When Gypsy Met Nellie PART TWO

This is all COPYRIGHTED 1997 Bill Nelson's Ghost.

We pick up with Nelson babbling about Gypsy again....

Amazing! I could not believe it! There was her name as big as life! Catherine Shannahan, but no string to her home location. There was one for Paul Shannahan, with a string, but that was all. The name she gave Dick Fandrich, Tommy Thompson and now the church, Catherine Shannahan! Tommy had told me that she was in the Federal Witness Protection Program. That was the name she was not supposed to give out, I was told. Few congregational members knew who she really was.

As I was bending over, looking at the wall map, a woman came near me. I rose up and our eyes met. It was Catherine “Gypsy” Share! She was as beautiful as I believed. She was indeed a lot heavier than her younger, Manson Family days.

“Good morning, I am Catherine, and your name is?”

“My name is Bill.” She started to walk past me to go to the ladies room, when I turned to say, almost shaking in my shoes, “Catherine, I am Bill Nelson.”

“Bill, you told me that you would not do this, that you would not come to where I live and bother me.”

“Catherine, I just wanted to come and worship with you. I tried to talk to you before. I called Joe a couple of times before this morning.” At that moment, a nice young man walked up. It was her son, Paul Shannahan. He was in the United States Marines.

Catherine said, “Bill, this is my son, Paul.” Paul allowed me to sit with him and his friend. It was in the second to last row. I began sweating profusely! No one else seemed to be hot, but I was. I asked to be excused, since I was feeling quite ill! I told them that I needed to use the rest room. I would be diagnosed with two medical conditions causing this over the next two years.

I immediately went to the restroom, then out the front doors, around the church and to the news van. Rittenhouse was in the front seat on the driver’s side. Don was smothering in the back, very hot from the black curtains! I told Rittenhouse that I believed we would indeed get the interview.

“You two just stay outside, and I am going back inside the church to worship with Catherine. She said hi to me, it will be OK!”

“No *** ***! We came here to get a *** interview, and by God we are going to get a *** interview!” Well, I did not back up after that outburst. No. I got right back in his face.

“Listen, Rittenhouse, you asked me to get the interview and I will. We will do it my way. Why else did you bring me along? You have to respect my position on this.”

“*** your position, Nelson! *** *** We are going inside and that is final! Get your *** back inside that church, we are coming in!”

I went inside ahead of the two men. Picture this! Less than fifty people in a small room where everyone knows the other. All except for me! But I was with Paul Shannahan and I seemed to fit in, so that was OK.

Now, in the middle of a song, down the isle come these two California types in a suburb of Dallas. Out of place? You bet! With a bag in hand, Don was using a hidden camera to get Gypsy on tape. I could not believe my eyes! Some twenty minutes late and they walked right up to the front row, just three feet in front of Catherine and put the bag on the floor. The congregation was standing and singing, Catherine was playing her violin with the small rag tag band.

Share looked back at me! She looked down at the bag! She looked at me again, with eyes that could have killed! I was glad she had an instrument in her hand, not a weapon. She excused herself and right to the pastor’s wife, Deborah Oakley, who was listed on the church bulletin as “co-pastor.” Deborah went out of view, then appeared at the door next to my little row of four men.

“Could I see you a moment?”

“Sure.” Tension, sweat, the action of the moment! Catherine was in the hall, just a little ways from the singing congregation.

“Are those men with you?” Catherine demanded.

“Yes they are.”

“Are they with the media?”

“Yes.”

“Is there a camera in that bag on the floor?” Gypsy glared at me with the darkest of eyes.

“I am not sure, why don’t you call them out here and ask them?”

Deborah did just that! The two men came out, were told that they could not go back to the front row and were asked to sit with me in the presence of Paul, son of Catherine. Immediately, a few rather large, intimidating “men of faith,” shall we say, positioned themselves in the back row. The intent was obvious! They were inclined to “lay hands” on any one of us three desperate media bums if it became necessary. Oh yes! Medical condition, full alert! I hoped that Pastor Joe would be a short winded preacher that Easter Sunday morning.

Finally, the little congregation was dismissed. Young girls just in the row before me turned out to be friends with Paul. They were truly Southern Belles in the best sense of the word. They were hospitable, that is until they learned who I was and what I had done. Glares. Looks. You can imagine. Then, a lady approached me and inquired of me, “What is your name? Where did you come from? I think I have seen you before!” She persisted. Then some other people began to say that they had seen me…somewhere. Yes. I had done a lot of television and had been on the radio as well and in a couple of newspapers. Deborah, the pastor’s wife, spoke up.

“Oh, he is a friend of ours from California.” After the service, Catherine, Pastor Joe, his wife and a woman named Janna Hughes went into the pastor’s office. I was not invited! In fact, I was told by Mr. Rittenhouse that I was to stay out! Both Don and Rittenhouse were questioned as to the intentions of KCBS. Remember when I told you that Rittenhouse would prove untrustworthy in the future? This was it.

During that time waiting for the private conference to end, Paul and his male friend talked with me. Paul told me that “it did not matter what his mother had done in the past, she is changed now.” We chatted, they were cordial and we even spoke about Patrick Shannahan, who was not in the church. I believed him to still be in custody in a Federal Prison in Texas. The story I had been given from Tommy was like this: Patrick was given a new identification, he was in a prison in New Mexico. He had turned against some other murderers and in exchange he was being moved to Texas. It was big! It involved two or three killings. That was all I was told. I asked Paul if he knew why Catherine’s husband was in prison. He did not know.

Later, Patrick Shannahan, himself, called me to inquire why one of us news people were probing into his life.

The meeting ended, and I walked out to the van with Mr. Rittenhouse and Don.

“Bill, I had to do something in there. You see, I had to play ‘good cop, bad cop.’" I pondered that one and declared to Rittenhouse,

“Let me guess, I came out the bad guy!”

“Yes.”

“But I had to do it to ‘save’ the interview.”

“Right!”

“You sacrificed me and my opportunity to interview Catherine!”

“No, Bill, it’s worse than that. I am sending you back to Los Angeles. You will not be allowed to be there ‘if’ she grants and interview!”
That night was rather unpleasant for me. I was told to keep my flight, Rittenhouse and Don would ask KCBS if they could stay for another day. Then, during several conversations with Catherine Share or Janna Hughes, it was decided that I would be required to sign a pledge for Catherine before there would be an interview. A pledge! What nonsense, I thought! Well, whatever it takes, just as long as KCBS gets their story, right?

I did not believe then, nor do I believe now, that it was at all necessary to ruin my name in order for Mr. Rittenhouse to obtain the interview. KCBS was not well served. When I was presented with the pledge, which was faxed to me at the hotel, I demanded that Catherine Share sign it, too. I did not consider it binding if it were not signed by both of us. Since she was wanting it, I figured, like any other “legal” document, it should be signed off by both parties. I never received my copy with her signature, although I requested one several times from Mr. Rittenhouse.

In exchange for the on-camera interview with Gypsy, Doug Rittenhouse, producer for KCBS, Los Angeles, promised not to air two specific parts. One, the tape of her driving into the parking lot in her white T-Bird, as she stared at the plain white news van. The second piece was the one where she was playing her violin in the Easter church service, taped with the hidden camera. Rittenhouse violated both stipulations by Catherine.

When the segment was broadcast in 1993, both shots were used. During a visit to KCBS, following the Texas turncoat actions by Mr. Rittenhouse, I was aloud to view some of that interview footage.

“You know, Bill, it was necessary for me to do that “bad cop” thing. Nothing personal, it’s just the business, you know?” No! I did not know. I was surprised at some of the conversation by Catherine during the raw footage scenes. Gypsy stated that she had never been part of any violence. I was curious about that, because I had interviewed some of the police officers who shot it out with Share and others in Hawthorne. Gypsy said that she did not know what they were going to do in Hawthorne.

“Just get my license, and drive.”

You will see that was untrue when you read the chapter about the Hawthorne shoot-out. I regret that I was not able to obtain a copy of that raw footage that Rittenhouse showed me. I suspect that Mr. Rittenhouse now has it for his personal library, since people I know at KCBS now know nothing about the footage.

It was while we were still in Dallas, after the Sunday morning fiasco, that Mr. Doug Rittenhouse told me about his most dastardly deed. He had a friend in law enforcement back in California who obtained, illegally, private information on people by running their license plates. I had given some information that I had obtained concerning the Manson members previously to Mr. Rittenhouse, and he had stopped at a public telephone to track down the subject. A questionable activity, but one that most “any” full-time news person might use to get a location of a person in the news. Law breaking? Yes. But everyone just looks the other way and no one cares.

It became more difficult and dangerous for a law enforcement person to do it after the murder of Rebecca Shaffer by Robert Bardow. He had obtained her address through a simple DMV record and the California Legislature had acted to shore up that area loophole following his conviction (Incidentally, Rebecca was a very close friend of Lisa Statman, whom I have written about regarding the Tate property in this book). An officer could indeed lose his badge for violating a person’s civil rights. Although I knew that Rittenhouse had done it back in California, I was stunned that he had done it in Texas.

“Look at this, I called California and had my friend pull her address off her Texas license plate. If she does not give us an interview, we will stake out her house and get hidden video on her. We are not going back empty handed.”

Well now, that made me mad. Here Catherine was supposed to be in the Federal Witness Protection Program and a KCBS producer just pulled her license, obtained her address and was going to use it! When I returned to California, I wrote a letter to Catherine. I tried to relate my innermost feelings about what I had been a party to, not that I believed she cared. I just felt that I owed her an explanation as a fellow Christian and she could do with it what she wanted.

July 14, 1993

Dear Catherine,

For some time now, I have felt that I should write to you. Not to excuse myself, not to ask you to understand why I did what I did on my Easter Sunday morning, but to communicate with you, regardless of the outcome. My hope is, that it is the Spirit of God moving me to write, and that I have waited long enough to ensure, as much as is humanly possible, that it is not my flesh moving me.

When I was approached by KCBS in Los Angeles to consider doing a feature on the children of the Manson Family, I was most skeptical. That is because I have worked with Geraldo, Maury Povich, Now It Can Be Told, 48 Hours, 20/20, Hard Copy, A Currant Affair, and local stations or print media in California, Texas, Indiana, New York, Canada, Sweden, Paris, and Germany.

I met Mr. Doug Rittenhouse at the Huntington Beach pier, and over a lunch he shared his vision for a fine feature concerning "Whatever happened to all of those kids during the Family days?" He informed me that he had checked me out and that the opinion in the media was that if the people could be found that I was the only one who could do it. My reputation was solid, except for me being taken in by Julia, and believing that he might have been the flesh of a family member. I believe that he is not. I am puzzled by his involvement and his inane ability to do good research.

The feature was to be centered around the children. I first went to Wisconsin, to try and find Mary Brunner and her son Michael Brunner. After just a few hours in the town Mary grew up in, I was told that Michael would be calling my motel room by 5:00 p.m. When he called, he was friendly, informed me that he knew that I was in town, had dealt with his parents (grandparents in reality, but they raised him) and asked me not to talk to them anymore. He thanked me for the way I dealt with his parents, and I told him that I would not call them again. He sent a female named Cami over to check me out. She was a delightful person! Young, Aggressive, Pretty - But of the world. She told me that since I neither drank nor smoked, that she and a friend were going to take me out bar hopping, and that I would be real annoyed by midnight. At 2:00 a.m. the next morning, I had drank a lot of Pepsi, cruised many bars on the main street, and got to know her very well. She agreed to go on camera the next day.

I felt the shoot went pretty well; that we got a good story on the early life of Michael. As an adopted child, I knew that we had the possibility of making a great social statement on the challenge between environment and heredity. Although the television personality was proving to be a real jerk, the story still had a good chance to maintain value. You are fortunate that you did not meet Harvey Levin, an attorney by trade, investigative reporter for KCBS with more insecurities than Clinton. I took a lot of flack for not revealing the house and phone number of the people who raised Michael. I had given my word. Harvey was very angry about it!

We left Wisconsin to go interview Michael. Arriving late in his state, I stayed up until after midnight being checked out by his friends, Linda and her boyfriend, Ed, who had grown up with Michael in Wisconsin. Doug Rittenhouse cam to my room, and together, we told the two friends of Michael, why it would be all right. "We are legitimate news, not a tabloid show. You can know one thing," said Doug, "you can trust me to give you a fair shot at the real story."

We met Michael the next morning, and I felt the opportunity was great. He was kind, loving, bright, handsome, and articulate. I really liked him. At times, the questions from Harvey were stupid, and he hammered him about the note he got in the third grade. When we left we knew that the note had no real affect on him, the school administrator's and his parents met, and decided that there was no problem. Michael did not even remember what the note said.

We taped him for about 40 minutes. As we left the state, I felt good about his answers and his desire to tell his story, without being labeled the crazed son of Charlie. We arrived in the Dallas area in the late afternoon, and drove to the church to see where you worshipped. I had a real mixture of emotions. On the one hand, I was very much concerned that God be honored in the way that I would approach you. He was not! We returned to the hotel, and spent some time talking about how to achieve the best chance of you granting an interview.

I suggested that we call Joe, the pastor, and see if you would consent with certain guidelines to accommodate you. That explains why I called him twice before Sunday.

Doug, the producer, and the cameraman both did not like that idea. I was informed that we did not come all this way to not get a story. Period! I must tell you that I was hired as an employee, so they could keep me under their control. Actually, I was more of an independent contractor, because I received none of the benefits that full employees received.

After more than three hours of talk, in the bar-restaurant at the fancy Sheridan by the airport, Dough told me the following, "You will take in the church, a hidden camera on your person, and a microphone." I refused. I talked them into letting me go into the church and see the service in progress. You will recall that the service did not begin on time, nearly twenty minutes late.

I tried to stay away from people until it started. That is why Joe came and checked me out in the front of the church. I knew that he knew who I was. Actually, I stayed in the restroom for about five minutes to be low keyed. I have pastored small churches; I know how the people look forward to new people attending. It means help, support, and tithes! Your church was typical in that regard.

You saw me in the hall, as I was bending down and viewing your photo on the board. I noticed that you gave your married last name on the board and that all other's shown had string leading to the area of the community they live in. All except you and Paul.

When you met me, I liked you! I have always wanted to meet you! I love your character! You were kind to have introduced me to Paul and I was sincere when I told you that I always wanted to come and worship with you.

When you went into the restroom, I went out the front door, around to the white van in the rear parking lot. I told Doug that I wanted them to remain in the van, that I would go in and worship during the service, and that we would see if you would grant an interview after church. Doug looked at me, while in the driver's seat, and said firmly "XXX XXX We are coming in!" I told him that I really thought that it would be the wrong thing to do, he again responded that "No way, We are coming in!"

When he and the cameraman came to the front of the church, they went into the restroom. I said again, "You hired me for my expertise and input to the story." He responded, "We did not come down here for ice cream…we're going to get the XXX story!" I knew that once they entered that small group of worshippers, who knew everyone else in the room that it would be all over! I saw your reaction to the two men, your angry look at me, when you saw the camera bag. It was like I had turned into Judas, all on Easter Sunday morning. The rest of the story you know.

When you left the sanctuary before the service ended, I wanted to respect your decision. That is why I did not follow you. The meeting that took place in the pastor's office was without me, because I felt that all of the damage had been done. During the meeting, I told no one that I was an author, there with the press. One woman told me that she thought she knew me. She may have seen me on television, since I did a lot of it in Texas the previous year…

After the meeting, Doug told me while walking to the van, that "I had to do something in there. You are not well liked around here! So, I had to play good cop, bad cop." I said, "Let me guess, I am the bad cop, right?" We really had words that afternoon. Doug called KCBS the next day, and they authorized another day to tape the interview. Since I still had my ticket and he did not want me near you, to continue the bad cop routine…I was returned to Los Angeles.

Later, I refused to travel with Harvey Levin to Death Valley! I introduced Doug to T.J. and his wife Ansom in the desert, and Doug broke almost all of his promises to them. Doug was extremely angry that I would not give up the address, phone, or even the town of Dianne Lake. When I went to New Hampshire, and found Linda Kasabian friends, and ultimately her brother, I would not give up that information. Doug knows where her brother Wayne is, but no more.

L flew to Northern California, and found a Ruth Ann Moorehouse but it was not the right one. Yet, her birth date is listed on the arrest information I have all the way back to 1969. Figure that one out? I also traveled to the desert to locate Kitty Lutesinger, but she had moved from that building about six months ago.

Doug Rittenhouse knows your personal address. He took your plate down, and had a law enforcement officer in California do an illegal search of DMV records in Texas. Although he gave it to me, I have discarded it! I am sending this through the church address.

I understand that when you granted the interview, that it would be dealing with the children of the family. I also understood, that in exchange for the interview, that he would not use the tape in the driveway, with you getting out of the T-bird. Or, that he especially would not use the tape, from the hidden camera, of you standing and singing in the church. Well, he used both!

I know that he promised to send you a copy of the tape (VHS) when it aired. He did not send one to Michael, Linda, Ed, Cami, or T.J. I sent them a copy at my own expense. If you have not received one, I will forward one to you of the promos on KCBS and the shows they aired.

Doug Rittenhouse played the card that hit my hot button. Adoption, and he was a believer from the Vineyard. He knew that I attended Calvary Chapel.

I apologize for the problems that you have been caused. I am sorry for the way it occurred. I regret that having met you in the hall, that I could not approach you in a better manner for a possible interview. I did not show up there with a tabloid show, I felt this would be different. It wasn't!

Since our telephone conversation, I have been deeply troubled by your silence on the Shorty Shea murder. I had hoped, since your conversation (to Christianity) that I might be able to be talked about. I guess I will have to give that to God, and I will have to trust Him to help you in the way I held the press to you. If I had done it for money, I could have received a lot from a tabloid show! My pay, for doing this piece, without credit on the screen, having my input considered, or becoming a bad cop, was under $2,000 and expenses.

Through out this Manson research, video documentaries that I produced, the book that I wrote, meeting with Susan Atkins, writing Pat and Leslie and even Manson himself, I have always kept my word. I have friends in the Tate family, LaBianca family, law enforcement, and counter culture. I have always kept my word… until I took the news crew to see you. For that I ask your forgiveness.

My hope is that you will be secure in your life. That you will know that you need not fear me. That you have received a copy of my signature to not reveal your location in the future. I do have one request. Please forward to me a copy of that paper, with your signature on it too. I believe that is reasonable.

Good bye my friend, my hope is that through this, we could be writing friends. But if not, then we shall go out separate ways in the love and strength of God. Actually we are very much a like in temperament. And, when I spent 9 1/2 hours on two occasions with Susan Atkins, I felt the same way. There is so much insight into this case, now 24 ears later. Our knowledge would have made a great union in the confidence and care of Christ.

Best Regards,

Bill Nelson

California Breeze Productions &

Pen Power Publications

P.O. Box 1585, Costa Mesa, CA 92628

Janna Hughes and I exchanged some letters following a visit to my extensive files on the case. I allowed her to visit them and to even view some footage I had. Ramrodder, the soft porn flick done in Topanga Canyon before the murders, with Bobby and Gypsy surfaced here in California some time ago. I have a pretty good copy and Janna was curious. Nudity, somewhat embarrassing, Gypsy played an attack/rape scene. Janna told me that Catherine did not have a copy of it, and would like to see it. I was also requested to obtain a copy of My Life Charles Manson, by Paul Watkins. Her letter to me:

March 9, 1994

Bill Nelson

P.O. Box 1585

Costa Mesa, CA 92628

Dear Bill Nelson,

Please forward a bill in the amount of $15 for the audiotape of Catherine's music that you gave me. I will be glad to forward a check to you. The book loaned me is enclosed.

With regard to the other items, the Paul Watkins book you wanted $70 for I obtained at the public library. Catherine was curious about seeing RAMRODDER, however, she can't afford any money right now.

Thank you for the use of your book.

Sincerely,

Janna Hughes

Janna was correct about one thing; the library had the book, but not for legal duplication or full time use. My offer was for a purchased copy of a very hard to find book that is out of print and offered by ASNIL (The Manson Archives, A.N. Productions 7210 Jordan Ave. B-41, Canoga Park, CA 91303 Telephone 818-905-4635). John Asnil now has my entire library and he kept his word at allowing me to use any of it for a book that might be written. He indeed has been a man of his word although we have very little in common. We are definitely on the opposite sides of this case, but we have a mutual respect for the other. He was my source for the brokered book. I would have made nothing off it. He has a small catalogue for $4. With credit towards your first purchase.

Stubborn like a mule, I continued to try to do something with Catherine Share. She told me through her pastor, Janna and personally on the telephone during our one extended conversation, that she "Did not feel it was in God's timing to come out now. I believe that when it is time, he will tell me, Bill, but this is not the time". I thought that was a clever cop out, kind of like when a Christian says to you let me pray about it, usually setting the issue aside rather than dealing with it. (Now, I am not against prayer, but it is a neat way to not deal with something. I mean, who can argue with God?) Catherine even told me on the telephone, "I am getting a different message than you are". Wow!

At the same time that Catherine was declaring this is not the time to come out, she was working on a book manuscript and any possibility of a movie deal! That's right! A book, a movie? But not the right time? I was confused. I had learned that her son Paul was raised in the Northern California area of Sacramento in a kind of Christian camp for needy children. Paul was indeed needy, for his mother was housed in Federal Prison for credit card fraud. Paul excelled in his younger years, earning praise for his work in 4-H. I understand that he even raised a prize pig, which ultimately became the property of John Garamendi, first Insurance Commissioner for the State of California. Paul took First Place in the auctioning off of his pride and joy. Paul was not different than any other kid being raised at His Place, or His Farm (I forget which) operated by a former inmate turned religious. Paul became rather main stream and even joined the United States Marine Corp. What a though! Manson family member mother, one of the "Few Good Men" for a son.

Following Catherine's release from prison in the later eighties, she got involved in a real smooth operation. It was one of the most elaborate criminal credit card fraud schemes in America. I made friends with a staff member of the Sacramento Bee newspaper and she supplied me with the following stories. It is best told by the writer who published the articles.

Manson Cultist Tries New Life

April 15, 1975

Los Angeles (AP) - A6/1

Former Charles Manson "family" member Catherine Share, seeking a new life, says she calls herself by a new name now and is getting medical attention to erase the Manson "X" from her forehead.

Miss Share, known in the "family" as Gypsy, held a news conference Monday to announce, "I don’t intend to let the public's obsession with what they have been told put me in a bag I don’t belong in. I look to a positive, constructive future".

Share said her new is Jessica - she won't reveal her new last name for the sake of privacy - and she is getting medical help to remove the "X" etched into her forehead five years ago as a sign of allegiance to Manson.

Miss Share, an orphan in France before coming to this country, served 3½ years in prison, but not in connection with the Manson murders. She was convicted of taking part in an August 21, 1971 holdup of a Hawthorne gun store to get weapons for breaking Manson out of jail.

Miss Share spoke of her ambition to write and sing and to obtain her son from the undisclosed Southern California foster parents with whom he is living.

FBI Seeks Ex-Manson Clan Member

March 1, 1979

Sacramento Bee - B3/1

Former Manson clan member Catherine Louise Como, 37, was the object of a search by federal authorities Wednesday after a bench warrant was issued for her arrest on a charge of bail jumping.

Ms. Como, known as Catherine "Gypsy" Share when she was a member of the cult of convicted murderer Charles Manson, was indicted by the U.S. Grand Jury Wednesday. She failed to appear February 20 in the federal court in Sacramento to answer to a charge [in which] she [had] made a false statement on an application for a loan from a federally insured bank.

U.S. District Court Judge Sherrill Halbert ordered the issuance of the bench warrant at the request of the U.S. Attorney's office and set bail at $20,000.

Ms. Como was free on a $10,000 surety bond posted by a Los Angeles bail bond firm following her indictment on the charge she lied on the loan application.
According to FBI, Ms. Como applied for, and was granted, a line of credit by the Carmichael branch of the United California Bank March 11 last year.

The FBI said she filled out the loan application, stating her husband Kenneth, was employed by Hughes Marketing, a subsidiary of Summa Corp., at a salary of $55,000 a year.

The ruse was uncovered when it was confirmed that a telephone number Ms. Como listed to verify her husband's employment was that of a Los Angeles answering service.

Kenneth Como has been confined to Folsom Prison since his conviction for a 1971 robbery of a sporting goods store in which he and other Manson clan members shot it out with Los Angeles police.

He and Ms. Como, who also served prison time for her part in the attempted looting, were married in a Folsom Prison wedding three years ago.

Former Manson Follower Indicted

On US Charges In Mail Fraud Probe

August 16, 1979

By Steve Gibson

Bee Staff Writer

Former Manson family follower Catherine "Gypsy" Como was indicted in absentia by the federal grand jury Wednesday on six counts of mail fraud, interstate transportation of stolen property and fraudulent use of a credit card.

Authorities said she is believed to have organized a scheme in which she bilked merchants out of more than $200,000. One official said she's believed to be the brains behind an operation in which the merchandise was purchased through phony credit card orders placed over the telephone and subsequently delivered to offices set up in Sacramento, Carmichael, Woodland, Redwood City, Roseville, Ceres, and Phoenix, Ore.

According to the indictment, she used the scheme to obtain a diamond necklace from Tiffany & Co. in San Francisco, gold cuff links from Merine Jewelers in New York City, oriental rugs from Chicago, a gold ingot from Atlanta, camping equipment from Colorado, and camera equipment from New York, New Jersey, and Iowa.

As part of the scheme, she "used numerous fictitious names and the names of non-existent business entities to establish mailing addresses in at least eight separate locations for the purpose of receiving the fraudulently obtained merchandise," the indictment says.

Then she "Hired a receptionist to occupy each office…for the purpose of receiving and signing for the items of fraudulently obtained merchandise."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Malcom Segal said Como has been missing since February when she was indicted for allegedly making a false statement on a bank loan application.

Como was known as Catherine "Gypsy" Share when she was a member of convicted Charles Manson's cult. She married Kenneth Como during a Folsom Prison ceremony in 1976. Her husband is serving a 20-year sentence for his role in a holdup with other Manson clan members.

When she failed to show up in U.S. District Court in February, she was free on $10,000 bail following her indictment on a charge of lying on the bank loan application.

Ex-Follower of Manson Gets 3 Years

October 20, 1981

Sacramento Bee B3/6

Former Manson family follower Catherine Louise Como, 39, was sentenced by a Sacramento Superior Court judge to three years in prison Monday after she pleaded guilty to charges of receiving stolen property.

The sentence by Judge Ronald Tochterman is to run concurrently with a five-year sentence Como began serving in August at a San Diego prison after she was convicted on federal charges of mail fraud.

If Como had been found guilty of receiving stolen property by a jury, her sentence could have been added on to her federal conviction. The Sacramento district attorney's office also agreed in a plea bargain not to consider a 1973 robbery conviction which could have added another year to Como's sentence.

Como was arrested in September 1978 for driving a stolen 1966 Jaguar. Como's husband, Kenneth, was then serving a 10-year sentence at Folsom Prison for a Southern California robbery intended to get weapons to free convicted killer Charles Manson.

Released from the prison last week, Kenneth Como was ambushed and shot in the arm in La Puente two days later.

According to court documents, Catherine Como is believed to have been the "key outside" person involved in smuggling an automatic pistol into Folsom Prison in March 1977. The pistol was discovered in the possession of Kenneth Como's prisoner friends.

During her involvement with the cult headed by Manson, Catherine Como was known as Catherine "Gypsy" Share.

She was a witness for the defense in the trial of Manson and other family members on charges that they were responsible for the Tate LaBianca murders in the late 1960's.

(Author's note: That last statement is untrue. Share was loyal to Charlie throughout the trial, keep vigil outside the courthouse with Sandra Good, Squeaky, Cathy Gillies, and Kitty.)

Fugitives Have Long History As Escape Artists

Wednesday, May 12, 1993

Edition Metro Final

Section: Main News Sacramento Bee

Byline source: Stephen Magagnini, Nancy Vogel and Ramon Coronado, Bee Staff

Victor Frank Carrafa -- who escaped from a sheriff's deputy during an eye doctor's appointment at a midtown clinic Tuesday -- and his accomplice Gerald Joseph Gallant Jr. are both escape artists extraordinaire.

They apparently met at Folsom Prison in the mid - 1970's, where both were serving life sentences: Carrafa for the brutal 1966 beating and shotgun murder of a San Francisco bartender; Gallant for rape, robbery, and other crimes. Both are suspected of trying to break out of Folsom.

Both are believed to belong to the Aryan Brotherhood white supremacist prison gang. Gallant, deemed criminally insane, is believed by law enforcement authorities to be an assassin for the Aryan Brotherhood. And both are violent career criminals with links to the Symbionese Liberation Army and the Charles Manson family, two of the most notorious terrorist groups of the late 1960's and 1970's.

The 50-year-old Carrafa's record includes at least six escape attempts -- two of them successful -- dating back to 1960. He recently described himself to authorities as an unemployed auto mechanic.

"Old Vic -- he's good at that," said his former attorney, Michael Satris, when informed on Tuesday's brazen escape.

In 1970, Carrafa escaped from the east block of San Quentin, but was caught on prison grounds. He was moved to Folsom, where he was suspected of trying to tunnel his way out by burrowing under the prison library.

While in Folsom, Carrafa shared a cell with Symbionese Liberation Army founder Joseph Remiro. It was also in Folsom that Carrafa, a self-proclaimed "tough guy" received a letter from Joan Vibbard, a 15-year-old runaway from a foster home in Iowa. Vibbard managed to visit Carrafa five times before guards discovered that she was under age.

Despite the foreboding gray surroundings, the prison romance bloomed and the pair sought to be married, only to be denied when prison officials suspected Vibbard of smuggling a handgun and some marijuana to Folsom.

When Carrafa was paroled in 1978, Vibbard became his second wife and they had two children. Officials believed Vibbard to be an associate of Manson family member Catherine "Gypsy" Share, whose husband, Kenneth Como, was a cellmate of Carrafa and Remiro. The unsavory connection led to news accounts speculating about Manson family-SLA plans to stage a huge prison break from Folsom.

In 1979, months after his release, Carrafa was charged with bank robbery in Manteca using a wig and makeup. He later got a nose job to disguise his appearance, authorities said.

In 1980, police in Lexington, KY arrested him with 53 $100 bills, a .38 caliber snub-nosed revolver and a hand-made stamp with seal of the state of Iowa, which police believed he planned to use to forge birth certificates.

In early 1981, while being held in the Contra Costa County jail on a burglary charge, Carrafa hacked his way out with two other inmates. He was arrested 3,000 miles away in Hannibal, NY by the FBI, and returned to Contra Costa County, where he tried yet another escape using a rope fashioned from a bed sheet.

But the most dramatic escape was effected by Gallant, a robber and rapist who escaped from Atascadero State Hospital at gunpoint. Gallant and another escapee took four guards hostage, taunting them and stabbing one in the back, penetrating a lung.

Gallant and his partner broke into a farmhouse in Avila Beach, San Luis Obispo County, and took the occupants hostage.

Later, a man who identified himself as Gallant called Petaluma police and reportedly said he and his partner were at a Petaluma supermarket getting ready to steal a car. He told authorities, "You police better get off your backs or you might find the hostage we have lying on the highway somewhere".

Moments later, police received a phone call from a market where two men were reportedly breaking into a car. Five police cars converged on the parking lot but the suspects escaped on foot.

Gallant and his partner were captured a month later in Ohio driving a car stolen from Oregon.

In December 1974, when Gallant was 35 years old and serving two life terms for rape, robbery, and other charges, he and two other prisoners tried to escape from Folsom Prison.

His accomplices were Como, a reputed member of the Manson family, and Bobby Davis, who was convicted of killing four highway patrolmen in a Los Angeles shootout. The three men used contraband hacksaw blades to cut through the bars of their maximum-security cells, but their attempt was foiled when a guard noticed tiny sheet (metal) shavings outside one cell.

Carrafa, who grew up in Connecticut in a family of 10 children, told authorities that he came to California in 1966. Despite spending most of his adult life behind bars, he told authorities he had managed to attend Sacramento City College for a year.

By 1987, he and Vibbard had separated, and he was living in Crockett. William Glass, who represented Carrafa off and on since 1979, said his and the law enforcement's view of Carrafa differed. "I like the man -- he was liked by everyone in our office and everyone that he ever came in contact with." - Sacramento Bee.

Gypsy does indeed have a most colorful past and any journalist worthy of their profession would be interested in her story. Gathering information through my research, I tried again to talk to her. What I received instead was a letter from an attorney representing Ms. Janna Hughes. About a month after receiving one from Ms. Hughes directly:

September 28, 1993

Dear Bill Nelson,

I am writing because you seem to have some continuing interest in Catherine Share's story.

Presently, I am exploring all possibilities available to me to best present the Catherine Share story both in print and visual mediums. Of course, I welcome any insights or opportunities that you might have in these areas. Please bear in mind however, that I hold the sole and exclusive option to acquire the rights to Ms. Share's story. Any involvement with Ms. Share's story must come through, and e done strictly with my consent. I hope you can be of service. However, in any event, you must respect my rights in this matter.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Janna Hughes

P.O. Box 165958

Irving, TX 75016

Cc: Charles W. Pauly & Walker

(Author's note: Please keep in mind that during this entire time, Catherine was maintaining to me that "It is not the time," as instructed by God.)

VIA FACSIMILE

Mr. William Nelson

Re: Catherine Share

Janna Hughes

Dear Mr. Nelson,

You have previously been advised that Ms. Janna Hughes holds certain rights to the life story of Catherine Share. Ms. Hughes; rights are exclusive to her and she will act to protect those rights as appropriate. Recently, while engaged in activities to market some of the rights she holds, it has been reported to Ms. Hughes that you have tried to convince people not to do business with her.

Such actions by you must stop immediately. Ms. Hughes will hold you responsible for deliberate actions that interfere with her prospective and existing contractual relationships.

I trust there will be no further need for me to contact you concerning these matters.

Very truly yours,

Charles W. Pauly

Well, you can imagine my response to this threatening letter from an attorney who signed off as "very truly yours" can't you? Come on, I was not going to be liable for the inability of one Ms. Janna to market her so-called story. What rights? Share is almost as public a figure as Charles Manson himself is. Look at her criminal history! Look at her notoriety. I penned my response to Mr. Attorney of record.

Dear Mr. Pauly, March 25, 1994

Please be advised that I received your correspondence, but it was not via facsimile as stated, rather by U.S. Mail.

I have taken no actions to stop the marketing of any product by Ms. Hughes. I did respond to a best selling author, who is using me for assistance on a new book, when I was asked a direct question: "Do you know a woman by the name of Janna Hughes?" He asked my opinion, and based on my experience with her, I told him that I had no reason to believe she was a person of her word.

Ms. Hughes was given access to my files, and news clippings, with no compensation to me. She asked me to supply her with certain clippings that she had never seen. I gave them to her. I gave her a copy of some music, to help "stimulate" Catherine in remembering things from the Manson family days. I was not compensated. Ms. Hughes, in my experience, has failed to do the things that she promised. In America, I have the right to express my personal opinion.

No one is more interested in seeing a published manuscript of Catherine Share than me. As an expert on the case, an author, and contributor to many television and radio shows, I am most interested in reading the story. I want to see how she will handle the murder cover up she was involved in, that I discussed with her by phone, the Hawthorne shoot-out, the Hamburger caper, the credit card fraud, etc.

Rest assured that you need not contact me regarding "Such actions must stop immediately" again. Ms. Hughes' ability or inability to market her investment is not depending on me. It is dependent on her being a person of her word, and in my case, she has not been that.

As a Manson Family expert, who lives with threats, I am not impressed with the tone of your letter. I do hope you will advise your client to be rather factual in her representations.

Professionally factual,

Mr. Nelson

To be Continued.....

But Will He Obsess Over Sadie

Prosecution veteran returns to serve
Redondo Beach

Stephen Kay retired after years of
murder trials, including the prosecution
of Charles Manson, but now he's coming
out of retirement to handle municipal misdemeanors.

By Denise Nix Staff writer Daily Breeze

He was a key prosecutor in the Charles Manson family murder trials.

He sent Lawrence Bittaker, arguably the South Bay's
cruelest and most heinous rapist and killer, to death row.

He gained fame while handling the trial against
photographer Charles Rathbun, who murdered model
Linda Sobek.

And now? Stephen Kay is coming out of retirement to
do battle with alleged drunken drivers, people accused
of domestic violence and taggers. As Redondo Beach's
new city prosecutor, Kay will be working misdemeanors
exclusively.

On Tuesday, for example, he returns to the Torrance
Courthouse to prosecute a man accused of fraudulently
using a state Assembly badge.

"The last misdemeanor I tried was in 1968," Kay, 63,
said with a laugh. "I have a lot to catch up on."

A mixture of personal tragedy and fate brought Kay, a
longtime South Bay resident, out of nearly two years of
retirement.

First, his 34-year-old son, also an attorney, died suddenly
of a heart attack.

"I think I just needed to get out of the house and get a job
and get my mind off of what happened," Kay said.

Then he ran into a longtime friend, Redondo Beach City Attorney
Mike Webb, in a jewelry store just after Christmas.

The two got to chatting about Alan Honeycutt, the last city
prosecutor, who was recently appointed to the bench, leaving
a vacancy in Webb's office.

"I said, 'Mike, if there's any way I can help you, don't
hesitate to ask,' " Kay said Webb's response: "Really?"

A week later, Webb called, and Kay was on his way back
to work.

He's made a one-year commitment to the job, and then
he and Webb will re-evaluate.

In retirement, Kay has traveled to Russia, Alaska and
New England. He kept busy helping one of his daughters
with her new boutique.

Kay retired in March 2005 after 38 years with the
District Attorney's Office, where he served as head
deputy twice for the Torrance office, as well as the
Long Beach and Compton branches. He was also head
deputy of the Brady Compliance Division two times,
and helped establish a program in which prosecutors
attend parole hearings for perpetrators of major
crimes serving indeterminate life sentences.

When he thought about returning to law, he knew
that, generally, the only place a former prosecutor
can go is the other side.

"I was in a position that I didn't want to be a criminal
defense attorney," Kay said. "I have respect for criminal
defense attorneys and they're an important part of the
system, but it's not for me.

"I don't want to use my talent to try to get a guilty
person off," Kay said.

Defense attorneys that know, or know of, Kay are
not threatened by his experience or reputation; on
the contrary, they welcome a prosecutor widely
perceived as fair and knowledgeable.

"Unfortunately, he'll be a tough adversary in court,"
said Andrew Thorpe, head of the Public Defender's
Office in Torrance. "However, I'm hoping he will
look at misdemeanors in a more favorable
light."

Deputy Public Defender Richard Ewell has practiced criminal defense for less than a year, but said he is not intimidated by his formidable veteran opponent.

"Sure, he has lots of experience. But when's the last time he's tried a case?" Ewell said.

Like Thorpe, Ewell hoped that Kay's experience
on serious cases will give him better perspective
on the petty crimes he will now be handling.

"I hope that, as a prosecutor, he can do something
to reform a little bit of the heavy-handedness that
Redondo Beach prosecutors have had up to this
point," said Ewell, who also represents defendants
charged with misdemeanors for crimes in other
South Bay cities.

Redondo Beach criminal defense attorney
Ryan Okabe has worked for Kay and said he is
happy to see him return.

"The good thing about Steve is he is really firm,
but he's fair, and he knows how to evaluate a case,"
Okabe said. "And if the facts warrant it, he's able to
work with the attorneys."

Webb said his office and the citizens of Redondo
Beach are fortunate to have Kay as their chief prosecutor.

"The residents of Redondo Beach have consistently
said that their top priority is public safety,"
Webb said. "Getting such a top legal talent to be a part
of our office will really help further meet that priority."

Man of the Year Writes In

Bret talks about the Cult show from yesterday and talks about behind the scenes joy-

The crime scene photos used in the show are from John. I helped them with some information after they contacted me through the website. They wanted crime scene photographs and I told them John had the best quality. They also gave us the Beta Cam master of Leslie's parole hearing. After all the trouble in getting the tape. In Septemeber I talked to the prison to get clearance for us to attend the pool feed at CIW for leslie's hearing, only to find out that you don't need any permission from the CDC or other sources. John went to the prison with all kinds of equippment to record. Everything was fine untill he found out that the pool feed mult box doesn't take RCA cables. He needed a BNA adaptor and tried to borrow it from the news media and the documentary crews but nobody had one so we didn't get any footage. John did however tape the interviews following the hearing. Since then we bought a BNA to RCA adaptor. This year, there will be hearings for Charlie, Pat and Leslie. We are going to all those hearings.

CULTS UNO

This is the CULTS special from Last Thurs. I just put up the Charlie section. It's not new stuff, and tells several standard lies but it is well made.

When Gypsy Met Nellie part ONE

This is from the second incoherent Nelson Book MANSON - BEHIND THE SCENES. In it, while avoiding the spell checker, he uncovered cool shit and spread a lot of hate. Since I am still hating on Gypsy, let's reprint her chapter, in better English than original. It's pretty amazing how bad she is and how self-serving he is. (True Story- The Col bought his copy in 1997 in Silver Lake in a Porn Shop! It was $25 and they looked at me like wtf? And this was before I was the expert I am today.)

This is all COPYRIGHTED 1997 Bill Nelson's Ghost.

CATHERINE SHARE "GYPSY"

She was once a fugitive from justice, on the run, hiding from the United States Government. Now she is married to an informant, protected, financed and moved when necessary by that same United States Government. Stunning in appearance, dark hair, tall, with eyes that can still stare through you. Her name is Gypsy. Member of the Manson family, never convicted for one of many murders, wounded three times in the Hawthorne Shoot-out. Gypsy, she could whip any of the female Manson family members, and probably most of the male members too. She was street smart, tough, seductive, and dangerous. I am not convinced that she has changed all that much

Finding Gypsy was more luck than ability, you see, it was just handed to me as a gift. Oh! I had learned through the great imposter Julian (pretending to be the son of Ruth Ann Moorehouse) that Gypsy was in the New Mexico area. But I never dreamed that she would be delivered up to me from an old employer. Mr. Richard Fandrich and I had worked together for more than six years. He was the franchisee for Christian Yellow Pages, Inc. (CYP), operating out of Northern California. I was still pasturing the West Valley Church of the Nazarene in Canoga Park, California when I met him. Tired of the politics of small churches and the attempt to resurrect a once lively congregation of over 300 form the less that 20 still attending, I was contacted by CYP to see if there were businessmen in my church who would consider advertising in a new directory for the church. I had few men at all. Within two months of meeting Mr. Fandrich, I left the ministry and moved to Orange County to sell advertising to other Christian business people. I was blessed in that move and became the General Sales Manager for the corporation in another six weeks, leasing in sales, hiring, and firing associates for Southern California. I had not made money like that since I had been in sales prior to the ministry.

Each year, I would contact Dick Fandrich to wish him a Merry Christmas and the end of 1992 was no different. Dick asked me to meet him for old times sake at the Ontario, California airport, just to chat and to see if I wanted to come back to work for him. He was selling in Orange County, which I had already known about and he asked me at our brief meeting, "What have you been doing?"

"I wrote a book on the Manson Murders."

"No, I mean for income?"

"Well, I have been doing all right at it. God has been good to me."

Dick responded, "That is interesting, I had one of the female members of the Manson family working for me."

"You What?"

"Yes, it was Catherine Share."

I blurted out, "You mean Gypsy?"

"Yes. She was working for me for a few months, then she left and over to work for Tommy."

Now it would take another book, (which I wrote, but chose never to publish) to tell that story. Let me just say that there was always a conflict of territorial rights between Mr. Dick Fandrich and Mr. Tommy Thompson. After years of lawsuits, Mr. Thompson won in court, denying Mr. Fandrich the right to sell in the state California. That was one of the reasons why I had departed company with CYP, at my leaving there were thirteen lawsuits pending, one with the Anti-Defamation League. Dick Fandrich had hired Catherine to work in Northern California selling Christian Yellow Page advertising after her release from Federal prison. Catherine was selling and doing pretty well at it, when she learned that she was illegal in doing it. There was an injunction, from the courts protecting Mr. Thompson, and when Catherine was told this, she jumped ship and began selling for Mr. Thompson. Catherine was sent to the northwest, and began selling a directory. Her housing arrangements were unique, because she was rooming with a male friend who also worked for CYP. Mr. Thompson later told me that Catherine wanted very much to prove that she was living in honorable conditions and not "in sin," as it were. When Mr. Thompson visited the territory, Catherine went to great pains to show him where she slept, and where her gentleman roommate reclined.

Catherine moved from there, to the Lake Havasue community. She lived in a mobile home. She stayed in touch with Mr. Thompson and may have done some work selling for him in the Phoenix area. From there, Catherine moved to Texas. She had married her current husband, who was an inmate housed in New Mexico. Previously, Gypsy was married to the escape artist Kenneth Como, who was involved with her in the Hawthorne Shoot-out. When Gypsy did the interview for a television tabloid show, she made them say that she had "dated" Kenneth Como. The producer later told me that they were told to do it that way by Gypsy.

I called Mr. Thompson, in Modesto, California, the rightful owner of the Christian Yellow Pages trademark. We renewed old friendships and I asked about Gypsy. Thompson had often offered me a job with CYP but I always declined that offer. He told me that Catherine had indeed worked for him. He had some good things to say about her, but he made one statement that was interesting. "She still has a bit of larceny in her." He explained to me his observations of her cunning nature, her leaning towards a little deceit and that she had to be watched closely if he was to protect his interest.

Mr. Thompson told me that Share lived just outside of Dallas, that she was married to a man named Shannahan. He told me Share had written to him recently, requesting that he send a letter to the parole board for her husband, showing a valid offer and proof of job placement when he was released. His parole hearing was coming up soon, said Share, and she needed Tommy to come through for her. He gave me her address and I thanked him. My mail was returned. I tried to get a telephone number, but I was told that the number for a Shannahan in that area was unlisted. I called the post office and they told me that my information could not be right, since the numbering did not go that high for the street I named. I called Tommy and asked him if his information was correct. He assured me that it was, told me that he had received letters from Share at that address and that I should just send another letter. Several more times I called Tommy and he finally gave me the name of the person who he was told to address his letter of job guarantee to. It was an office in the Dallas area. I then tried the Federal Locator Identification system, but found that there was no inmate shown by the name of Patrick Shannahan. There are two Federal Prisons in the Dallas area, so I called both of them, choosing the one closest to Dallas first. No inmate by the name of Patrick Shannahan. I called Tommy. "Hey! Tommy, are you sure you know where she lives?" "Yes! I told you, let me look in my files again." He then gave me a little more information.

I believed that if I could find Catherine Share, that I could perhaps start my own Christian advertising firm again, with a reformed believer. I had done rather well, I knew about the lawsuits of the two CYP factions and I knew that if Share could sell, we could do something good. Besides I have never known many people in the sales field who do not need money! I figured that would help her make up her mind. Same type of advertising without all the hassle of suits.

Finally, Tommy was just about out of ideas for me, when he said wait a minute. "Here is the name of her pastor, in Dallas. Try this number." Pastor Joe Oakley. The nameof his church is The Love of Christ Community Church.

I called the number, reached Joe, but was not able to talk to Catherine directly. Joe was in contact with Catherine and he told me about his conversations with her. She was not anxious to meet me. She was elusive. She was suspicious. I penned me first correspondence to Catherine Share, sent through the church address on December 23, 1992. It was as follows:

Dear Catherine,

We have something in common, we both worked for Dick Fandrich with the Christian Yellow Pages, and we both know Tommy Thompson in Modesto, California. I was the general manager for Christian Yellow Pages, overseeing California and Arizona from 1979 to 1983, making some $60,000 and doing in excess of $750,000 annually in gross sales. I was there when Tommy and Dick began their fights, court dates, the suit between the Jewish Anti Defamation League, and the beginning of the demise of a good business to bless Christian business.

We have something else in common: I have written a book on the Manson Family. I am now considered an expert on the case history and have appeared on Geraldo, Now It Can Be Told, The Maury Povich Show, as well as contributed video footage to 48 Hours, Hard Copy, A Currant Affair, and television in California, Indiana, New York, and Texas.

I am a believer and have been a pastor in San Fernando Valley, 1973-75 (right at Topanga Canyon area of Sherman Way; Shoup and Sherman Way). My book was on Charles Tex Watson, and after appearing on television, Susan Atkins agreed to meet me. I was with her five hours the first time, over three the second time. I have read all of the books on the case, and I have a direct mailing list nationwide of people who have read my book, seen me on TV, and purchased from my catalogue of information.

You have fascinated me for years! I asked Tommy if he could give me an address, since he trusts me and knows my heart, he gave me the last one he had. I hope it gets forwarded to you, if it is correct. I want very much to meet you! I can come to Texas. I want to discuss a business proposal with you that I think you will appreciate. Should God bless me in you receiving this letter, please feel free to call me - collect if necessary- or write me back. I attend Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa. Chuck Smith is my pastor. My wife is a teacher at the school there.

By the way, I have several friends whom I do not discuss with others…Cathy Gillies, Dianne Lake, inside the Family, the LaBianca and Tate family outside.

God bless you today! May you be surrounded by His love. May I be your friend?

Respectfully,

Bill Nelson

I received a telephone call from Joe Oakley in response to my letter. He had tried to establish exactly who I was and whether or not I should be trusted. He called Calvary Chapel. I wrote a letter to pastor Joe Oakley on January 11, 1993.

Dear Joe,

Thank you for your telephone call of this morning as you had promised. Upon ending our call, I called the church and spoke with Oden Fong. The more accurate account of him not participating in the conference call was that he had an appointment, but if he felt it necessary, he would have conferenced. He told me that he did not see how he could be helpful in the matter.

Actually, Oden feels that the only correct way for me to pursue this matter is to speak with Catherine herself. Catherine is a very strong woman, as is most all of the former family members that I know, and she can speak very well for herself. I do appreciate your concern, but believe me when I say that there is no need to fear her violation. In fact, it makes me wonder just why you said that she wants to have a commitment that I not pursue this?

As I told you, I am very interested in determining if she would be interested in a directory relationship. No one ever made more money than me, nor created the blessings to the Body of Christ through Christian directories that I have. God gave me a talent to do that job very well. If, as Tommy said, she wanted to gain guaranteed employment for her husband upon parole, then I should think if that were true she would be open to business income opportunities. If she knew Fandrich and Tommy, then she need have no apprehension of me!

Please tell Catherine that I desire to speak with her in person. No notes, recorder, video or camera. A location away from her home security. Oden did make the observation that maybe God wants things to come to the light, if that be true, let’s not hinder it. I await her response in letter or call. I am enclosing the Christmas card I tried to send her with the letter that I read on the telephone.

Regarding Julian, I have some photos of him, and some footage that I took at Barker/Myers Ranch's in February 1992. He is an impostor, is not the offspring of Paul Watkins or Ruth Ann. It would be good for Catherine to know him on sight. He has proved to be an effective liar. Much of the historical file that I have is the result of his work. We did share information on different individuals, and in that time I shared my new information from Tommy about Catherine. Thanks for reminding me of that.

I broke my relationship with him after he failed to pay me the $200.00 fee to ive him a personal tour of Baker Ranch, Myers Ranch, Golar Wash and Ballarat.

I believe that God wants to do a great work with this story, from a Redeeming point of view.

Please give this letter to Catherine. God bless you and her. I do look forward to hearing from her.

Following that letter, I was in communication with Pastor Joe. He inquired of me what my intentions were regarding a conversation with Catherine. We arranged a conference call, one that would not be related to anyone else. She demanded that she not be quoted! She said, "I do not give you permission to share this, quote me, or use any part of this conversation, is that clear?" I responded that it was, then se offered a prayer, more in line with the "Positive Confession kind of movement" and we talked.

KCBS had successfully gained footage of T.J., Ansom, and Michael Brunner. It was time for footage with Gypsy. We completed our story with Michael, Linda, and Ed, the live-in boyfriend. We parted ways with Harvey Levin in Denver. He flew back to Los Angeles. We flew to Dallas. Arriving in the evening, Doug Rittenhouse played the part of big time man in charge. We sat in the bar area of the hotel close to the airport. We debated! I wanted to call Pastor Joe and tell him that we were there. Rittenhouse said no! Don, the faithful cameraman, was undecided. He told Rittenhouse that I was being used to get the best chance at an interview and I had come through for them in the case of T.J. and Michael Brunner. Rittenhouse kept saying that it would be a hidden camera. A total surprise. "We are not going to take a chance and XXX this thing up!"

We argued until late in the night, after we drove by the church to check out the possibilities for the next morning. I just wanted to get away from the two men, so I asked if I could use the van. I had been to Dallas on several occasions before, researching and then promoting my first book on television and radio. I loved Dallas! I just drove towards Denton. No particular place in mind. I just wanted out of there.

Sunday morning came much too soon. We loaded up the van, I in my dress suit, Don in jeans, and Rittenhouse in producer favorite jeans too. (Something about people in the media, they usually only do a shot above the waist since most of them have on a dressed up top, with jeans on the bottom. Kind of an "in" thing)

The church was out in the sticks, not much around. There was a store on the corner, directly across from the church diagonally, a little frame building. It was around 9:00 a.m. and Rittenhouse decided to let me out at that store and he and Don would set up in the parking lot of the church. There was much debate about using the front parking lot or the back lot. We had a 50/50 chance of messing it up. Rittenhouse insisted on the back parking lot. Don didn't know and just went along with the program. He was a true assistant, what ever the producer wanted!

I was really on edge. How could I do this to Catherine? Was I crazy?

How would she react?

I noticed a white T Bird turning the corner slowly, the driver looked at me, checked me out, as I pretended to use the telephone. It was Catherine. She entered the back lot. The news van was situated with the back of the vehicle facing the back entrance to the church. Share got out, took a real hard look at the white van, with the black curtains blocking out her view inside the van.

It was about time for the church service to begin. Easter Sunday morning at that! I entered the front door of the small church. I needed to use the restroom badly. One reason, well OK, the second reason was to stay out of sight. It was now ten after the hour and this little church was not starting on time, how dare them, I thought to myself! "Boy, was this morning ever going to end?" Pastor Joe came near me at the entrance and I believed he recognized me from television. He greeted me, I said hi, but only told him my first name. I was in the hall looking at a wall map of all the 30 to 50 church members with a string from the church to each of their homes.

CONTINUED

The Two Real Vests

So Bret must have read the blog and then put up the footage about the vests.

Thanks Bret!

Things to observe---

--> at about 1 minute 10 secs Nancy/Brenda pronouces the nickname of Ruth Ann Moorehouse. I always thought it was pronounced "Wee-shh" Like the French "oui' and then "shh or chh". Bobby in the phone always calls her "OOSH" but not with a long "O" (not oh-sh) but like an exhale, ewsh. When Hoyt did her Nellie interviews, she called her the same as Bobby. Now here, Nancy says her nickname "EWW- Itch". It all seems so inconsistent. Interesting.

--> At 1 minute 22 secs Nancy points to a vest that Kitty has been working on for a year. It takes a while for the camera to pull back and then Sandy is holding it. That's Bobby's vest and the Col has it under museum display. Cost a pretty penny too. The heart of the Phoenix is still right there 36 years later.

--> Notice how Sandy keeps her hands in a surrender position. This is explained in other interviews in the tape, but they are surrendering.

--> The man in the back is Dennis Rice. The woman is his wife. The kids looking ill cared for and sitting in the street, being exploited? Dennis's kids. AND THEY'LL KNOW WE ARE CHRISTIANS BY OUR LOVE.

--> Gypsy the great Christian losing her baby? How is it possible?

--> Mary's parent's best friends with a judge?

--> Any hope from the jurY? Eh- THAT WOULD BE- no.

Playboy After Dark

I got the new DVD set for Christmas and was hoping against hope that they would have a good quality version of the episode where Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate grooved with Hef, were pretty high, and talked about their hatred of violence. The only copy available out there, from the Archives of Aesthetic Nihilism, is fun to watch but is unlistenable. Sadly, the episode was not included in what was I must say a very boring selection.

Maybe the next edition.

New Years Wishes

1- To find George Denny and get permission to reprint his booklet The Vincent Bugliosi Story.

2- To Maintain valuable discussion on the comments.

3- To decide once and for all what I am going to do with all this research.

4- To finish organizing the ebay Collection and seeing if there is anything more valuable.

5- To resume my chats with Bobby Beausoleil.


And to continue to bring you the best site for discussing TLB on the internet.

OTLB MAN OF THE YEAR

Bret is the winner of the 2006 Man of The Year award. For that he gets a pat on the head and our thanks.

Bret’s site has evolved into everything Bill Nelson ever dreamed of. Except for the charging money part. And the psycho Christian part. And the fondling twelve year olds part. Okay, it’s just the best site out there.

Bret hasn’t done any primary research yet, that I know of. But once he does, watch out. Can you imagine him asking the hard questions of a Mary Brunner or of the BUG himself? What Bret does is provide a one stop spot for news on the case, and for research on the case. All brilliantly displayed, especially since his last site update.

The Col has gotten to be friendly with him, although we haven’t met. I admire his lack of a point of view either way. His openness with material. His positive attitude. He lacks the hypocrisy of Mark Turner. He doesn’t exhibit the pettiness of Debra Tate. He’s not opening a store selling things he doesn’t own the rights to, like Bo at Cielo Drive. Jesus isn’t making him do it like Dennis Rice. And he’s not a nasty, arrogant puissant like the Col. To be honest, I’m not sure why Bret is doing it. I’m afraid to ask him. I am just thrilled to death that he is.

Bret recently unearthed almost 4 hours of local news footage related to the case. Again I don’t know why or how. He put a few minutes up on his site and I linked to it last week. But he shared it with me and will share it with you when the time is right. Lots of stuff repeats from the old 1970 tape. Bruce’s surrender, perp walks, lawyer talks. But you get much more of the girls on the corner. And you get to see Lotsapoppa speak ! And there’s footage of the Hawthorne trial with lying criminal Gypsy and her close cropped hair. And best of all, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven, the girls, Nancy and Kitty and Sandy working on Charlie’s vest. And Bobby’s vest. The same vest the Col owns and keeps under glass. That was soooo cool.

So we hereby present the OTLB MAN OF THE YEAR Award to Bret. Between us and the readers here and at KTS maybe the truth has a chance.

Thank you Bret!

Hopelessly Devoted To You

Once notorious, now footnotes

The two women who tried to assassinate Ford have come to embody an era's extremism.

By John M. Glionna and Larry Gordon
Times Staff Writers

December 29, 2006

They are joined in a strange sisterhood by a pair of unhinged acts: In the autumn of 1975, 17 days apart, each tried to assassinate President Ford, who died this week at age 93.

Today, Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme and Sara Jane Moore are serving life sentences in federal prisons in Texas and California, respectively. The once headline-grabbing names have become historical footnotes embodying the extremism of a tumultuous era.

Three decades ago, Fromme was a red-haired flower child from Santa Monica, a Charles Manson handmaiden who gouged an X in her forehead in devotion to the mastermind of the Tate-LaBianca murders.

Moore was an accountant, divorced numerous times and a mother of four. Of her attempt on Ford's life, she said, "There comes a point where the only way you can make a statement is to pick up a gun."

Although the two would-be killers' roots are different, their plots were both symptoms of the 1970s, the "goofiest decade of the century for California … in terms of its sheer ominous weirdness," said Kevin Starr, USC history professor and state librarian emeritus.

"Moore's style was middle-class, whereas Squeaky Fromme was a genuine cultist. Moore represented the individual derangement of the period and Squeaky the social derangement," said Starr. The assassination attempts — Fromme's in Sacramento and Moore's in San Francisco — also contributed to "an atmosphere of lawlessness" in Northern California, Starr said, compounded by such 1970s events as the Patty Hearst kidnapping, the slaying of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and the mass suicide of the Jonestown cultists.

Others say the acts symbolized an unraveling of American society in the aftermath of Watergate and the Vietnam War.

"A lot of people were rolling around unmoored, finding a reason to believe there was a political or conspiratorial explanation for their inner upheaval and concluding if they could only act on their impulse, they could save the world," said Todd Gitlin, professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University and a former leader of the Students for a Democratic Society whose books include "The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage."

Fromme, now 58, became the first woman to try to assassinate a U.S. president when on Sept. 5, 1975, she burst through a crowd at the state Capitol, dressed in a nun's robe and with a .45-caliber pistol strapped to her left leg.

She pointed the weapon at Ford from two feet away. Though it was loaded, there was no bullet in the firing chamber. A Secret Service agent disarmed her and slapped her in handcuffs.

At her sentencing, when the judge said he believed she would have killed Ford if she could have, Fromme shouted: "You fool! I'm trying to save your life!" She later threw an apple, hitting the federal prosecutor on the head.

In 1987, after hearing rumors that Manson was dying of cancer, Fromme briefly escaped from prison in Alderson, W.Va., in an attempt to see the former cult leader. Eight years earlier, Moore also briefly escaped from the facility.

Now at Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Fromme has been eligible for parole since the mid-1980s but has yet to request her freedom.

"Her position has been consistent: She didn't kill anyone and is not sorry. She's not asking for sympathy, mercy or a second chance," said Jess Bravin, author of "Squeaky: The Life and Times of Lynette Alice Fromme."

"She says she didn't intend to kill Ford. She felt she was taking important symbolic acts, calling attention to acts she considered out of line in the world: the continued incarceration of Charles Manson and what she perceived as Ford's hostile policies toward the environment."

Moore, 76, is at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, a low-security facility for women about 30 miles east of San Francisco. Officials there would say only that she is part of the general population, lives in a cell with two or three other people and works prison jobs seven hours a day, five days a week.

Moore could be released Sept. 21 if she applies for parole and the U.S. Parole Commission decides she has a good prison record and is not likely to commit another crime. "If she does apply, we can still say no," said Tom Hutchison, the commission's chief of staff.

She grew up in comfortable circumstances in Charleston, W.Va., where she is remembered as smart but aloof. She became an accountant and later an FBI informant. While living in the Bay Area, she became involved in radical politics and volunteered for a group that oversaw the distribution of $2 million in food, a ransom demanded by the Symbionese Liberation Army after its kidnapping of newspaper heiress Hearst.

Moore fired at Ford on Sept. 22, 1975, as the president was leaving a speaking engagement at the St. Francis Hotel. Her single shot from a .38 revolver missed after Oliver Sipple, a disabled Vietnam War veteran, grabbed her arm and pulled her down. (In the publicity, newspapers identified Sipple as gay, and he later unsuccessfully sued for invasion of privacy.)

Federal public defenders were preparing an insanity defense for Moore, who had received psychiatric treatment several times in the past, but she pleaded guilty over her lawyers' objections. As she was sentenced to life in prison, Moore expressed mixed feelings about her actions.

"Am I sorry I tried?" she said. "Yes and no. Yes, because it accomplished little except to throw away the rest of my life…. And, no, I'm not sorry I tried, because at the time it seemed a correct expression of my anger."

In a jailhouse interview, Moore said she had not been inspired by Fromme, whom she called "insane" and described as "seeking all that attention."

Frank Bell, one of Moore's former federal public defenders, recalled her as "a cipher, a question mark," whose reasoning raised doubts about her sanity. "Her conduct was sort of a shopping list: 'Take my son to school, shoot the president, pick up my son from school,' " said Bell.

Both she and Fromme were united as characters, along with other presidential assailants, in the Stephen Sondheim musical "Assassins," which won a Tony Award in 2004 for best musical revival. In that show, Moore is portrayed as a bumbler who has trouble even finding the gun in her purse and Fromme as a fanatic who sings of her "Charlie."

In the end, neither assassination attempt hurt Ford or changed his policies. In an interview with Bravin, Ford said Fromme's actions that September day probably boosted his public standing.

"He said for better or worse, he wasn't an emotional guy and that he didn't get that excited" about the incidents, Bravin said.

"It was frightening when it happened, but he moved on."

President Ford Finally Goes Quietly

Ford survived assassination attempt in San Francisco
- Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau



(12-26) 21:26 PST Washington -- But for some quick action, Gerald R. Ford's presidency, and his life, could have ended amid gunshots outside San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel on the afternoon of Sept. 22, 1975.

As Ford emerged from the historic Union Square hotel's Post Street entrance at 3:30 p.m. after addressing a World Affairs Council audience, he paused before getting into his limousine to wave to the crowd across the street.

In a flash, two shots rang out. The first narrowly missed the 38th president of the United States and the second was deflected by a bystander who grabbed at the arm of the shooter, a 45-year-old middle class housewife, dabbler in extremist politics and FBI informant named Sara Jane Moore.

A young San Francisco police patrolman then subdued Moore before she could fire her .38 Smith and Wesson handgun again.

Secret Service agents pushed Ford into his limousine and in seconds had the presidential motorcade racing south toward San Francisco International Airport to get the president out of the city and back to the safety of Washington.

The Secret Service had good reason to feel it best to hustle Ford out of the state. After all, Moore's failed shooting was the second attempt on Ford's life in the state within about two weeks. On Sept. 5, 1975, Charles Manson groupie Lynette "Squeaky'' Fromme had tried to fire at Ford on the state Capitol grounds in Sacramento as he walked from the Senator Hotel across L Street to a meeting with then-Gov. Jerry Brown.

Fromme never got a shot off, even though her gun was loaded with four rounds, before a Secret Service agent wrestled her to the ground.

"Ford was puzzled by these shooting attempts,'' recalled presidential press secretary Ron Nessen, who witnessed both incidents. "But it was the '70s in San Francisco and California and there was lots of anti-Vietnam war activity and lots of anti-government activity.''

The big Bay Area news of the time was the kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst by the radical Symbionese Liberation Army.

Nessen remembers both attacks like yesterday. "The president decided to walk through the Capitol park to meet Gov. Brown. He was on a path and we were parallel to him on the grass. Suddenly there was a flurry of activity. The Secret Service rushed the president into the Capitol and we ran into the Capitol too.

"He went ahead with his meeting with Brown,'' Nessen recalled.

Fromme, armed with a .45 Colt automatic, was tackled before she could remember to rack a round into the handgun's firing chamber.

Within three months, Fromme was convicted of trying to kill Ford, and sentenced to life in prison. She is now in a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, and still pledges allegiance to Manson, the mastermind behind Los Angeles' notorious Tate-LaBianca murders of 1969.

For San Francisco Police Capt. Timothy Hettrich, the first law enforcement officer to reach Moore, the attempted shooting outside the St. Francis prompted an instant reaction.

"I grabbed the gun immediately,'' he said, "just two or three seconds after she fired it.''

Moore's gun hand had initially been deflected by another person in the crowd, Marine Vietnam veteran Oliver "Bill'' Sipple, who had come out to see Ford.

"It was a big crowd,'' remembered Hettrich, then a patrolman who is now a captain commanding the San Francisco police narcotics unit. "We were stationed 10 feet apart.

"You get the adrenalin going. I grabbed her, wrestled the gun from her hands. It was pointed at me and other people were jumping on her.''

Hettrich and others took Moore into the St. Francis, and he turned the gun over to the Secret Service.

Nessen recalls that as the shots rang out, he looked for a car in the waiting motorcade that already had its doors open. He jumped into a car with Donald Rumsfeld, who was then Ford's White House chief of staff.

After racing from downtown, the Ford motorcade drove onto the tarmac at the airport, and the presidential party hurried aboard Air Force One. Before it could leave, however, the plane had to wait for First Lady Betty Ford, who had carrying out her own schedule of events on the Peninsula.

Nessen, who now lives in suburban Maryland, said the First Lady had no idea that her husband had been attacked. "She said something like, 'How are you, dear? How did your day go?' ''

"I think it was Rumsfeld who finally told her that someone took a shot at the president. ... We took off and what had happened sunk in. I can tell you that quite a few martinis were consumed on the flight back,'' Nessen added.

Moore decided to plead guilty, avoiding a trial. After a sentencing hearing at which Hettrich was a main witness, she was sentenced to life in prison, just like Fromme. Moore, now 75, is at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin in the East Bay.

For Sipple, his moment of heroism was also his undoing. On Sept. 24, 1975, The Chronicle ran a story saying that one reason the White House had yet to thank Sipple for his potentially lifesaving gesture was that he was a gay man.

It turned out that Sipple's family didn't know he was gay, and the disclosure resulted in him being alienated from his relatives. Sipple sued The Chronicle for damages, but his case was eventually dismissed.

He slid into alcoholism and died in 1989 in his Van Ness Avenue apartment, age 47. Among his prized possessions was the letter of thanks he eventually got from the White House.

Moore and Fromme share another distinction. They both escaped briefly from the women's federal prison in Alderson, W. Va.

Peninsula author Geri Spieler, who has written a yet to be published biography of Moore, has known her since 1976, and doubts Moore will ever be freed from prison.

She said that Moore, who was married five times and who is the mother of four, is still dangerous.

"She has personality disorders. She has no sense of the consequences of her actions.

"She's not totally a violent person unless you don't do what she wants you to do ... She's narcissistic and self-righteous and she will flip the minute you don't do what she wants,'' Spieler said.

In her long interviews with Spieler, Moore never expressed any remorse for shooting at Ford.

"She calls herself a political prisoner. This is Sarah Jane's version of the truth. She never looks back at the pain and suffering she has caused so many people,'' Spieler added.

As for Ford himself, the former president was dismissive of both of his would-be assassins.

"Squeaky Fromme certainly was off her mind. Sarah Jane Moore, the same way,'' he told CNN interviewer Larry King in 2004.

"People said to me, 'Why don't you stay in the White House and not go out to meet the public?' My answer to them was, a president has to be aggressive, has to meet the people, and therefore, I did,'' Ford added.

The White House never announced it, Nessen said, but after the St. Francis incident Ford always wore a thin bulletproof vest in public.

Corner Caroling

Quick, catch this before Bret takes it down…. It’s the Manson girls singing. There’s Brenda/Nancy, last seen selling pottery in 1999 in Oregon after her murder stint. There’s Sandy- has she really renounced Charlie? Blog comments do not count as news. There’s Cappy. Did Nellie really visit her in the desert? And then there’s….? Bret says it is Kitty Lutesinger… but didn’t she testify AGAINST everyone? The photos of her I’ve seen all show a longer face. Though come to think of it, when I met Bobby’s daughter Jene last year… I can see the resemblance. So maybe it is her. Bret intended it as a Christmas special, so enjoy it while you got it. It’s from a new tape of period footage that he unearthed. I bet it is amazing.

Edited- It is Her

Merry Christmas Everyone

Lots more to come.....

#5 Is Alive

The Official Blog has been changed so that only members can comment. How do you get to be a member? You email me and then presto you are a member. This way, I don't get stuck dealing with cops for three days when the next Poche/Meatwad comes along. If you have good stuff to post then post. If not, hey, there's always a cell next to this titwad.

I mean, what a fool....but coming from Candybiotch's site who should be surprised?