Wow.
He was 80 years old, and if the name isn’t familiar, he’s the guy who put Charles Manson behind bars nearly 45 years ago.
Looks like it was cancer that had come back. I was sorry to have read this, but then again, he was 80, and had more success than any 4 people I know. I especially like his book Reclaiming History about the JFK assassination, but he’ll always be known for Helter Skelter (I just re-read the book and saw the Steve Railsback TV movie version. Knowing what I now know about people and cults, it’s astonishing how Bugliosi figured that out in 1969-70.)
I remember when all that took place; I was not long returned from Vietnam, and wondered what sort of insanity had taken over the country. Riveting book, brilliant prosecutor. Charlie must be tittering in that insane giggle of his to have outlived his nemesis.
Damn. The ranks of the good guys gets smaller again.
(Glances up at his worn copy of Reclaiming History, one of only three books I keep on my desktop.)
Didn’t he play Dracula.
I think that was Bella Abzug.
No, Jim Fregosi, who died just last year.
He not only figured it out, he managed to convey it convincingly to a jury at the trial, and then to the rest of us in his outstanding book.
I totally agree about the book and the man.
When I first read the book, I was struck by the fact that Bugliosi got convictions for Charlie on five murders for which Manson wasn’t even present.
Bugliosi was a remarkable guy.
I don’t usually read “true-crime” as a genre, but his And The Sea Will Tell was utterly fascinating.
All that time he spent debunking the JFK conspirators, and in the end they murdered him… 
Of course! How could I have missed that?
IT IS A CONSPIRACY, AND IT’S GOING ON TO THIS DAY!
(No, not too soon. He’d laugh.)
Many of Bugliosi’s books contain excerpts from his jury arguments–or, in the case of Outrage, from arguments that he would have made if he had prosecuted O.J. Simpson. These excerpts are excellent models of how to convey complicated information to a non-technical audience through metaphor, example, and humor. I’ve found them helpful for improving (hopefully) my own workplace presentations.
Oh, great.
Every documentary or show about the Manson Family, VB is hogging the spotlight. Hell, he did a great job in court and wrote the book about it, but man, he’s lucky he got to ride that story for decades.
Thanks Vince, and f*** any family member who’s looking to die at home. Sorry, dummy. You die behind bars. That’s the deal.
I was a little shocked and put out at this line until I realized Family should be capitalized…
As for VB hogging the Manson Family story spotlight, he earned it. He put several real monsters away for life - sent them to the chair, even if they took the chair away a little later. Even a well-intended colleague could have failed to prosecute successfully (as successfully), and an OJ team could have let them all walk. We really didn’t understand cults and madmen like Manson very well in that era, and it all could have gone very wrong.
But for a very insightful and very dogged prosecutor who I know grated on a lot of people’s nerves with things like the OJ and JFK books, but… fuggem. He earned his stripes.
In his honor I started listening to Helter-Skelter in my audio books yesterday. He and Curt Gentry did a good job.
That was Bela Lugosi.
This was the funny looking dude from Fargo.
I read And the Sea Will Tell, which was about a double murder that took place on Palmyra Atoll, one of those little flyspeck Pacific islands that the US owns.
I’ve read three of Bugliosi’s books: Helter Skelter was a brilliant and gripping true crime story*, Reclaiming History was an awesome encapsulation of the entirety of the JFK murder, and Outrage (the one about the OJ trial), while a little “ranty”, was another interesting read.
He will be missed.
*Curt Gentry, his co-writer on Helter Skelter, also wrote a very good bio of J.Edgar Hoover that a highly recommend
Half through Helter-Skelter. I had forgotten how much Bugliosi despised the LAPD Robbery-Homicide detectives in charge of the Tate investigation (he named names), and how approving he was of the detectives at Inyo County, and the ones on LaBianca (LA Sherriff’s Office, I think).
Of course they’re all retired or maybe dead now, but at the time it must have been a a real crap-storm in R-H when the book was published,
his JFK book was great
very thorough