He was saved from meningitis in the l940s by the discovery of penicillin. Synanon pressured old club members to leave and complaints led to the city taking a wrongful action that may have changed Synanons course in history. According to court records, the group also formed a militant branch, known as the "Imperial Marines," to inflict violence against opponents of the organization - including former Synanon members. To keep people in, he posted and announced as a warning all reports of anyone who left and returned to drugs. Given its growing popularity, it began to spread throughout California, and Synanon became a counter-culture community by 1964. By then Synanon's assets, including real estate, ten aircraft, 400 cars, trucks and motorcycles, totaled around $33 million. Control over members occurred through the Synanon Game. The Game could be considered a therapeutic tool, likened to group therapy; or a social control, in which members humiliated one another and encouraged the exposure of ones innermost weaknesses, or both. This included taking vengeance against. Believed trespassers were taken into the basements of Santa Monica Del Mar building and worked over on directions of Dr. Robson. Ron Eidson, after a road skirmish, and refusing Dr. Robsons demand for apology, was pistol whipped and hospitalized while shotguns were held on his watching family. It was known for communal living, practices such as group "truth-telling" sessions they called "The Game," requiring married couples to split and take new partners and female members to shave their heads. Hollywood Park: A Memoir, by Mikel Jollett (founder of The Airborne Toxic Event) was published in May 2020 and describes Jollett's life in, and escape from Synanon. Finally, during the third stage, members both worked and lived outside of the community, but still attended regular meetings. The cult required mandatory abortions and vasectomies for its members, and married couples would accept new partners selected by Synanon every three years. Newcomers were first interviewed by Synanon leadership to gain entrance into the community. [32] The snake bit him, and he was hospitalized for six days. Dederich and his wife sat on thrones and often wore robs. Increasingly-wacko Dederich also created his own "Imperial Marines," while hundreds of his cult followers were ordered to get vasectomies and divorces! Cloudflare Ray ID: 78b89606dbb5b76a Imperial Marines carried an E-11 blaster rifle, a MiniMag shoulder-launched proton torpedo launcher, and multiple thermal . (Synanon vs. KGO, Los Angeles Times archives, CBS News archives)/ Law suits brought by Morantz, and ones by Synanon against ABC and Time Magazine ultimately turned out to be Synanons undoing, giving through legal investigation journalists access to some internal documents on violence. By BRANDON MESSICK [email protected] Dec 9, 2018 Updated Aug 21, 2022 2 Stay Informed.. "[7][8], Charles Dederich, a member of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), was known to speak for hours uninterrupted at AA meetings. The Department of Justice in the 80s, hiring Morantz and sociologist Richard Offshe as consultants, sued Synanon to remove its tax-free status retroactively for committing a reign of terrorism. [41], Father William B. O'Brien, the founder of New York's Daytop Village, included Synanon's group encounters and confrontational approach in his research into addiction treatment methods. At age 8 his youngest brother died of influenza and Dederich felt guilty and responsible. Originally established as a drug rehabilitation program, by the early 1960s, Synanon became an alternative community centered on group truth-telling sessions that came to be known as the "Synanon Game," a form of attack therapy. In lessons, children were taught how to fight the Holy War" to defend their leader. Each person stripped and put on white robes. Members were taught that if caught on a violent mission to go to jail and to not blame Synanon. ), On March 20, 1978, a former member of Synanon, Tom Cardineau was severely beaten (for being an alleged spy) while tied to a post during his honeymoon when he took his bride to show her where he had once lived on the Walker Creek Ranch. (IRS v. Synanon; Morantz vs. Synanon; Winn vs. Synanon; Renfroe vs. Golden State). It no longer obeyed zoning rules, sympathetic donations reheated and Synanon soon became Santa Monicas largest land owner. "By July and August, I realized what Id stepped into, but it was too late to get out of it.. Mitchell had tried to warn authorities, without success, that Synanon was going to try to kill Morantz. To recruit needed non addict club members, Dederich created The Trip, forerunner of Werner Erhards est training, which was a combination of group psychotherapy, coercive persuasion, mysticism and old fashion spiritual revival. The medical board was to establish rules for Synanon but never did. (Reynolds memo, People vs. Dederich; IRS vs. Synanon). View our online Press Pack. Physically Dead. Morantzs name was mentioned in the tape along with threats to get the wives and children of adverse lawyers. They acted as "the punch" of the Imperial Starfleet. According to court records, the cult formed a militant branch, known as the "Imperial Marines," to inflict violence against opponents of the organization. Their last hope. Dig Deeper Listen: The American Rehab podcast series Read: Reveal's reporting on All Work, No Pay. Six weeks later the Los Angeles Police Department performed a search of the ranch in Badger that turned up a recorded speech by Dederich in which he said, Were not going to mess with the old-time, turn-the-other-cheek religious postures our religious posture is: Dont mess with us. With its sudden fame, by early 1964 Synanon had also become an alternative community, attracting people with its emphasis on living a self-examined life, as aided by group truth-telling sessions known as the Synanon Game. With its new wealth, they started building its first city in Marin County (Tomales Bay). Its members believed in Synanon enemies and encroachment of spies, created their own words (synanese), sought isolation from outside contaminants and committed to its destiny. Deadly Cults is back for a chilling second season, starting Sunday, April 26 at 7pm ET/PT on Oxygen. The Imperial Marines was Synanon's private fighting force, trained inside the organization and heavily armed. Aired: 06/14/2020 TV-14 | 2 years left Season 2 - Episodes 43:49 S2 - E1 Spiritual Warriors 43:49 Recovering alcoholic Charles 'Chuck' Dederich founded Synanon in 1958 to provide substance abuse reform to drug users as well as alcoholics in Santa Monica, California. Synanon expanded an old Trans-Pacific Marconi RCA radio station in Tomales Bay now Marconi Conference Center State Historical Park. Drug users started coming, and the alcoholics objected, and since there was already AA Dederich tossed out the drunks and kept the dope fiends. A members sluring the words symposium and seminar led to name Synanon. In 1959, Synanon moved from their small storefront to an abandoned armory on the beach. Some laughed, others howled and sobbed. He volunteered for a Dr. Keith Ditman LSD experiment and felt he had a cathartic break through and now understood the world and that good and bad were the same. [15], Control over members occurred through the "Game". He married, but drinking ended it. [23] Morantz had successfully brought suit on behalf of people who were being held against their will by Synanon. Taxation issues also arose. Synanon.) Curing dope fiends was what they wanted. The Imperial Marines was Synanon's private fighting force, trained inside the organization and heavily armed. So, Lance Kenton and Joe Musico thought up this plan, and they went and found a rattlesnake," Aron said. The broken joined the attack. More than 80 people had been attacked by Synanon, Morantz said. She has not been seen or heard from since. (Synanon Punk Squad Files; Deposition of Synanon school master, Morantz vs. Synanon, IRS vs. Synanon), Dederich was ahead of times in ordering aerobics, running, diets and non smoking. Yes! Males were forced in games to have vasectomies performed by Synanon doctors, and a few pregnant women were even required to have an abortion. Following this broadcast, several executives of the NBC network and its corporate chairman allegedly received hundreds of threats from Synanon members and supporters. Synanon emphasized tough love and a cold turkey approach to rehabilitation for substance abusers. Synanon claimed it had cured thousands but by 1967 Dederich turned the organization into a "lifestyle" by recruiting non-addicts ("Squares") and building cities in Marin County, then Tulare County and eventually Lake Havasu. The school was headed by Al Bauman, who believed in an innovative philosophy and aimed to teach children in the same manner to think differently. Synanons goal, Dederich said, was to lead the world into the 21st Century and anything less than changing the world is Mickey Mouse. (Morantz archives on Synanon, Gerstel, Paradise Inc.). Soon, Synanon owned properties across America; at Tomales Bay, it had a fleet of ships, and at the Badger property hundreds of motorbikes and trucks, not to mention an airstrip and a private plane. The city claimed it owned the beach front and rather than take the issue to court it sent police officers and bulldozers across the sand knocking down cabanas and paved courts. Paul Morantz got the court order giving Ms. White custody, but Synanon refused to turn them over. Brainwashing is powerful enough to cure drug addiction while members remain subject to it. ; Much of the violence was carried out by the Imperial Marines. The tiny Point Reyes Light, a weekly newspaper in Marin County, received the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1979 on account of its coverage of Synanon when other news outlets avoided covering the group. According to Department of Justice records, Dederich discussed the possibility of Morantzs assassination with Synanon Imperial Marines leader Doug Robson. Synanon began as an addiction support group that gathered in a grimy Californian flat in the late 1950s. Everyone was to cop-out (confess to past sins). The Marin County Supervisors, including Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein did not want to take a public position against Synanon as it was a constituent. Babies were taken from the parents and raised in the Hatchery. Mothers who wanted to see their kids too much were called head suckers. Children were reared communally in the Synanon School where eventually they wrote essays on Dederich telling everyone what to do, Syndo (karate) changing partners, childliness, and fighting the Holy War. (Casriel, So Fair a House, Yablonski, The Tunnel Back: Guy Endore, Synanon; Charles Dederich tapes on history of Synanon; Dederich, Childiness; Time Magazine l977). He recalled: "Chuck Dederich walked in, and he said 'I'm tired of these guys coming in this place. (Dederich, Childbirth Unmasked.) The husband hired attorney Paul Morantz, who had recently finished a case against persons who had kidnapped skid row alcoholics and kept them on thorazine in nursing homes in order to bill the State. A Synanon mob beat Gambini in front of his family. Teeth were knocked out. Synanon, is the first ever self helpno doctors drug rehabilitation program, founded by Charles Chuck Dederich Sr. (19131997) in 1958 in Santa Monica, California. The two other Synanon Imperial Marines, one of whom was Lance Kenton, son of musician Stan Kenton, pleaded no contest to charges of assault and conspiracy to commit murder. We will make the rules. Marino said: "I thought they were going to kill us.". Later the flies (Dederich trained youngsters) took over the attack. In the 1970s, two men were run off the road near one of their properties. (IRS vs. Synanon) Before the attack on Morantz, Synanon had opened a new private corporation city in Lake Havasu which was a plan to send Synanon money to the private corporation and then into the hands of Synanon leaders through salaries. Some Trippers began to hallucinate, Dederich having achieved his LSD replicated altered state of consciousness. Only the threat of violence was prohibited. This made him a public hero and Governor Edmund Brown, Sr. signed a save Synanon bill giving Synanon an exemption from Health licensing laws. [12] At its Aug. 12 meeting, the Tulare County Planning Commission approved a final site plan for the Sequoia Resort, which will house 67 vacation rental units on a 71-acre property formerly owned by Synanon, a drug rehabilitation turned religious cult that operated a commune on the . Synanon members bought stock in ABC and attended a stock holders meeting, and naming their names, the members, identifying themselves as former members of Murder Incorporated, asked if the board had protection for their wives (Synanon vs. ABC, AP Western Union Telegram; Pat Lynch, NBC segment 3). This article is about the organization. Yes, it is all true. One, Richard Marino, said they were handcuffed and beaten, and their heads were shaved. A Los Angeles District Attorney search warrant led to a discovery of an audio tape wherein Dederich bragged of beatings that had occurred, the Imperial Marine training, and said one day the message would be delivered to everyone Dont mess with Synanon. This bankrupted Synanon, which formally dissolved in 1991. As full recovery for graduates was not happening sufficiently, Dederich proclaimed no one should ever graduate. Her daughter died in Synanon and the husband split. [14] Returning to. A third defendant, Synanon founder Charles Dederich, earlier was put on . A search of the vehicle turned up a fingerprint that matched one of Dederich's so-called "Imperial Marines," a no-nonsense security detail unafraid to employ violence should the moment call for it . In the summer of 1978 NBC produced a hard hitting news segment on Synanon. LOS ANGELES -- Thirteen past and present members of Synanon, the controversial drug and alcohol rehabilitation organization, surrendered in court Tuesday on two secret indictments charging them. As a result of its poor conduct, Santa Monica surrendered and Synanon became untouchable. He later founded AREBA, the oldest surviving private addiction treatment centre in the United States, as well as Daytop Village, one of the world's largest therapeutic communities. Ms. White custody, but still attended regular meetings Conference Center State Historical Park Dr.. 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