Short answers, pulled from the story.
Charles Milles Manson was born on the 12th of November 1934, in Cincinnati General Hospital to Ada Kathleen Maddox. His biological father appears to have been Colonel Walker Henderson Scott Sr., a man who claimed to be an army officer but was actually just a con artist with a local reputation for deception.
Charles Manson committed his first documented crime by robbing a grocery store in 1948 and later attempted to cash a forged U.S. Treasury check in September 1959. He was convicted of violating the Mann Act in June 1960 and spent significant time in federal prisons including McNeil Island and Terminal Island before his release in March 1967.
Charles Manson established a base for the Family at the Spahn Ranch in August 1968 after their eviction from Dennis Wilson's residence. He targeted emotionally insecure individuals and social outcasts, using LSD and unconventional sexual practices to program followers to submit to his will.
The victims at Cielo Drive included Sharon Tate who was 8 months pregnant, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Anne Folger, William Garretson, and Steven Earl Parent. The victims at the LaBianca home were Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary LaBianca.
The prosecution argued that the triggering of Helter Skelter was Charles Manson's main motive for the Tate-LaBianca murders. Manson believed an imminent apocalyptic race war would occur and that the murders were intended to start this conflict by writing racial slurs in blood.
The trial began on the 15th of June 1970 with Charles Manson appearing in court with an X carved into his forehead. Manson and his followers were charged with seven counts of murder and one count of conspiracy, with Susan Atkins and Leslie Van Houten receiving immunity or specific charges based on their participation.