anderson. >> we turn to a decade of it, the cnn original series, "the seventies" starts now. enjoy. tonight our topic will be murder as a growth industry. >> murder has become an epidemic in america. >> last ten years the homicide rate increased by leaps and bounds. >> my god. somebody fired a shot. >> these tragedies keep getting closer and closer to home. afraid to let my kids walk out the door. >> urban crime wave touched off a new round of gun violence. >> step down, mr. bundy. >> i'll plead not guilty right now. >> there has been a disturbing growth in cult phenomenon in this country. >> there shall be no other. >> yes! yes! ♪ ♪

all the elements have arisen for one of the most sensational murder trials in american history. seven people, brutally murdered in a glare of hollywood publicity. young girls who allegedly

masterminded the seven murders. >> the 70s is a decade of just brutal violence on every front and anywhere that you look in america. >> at the time of a mass murder, there is a lot of media coverage. but usually after a brief period of time, the identity of the perpetrator tends to fade from the public's consciousness. but not so with the manson case. it was the biggest publicity case the da's office had ever had. the manson trial begins the 1970s. on such an evil sadistic note. seven innocent people died, a teenager, abigail, folger, folger coffee, and labiancas and sharon tate. >> all of you know how beautiful she was. but only a few of you know how good she was. >> and you had charles manson himself. the charismatic leader of the

family who didn't show any remorse or any respect for the system. >> am i happy? >> it's your court -- >> the problem was he didn't physically participate in the murders. but only manson had a motive to commit the murders. that motive was helter-skelter. >> manson envisioned white people would turn against the black man if they believed the black man had committed these murders and there would be a civil war between blacks and whites. later on he said the black man because of inexperience was simply not be able to handle the reins of power and have to look around at those white people who had survived who had escaped from helter-skelter. in other word. turn over the reins of power to charles manson and his family. >> when the words helter-skelter were printed in blood, i argued to the jury this was tantamount of mans on's finger prints found

at the murder scene. >> manson sat by saying nothing. today he had an x scratched in his forehead. his way of saying he xed himself out of society. ♪ ♪ >> susan atkins, and leslie van houghton, sang as they went to and from court today. to say as if they are with manson and he is with them. >> the three women were coached by charlie every morning. here's thing i want-up to do. they would do everything from sing mocking songs to the judge to when charlie is making one of his impassioned speeches mouthing the word along with him. >> i've don't have any guilt. i know what ooh hai have done. no man can judge me. i judge me. >> no, no. >> you have eyes. open them. >> charlie manson is a great

presenter. but vincent buliossi was better. but when he put these two antagonists into a courtroom, america thought, this is entertainment. >> people who are curious about the tate murders go to the los angeles hall of justice where they wait in long line. some people are so interested they get to the courthouse at 4:00 a.m. something else this trial has the done is gather together again those members of manson's fame plea w family who are not in jail. >> the world is getting crazy. >> one read part of a letter manson wrote the district attorney. >> i am writing to you i don't think i am getting a fair trial. one man, individual, standing alone, defending myself. contrast this with the facilities you have available to you. >> i noted for example the coverage of the charles manson case. here is a man who was guilty, directly or indirectly, of eight murders without reason. here is a man yet who has, as far as the coverage was

concerned, appeared to beep rather a glamorous figure. >> the l.a. times next morning, manson guilty. nixon declares. manson got ahold of the paper. stand of in front of the jury with a silly little smile on his face, he shows the jury the headline. >> a tight ring of security surrounds the hall of justice today as the manson jury deliberates. meanwhile, members of the manson clan continue their vigil outside the hall of justice they have been there since the start of the trial. >> if charlie were convicted of charges what happens to the rest of the members of the family. >> no if, charlie will get out. all of the people in jail will get out. we will all go to the desert together. >> the jury hearing the charges against charms manson and three girl members of his so-called family brought in its verdict this afternoon. >> and outside the court manson's girl followers got the news by radio.

>> they have convicted these people and you are next, all of you. there is a revolution coming very soon. >> today the judge formally passed sentence on charles manson and his girls. the death penalty he said for seven senseless murders. he said not only was the sentence appropriate but almost compelled in this case. so death in the gas chamber he said. >> the very name manson has become a metaphor for evil. catapulting him to almost myth logical proportions. and there is a side to human nature for whatever reason, that is fascinated by pure unalloyed evil. >> if the death penalty is to mean anything in the state of california other than two empty word this unquestionably a proper case for the imposition of the death penalty. >> the california supreme court ruled that the death penalty is

unconstitutional. save five women, 202 men including charles manson from the gas chamber. >> should there be a supreme penalty for committing a crime? >> what do you think? >> i'm the one asking you. >> if i don't give you the answer you want. >> doesn't matter to me. it's your opinion. >> i don't have the authority to say anything like that. >> you have the authority to believe. >> i believe what i am told to believe. don't you? ♪ ♪

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the boy was shot right at the side of the car. the girl when she tried to run. she was shot and found 2 feet further on. >> do you have any idea what the possible motive might be for the killing? >> we have no motive at this time. >> the zodiac killer. >> unknown person committed dozens of murders in the 1960s. 1970s. we don't know the full dimensions of the case. we know he is a zodiac. he started writing to the police, claiming credit in great detail. articulating and explaining what he did to the victims. >> the chronicle received two letters. they notified us. the criminologist was sent to the newspaper as were inspectors. the two letters were examined

and opened. >> the zodiac's reaching out to the police. repeatedly. and in great length, was something new. >> the psychotic killer has already murdered five. one at a lover's lane near a lake north of san francisco. three others in nearby valle skrchlt jo, the latest a taxi driver in san francisco. the zodiac killer craves publicity. he recounted his crimes, threatening more murders and making bay area residents very edgy. >> in the '70s there was a certain kind of killer who had the skill to get away with murder. long enough to assemble a body count where they would be classified as serial killer. >> in los angeles, a killer the police are calling the hillside strangler has murdered ten young women and left their bed on tod the hillside along the highways. today police found another. number 11.

>> two young paperboys discovered what is the latest victim. the body dumped down an embankment. the victim was a woman, 20 years old. the body was nude. >> the series of murders had a chilling effect upon the people of the city. >> in los angeles more women are learning to defend themselves. susan skipped night school for a week. she says she can't sleep because of the murders. >> i guess i just want to learn how to maybe give myself a few second so i can live. >> there have been enough bodies found over a would enough area to strongly suggest more than one killer. but police say they really don't know. today the los angeles police say they have a suspect. a man in jail in another state. >> los angeles police say they have enough evidence to charge 27-year-old kenneth bianci with the killings. focused on bianci after he was arrested for the murder of two college students in washington state. >> what the police did not know there was not one strangler there was two.

today in a bellingham, washington courtroom, kevin bianci in hopes of avioiding a death sentence confessed and went on to accuse his does isn't of being an accomplice. >> kenneth bianci, motivated trying to show his older cousin that he radioveevered he was to. >> we see this time and time again. pairs of killers urge each other on. and together they were extremely vsh vicious and violent. >> is there any doubt this is a bed? >> no doubt. [ indiscernible ] >> when did you first get word there might be some body buried here? >> this morning. >> have you had any indication before? >> no. >> the man behind the killings was dean coral, 33 years old or was. he was shot and killed wednesday evening by wayne henley, 17

years old. andteenagers. >> dean coral would pick up kids once he had them in his house he would incapacitate them and put them on his death board and rape and kill them. >> the texas sex and torture killings have now become the worst mass murders in american history. four more body of young boys were dug up today. that brings to 27 the number of body discovered so far. >> some people trying to make it appear that the police department has not done all that it could or should have done in these cases. >> the police department feels that these parents are not exactly discharging their own responsibilities as far as raising and disciplining their children. >> these shocking murders finally focus national attention on a major problem that of runaway children and what can happen to them. >> the children have run away from home are not the children

we had running away in the '60s. in the '60s we had what we cauliflower children they ran away for sociopolitical reason. today children are running from a situation rather than to a situation. >> kids were disappearing. the police would say "well they probably ran away." it was to the demise of many who in fact were picked up by sexual sadists like gacy. >> in deplains, illinois, near chicago, a man who served time in prison for sex crimes was let out to. day they found the bodies of at least three young boys buried under his house. >> police today found six more bodies under the john gacey house. >> illinois authorities today made their first positive identification of the 28 bodies unearthed so far. >> this grisly search ended tonight and will be resumed after christmas. >> prior to his arrest, gacey was well known in the community. he frequently dressed ein a clon outfit for benefit of youngsters. seen as a man young people liked. >> the coroner of the county has

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from new york this is abc news. >> good evening. the supreme court ruled today that there is nothing

unconstitutional in the death penalty. the court says the death penalty is an expression of society's moral outrage at particular crimes. >> in the 1970s we had a four-year moratorium on the death penalty. the u.s. supreme court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional. eventually in 1976, with new statutes, the u.s. supreme court said it is constitutional and then we started seeing the death penalty back in place death row is repopulated with new criminals like gary gilmore. >> seems the people of utah want the death penalty but don't want executions. i took them literal, when they sentenced me to death. >> crime were not especially extreme. it was two robbery murders. when he was convicted, he wanted to die, wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. two days later he was put to death by a firing squad. and became the very first in america in the new era to be executed. and his word were "let's do it."

>> the order of the 4th judicial district court of the state of utah has been carried out. gary mark gilmore is dead. ♪ >> tonight our topic will be murder. as a growth industry. these are the national homicide figures. for the past ten years, every year has set a new high for murder in america. >> the statistics were stupendous. violent crime of all kind were soaring. the spectacles that people were seeing on their tv screen were unlike anything they have had to absorb before. >> small grocery store has been robbed. >> the owner of the grocery store, nathan hurt has been shot and killed. >> they understand a man came into the store and had a gun asked for money and my grandfather reached for the gun he had and grabbed the man's gun. and it want off. he shot him twice. my grandfather fell to the

floor. >> why did he feel he had to have a gun? >> there were so many robberies. he felt he needed it. >> today ordinary citizens who were not otherwise dream of having a gun are buying one because they are scared out of their wits. >> william rubiak, ukrainian immigrant owns a store outside washington, d.c. he has been robbed at gun point four times in the past two years. now william rubiak bought a gun. he says next time he will use it. >> i will shoot. and i will shoot to kill. >> fear is the biggest seller of guns. studies have shown each urban crime wave touched off a new round of gun buying. >> we have german lugers, dering errs, small revolvers, magnums, some saturday night specials are small they can be palmed in your hand. >> shortly after 10:00, the president left his hotel. not seen by the cameras but spotted by the secret service

agent a hand with a gun in it coming through the crowd. the commotion erupted. secret service agents forced the sailant to the ground and handcuffed her. she was identified as 27-year-old lynette alice fromm, one of the earliest followers of charles manson involved in the tate-labianca murders. >> before gerald ford becomes president, charlie writes to squeaky. they have new rules. they want to do one big thing that will get the nation's attention back on charlie. so squeaky wearing a red robe comes up to the president of the united states with a big gun, points the gun in his face. the secret serviceman wrestles him to tground. her first word are can you believe the gun didn't go off? >> following your brush with death, has this convinced you that we need tough gun control in the country. >> i prefer to go after the

person who uses the gun for an illegal or criminal purpose. that to me is a far better approach than the one where you require registration of the individual or the gun. >> just minutes after making those statements, gerald ford walked into the street and heard the sound of gunfire. [ gunfire ] >> my god, there's been a shot. there's ben a shot. there's been a shot. we're being pushed back by the police. somebody has fired a shot. we don't know if anybody has been hit. my god. somebody fired a shot. >> the president was not hit. witnesses heard the sound and saw a puff of smoke. the woman, identified by police as sarah gene moore was immediately seized.

>> sarah jean moore, jumped out of the crowd. fired a weapon. her background was sort of eccentric, lower rung, political figure, kind of an odd duck. >> when gerald ford became president within the space of two months, two attempts on his life. both tried to shoot him. it was look whike what is going? why can't they be stopped? >> once again the nation narrowly escaped the trauma, the assassination of our president. above all else this points out the need for some additional measures, some additional precautions to protect the life of the highest elected official in the country. will it take another assassination in our lifetime to finally force some action?

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in the '70s, new york was really in danger. the whole social fabric seemed to have been torn in half and crime was just one of the many indications that we were about. >> the last ten years the homicide rate increased by leaps and bounds. we hit our peak probably in 1972 when the bronx had 430 homicide.

>> in the '70s, the bronx looked like berlin after world war ii. literally looked like berlin. >> 1.5 million people live in this borough. once that smoke on the horizon, signified industry, jobs. it means someone is burning down a building. it's become the arson capital of the world. it happens 30 times a day. and the flames are signal of a national disaster. is there anything that can change the situation? >> the bronx my own estimation is doomed with a capital d. >> a lot of gritty stuff went down in new york. when you think of new york in the '70s. you think of the son of sam murders. >> christine fromm, 26 years old, soon to be married is dead today. dead in a shooting that has no apparent motive. >> the end of 1976 they transfer me to queens homicide. and the first victim that i can come across is a woman, sitting in a car with her boyfriend.

coming from a movie. and she got her head blown off. >> there was a series of these random shootings. and the ballistics comparison determined there was indeed the same killer using the same gun, 44 caliber weapon on these homicide. therefore, the police nicknamed it the 44 caliber killer. >> struck again on april 17th. at 3:00 in the morning. killing valentina siriani, and her fiance as they sat in a parked car in the baychester section of the bronx. >> it was that scene where the shooting occurred left a note addressed to my supervisor. and he called himself the son of sam. >> well he talked about being possessed by a man he refers to as sam. and the man he refers to as his father. he says his father requires blood. >> this got people's attention. i think it was just the sheer

randomness of it. the fact that you could be doing something as simple sittingen a car talking to a friend and someone would come behind you and open fire. >> it was pretty terrifying. frightening. >> i was in charge of the night time operations. the task force wanted to shoot him. that was our job. take him out on the street. and we flooded the streets of new york. >> people died. we are trying to stop it, all right. everybody, not you, it's everybody. that's all we're trying to do. in terms of the victim count that doesn't place him at the top of the list. in terms of the deadly serial killers. it was new york city. what happens in new york city. well, that's -- that's international news. >> good evening. harry is on vacation. 100 more police join the hunt for the son of sam killer in new york. >> the search continues for the 44 caliber killer come to be known athe son of sam. >> he warned in one of his sick

and threatening letters to the press and the police, sam is a lad he won't let me stop killing until he had his phil of blood. -- until he had his fill of blood. [ sirens sounding ] >> it was a really miserably hot summer in new york. and everything went dafrnlrk. i heard some one on the street say, oh it is a black out. and the looters were out almost instantly. and it felt apocalyptic. i remember going to bed that night, thinking it was the end of the world. >> new york city in the early morning after a night of no electric power. what it did have in the dark streets a wild out burst of crime. >> when the greatest city in the world goes black it showed a crumbling america. then you have the son of sam on the loose. we always look for patterns in victims. there was a belief he was only

killing women with long dark hair. >> i know half the girls with long brown hair. when he go out, my friends and i go out at night. we put our hair up. my hair is done to my shoulder. i cut it short because killer. >> a 20-year-old new york city girl died this evening a day and a half achfter she and her companion were killed by the son of sam. a night time killer stalking the new york city boroughs for a year. >> a postal worker walked out of his yonkers apartment last night turned the ignition key in his car and found himself surrounded by police. well, he said, you got me. police say those word ended the biggest manhunt in new york city history with the capture of son of sam. and this is what they say tripped up the 44 caliber killer. a parking ticket.

david berkowitz drove this ford galaxy from his home in yonkers to bensonhearst. the place where he parked this fire hydrant. police had the lead they needed. >> we get him. i interrogate him. my attitude at this time i want to take him and throw hem out the window. thispathetic. like talking to a zucchini. never blinked. start to feel sorry for the guy. he is gone. right. >> i feel great. i think the people of our city will feel great relief. >> praise the lord. it's over. >> we're very, very happy. >> that what first thing i heard this morning. fantastic news. it was great. >> cheraw >> serial killers tend to be cunning. allows them to stay at large. when they get caught. good luck for us. bad luck for them.

>> we search his car. on the seat. a 44 caliber gun. we find a machine gun, fully loaded in the back seat. and the interrogation that i directed. i said, well, what were you going to do with the machine gun? he said i was on my way to the hamptons. and i was going to spray the place and kill as many people as i could. ♪ i built my business with passion. but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy for my studio. ♪ and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business... that's huge for my bottom line. what's in your wallet?

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there are so many in this place it is hard to tell one without taeelling about two to three. they make a beautiful flow of miracle. for 30 years i parade and i got nothing but disappointment and heartache. and now we have a father who loves each and every one so much. how thankful we are. thank you. >> the '70s were a very fertile period for the new religious movement. what is so interesting about the rise of cults in our country is how many people wanted to ally themselves with the stigmatized

and fanatical organizations. >> i must say its a great effort. no one else has the faculties that i do. when they do i will be glad to hold their coats. in the meantime i shall be god and there shall be no other. >> jim jones was an extraordinary figure. hea he was a community leader, social worker and minister. he carried his ministry to california. ♪ walk with me ♪ ♪ walk with me >> what was particularly distinctive about him at that time was that he created a community that was united between whites and blacks. and it came at a time when the country was still very racially divided. and churches were not integrated. >> some leaders say we have to have euthanasia, oh, no, oh, no, who is going to decide to who and when a person is going to die? we must never allow that. because this is the kind of

thing that ushers in the terror of a hitler's germany. we must not allow these kind of things into our consciousness. >> i wanted to write a story very much about this guy and his power and the reach he had. so i began to contact ex-members they said all is not so good inside. there was a lot of sex abuse. the story took on a new life at that point. very soon afterward the church members began leaving san francisco for guyana. [ indiscernible ] >> he figures if i'm in guyana it doesn't matter what is said or written. nobody is going to get me here. ♪ we're a happy family we're a happy family yes we are ♪ ♪ ♪ >> it was an escapade, almost unparalleled in the history of religious movement. they had very little communication with their loved

ones at home. and naturally there was concern about where they had gone and what was happening out there in the jungle. awe i think jim jones took his group down there he was afraid to face the publicity and answer the questions here in this country. >> he was talking helping people. he was talking -- >> what about now? what is your impression now? >> my impression now is it all a front for him. i think he has gone crazy. >> started hearing the name jim jones more regularly. he wanted to expose what he believed was going on down there that was wrong. and he thought it was certainly worth inviting members of the press to join him. >> very glad to be here. >> i can tell you right now whatever the comments are there are people here that believe

this is the best thing that ever happened to them in their whole life. >> so it's toward the end of the evening. don harris, the nbc reporter had been walking around the pavilion. and two people slipped him a note. he hand the notes over to congressman ryan who opens them. and says, oh, my god it is true. everything we have been told is true. >> then the word spread. and more and more people wanted to leave. [ indiscernible ] >> then i remember seeing this couple with a child between them. >> you bring him back!

>> you could feel the tension. >> last night, someone came and passed me this note. >> they lie. they lie. what can i do about liars? please leave us. >> instead of just letting that plane take off with minimal damage to his movement, jones snapped. >> good evening. for about the last 30 hours we here at nbc news have been trying to establish what happened last night at the airstrip at a place. we have a particular interest. two nbc newsmen were shot to death there. don harris was killed. bob brown was killed. congressman ryan was shot, 45 times. >> every time somebody would fall down wounded, they would walk over and shoot them in the head with a shotgun.

>> i was shot five times. i was lying on my side with my head down pretending i was dead. and -- then all of a sudden then just came and shot me at point-blank range. >> they're shooting people die include ryan. and back in jonestown, jim jones is calling for a revolutionary suicide. where we are all going to kill ourselves and make a statement to the world. >> my first time to jonestown last evening at sunset. absolute silence. nothing living around. jonestown last evening was the city of the dead. >> they found potassium cyanide poison mixed with kool-aid.

it killed quickly. within five minutes. >> we will never know how many people voluntarily drank the poison. other people were coerced, brainwashed or took it against their will. they were murdered. >> i was lifted into this medevac plane. and i was so grateful. >> good evening. american soldiers have finished counting the body in jonestown, guyana. 910 died in the poison richable of the people's temple last week. >> this was americans killing other americans and themselves. in its own interest, or well being, this nation will have to find out why.

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>> there were a lot of strange people who committed a lot of strange crimes in the 1970s. but none of them was as mediagenic as ted bundy. >> surprised? i don't know. i didn't know what to expect. i've never been in jail before. i've never been arrested before. >> we didn't know exactly how many he killed. we know it's dozens. he was handsome.

he didn't seem like the glassy-eyed lunatic that many americans believed a serial killer would be. >> i still didn't believe it. i keep shaking my head day after day saying how can this be? our son is the best son in the world. >> what the press wrote about bundy and his crimes wasn't the full details. the full extent of the barbarism. he would have sex with the corpses. it didn't quite fit with the boy next door image. >> do you still feel that? >> yeah, yeah. more than ever. >> do you think about getting out of here? >> well, legally, sure. >> bundy was to stand trial on the murder of a young woman in aspen. he was left alone in a law library.

bundy escaped out a second floor window. >> he got lost up there and he probably would have died of exposure if they hadn't had arrested him. he was put back in jail. and, in christmas time, 1977, he escaped again. >> bundy, starved down to less than 140 pounds slipped through a hole in the ceiling of his cell and was free again. >> the f.b.i. put bundy on its 10 most wanted list. >> ted did not have a plan when he escaped. he just wanted to get as far away from when he might be identified as he could. so he stole a car and went to florida. >> he's under 24 hour guard and faces intense questioning. >> bundy was living in tallahassee at the time when five florida state university coeds were attacked on or near the campus.

two of the young women died as a result of the attacks. >> the police in pensacola, florida, stopped a man driving a stolen car and to their surprise and pleasure, it was bundy. >> what do we have here? oh, it's an indictment. all right. why don't you read it to me. you're about due for election, aren't you? >> mr. bundy? >> you told me you were going to get me. he said he was going to get me. okay. you've got the indictment. that's all you're going to get. >> bundy, having some law training and a great deal of arrogance, decided to represent himself. for him, he was the star in the courtroom. >> don't shake your finger at me young man. >> inside the courtroom, the trial would be covered by a still photographer and one television camera. upstairs there are some 250 television reporters and technicians from arnold the country.

>> bundy's personality is unusual to a lot of people. he doesn't fit the ushlt profile. >> each day, drawn by a fascination with bundy himself orr by the gruesome details of the crime. what is unusual to see is that many of the onlookers are women. >> you try to imagine someone in his place, to see how he's feeling. >> the bizarre spectacle of ted bundy as a sex symbol really bummed out feminists, as you can imagine. he became a folk hero. there were t-shirts because he was handsome. but, on the other hand, his violence was so incredibly woman-hating. and his enthuse yans about that wound up being pretty depressed. >> i had a broken arm and a crushed finger.

>> i had five skull fractures and multiple contusions in my head. >> would you point him out for us, please? >> are you prepared for a guilty verdict? >> i think so, but you never know. i've never had to go through this. >> after 6 1/2 hours of deliberation, the jury had a verdict. 32-year-old theodore bundy remained composed. guilty of the murder of two sorority sisters 19 months ago. >> it is therefore the sentence of this court that you be sentenced to death by a current of electricity. and such current of electricity shall continue to pass through your body until you are dead. >> in some ways, ted bundy is an icon of the '70s. he kind of mixed showbiz and violence in a way that had never been done before.

>> at the end of the '70s, we've had a destruction of our innocence that we had at the beginning of the '70s. >> it became an era when americans began to expect the worst. >> america certainly had lost is e its way. criminals were lauded and killers were row mant sized. >> it was the news media that helped carry this message that america is a dangerous place. that americans had a love affair with violence. actuallily, it was much more like a marriage. and that marriage, for some people, was until death do them part. >> struck our cities as an em demic. and they identify some of the causes. poverty, broken homes. for some, violence has become a permanent part of the fabric of life. sociologists call it a subculture of violence. the current wave of violent crime is well into its second decade.

while we've deplored violence, we haven't done much about it. perhaps because this is confronting the violence forces us to confront the most serious defekts in our society. >> it is 10:00 p.m. in columbia, the capital of south carolina. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. in just ten hours, this con fed rat flag is going to come down. can you believe it? it has been flying here for more than 50 years. the governor of this state order that the flag be removed and the countdown has begun until it is down for good. we're going to be here live for the ceremony and after. i'm going to bring in now a colleague, you have been here covering this all this week.