Leno LaBianca’s “Inaction Reaction”…

My guy Dan has a kinda crush on Rosemary, Gibby and of course Sharon…well , Sharon, no, he worships her from afar as he feels he, as a mere moth, can’t get too close to such a white-hot flame…poor guy…
But my guy Dan is, well, a GUY, you know.

You can’t help but think that his sexual attraction to the female victims of TLB doesn’t have some merit here. That they were, after all, flesh and blood once upon a time…
And to that end, I began to look at all the victims in a more human, tangible way (excuse the use of the word “tangible”; the word was recently given to me by someone…sigh…), Leno LaBianca included. Maybe, as it were, such a viewpoint could almost bring him back from the dead and view him NOT as an over-weight, middle-aged American man, but as a virile, WWII Military Police vet with probably more than one good physical reason why Rosemary decided he was the guy for her…
I never had the pleasure, of course, to know Leno but MsBurb thinks he would have been quite an attractive force with which to be reckoned, according to statements made by his then ex-wife, Alice and other family members.
Funny.
A go-getter.
Energy-packed.
A Family Man.
A Man’s Man.
Handsome in his youth and none too shabby in ‘69.
Ohhhhh, yeah, Dan, I get what you’re seeing now with these victims! Baaaaad, Danny, baaaaaad!
I digress.
Leno was a Man’s Man and, according to Alice in at least one interview, had enough of an Italian temper that could bull-doze a bull dozer IF anyone pushed him too far. Sounds like that’s right on the mark for any Military policeman I’ve ever met.
Seems fair, after all, he was Italian, he had survived everything WWII had flung at him, he lived to ride the tubular edge of Life in his work and at the horse track. Hell yeah, I bet you could push Leno around for only so long and get away with it!
Rosemary and MsBurb are starting to see the same man now…pity he’s not around for me to swoon over, huh?
“Where is all this gushy stuff going, MsBurb? Or are you just having an unusually frisky day?”
Well, TLB2ers, that is a two part question, and, ummm, well, ahhh, forget it…sigh…
As per the party of the first part, well, now that you ask, yes, there is a point.
Leno, according to all who knew him, had NEVER been a push-over. He grabbed Life by the tail and swung IT, not the other way around.
So, one wonders (or MsBurb does, but then again, she forgets to take her meds sometimes too!) WHY Leno, if according to the established record, did NOT attempt an escape, at least to save his wife, in the period between when supposedly Charlie had tied up the LaBiancas but before Tex and the girls had entered the house?
Manson Family researcher, the late Bill Nelson, when interviewed by Geraldo, had no valid reason for this mystery, but I, “The Amazing MsBurb”, do!
Leno and Rosemary were never alone once the gang struck that night. Period. Simple Dimple.
Here, I'll repeat it if my cocktail glass got in your way…
Leno and Rosemary were never left unattended in that house.
I agree. Assessing this possibility is fraught with problems as we are at the mercy of witness statements made by KILLERS…sigh, and you just KNOW how consistent and truthful this bunch has been in the past. And mercilessly, we have Linda Kasabian and her wild and woolly ways as the primary witness on this.
Sigh…
Makes you wanna go out and magically relive the murders all over again…but have Helen Keller as a witness, doncha? You’d get farther!
But, there ARE ways of assessing the possibility of this scenario.
1) The Effect of LSD on Perception - Everyone in that Ford that night was high on LSD to a certain degree, all testifying that Charlie had given them a light dose of said in the Gun Room at Spahn’s shortly before they departed. As per a White Paper written in 1964 (Click Pic to Read Thesis) , LSD is known to enhance the internal sensory processes but can have a limiting effect on one’s vision, especially the peripheral vision, specifically the right side vision, the kind needed to accurately see out the 3301 Waverly Drive side windows of the Ford that night, to know who walked up the Harold True/Leno LaBianca properties, and when.
White Paper Summary -
“Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of lysergic acid diethylamide on patterns of fading and regeneration of stabilized retinal images.
Under the drug, the whole target was visible more often than with a placebo, and distortions of the target were reported more frequently. In addition, the visibility of the vertical components of the targets increased under LSD-25. These changes, however, depended on the orientation of the figure. In the placebo sessions, the left side of the figures was visible more often.”

The National Institute of Drug Abuse (Click Pic to View Website and Research) has done quite the exhaustive analysis of the effects of hallucinogens on the human brain and their summary is as follows -

“Drugs with street names like acid, angel dust, and vitamin K distort the way a user perceives time, motion, colors, sounds, and self. These drugs can disrupt a person's ability to think and communicate rationally, or even to recognize reality, sometimes resulting in bizarre or dangerous behaviour. Hallucinogens such as LSD cause emotions to swing wildly and real-world sensations to assume unreal, sometimes frightening aspects. Dissociative drugs like PCP and ketamine may make a user feel disconnected and out of control.”

“The precise mechanism by which LSD alters perceptions is still unclear. Evidence from laboratory studies suggests that LSD, like hallucinogenic plants, acts on certain groups of serotonin receptors designated the 5-HT2 receptors, and that its effects are most prominent in two brain regions: One is the cerebral cortex, an area involved in mood, cognition, and perception; the other is the locus ceruleus, which receives sensory signals from all areas of the body and has been described as the brain's "novelty detector" for important external stimuli.

LSD's effects typically begin within 30 to 90 minutes of ingestion and may last as long as 12 hours. Users refer to LSD and other hallucinogenic experiences as "trips" and to the acute adverse experiences as ‘bad trips.”
2) Charlie’s M.O. – this cat just doesn’t really have the balls to carry out what he initiates, it seems, unless, as with the Crowe debacle, his life is in direct danger. He has enough bravado to fill Madison Square Garden but as with most jail-house talkers, that’s about as far as anything gets…just talk.
That, and of course, why the heck stain your own hands with blood when you have perfectly good acid-laden killer zombies in the car with ya?!
Yep, Charlie is all about the manipulation, education and coordination of evil but damn if he ever is Satan's executioner; hence, and to throw it in layman’s terms – the little dude skedaddled BEFORE the slimy part of the evening began…

IF it had only ever been puny little Manson who had pointed a gun at Leno, me thinks Leno would have bided his time and jumped ol’ Charlie as quick as you can blow a M.P.s whistle.

Yes, I know, Leno, by ‘69, was no 20 year old anymore but by every indication he was no arthritic slouch either.

What would have stopped him and the other TLB victims in their tracks was Tex Watson, the 6’2” tall Zombie Lieutenant, who had no problems carrying out his Master’s devilish deeds, and with the look of sheer killer-instinct in his cold, dark eyes, Leno would have known right from the get-go NOT to mess with Tex, and subsequently anything the little dude, Charlie, asked of him.

Even Susan Atkins later admitted that Tex had almost super-human strength on the nights of TLB, akin to the stories told of people lifting cars up off of victims in a pure adrenalin rush.

Leno, of course, knew that he had his wife in the bedroom and men instinctively will often defray the possibility of a physical confrontation just to protect any collateral damage from washing over onto their partner.

If you look closely at the way  Leno’s wrists were tied, although the raw hide was Manson’s, the strength used to cinch up Leno is incredibly visual, the strength one would adhere to a Zombie Lieutenant of scary stature rather than “Little Lloyd Fauntleroy”, aka “The Soul”.

I KNOW, this is purely conjecture on my part, so pardon the temptation, but if you’d prefer NOT to buy that particular piece of Florida swampland I have for sale, then consider the fact that even old Charlie knew NOT to leave any trace of himself in that house, never directly touching Leno nor Rosemary, so my guess is he wouldn’t have wanted to leave a biological Manson calling-card left on these proposed Family victims either.

3) Manson In His Own Words (pgs.209-11) – Even if you’d prefer NOT to agree with MsBurb insofar as Manson and the Truth Factor lie, he himself gives quite a compelling description of what went down at 3301 Waverly that night…

“After over two hours of driving with nothing coming down, I thought of an area out near Griffith Park. In the past we had partied at a guy’s pad in that neighbourhood. It was a pretty ritzy area with some pretty big homes. A couple of the kids recognized the house, and said again, ‘We aren’t, are we?’ ‘No,’ I said, ‘I’m thinking about the house across the street. Wait here, I’ll be right back.

I walked up a long driveway and looked in a window. The only person I could see was a heavy-set guy about forty-five years old who had fallen asleep while reading a newspaper. Satisfied that this was where the night’s work would start, I went back to the car and got Tex. The two of us, me with a gun [gun was never positively ID’d] and Tex with a knife [second of the half dozen bayonets Charlie had previously bought at the surplus store for $1 each], went to the backdoor. It was open. A big dog met us as we entered, but instead of barking or growling he licked my hand. we went into the living room. To wake the sleeper up, I nudged him with the gun [see what I’m saying about no Manson direct touching of the victims!]. His eyes opened to see a pistol pointed at his face. With a startled look and an equally startled voice, he asked, ‘Who—who are you? What are you doing here? What do you want?’ ‘Just relax, pal,’ I said. ‘We’re [ not “I” here, “We”] not going to hurt you, just be cool. Don’t be afraid.’ He was honest in his reply: ‘That’s easy enough for you to say, but how can I help but be afraid, when you’ve got a gun pointed at me?’ ‘It’s all right man, nothin’s going to happen to you, all we [“We” over “Me” again] want is your money. is there anyone else in the house?’ ‘Yes, my wife’s in the bedroom, but don’t bother her. I’ll give you all I have,’ he answered.

I handed Tex a leather thong and had him tie the fellow’s hands behind his back while I went to the bedroom after his wife. Like her husband, she was asleep. I pulled the covers off of her and touched her shoulder, saying, ‘Wake up, lady, you got company.’ [can’t you just picture Charlie in this house, saying these things?! Like it was August 10, 1969 and MsBurb is right beside the little coot!]. Her sleepy eyes focused on me. Then, with a start, she sat up and grabbed for the covers in an effort to hide her body. She had a nightgown on, but to assist her in her modesty, I handed her a dress that was folded over the back of a chair. She quickly pulled it over her nightgown, and said, ‘What are you doing here? What do you want?’ She was a pretty lady, close to forty, and very composed, considering a stranger with a gun pointed at her was in her bedroom. ‘Don’t be alarmed, lady, no one’s going to get hurt,’ I said. ‘We’re just after some money.’ With that I moved her into the living room. ‘Okay, where’s your money?’ I asked them both. ‘In my wallet in the bedroom,’ her husband answered, ‘ and some more in my wife’s purse.’ I sent Tex to get the wallets [see how Charlie gets Tex to do the dirty, hands-on work, people?]. They contained less than a hundred dollars. ‘Is that it?’ I asked. ‘Yes, that’s all we have here, but if you take me to my store, there’s more. All you want.’

I thought about leaving Tex and some of the girls to guard the wife while the guy took me to his store. Hell, I thought, if he owns a store and has offered me anything I want, maybe there were big bucks there [if he only know, huh?]. But then I thought, he’s just buying time. Maybe there was a store and maybe there wasn’t. He might just be looking for a way to trap us. No, what I had in hand would have to do.

When we left the ranch, I had been geared to handle some of the dirty work [actions speak louder than words, Charlie!]. The kids had done their thing last night, and I was going to perform for them tonight. But these two people were not panicking or doing anything that might set off a surge of temper that would make me strike out at them [pretty clear sign that Charlie is NOT a sociopath]. Somehow I couldn’t make that first move. Thinking that if just the husband and I were head-on I could initiate the attack, I told Tex to take the lady back to her bedroom. I purposely turned my back on the guy to watch Tex and the lady go out of the room, thinking he would make a lunge at me [probably would have, had his wife not been present, in my opinion] and in defense I could do what had to be done. He didn’t, and when Tex came back, I told him, ‘Guard them, I’ll send the girls back.’ [Proof that Leno was NEVER alone during this period to affect an escape, People!] I walked to the car and told Katie and Leslie to go give Tex a hand. ‘Do it good!' Make sure it’s done so the pigs will put it together with Hinman and that pad last night. We’re going to find another house. When you finish up, hitch back to the ranch and we’ll see you there.”

What Linda offers as the “truth” on the stand just cannot be. And according to Charlie’s psychological make-up and need for back-up at all times with stressful situations (look at how T.J. had to be Charlie’s back-up with Crowe!), Leno LaBianca had ZILCH time to affect any kind of offensive plan or escape, for either he or his wife.

The “Inaction Reaction” NEVER existed because Leno was NEVER given an opportunity to affect any kind of action at all!

The visual and auditory perception of Linda and the others waiting in the Ford that night was definitely degraded enough so that knowing who said what and who went where, when, can never be accurately judged through these kids, in my opinion. Hence, Leno did what he could only do - wait for an outcome that I’m sure he was praying would be anything what it was.

The super-human strength of Tex and the durability of that leather thong would have insured Leno’s fate that night. And if you look closely at

this photo, you can see the finger clenching Leno was doing to endure the pain, fight and thwart off his attack. In the end, with the bayonet and Tex’s strength, nothing Leno could have done would have helped…and because there was NO time period of killer absence in that home, there was no time to react.

Rest in peace, Mr. LaBianca. The ones of us who are carefully listening to your evidence story understand your plight that night.