September 26, 2024 • 29 mins
In Sacramento, Lynette Fromme and Sandra Good send anonymous threatening letters to corporate leaders they feel are ruining the environment. After Fromme’s failed assassination attempt, authorities try to figure out how it was allowed to happen.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Rip Current is a production of iHeart Podcasts. The views
and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the host,
producers or parent company.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Listener discretion Is It Fine?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Just days after Lynette From's failed attempt to assassinate President
Gerald Ford in Sacramento, California, Barbara From, a reporter from
the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, conducts a phone interview with Lynette's
roommate Sandra Good. The interview is contentious from the start.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Ms.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Good, Have you had any contact with Lynette From since
her arrest?
Speaker 4 (00:42):
No?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Have you been able to see her?
Speaker 4 (00:45):
No?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Have you been able to communicate with her?
Speaker 4 (00:49):
No.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
From tries to ask Sandra about Lynette and her arrest.
Sandra ignores the questions, instead pushing the interview towards the
subject she wants to talk about, the plate of the environment.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
We have been looking at the state of this country
and of the world, and it's a myths. It's a
big myths, and it needs cleaning up. People are going
to survive. Change is necessary. There are many, many people,
thousands of people, children included, who are tired of the
(01:26):
destruction of the environment, the wildlife, the rivers, the oceans,
miss good cutting down of trees and could we.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Talk about that in a minute.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
From tries to keep Sandra focused on Lynnette's assassination attempt,
but Sandra keeps bringing it back to the degradation of
the environment and the violent action. She says it will
provoke many people.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
All over the world are doing to be assassinated. This
is just the beginning. This is just the beginning of many,
many assassinations that are about to take place.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Ms. Good, How come you're talking about trees that you
care about and yet you don't mind killing men.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Men that kill life, that kill harp fields, that kill trees,
that poison oceans and rivers and air are killing all
of us because we need these things to live.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Do you think that what Lynette from did is going
to somehow dramatize your case?
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Woman?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I mean, do you think it was worthwhile?
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Mature world? Woman? Start looking at the world you're leaving
for your kids and quit putting sensational news stories and
what you look like and your social position over life.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
The interview continues to falter. From tries to get things
back on track. She asks Sandra about Charles Manson, who
is in prison for what will be the rest of
his life.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
You have been quoted as saying that his job is
to straighten out the world.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
His job. It's yours job, woman, it's your job. He's
been left out of this world's madness. You better pray
he'll help you fix yourselves up. You better pray. I
don't think he wants to. It's your job, woman, to
start making gardens rather than pushing your husbands to destroy things.
(03:19):
I'm talking to the executives, the killers of wildlife and
of the earth. You stop. There's a wave of assassins
called the International People's Court of Retribution, and they're watching you,
Miss Good.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Was the attack on President Ford justified, then.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Yes, any attack on any lie is justified. Any attack
on anyone who puts money and lies over people's lives
is justified.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Are you disappointed that President Ford wasn't killed.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Nope, I'm not disappointed. There'll be many, many, many killings.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
It continues like this for a couple of minutes, and
then when I.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Talk about killing, I'm saying there'll be a wave of
assassins killing those who are killing the environment, eight wildlife.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Trees, killing mis good.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
To the children and the people.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
Miss Good for them, don't interrupt me, miss Good. I'm
Toby Ball and I'm Mary Catherine Garrison, and this is
rip current.
Speaker 6 (04:38):
I find it absolutely incredible and inexcusable that someone of Lymb's,
Squeaky From's past history, and her reputation would be permitted
to get within two feet of President.
Speaker 5 (04:49):
Four, episode four Nice Girls.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Lynette From had fallen out of the public eye after
Charles Manson's imprisonment in nineteen seventy, but people would have
read the headlines on September sixth, nineteen seventy five and
remembered her, probably as Squeaky From, perhaps the most outspoken
member of the Manson family. As we have mentioned, her
(05:21):
notoriety did not lead to a comfortable lifestyle. She lived
on the margins of society, and her life continued to
revolve around Charles Manson. In the months leading up to
September nineteen seventy five, Lynette, Sandra, and a third Manson
night named Kathleen Murphy lived in Sacramento at seventeen twenty
(05:43):
five Peace Street, a house that had been subdivided into apartments.
They were poor Lynette received food stamps much of her
time in Sacramento. Journalist Dan Walters.
Speaker 7 (05:57):
It was well known that this group of Manson and
acolytes was in Sacramento because he was in fulsome prison
at the time, which was just a few miles from Sacramento.
So they were here is his support group, I guess
should say, so it was well known if they were here.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Their arrival in town prompted Sacramento TV station KCRA to
send a reporter named Mary Murphy to visit them at
their apartment, and in the aftermath of the assassination attempt,
she described her experience on air. KCRA does not allow
the use of footage of their reporters, so we have
(06:33):
recreated some of her report using an actor. The report
has been slightly edited for length.
Speaker 8 (06:40):
We have an opportunity to meet Lynnette from and her
roommate Sandra Good and their apartment in downtown Sacramento. They
said they had moved here to be closer to Charles Manson,
who was then at FOLSOM, even though they couldn't communicate
with him. Somehow there was some kind of a mystical
connection there if they could be closer to him just
in this that it would be better for Charlie, and
(07:02):
they wanted to be closer to the center of political
power in California. They said they wanted to meet Governor
Brown and Attorney General Evelyn Younger, and they had ideas
on how the state.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Should be run.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Their apartment at seventeen twenty five p Street was modest.
Speaker 8 (07:18):
I think they said they paid about eighty five dollars
a month in rent. It was furnished mostly with books,
very plain furnishings. They did have a television set and
they did have a stereo, which interested me. They also
had a picture of Charles Manson hung almost like an image,
like an idol, a religious thing, hung over their window.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
They later took down Manson's picture at their landlord's request.
Speaker 8 (07:43):
They had a lot of grains and herbs and teas around.
They were very interested in natural foods and in cultivating them.
They gathered a lot of things themselves, but actually it
was a very plain space. I kept trying to get
back to this idea of where does your money come from?
And they kept saying that were outside of the money system,
and I kept saying, well, who pays your rent? And
(08:05):
the arguments would go round and round, and finally they
started in telling me about how they would gather things
out of garbage cans, and how they would always find
things on the street when they needed them. Food was
somehow provided. Things were provided. They didn't really have to
go looking for things because Providence was taking care of them.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Providence's care apparently included encouraging them to panhandle in a
nearby park, which they did until a group of men
assaulted them and threatened further harm if they continued to
work there. The Sacramento Bee ran an article the day
following the assassination attempt about Lynette, Sandra, and Heather titled
(08:46):
nice Girls neighbors tell impressions of Manson followers. The title
is a little strange because the reaction in this article
is decidedly mixed. A young woman named Chris Doherty said
that she'd heard Lynette say that she had planned something
bigger than the tape killing that would happen in the
next couple of weeks. Because of this, Doherty had obtained
(09:09):
a gun for self protection. She described Lynette as nice,
but strange, always touching parts of your body with her hands.
Another neighbor named Mona Lynch was aware of their past
association with Manson, but thought they'd turned their lives around.
They sunbathed in bikinis and occasionally brought her vegetables. She
(09:31):
did not seem aware that Manson remained the key figure
in the women's lives. A television reporter interviewed Jesse Faine,
Lynette's landlord, why not what kind.
Speaker 9 (09:43):
Of a girl was she? She was a gentle, quiet,
I felt, peace loving girl.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
He recalled a meeting with other tenants where they discussed
whether they were comfortable having the Manson followers live in
the house well.
Speaker 9 (10:01):
The meeting was a round the table discussion type of
meeting that was held here in our apartment. It was
attended by all the attendants that were home at the time.
The general outcome was that most of them felt that
since the girls had never bothered them, or had never
(10:22):
bothered us, had never given us a bad time in
any way, even though we knew that some of their
ideas were a little far up, that we would let
them stay.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Others, though, experienced less friendly interactions with the women. Charlene Jacobs,
was the supervisor of a community garden that Lynette and
Sandra belonged to, claimed that they stole vegetables from other gardeners.
Quote they'd send five or six or seven people over
the fence and just harvest the whole place. She said
(11:01):
that Lynette was friendly and worked hard on the plot
in the garden, but that she had angry exchanges with
Sandra about the stolen produce. Despite Lynette being the one
to ultimately take action against Ford, it was Sandra who
seemed most confrontational in her words and attitude. Ksecra's Mary
Murphy described being surprised by how politically oriented the women were.
(11:26):
She said that she saw underground literature in the apartment
critiquing the government and the course of the country. Again,
this segment is recreated by an actor.
Speaker 8 (11:37):
A lot of conspiracy theories, and they would bring out
pamphlets from time to time to show me but no weapons.
Their main idea in life is to get Charles Manson
out of jail. Their whole life revolved around Charlie, and
she actually thinks that Charlie could be president of this
country and run it better than the present political leaders.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
In fact, they were actively trying to spread messages through
the press. First, they were trying to get newspapers to
run articles on how important Manson was to the future
of the country. They also brought press releases to reporters
about the need to protect the environment.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Oh sure.
Speaker 10 (12:15):
She and Sandra Good, her fellow Manson family pal would
come up to the barrel occasionally with news releases about
the end of the world, the environment, that sort of thing.
And so it was a small office and we all
know them. I'm Bill Mucy. I'm a former journalist and
(12:36):
I was with the United Press International in Sacramento when
Gerald Ford came to visit and had a big surprise.
You know, I was in my twenties. They're very attractive
and very self possessed and clearly didn't really care if
a lot of people didn't like them. I mean, they
(12:56):
just had their agenda and they were going to follow
through on it. And they had the swastikas in the
middle of the forehead, which was kind of disconcerting. But
they were always polite, nice and dropped in to say hi.
I think they had kind of a crush on one
of the guys in the office. They immediately went straight
to his desk every time.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Associated Press reporter Rodney Angove related a story that on
July third, nineteen seventy five, Lynette had shown up at
his office with a homemade cake for him. And a
handwritten note that she wanted published. It was another pro
Manson screed, calling for his release from prison. If Manson
(13:38):
continued to be held, The note threatened, quote what happened
at the Sharon Tate Residents will happen all over again everywhere.
She left his office, but called his desk later that day.
She asked if he was going to print the letter.
He said he wasn't sure. To this, she said, quote.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
Life that's on the line. This is very important. I
don't have to explain it. All our lives are on
the line.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
And Angov was not the only reporter to be threatened
over their coverage or lack of it. This is Bill
Busey talking about an incident that happened a couple of
years after the assassination attempt, when Sandra Good was arrested
for mailing one hundred and seventy one threatening letters to
corporate executives. We'll hear about this endeavor later in the episode.
Speaker 10 (14:30):
When Sandra got arrested and put on trial. I was
working at The B, the newspaper Sacramento B and she
sent me a letter saying she didn't like what I'd
written in that story that I wrote when I was
at UPI the jail interview and the Manson family was
(14:51):
going to crucify me on a telephone pole. I thought
it was somewhat amusing since all the people who are
really violent or demonstrably violent in the Manson family were
already in prison doing life, you know, so I didn't
worry too much about it. I wasn't able to keep
the letter though the editor at the B and I
(15:15):
turned it over to some kind of law enforcement agency.
Really would have liked to have kept that, but it's still,
you know, a good anecdote saying, well, the Manson family
threatened it crucify me on a telephone poll.
Speaker 9 (15:29):
Top that h.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
As for Lynette's cake and go found it good and
not too sweet. And about those one hundred and seventy
one threatening letters, they were part of a strange effort
of threats and intimidation carried out by Lynette and Sandra
in the weeks before September fifth, an effort that Lynette
would later tie to her assassination attempt.
Speaker 5 (16:04):
In nineteen seventy five, Lynette from and Sandra Good, the
most famous followers of Charles Manson living outside of prison walls,
had settled in an apartment in a subdivided house in Sacramento.
While there they seemed to develop an interest in saving
the environment, an interest that they addressed with characteristic menace.
Speaker 11 (16:24):
Lynette, I think, like a lot of people in the counterculture,
was skeptical and cynical of industrial society, and this was
a period where obviously the environmental movement was really breaking forward,
and those ideas and issues fit in well with her
own kind of attitudes, and so she, I would say,
(16:45):
adopted them and superimposed them on the Manson cosmology. She
would talk about you know, air and trees, you know animals,
I mean, these things mattered to her, and she seemed
to conflate environmentalism and respect for the earth with Manson's message.
Not something that Manson really directly spoke about, ever, but
(17:07):
he spoke in such elliptical ways that one could read
a lot into whatever he had to say. In fact,
more broadly, I would say this was part of the
Manson charisma. He spoke in a way that people could
fill in the blanks on their own, and certainly I
think Lynette did throughout her association with him, that her
idea of Manson reflected her own wishes or preconceptions or
(17:31):
ideas more than what he seemed to be.
Speaker 5 (17:34):
About a month before Lynette failed to kill Gerald Ford,
she and Sandra Good made a trip from Sacramento to Berkeley.
Dressed in red capes, they visited the offices of the
executives of several industrial plants. They claimed to represent an
organization called the International People's Court of Retribution, the one that,
(17:56):
in her contentious interview with the CBC, Sandra said, I
would send a wave of assassins their message. If the
executives didn't reduce smoggy missions, then some serious problems would arise.
Lynett's arrest on September fifth exposed a broader effort to
threaten executives who they felt were damaging the environment, an
(18:17):
operation that apparently sent hundreds of threatening letters. Sandra would
later be convicted of sending one hundred and seventy one
of the letters. This is from an interview with La Moran,
who had been the California State Forester from nineteen seventy
one to nineteen seventy four. He'd receive threats from the
International People's Court of Retribution.
Speaker 9 (18:38):
Did it make you a little fearful, little shaky.
Speaker 12 (18:41):
Well, yes, a little bit, but not to the point
where I won't go on doing my job or take
any necessary precautions. I would rely on any authorities here
in Sacramento to tell me what I might do, But
I don't feel that shaky about it.
Speaker 9 (18:57):
Any idea why your name was on that list.
Speaker 12 (19:00):
I didn't have any idea to start with, but I
think I have gathered a few clues since that Sandra
said something about trees being cut in California. I was
state Forester from nineteen seventy one through nineteen seventy four,
and we have an authority to regulate timber harvesting in
(19:21):
California on private lands.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
The International People's Court of Retribution never actually existed, neither
did the thousands of assassins who were going to make
Tate la Bianca look like child's play. But that does
not mean that Lynette and Sandra were harmless. Their neighbors
and people they interacted with found them strange and occasionally belligerent.
Their continued support of Manson showed a level of comfort
(19:47):
with deadly violence. It poses the question, how was a
person with Lynette's notoriety able to not only get close
to the president, but get close to him while armed.
The thing do you understand is in nineteen seventy five,
presidential security was far different than it is today. On
the internet, you can find film footage of Ford walking
(20:09):
through the park that day, and the security around him
is almost quaint. There just doesn't seem to be that
much of it. Why, knowing that Ford was coming to Sacramento,
weren't Lynette and Sandra put under surveillance. Ford's press secretary,
a former NBC News correspondent named Ron Nesson, told the
press that the Secret Service had no reason to suspect
(20:31):
that Lynette or Sandra had any designs on harming the president.
This response drew astonished reactions from many people, including one
Vincent Bugliosi. Bugliosi, as we heard last episode, had prosecuted
Manson and his followers who committed the nineteen sixty nine
Tate la Bianca murders. His book on Manson and the murders,
(20:52):
Helter Skelter, had been published the previous year, in nineteen
seventy four. He thought that Lynette and Sandra should have
generally been under surveillance, but he was particularly outraged that
they weren't watching the two women during the time that
Ford was in Sacramento. This is from a press conference
he gave following Lynned's attempt.
Speaker 13 (21:11):
During the trial, she and Manson and several other members
of the family expressed open hostility, as you probably well know,
towards President Nixon and President Ford. Being the appointee of
President Nixon, it's understandable to me that in their minds
he should also be the object of their hatred. I
find it absolutely incredible and inexcusable that someone of Lynn
(21:32):
Squeaky From's past history and her reputation would be permitted
to get within two feet of President Ford. Law enforcement
does not deserve any credit for the fact that President
Ford is still alive.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
These and other criticisms provoked a defensive response from Secret
Service Special Agent in Charge Douglas Duncan.
Speaker 14 (21:53):
I wasn't personally aware. Although our officers from time to
time knowing that these people have been in Sacramento purely
as an intelligence relation between other agencies, and that they
have created some disturbance because of their relationship with this prisoner,
(22:14):
Charles Manson, they have never expressed any interest in the
president or anything.
Speaker 10 (22:19):
Of the federal nature.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Were you aware?
Speaker 14 (22:21):
We can't sure theyil or make that type of an
investigation on every person that is a little bit out
of the ordinary, as far as any cause that they
might espouse.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
Journalist Dan Walters.
Speaker 7 (22:37):
There's something about the state that tolerates, if not encourages,
not want to say devian exactly, but behavior that would
be considered outrageous in other places is tolerated here. So
the idea of having a Banson groupie lunch and Sacramento
is like, eh, just you know, it's California, what do
you say. It was not considered to be a very
(22:59):
big deal with those that those girls were there. It
was kind of like, well, you know, Charlie's in prison,
so okay. Someplace else that would have been like a
big deal, but not in California because we had lots
of little cults and communities and weirdnesses are out and
Sacramento is not immune to that.
Speaker 5 (23:18):
A second question, and the immediate aftermath of the attempt
was this, where did Lynette get the gun? In short order,
it was discovered that the gun had come from a
sixty six year old retired government draftsman named Manny Burrow.
This is Dwayne Keyes, the lead prosecutor in the case.
Against Lynette for her failed attempt.
Speaker 15 (23:37):
Well, mister Boris is the gentleman from whom the defendant
obtained the weapon. He was a friend of hers, and
at the time that she obtained the weapon. Why I
believe well, when he was friendly with her, he was
living here in this area. I can't make any statement
concerning their relationship or anything further concerning that.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Was he involved with the Man family at all?
Speaker 15 (24:01):
To our knowledge, he was not. There was no Involmary.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Did he give the gun to her willingly.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
Or was it taken?
Speaker 15 (24:09):
That's a question. We're not sure of that circumstance.
Speaker 5 (24:15):
While Lynette would dispute the characterization in court, Borow was
widely perceived as Lynette's sugar daddy. There was precedent for
her entanglement with an older man. Years earlier, at spawn ranch,
she had been designated to keep the elderly and blind
George Spahn happy, ensuring the Manson family could continue to
live on the ranch. Manny Borough's association with Lynette and
(24:37):
Sandra puzzled the people who knew him as a loner,
and the man neighborhood kids called Grandpa, this is Borrow's landlord.
In a television interview.
Speaker 16 (24:46):
I have no idea their relationship whatsoever. I know that
mister Burrow had loaned her his car, the Cadillac. From
what I understand, she wrecked it, and he purchased a
red Voltaire and for her, and after that red Bird
dwagen was purchased. My mom said that she was at
the house once. I believe other than that she wasn't
(25:08):
a frequent visitor.
Speaker 10 (25:09):
But apparently they were good friends.
Speaker 16 (25:11):
I am assuming.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
So.
Speaker 5 (25:14):
It is unclear if Boro knew that Lynnette was a
member of the Manson family. The FBI initially believed that
he did not. His daughter in law, Rosette Rankin, was
at least willing to entertain the idea. She is quoted
in the Sacramento Bee as.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Saying, he has got money. She's taking him for everything.
He could never be involved in that meaning the Manson
family except for a woman. He was starved for attention.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
Here's Borough's landlord again.
Speaker 13 (25:42):
Did you know that mister Borough apparently at one time
had a gun.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yes.
Speaker 16 (25:47):
The only reason I know this is because of an
accident that happened from one from my mother's house to
the apartment. Was a water leakage and it had seeped
through his kitchen and into his closet, and my mother
explained to him what had happened and wondered if there
was anything in the closet that could have been damaged,
and he said, well, I have a gun and it
(26:09):
something that I saved from World War II was how
he explained it.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Boro claimed that from had taken the gun from him
without permission. During Lynnette's trial, he testified that he had
never even had a loaded clip for the gun, which
he said was essentially a memento. In the end, he
was not charged. As September fifth drew to a close,
President Ford refused to be daunted by the near miss
and Capital Park. He thanked the people of California for
(26:36):
what he characterized as a very warm welcome, and said
that he would not, under any circumstances, feel that one
individual in any way represents the attitude on the part
of the people of California. He also committed to maintaining
his availability to the public in his role as president.
Speaker 13 (26:53):
He let me add with great affiss.
Speaker 12 (26:58):
This answer, under no circumstances you will prevent me or
preclude me from contacting the American people.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
As I travel from one state to another and from one.
Speaker 13 (27:11):
Committee, and my judgment is vitally important for a president
to see.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
The American people, and I'm going.
Speaker 14 (27:22):
To continue to have that personal, come active relationship with
the American people.
Speaker 9 (27:30):
I think it's vital.
Speaker 5 (27:34):
This commitment would be tested again seventeen days later, but
before then there would be another incident, this time in
Saint Louis, Missouri, next time on Rip Current.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
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(28:27):
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(28:47):
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Speaker 13 (28:53):
Now if you look at this white album. It's a
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Speaker 2 (00:10):
Listener discretion Is It Fine?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Just days after Lynette From's failed attempt to assassinate President
Gerald Ford in Sacramento, California, Barbara From, a reporter from
the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, conducts a phone interview with Lynette's
roommate Sandra Good. The interview is contentious from the start.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Ms.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Good, Have you had any contact with Lynette From since
her arrest?
Speaker 4 (00:42):
No?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Have you been able to see her?
Speaker 4 (00:45):
No?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Have you been able to communicate with her?
Speaker 4 (00:49):
No.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
From tries to ask Sandra about Lynette and her arrest.
Sandra ignores the questions, instead pushing the interview towards the
subject she wants to talk about, the plate of the environment.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
We have been looking at the state of this country
and of the world, and it's a myths. It's a
big myths, and it needs cleaning up. People are going
to survive. Change is necessary. There are many, many people,
thousands of people, children included, who are tired of the
(01:26):
destruction of the environment, the wildlife, the rivers, the oceans,
miss good cutting down of trees and could we.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Talk about that in a minute.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
From tries to keep Sandra focused on Lynnette's assassination attempt,
but Sandra keeps bringing it back to the degradation of
the environment and the violent action. She says it will
provoke many people.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
All over the world are doing to be assassinated. This
is just the beginning. This is just the beginning of many,
many assassinations that are about to take place.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Ms. Good, How come you're talking about trees that you
care about and yet you don't mind killing men.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Men that kill life, that kill harp fields, that kill trees,
that poison oceans and rivers and air are killing all
of us because we need these things to live.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Do you think that what Lynette from did is going
to somehow dramatize your case?
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Woman?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I mean, do you think it was worthwhile?
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Mature world? Woman? Start looking at the world you're leaving
for your kids and quit putting sensational news stories and
what you look like and your social position over life.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
The interview continues to falter. From tries to get things
back on track. She asks Sandra about Charles Manson, who
is in prison for what will be the rest of
his life.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
You have been quoted as saying that his job is
to straighten out the world.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
His job. It's yours job, woman, it's your job. He's
been left out of this world's madness. You better pray
he'll help you fix yourselves up. You better pray. I
don't think he wants to. It's your job, woman, to
start making gardens rather than pushing your husbands to destroy things.
(03:19):
I'm talking to the executives, the killers of wildlife and
of the earth. You stop. There's a wave of assassins
called the International People's Court of Retribution, and they're watching you,
Miss Good.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Was the attack on President Ford justified, then.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Yes, any attack on any lie is justified. Any attack
on anyone who puts money and lies over people's lives
is justified.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Are you disappointed that President Ford wasn't killed.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Nope, I'm not disappointed. There'll be many, many, many killings.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
It continues like this for a couple of minutes, and
then when I.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Talk about killing, I'm saying there'll be a wave of
assassins killing those who are killing the environment, eight wildlife.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Trees, killing mis good.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
To the children and the people.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
Miss Good for them, don't interrupt me, miss Good. I'm
Toby Ball and I'm Mary Catherine Garrison, and this is
rip current.
Speaker 6 (04:38):
I find it absolutely incredible and inexcusable that someone of Lymb's,
Squeaky From's past history, and her reputation would be permitted
to get within two feet of President.
Speaker 5 (04:49):
Four, episode four Nice Girls.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Lynette From had fallen out of the public eye after
Charles Manson's imprisonment in nineteen seventy, but people would have
read the headlines on September sixth, nineteen seventy five and
remembered her, probably as Squeaky From, perhaps the most outspoken
member of the Manson family. As we have mentioned, her
(05:21):
notoriety did not lead to a comfortable lifestyle. She lived
on the margins of society, and her life continued to
revolve around Charles Manson. In the months leading up to
September nineteen seventy five, Lynette, Sandra, and a third Manson
night named Kathleen Murphy lived in Sacramento at seventeen twenty
(05:43):
five Peace Street, a house that had been subdivided into apartments.
They were poor Lynette received food stamps much of her
time in Sacramento. Journalist Dan Walters.
Speaker 7 (05:57):
It was well known that this group of Manson and
acolytes was in Sacramento because he was in fulsome prison
at the time, which was just a few miles from Sacramento.
So they were here is his support group, I guess
should say, so it was well known if they were here.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Their arrival in town prompted Sacramento TV station KCRA to
send a reporter named Mary Murphy to visit them at
their apartment, and in the aftermath of the assassination attempt,
she described her experience on air. KCRA does not allow
the use of footage of their reporters, so we have
(06:33):
recreated some of her report using an actor. The report
has been slightly edited for length.
Speaker 8 (06:40):
We have an opportunity to meet Lynnette from and her
roommate Sandra Good and their apartment in downtown Sacramento. They
said they had moved here to be closer to Charles Manson,
who was then at FOLSOM, even though they couldn't communicate
with him. Somehow there was some kind of a mystical
connection there if they could be closer to him just
in this that it would be better for Charlie, and
(07:02):
they wanted to be closer to the center of political
power in California. They said they wanted to meet Governor
Brown and Attorney General Evelyn Younger, and they had ideas
on how the state.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Should be run.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Their apartment at seventeen twenty five p Street was modest.
Speaker 8 (07:18):
I think they said they paid about eighty five dollars
a month in rent. It was furnished mostly with books,
very plain furnishings. They did have a television set and
they did have a stereo, which interested me. They also
had a picture of Charles Manson hung almost like an image,
like an idol, a religious thing, hung over their window.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
They later took down Manson's picture at their landlord's request.
Speaker 8 (07:43):
They had a lot of grains and herbs and teas around.
They were very interested in natural foods and in cultivating them.
They gathered a lot of things themselves, but actually it
was a very plain space. I kept trying to get
back to this idea of where does your money come from?
And they kept saying that were outside of the money system,
and I kept saying, well, who pays your rent? And
(08:05):
the arguments would go round and round, and finally they
started in telling me about how they would gather things
out of garbage cans, and how they would always find
things on the street when they needed them. Food was
somehow provided. Things were provided. They didn't really have to
go looking for things because Providence was taking care of them.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Providence's care apparently included encouraging them to panhandle in a
nearby park, which they did until a group of men
assaulted them and threatened further harm if they continued to
work there. The Sacramento Bee ran an article the day
following the assassination attempt about Lynette, Sandra, and Heather titled
(08:46):
nice Girls neighbors tell impressions of Manson followers. The title
is a little strange because the reaction in this article
is decidedly mixed. A young woman named Chris Doherty said
that she'd heard Lynette say that she had planned something
bigger than the tape killing that would happen in the
next couple of weeks. Because of this, Doherty had obtained
(09:09):
a gun for self protection. She described Lynette as nice,
but strange, always touching parts of your body with her hands.
Another neighbor named Mona Lynch was aware of their past
association with Manson, but thought they'd turned their lives around.
They sunbathed in bikinis and occasionally brought her vegetables. She
(09:31):
did not seem aware that Manson remained the key figure
in the women's lives. A television reporter interviewed Jesse Faine,
Lynette's landlord, why not what kind.
Speaker 9 (09:43):
Of a girl was she? She was a gentle, quiet,
I felt, peace loving girl.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
He recalled a meeting with other tenants where they discussed
whether they were comfortable having the Manson followers live in
the house well.
Speaker 9 (10:01):
The meeting was a round the table discussion type of
meeting that was held here in our apartment. It was
attended by all the attendants that were home at the time.
The general outcome was that most of them felt that
since the girls had never bothered them, or had never
(10:22):
bothered us, had never given us a bad time in
any way, even though we knew that some of their
ideas were a little far up, that we would let
them stay.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Others, though, experienced less friendly interactions with the women. Charlene Jacobs,
was the supervisor of a community garden that Lynette and
Sandra belonged to, claimed that they stole vegetables from other gardeners.
Quote they'd send five or six or seven people over
the fence and just harvest the whole place. She said
(11:01):
that Lynette was friendly and worked hard on the plot
in the garden, but that she had angry exchanges with
Sandra about the stolen produce. Despite Lynette being the one
to ultimately take action against Ford, it was Sandra who
seemed most confrontational in her words and attitude. Ksecra's Mary
Murphy described being surprised by how politically oriented the women were.
(11:26):
She said that she saw underground literature in the apartment
critiquing the government and the course of the country. Again,
this segment is recreated by an actor.
Speaker 8 (11:37):
A lot of conspiracy theories, and they would bring out
pamphlets from time to time to show me but no weapons.
Their main idea in life is to get Charles Manson
out of jail. Their whole life revolved around Charlie, and
she actually thinks that Charlie could be president of this
country and run it better than the present political leaders.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
In fact, they were actively trying to spread messages through
the press. First, they were trying to get newspapers to
run articles on how important Manson was to the future
of the country. They also brought press releases to reporters
about the need to protect the environment.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Oh sure.
Speaker 10 (12:15):
She and Sandra Good, her fellow Manson family pal would
come up to the barrel occasionally with news releases about
the end of the world, the environment, that sort of thing.
And so it was a small office and we all
know them. I'm Bill Mucy. I'm a former journalist and
(12:36):
I was with the United Press International in Sacramento when
Gerald Ford came to visit and had a big surprise.
You know, I was in my twenties. They're very attractive
and very self possessed and clearly didn't really care if
a lot of people didn't like them. I mean, they
(12:56):
just had their agenda and they were going to follow
through on it. And they had the swastikas in the
middle of the forehead, which was kind of disconcerting. But
they were always polite, nice and dropped in to say hi.
I think they had kind of a crush on one
of the guys in the office. They immediately went straight
to his desk every time.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Associated Press reporter Rodney Angove related a story that on
July third, nineteen seventy five, Lynette had shown up at
his office with a homemade cake for him. And a
handwritten note that she wanted published. It was another pro
Manson screed, calling for his release from prison. If Manson
(13:38):
continued to be held, The note threatened, quote what happened
at the Sharon Tate Residents will happen all over again everywhere.
She left his office, but called his desk later that day.
She asked if he was going to print the letter.
He said he wasn't sure. To this, she said, quote.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
Life that's on the line. This is very important. I
don't have to explain it. All our lives are on
the line.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
And Angov was not the only reporter to be threatened
over their coverage or lack of it. This is Bill
Busey talking about an incident that happened a couple of
years after the assassination attempt, when Sandra Good was arrested
for mailing one hundred and seventy one threatening letters to
corporate executives. We'll hear about this endeavor later in the episode.
Speaker 10 (14:30):
When Sandra got arrested and put on trial. I was
working at The B, the newspaper Sacramento B and she
sent me a letter saying she didn't like what I'd
written in that story that I wrote when I was
at UPI the jail interview and the Manson family was
(14:51):
going to crucify me on a telephone pole. I thought
it was somewhat amusing since all the people who are
really violent or demonstrably violent in the Manson family were
already in prison doing life, you know, so I didn't
worry too much about it. I wasn't able to keep
the letter though the editor at the B and I
(15:15):
turned it over to some kind of law enforcement agency.
Really would have liked to have kept that, but it's still,
you know, a good anecdote saying, well, the Manson family
threatened it crucify me on a telephone poll.
Speaker 9 (15:29):
Top that h.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
As for Lynette's cake and go found it good and
not too sweet. And about those one hundred and seventy
one threatening letters, they were part of a strange effort
of threats and intimidation carried out by Lynette and Sandra
in the weeks before September fifth, an effort that Lynette
would later tie to her assassination attempt.
Speaker 5 (16:04):
In nineteen seventy five, Lynette from and Sandra Good, the
most famous followers of Charles Manson living outside of prison walls,
had settled in an apartment in a subdivided house in Sacramento.
While there they seemed to develop an interest in saving
the environment, an interest that they addressed with characteristic menace.
Speaker 11 (16:24):
Lynette, I think, like a lot of people in the counterculture,
was skeptical and cynical of industrial society, and this was
a period where obviously the environmental movement was really breaking forward,
and those ideas and issues fit in well with her
own kind of attitudes, and so she, I would say,
(16:45):
adopted them and superimposed them on the Manson cosmology. She
would talk about you know, air and trees, you know animals,
I mean, these things mattered to her, and she seemed
to conflate environmentalism and respect for the earth with Manson's message.
Not something that Manson really directly spoke about, ever, but
(17:07):
he spoke in such elliptical ways that one could read
a lot into whatever he had to say. In fact,
more broadly, I would say this was part of the
Manson charisma. He spoke in a way that people could
fill in the blanks on their own, and certainly I
think Lynette did throughout her association with him, that her
idea of Manson reflected her own wishes or preconceptions or
(17:31):
ideas more than what he seemed to be.
Speaker 5 (17:34):
About a month before Lynette failed to kill Gerald Ford,
she and Sandra Good made a trip from Sacramento to Berkeley.
Dressed in red capes, they visited the offices of the
executives of several industrial plants. They claimed to represent an
organization called the International People's Court of Retribution, the one that,
(17:56):
in her contentious interview with the CBC, Sandra said, I
would send a wave of assassins their message. If the
executives didn't reduce smoggy missions, then some serious problems would arise.
Lynett's arrest on September fifth exposed a broader effort to
threaten executives who they felt were damaging the environment, an
(18:17):
operation that apparently sent hundreds of threatening letters. Sandra would
later be convicted of sending one hundred and seventy one
of the letters. This is from an interview with La Moran,
who had been the California State Forester from nineteen seventy
one to nineteen seventy four. He'd receive threats from the
International People's Court of Retribution.
Speaker 9 (18:38):
Did it make you a little fearful, little shaky.
Speaker 12 (18:41):
Well, yes, a little bit, but not to the point
where I won't go on doing my job or take
any necessary precautions. I would rely on any authorities here
in Sacramento to tell me what I might do, But
I don't feel that shaky about it.
Speaker 9 (18:57):
Any idea why your name was on that list.
Speaker 12 (19:00):
I didn't have any idea to start with, but I
think I have gathered a few clues since that Sandra
said something about trees being cut in California. I was
state Forester from nineteen seventy one through nineteen seventy four,
and we have an authority to regulate timber harvesting in
(19:21):
California on private lands.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
The International People's Court of Retribution never actually existed, neither
did the thousands of assassins who were going to make
Tate la Bianca look like child's play. But that does
not mean that Lynette and Sandra were harmless. Their neighbors
and people they interacted with found them strange and occasionally belligerent.
Their continued support of Manson showed a level of comfort
(19:47):
with deadly violence. It poses the question, how was a
person with Lynette's notoriety able to not only get close
to the president, but get close to him while armed.
The thing do you understand is in nineteen seventy five,
presidential security was far different than it is today. On
the internet, you can find film footage of Ford walking
(20:09):
through the park that day, and the security around him
is almost quaint. There just doesn't seem to be that
much of it. Why, knowing that Ford was coming to Sacramento,
weren't Lynette and Sandra put under surveillance. Ford's press secretary,
a former NBC News correspondent named Ron Nesson, told the
press that the Secret Service had no reason to suspect
(20:31):
that Lynette or Sandra had any designs on harming the president.
This response drew astonished reactions from many people, including one
Vincent Bugliosi. Bugliosi, as we heard last episode, had prosecuted
Manson and his followers who committed the nineteen sixty nine
Tate la Bianca murders. His book on Manson and the murders,
(20:52):
Helter Skelter, had been published the previous year, in nineteen
seventy four. He thought that Lynette and Sandra should have
generally been under surveillance, but he was particularly outraged that
they weren't watching the two women during the time that
Ford was in Sacramento. This is from a press conference
he gave following Lynned's attempt.
Speaker 13 (21:11):
During the trial, she and Manson and several other members
of the family expressed open hostility, as you probably well know,
towards President Nixon and President Ford. Being the appointee of
President Nixon, it's understandable to me that in their minds
he should also be the object of their hatred. I
find it absolutely incredible and inexcusable that someone of Lynn
(21:32):
Squeaky From's past history and her reputation would be permitted
to get within two feet of President Ford. Law enforcement
does not deserve any credit for the fact that President
Ford is still alive.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
These and other criticisms provoked a defensive response from Secret
Service Special Agent in Charge Douglas Duncan.
Speaker 14 (21:53):
I wasn't personally aware. Although our officers from time to
time knowing that these people have been in Sacramento purely
as an intelligence relation between other agencies, and that they
have created some disturbance because of their relationship with this prisoner,
(22:14):
Charles Manson, they have never expressed any interest in the
president or anything.
Speaker 10 (22:19):
Of the federal nature.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Were you aware?
Speaker 14 (22:21):
We can't sure theyil or make that type of an
investigation on every person that is a little bit out
of the ordinary, as far as any cause that they
might espouse.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
Journalist Dan Walters.
Speaker 7 (22:37):
There's something about the state that tolerates, if not encourages,
not want to say devian exactly, but behavior that would
be considered outrageous in other places is tolerated here. So
the idea of having a Banson groupie lunch and Sacramento
is like, eh, just you know, it's California, what do
you say. It was not considered to be a very
(22:59):
big deal with those that those girls were there. It
was kind of like, well, you know, Charlie's in prison,
so okay. Someplace else that would have been like a
big deal, but not in California because we had lots
of little cults and communities and weirdnesses are out and
Sacramento is not immune to that.
Speaker 5 (23:18):
A second question, and the immediate aftermath of the attempt
was this, where did Lynette get the gun? In short order,
it was discovered that the gun had come from a
sixty six year old retired government draftsman named Manny Burrow.
This is Dwayne Keyes, the lead prosecutor in the case.
Against Lynette for her failed attempt.
Speaker 15 (23:37):
Well, mister Boris is the gentleman from whom the defendant
obtained the weapon. He was a friend of hers, and
at the time that she obtained the weapon. Why I
believe well, when he was friendly with her, he was
living here in this area. I can't make any statement
concerning their relationship or anything further concerning that.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Was he involved with the Man family at all?
Speaker 15 (24:01):
To our knowledge, he was not. There was no Involmary.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Did he give the gun to her willingly.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
Or was it taken?
Speaker 15 (24:09):
That's a question. We're not sure of that circumstance.
Speaker 5 (24:15):
While Lynette would dispute the characterization in court, Borow was
widely perceived as Lynette's sugar daddy. There was precedent for
her entanglement with an older man. Years earlier, at spawn ranch,
she had been designated to keep the elderly and blind
George Spahn happy, ensuring the Manson family could continue to
live on the ranch. Manny Borough's association with Lynette and
(24:37):
Sandra puzzled the people who knew him as a loner,
and the man neighborhood kids called Grandpa, this is Borrow's landlord.
In a television interview.
Speaker 16 (24:46):
I have no idea their relationship whatsoever. I know that
mister Burrow had loaned her his car, the Cadillac. From
what I understand, she wrecked it, and he purchased a
red Voltaire and for her, and after that red Bird
dwagen was purchased. My mom said that she was at
the house once. I believe other than that she wasn't
(25:08):
a frequent visitor.
Speaker 10 (25:09):
But apparently they were good friends.
Speaker 16 (25:11):
I am assuming.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
So.
Speaker 5 (25:14):
It is unclear if Boro knew that Lynnette was a
member of the Manson family. The FBI initially believed that
he did not. His daughter in law, Rosette Rankin, was
at least willing to entertain the idea. She is quoted
in the Sacramento Bee as.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Saying, he has got money. She's taking him for everything.
He could never be involved in that meaning the Manson
family except for a woman. He was starved for attention.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
Here's Borough's landlord again.
Speaker 13 (25:42):
Did you know that mister Borough apparently at one time
had a gun.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yes.
Speaker 16 (25:47):
The only reason I know this is because of an
accident that happened from one from my mother's house to
the apartment. Was a water leakage and it had seeped
through his kitchen and into his closet, and my mother
explained to him what had happened and wondered if there
was anything in the closet that could have been damaged,
and he said, well, I have a gun and it
(26:09):
something that I saved from World War II was how
he explained it.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Boro claimed that from had taken the gun from him
without permission. During Lynnette's trial, he testified that he had
never even had a loaded clip for the gun, which
he said was essentially a memento. In the end, he
was not charged. As September fifth drew to a close,
President Ford refused to be daunted by the near miss
and Capital Park. He thanked the people of California for
(26:36):
what he characterized as a very warm welcome, and said
that he would not, under any circumstances, feel that one
individual in any way represents the attitude on the part
of the people of California. He also committed to maintaining
his availability to the public in his role as president.
Speaker 13 (26:53):
He let me add with great affiss.
Speaker 12 (26:58):
This answer, under no circumstances you will prevent me or
preclude me from contacting the American people.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
As I travel from one state to another and from one.
Speaker 13 (27:11):
Committee, and my judgment is vitally important for a president
to see.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
The American people, and I'm going.
Speaker 14 (27:22):
To continue to have that personal, come active relationship with
the American people.
Speaker 9 (27:30):
I think it's vital.
Speaker 5 (27:34):
This commitment would be tested again seventeen days later, but
before then there would be another incident, this time in
Saint Louis, Missouri, next time on Rip Current.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Rip Current was created and written by Toby Ball and
developed with Alexander Williams. Hosted by Toby Ball with Mary
Katherine Garrison. Original music by Jeff Sanoff, Show art by
Jeffniyas Goda and Charles Rudder. Producers Jesse Funkrima O'Kelly and
Nolams Griffin. Supervising producer Trevor Young, Executive producers Alexander Williams
(28:27):
and Matt Frederick. Here episodes of Rip Current early completely
add free and receive exclusive bonus content by subscribing to
iHeart True Crime Plus only on Apple Podcasts. For more
podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows, and visit our
(28:47):
website ripcurrentpod dot com.
Speaker 13 (28:53):
Now if you look at this white album. It's a
Beatles album. There are many other songs. One of them
is called Sexy Sadie Sadiepp. She thought that the Beatles
named this song after her. There's also a song called
Piggies
Host
Toby Ball
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