Vincent Bugliosi did a helluva’ job putting this shitbag and his followers away. Too bad he wasn’t around to nail OJ, the Juice could’ve been neighbors with Charlie.
However, the infatuation Americans have had with the man is bewildering to me. He wasn’t very impressive physically (some stuntmen beat him up a year before the murders), he was quite short and rather ugly. I once watched a TV interview of him in the Eighties and he didn’t make any sense, he tended ramble. There must’ve been something happening as he had a couple dozen followers hanging on his every word with several sick enough to murder those unfortunate people.
I do agree with California’s decision to abolish its death penalty which pissed off millions at the time. When it comes to people like Manson, Hitler, Kaczynski and their ilk, it’s best to leave them in a cage until they die. Over time it removes their mystique and shows the world how small they really are. Executing them has the negative effect of giving them martyrdom and mythology, see Timothy McVeigh; and if Hitler were captured, I’m confident the Allies would’ve agreed to this despite Stalin’s reservations. Yet I readily admit Manson does seem to negate my point. Until his death a few years ago, he remained a celebrity and a punchline to the end. Sure, the band Marilyn Manson and KNNC using his baby picture were being ironic but ignoring him would’ve been better so he would’ve died as a story on page six instead of a headline.