Which one? Of the few Manson books I read, this one was the best. It paints a more reasonable picture than the legend suggests. They were involved in killing a drug deal and left graphitti on the wall to throw off the cops. One dude got arrested (for driving the dead guy's car, I think). They decided to stage a similar killing so as to show the guy in custody was innocent. Melcher's house was picked because they were familiar with it. They played on racial tensions of the time and starting any "war" was more like a side-effect at best. I'm guessing Manson wanted to lash out at Melcher and that was part of why his old house was chosen. But bottom line, no dead drug-dealer or arrest and no Tate-LaBianca.