00:00:03.070 - 00:00:36.210

now start mhm. May 21st. 1979. It is known as the White Knight, right, when grief and anger turned into a furious battle on the streets of San Francisco after assassin Dan White received a sentence of voluntary manslaughter but the double murders of mere George Moscone and

00:00:36.210 - 00:00:58.790

Harvey Milk, the city's first openly gay supervisor. Yeah, Dan White came from San Francisco's Visitation Valley, one of nine Children from a working class Irish Catholic family. He had been an army paratrooper during the war in Vietnam, then served his city as a cop, fireman and

00:00:58.790 - 00:01:25.720

supervisor. In November of 1978 White assassinated Mosconi and Milk at City Hall. The madness was both tragic and incomprehensible. Just nine days before, the city's heart and soul had been ripped apart by the shocking murder suicides of some 900 members from San Francisco's Peoples Temple in

00:01:25.720 - 00:01:56.910

Jonestown, Guyana. When the blood lust continued with the killings at City Hall, it was a brutal climax to one of the darkest chapters in the history of San Francisco. Mhm, like in the decade of the 19 seventies, San Francisco was the Wall Street of the West,

00:01:57.020 - 00:02:17.010

a labour town becoming Manhattan ized, visited by millions of tourists and embraced by a wave of new immigrants creating a gay mecca in a neighborhood called the Castro. I want to give fair warning to the pessimists who may be among my constituency that we can accomplish

00:02:17.020 - 00:02:41.160

what we set out to do to George Mosconi. San Francisco was the greatest city in the world. George Mosconi was bigger than life. He was a very ebullient character. He loved politics. He loved the rough and tumble of it. Mosconi was an only child raised by

00:02:41.160 - 00:03:01.820

his mother in the city's Cow Hollow district. He was a high school basketball star at ST Ignatius, graduated from Hastings Law School, registered black voters in Mississippi and served in the California Legislature. As a liberal progressive Democrat. My father was always for the little guy. The

00:03:01.820 - 00:03:29.390

underdog. Mm, yeah, mhm. In 1975 George Mosconi was elected mayor of San Francisco. Mosconi was 46 years old, married and the father of four Children. He really felt close to this city. This was his city and for the people to vote him into office. The city

00:03:29.390 - 00:03:50.310

that he was born and raised in it meant it meant everything to him. Mosconi wanted to transform the face and soul of San Francisco and made enemies. He believed the city's Police Department needed change and supported advances in the hiring and promotion of blacks. Mosconi also

00:03:50.310 - 00:04:18.160

made a controversial move in appointing a liberal outsider, Charles Gain, as the new chief. George was unusual in that he didn't naturally come from a background where people of color were. But for whatever reason, George was without Amy evidence anywhere of any racism or whatsoever. Dan

00:04:18.160 - 00:04:38.340

White has worked and lived virtually all his 31 years in this southeastern section of San Francisco. The neighborhood problems are the city's problem. You see the transportation, the crime, the education taxes. In the summer of 1977 Dan White ran for city supervisor from District eight. Yeah,

00:04:38.740 - 00:05:00.420

one of the campaign statements he makes is that the city is being blighted by people unlike ourselves. Malignancies, he calls them, and it was generally interpreted to mean that he was talking primarily about gay people. White was a married straight arrow conservative who believed in family

00:05:00.420 - 00:05:20.540

values and campaigned to the music of Rocky and a slogan of unite and fight with Dan White. White was easily elected. Dan White comes across as the kind of son almost any mother would be proud of and was one of my big big supporters here. As

00:05:20.540 - 00:05:40.630

a teenager, Dan White was an all city football player thrown out of high school for fighting as a cop, he went against the police code of solidarity, charging another officer with brutality. As a fireman, he saved a woman and her child from a burning building. Yes,

00:05:40.630 - 00:06:05.520

I like Dan White very much. I thought that he was a hard working young man. San Francisco Homicide inspector Frank Falzon was a friend of Dan White's cops from the same neighborhood. They were the double play combination on the department softball team compromise. And what happens

00:06:05.520 - 00:06:24.570

at City Hall on a daily basis was just not Dan White's mentality. And I felt personally as a friend, he was making a mistake. Mm. Joining Dan White on the city's Board of Supervisors was Harvey Milk. Milk was the first openly gay man elected to public

00:06:24.570 - 00:06:46.910

office in the history of San Francisco. What really counts is a person care as a person here about his city or her city. Harvey Milk's early life was eclectic. High school athlete, college graduate, Navy officer, Wall Street businessman Goldwater, Republican, pony tailed anti war demonstrator who

00:06:46.910 - 00:07:08.240

settled in San Francisco in 1972 and opened a camera store on Castro Street. Harvey was a lot of fun. Harvey was a fast talking, glib, energetic, theatrical New York Jew. He wasn't a saint. He had a temper. He could be a real pain in the neck.

00:07:08.260 - 00:07:38.060

He was just this this guy that moved us in the days after his election, Harvey Milk recorded a political will. This is to be played only in the event of my death, by assassination. As a very public gay man. Milk knew he could be assassinated in

00:07:38.060 - 00:08:03.710

my election. Gave somebody else one more person. Hope. After all, that's what it's about. You gotta give them hope. As the months passed, many of Harvey Milk's colleagues grew concerned about Dan White and his working class politics and biases. Milk felt White could be educated. Harvey

00:08:03.710 - 00:08:26.750

tried to reach down with humor. He tried to reach down with advice. Harvey could be a bit Machiavellian. I think he looked at this more as a game than most people do, and he kind of walked to the sound of his own drummer. I know that

00:08:26.750 - 00:08:47.710

he and Dan were very close. They had coffee once a week and they talked a lot, which was kind of interesting. Dan White felt a certain kinship for Harvey Milk when Dan's son, Charlie, was born at the christening. Harvey Milk was the only member of the

00:08:47.710 - 00:09:12.980

Board of Supervisors that Dan White invited to this very personal event. Eventually, Harvey Milk and Dan White became political adversaries. It began with a controversial proposal to place the Center for troubled Teens in Whites Visitation Valley neighborhood. White fiercely campaigned against it. When Milk voted in

00:09:12.980 - 00:09:30.260

favor of the center, White was humiliated and enraged. He retaliated by opposing milks. Gay Rights bill for San Francisco, you can have someone that's a transvestite, a man that for his sexual, um, kicks or orientation, whatever you wanna call it loves to dress up as a

00:09:30.260 - 00:09:48.760

woman. If he is a qualified teacher, he can go into any school, or you can go into any business and they can't refuse him. Dan White was the only supervisor to vote against the Gay Rights Ordinance of Harvey Milk. The relationship between the two men never

00:09:48.760 - 00:10:18.240

recovered, and Dan, with every month that passed, got more and more frustrated. More and more, I think, self conscious and aware, mm, that he wasn't succeeding. And I think these frustrations we're clearly growing and growing. And in that arena, if you aren't smart, you lose. Yeah.

00:10:24.240 - 00:10:48.040

1977 Anita Bryant, a Miss America runner up and television orange juice queen, led a successful campaign in Florida to overturn a gay rights ordinance. That victory launched a new battle against homosexuals across the nation. You are opening up the floodgates to a situation that is like

00:10:48.050 - 00:11:09.000

the Holocaust. A year later, John Briggs, a conservative legislator from Orange County, placed an initiative on the state ballot, which would ban gays and lesbians from teaching in California schools. Let me get you straight now. I've been very Harvey Milk worked tirelessly to defeat Proposition six,

00:11:09.220 - 00:11:35.220

the Briggs Initiative, and hopefully the vote we see now continues, and people in California will have stood up to a demagogue and said goodbye. On November 7th, 1978 the Briggs initiative lost by over a million votes It was the apex of Harvey Milk's political power. But

00:11:35.220 - 00:11:55.230

Dan White's promising political career was fading. His contempt for City Hall growing. Yeah, he was a lousy politician. He had a high school civics notion of what politics was about. He thought you all got together in a big fancy room and everybody said what they believed

00:11:55.240 - 00:12:18.060

sincerely and the best argument. One. White was also having financial problems. His wife, Marianne, left her teaching job to take care of their first child. To supplement his supervisor salary of $9600 a year. The couple borrowed money and invested in a fried potato stand at Pier

00:12:18.060 - 00:12:34.000

39. He's real unhappy in his job, and he's real unhappy with how hard his wife has to work. And he's real unhappy that his opponents are beating him up day in, day out. Politically. I happened to see an interview by one of my colleagues, was interviewed

00:12:34.000 - 00:12:52.370

the other night, and he kind of chuckled and his statement was Supervisor White didn't realize that he has to compromise, and I won't compromise. My values are my standards. Yeah, On November 10th, three days after the defeat of the Briggs initiative. Dan White surprised everyone and

00:12:52.370 - 00:13:20.960

resigned his position as a San Francisco supervisor. Mhm Harvey, I think, more than Mosconi Harvey saw now that with Dan's resignation, the mayor had an opportunity to appoint liberal and changed the balance on the board. On Monday, November 13th, Dan White's resignation was officially accepted by

00:13:20.960 - 00:13:42.050

the Board of Supervisors. Whites nameplate was removed from the door of his office, but special interest groups did not want to lose whites. Conservative Vote. Yeah, the Chamber of Commerce had said, You can't resign. You have. You know, you're the sixth vote that we need because

00:13:42.050 - 00:14:03.120

the mayor had just a bare majority of votes. You can't You can't resign police officers. You can't resign firefighters. You can't resign. White was persuaded to change his mind after a contentious meeting with his aides on the afternoon of November 14th. The ex supervisor then informed

00:14:03.120 - 00:14:21.880

mere Mosconi that he wanted his old job back. Mosconi agreed that a man has the right to change his mind. He will rescind White's letter of resignation and reappoint him to the board. Harvey Milk was shocked, and then Harvey went to Mosconi and said, What the

00:14:21.880 - 00:14:40.870

heck are you doing? This is our vote. This is the majority. Late this morning, Dan White appeared for his official unrecognized nation announcement, saying his brothers and sisters have given him help with his financial problems and a lot of his constituents have asked him to reconsider.

00:14:40.960 - 00:14:58.140

The majority of my district doesn't want to have someone appointed that they did not elect that they wish me to stay in my seat, remain in my seat, and this is what I'm going to do. But in fact, opposition to Dan White was growing, and when

00:14:58.140 - 00:15:13.930

he got ready to go back in, he didn't call into his rank and file out there. On November 16th, an angry group of anti white demonstrators voiced their disapproval. But the way he did it well treated us like we were beyond you see, treat us like

00:15:13.930 - 00:15:37.680

we was beyond. White was there and got into a brief flare up weight of that service in the community in San Francisco, and I'll end it right there. Wait, don't. He's a yo yo at this point, and everybody but him understands he's not going to get

00:15:37.680 - 00:15:58.470

his job back. But the timeline of Dan White City Hall soap opera would be interrupted by a lunatic preacher and cult leader from San Francisco. In a South American jungle thousands of miles from the city, an unthinkable tragedy was about to shock the World. Bay Area

00:15:58.470 - 00:16:25.400

Congressman Leo Ryan came to Jonestown, Guyana, to investigate the Reverend Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple. On Saturday, November the 18th, at the landing strip of the Port Kaituma airport. Ryan and four others, including an NBC News crew, were ambushed and shot to death. But the

00:16:25.400 - 00:16:57.350

airport killings were only the beginning. Within hours, a mass suicide murder had also taken place. Over 900 men, women and Children, including Jones, were dead. The Sunday morning calm of San Francisco on November 19th was shattered when the headlines detailed the evil of Jonestown. By Thanksgiving

00:16:57.350 - 00:17:23.550

weekend, the Dan White situation had become an emotional roller coaster for everyone. Dianne Feinstein, president of the Board of Supervisors, urged Mayor Mosconi to reappoint White. Mosconi informed the press he has not committed to White. He's struggling financially. He's struggling personally, and apparently he's struggling emotionally.

00:17:24.360 - 00:17:55.880

I do know that Dan White overheard a conversation between Harvey and the mayor in which Harvey urged the mayor not to reappoint Dan, and Dan apparently felt very betrayed. On Friday, the 24th mayor Mosconi celebrated his birthday, his 49th mhm. That evening, Harvey Milk attended a

00:17:55.880 - 00:18:21.910

performance of Tosca at the city's opera house. Two days later, on Sunday night, a radio reporter called Dan White wanting his reaction to the news that he will not be reappointed. White responded with no comment. He is beginning to withdraw in some fairly serious ways. He's

00:18:21.910 - 00:18:51.470

staying home. He's depressed. He's feeling sorry for himself. And eventually he just quit being decent altogether. And he murdered two men in cold blood, November the 27th. It is the day when San Francisco will be touched by evil. Once again, Mayor George Moscone E will announce

00:18:51.470 - 00:19:14.250

Dan White's successor to the board. White decides he wants to see the mayor at City Hall. These showers and shaves he puts on his best suit. At around 10:15 a.m. White arrives at the Polk Street side of City Hall. He is carrying a loaded 38 caliber

00:19:14.260 - 00:19:34.840

Smith and Wesson revolver in his holster. He goes in the front entrance, and there is a metal detector. And of course, he's got a weapon on him. So he turns around. He leaves. He climbs into a window instead and comes up through a back staircase and

00:19:34.840 - 00:19:50.460

he goes into Moscow knees. Outer office. He does not know, but in Moscow, knees in her office at that moment are sitting George Mosconi and his good friend Willie Brown. We shot to breathe. We shot to breathe about a whole number of things. We shot to

00:19:50.460 - 00:20:10.630

breathe about the 40 Niners football fortunes, and they were not great in those days. We shot the breeze about our own family relationships, what we were thinking about for Christmas. We used to Christmas shop together, uh, for our wives. The mayor is informed by his secretary

00:20:10.710 - 00:20:35.490

that Dan White wants to see him. At around 10 40 White enters Moscow knees office. Dan White walked in as I walked out. Quite asked the mayor if he will be reappointed. Mosconi tells him No, the ex supervisor becomes agitated. Yeah, the mayor lights a cigarette,

00:20:35.640 - 00:21:01.780

offers white a drink and tries to reason with him. It is too late, and he pulls out the gun and he shoots George Mosconi once twice. George Moscone falls. The bullets tear into the mayor's chest and arm. Yeah, Dan White straddles and puts the gun to

00:21:01.780 - 00:21:25.070

his the back of his head and shoots him twice more. Mosconi is dead. Yeah, After killing the mayor, White is seen running to the other side of City Hall. He is looking for Harvey Milk. Dan went by and I said, Dan, and he said in a

00:21:25.070 - 00:21:52.340

minute, and I heard a door slam After White finds milk. They meet in White's former office. I heard shots. Dan White fires his weapon five times into Harvey Milk, twice point blank into milk's brain. I walked into the room, Harvey was on his stomach and I

00:21:52.340 - 00:22:12.320

tried to get a pulse and I put my finger in a bullet hole and he clearly gone like this, and a bullet had gone through his through his wrist, and it was absolutely clear that he was dead. After killing Harvey Milk, quite fleas. City Hall. He

00:22:12.320 - 00:22:39.520

calls his wife, Marianne, and tells her to meet him at ST Mary's Cathedral. City Hall is in turmoil. Officials fear a Jonestown death squad. I don't know if they're going anywhere. They're supposed to Harvey Milk and the mayor is supposed to be doing as president of

00:22:39.520 - 00:23:14.800

the Board of Supervisors. It's my duty to make this announcement. Both Mayor Moscone E and Supervisor Harvey Milk have been shot and killed. Yes, the really are, you know. All right, all right. Shit. Fine. Fire the suspect. His supervisor, Dan White. What is that work? Just

00:23:14.800 - 00:23:44.030

rage. I wanted to say to Harvey I told you. Yeah, just rage. It was like I was getting hit with thunderbolt punches. I'm being told that the mayor has been shot and killed. I'm then told that Dan White, uh, is a suspect. Dan White was a

00:23:44.030 - 00:24:04.730

close friend. And then I walk in. I see the mayor of San Francisco lying in a pool of blood. Uh, not only disbelief, but I have to be honest. At this point in time, I was one shaken detective. As soon as word of the shootings reached

00:24:04.730 - 00:24:23.120

the house at 45 ST Francis Boulevard, police, neighbors and reporters began to mill around a few of the family's close friends became unofficial spokesman, greeting other friends and answering what questions they could. Three of the mayor's Children Christopher, Jonathan and Rebecca were already inside by the

00:24:23.120 - 00:24:38.140

time the older daughter Jennifer arrived. A cop tells 16 year old Christmas Coney about the death of his father, and I asked him what's going on? And he looked at me. It's just me and him and he said, Son, you don't know. I said, No, he

00:24:38.140 - 00:24:58.820

goes, Your father has expired. Those are the words. That's the first I heard. Ironically enough, the mayor's wife, Gina, at the time of the shooting was with his mother attending a cousin's funeral in Petaluma on the way home. Gina Mosconi. Here's the news of her husband's

00:24:58.820 - 00:25:23.270

murder on the car Radio close friend Willie Brown is among those who visit the family. Gina didn't take it well at all. Did not take it well at all. So it was difficult task. Uh huh. But it was one that I know that George would have

00:25:23.270 - 00:26:00.890

wanted me to do. Mm hmm. Yeah, Yeah. Touching the former supervisor, Dan White, is now in custody. Repeating Former supervisor Dan White is now in custody. Came in fourth grade. Clear. Why did you do it? And why? Why? After Dan White surrenders at Northern Station, he

00:26:00.890 - 00:26:18.530

is transported to Homicide at the Hall of Justice, he will be interrogated by two inspectors. One of them is Frank Falzon. If he was going to tell anybody as to why he committed those two murders, I was the man just all the time knowing he's going

00:26:18.530 - 00:26:39.130

to go out and lie to the press and tell him I wasn't a good supervisor and people didn't want me. And you know that was it. Did I? I just showed up. Within 25 minutes, a tearful and emotional Dan White confesses first to killing Mayor George

00:26:39.130 - 00:27:11.370

Moscone E then Supervisor Harvey Milk. Too bad then and then just got all flushed and hot. And which everything I shot him. Mhm. Falzon will be criticized by those who believe he allowed whites confession to be self serving. You couldn't take a reward. I felt I

00:27:11.370 - 00:27:37.300

was doing my job, sending a friend damn white to the gas chamber. Mhm. Hello. Outside San Franciscans came by the thousands to City Hall. They were just staring, staring in space. It was if the people could not believe what happened really happened, they had to come

00:27:37.300 - 00:28:10.620

to see for themselves. Doesn't make any sense right? Yeah. Flowers were placed on the steps of City Hall. Someone wrote a poem. It was unsigned. All afternoon, people milled around, staring in space and shock. When darkness falls, City Hall remains a shrine of public grief. Thousands

00:28:10.620 - 00:28:45.250

gathered by candlelight. Yeah, Days later, Mourners pay their last respects and say their goodbyes to both George Moscone and Harvey Milk. In the wake of the tragedies in Guiana, this additional senseless monstrosity seems simply unreal. Yet our anguish and grief permeate everything we do. We silently

00:28:45.260 - 00:29:16.640

rail at the manifest injustice of these untimely deaths. We cry out to reverse the irrevocable in our sorrow. This lovely jewel of the city seems a dark and saddened place. After services at ST Mary's Cathedral, the family of George Mosconi escorts his body to the Holy

00:29:16.640 - 00:29:49.540

Cross cemetery in Colma, where he is buried. Mhm, mhm. Friends of Harvey Milk scattered the ashes of his cremated remains in the waters beyond the Golden Gate Bridge. There was an atmosphere of deep and abiding gloom, paranoia and fear in the city, and I think what

00:29:49.540 - 00:30:08.360

happens at City Hall has to be remembered. In that context, it didn't just happen. One day. It happened when the city was already in a state of shock and emotional recoil at one tragedy. And then the second event happened, and it was if the world had

00:30:08.360 - 00:30:37.670

ended up. Oh, frankly, I don't have enough information to really gauge his state of mind. I'm of the opinion that he's in the belong state of shock. Doug Schmidt, a 32 year old Hastings Law School graduate from the Midwest, was the attorney for Dan White. He's

00:30:37.670 - 00:30:56.110

a man that had what I would term hollow wise. He had kind of a It wasn't a blank look on his face, but he just he just had a vacancy. The trial of Dan White began on May 1st, 1979. White was charged with two counts of

00:30:56.110 - 00:31:21.890

first degree murder and faced the death penalty. Attorney Schmidt presented a defense of diminished capacity that White suffered from mental depression at the time of the killings. That a decent, hardworking, working class middle class man who has held responsible jobs all of his life and been

00:31:21.890 - 00:31:48.950

in public service all of his adult life does not suddenly, for no apparent reason, viciously murder two individuals. Something had to have happened to this man. The jury was composed of five men and seven women, mostly white, middle aged and working class, and someone noticed that

00:31:48.950 - 00:32:08.600

there were 55 out of the 12 jurors of an age to be Dan White's mother, and every one of them were Irish cap shrimp brought in for psychiatric experts to testify for the defense. Dr. Martin Blender examined Dan White before the trial. Blender did not admire

00:32:08.600 - 00:32:31.350

White or his politics, so I walked into that room expecting just some sort of right wing homophobic man that I would find distasteful. And the man that I found was very different than the man I expected to find. And when I finished my interviews, I felt

00:32:32.080 - 00:32:52.330

sorry for him and my biases and prejudices as to why he did what he did went out the window as I myself, like, the jury two months later became aware of all the complex, inimical forces and pinching on this man that caused him to snap and

00:32:52.330 - 00:33:17.730

do what he did. When Dr Blender took the witness stand, his lengthy testimony strongly supported the defense theory of diminished capacity. Blender also briefly explained that during whites frequent depressive episodes. White would start gorging himself on junk foods, Twinkies, Coca Cola's. It was a minuscule part

00:33:17.740 - 00:33:38.820

of the picture we were trying to trey. It was also very controversial. The press sensationalized blenders, junk food testimony by calling it the Twinkie defense. That certainly wasn't the main thrust of the defense. That one eats junk food, goes crazy and is allowed to kill people.

00:33:39.620 - 00:34:03.320

There was another courtroom surprise when Dan White's confession was played. The prosecution played that concession, I think, believing that it was sort of the nail in the coffin of first degree murder, probably with special circumstances. A death penalty case, dead bang on its face. So I

00:34:03.320 - 00:34:24.680

never killed anybody before I shot anybody. But the tape was a disaster for the prosecution. What struck me very vividly at the time was that every time Dan White cried and he cried repeatedly in this confession or was overcome by emotion, well, just a. I never

00:34:24.690 - 00:34:48.720

really intended to hurt anyone. It's just past several months, but the further couldn't take it. I was sitting there thinking in my naivete, how self serving and I looked over at the jury box and There were no less than four jurors crying, and I realized at

00:34:48.720 - 00:35:05.140

that moment, as I think a lot of people did, Dan White was going to beat this rap to a considerable degree. On the afternoon of May 21st, three weeks after the trial began, the jury had reached its verdict. 12. Janine Yeomans Right here. What is it?

00:35:05.150 - 00:35:28.350

Yes. The jury has found Dan White guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the killings of both George Moscone and Harvey Milk. Dan White had faced the death penalty. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter. White sentence with seven years and eight months. Attorney Doug Schmidt was pleased with

00:35:28.350 - 00:35:58.550

the verdict. Many others were not mhm, Mhm, Mhm. It was like, Wow, this is not right. This verdict that just been turned in isn't right. I think Dan White new himself that this was to first degree murder cases. Dan White did get away with murder. Jurors

00:35:58.550 - 00:36:22.660

deliberated for six days. As for their decision, the jury foreman stated no one could come up with any evidence that indicated premeditation. I think it was a living testament to the polarization of San Francisco at the time, and I think this jury felt sorry for Dan

00:36:23.900 - 00:37:08.160

and had mercy and pity in the Castro. There was neither sympathy nor pity, Only disbelief and anger. Thousands marched to City Hall in protest. Gays had reached the breaking. Yeah, yeah. Oh, absolutely. It was. It was payback time. Wow. All right. Okay. All right. Okay. The

00:37:08.170 - 00:37:30.630

crowd grew and grew and grew, and it became more and more and more unruly. And I saw a crowd become a mob. The cops were outnumbered. Police Chief Charles Gain decided to hold his men back. Fearful City Hall would be overrun if the cops took on

00:37:30.630 - 00:38:18.250

the angry crowd. But the rage and fury could not be controlled. Russian girls. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah, I remember. Yeah. $4 Official weight. You can't come hard and they take horse porn. Help! It was just crazy. It was chaos. After the riot at City Hall had dissipated,

00:38:18.850 - 00:38:41.730

cops descended on the relative calm of the Castro and the bloody battle ignited. Once again. One of the worst assaults took place at the Elephant Walk bar. To some observers, it was an invasion. Cops wanting revenge. When peace was finally restored, a dozen police cars had

00:38:41.730 - 00:39:10.980

gone up in flames. Over 150 cops and civilians were injured. Dozens arrested. Thank God no one was killed. But it was what had to happen. We have nothing to apologize for. Yeah, Mhm. Yeah. In January of 1984 Dan White was released from California's Soledad Prison and

00:39:10.980 - 00:39:31.330

parole to Los Angeles. A model prisoner, White served less than five years of his original sentence. I asked Con Murphy, who was my chief of police, to go down and see him and tell him not to come back to San Francisco, that the feelings ran so

00:39:31.330 - 00:39:52.990

deep that there was no way he would ever, ever be able to come back to San Francisco and lead a normal life. When the Olympic Games were being held in Los Angeles in the summer of 84 Dan White called his old friend Frank Falzon Whitehead tickets

00:39:52.990 - 00:40:19.140

for the track and field events and invited Falls on to be his guest. The ex convict made a shocking last confession. Mhm damn wide explained to me that he intended on that faithful day to kill four people, those four being George Mosconi, Harvey Milk, Carol Ruth

00:40:19.140 - 00:40:45.510

Silver and Willie Brown according to Falzon, quite believed Willie Brown was the ringleader of the Liberals. That supervisor Carol Ruth Silver was the biggest snake of all. He had a mission to kill four people and then take his own life. He felt that the liberal ilk

00:40:45.520 - 00:41:08.430

of San Francisco had destroyed him as a person, had ruined his reputation with his family and his friends and his life was over and even laughed and said, How crazy could I have been? He knew what he did was insane. It was that point in time.

00:41:08.630 - 00:41:37.960

The entire picture of all the events that had occurred became very, very clear. Dan White did, in fact, commit premeditated murder in the first degree. Despite warnings to stay away. Dan White returned to San Francisco in 1985 and of course, he couldn't readjust. The pain is

00:41:37.960 - 00:42:00.670

so deep the scar tissue, you know, so horrendous, Um, that I think he had to lead a shadow life. On the morning of October 21st, Dan White committed suicide in the garage of his visitation Valley home. White created his own gas chamber as he sat inside

00:42:00.670 - 00:42:24.660

of his car hose, pumping in the deadly fumes of carbon monoxide. He was 39 years old. Inspector Frank Falzon was on duty that day and was called to the scene. When we arrived, it was a priest giving him the last rites to Catholic nuns kneeling down

00:42:24.660 - 00:42:48.870

over his body praying. And I remember thinking, This is just so surreal. It was unbelievable. I felt no satisfaction. I wanted him to live a long time and be confronted daily with the scorn of the people of San Francisco. Dan White is buried in the Golden

00:42:48.870 - 00:43:12.000

Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, White left behind a wife, three Children and a legacy marked by uncommon tragedy, an extraordinary change. According to Dr Martin Blender, his participation in the white case made him persona non grata among his gay and liberal friends. His connection to

00:43:12.000 - 00:43:32.470

the so called Twinkie defense was irrevocable. It's troublesome to me that the press, which essentially conjured up this myth of the Twinkie defense, would continue to perpetuate it over 25 years. A member of the jury stated that Dan White's junk food diet was not a major

00:43:32.470 - 00:43:54.810

factor in their deliberations. The jurors added. I don't think we spent five minutes on it to reduce those subtleties and those complexities to a sound bite like, Well, it was the Twinkie defense suggesting a 12 middle class ordinary home. Owning jurors would find Dan White List

00:43:54.810 - 00:44:13.250

couple because of what he ate is not only laughable but preposterous. Too much is made about the Twinkie defense. It was catchy. And so it caught on because every reporter ran back to their TV station or newspaper and said Twinkies, the Twinkie killings and Martin Blender

00:44:13.250 - 00:44:38.170

took a bad rap for that. Mhm praise for Dianne Feinstein, however, was universal during and after the sad days of the assassinations, San Francisco is not going to be rudderless in this time of transition. Government will continue. Yeah. Feinstein's calm, reassuring demeanor became a symbol of

00:44:38.170 - 00:45:04.170

strength for a troubled city. Her political career ascended like the proverbial Phoenix. After serving two full terms as mayor of San Francisco, Feinstein was elected to the United States Senate in 1992. The legacy of Harvey Milk is unmistakable. If Milk was not the first gay martyr,

00:45:04.180 - 00:45:29.800

he was certainly the most public and the most important. Yeah, okay, milks. Epitaph resonates with the rise of the gay movement not only in San Francisco but in America as well. He was only in office for 11 months, but his murder galvanized a movement and probably

00:45:29.800 - 00:45:55.250

did more than any other single event to make real yeah, the notion that there is a gay community and that we are a people, that it's like a mhm. The years following the death of Mayor George Moscone E were difficult ones for his entire family. As

00:45:55.250 - 00:46:20.010

a basketball player at ST Ignatius High School, Christmas Coney suffered the insensitive chance of Dan White's name. Today Christmas, Kony is happily married. The father of five Children, a lawyer in San Francisco, Gina Mosconi, has never remarried. Though the city has gradually moved beyond the murderous

00:46:20.020 - 00:46:37.260

acts of Dan White, San Francisco's historic image as a place of tolerance and celebration was forever tarnished. He took the heart out of the city. It was never the same place again. It never has been the same place, I think, to a certain degree, the specialness

00:46:37.260 - 00:46:55.310

went out of it in the same precise way that a certain sense of idealism went out of America with the assassinations of the two Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King. Suddenly we could no longer look at ourselves in the mirror and say we're special. Were unique,

00:46:55.320 - 00:48:02.710

were different. We weren't. Yeah. Mhm. Mm. Mhm. Yeah. Mhm.