One of the world's most notorious mass murderers is dead. Charles Manson died Sunday evening at a hospital in Bakersfield, California, where his health had been deteriorating. Manson was the son of a prostitute and started getting into trouble at an early age. He would later spend most of his adult life in prison. It was in the 60s in San Francisco that he began to assemble what would later become his "family." Manson had an uncanny, almost mesmerizing ability to attract followers with a combination of his charismatic, but controlling, personality combined with a knack for sizing up people's weaknesses and exploiting them.
It was Manson's desire to ignite an apocalyptic race war, which he called, "Helter Skelter," that led to the infamous Tate LaBianca murders. On August 9th, 1969, members of the Manson family killed actress Sharon Tate, who was eight months pregnant at the time, and four others. The next night, they killed Rosemary and Leno LaBianca. Manson was convicted of murder and sentenced to death as were members of his "family". But his sentence was commuted to life in prison when the Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in 1972. He was 83.
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