Frigid temperatures this weekend prompt cold weather advisories

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Former Los Angeles prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, who pivoted from the courtroom to writing, has died at age 80. After the 1969 murder of actress Sharon Tate and six others thrust Bugliosi into the spotlight, he won convictions against Charles Manson and several of his followers.

 that the former district attorney died Saturday in Los Angeles after a fight with cancer.
In the decades after the Manson trial, Bugliosi wrote the best-seller 

, taking his title from one of Manson's fixations.


"He was an unknown Los Angeles deputy district attorney on Aug. 9, 1969, when the bodies of Tate, the beautiful actress wife of Roman Polanski, and four others were discovered butchered by unknown assailants who left bloody scrawlings on the door of her elegant home."

The next night, the mutilated bodies of two more victims — grocery store owners Leno and Rosemary LaBianca — were found in another upscale house that was also marked with scrawled messages.

 about what made the Manson case such a sensation:


 about Manson follower Susan Atkins, who had recently died after being denied release from prison due to advanced brain cancer:



Bugliosi followed his work on the Manson case with books whose subjects ranged from true crime to theology. In many of them, he analyzed other high-profile cases, such as the O.J. Simpson murder trial. He also analyzed the killing of President John F. Kennedy and 

Arts and Culture

The Thread® - Books and Literary News

After the 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others thrust Bugliosi into the spotlight, he won convictions against Charles Manson and his followers.

Vincent Bugliosi, Manson prosecutor and 'Helter Skelter' author, dies

Go Deeper.

Like this?