In Helter Skelter, the prosecutor of Charles Manson and his demonic minions, Vincent Bugliosi, gives us a true account of the killings of seven people in two grisly nights of murder in Los Angeles, in 1969. There is no stated thesis in the book, as it reads more like a first-hand account of the killings, the trial, and its impact on Los Angeles and the rest of the nation. However, the main intention of the author appears to be his sharing with us of how difficult it is to successfully prosecute criminals—even when they are completely guilty. The first-hand account of the killings, the murderers and the trial in which four of them were given the death penalty exposes many obstacles, errors and lucky breaks that confront such gruesome criminal cases. This analysis will focus on the difficulties Bugliosi encountered while conducting the trial of Manson and three of his female followers for their role in the Tate-LaBianca murders.
The author gives us a chilling first-hand account of the seven murders committed by Manson and his followers in August, 1969. We get a play-by-play of the murders, a detailed assessment of the crime scenes, a background on the murderers and their victims, and an inside look at the efforts of law enforcement officials to resolve the case. Along the way, we get not only an inside look at the macabre and gruesome nature of the killings, but we also see how law enforcement officials are, like any human beings, prone to error and emotion during the course of their work. For example, when one officer was questioned as to why he pressed the electronic gate button that had a bloody fingerprint on it, his response was “I had to get out of there” (Bugliosi 11). Further, in a crime of such scope and brutality, we see how evidence is mishandled which may impact the evidence gathering and investigation, “The horn-rimmed glasses, first observed by DeRosa, Whisenhunt, and Burbridge near the two trunks, had s...