Blog #3 Paul Morantz's Morality, and Minor Figures

          Paul Morantz is most famously known for being bitten by a rattlesnake that was put into his mailbox by several members of Synanon.  This incident made the papers, and can be considered the event that truly began to shed a negative light on Synanon as a community.  Paul Morantz is a California lawyer who fought against Synanon several times.

            In 1974 Synanon applied to be recognized a religious entity, and therefore would become tax-exempt, making it easier for Dederich to make more money.  With the Internal Revenue Service beginning to take notice, it was some of the first trouble Synanon faced.   Although, the IRS never fully recognized Synanon as a tax-exempt community, Synanon would not lose its tax-exempt status for another decade in 1991.  Morantz was one of the lawyers in the case, which forced Synanon to pay $200,000 in tax fines back to the state of California. 

            In 1977 Dederich began to order men to receive vasectomies, and women were forced to have abortions.  Ironically, Dederich never got a vasectomy himself.  Paul Morantz was also the lawyer in the case against Synanon filed against them for unlawfully practicing medicine.  Without proper licenses, certain medical procedures are not allowed to be done.  This situation made me wonder how Betty’s life was affected.  I hypothesized in my last blog post that with the medical facilities Synanon had, it could have been possible Betty knew she was sick.  If Synanon had been treating her for several years, and then they had a lawsuit against their medical practices, is this what could have stopped her treatment and possibly killed her?

            Also in 1977, Paul Morantz took a custody case of a woman newly recruited into Synanon.  She had a history of mental illness, and Synanon welcomed her thinking they could help, but it ended up negatively affecting her.  They had shaved her head, as was custom during this time for newly recruited women, and dragged her to another building hiding her behind locked doors.  The woman’s husband wanted her back and wrote letter to several politicians and Paul Morantz who responded to his cry for help.  This case is what helped Morantz to realize Synanon was operating under a drug rehabilitation and mental health facility without licenses.  This case ended with the man getting his wife back and suing for $300,000.  In 1978 congressman Herschel Rosenthal attempted to pass a bill in Marin County, which would give Synanon exemption from all health licensing laws regardless of the condition of the person taken in.  Morantz was approached by Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein to fight the bill.  The bill failed by one vote, most likely due to the opposition provided by Morantz.   

            In 1978 Morantz issued a report attacking Synanon for the profit Dederich gained from selling weapons.  It was also reported the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Synanon had purchased from 200,000-300,000 dollars in weapons. 

            The most famous part of Morant’s life was when the rattlesnake bit him.  The members of Synanon who had put it in his mailbox had removed the rattle so it would not be as obvious that a snake was hidden inside.  After being bitten, Morantz was rushed to the hospital and nearly died.  The two men who put the snake in the mailbox were Lance Kenton, and Joseph Musico, who both received jail time.  Dederich was sentenced to five years probation and was forced to give up his control of Synanon. 

            As I did research for the people Paul Morantz represented against Synanon, I found a list of people who were victims to the violence of Synanon.  Due to Dederich’s paranoia he often wondered if there were spies among his ranks, and one of the people who was beaten because of this was Tom Cardineau.  There was also several passages I found about a farmer named Gamboninni, who was attacked for helping children to escape Synanon and return to their parents, if they were not already a part of Synanon.  Ron Eidson, after a road skirmish, with Dr. Robson of Synanon and refusing Dr. Robson’s demand for apology, was pistol whipped and hospitalized while shotguns were held on his watching family. Paul Morantz and Ed Martin represented Eidson and his family in a civil suit.  Phil Ritter was an ex member, or splitee, who was beaten by two other and ended up in a coma for a week because of it.  Jack Hurst was a former Synanon president who spoke out against them once he had left the community, and one day he came home to find his door open, and his dog hung in the living room.

            It can be argued Paul Morantz is one of the main reasons Synanon eventually fell, but it was only a matter of time before someone rose up against them.  After reading over the Paul Morantz website multiple times, and seeing how he wrote and spoke about Synanon, I can only think Paul Morantz is not as moral as he attempts to portray himself as.  The language he uses makes it seem he was trying to hard to get everyone to support him.  For instance, after the rattlesnake incident, Morantz was quoted speaking about how he was thankful Dederich “was a cheap bastard” because if he wasn’t he would have just hired a real hitman.  Finally, Morantz dedicated his book about Synanon to Dederich, and if that isn’t some kind of flaunt I truly don’t know what is.  Morantz seems to me like someone who could have led a commune in another life with his charismatic words, strong leadership, and sense of self righteousness. 

Blog #3 On what I have gained from Synanon

Sitting here the reflecting on what I have learned this past semester, and I would say that the majority of my time was spent on this Synanon project, and I am glad that I have at least gained something substantial from it. I wasn't that interested in communes or cults before this class, and now that I've been exposed to it-- i'm really truly interested. I think its one thing to read and do research on a cult/commune, but to actually be engaged in the class and outside of the class in Synanon helped me really grow as researcher. 

I thought that Synanon wouldn't interest me at the slightest, but it was really interesting when I really dug into it. What I thought Synanon-- not even close. I thought it had the same outcome as Jonestown, and when I found out that it didn't-- it was a relief. Only because when our class was focusing on Jonestown and then we followed up with that documentary on Jonestown, it truly broke my heart because of the pain those people endured. It still makes me sick to my stomach even thinking about it-- I can't imagine learning that, that would be the last day I would see anyone I loved. 

I think once a person learns about the horrible things that went on within these two cults specifically, they can't feel anything but sympathy because it's so hard to put yourself in their shoes-- and I think it's actually really humbling. 

It's not everyday that you take a class on cults and communes specifically, and now that it's coming to an end, I think i've come out with the knowledge and wondering mind that I want to seek more information about different cults that are in midst. 

I think doing research on different cults, is not only giving us the knowledge of that specific cult but its also helping us understand people more. The more information we acquire, the more we can understand different religions, and cults. 

Blog #2

After reading all of the information on Synanon, and all that it consisted of. I was really looking for our guest speaker that was coming into our class to talk about her experience in Synanon. Being that she was born into the cult, she didn't really see life as anything but normal. That's all she knew, and that's what was the norm she was surrounded by. Synanon strongly believed in community families, which meant that when a baby was born-- they would be released to the community to be raised. All the children lived together from the earliest of six months, and were taught to take care of each other. It's one thing to read this information but it's completely different to listen someone telling their testimony, and the way she was shaped into the woman she is today. If you were to ask her how many brothers and sisters she has, she would show any hesitation in saying she has more than forty-- and that's because the children she grew up with may have not been blood but they were the closest thing she had to family. 

I was almost in tears hearing the trials she endured at such a young age, and knowing that she wasn't even scraping the surface-- that she must have censored some of the information she was telling us. But I would completely understand that. And I respect her for even sharing what she had, because I can't imagine enduring what she had. 

It put Synanon in a different perspective for me-- I wasn't sure what that looked like for myself, and what I thought overall of the cult. But after doing all the research and really getting to know all the information on Synanon, I honestly feel as if I know more than the average person. There are not very many people who are very aware of what Synanon is and what had taken place in this cult. Which I find so interesting because it was happening all around and in the news, and unless you were not one to pay attention to anything-- I guess that's how it would slide right over your head. 

I am still researching on Synanon, simply because I want to know more and more. 

Blog #1

   I did some research on the founder and his name was Charles Dederich. It was interesting to see how he grew up and that his family was not a good influence on the man he was becoming. He was quickly known for having a troubled childhood. Dederich didn't get stuck with the good end of the stick, and was known by his neighborhood as the bad kid on the block but that has a lot to do with the fact that he was from an un-loving family that didn't show him any attention. I wasn't surprised that he fell into his addiction of drinking at a young age. However, he was smart enough to realize that the way he was living his life was not healthy, and he needed to get help. 

     Dederich was labeled as the "alcohol tramp" and when he found out this information-- wanted to seek out help and found it in AA (alcoholic anonymous). It was stated that he was very vulnerable in these meetings and didn't show any shame in the fact that he needed help. He started sharing his story in AA, and sought out to help people within this group-- by helping others, he was helping himself. I found a very important quote from an article that I was researching from, “The rough eloquence that burst forth from him at meetings belied his intimidating appearance. He was insightful yet funny, philosophical yet colloquial, and, above all, he was brutally honest with both others and himself.” I think that speaks volumes of the man that Dederich was before he started going downhill. 

    After Dederich saw that he was excelling in AA, he wanted to start his own organization that was centered on speaking encouragement into people's lives, and people could live there and become clean. Dederich would provide different classes that would help people learn about their addiction. Their would also be a strict diet that would be making the people who resisted there to go cold turkey from whichever drug they chose. From all the research I've done thus far, it seems as if he started out with good intentions!

Alma Sandoval

Professor Delaporte

Religious Communes

April 24, 2016

Synanon

Although information found on Synanon was minimal at first, there was more research than I gave it credit for. As I explored the web, I was able to locate primary sources during Synanon’s reign by the FBI that cracked down from their very first suspicions as to who Synanon was to eventually finding exposed information about the wrongdoings of the organization and arresting the leader, Dedreich, for several crimes. It amazes me to see how successful Synanon was during its primal time and the amount of money they made, which was roughly about $10 million per year. With all this profit, he was able to open up more locations for his members that served as residential facilities. One was a location for pregnant women, another one was for children, another one for board members, etc. Synanon was a life that was rather joyful but also extremely terrifying, it was a place where rules were not meant to be broken but then were by their very own leader, a place where violence did not exist yet transformed into its very own violent cult, a place that provided help to those battling alcohol or drug addictions but then turned their backs on them. Synanon’s mission and objective eventually became hypocritical and it surprises me to see how long they were able to cover majority of what they did for a while. For example, hustling, beating not only men and women but children to if they ever decided to leave Synanon, forcing men to get vasectomies and some women abortions, monetary profits that directly went to Dedreich as he decided what to spend it next on, which seemed to be a mini armada of boats, weaponry and other items that could be incorporated to his military training on members. Its just shocking to see the significant transformation of an organization start out as positive and end in negative results. For many of these members, going through some of the harsh treatments was traumatic but if they dared to leave they were known for being a “splittee” and Dedreich never wanted to hear about or see that person ever again once they decided to leave Synanon. In a sense, he viewed it as not only insulting but disgraceful which only made his role and actions as a leader worse resulting into his arrest and then plea bargain to give up Synanon. His leadership is strongly comparable to that of Jim Jones, who at first was a positive religious movement and once all members became a community and moved away from home both did not want their members to have any contact to their friends and family. However, Jones’ role led to the mass suicide of over 900 people. Although they somewhat differentiate both start off as an organization that eventually becomes distorted with time and the interesting part is that a month after Paul Morantz’ rattlesnake attack, Jones declares upon his members a revolutionary suicide. Both organizations were portrayed in a bad light among media and tabloids, which exposed majority of the time why they were not your typical religious organization. Synanon only became a religious organization for tax purposes because of their selfish leader and Jonestown was actually a religious organization under the reign of a man who was and still is considered a maniac and murderer. 

Alma Sandoval

Professor Delaporte

Religious Communes

April 16, 2016

Guest Speaker Naomi & her life at Synanon

It was an honor and pleasure to have Naomi come speak in our class the other day. As each group continues to do scarce research on information about an organization that was popular in the 60’s, it was a lot more helpful to learn about the lifestyle and culture of Synanon by someone who personally lived it and was part of this group back when it was alive. Naomi shared with us pieces from the book she is writing about and my initial reaction was shock to see that she was at ease and in acceptance at what her childhood was like. In a world and surroundings she thought was normal was actually not whenever she got the chance to step outside the gates of Synanon to see her father. She never got to experience or hear about the prime era of the hippie movement, which was just a couple miles away from her. Essentially, she was disconnected from the world and didn’t really know about it until later on. Her entire excerpt was not only moving but it also gave me the chills to see a young child like her be put through the Game, which she described as just “downright horrible” . If she felt this way as a kid, I could only imagine every other kid that had to go through it. It created problems, mental and emotional distress, anger and insecurity. As she discusses the locations at which she stayed at with the other kids, I am able to identify the town near Marshall and afterwards the relocation to the Hatchery, which is also known as the Strip. The strip was better known for the location where they would have social gatherings, dances, training and participation in the Game. Considering many of the kids who grew up being a part of Synanon didn’t necessarily have a choice as whether or not to be in it, this angered a lot of young children as they felt neglected from their parents. Parents were 99% of the time away from them and dedicated their time towards Synanon’s growth and Dedreich, while the kids felt stuck in a place they didn’t want to be and unloved and unsupported by their own families. As a result, many kids would try running away but Naomi even discussed on how any kid that tried running away would eventually be caught, brought back and severely punished. Punishments were more than likely to be beatings. Naomi also mentioned she was one who tried running away but after several days was caught and found making it as far out in Laguna Beach; however, she never mentioned if she was beaten for it. After her reading, I realized how content and happy she is with her life now because something that made her different as a kid without getting a choice, does not define the person she is now. Even though Synanon strongly encouraged vasectomies for the men and ladies, she is still able to have that normal life today with children of her very own who she is extremely close to and has a deeper appreciation for music, culture and life. As she says it, she’s “making up for all the years and eras she missed out on” and as for the closeness with her family, she’s able to give her kids the experience she never really got with her own parents which is all a mother really wants for her children, to be able to give them a better life and opportunity. 

Alma Sandoval

Professor Delaporte

Religious Communes

April 3, 2016

Major Figures & Places 

Living in Los Angeles for majority of my life and being a constant visitor at Santa Monica Beach, I never visioned the building I passed by constantly to have been the historical home place for recovering drug addicts and the infamous cult that is Synanon. Charles Dedreich, a former alcoholic, wanted to help others fight their alcoholic or narcotic addiction. Since AA differentiated between those who used and were dependent on illegal drugs, Dedreich decided to incorporate what he learned from his meetings into his very own founded organization, Synanon. He wanted to respond to the needs of everyone and by doing so, his organization began a two year residential program where most of its members couldn’t necessarily graduate to living a full, healthy non-addicted life since he believed no one was able of being fully recovered. Synanon served as a drug rehabilitation center that required full commitment upon entering and once accepted, Dedreich automatically forced the quitting of drugs and didn’t necessarily allow his members to get in contact with family or friends. At first, Synanon was a place where people could get the recovery and support they needed in the way Dedreich believed worked best; however, since my group and I studied on the major figures and locations of Synanon, I found it fascinating to see the consistent relocating and migrating of Synanon and the evolution of a cult. What first started as a program for addicts slowly became an organization and religion for tax purposes. Dedreich noticed that the IRS started investigating and cracking down on who this ‘Church of Synanon' was and this was when Dedreich decided to move up North in a town called Marshall. Dedreich was constantly running away from trouble but kept his presence around all of his bay area facilities. Shortly after his wife’s death, Betty Dedreich, Charles’ behavior began to change. He began to get more violent, angry and broke his own rules. He began threatening outside sources who wanted to get an inside scoop on who Synanon was and as time progressed, Dedreich started accepting less addicts into Synanon since they were a “burden” and “waste of time”. Many of his members hustled for money which eventually exposed them in the article written by Cathy and David Mitchell, the Light on Synanon. This exposed everything occurring within the walls of Synanon and portrayed a negative light on the leader Charles Dedreich. What was his next move? Well, relocating of course. From Marin County, he then moved to Badger, California which was east of Fresno but shortly after made his way to Arizona where a small Synanon building was located. Eventually, he was arrested in Arizona while sitting down on a chair and drinking alcohol. It’s interesting to see a leader who at first wanted to better others fall back into his own ways and that’s the fascination of Synanon because the transition from being a helpful organization to a violent cult is so clear and evident by examples such as the rattle snake in Paul Morantzs’ mailbox, buying an armada of weapons, hustling for money and incorporating member military training. In conclusion, the reign of Synanon was over shortly after Dedreich’s arrest.