The 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others, orchestrated by cult leader Charles Manson, have been explored in the newly released Netflix documentary – ‘Conversations with a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes’. It was directed by Joe Berlinger.
The victims of the August 8, 1969 rampage included Tate, the pregnant wife of movie director Roman Polanski ; coffee heiress Abigail Folger; celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring; writer Wojciech Frykowski; and teenager Steven Parent. In the three-part docuseries, which is now streaming on Netflix , Berlinger challenged claims that Manson’s motives were not to start a race war, contrary to the claims of prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi. Bugliosi floated the narrative that Manson had an obsession with The Beatles’ White Album and had concocted a race war he referred to as Helter Skelter, named after The Beatles’ song. Bugliosi argued that the cult leader commanded the Manson Family members to kill affluent white people, under the guise of the Black Panthers. The story is elaborate, and was eventually portrayed in Bugliosi’s best-selling novel ‘Helter Skelter’. Supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary LaBianca, were stabbed and killed the following night.
Netflix says of the docuseries, “Previously unreleased prison calls, firsthand accounts and archival footage shed chilling insight into the mind of cold-blooded criminal Charles Manson.
