LOS ANGELES-Near the close of the 1960s, everyone who kept up with the news knew who Charles Manson was, but hardly anyone had heard of Vincent Bugliosi.
Bugliosi, however, didn’t remain obscure for long: The ambitious Los Angeles County deputy district attorney soon gained worldwide fame for his central role in prosecuting the bizarre murders that terrorized California in the summer of 1969.
Two years later, Bugliosi won the convictions of mastermind Manson and the followers who carried out the Tate-LaBianca killings. Then he used his celebrity to launch a career as a bestselling author, beginning with “Helter Skelter,” his account of the Manson case that has sold more than 7 million copies.
With a lawyer’s cool, he went on to write books on subjects as contentious as George W. Bush’s conduct of the Iraq war and the existence of God. But he never shook his primary legacy – nor tired of the glory.
“No matter what I do, I’ll be forever known as the Manson prosecutor,” he told The Times in 1994.