Impressionable young people, many from good families who he manipulates with mindcontrol techniques, turning his group of peaceful hippies into a devoted death squad. Police have yet to make the connection between the carnage at two of mansons bloody crime scenes, and charlie is way ahead of them. He wants more death, and he wants it the very next night. How will investigators ultimately piece it all together . Heres part two of the devils work. [ ominous Chord Strikes ] i spent the best part of my life in boys schools, prisons, and reform schools. Roberts you cant understand Charlie Manson without understanding his criminal past and his time in jail. Rick in order for him to survive, he developed skills to manipulate people. Prison is where manson perfected the art of the con. Hes inspired by a very unlikely source. His personal guru is none other than dale carnegie. Dr. Jordan how to win friends and influence people. And then he used those techniques, that ability to manipulate, and
helter skelter was his philosophy. and when those two words were found printed in blood at the murder scene, that s tantamount to manson s fingerprints being found at the murder scene. rick: and the theory that bugliosi brilliantly used was that manson so totally controlled his followers that they were little more than his weapon of choice and that he would kill people, using them as the device of destruction. we had to show that he had control over the killers, so that if he gave them the order to kill, that they would do that. and it was just clear to everyone in the courtroom that manson still controlled all the female defendants. the manson family was camped out on the sidewalk. they lived outside the courthouse.
and leslie van houten as key participants in the tate and labianca murders, all under manson s direction. what susan atkins said was so important, that the prosecution at the time made a deal with her to testify. reporter: the leader of the hippie clan, charles manson, is being returned to los angeles today from the desert town where he s been in jail on other charges. when the trial begins, the state will attempt to prove that he gave the orders to his followers to kill. that sent a tremor through this country at the time. my god, how is this possible? has the hippie movement gone that awry that it s starting to murder people? sidner: the los angeles district attorney appoints vincent bugliosi lead prosecutor on the case against manson. the prosecutor considers these murders to be perhaps the most heinous in modern history.
the savagery of them, the mind control. sidner: charles manson and some of his closest followers face seven counts of murder, and one count conspiracy to commit murder. guinn: we now look back at it and think it was a foregone conclusion that they were gonna be convicted. they re guilty as hell. and yet it never was that certain. dr. jordan: you re trying a man for multiple counts of murder, and he wasn t there and he didn t even pick up any of the murder weapons. guinn: vincent bugliosi he could always be certain that he would eventually convict tex watson, and patricia krenwinkel, susan atkins, leslie van houten. there was evidence linking them to the crimes that any jury would see. but charles manson, that was the hard one. his defense was, i had nothing to do with it, they were doing what they wanted to. how can you blame me?
i d like to see them fall on their knees and beg for forgiveness. they don t want to realize what they ve done. reporter: all the elements are present for one of the most sensational murder trials in american history seven people brutally murdered in a glare of hollywood publicity. sidner: in july of 1970, the joint murder trial of charles manson and his followers susan atkins, leslie van houten, and patricia krenwinkel begins in los angeles, for the tate and labianca murders. reporter: young girls supposedly under the spell of a bearded svengali who allegedly masterminded the seven murders. one of the girls was only 16 years old. dr. jordan: the question as to whether the followers of manson were victims or villains the dynamic is that they are both. their victimization, at the hands of charles manson, the brainwashing, turned them into villains. bugliosi: manson was the only one that had a motive for these murders, and that motive was helter skelter.