The

Here's a mere smattering of the neighborhood notables: Aimee Semple McPherson, Haing Ngor, Edward Hickman, William Desmond Taylor (and here), the LaBianca house, Dolly Oesterreich, Rampart Police Station (formerly a gangster hangout called Cafe Roost, where a well-known bad guy took eight slugs to the body and face), Antonio Moreno (first owner of the big house--which he called Crestmount--on the top of the Michaeltorena hill), Ruth Judd, Alexander Pantages (and here)...so many!

Some books include:

Hollywood Death Scenes (with addresses)
Hollywood Death and Scandal Sites (with addresses)
Sins of the City (great noirish photos, plenty of dirt)
For the People (coffee-table book about famous trials)
Fallen Angels (reference book, with addresses, on famous LA crimes)

Here are some Web sites:

Where the Stars Died, Find a Grave (unfortunately, we didn't have time on our tour to visit any cemeteries), Beneath Los Angeles.

Note this tour guide's well-chosen shirt. She is reading from a photocopy--we all got to share.

And what a story she told--the terrible fates of the little rascals, those kids in the "Our Gang" shorts.

But that's not all! There was also the story of the marital troubles of Jerome and Betty Ferreri, who lived in the then-exclusive neighborhood of Hancock Park (Lucerne Blvd., to be exact). In 1948, after years of beatings, she dispatched him with a meat cleaver. The press loved it, especially the trial in which she detailed his imaginative sadism. Then there was the part about the handyman who shot Jerome twice before Betty finished the job. The handyman pleaded insanity. Murder is women's work.

This tour guide warned us of the dangers of pranking, telling about two friends who went a little too far with ye olde hot foot gag, leading to resentment and murder.

Later, she also told the heartwarming story of a family shotgun murder-suicide at 1612 N. Hillhurst.

This tour guide gets pissed at the peanut gallery and tells them to shut the hell up or there will be no trip to McDonald's.

Hers was the oft-overlooked tale of one of LA's first serial killers, Harvey Glatmann, who advertised for models to tie up and photograph for sleazy girlie magazines. Little did those young ladies suspect....

A very recent scandal site in Echo Park.

Homeowner Paul Jacobsen was the quiet type who kept to himself--until one day....

L. Ron Hubbard way, the site of a Scientology murder.

John Colletto lost his marbles after undergoing one of Scientology's wackier courses of enlightenment. In August 1978 at the corner of this street and Fountain, he shot and killed his wife, then ran off and killed himself.

Thanks to Margie Schnibbe for the pictures of the event.

Main

From: jesse_prince@minton.org (Jesse Prince) Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: Welcome to the Sea Org, Marty Rathbun

This story is about Marty Rathbun. The year is circa 1978. I [Jesse Prince] was forcefully incarcerated in the PAC RPF, and I had been since one week before my 22nd birthday in March 1977. We were....to renovate what is now the big blue building on Sunset Avenue in Los Angeles....We lived in a slave labor camp environment and for weeks on end were on a schedule of working 30 hours on and three hours off for sleep, so that we could "meet deadlines." People were literally dropping like flies, which resulted in many unnecessary injuries. I remember one person, Bobby Schaffner, who cut off part of a finger during this time. He was so numb that it meant nothing to him, but he was happy to be off, since he could at least sleep for a while.

But my RPF experience is not the subject I'm trying to cover here; that's another story. I'm just trying to set the stage here. Now, it happened one day that a fellow named John Coletto was routed to the RPF forcefully. By "forcefully," I mean he was surrounded by others who forced him to go, just the way it happened to me. He came from the Pubs Org, which later came to be known as Bridge Publications, Inc., or BPI. His wife Diane Coletto was the Commanding Officer, or CO, of the Pubs Org, and she had been instructed to divorce her husband John because he was a "criminal." Well, this sent John "over the top." After some weeks, he managed to escape the PAC RPF and shortly afterwards called Scientology officials to let them know that they had turned his wife against him (a common practice in Scientology), and he was going to kill her. Diane was assigned a body guard. A new person who just routed onto the EPF (Estates Project Force). The EPF is where you get your initial Sea Org training (brainwashing).

Marty was in a car with Diane driving down what is now known as L. Ron Hubbard Way, when out of nowhere here comes John, her husband, and he has a gun in his hand. John stopped the car and got into an argument with Diane because she would not leave with him. He then took the gun and emptied it into her body. Blood and guts were everywhere. He then took the gun and pointed it at Marty and started to shoot - click, click, click - no more bullets. Marty sat there in shock staring at John as John stared at him. Marty had blood, bone and guts all over him and barely escaped death that day. John ran off and was found dead himself a few days later for self-inflicted wounds from the same gun he used to kill his wife. This was Marty Rathbun's introduction to the Sea Org. Marty was assigned a special Guardian's Office auditor and spent months trying to audit out the incident. He became part of OSA and was watched and guarded himself for a long time.

Little David Miscavige often beat Marty up (in the presence of bigger stronger goons, of course) and all of this has an effect on a person. I'm sure Marty was a decent person before, but now he probably feels hopeless and is just waiting for his life to end, as, seemingly, that is the only way out of the Sea Org for him in his mind. I want Marty to know it's OK to leave. In fact, Marty, run away as fast as you can. I'll make sure you won't get hurt any more. Your suffering will be over for good…. I promise. Respectfully submitted, Jesse Prince Back to The Life and Times of "Marty" Mark Rathbun Back to Loose Ends webchyk@wwwaif.net