Taming the Beast: Charles Manson's Life Behind Bars by Edward George, Dary Matera Page A
Authors: Edward George, Dary Matera
Ads: Link
in jail.
The “Free Charlie” mania had actually consumed the Family from the moment the police dragged him from his rathole under the desert ranch house. During Manson’s trial, the cult leader’s followers stayed mainly in Southern California under the control of Squeaky. Learning from their master, the girls were well versed in enlisting men for their purposes, offering sex, drugs, and spirited conversations about a rebellion of the disenfranchised. A number of Aryan Brothers—some sent to them by Manson—joined with the women. The ABs were especially skilled at committing robberies for guns, ammunition, and money. One particular effort, a gun store robbery in 1971, nearly resulted in the theft of 140 weapons. It took a massive shoot-out by an army of cops to keep the thieves from getting away with the deadly arsenal.
Investigators surmised that the goal of Manson’s followers who were involved was to accumulate enough guns, ammunition, and explosives to stage a commando raid on a prison or courthouse. The assault would be modeled after the aborted attempt by black revolutionary Jonathan Jackson to free his brother, riot starter George Jackson, during a courthouse shootout in August 1970. In addition some of the weapons could be sold to pay for the Family’s expenses.
Another incident was particularly ominous. On October 20, 1971, a Manson associate named Kenneth Como escaped from the hall of records jail in Los Angeles. Como cut through the bars with a jeweler’s string smuggled in for him by a Manson follower, tied his bedsheets into a rope, and scaled down the side of the building from the thirteenth floor to the eighth. His “rope” was just long enough to enable him to kick out the courtroom window of Room 104—the same place where Manson had been tried. Como climbed inside the empty chambers, sauntered down the stairs, and walked out the door. Outside, Sandra Good just happened to be waiting there in a Family van.
After such a daring escape, the upshot was almost comical. Como was forced to flee on foot when Sandra subsequently crashed the vehicle. (Sandra told police Como had “kidnapped” her and was driving at the time of the crash.) He was captured six hours later and eventually convicted of attempted robbery. The judge gave him fifteen to life.
At the end of 1973, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Department and the U.S. Park Service monitored the activities of a small band of Manson followers that settled in a remote area of the Saline Valley near Death Valley, California. Among the original five was an unidentified woman with an X carved into her forehead, and T. J. Walleman, a tough, heavily bearded biker who wore black leather and dark shades. The quintet, which included an infant, drove two long four-wheel-drive wagons converted into campers. One of the vehicles pulled an open-bed trailer that carried a pair of chopper motorcycles. A month after their arrival, someone tried to rob a sporting goods store in nearby Ridgecrest by crashing a hot-wired bread truck through the rear doorway. Scared off by the loud noise and poor access, the culprit or culprits escaped empty-handed. Law-enforcement officials suspected Manson’s group, guessing that they were after the store’s gun supply. The police, however, were unable to pin it on them.
After being spotted here and there for two months, the Walleman gang eventually put down roots at the Minnette Mine in Panamint Valley. A suspicious neighbor snooped around when the now ten-member, mostly female clan was away and discovered a tunnel loaded with enough food and supplies to enable a dozen or more people to hide underground for a year. There was also a large cache of weapons, ammunition, and explosives.
Other citizens reported that the clan girls spent the year giggling and whispering that the Family would be at full strength by Christmas 1974. By “full strength,” the girls implied that their master, Manson, would soon be with them.
Sure enough,
The “Free Charlie” mania had actually consumed the Family from the moment the police dragged him from his rathole under the desert ranch house. During Manson’s trial, the cult leader’s followers stayed mainly in Southern California under the control of Squeaky. Learning from their master, the girls were well versed in enlisting men for their purposes, offering sex, drugs, and spirited conversations about a rebellion of the disenfranchised. A number of Aryan Brothers—some sent to them by Manson—joined with the women. The ABs were especially skilled at committing robberies for guns, ammunition, and money. One particular effort, a gun store robbery in 1971, nearly resulted in the theft of 140 weapons. It took a massive shoot-out by an army of cops to keep the thieves from getting away with the deadly arsenal.
Investigators surmised that the goal of Manson’s followers who were involved was to accumulate enough guns, ammunition, and explosives to stage a commando raid on a prison or courthouse. The assault would be modeled after the aborted attempt by black revolutionary Jonathan Jackson to free his brother, riot starter George Jackson, during a courthouse shootout in August 1970. In addition some of the weapons could be sold to pay for the Family’s expenses.
Another incident was particularly ominous. On October 20, 1971, a Manson associate named Kenneth Como escaped from the hall of records jail in Los Angeles. Como cut through the bars with a jeweler’s string smuggled in for him by a Manson follower, tied his bedsheets into a rope, and scaled down the side of the building from the thirteenth floor to the eighth. His “rope” was just long enough to enable him to kick out the courtroom window of Room 104—the same place where Manson had been tried. Como climbed inside the empty chambers, sauntered down the stairs, and walked out the door. Outside, Sandra Good just happened to be waiting there in a Family van.
After such a daring escape, the upshot was almost comical. Como was forced to flee on foot when Sandra subsequently crashed the vehicle. (Sandra told police Como had “kidnapped” her and was driving at the time of the crash.) He was captured six hours later and eventually convicted of attempted robbery. The judge gave him fifteen to life.
At the end of 1973, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Department and the U.S. Park Service monitored the activities of a small band of Manson followers that settled in a remote area of the Saline Valley near Death Valley, California. Among the original five was an unidentified woman with an X carved into her forehead, and T. J. Walleman, a tough, heavily bearded biker who wore black leather and dark shades. The quintet, which included an infant, drove two long four-wheel-drive wagons converted into campers. One of the vehicles pulled an open-bed trailer that carried a pair of chopper motorcycles. A month after their arrival, someone tried to rob a sporting goods store in nearby Ridgecrest by crashing a hot-wired bread truck through the rear doorway. Scared off by the loud noise and poor access, the culprit or culprits escaped empty-handed. Law-enforcement officials suspected Manson’s group, guessing that they were after the store’s gun supply. The police, however, were unable to pin it on them.
After being spotted here and there for two months, the Walleman gang eventually put down roots at the Minnette Mine in Panamint Valley. A suspicious neighbor snooped around when the now ten-member, mostly female clan was away and discovered a tunnel loaded with enough food and supplies to enable a dozen or more people to hide underground for a year. There was also a large cache of weapons, ammunition, and explosives.
Other citizens reported that the clan girls spent the year giggling and whispering that the Family would be at full strength by Christmas 1974. By “full strength,” the girls implied that their master, Manson, would soon be with them.
Sure enough,
Similar Books
