WEBVTT - S1 E4: Nice Girls 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:05.080 Rip Current is a production of iHeart Podcasts. The views 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:08.600 and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the host, 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:10.200 producers or parent company. 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:12.240 Listener discretion Is It Fine? 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:21.000 Just days after Lynette From's failed attempt to assassinate President 0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:26.599 Gerald Ford in Sacramento, California, Barbara From, a reporter from 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:31.560 the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, conducts a phone interview with Lynette's 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:35.840 roommate Sandra Good. The interview is contentious from the start. 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:37.159 Ms. 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:40.280 Good, Have you had any contact with Lynette From since 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:40.839 her arrest? 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:42.320 No? 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:45.239 Have you been able to see her? 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:45.720 No? 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:48.760 Have you been able to communicate with her? 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:49.519 No. 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:54.840 From tries to ask Sandra about Lynette and her arrest. 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:59.400 Sandra ignores the questions, instead pushing the interview towards the 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:03.040 subject she wants to talk about, the plate of the environment. 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:08.399 We have been looking at the state of this country 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:11.720 and of the world, and it's a myths. It's a 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:16.560 big myths, and it needs cleaning up. People are going 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:21.400 to survive. Change is necessary. There are many, many people, 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:26.160 thousands of people, children included, who are tired of the 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:32.199 destruction of the environment, the wildlife, the rivers, the oceans, 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:36.280 miss good cutting down of trees and could we. 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:37.880 Talk about that in a minute. 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:42.400 From tries to keep Sandra focused on Lynnette's assassination attempt, 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:45.840 but Sandra keeps bringing it back to the degradation of 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:49.080 the environment and the violent action. She says it will 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:51.840 provoke many people. 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:54.880 All over the world are doing to be assassinated. This 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:58.360 is just the beginning. This is just the beginning of many, 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:00.680 many assassinations that are about to take place. 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:04.960 Ms. Good, How come you're talking about trees that you 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:07.200 care about and yet you don't mind killing men. 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:13.520 Men that kill life, that kill harp fields, that kill trees, 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:18.480 that poison oceans and rivers and air are killing all 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:21.160 of us because we need these things to live. 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:25.160 Do you think that what Lynette from did is going 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:27.079 to somehow dramatize your case? 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:27.520 Woman? 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:28.960 I mean, do you think it was worthwhile? 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:32.720 Mature world? Woman? Start looking at the world you're leaving 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:37.240 for your kids and quit putting sensational news stories and 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:42.200 what you look like and your social position over life. 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:46.560 The interview continues to falter. From tries to get things 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:50.840 back on track. She asks Sandra about Charles Manson, who 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:53.040 is in prison for what will be the rest of 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:53.560 his life. 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:56.880 You have been quoted as saying that his job is 0:02:56.919 --> 0:02:58.280 to straighten out the world. 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:03.160 His job. It's yours job, woman, it's your job. He's 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:06.560 been left out of this world's madness. You better pray 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:10.600 he'll help you fix yourselves up. You better pray. I 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:13.640 don't think he wants to. It's your job, woman, to 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:19.079 start making gardens rather than pushing your husbands to destroy things. 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:23.040 I'm talking to the executives, the killers of wildlife and 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:26.200 of the earth. You stop. There's a wave of assassins 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:30.640 called the International People's Court of Retribution, and they're watching you, 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:31.760 Miss Good. 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:35.600 Was the attack on President Ford justified, then. 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:42.120 Yes, any attack on any lie is justified. Any attack 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:45.920 on anyone who puts money and lies over people's lives 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:48.320 is justified. 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:51.320 Are you disappointed that President Ford wasn't killed. 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:58.600 Nope, I'm not disappointed. There'll be many, many, many killings. 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:03.600 It continues like this for a couple of minutes, and 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:05.000 then when I. 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:07.760 Talk about killing, I'm saying there'll be a wave of 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:15.080 assassins killing those who are killing the environment, eight wildlife. 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:17.960 Trees, killing mis good. 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:19.680 To the children and the people. 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:29.520 Miss Good for them, don't interrupt me, miss Good. I'm 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:34.880 Toby Ball and I'm Mary Catherine Garrison, and this is 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:35.560 rip current. 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:43.400 I find it absolutely incredible and inexcusable that someone of Lymb's, 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:47.880 Squeaky From's past history, and her reputation would be permitted 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:49.880 to get within two feet of President. 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:55.359 Four, episode four Nice Girls. 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:03.400 Lynette From had fallen out of the public eye after 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:07.960 Charles Manson's imprisonment in nineteen seventy, but people would have 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:12.080 read the headlines on September sixth, nineteen seventy five and 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:17.160 remembered her, probably as Squeaky From, perhaps the most outspoken 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:21.400 member of the Manson family. As we have mentioned, her 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:25.680 notoriety did not lead to a comfortable lifestyle. She lived 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:29.080 on the margins of society, and her life continued to 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:33.400 revolve around Charles Manson. In the months leading up to 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:38.279 September nineteen seventy five, Lynette, Sandra, and a third Manson 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:43.000 night named Kathleen Murphy lived in Sacramento at seventeen twenty 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:47.400 five Peace Street, a house that had been subdivided into apartments. 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:52.000 They were poor Lynette received food stamps much of her 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:56.720 time in Sacramento. Journalist Dan Walters. 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:00.200 It was well known that this group of Manson and 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:03.640 acolytes was in Sacramento because he was in fulsome prison 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:06.080 at the time, which was just a few miles from Sacramento. 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:08.680 So they were here is his support group, I guess 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:10.599 should say, so it was well known if they were here. 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:17.359 Their arrival in town prompted Sacramento TV station KCRA to 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:20.240 send a reporter named Mary Murphy to visit them at 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:24.440 their apartment, and in the aftermath of the assassination attempt, 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:30.200 she described her experience on air. KCRA does not allow 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:33.159 the use of footage of their reporters, so we have 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:37.560 recreated some of her report using an actor. The report 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:39.560 has been slightly edited for length. 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:42.560 We have an opportunity to meet Lynnette from and her 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:46.880 roommate Sandra Good and their apartment in downtown Sacramento. They 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:49.599 said they had moved here to be closer to Charles Manson, 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:53.200 who was then at FOLSOM, even though they couldn't communicate 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:56.360 with him. Somehow there was some kind of a mystical 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:59.560 connection there if they could be closer to him just 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:02.520 in this that it would be better for Charlie, and 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:04.640 they wanted to be closer to the center of political 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:08.200 power in California. They said they wanted to meet Governor 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:11.560 Brown and Attorney General Evelyn Younger, and they had ideas 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:12.520 on how the state. 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:13.000 Should be run. 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:18.480 Their apartment at seventeen twenty five p Street was modest. 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:21.120 I think they said they paid about eighty five dollars 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:24.120 a month in rent. It was furnished mostly with books, 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:27.920 very plain furnishings. They did have a television set and 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:31.440 they did have a stereo, which interested me. They also 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:35.080 had a picture of Charles Manson hung almost like an image, 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:38.120 like an idol, a religious thing, hung over their window. 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:43.200 They later took down Manson's picture at their landlord's request. 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:46.360 They had a lot of grains and herbs and teas around. 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:49.960 They were very interested in natural foods and in cultivating them. 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:53.200 They gathered a lot of things themselves, but actually it 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:56.240 was a very plain space. I kept trying to get 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:58.920 back to this idea of where did your money come from? 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:01.920 And they kept saying that were outside of the money system, 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:04.960 and I kept saying, well, who pays your rent? And 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:08.680 the arguments would go round and round, and finally they 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:11.160 started in telling me about how they would gather things 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:13.920 out of garbage cans, and how they would always find 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:16.840 things on the street when they needed them. Food was 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:20.800 somehow provided. Things were provided. They didn't really have to 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:24.600 go looking for things because Providence was taking care of them. 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:30.120 Providence's care apparently included encouraging them to panhandle in a 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:33.079 nearby park, which they did until a group of men 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:36.200 assaulted them and threatened further harm if they continued to 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:40.760 work there. The Sacramento Bee ran an article the day 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:45.680 following the assassination attempt about Lynette, Sandra, and Heather titled 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:51.480 nice Girls neighbors tell impressions of Manson followers. The title 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:54.480 is a little strange because the reaction in this article 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:59.640 is decidedly mixed. A young woman named Chris Doherty said 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:02.800 that she'd heard Lynette say that she had planned something 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:05.320 bigger than the tape killing that would happen in the 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:09.199 next couple of weeks. Because of this, Doherty had obtained 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:13.400 a gun for self protection. She described Lynette as nice, 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:17.720 but strange, always touching parts of your body with her hands. 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:23.000 Another neighbor named Mona Lynch was aware of their past 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:26.640 association with Manson, but thought they'd turned their lives around. 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:31.800 They sunbathed in bikinis and occasionally brought her vegetables. She 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:34.720 did not seem aware that Manson remained the key figure 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:39.960 in the women's lives. A television reporter interviewed Jesse Faine, 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:43.120 Lynette's landlord, why not what kind. 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:48.160 Of a girl was she? She was a gentle, quiet, 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:52.720 I felt, peace loving girl. 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:57.120 He recalled a meeting with other tenants where they discussed 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:00.280 whether they were comfortable having the Manson followers live in 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:01.839 the house well. 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:04.960 The meeting was a round the table discussion type of 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:09.080 meeting that was held here in our apartment. It was 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:13.199 attended by all the attendants that were home at the time. 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:19.160 The general outcome was that most of them felt that 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:22.880 since the girls had never bothered them, or had never 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:26.320 bothered us, had never given us a bad time in 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:32.360 any way, even though we knew that some of their 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:36.200 ideas were a little far up, that we would let 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:38.400 them stay. 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:44.760 Others, though, experienced less friendly interactions with the women. Charlene Jacobs, 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:48.360 was the supervisor of a community garden that Lynette and 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:52.800 Sandra belonged to, claimed that they stole vegetables from other gardeners. 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:57.360 Quote they'd send five or six or seven people over 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:01.600 the fence and just harvest the whole place. She said 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:04.280 that Lynette was friendly and worked hard on the plot 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:07.439 in the garden, but that she had angry exchanges with 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:11.840 Sandra about the stolen produce. Despite Lynette being the one 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:15.400 to ultimately take action against Ford, it was Sandra who 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:21.040 seemed most confrontational in her words and attitude. Ksecra's Mary 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:25.240 Murphy described being surprised by how politically oriented the women were. 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:29.199 She said that she saw underground literature in the apartment 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:33.560 critiquing the government and the course of the country. Again, 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:36.520 this segment is recreated by an actor. 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:39.760 A lot of conspiracy theories, and they would bring out 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:42.840 pamphlets from time to time to show me but no weapons. 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:45.760 Their main idea in life is to get Charles Manson 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:48.920 out of jail. Their whole life revolved around Charlie, and 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:51.280 she actually thinks that Charlie could be president of this 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:54.480 country and run it better than the present political leaders. 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:59.600 In fact, they were actively trying to spread messages through 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:03.600 the press. First, they were trying to get newspapers to 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:07.000 run articles on how important Manson was to the future 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:11.040 of the country. They also brought press releases to reporters 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:13.120 about the need to protect the environment. 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:15.040 Oh sure. 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:21.000 She and Sandra Good, her fellow Manson family pal would 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:25.600 come up to the barrel occasionally with news releases about 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:28.440 the end of the world, the environment, that sort of thing. 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:31.480 And so it was a small office and we all 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:35.640 know them. I'm Bill Mucy. I'm a former journalist and 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:41.400 I was with the United Press International in Sacramento when 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:44.720 Gerald Ford came to visit and had a big surprise. 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:47.840 You know, I was in my twenties. They're very attractive 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:54.720 and very self possessed and clearly didn't really care if 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:56.800 a lot of people didn't like them. I mean, they 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:59.280 just had their agenda and they were going to follow 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:02.360 through on it. And they had the swastikas in the 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:05.640 middle of the forehead, which was kind of disconcerting. But 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:09.600 they were always polite, nice and dropped in to say hi. 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:12.400 I think they had kind of a crush on one 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:15.480 of the guys in the office. They immediately went straight 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:17.040 to his desk every time. 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:23.320 Associated Press reporter Rodney Angove related a story that on 0:13:23.440 --> 0:13:27.320 July third, nineteen seventy five, Lynette had shown up at 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:30.080 his office with a homemade cake for him. And a 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:33.880 handwritten note that she wanted published. It was another pro 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:38.880 Manson screed, calling for his release from prison. If Manson 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:42.920 continued to be held, The note threatened, quote what happened 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:47.040 at the Sharon Tate Residents will happen all over again everywhere. 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:51.800 She left his office, but called his desk later that day. 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:54.800 She asked if he was going to print the letter. 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:59.880 He said he wasn't sure. To this, she said, quote. 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:03.080 Life that's on the line. This is very important. I 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:05.800 don't have to explain it. All our lives are on 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:07.000 the line. 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:09.880 And Angov was not the only reporter to be threatened 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:13.439 over their coverage or lack of it. This is Bill 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:16.840 Busey talking about an incident that happened a couple of 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:21.320 years after the assassination attempt, when Sandra Good was arrested 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:24.560 for mailing one hundred and seventy one threatening letters to 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:30.359 corporate executives. We'll hear about this endeavor later in the episode. 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:34.840 When Sandra got arrested and put on trial. I was 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:40.760 working at The B, the newspaper Sacramento B and she 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:43.520 sent me a letter saying she didn't like what I'd 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:46.880 written in that story that I wrote when I was 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:51.840 at UPI the jail interview and the Manson family was 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:56.520 going to crucify me on a telephone pole. I thought 0:14:56.520 --> 0:14:59.960 it was somewhat amusing since all the people who are 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:04.600 really violent or demonstrably violent in the Manson family were 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:07.760 already in prison doing life, you know, so I didn't 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:11.240 worry too much about it. I wasn't able to keep 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:15.160 the letter though the editor at the B and I 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:18.400 turned it over to some kind of law enforcement agency. 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:21.920 Really would have liked to have kept that, But it's still, 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:25.600 you know, a good anecdote saying, well, the Manson family 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:30.280 threatened it crucify me on a telephone poll. Now top that. 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:36.480 As for Lynette's cake and go found it good and 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:40.120 not too sweet. And about those one hundred and seventy 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:43.720 one threatening letters, they were part of a strange effort 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:47.600 of threats and intimidation carried out by Lynette and Sandra 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:52.080 in the weeks before September fifth, an effort that Lynette 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:54.760 would later tie to her assassination attempt. 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:08.560 In nineteen seventy five, Lynette from and Sandra Good, the 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:12.160 most famous followers of Charles Manson living outside of prison walls, 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:15.840 had settled in an apartment in a subdivided house in Sacramento. 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:19.920 While there they seemed to develop an interest in saving 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:23.760 the environment, an interest that they addressed with characteristic menace. 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:27.840 Lynette, I think, like a lot of people in the counterculture, 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:32.960 was skeptical and cynical of industrial society, and this was 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:37.480 a period where obviously the environmental movement was really breaking forward, 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:41.680 and those ideas and issues fit in well with her 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:45.240 own kind of attitudes, and so she, I would say, 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:50.160 adopted them and superimposed them on the Manson cosmology. She 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:53.520 would talk about you know, air and trees, you know animals, 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:57.440 I mean, these things mattered to her, and she seemed 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:02.760 to conflate environmentalism and respect for the earth with Manson's message. 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:07.000 Not something that Manson really directly spoke about, ever, but 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:10.880 he spoke in such elliptical ways that one could read 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:13.680 a lot into whatever he had to say. In fact, 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:16.560 more broadly, I would say this was part of the 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:19.320 Manson charisma. He spoke in a way that people could 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:21.680 fill in the blanks on their own, and certainly I 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:26.480 think Lynette did throughout her association with him, that her 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:31.080 idea of Manson reflected her own wishes or preconceptions or 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:34.000 ideas more than what he seemed to be. 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:39.320 About a month before Lynette failed to kill Gerald Ford, 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:43.160 she and Sandra Good made a trip from Sacramento to Berkeley. 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:47.159 Dressed in red capes, they visited the offices of the 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:51.119 executives of several industrial plants. They claimed to represent an 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:56.680 organization called the International People's Court of Retribution, the one that, 0:17:56.720 --> 0:18:00.040 in her contentious interview with the CBC, Sandra said, I 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:04.119 would send a wave of assassins their message. If the 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:08.600 executives didn't reduce smoggy missions, then some serious problems would arise. 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:13.280 Lynett's arrest on September fifth exposed a broader effort to 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:17.240 threaten executives who they felt were damaging the environment, an 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:22.240 operation that apparently sent hundreds of threatening letters. Sandra would 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:24.679 later be convicted of sending one hundred and seventy one 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:28.480 of the letters. This is from an interview with La Moran, 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:31.840 who had been the California State Forester from nineteen seventy 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:35.760 one to nineteen seventy four. He'd receive threats from the 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:37.640 International People's Court of Retribution. 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:42.480 Did it make you a little fearful, little shaky. 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:44.040 Well, yes, a little bit, but not to the point 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:47.240 where I won't go on doing my job or take 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:51.479 any necessary precautions. I would rely on any authorities here 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:53.480 in Sacramento to tell me what I might do, But 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:56.240 I don't feel that shaky about it. 0:18:57.119 --> 0:19:00.640 Any idea why your name was on that list, I. 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:02.880 Didn't have any idea to start with, but I think 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:08.000 I have gathered a few clues since that Sandra said 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:11.840 something about trees being cut in California. I was state 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:17.399 Forester from nineteen seventy one through nineteen seventy four, and 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:21.880 we have an authority to regulate timber harvesting in California 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:23.359 on private lands. 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:30.119 The International People's Court of Retribution never actually existed, neither 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:32.199 did the thousands of assassins who were going to make 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:35.800 Tate la Bianca look like child's play. But that does 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:39.360 not mean that Lynette and Sandra were harmless. Their neighbors 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:43.000 and people they interacted with found them strange and occasionally belligerent. 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:47.040 Their continued support of Manson showed a level of comfort 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:52.240 with deadly violence. It poses the question, how was a 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:55.720 person with Lynette's notoriety able to not only get close 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:58.800 to the president, but get close to him while armed. 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:02.760 The thing do you understand is in nineteen seventy five, 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:06.800 presidential security was far different than it is today. On 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:09.399 the internet, you can find film footage of Ford walking 0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:12.360 through the park that day, and the security around him 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:15.359 is almost quaint. There just doesn't seem to be that 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:19.879 much of it. Why, knowing that Ford was coming to Sacramento, 0:20:19.960 --> 0:20:24.840 weren't Lynette and Sandra put under surveillance. Ford's press secretary, 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:28.800 a former NBC News correspondent named Ron Nesson, told the 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:31.560 press that the Secret Service had no reason to suspect 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:34.880 that Lynette or Sandra had any designs on harming the president. 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:40.560 This response drew astonished reactions from many people, including one 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:45.919 Vincent Bugliosi. Bugliosi, as we heard last episode, had prosecuted 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:48.720 Manson and his followers who committed the nineteen sixty nine 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:52.560 Tate la Bianca murders. His book on Manson and the murders, 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:56.080 Helter Skelter, had been published the previous year, in nineteen 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:59.679 seventy four. He thought that Lynette and Sandra should have 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:03.520 generally been under surveillance, but he was particularly outraged that 0:21:03.560 --> 0:21:06.040 they weren't watching the two women during the time that 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:09.360 Ford was in Sacramento. This is from a press conference 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:11.480 he gave following Lynnet's attempt. 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:14.680 During the trial, she and Manson and several other members 0:21:14.680 --> 0:21:17.879 of the family expressed open hostility, as you probably well know, 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:21.720 towards President Nixon and President Ford. Being the appointee of 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:24.800 President Nixon, it's understandable to me that in their minds 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:27.879 he should also be the object of their hatred. I 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:32.600 find it absolutely incredible and inexcusable that someone of Lynn 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:37.200 Squeaky From's past history and her reputation would be permitted 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:40.600 to get within two feet of President Ford. Law enforcement 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:43.640 does not deserve any credit for the fact that President 0:21:43.680 --> 0:21:44.720 Ford is still alive. 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:49.879 These and other criticisms provoked a defensive response from Secret 0:21:49.880 --> 0:21:52.719 Service Special Agent in Charge Douglas Duncan. 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:55.240 I wasn't personally. 0:21:54.880 --> 0:21:56.080 Aware, although. 0:21:57.200 --> 0:22:01.480 Our officers from time to time knowing that these people 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:06.920 have been in Sacramento purely as an intelligence relation between 0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:11.600 other agencies, and that they have created some disturbance because 0:22:11.640 --> 0:22:16.119 of their relationship with this prisoner, Charles Manson, they have 0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:19.280 never expressed any interest in the president or anything of 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:24.080 the federal nature. Were you are, we can't sure they'll 0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:27.879 or make that type of an investigation on every person 0:22:27.920 --> 0:22:29.760 that is a little bit out of the ordinary, as 0:22:29.760 --> 0:22:31.960 far as any cause that they might espouse. 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:36.600 Journalist Dan Walters. 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:41.000 There's something about the state that tolerates, if not encourages, 0:22:41.240 --> 0:22:44.880 not want to say devian exactly, but behavior that would 0:22:44.880 --> 0:22:47.959 be considered outrageous in other places is tolerated here. So 0:22:48.000 --> 0:22:52.199 the idea of having a Banson groupie lunch and Sacramento 0:22:52.320 --> 0:22:56.480 is like, eh, just you know, it's California, what do 0:22:56.600 --> 0:22:59.160 you say. It was not considered to be a very 0:22:59.160 --> 0:23:02.600 big deal with those that those girls were there. It 0:23:02.720 --> 0:23:04.760 was kind of like, well, you know, Charlie's in prison, 0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:07.679 so okay. Someplace else that would have been like a 0:23:07.680 --> 0:23:10.480 big deal, but not in California because we had lots 0:23:10.520 --> 0:23:15.480 of little cults and communities and weirdnesses are out and 0:23:15.520 --> 0:23:16.959 Sacramento is not immune to that. 0:23:18.359 --> 0:23:21.120 A second question, and the immediate aftermath of the attempt, 0:23:21.160 --> 0:23:25.320 was this, where did Lynette get the gun? In short order, 0:23:25.359 --> 0:23:27.399 it was discovered that the gun had come from a 0:23:27.440 --> 0:23:31.480 sixty six year old retired government draftsman named Manny Burrow. 0:23:31.920 --> 0:23:34.400 This is Dwayne Keyes, the lead prosecutor in the case. 0:23:34.400 --> 0:23:36.080 Against Lynette for her failed attempt. 0:23:37.280 --> 0:23:40.680 Well, mister Boris is the gentleman from whom the defendant 0:23:40.720 --> 0:23:44.600 obtained the weapon. He was a friend of hers, and 0:23:45.119 --> 0:23:48.679 at the time that she obtained the weapon. Why I 0:23:48.840 --> 0:23:51.800 believe well, when he was friendly with her, he was 0:23:51.880 --> 0:23:55.240 living here in this area. I can't make any statement 0:23:55.280 --> 0:23:58.360 concerning their relationship or anything further concerning that. 0:23:58.840 --> 0:24:00.840 Was he involved with the Man family at all? 0:24:01.400 --> 0:24:04.840 To our knowledge, he was not. There was no Involmary. 0:24:05.520 --> 0:24:07.600 Did he give the gun to her willingly. 0:24:07.320 --> 0:24:08.080 Or was it taken? 0:24:09.160 --> 0:24:13.040 That's a question. We're not sure of that circumstance. 0:24:15.400 --> 0:24:18.720 While Lynette would dispute the characterization in court, Borow was 0:24:18.800 --> 0:24:22.480 widely perceived as Lynette's sugar daddy. There was precedent for 0:24:22.520 --> 0:24:26.119 her entanglement with an older man. Years earlier, at spawn ranch, 0:24:26.200 --> 0:24:28.639 she had been designated to keep the elderly and blind 0:24:28.680 --> 0:24:32.480 George Spahn happy, ensuring the Manson family could continue to 0:24:32.520 --> 0:24:37.240 live on the ranch. Manny Borough's association with Lynette and 0:24:37.280 --> 0:24:39.719 Sandra puzzled the people who knew him as a loner, 0:24:39.800 --> 0:24:43.920 and the man neighborhood kids called Grandpa, this is Borrow's landlord. 0:24:43.960 --> 0:24:45.160 In a television interview. 0:24:46.320 --> 0:24:49.439 I have no idea their relationship whatsoever. I know that 0:24:50.320 --> 0:24:54.760 mister Burrow had loaned her his car, the Cadillac. From 0:24:54.800 --> 0:24:59.280 what I understand, she wrecked it, and he purchased a 0:24:59.320 --> 0:25:02.760