 |
 |
A PERSONAL STATEMENT FROM AUTHOR IVOR DAVIS In l970 I and reporter colleague Jerry LeBlanc wrote the first book about the Sharon Tate Murders. It was called "Five to Die" and it was written and published astonishingly fast. It was the very first book to, in great detail, chronicle the incredible lifestyle of Charles Manson and his Crazed Family of drug-riddled hippies. It had everything: Drugs, sex, rock and roll and Manson’s Crackpot Helter Skelter-Beatle-Black-White Revolution philosophy. The book came out several months BEFORE the sensational murder trial began and was swallowed up by the nine month trial that made shocking headlines throughout the world. I covered every day of the trial as a foreign correspondent for one of the biggest daily newspapers in Britain. Years after the trial ended I ran into Aaron Stovitz. He had been head of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Chief Trial Officer and he pulled together the prosecution’s case against the Manson mob. Three months into the trial he was fired because he ignored the Judge’s gag order. Vincent Bugliosi his assistant stepped into run the case for the District Attorney. Stovitz stunned me when he told me years later: "Your book 'Five to Die' was the blueprint for our prosecution." So on the 40th anniversary of this heinous crime we are republishing the book. This new book, 'FIVE TO DIE—THE BOOK THAT HELPED CONVICT MANSON’ is a totally updated version. It contains more than 25,000 words of new, rich material. The book includes “Everything you Wanted to Know About Charles Manson but were Afraid to Ask.” It contains the most up to date information about the case and its cast of leading players. The material includes new interviews with the today and yesterday’s key lawyers from the districtattorneys office including Vince Bugliosi, Aaron Stovitz, Stephen Kay and Patrick Sequeira. It tells many never before shocking, behind the scenes stories that unfolded during the wild, circus like Alice inWonderland trial. Ronald Hughes, defense lawyer for Leslie Van Houten was ordered killed by Manson. And a district attorney recounts how he heard Manson make the death threats just days before the hippie lawyer vanished. Manson family members who were not involved in the murders, but shaved their heads and cut crosses into their foreheads and who kept a vigil outside the courthouse offered sex with construction workers who were building a new Criminal Court building next to the prison. Their plan was to seduce the construction workers so they would let them use the network of sewer tunnels they were building to break Manson out of jail. A year later Manson Family members were arrested for robbing a Los Angeles gun store. They had grabbed 150 assorted weapons and their plan was to break Manson out of jail. The new material is part personal memoir and part fact. Manson and his slavish acolytes threatened to kill many people including myself and my family. I spoke to the Oscar winning director Roman Polanski in Paris. His wife Sharon Tate of course, was 2 weeks away from delivering their baby son. He is now the father of two young children and he recalls those horrendous days. I spoke to record promoter Terry Melcher, (Doris Day's son) who told me that the murders destroyed his life. I spoke to Doris Day, who told me that she begged her son to move overseas for his safety. I spoke to Beatle Paul McCartney who scoffed at claims that the "Helter Skelter" lyrics were a call to racial war as Manson said. I spoke to reporters who survived the marathon trial and offered juicy behind the scene stories. Today incredibly, Charles Manson is still running a lucrative con operation behind bars. He has become one of the richest prisoners in California as a result heading a thriving autograph photo business from behind bars. Only he has an army of prisoners faking his autographs on photos. Many letters he gets are from Satan worshippers who weren’t even born when the murders happened but now say he is their hero. Forty Years later Manson, whose followers believed he was Jesus, is a bigger name than he ever was. One of Manson's most loyal girls recently moved to a small town near the prison where Manson is incarcerated. She runs his business for him although because she is a convicted felon she can't visit him. The Manson Industry is still huge. Movies, music, books, prison gear. Another Manson family member in jail for life makes a lucrative profit selling his erotic art. One of the leading district attorneys in the murder trial revealed to me that he once dated one of the Manson family girls. The only surviving member of the Sharon Tate family, her sister Debra, who was a teenager when Sharon was murdered, has now devoted her life to keeping the killers behind bars. The Manson Killers are now in their Fifties and Sixties: They look like respectable middle aged librarians as they fight for their freedom. Four decades later district attorney Vincent Bugliosi is still a hot ticket on the lecture circuit. This is fresh and stunning inside look at the most notorious murder trial in American history with new details that have never before been published. |
|
Thank you for Purchasing Then and Now |
| ©2009 Ivor Davis - Thor Publishing |