Channels Nukes Schreck - Book Review

Michael Channels 

Friday, Grim called Nikolas Schreck's The Manson File Myth and Reality of an Outlaw Shaman a "modern day fairy tale." Yesterday, Michael Channels discussed Schreck in this video. My ears perked up when Channels echoed Grim. 

"This book is like Alice in Wonderland to me."

Before I got going on the video, I noticed a pinned comment identifying a Harry Martin as the originator of the drug burn theory circa 1992 in Martin's Napa Sentinel. The weekly paper did not begin publishing until 8 Jan 1993 but I gave commenter Jack Tatum a pass since he was so good at Ohio State and also because three decades have passed since the info was fresh. 

Unfortunately, I was unable to find the original article. Channels linked his viewers to a reprint of Martin's piece. 

- Martin's Napa Sentinel Wikipedia page. 

- Here's an article on Martin from Bohemian.com in May 2005.  

Of course, I want you to make your own decisions but imo Martin looks like he wants to sell me a Mercury Cougar that blows white smoke out of the exhaust pipe if I even dream of driving on the highway.   

C'mon down to Honest Harry's today and drive home tonight in style!

I jest. Honest Harry Martin was a tabloid journalist and not a used car salesman. Same career as Tom O'Neill now that I think about it. I wonder if Tom also enjoys denim shirts? I bet he dresses better. My brain keeps telling me parallels exist between the two writers but I can't put it all together. 

Anyway. I watched Channels' assassination of Schreck. Channels give sources like he's supposed to and makes interesting points throughout the presentation. I expected some factional, he-said-she-said kinda stuff, but instead walked away wondering for the first time if Schreck's book was cut out of whole cloth. Not saying I'm trying to go full weR7 with you, but I did find myself recently canceled as a podcast guest because I'm from the mean and clueless Manson Blog. 

Manson Blog. Former home of filmmaker Robert Hendrickson. RIP.

Channels' account of the Schreck/Channels meeting with Robby Krieger blew my mind. I'm not sure I'll ever forget it. What are your thoughts on Channels' views on Schreck and his book, neo-Nazi claims included? 

As for the Manson File, I suppose I'll err on the side of that Epimenides dude while I wait. Someday, maybe my book will arrive and allow me to verify things myself. +ggw

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*don't eat too much candy today. get a good workout in tomorrow if you do. 

Frank Retz

One of the biggest recent stories in California has been about the wildfires that were greatly fueled by the fact that the state has experienced four straight years of drought. But, weatherpersons assure us, help in on the way in the form of an El Nino weather effect that will be the greatest since the winter of 1997-98. That would be good news, because the winter of 1997-98 was the second warmest and seventh wettest since 1895. Rainfall totals were the greatest in over a century and 53 California counties were declared to be disaster areas as the torrential rains inflicted over $550 million in damages on the state. There were also 17 storm related deaths, one of which is of particular interest to readers of the MF Blog: the death of Frank Retz, which occurred when his vehicle was engulfed by a bridge collapse at the site of the old Spahn Movie Ranch.

Frank Retz appears in the TLB literature as an agent for the Transcontinental Development Corporation (TDC), an outfit that wanted to buy the properties around Spahn's Ranch (and the ranch itself) in order to build a resort complex for German Americans. Since some people who wanted to develop this complex saw the presence of Charles Manson and his associates at Spahn's Ranch as an impediment towards acquisition of the ranch, efforts were made to have them removed from the property. One of these efforts involved calling the police in to harass the Manson people as often as possible, something that surely stirred up bad feelings. According to Danny DeCarlo, Spahn Ranch ranch hand Shorty Shea was hired by the corporation to keep an eye one the goings on at the back ranch house on the Spahn property. Shea did so, not only creating a lot of tension but also setting himself up to be murdered. Frank Retz started out as an agent for the corporation,and eventually acquired property adjacent to Spahn's Ranch where he established a residence for himself accessible over a bridge built over the creek running in the area behind and down the hill from the movie set structures. 

Retz had more than a passing involvement with the intrigues at Spahn's Ranch. He was familiar with the cast of characters, and they were familiar with him. According to Ed Sanders, Retz once gave a ride to Kittly Lutesinger when she was trying to flee the ranch. Retz was also involved with the encroachment of the German developers. He was the person who hired Shorty Shea in a security capacity to assist in efforts to have Manson and his associates thrown off the ranch. Retz's participation in these activities (he even personally set up the arrest of Manson and Stephanie Schram in one of the outlaw shacks on August 24, 1969) earned him such animus from "the Family" that Manson Prosecutor Stephen Kay later said that Retz was next (after Shea) on the list of those to be murdered in the summer of 1969. 

Frank Retz survived the summer of 1969. But he would not be so lucky in the winter of 1997-98.

From the February 9, 1998 Los Angeles Times:

Chatsworth Man Dies; 2 Escape Crash

Accident: Car plunges into a ravine. Authorities uncertain if bridge was washed away or if it collapsed under vehicle.

February 09, 1998  SCOTT GLOVER, TIMES STAFF WRITER

CHATSWORTH — A World War II German Army captain who emigrated to America after the war and found success as a businessman became a victim early Sunday of the recent series of powerful storms that slammed the Southland. Frank Retz, 84, was killed when the car he was in fell to the bottom of a 60-foot ravine near his secluded home.

Authorities were still investigating Sunday night whether rain waters washed away an earthen bridge that led to Retz's home off Santa Susana Pass Road, or if the weight of the car in which he and his friends were riding caused the bridge to collapse.

The car, which belonged to Andy and Helen Gattuso, plunged to the bottom of the ravine about 1:30 a.m., authorities said. The Gattusos, both in their 60s, managed to crawl out of the overturned vehicle and climb up the edge of the embankment.

But when the couple reached Retz's home, the power was out and the telephone was dead, said Capt. Michael McMaster of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Authorities were called six hours later when someone on their way to Sunday morning services at the nearby Church at Rocky Peak saw the couple waving their arms for help.

"I looked over and saw them standing there, and they definitely looked like they needed help," said Dan Oran, an usher at the church, who arrived minutes after the parishioner who called 911.

The Gattusos were taken to Granada Hills Community Hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries and released. They were recovering Sunday afternoon in their Northridge home and did not wish to speak with reporters.

Coroner's investigator Erik D. Arbuthnot said it was not immediately clear what caused Retz's death. Despite the fall, there was little obvious trauma to his body, he said.

"He might even have drowned. He might have had a heart attack. We don't know."

McMaster said there was a 3-foot-wide culvert that channeled water from a stream underneath the earthen bridge that led to Retz's home.

Tina Thompson, a neighbor, said the bridge had been "red tagged" as unsafe by city building inspectors because Retz installed the drain himself, then covered it with fill without the proper permits.

"He used to tell me he wasn't going to let the city bureaucracy tell him what he was going to do on his property," she said.

Thompson's account could not be confirmed Sunday.

Retz was remembered as a colorful character by his neighbors, who said he boasted of being the stuntman atop the horse in the TV series, "Zorro," and of once physically assaulting Charles Manson, whom he caught trespassing on his property.

By others, he was recalled alternatively as an affable partyer [sic] and an ill-tempered recluse. Retz apparently spent his last night alive just as he would have liked, said his attorney, John J. Altenburg.

The Gattusos had taken Retz to a dance at the Bavarian Haus club in North Hollywood, Altenburg said, where he often enjoyed spending time with fellow German expatriates.

"He was an 84-year-old man full of vim and vigor," Altenburg said. "He loved to dance and sing. He would sing, totally offbeat, but at the top of his lungs."

Retz was decorated during the war by the German army, Altenburg said. After the war he came to the U.S., where he was in several businesses, including import-export, retail food and discount airline charters.

Retz also had a passion for soccer and horses, and made many friends in the movie business over the years, said Bill Murdock, who knew Retz for 20 years. Retz sometimes rented his ranch--a 64-acre spread in picturesque hills overlooking the San Fernando Valley--to filmmakers.

Nikki Wright, who grew up near Retz's ranch and still lives nearby, said the man had charm.

"We care a lot about him," she said, as she watched firefighters pull Retz's body from the car.

Altenburg conceded that Retz was protective of his property, as indicated by several lawsuits stemming from dog bites, he said.

Thompson, who is Wright's mother, said that Retz told her several times about his role in the "Zorro" series. "Whenever you see Zorro on a horse, it's me," Thompson quoted Retz as saying.

He also told her of the time he attacked Charles Manson, ordering Manson and his followers to get off his land.

Retz's son, Phil, an architect in the Seattle area, didn't want to talk about his father's colorful past.

"He was a good, decent man," he said. "I don't think there's need to say much more."

(Staff writer Allison Cohen contributed to this report.)

One interesting thing about this article is that although there is mention of Charles Manson and his associates being on Retz's land there is no indication that the land was adjacent to Spahn's Movie Ranch. Indeed, there is no mention in the article about Spahn's Ranch at all. Readers would not even know that Retz's death basically occurred at the site of the ranch.

I had a brief encounter with Frank Retz in 1989. At the time I was in Los Angeles for the August 9, 1989 premiere of the Nikolas Schreck film Charles Manson Superstar. On that afternoon of the twentieth anniversary of the Tate-LaBianca murders I, along with several of the people involved in the production of Superstar (and the publication of the book The Manson File) went to the site of Spahn's Ranch and were met there by a Lederhosen and cowboy hat-clad Retz. I stayed pretty much in the background; most of Retz's conversation was with Nikolas Schreck and Nick Bougas. Retz still talked about turning the area into some sort of resort for Germans. He also claimed that he and his soccer team had "kicked Charlie Manson's ass," a contention that was met with smiles and rolled eyes all around. (Three years before our encounter Retz told an interviewer, "I told those druggie Manson people to get out, and when they saw me they would run away because I told them I would beat them up to death.'')

Nikolas Schreck, Frank Retz, and Nick Bougas at the site of Spahn's Movie Ranch in 1989

Left to right: Zeena LaVey, Stanton LaVey (behind Zeena), me, Nick Bougas, Nikolas Schreck, Frank Retz

After Retz's death his secluded residence was ransacked by souvenir hunters. Some of the items so looted eventually found their way to me. 

Business cards and a studio portrait looted from Retz's home after his death

The collapsed bridge was replaced by one that was built to code. The new bridge is the one that's there today.

Building materials on site for the replacement bridge at the former Spahn Ranch

Franks Retz's dream of turning the Spahn Ranch area into a resort aimed at German Americans never came to fruition. Today the area to the south and west of the ranch site is privately owned and maintained and is sometimes rented out for private functions such as weddings. The actual site of Spahn's Ranch itself is a part of the Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park. It will never be developed into anything other than what it naturally becomes.

Debunking the Bunk Part 3: Nikolas Schreck's Story of The Cielo Drive Murders

Introduction | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

As long as we're recently on the subject of the timeline for the Cielo murders, we thought we'd present you with what we think is the most improbable theory of the August 8/9th murders: Mr. Schreck's version of events from his now defunct book, "The Manson File".

In a nutshell, Schreck tells his reader that, Watson, Atkins, Krenwinkel and Kasabian arrive at Cielo around midnight for a $20K drug deal. In his version, the killers do not cut the phone wires and climb the fence; instead, they drive their car through the welcoming gate and right on to the driveway apron. Even though this is a Watson/Kasabian partnership drug burn, Watson enters only with Atkins and leaves Krenwinkel and Kasabian by the car to be lookouts.

Equally welcoming on their escapade is Sebring, who opens the front door to invite Watson and Atkins in. And, being the generous host that Sebring was known to be, he offers and then makes them drinks.

In the meantime, Abigail (in her bedroom) and Voytek (on the living room couch) are blitzed out of their minds on MDA and in a comatose-like state. Sharon is in her bedroom, already in bed.

When Sebring tells Watson that he doesn't have all the drugs, a heated argument begins, drawing both (the incapacitated) Abigail and (the underwear clad) Sharon into the living room. The fight escalates and Watson hits Sebring.

At about this time, Schreck places Steven Parent at the living room window of the main house to witness the violent attack. Frightened, he runs to the driveway. But, instead of getting in his car, he stops to look in the garage (at what, we don't know). It is here that Krenwinkel and Kasabian attack Steven, slashing at him with the knife and yelling for Watson's help.

Watson, hearing their calls for help, leaves Atkins alone in the house to guard four people and runs out to help kill Steve. By the time of Watson's arrival, Steve has jumped into his car, rammed the shift into reverse and downs 30 feet of guardrail before Watson catches him and shoots him four times.

Back inside, Sebring tries to calm Watson by telling him that he has more drugs at his Easton Drive home. Watson agrees to take Sebring and Sharon (as hostage) to Easton Drive. But, once outside, Sebring lunges at Watson and Watson shoots Sebring. As Sharon is trying to get away, they stab her.

With Tate and Sebring murdered, Watson decides they should go to Sebring's house to get the drugs that are there. They then leave Cielo (and the drugged, but very much alive Folger & Frykowski) to go to Sebring's house. But the Easton Drive drug caper is snafued by Rudy Weber when he busts them using his garden hose.

Watson then decides to forego Sebring's house and high-tails it back to Spahn to tell Manson what had transpired. Then, along with Manson, they decide to return to Cielo to wipe down fingerprints. When they return, they do indeed wipe down the house and then (oh yeah, forgot about them) kill Frykowski and Folger.

Wow. Where to begin?

Book Page 599: Schreck uses Watson's trial testimony, as proof that Watson didn't cut the phone wires, climb the gate fence or cut the screen, but entered the Cielo house as an invited guest through the front door—including, in his scenario that they entered the property by driving the car through the open and welcoming gate:

What happened as you approached the front of the house?

I walked in the front door.

You just opened the door--?

Just opened it up.

Just turned the knob and go right on in?

Right

Was any of the group—that is, any of the three girls with you at this time?

No, I didn't see any girls at that time.

Did you slit the screen in that house?

No. I did not.

Response: What Schreck doesn't tell his reader is that this is Watson on the witness stand during cross-examination by Bugliosi. The prosecutor's questioning is to counter the multitude of lies that Watson gave during direct examination by his attorney. Remember, Watson was gunning for a diminished capacity defense.

During direct examination Watson claimed that he had no malice aforethought before the crimes and that after he did not attempt to "hide" the evidence, therefore he had no sense of right and wrong. Watson denied driving to the house, he denied cutting the phone wires, he denied having rope with him, he denied entering through a window (really, he denied any thought at all) and said that he was taking orders from the girls. All he heard was Charlie in his mind over and over; he didn't see his victims as anything but blobs; he didn't think to wash the blood off; he didn't order anyone to throw away the clothes or the weapons. Finally, Watson testified (at various times) that during the commission of the crimes, he was high on Belladonna, Coke, and Meth.

If Schreck takes one portion of Watson's testimony (an invited guest through the front door) as truth, then he must also consider the rest of his testimony—that he was following the orders of the girls and in a state of complete diminished capacity under Manson's spell—as truth. And this then would defy Schreck's motive that this was a calculated drug burn by Watson and Kasabian—especially since he left co-burner-Kasabian outside.



Book Page 25, 600, 610: "From the empty glasses on the table, detectives later deduced that cocktails were offered to the visitors while the business at hand was discussed... After Tex and Sadie were welcomed in, Sebring offered them drinks ... they wiped the fingerprints from the glasses Sebring had offered them when they first arrived."

Response: There is no evidence of any empty drinking glasses found in the living room, dining room, or kitchen. Are we to assume that the killers washed their glasses and returned them to the cabinets?



Book Page 601: "An argument between the speed-tweaking Tex and the Coked-up Sebring."

Response: Sebring's toxicology reports from the autopsy show absolutely no drugs in his system. Now, even though the ethanol test came out negative as well, and we think Jay at least had some wine and or beer that night, let's remember that alcohol continues to break down in the blood stream after death. So, by the time of his autopsy, after 2PM the following day, it's likely that there was zero detection of ethanol left in his system.



Pages 598, 605, & 606 Schreck writes of Voytek and Abigail: "Both were wiped out from the amount of MDA in their system... Frykowski and Folger were not able to put up any resistance... So high on massive doses of MDA, that they could barely move... .Just how high Voytek and Gibby were is indicated by the fact that when Tex returned to finish them off several hours later, they still hadn't been able to free themselves... They lay there for at least three hours going through what must have been two of the worst MDA trips of all time."

Response: The M.E. report noted Voytek had 0.06mg of MDA in his system. Abigail had 2.4mg of MDA in her system, a little higher than a typical recreational dose, but hardly incapacitating. Abigail also had a small amount of alcohol in her system, 0.06.

The notion of Abigail and Voytek being so utterly incapacitated that they sat/lay comatose-like while Watson is beating and then killing Sebring and Sharon, is just plain unrealistic. And then, with their friends' dead bodies lying around them, just hang out and enjoyed their MDA stupor for a couple of hours while Watson et al go back to Spahn to get Manson?

Also of note, MDA and MDMA (Ecstasy) are similar, but not the same drug. Schreck points to these two drugs as being interchangeable in Abigail and Voytek's system, sometimes even referring to the MDA as Fairy Dust, which is also inaccurate.

Even if we went out on a limb to say that Abigail and Voytek's tox screens in the M.E. report are inaccurate and that they had a lot more MDA in their system than noted, there's a thing called the "sobering effect" that occurs during a traumatic situation. The traumatic situation causes mass amounts of adrenaline to be released into the system, "sobering" the individual, which then, if the situation calls for it, causes the fight or flight instinct to kick in. Since Voytek had 50 odd wounds with a blood trail from the living room to the front lawn, it would seem almost certain that the sobering effect from a mild MDA high would have kicked in.

The most ridiculous notion to the whole Abigail and Voytek MDA stupor is that Watson and the women would (as Schreck surmises) leave them unattended and alive, with Sharon & Sebring already murdered, and with the phone lines still functioning, to go to Sebring's house and get more drugs. But, we'll get to that soon.



Book Page 601: "Sharon was roused by the yelling and walked into her living room to see what was happening."

Response: So, Sharon, hearing strange voices, nonetheless volatile yelling voices, walks out of the bedroom in her underwear to see what's up? Didn't grab a robe, just walked into this volatile situation in her underwear? I think you'd be hard pressed, even in 1969, to find anyone who would leave themselves that vulnerable in that situation.



Book Page 602: Schreck places Parent outside looking in the window watching Watson beat Sebring while Sharon tries to intervene. Frightened, Steve Parent then "... ran for his car and roared off at full speed. In his panic to flee... Parent drove in reverse, screeching backward across the parking lot, knocking over nearly thirty feet of fence."

Response: Thirty feet? The police photographs clearly show one split rail of the fence knocked down, about six feet. Schreck turns this small accident into a scene from the French Connection. The poor kid, probably a little buzzed (as Garretson stated in his polygraph) or just because it's damn dark, accidentally backed into the fence, knocked down a rail and scraped the undercarriage of his car on the driveway parapet.



Book Page 602-603: Watson, after hearing the women scream about Steve on the driveway, runs outside and leaves Atkins, with a single buck knife, to guard four people.

Response: Ummm. One 5'6" woman with a 4" blade to cover four people? Even if they're tied up, I find it hard to believe that Frykowski and Sebring wouldn't have taken that opportunity to lunge at Atkins.



Book Page 604: Schreck places Watson and Sebring struggling on the front porch. "Tex hit Sebring hard on the head with the gun. So hard that the grip shattered."

Response: The M.E. noted in Sebring's autopsy report that he was hit in the face with a blunt instrument, but since there was no breaking of the skin, he surmised that it was something "soft like a fist". The M.E. then notes of Sebring's head: "Inspection and palpitation of the scalp reveals no evidence of injury."



Book pages 40-41, 604: While we can agree with Schreck's assessment that the media "planted the seeds of Charlie's legend with mystic cult and black magic headlines", we differ when it comes to Schreck's statement: "There was nothing particularly "hippie" about the crimes, which were actually fairly ordinary mob-related narcotics trade murders... At around 1:00, Tex led Sebring towards the door, taking Sharon with him as a hostage... Atkins and Krenwinkel scooped up all the mescaline, MDA, and cocaine they could find."

Response: The most glaring evidence against these murders being a drug burn/robbery is the lack of ransacking. As noted in the police report: The killers left the location without ransacking the house. Paper money was in plain view throughout the house and Sebring had a wristwatch on his wrist in plain view valued at $1,500.

It's hard to fathom that this supposed drug burn was all about money and yet at Cielo, there's not a single open drawer, nothing disturbed in the closets, nothing disturbed on the desk in the living room, nothing disturbed in the bedrooms, nothing disturbed in the loft above, nothing disturbed in the dining room or kitchen and nothing disturbed in the (Schreck version) supposed drug "safe house" of the nursery.

These drug burn/murderers were either very tidy searchers or very lazy ones when they scooped up all they could find.

A more "fairly ordinary mob-related narcotics trade murders", would be the Wonderland Murders in which, after being robbed by the four residents from Wonderland Drive, mafia dude, Eddy Nash, orders his peeps to go to the robbers' Wonderland address, retrieve the stolen items and kill everyone in the house.
Do a YouTube search for "Wonderland Murders" to see the crime scene video that shows that the house was completely ransacked. Drawers emptied, ripped from the dressers and strewn about, closets emptied, the floors literally covered in clothing and other items emptied out while searching for drugs, jewels, and cash; even the refrigerator was opened. Yet, the Cielo house, except for the living room area of attack, is completely untouched.

We could say, well, the killers believed that the victims had told them where everything was so they didn't need to ransack—except that Schreck states that Watson didn't believe they had it all, and in fact (as we'll see next), is the reason why the killers left Voytek and Abigail alive to drive to Sebring's house to retrieve more drugs.



Book Page 606: "... Tex pressed the button to open the gate. He left his bloody fingerprint behind for the police to find."

Response: A bloody smudge, not a fingerprint was found on the gate mechanism button. Watson's fingerprint was found on the front door to the house.



Book Page 606-607: "Atkins and Watson... later described a wild and senseless ride through Benedict Canyon that never happened. What is true is that Watson was looking for somewhere to wash his hands so that he wouldn't drip blood all over Sebring's house... They stopped at the next nearest house with a visible garden hose. It was Portola Drive. Their intention was to park there, then go stealthily by foot to rob Sebring's... "

Response: How very considerate of him. First, why not wash his hands in the sink at Cielo before leaving—under Schreck's version they weren't in a huge hurry to get away?
Second, in Schreck's unlikely scenario, we have the killers driving north on Benedict Canyon, traveling past Sebring's street, Easton Drive, to the next available street (on the right or east side of Benedict Canyon), Portola Drive, looking for a hose/parking place to wash off the blood, with the plan to then hike the almost mile back to Easton, and then make the half-mile hike up Easton Drive to Sebring's house.

Schreck portrays Watson as being a little daft at planning these drug burns, but this plan seems to fall under the category of down-right-ridiculously-mentally-challenged.



Book Page 609: After the bungled Easton Drive caper, the killers drive to Spahn (remember, Folger & Frykowski are still alive at Cielo) where they, along with Manson, decide to return to Cielo to clean up. "Linda drove to Cielo Drive this time. Tex curled up on the back seat. He needed to hide because Mr. Weber... could have easily recognized him and for all he knew could have already reported his description to the police."

Response: First, it's a ridiculous notion that the whole reason for returning to Cielo is not to kill the living witnesses, Folger & Frykowski, but to clean fingerprints?

Second: Tex is worried about being seen in a dark moving vehicle in the middle of the night on a winding road, but not worried that the vehicle itself, a yellow and white rusted out Ford (to which Weber wrote down the license number) could be spotted and identified by police?



Book Page 612-613: "The idea of the hanging at Cielo was to make it look like there was a connection to the Sebring hanging party (as noted earlier in Schreck's book). Billy Doyle and Tommy Harrigan... were known to have been present at that party. Watson knew that Doyle was Frykowski's MDA connection, and thus the original source of the burn that set all this in motion... This attempted frame-up based on intimate knowledge of Sebring and his dope dealing clientele, succeeded in setting the cops off of Watson's scent and onto the group of rival drug dealers. Mama Cass, Voytek Frykowski's "neighbor", and close friend and client of Billy Doyle, immediately believed that he and his friends were the killers and informed the cops about her suspicions."

Response: Elliot did not make the connection due to the "hanging". In fact, she didn't make any connection at all. On the other hand, John Phillips did make an inaccurate connection by translating the bloody word PIG left on the front door to PIC, i.e., Pic Dawson. Phillips then told Elliott that Dawson was responsible for the murders and therefore, she too was responsible because she had introduced Dawson to their circle. Phillips then told her that she was in danger because Dawson would next kill Elliot and her daughter. For this reason, and this reason only, Cass Elliot told the police that she believed Pic Dawson was the killer.


The other events and details that Schreck depicts on the night of the Cielo murders cannot be disputed because we weren't there.

We do not discount Schreck's claim that drugs were a motive for the Cielo drive murders. We do not discount that Rostau was a dealer with mafia ties. We certainly don't discount that, like many Angelenos in 1969, Abigail, Voytek, and Jay were using drugs on a regular basis. Nor do we discount the claim that Manson family members went back to the house later that night to do... whatever it is that they did.

What we do dispute is that Rostau made a drug delivery on August 8th. We do dispute the events that Schreck depicts of the murders that we can otherwise prove false. And, we dispute that the victims, in essence, were responsible for their own demise because they chose to do a drug burn against Watson and Kasabian.

The National Socialist Liberation Front, James Mason

Matt,

I am not sure if this will be of interest to you or the Mansonistas at the MansonBlog. Here it is anyway.

Below (and attached, as a Word Doc) are a number of articles. These were taken from SIEGE, a Neo-Nazi publication from the 1980s. SIEGE began as a newsletter associated with the National Socialist Liberation Front (an offshoot of the National Socialist White People's Party) and later was associated with Universal Order (a quasi-mystical, informal Hitler-worshipping group). In both instances it was edited and written by James Mason, who readers may remember from Schreck's original edition of The Manson File. He was a Neo-Nazi who established links with a number of Family members (Squeaky and Sandy mainly, I think) and (positively) associated Manson with figures like Hitler and George Lincoln Rockwell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Socialist_Liberation_Front
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Mason_%28National_Socialist%29

The articles below are the ones from SIEGE which deal directly with Manson. There are a number of others which mention him, but I didn't include him since they only do so indirectly. The articles that might be of most interest to MansonBlog readers are the last few, starting from 'Universal Order'. These ones, as far as I can tell, didn't appear in the NSLF-affiliated SIEGE but came later. They don't say anything particularly ground-breaking, but do provide an unorthodox view of Tate-LaBianca which I feel probably had some input from the Family members still grooving on Charlie's vibe. All collected editions of SIEGE can be accessed here:
https://archive.org/details/Siege_836

Vermouth

---------------------------------------

Introduction

James Mason is an ardent National Socialist who has achieved underground infamy. Mason's revolutionary rhetoric is deemed so subversive and violent that it has even alienated other Nazis. SIEGE shares this uncommon distinction with Céline's Les Beaux Draps (A Fine Mess), which was banned from print inside the Third Reich for being too hateful. This status of notoriety has served to propel SIEGE to new dimensions as a harangue bold enough to advocate sheer political terror. Indeed, Mason views the prevalent status quo Establishment as enemy number one, and has striven to foster its decollation by any means available.

Much of the criticism Mason has attracted stems from his praise of Charles Manson as a misunderstood ideological leader. Superficial minds immediately dismissed this claim as preposterous. But Manson did not carve a swastika on his forehead without reason. Manson does

consider himself a kind of neo-Nazi, and what is "neo" about his Nazism is at times quite fascinating. Thus Mason deserves credit for taking Manson seriously enough to glimpse the very coherent meaning behind his apparent façade of madness. Furthermore, both Mason and Manson have nothing but contempt for right wing shenanigans and escapist fantasies that purport to wage battle over pivotal issues that must not be lost, when in reality the greater WAR to even pre-emptively assert such causes has already been crushed. Suffice it to say, this open honesty has not endeared Mason with those of a lukewarm and illusive mentality.
....

Charles Manson

They'll say that you can't have anything to do with such a criminal, such a defective, such a pervert, such a monster. The lesson of history is clear and the method of the Jew is exposed for those with the understanding, the intelligence and the courage that it takes to put it to use. For the rest, they write themselves off right away, as easily as that. The Revolution is going to call for people who will think, "To hell with all that other! What has he to say?" For when they exclaim to hell with the other, they mean the whole System, everything it says and everything it stands for. They then stand at the beginning. (Adolf Hitler was unable to do this because at his time he was able to work within that system but, in so doing, may have engendered his own ultimate end.)

Those who cannot, under any circumstances, accept or even try to accept Manson are unconscious of the fact that, in reality, this means they cannot accept their own reflections. They are then severely crippled– just like the Jews say they are– and not only useless to themselves or anyone else but that same kind of liability to anything they may get into as I have attempted in many various ways to outline and illustrate in SIEGE over the years.

(Even in the hostile, Jewish-System accounts of the Manson Family, you'll find no dregs or cripples such as abound in the Right Wing. Only the best from among the best– racially and otherwise, profoundly alienated by a Jew System– just as it was with the NSDAP in Germany .)

There is the immediate rise of, "What about all those drugs?" Part of the legend and lore of the Kosher myth-building machine. First, speaking for myself only, I have never used drugs and never plan to. Not only do I not feel I require them for any reason, I feel they are detrimental to the faculties both mental and physical. Second, I have had explained to me by people who are "drug wise" that there is a differentiation between natural substances such as "grass" and certain hallucinogens, and the rest of the broad drug spectrum. It was that spectrum of addictive, manufactured drugs that Manson specifically forbade among his circle. But, just from a practical point ofview, you tell a young White kid he must get his hair cut and give up grass, etc., and you are going to lose him to the other side who will be thinking to themselves– rightfully– just what a jerk you are. We will interior decorate only AFTER we have extinguished the house fire. (Same goes for sex practices as long as it is kept WHITE, just as Manson insisted.)

Last of all, as could easily be deduced from my shotgun blast against any form of "religiosity" earlier in SIEGE, I go for nothing, indeed have no tolerance for anything remotely "spooky". All of this is real, it is solid, it is as "American as apple pie", and it only may seem strange on the surface because it is so new. Manson, like Hitler, is as human as you or I. He is just special by virtue of a one-in-a hundred-million shot of gene combinations which gives him his ideas, his personality and his physical presence.

Vol. XI, #11– Nov., 1982

The Meaning of Manson

He is a product of the American heartland and was subject to the worst conditions that prevailed. But racially, psychically, and culturally he is perhaps the MOST American. Personally gifted, selfless, fearless– both morally and physically– and absolutely dedicated to Life, to Earth and to Truth. What he did– in spite of a life full of the worst adversity– rather than drown in a sea of bitterness as most would have done, he established a racial-socialist colony in Death Valley, in California, in the midst of the push-shove of the 1960's, which was neither hippie nor Right Wing.

As far as those of us today who remain active in the struggle against Death, in favor of Life, Manson's meaning is of the highest importance. His ideas can be readily accepted by racially sound, intelligent, honest Leftists as they can be by Rightists. Without Manson's input, neither side will unravel the problem nor find an answer in time. His is to date the most supreme example of defiance, action and survival.

Little more can be added here except that the verse from Mein Kampf in which Hitler cautioned against turning one's back to the immortal hands which occasionally are outstretched to us in times of great stress, has its most potent meaning at this time– "...woe to the people that is ashamed to grasp them."

[Vol. XII, #3– March, 1983]

The Attack On Manson

Last month's issue of SIEGE had gone to press at about the same time the news of the prison attack against Charles Manson reached us here. Personally, I hadn't experienced such a shock since I received the word of the assassination of Commander Rockwell. Neither had the implications for the Movement been as great as that day in 1967. It was probably better that things worked out as they did, time-wise, as there was little or nothing more that could have been added in these pages to the news reports which, I'm certain, everyone saw at that time. I dislike trying to comment in an intelligent way on a grave topic about which few facts have come in.

Speculations now aside, Manson's injuries are not severe and will produce nothing of a lasting nature. One friend reported that,"It was all over with inside of four minutes." Those with any combat experience, or experience at being wounded, will be aware that four minutes can be an eternity. But there are at least as many friends of Manson inside as there are enemies and this plus their fast action made the difference. We thank these from the bottom of our heart.

I never recalled any questions or worries during the Sixties about what would happen should someone kill the Commander or even whether anyone might seriously try. He was eminently well qualified to take care of himself and, as he would say, his very audacity helped keep him alive. But with Manson it has been different. We have worried– deeply– about the very real risk of just such an attack. If the world outside is a jungle then the world of prison is an insane asylum. It turns out that it was a "nut" that finally got to Manson after all these years but it certainly didn't have to be. Among dangerous punks of all types– inmates and guards alike it is known and accepted that a hit against Charles Manson would place one at the top of the pecking order. And it's an odd coincidence that both Rockwell and Manson were forty-nine years of age at the time of their most deadly personal attacks.

People are dying and getting killed all the time. It'll happen to each one of us sooner or later. In prison, those with "names" have been targeted traditionally since these institutions first existed. Though maybe prison, with all its risks, is and has been Manson'sworld, we still view his life as something of extreme value, something to be preserved at all cost. We have been lucky this time. I'm a believerin luck. Maybe nothing like this will happen again, or at least not for a very long time. It was as though, with the elevation of years with no significant attack, the probability of one happening was becoming critical. Now, in more ways than one, the pressure is off, for awhile.

The press, as always, treated Manson as hot property, not as an individual. That he had been seriously attacked was sensational. That he's going to be all-right is not. And it is this view– that of the Jewish press– that the majority of those in the Movement seem content to be left with concerning Manson. Not too surprising really when you match this view and this attitude with the state the Movement finds itself in.

Though I expressed the sincere feeling that I do not identify with these times, I do take pride in the fact that and the realization that I am not, in spite, stricken by contemporary blindness. Jesus of Nazareth in robes and sandals in 1934 would be a sensation. But in the year 30 A.D., he was just another guy, a shit-disturber whom they allowed to be strung up in the manner of the most common criminals. Adolf Hitler with his flashy uniform, his para-military party and his histrionic oratory today seems most out of place. In 1933, he was little different than a dozen other European dictators. They say familiarity breeds contempt while the dreamer in all of us longs for the exotic. Maybe that's why the Christs among us in the present are so often overlooked or scorned. The Movement with its weird way of looking at things can't see in Manson anything more than what the Jewish press puts in its deliberately distorted, sensationalized coverages.

What did it in the end for Jesus, Hitler and Manson is found in what they SAID and in what they DID... and not in whatever way they might have tried to attract the attention of any potential fan club. If Manson is still with us in the living, you can thank a couple of nameless prison inmates. What do you now do about that which you nearly left until it was too late?

[Vol. XIII, #11– Nov., 1984]

Charles Manson

To Charles Manson it is necessary to devote his own segment. He is unique from the rest not because of any comparative degree ofgreatness, not on account of any variation from a certain, accepted norm but only because he is the only one which is still alive. And alive in this age generally means to be grossly misunderstood.

I have no way of knowing how many of you managed to watch the interview with Manson done by CBS on its "Nightwatch" program during March of this year. It is difficult for me to comment on what was said even though I videotaped the entire, sixty-minute show. For one, it was anything else but an interview. The "host" kept on interrupting, baiting and throwing barbs all throughout, not to mention tossing in his own little "interpolations" at every commercial break. Manson did his best to hold a tight line of thought despite all interference and provocation. What came across to me– and I have known Manson for about six years– was impressive. The heaviest concepts I have heard to date.Things so huge and all-encompassing that they were and are hard to grasp. I realize that the bulk of the Movement is in agreement with the System in that "Manson is insane". I have heard all that elsewhere before, applied to different personalities. It says nothing about Manson. It tells a lot about those who say it.

Without difficulty, I can well imagine and appreciate how Manson must strike the average mind. Incomprehensible. However, I always felt that the minds in the Movement– or at least some of the better ones– would and should be more perceptive and receptive. I have only been partially right. While 98% of what Manson says flies right over the heads of most, only about 30% leaves me behind in the dust. Tome– a realist and an objectivist– that doesn't mean Manson is screwy. To me it means that here is one source from which I can still draw understanding and knowledge– from which I can still LEARN. For these past five or six years, I have had a sure feeling that whenI could approach Manson's grasp and understanding, I'd have achieved something truly great. I've been gaining at it slowly but steadily and remain more convinced of it than ever before.

Contrast this with the information to be found in the Movement. First, how much of it is direct reprint, often dating back ten years and beyond? What does the most advanced of it consist of? Flowery curses upon the System and admonishments to get away and form our own colonies. What's missing is the state of mind, the weltanschauung, the ideology upon which to live, think, to base and to view and everything. I've come to know enough of it to realize that full comprehension of the rest would amount to the ultimate weapon, offensive anddefensive, in our poor, disinherited hands.

Manson is unique from the rest because he still lives. He is identical with the rest because he too was undone and betrayed by his own disciples. And for any who have the courage to see arid know that, with 1945, the world and everything in it was turned upside-down, it only follows logically that you look for the greatest of leaders, not at the top where they used to be found, but at the STONE BOTTOM the way this crazy, evil mess demands it must be! But bottom or no, not even the walls of San Quentin can confine his world-significant impact. (And I just wish all of you could have caught a glimpse of the half-dozen-strong escort of "Mr.T's” he had from the block to the roomwhere the interview was conducted.)

Everything else had become to me just like a broken record. I was more than just a little amazed and disgusted when some of the "better" people in the Movement would ask me in the beginning, "Is he a member of the party?" or "Does he plan to become a party member?"The problems always arise when small or average minds try to measure something great using their own inadequate standards. Such as if Jesus were to appear on the street and some asshole inquire, "Are you a member of our Church?" And, in any case, he'd be in violation of the hair and dress code, with no visible means of support, etc.

To the Right Wing aficionados, I would remind you that our Enemy, in the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, has long ago promised to invariably attach the status of "common criminal" to their own worst enemies so that their true nature would be effectively concealed from the eyes of the people. Even at that, they have found it altogether impossible to continue seriously pretending that Manson is no more than a common criminal.

I have done what I could to inject– subtlely and overtly– as many of Manson's ideas into Movement thought as possible. I have had limited success. But having accomplished this much, I can only hope that the seeds have been planted and the torch passed...

[Vol. XV, #5– May, 1986]

(This was the last commentary on the above subjects appearing in the original

SIEGE.)

Universal Order

"Do not handicap yourselves with the idea of revenge, because the trend of events will avenge the wrongs that you suffer, not only in the case of the individuals who initiated the persecutions, but also of the society that has permitted this lawlessness."–Vidkun Quisling, 1945


"To get yourself together you need not to even think there is anyone else in this world. I don't need to look down on, or get off on, or get over on. The hardest thing to overcome is our own lies, confusion and our jealousy!"–Charles Manson


"Open up the dope valves and let the people take all the dope they want.

Let 'em dope themselves on out till there's nothing left of it.

Let the people do what they want to do.

Take the rules and regulations off of it and then what you have left is the people that want to live.

The people that want to die, let 'em go. The people that want to destroy themselves, let them go ahead and destroy themselves."–Charles Manson, 1984

Night Of The Buck Knives

If any single historic similarity links Hitler to Manson in the eyes of friends and foe alike, surely it has to be what have become known as the Tate killings of 1969. One cannot bring up the name of Charles Manson for discussion without having these killings brought into the picture by the moralists and curiosity seekers just as one cannot bring up the name of Hitler without some conditioned brainwashees harping away on the "Six Million" I now undertake, to the best of my knowledge, for the first time the task of analyzing these killings strictly from the "pro" viewpoint and hope to come out with arguments superior to those of the "anti" camp. I do this with no firsthand knowledge of the events and certainly without the sanction of either Manson or any of his associates.

One thing I do however bring into the balance with my study of this most fascinating chapter in recent American history is abroad background as a National Socialist and the understanding of the modus operandi of the Jews and their controlled media. I bring with me also a background as a National Socialist revolutionary and all of the anti-Establishment modes of thought and action which that involves. Finally, I am supported by a better-than-average knowledge of and familiarity with some of the principals in the case. What follows then would have to be viewed as the appraisal of the Tate killings by a sympathetic, White revolutionary.

First of all it is necessary to dispel the prevailing mythology surrounding the case in precisely the same way as an entire universe of corresponding legend has to be done away with that was erected around the matter of European Jews during the Second World War. Manson, too, had his equivalents of Speer, Frank, Eichmann, etc., who– seeing that the jig was up– exulted in commanding huge fanfare for themselves yet were artists when it came to shifting the real blame. A very large proportion of the most bizarre, blood-and-gore and, I might add, perverse stories connected with the case were the inventions of Susan Atkins as she struggled to do her best to impress the grand jury after she had been indicted in the course of the investigation of another case. The opportunistic prosecuting attorney, Vincent Bugliosi, merely made capital of it in his subsequent book, Helter Skelter, and a legend was born. It mattered not that Susan Atkins later retracted her statements– enough evidence had been gleaned by the System to go on to crack the case and the media had the suitable grist for its myth mill.

It Couldn't Have Happened To a Sweeter Bunch

Let us now go on to get rid of another clumsy but commonly held misconception, that of the "poor, innocent victims". Those of you with backgrounds similar to mine in the American National Socialist Movement will be among the first to sadly admit that it was indeed a damnable shame that Hitler did not, in fact, kill at least six million Jews during the War. We are the minority who KNOW what the Jews were and are all about and we can shed no tears for any of them. The rest of the gullible public sees things otherwise. So we have before us the image of the beautiful actress, Sharon Tate, eight months pregnant, slaughtered in her home with a number of her equally beautiful friends by a bunch of crazed beasts out for bloodglut per se. Sound familiar in premise? Sort of like all those beautiful, talented and peace-loving Jews that a certain madman, bent on conquering the world, took an irrational dislike to.

How knowledgeable are most of you about the Tate case, even if that means judging it based upon the hostile and distorted versions available in bookstores? An intelligent, informed person can still learn much truth even from the worst liars if he knows what to look for. I found that the house on Cielo Drive in L.A., scene of the killings, had been occupied by one Terry Melcher, half-Jewish son of White renegade actress Doris Day, and that Melcher had made the acquaintance of Manson as a music promoter and had reneged on a series of promises he had made Manson over the previous year or more. In fact, it appears as though Manson and some associates had been at the house as guests on a few occasions. This much then rules out the false notion of "random" killings.

It may have been accident that the house on Cielo Drive had since been taken by Roman Polanski, Jewish film director and erstwhile child molester, at the time of the killings but it is irrelevant when one stops to consider that the strata of human type stayed steady throughout the transition of tenants. Given that then, it is helpful to take a look at what is known of the people who were in that house on the night of the killings. My sources are the very books that were written to, first of all, make money off the sensationalism, and, secondly, to defame Manson and his associates for having been anti-Establishment enough to have dared lay hands on the "Beautiful People". They are the following: Helter Skelter by Bugliosi and Gentry; The Family by Ed Sanders; Will You Die For Me? by Charles Watson; Child of Satan, Child of God by Susan Atkins; and The Manson Women by Clara Livsey.

Hollywood Rogues Gallery

Sharon Tate, whose most famous role was in "Valley of the Dolls" wherein she had typified the supreme harlot role for a nation full of impressionable, young White girls to emulate, had as her first business agent one Hal Gefsky. Her early producer as well as her lover had been one Martin Ransohoff. Still another lover of that period, Jay Sebring, a.k.a. Kummer, was to be among the dead at Cielo Drive a few years hence. Tate had come to meet Roman Polanski when her producer-lover, Ransohoff, had hired Polanski to direct one of his films. Through Polanski came Voityck Frykowski who had known Polanski from the old days in Poland and who was to become yet another Cielo Drive death.

Polanski and Tate began their affair and he wasted no time in exploiting her Aryan looks by getting her into a nude spread in "Playboy" magazine during 1967. They were married in 1968. The Polanskis were such close friends of the likes of Robert Kennedy that they were present the night of his killing. From the beginning it was known and accepted that the Polanskis were regular users of LSD.

A glance at the rest of those present at Cielo Drive that night reveals that Voityck Frykowski had been dealing in a substance known as methlenedioxyl-amphetamine which is used as a stimulant as well as an aphrodisiac. It was revealed that Frykowski was "on" this substance himself at the time of his death. He was also involved in a marijuana smuggling ring which brought that substance into the U.S. from Jamaica via Canada .

Through Frykowski came Abigail Folger, his lover and member-in-good-standing of the filthy rich set as Folger Coffee heiress. The nominally "White" Miss Folger had just campaigned for Negro Tom Bradley for mayor of L.A. and had been a volunteer social worker in Watts.

Jay Sebring was a successful men's hair stylist who took his business name from the famous race track. After his death it was revealed by the L.A.P.D. that Sebring had been heavy into sado-masochism after they had discovered whips, chains, studded cuffs, hoods, and even films of these activities on Sebring's premises.

The teenager, Steven Parent, it would appear, did have the dubious distinction of having been at the wrong place at entirely thewrong time.

Some of those who, as easily as not, might have been there that night at Cielo Drive included Terry Melcher himself, Roger Vadim (one-time husband of Jane Fonda) who had just celebrated a birthday at the house, Jerzy Kosinski (matchmaker for Frykowski and Folger) had actually been supposed to be there, and, finally, Roman Polanski himself who happened to be off tending to another film.

After the killings, the L.A.P.D. found at the house large quantities of cocaine and mescaline as well as videotapes depicting scenes of sadism, masochism and bestiality. The boy, Steven Parent, had not been at the house at all but was about to depart the grounds after visiting at the servant's quarters. This leaves only Tate, Sebring, Frykowski and Folger. Much speculation has been made concerning Sebring's presence there in Polanski's absence. The nature of the relationship between Folger and Frykowski is clear. With regard to the eight-month-old fetus Tate was carrying, it was, after all, a Jew.

Would You If You Could?

As a National Socialist, I am not interested in sensationalism. Instead of gruesome details, I want to know the why and wherefore of things. As with the facts disproving Nazi "gas chambers" plus information on why Jews were concentrated, similar circumstances surrounding the Tate killings are tacitly suppressed. We are satisfied the right people got it in both cases and, if there is fault to be found,it is that the Second World War was lost and that Manson and some of his best people were apprehended and jailed. Call it revolution, Helter Skelter, or whatever you want. It is WAR between Life and Death forces and war means killing.

The key, as Commander Rockwell said, is that it still remains a one-sided war with the only blows landing being those of the Enemy. You read of it each day. WE– the Whites– are fair game whether it be our minds, our souls, our spirits, our culture, our country or our very blood that is being attacked and destroyed. To the media that is only par for the course. But let OUR SIDE make an attack and you know the results! If you could mount a successful attack yourself would you do it? Would you condone it by others? Do you really KNOW who your enemies are? Do you KNOW what is happening and what is at stake? If there is ever to come a genuine Movement then it will only come about through people who have gotten their thinking straight, for, without the right thought, nothing of any value can hope to follow.

The killings of July and August, 1969 were prime examples of DIRECT ACTION and in cases of revolution, or national liberation, direct action alone merits the highest respect. Those out front, putting themselves on the line and taking the action, as Tomniasi wrote, are in fact the real LEADERS and are at the top level of the struggle. All else pales to insignificance as events over the past thirteen years would tend to prove. Everything combined that has been attempted on the part of this Movement since the death of Commander Rockwell in 1967stands at ZERO when compared to the magnitude of and vibrations from that one night in August, 1969, that have continued ever since.

Neither I nor anyone else has the right to question or judge what happened in 1969, least of all from a moralistic standpoint. It is only that we have misread it for so long. The historic march of events never stops at the death of a single individual.

However, poor mortals can and do often get out of step with or fail to recognize that same historic march when it reconstitutes itself into another form. We have been thirteen years in the wilderness.

I do know that with the death of Hitler and the loss of the Second World War the situation was transformed to the point where something very much like "Helter Skelter" most probably already is and shall more and more become the order of the day. I pose the merit of thenotion of a series of similar actions by members of the Movement directly on the heels of the arrest of Joseph Paul Franklin in order to have taken some heat away from Franklin and to, as Tommasi would say, "heighten the contradictions".

Nearer The Truth...

...or "How I Broke the Right Wing Habit And Started Living Life". The fact remains that the Truth is One and the conflict only enters because, due to racial differences in the world, the Truth smiles more on some than on others. The Right Wing is a history of deviations,off-channels and side-rails from the mainline of Truth, concocted mainly by those who didn't have it in them to stand in the harsh, naked glare of unadorned Truth. National Socialism has been the closest thing yet to approach successfully the task of putting the Truth to work in reality. But this was done very far away and nearly forty years ago.

The practice of mixing Truth with lies in an effort to formulate something that the sick masses might accept without much struggle has resulted in the Right having built for itself an insurmountable obstacle of self-imposed hang-ups and restrictions. 99% of everything in the Right goes toward maintaining the facade of this or that particular illusion, whether it be turning the clock back to 1876, 1933, or whatever.

The National Socialist Liberation Front, from the time I had reactivated it in 1980, and up to the present, has slowly and steadily been gaining acceptance among the members of the Movement having long ago grown sorely disappointed with the totally out-of-touch, cultist, hobbyist, fetishist Nazi organizations that had held the stage heretofore. In NSLF they at least found reality and honesty. But after two years of following this course, it had already become clear to me that the key element was still lacking and we were still a long way from starting the kind of Movement that will catch on, take hold and spread in the manner of all historically significant and successful Movements.

About one month after I had put out the first issue of the new SIEGE in the summer of 1980, I made my first contact with the Charles Manson people. In the two years that followed, that relationship grew to where now it has become too large to remain confined and camouflaged inside the idea of a fallen Comrade, Joseph Tommasi, whose work I had earlier set myself to keeping alive, as it was the best thing I had run across up to that time. No recorded comment of Tommasi's on Manson is known to exist even though Tommasi was in high-gear operation in the L.A. area at the time of the Tate killings. He, precisely as I at the time, probably missed the greater point to the thing entirely. I would venture to guess however that he would not take kindly to anyone trying to mix "apples and oranges" with regards to the NSLF and Manson. And, as far as Manson is concerned, I was advised over a year ago to forget what I was doing in NSLF and start over fresh. As I feel I must pursue this course unencumbered by considerations of the past, the decision was made to leave NSLF and start UNIVERSAL ORDER, a name suggested to me by the highest authority. (Manson himself.)

That is what I have now done.

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.