It most definitely did, and it did so in a way that really undermined what I liked about the first half. O'Neill emphasizes many times that he spent years working on this story, which was supposed to be a Premiere magazine piece for so long that Premiere folded long before he finished writing it. But by the end you get the feeling that it took so long, not because he was uncovering any bombshell information (he isn't) but because he was waiting on some people to die so he could throw out some accusations free of charge, so to speak. If Bugliosi were still alive, I would bet serious money that we wouldn't have this book yet, and if Manson were, I doubt we would either. As someone with ADHD, I know what it's like to begin searching out one topic and then have another barely-related one overtake that one, and then fall down another rabbit hole and another, and that really does feel like O'Neill has fallen into that trap here. The idea of Manson never being violated on parole leads to an exploration of Manson's time, after he was released from prison, in San Francisco, which leads him to an exploration of Manson's parole officer and some of his associates, which leads to a very long chapter about the CIA's MKULTRA program, which might be good material for a book, but has no business being in this book. Eventually he just starts spitballing, throwing whatever he can against the wall, including a suicide but maybe murder of some guy in a motel that involves some Manson associate making a pubic hair vest (seriously). Poking holes in Bugliosi's case is easy enough to do at the magazine-article length, or in a blog post; you can also suggest that there is a lot more to the Manson family than what we were told by Bugliosi (who became the main recorder of this story, very much by his own choice) in a much shorter format than this. If you're going to come out with a 500+ page book dismantling the case, you better have something definitive, something concrete. O'Neill says outright that he not only doesn't know and doesn't even have a real theory as to why the Manson murders took place, it's his least favorite question. That's a hell of a thing to admit after I've invested 15+ hours into this audiobook and it's entering what seems like the home stretch.dws1982 wrote: I'm reading Tom O'Neill's Chaos: Charles Manson, The CIA, and the Secret History of the 60's...I feel like it's going to end up somewhere very stupid when it gets into the CIA stuff (there's a chapter called "Mind Control" or something).
If you want to know about the problems in Bugliosi's case, you can find all of the information that O'Neill presents here, and more, at various places online. Bugliosi went with a motive that was easy, that made Manson and his family look like "others" from the desert who appeared like ghosts in houses in LA, murdered everyone inside, and disappeared like ghosts back into the desert. The fact that Manson was better-connected than anyone cared to admit to rich and powerful people in LA was something that no one investigating or prosecuting that case wanted to acknowledge. His only real connections, from all I've read, involved drug dealing and pimping his female followers out to industry people (Wilson, Melcher, etc.), and there is definitely the question of why Manson, who was openly in violation of federal parole, was never called to account for it. All of that information, and more is available for free, or without burning an Audible credit. I made this mistake so you don't have to.