Some were convinced that the Family were innocent, and being persecuted as part of the counter-culture. Others just thought that most of the Family were cool and the uncool (violent) ones got locked up. Some actually thought the Family were the perfect anti-heros for that era. And some came into their association with the Family through a special deal brokered by Charles Manson with the Aryan Brotherhood, a white supremacist movement based in prison. Charlie wanted protection in jail after he was found guilty of the Tate/LaBianca murders and agreed to ‘loan’ his women out to the AB as ‘comfort aides.’
Some of those who joined the Family are pictured in photographs taken for LIFE magazine at Spahn Ranch. Some wound up committing crimes on behalf of the Family, such as the 1971 shootout in Hawthorne, California of an Army Surplus Store. Others, including those affiliated with the Aryan Brotherhood, committed murder during their association with the Family.
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Here are a list of some of the members of the Manson Family who joined long after Charlie got arrested and charged with murder:
Jennifer Sue Leghorn aka ‘Ginny Gentry’: Joined the Family in early 1970. Featured in the film Manson (the woman with long strawberry-blonde hair), she was arrested in February 1970, trying to pass LSD to Family member (and later convicted killer) Bruce Davis in court. Ginny once called in to the Larry King Live show in 1990, when Family member Paul Watkins was being interviewed. Her whereabouts today are unknown.
Maria (Crystal) Alonzo: Alonzo joined the Family in ’70 during the Trials, after meeting Susan in jail. Susan raved about Charlie,and nicknamed Maria ‘Crystal Palace.’ Maria married Aryan Brotherhood member Billy Goucher and she participated in the cover-up of a murder her soon-to-be husband helped commit. She was arrested in 1973, attempting to kidnap foreign dignitaries from eight countries to extort a quarter of a million dollars. She pled guilty and was sentenced to six years in jail, followed by five years of probation. She divorced Goucher in 1978.
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Dennis Rice: Dennis, an anarchist, joined the Family during the trials, orchestrating the September 1970 LSD poisoning of Barbara Hoyt and the Hawthorne Shootout. While serving time for armed robbery, his four kids were reported missing by his ex-wife. They were later found hiding with remnants of the Manson Family. Dennis served five years for his involvement in the shootout as well as another two years for violating parole terms that he disassociate from the Family. After his release from prison, he became an ordained minister, remarried and moved to the Southwest. Dennis died of cancer in 2013 in Bullhead City, Arizona. One of his sons has taken over his ministry.
Kenneth Daniel (Curly or Spider) Como: Como, a lifelong criminal and member of the Aryan Brotherhood serving time in 1970, escaped twice from incarceration — both times connected to Manson. Como never met Charlie but, from Folsom Prison, brokered a deal between the cult leader and the Brotherhood. The AB would provide protection to Manson in prison, shielding him from black gangs and in exchange, Manson encouraged the Family women to act as ‘comfort aides’ to incarcerated Aryan Brotherhood members, sending them masturbatory pictures of themselves. The AB however decided that Como would be a better leader to the Family than Manson. They had Manson subpoena Como as a witness in his upcoming Hinman/Shea trial, so Como could break him out of the courtroom. But Como never made it to court. He fled on foot ahead of his testimony.
Upon escape, he connected with members of the Family in the Los Angeles area and immediately set about taking control. Como helped orchestrate the August 1971 shootout in Hawthorne, at an army/surplus store, holding several employees hostage and netting a large arsenal of weapons, intended to break Manson out of prison. The Family’s accomplishment was short-lived: police arrived, a barrage of gunfire erupted, and several Family members were wounded. Como and all but one other accomplice were immediately apprehended. Eight days after his arrest, Como again escaped from jail. He was picked up by Family Member Sandy Good, who crashed her car and was arrested. Como spent a few hours on the lam before he was rearrested.
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After his Hawthorne arrest, Como was convicted of auto theft, assault, possession of narcotics and armed robbery, and sentenced to several years in prison. He later married Family member Catherine ‘Gypsy’ Share in 1977 while he was incarcerated. Later they divorced. Kenneth Como was released from prison in 1981. He died in September 2004 of cancer.
Charles Allen ‘Chuckleberry’ Lovett: Lovett, who became a Family ‘fan’ after watching trial coverage on the news, escaped from police following the Hawthorne Shootout and remained at large for weeks before his eventual capture. The first to be tried for the shootout, Lovett served ten years at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, where he trained as a tattoo artist. After prison, he married and had children, including a son who died of leukemia during the early 1990’s.
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Michael Lee ‘Redeye’ Monfort: Aryan Brotherhood member ‘partnered’ with Family member Nancy Pitman in Manson’s attempt to secure protection in prison. Along with Billy Goucher and James Craig, ordered their friend and robbery accomplice James Willett into a field, forced him to dig his own grave and then shot him to death. Monfort was arrested shortly thereafter on unrelated charges, carrying Willet’s identification. Released, he went gunning for Willett’s widow. Lauren Willett, a 19-year old mother, lived with Pitman, Maria Alonzo and Priscilla Cooper in the Stockton, California area with her 1-year old daughter, Heidi. Several people later told police that Lauren shot herself, while learning self-defense techniques from Monfort, but neither the police nor the judge bought that argument. Monfort was convicted of both murders, with Goucher testifying against Monfort and Craig. While in prison, Monfort married Pitman and fathered three sons with her. He was released in May 1984 for his role in the Willett’s deaths. Monfort and Pitman, who lived in the Napa Valley area, divorced in 1990. Six years later, after a string of robberies around the Sacramento area, Monfort was arrested again and sentenced to EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS in prison!
He died while serving time, of natural causes.
James Craig: On November 15, 1978, a burning car was discovered in Sacramento with two men inside. One was James Craig, one of James Willet’s killers. The ex-con, member of the Aryan Brotherhood, friend of Michael Monfort and Nancy Pitman, was involved with Priscilla ‘Tuffy’ Cooper. He was convicted of murder, along with Monfort, based on eyewitness testimony from their buddy Billy Goucher. He had served his time and was out on parole.
Craig and another man, Edward Barabas, were in the car. Barabas was dead. Craig had also been shot in the face. He survived his shooting and was pulled from the burning car. Craig tried to tell police who attacked him and Barabas, but they couldn’t understand him. Three days later, a man named Robert Harry Chrismas turned himself in to the Sacramento PD, claiming that he and three others shot Craig and Barabas and put them in the burning car. James Craig survived another month before dying from his injuries.
William ‘Billy’ Goucher: Tattoo-covered Aryan Brotherhood member earlier convicted of armed robbery, Goucher was involved in the murder of James Willett. He got a lesser sentence in exchange for testifying against James Craig and Michael Monfort. Goucher later married Family affiliate Maria Alonzo. Date of divorce unknown, later married a woman named Nina. His brother Veldon was also married in the 1970s to Family member Kitty Lutesinger. While on parole from San Quentin in 1978, Billy got into an altercation with the common-law husband of a woman who had just been in a traffic accident with Goucher’s sister Yolanda. Goucher stabbed the man, who died as a result of his injuries. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to 33 years to life. It appears that he died around 2010 in the Antelope, California area.
Priscilla ‘Tuffy’ Kay Cooper: Former stripper who dated James Craig and lived with Nancy Pitman and Maria Alonzo when the Willets were killed in ’72. Craig was killed in ’78. Cooper committed armed robbery in 1980, was captured and sentenced to seven years in prison. She died in 2007 in Nevada of unknown causes.
