him by the LA PD.
What is not included on the rap sheet which is dated Oct. 24, 1969 is the drug, grand theft and receiving stolen property charges. The grand theft and receiving stolen property crimes apparently took place in May 1969 and involved a motorcycle and engine owned by Edward Lee Shearer. But it looks like there was no arrest until mid Oct. 1969.
A drug charge, possession of marijuana, was filed against Danny and a woman named June Ann Safranek. The paperwork is confusing because the drug charges are from an incident that occurred Dec. 11, 1968 but one of the pages say the drug charges are from Dec. 11, 1969 which was after the charges were filed and the two appeared in court. The first page of the documents is practically unreadable but the rest of the pages are fine.
To me, it looks like the drug charge was simple possession. There's no hint of a large quantity or sales.
I was unable to learn much about the young woman, June Ann Safranek, who was arrested with Danny. She was from Simi Valley and 17 years old at the time of the offense. She was reported as a runaway by her mother in Nov. of 1967. June married young, age 15, in Dec. 1966 and had a child in March of 1967. The couple filed for a divorce in Feb. 1968.
Thanks for this post. Even after 50-plus years of books and articles published on the Manson story, we still don't know a great deal about DeCarlo (or several other of Charlie's associates in the 1967-69 time frame), so this is a very welcome addition to the sparse DeCarlo biographical database. Is DeCarlo definitely still alive and, if so, does anybody know his current approximate whereabouts?
ReplyDeleteExcellent stuff, Deb. Many thanks.
ReplyDeleteDanny would be 80 years old if he is still living. I have no idea where he is though. I have past addresses for him in Hawaii and Texas. It's been rumored that he's in Mexico which is possible I suppose. The last address I have for him is in Pharr Texas which is on the Mexican border near the city of Reynosa Mexico but that address is from 1997, so quite old.
ReplyDeleteThanks DebS.
ReplyDeleteThe Federal drug smuggling charges were for an incident that occurred on 7-31-66 at the Tijuana Mexico-USA border involving 11 bricks of marijuana.
From the (on-line) appeal:
“conspiring with the Browns to import and to smuggle marihuana into the United States, all in violation of 21 U.S.C. 176a. “
In the Manson-TLB trial, the “Voir Dire Examination” of DeCarlo by Fitzgerald brought out that cases were dropped for DeCarlo for being a witness at the first Beausoleil trial.
“Theft of a motorcycle engine”
and
“Receiving Stolen Property and Possession of marijuana”.
Thank you TaborFresca, I was not aware of the appeal. Here's a link to it for others that haven't read it-
ReplyDeletehttps://casetext.com/case/decarlo-v-united-states
@Deb S---according to this, DeCarlo was alive and well in 2023. No other info that I could find. https://www.charlesmanson.com/defendants/danny-decarlo/
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFor years, my pocket knife was a folding snap blade that looked like the Buck knife often pictured as the one Sadie lost at Sharon's house. Enough of the blade was left exposed when the knife was folded that it could be easily grasped allowing it to be opened with one hand by a flick of the wrist.
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally, when I carry a knife, these days, it's similar to the utility knife with the snap off blade that Deb has pictured.
gina, thanks but I'm not sure how accurate that is, there is no source. Also, some of the other info isn't correct. Sherry and Danny were not married and then had a child. Their daughter was born April 5, 1972 but Danny and Miriam did not divorce until 1975.
ReplyDeleteName Daniel Decarlo
Gender Male
Divorce Date 2 Apr 1975
Divorce Place Jackson, Oregon, USA
Spouse
Miriam Romo
Spouse Gender Female
Certificate Number 03803
" There wasn't much homegrown back in 1965 and most of the pot in California came from Mexico."
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of an amusing part of my "life learning experience"...
In 65 I was 18 and it wan't until 67 that I smoke my first joint in San Rafael. In those days everyone naively believed whatever their supplier told them the origin of their weed was. Going price for a lid, for several years was $10, and one might eagerly pay twice that for "Acapulco Gold".
This worked, so there got to be Maui Wowie and Panama Red--the more exotic, the better.
But really, you had no clue whatsoever, when being a college dilettante playing at bohemianism, just what the hell was in there.
I mean, it took *years* before I found out that a normal lid was not supposed to be mostly stems and seeds!!!
Gosh, we were naive...great object lesson, though...
Max Hailstorm
ReplyDeleteWhat a fake sounding real name! I may just use it as an alias down the road...on some music related project where I have to wear multiple hats/perform a bunch of tasks
Another great post Deb
Cheers