Prosecutor in Charles Manson trial dies

Vincent Bugliosi — the prosecutor in the Charles Manson trial who went on to write best-selling true-crime book Helter Skelter — has died at the age of 80.

His son, Vincent Bugliosi Jr, said his father died of cancer at a hospital in Los Angeles on Saturday.

Bugliosi won convictions against Manson and three followers for the shocking 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others. He turned their trial into a marathon showcase for the bizarre lifestyle of Manson and his tribe of followers known as the Manson Family. It was the longest and most expensive criminal trial in Los Angeles history at the time.