Charles Manson, the leader of the gang «Family», who along with his followers committed a series of bloodthirsty murders and became a symbol of the dark side of the counterculture of the 1960s, has died at age 83.
The prisoner was sent to a California hospital on Wednesday, November 15, but doctors failed to save his life. A criminal who spent most of his life in prison, died after 4 days – November 19 – 84 year of life from natural causes.
Manson was serving 9 life sentences and 12 were deprived of parole. His fame, supported by popular books and films made him a cult figure and still terrifies many Americans.
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Its brutal activities of Manson launched in the 1960-ies, although this had already been convicted of theft and pimping. After the last release from prison, decided to organize a group called «the Manson Family».
In August 1969, followers of Manson, following the instructions of their leader, brutally killed 7 people.
Among the first victims was pregnant in 8 month, 26-year-old popular actress Sharon Tate, wife of Director Roman Polanski. As reported by the investigators, she was brutally murdered, and then one of the devotees of the Manson girls, Susan Atkins, wrote with her blood the word «pig» on the front door of the house.
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Collecting young followers, Manson claimed to believe in the coming war in America. He planned to speed it up and become the leader of a new social order, which he called «Halter, Skelter» in honor of the eponymous song by the Beatles. Prosecutors claimed that Manson hoped that the murders, which the media dubbed the Tate-Labanc, blame blacks, increasing racial tensions.
During the trial Manson and his followers were acting offensive in court, namely, singing, laughing, and even carved a swastika on his forehead.
Manson was not a «Family» during the violence, but nevertheless he was found guilty in the leadership of his followers in 7 of 9 cases. He was sentenced to death in 1971 but a year later this punishment was changed to life imprisonment.
In an interview in 1987 with CNN, Manson admitted, «I spent most of my life in schools for boys, in prison and in reform school because I didn’t have anybody.»
It is worth noting that the leader of the «Family» was repeatedly transported from one prison to another. He was in very limited circumstances: for example, he was forbidden to communicate with other prisoners and in solitary confinement Manson spends most of the day.
After more than four decades after the atrocity crimes of the «Manson Family», tells in books, movies and songs, the incident continues to haunt the American consciousness.
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