Take the Back Alley to Langley - Part One

Reeve Whitson - Freshman Year of High School 

Did photographer Shahrokh Hatami doom Sharon Tate and her friends one March morning in 1969 after a confrontation with Charles Manson at the Cielo front door? Were Rudi Altobelli's tenants cursed that evening when the Rudi told Charlie he'd be in Italy for a year after Charlie stood in front of the guesthouse and said he'd like to talk more in the future? 

Was Manson even there that day? Hatami wasn't sure. Mighty Max Frost, I am reaching out with my mind. Beep boop tell me what Rudi said. 

Today, we're exploring Tom O'Neill's claim that a possible CIA agent named Reeve Whitson has been left out of the Manson study history. According to O'Neill, after hearing Hatami's story, Whitson delivered his friend Hatomi (and his Ides of March tale) to Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, and then sat in on the unrecorded interview.  

-  Here is Hatami's backstory in case you think he's some hanger-on with a fancy camera who took a two year degree at Santa Monica College after UCLA laughed at his high school GPA and asked him to jump through hoops before achieving main campus status. Hatami was no state school guy. 

 - Here is Bugliosi's closing argument in the Manson, et al, trial. Photographer Hatami is mentioned fourteen times. 

During the trial, Bugliosi argued that Hatami's high-handed dismissal at the Cielo  to the guesthouse sent Charlie over the edge. Bugs asked about Hatami's aggressive posture, tone, and had him describe how he jabbed an index finger toward the guesthouse when dismissing Manson. 

- Here's a newspaper article from a courtroom reporter (via the almighty) if you are new to our study or desire a quick refresh on Hatami's testimony.  

Others weren't so sure about the encounters. Filmmaker and author Robert Hendrickson smelled a rat and believed Bugliosi needed those March 1969 confrontations to convince the jury Charlie visited Cielo before the murders took place and had an axe to grind after the Hatami and Altobelli brush offs. Hendrickson was so passionate about about Bugliosi's duplicity that he continued his argument across two Hatami posts in our blog library. 

- This video in Matt's post from 2014 shows Sharon and Hatami in better days. Hatami is the shirtless hunk. Sharon is as pretty as pretty gets. Hatami's girlfriend is hanging around because she's no fool. 

That fateful day in March, Hatami takes the chivalry route when an uninvited man reaches the Cielo front door. Not shocking. Manly man exhibitions in front of attractive women have always been a thing, even if sometimes it's only pretend. 

According to author Tom O'Neill, Hatami first shared his Charlie encounter story with possible CIA agent Reeve Whitson. The son of an actress and a circus acrobat, Whitson enters our story when Tom O'Neill has Whitson phone Hatami early that Saturday morning we all know so well before anyone else discovered the bodies up on Cielo. 

In O'Neill's Chaos, Whitson claims to friends he was the CIA surveillance team watching the Cielo house. He was supposedly on the scene early that fateful Friday but didn't stick around. According to his friends, Whitson forever lamented his inability to prevent the killings.  

We need to back up a bit because things are already not making sense. How does Reeve Whitson, a rumored CIA super spook, find his way to the Cielo crowd? 

Bugliosi never mentions Whitson in his book, but Chaos provides insight. According to O'Neill, Whitson might've bonded with Sebring over race cars. And Whitson's mom was good buds with Doris Tate. Third, O'Neill writes, Paul Tate told him Whitson was a friend to himself, Sharon, and Roman.   

So there's three hows. Whitson maybe became a family friend after meeting Sebring at the track. Unfortunately, answering my first question created a second. Why was Whitson surveilling his good friends? 

Reeve Whitson was an archconservative on an anti-drug mission. By some accounts, an ounce of blow was found in Jay Sebring's Porsche the morning following the murders. That's more than a personal stash, Idgaf who you are. An ounce was enough to get half the houses on the block trembling while searching for the man through their bedroom blinds the night of August 8th. Was Sebring doing deals out of the Cielo parking lot? 

English Major Math time: 

* In 1969, one gram of cocaine cost $100-$150 dollars in Los Angeles

* We know Jay sold little baggies out of his briefcase

* Sebring would be a fool to give rich people his lowest price - let's err on the bigger side this time 

* Twenty-eight grams come out of an ounce - more if Sebring stepped on his dope 

* $150 x 28 = $4200

* $4200 in 1969 money is more than $32000 today 

** Let's pause for reader corrections on the amount of cocaine found in Sebring's car, and also to give others a chance to describe how much blow they snorted some random Friday night in the 80's at a Huey Lewis concert. 

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Discussion Materials: 

In addition to what is linked above, we're using newspapers articles, Helter Skelter, and Tom O'Neill's Chaos. Feel free to add links to any supporting or counterarguments in the comments below the posts. 

Most of O'Neill's research we're discussing in this piece is found in Chapter Six of Chaos, titled Who Was Reeve Whitson? I'm using the Kindle version. You should explore digital searching if you don't already. Yes, chopped down trees feel great in my hands, but they are garbage when I wonder how many times Whitson is printed in the text (150). 

Or Hatami (43). Btw, O'Neill doesn't care which version you buy. Both cost about the same. 

Continues in Part 2...

Shahrokh Hatami - Sharon Tate's Personal Photographer

Shahrokh Hatami has covered a broad range of high profile subjects as a photographer for nearly half a century, from celebrities, film and fashion to politics, war, and social change.

Hatami – known primarily by this single professional byline – started as a writer for a major newspaper in Tehran, switching to photography in 1950. He then worked briefly as the Tehran correspondent for the Black Star Agency. Life magazine published his coverage of the overthrow of democratically elected PM Mohammed Mossadegh and the restoration to power of the Shah in 1953. Twenty-five years later, Hatami shot dramatic images of street fighting during the Iranian Revolution of 1978-79, which overthrew the Shah. His daring coverage of this popular revolution has been acquired by the Library of Congress, an honored privilege for any photographer.

Hatami counted among his friends President’s Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat, Jordan’s King Hussein, and Saudi King Faicsal, along with various other Syrian and Lebanese political figures.

Beginning in the late 1950s, Hatami was a freelancer in Europe and the Middle East, with many of his pictures appearing in Paris-Match and other leading magazines. Eventually he won the confidence of the notoriously inaccessible Grande Dame of couture, Coco Chanel, and as a close personal friend, produced many unique behind-the-scenes images. Hatami also captured classic fashion magazine covers and celebrity portraits, including intimate shots of Elizabeth Taylor, Ursula Andress, Julie Christie, Sophia Loren, Ingrid Bergman, Marlon Brando, Steve McQueen, and innumerable other American and European personalities.

Hatami eventually branched out into motion pictures, working as a special magazine photographer on the sets of Woody Allen’s What’s New Pussycat?, Jean Luc Godard’s Le Mepris, Francois Truffaut’s Fahrenheit 451, Casino Royal, Doctor Zhivago, Rosemary’s Baby and 1965′s A Countess from Hong Kong – starring Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando, and directed by Charlie Chaplin in what became his final feature film direction.

It was on the set of Rosemary’s Baby that Hatami became close with Mia Farrow. Hatami directed and produced a documentary called Mia and Roman, which can be viewed as an added feature on the DVD version of the now-classic horror film, Rosemary’s Baby. Hatami also knew Sharon Tate intimately and affectionately prior to her becoming Mrs. Polanski. Hatami’s odyssey concerning Sharon Tate’s murder is well documented online.

Fueled by sheer will and perseverance, not to mention a very seductive charm, Hatami was able to capture previously impenetrable worlds with his lens. This carried over into the world stage. His presence during the Israel/Egypt peace talks in 1977-1978, his shots of Egyptian President Anwar Al Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, his legendary plane trip with the Ayatollah Khomeini upon his return to Iran in February 1979. Hatami’s colorful life has taken him across Africa and the Middle East, to penthouses and parties in Paris, London, New York and Hollywood. This is testament to an artist whose photo archive covers the last half of the 20th century and is now focusing in earnest on the new millennium.

Besides working in the political, film and fashion arenas, Hatami is highly regarded for his early and extremely rare color photos of the Beatles at the legendary Cavern Club in 1963. Sent to Liverpool by Paris Match magazine to cover the Beatlemania phenomenon, he managed to gain access backstage and captured these amazing images of the Fab Four, with three of the most significant guitars in rock history: John and his six-string Rickenbacker that he painted black, Paul with his legendary Hofner bass, and George with his Gretsch Country Gentleman.