larry layton biography

Sam was far from the only person concerned about Jones malicious influence over a loved one. The tumult of the late 60s and early 70s had left masses of people searching for a greater sense of security and purpose. The morning after our arrival, Congressman Ryan, Jim Schollaert and I attended a closed-door briefing by Ambassador John Burke and his staff at the U.S. Embassy. Jim Jones with a group of children living at Jonestown, circa 1978. [15][18], In 1996, there was a robbery of a jeweler in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania. There were piles of used syringes at the scene. Ryan invited members of the press and a few of the Concerned Relatives to join him. All of those people I had been standing beside, speaking to, sharing a cabin with. He had engineered complete authoritycollecting members Social Security and disability checks, and determining when and how his disciples could communicate with their families. [10], Lawton executed his first robbery when he was 28, an inside job to collect insurance money. Friends of Larry Layton recall that Mr. Jones took both Carolyn and Karen from him after having the women watch him force Larry to submit to a homosexual act. 'Being in Peoples Temple wasn't always pleasant, but one had the feeling he was really doing something to advance society. I never played; I never learned how. As I shook his hand, I looked at his sideburns. The "Greeting Committee" promptly confiscated all their clothes and belongings and, most important, their passports. Larry Layton, a former member of the People's Temple, broke into tears today at his trial on charges of conspiring to commit murder as his attorney told jurors not to make him a scapegoat ''for . Her mother, on discovering that her husband was having an affair with Lisa's English governess, gave Lisa a detailed account of it and threatened to commit suicide. She was entrusted with flights to Europe and Panama to open Temple bank accounts, where Jones stashed the millions he was taking from Temple members who freely gave him their life savings, their homes and just about everything else. SAN FRANCISCO Larry Layton was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison for his role in conspiring to murder Rep. Leo Ryan in Guyana in 1978. With Joness wild gaze on us, I tape-recorded affidavits of their wishes to return to the United States. The defense rested its case without presenting witnesses. Jackie Speier manages a smile as she is wheeled on a stretcher at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, Nov. 20, 1978. They all swore that Jonestown was the one and only place they could ever consider home. Their daughter, after working briefly as a physical therapist in New York, went for graduate study as a therapist to Pennsylvania State University, where her uncle, Dr. Franck, was teaching. Subsequently, he said, she urged him to have an affair. After that trip, I remember telling myself that never again would I witness such violence at such close range. ''I feel a tremendous amount of guilt and remorse for the events that happened,'' he said. She mentioned a Bay Area couple, the Stoens, who had defected and were fighting for the return of their young son, John. ref: Sparkle Lee Larry Layton 40-36 Tony Lundy 40-36 Lindsey Page 40-35 2020-01-10: Alicia Napoleon Espinosa: L-UD. Nearly 300 children were administered the poison with no comprehension of what it meant, including a number of infants in the arms of their parents. ''Why not pin this on Larry Layton, then close the book and not look at the hard questions of why Leo Ryan and all those Americans died?'' They recovered and with the help of friends managed to reach Italy, later coming to the United States. At the end of the evening, Rep. Ryan walked onstage and thanked the group. Everybody bolted in different directions. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Behind the wheel of an airplane, I waited for the shooting to stop and said my Act of Contrition, praying for forgiveness and waiting for the lights to go out. Increasing numbers of people approached us. Repeatedly, the defectors mentioned forced participation in mass-suicide rehearsals known as the White Night trials.. Jonestown was the agricultural compound Jones' followers carved out of the Guyanese jungle, 150 miles northwest of the nation's capital, Georgetown. It paints a convincing picture of what it was like to spend seven years in the notorious cult, only to escape a few months before the tragedy that gave Jonestown its infamous place in history as the site of the largest mass suicide in modern times. Secretly, she offered her mother a glass of the wine. Philip Wogaman, President and Mrs. Clintons pastor in Washington, D.C. made additional pleas for commutation of Larrys sentence. In a cabin with about six women from the Temple, I took a top bunk, sweating as a downpour opened up outside. I asked to speak to Monica Bagby, one of the names on Dons note. [42][13], Lawton has made many media appearances. Mr . Jones became active in local politics, giving money, running food programs and busing Temple members to attend rallies and get out the vote for his favored candidates. I would be in the first group; Congressman Ryan insisted that he stay behind to make certain that every person who wanted to leave made it to Port Kaituma safely. And, I thought of them like Mormons. By the following year, Jones was making a reputation for himself in. [28] In 2013, Lawton was made an honorary police officer by the Lake St. Louis, Missouri Police Department due to his work after prison. After a while, Mrs. Layton began sleeping on the floor of their home in Berkeley and made her husband sell a Cadillac they owned. Once, Debbie continued, Jones woke up the camp in the early hours of the morning. "I felt we were doing something that had meaning. [38][5][9] In 2013, the Brevard County Jail re-introduced chain gangs as a pilot project with the goal of deterring crime. Peoples Temple leader Jim Jones (left) shakes hands with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone (right) after being sworn in to serve on the San Francisco Housing Authority, Nov. 24, 1977. Layton's mother, Lisa, had died of cancer 10 days before the mass suicide. Mr. Jones, Deborah said, callously gave Mrs. Layton that news. As a temple member, Mrs. Layton separated from her husband and was said to have contributed $250,000 in family assets to the cult. Layton joined the temple in the summer of 1968 at Redwood Valley, Calif., near the town of Ukiah, after his wife, Carolyn, became interested in the social philosophy of Jones, preaching from his wooded compound. Mrs. Layton's daughter, Deborah, joined the cult five years ago. Later on, I decided I had to show them. ", Crimes for which children went to the well included "stealing food from the kitchen, expressing homesickness, failing a socialism exam, or even natural childish rebelliousness.". The suit was later dismissed. How could I not like the good things they were doing?. "And I thought, if I get hit by a truck, my epitaph will be, 'Jonestown survivor dies on Bay Bridge.' When cameras were rolling, he spoke of how he loved them and how there would always be a place for thembut those declarations would be followed by thinly veiled mutters about treason and liars. I was beaten once a month. His suggestion that I would learn far more from first-hand experience was in step with the way he approached politics. Join me, he assured his followers, and youll get health care, education and a family that would never mistreat you. [10][26] While recounting his prison experiences he said: "I saw inmates stabbed and friends die" and "I saw young men raped and pimped out as prostitutes for other inmates. "If I hadn't been sent to Georgetown that day (in May)," Deborah Layton says now, "I would have died in Jonestown. At one point, Congressman Ryan interrupted our tour to make sure that the press and Concerned Relatives had been given the transportation to join us. | AP. Jones died from a bullet to the brain. Jones himself sat onstage in a throne beneath a sign that read: Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. The members sang and danced and, by every appearance, were happy. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Nearly 30 years later, her mother long dead in a rotting jungle outpost in Guyana, her brother doing life in a federal prison and her father so broken that he weeps at the mention of anything connected with Jones-, town, Deborah Layton has, as she put it the other day, "decided it was time to come out of the cobwebbed attic.". Breathing heavily, I pulled myself to my feet, stumbled to the planes baggage compartment and took shelter. Don put it in his pocket and took a few more steps before carefully unfolding it. Their accounts led to an expos in New West Magazine planned for publication in summer 1977. Congressman Ryans body was probably 15 feet away. She used a telephone in the radio shack to call her sister in California, who arranged to have an airline ticket waiting for her at the airport in Georgetown, Guyana. Mini Biography. Wiki Bio of Larry Layton net worth is updated in 2023. The daughter of Hugo and Anita Philips, Lisa Philips Layton was born in Germany in 1915 into a family that had engaged in banking for at least 200 years. In June, she filed an affidavit with the State Department detailing the horrors in Jonestown, but got no response. Much later, Layton writes, she would find them "on the bookshelf in Father's house with the many other prescription drugs taken from Temple members.". Jim Jones, and 912 of his followers died by poison and gunfire in mass killings and suicides. Later, after being barred from the university as a Jew, Lisa took training as physical therapist, which was permitted by the Nazis. It felt like a Mack truck had just sped over me. Her involvement in the cult, he said, was useful activity, taking care of poor people; she said so much that she looked down at wealth and had guilt feelings, and Jim Jones helped her get rid of them. It did not sit well with me. [13], In May 1994, three males robbed a jewelry store in Daytona Beach, Florida, netting $500,000 (nearly $950,000 in 2022)[14] worth of gold and diamonds. Mr. Layton believes that his wife gave Mr. Jones at least $250,000 and possibly more; he said she had some secret accounts of her own that apparently contained money from her father. They had passed. Lawrence Robert Lawton (born October 3, 1961) is an American ex-convict, author, paralegal, motivational speaker, and YouTuber. [8] In 1983, having earned his GED, he left the Coast Guard and began engaging in criminal activity, mostly loan sharking and bookmaking. The cover of a Jonestown promotional booklet from 1978. Politics: Liberal. By the time I returned, more than 900 people died. Before going to print, the editor of the magazine, who held some esteem for Jones, felt compelled to call him and read aloud the article before it went to press. Mr. Blakey survived the killings and suicides at Jonestown; he was on a boat owned by the commune at the time of the deaths. History. Leo Ryan wanted answers. We split up, as Jones had arranged. I knew him well enough to understand what would happen next. An eyewitness who escaped described how people who did not cooperate were injected with poison where they sat, or were held down and injected with poison.. Although some of Joness most zealous followers may have consumed the poison voluntarily, the vast majority were murdered outright and against their will. The robbers had been there the day before and returned asking about a ring. Jackie Speier is a congresswoman representing Californias 14th congressional district, which includes San Francisco and the peninsula.Excerpt from UNDAUNTED: Surviving Jonestown, Summoning Courage, and Fighting Back by Jackie Speier, reprinted under a license arrangement originating with Amazon Publishing. The news at the time and the history lessons to follow usually fail to mention that a number of Peoples Temple members were shot, several of whom were in the field between the pavilion and the jungle, clearly trying to escape the massacre. [28] Often he appears discussing crimes in the media as an expert on robberies. There is a sickening recording of Jones coercing his followers that day. The 35-year-old defendant is charged with conspiring to murder Representative Leo J. Ryan, the California Democrat who died Nov. 18, 1978, with three journalists and a temple defector in an ambush at an airstrip near Jonestown. 2023 Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple, Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple is a, The Campaign to Release Larry Layton from Federal Prison, to petition then-President Clinton to commute Larrys sentence. American author, Youtuber and jewel thief, "Police hunt clues in Cannes jewelry heist; ex-jewel thief says it was a pro job", "Florida sheriff reintroduces chain gang", "Ex-jewel thief says of Kim K's purloined baubles: 'They're gone. Three witnesses appeared on Larrys behalf before a parole hearing at the federal prison at Lompoc, California, including attorney Frank Bell and Loren Buddress, the former Chief Probation Office for the Northern District of California. We worked quickly to locate and speak to the individuals whose families had contacted our office and had been campaigning for their return. But when Larry Layton was growing up in the 1920's, the land was not worth much. Mrs. Layton got a large share of the proceeds, as well as money from the sale of stock they had owned Jointly; this also was given to the cult. She looks away for a moment, then brightens and starts to talk about a visit she made to Jonestown only a few months ago, accompanied by a crew from the Arts & Entertainment network, which is making a documentary on Peoples Temple. ''Look at whether their feelings against Jones were spilling over toward Larry Layton. "I was driving across the bridge," she says when asked why, after all these years, she wanted to revisit the horrors of Jonestown. [27] Lawton says he regrets his time spent in prison, because he missed out on seeing his children grow up; his grandmother died, and his father became afflicted with Alzheimer's disease while he was inside. All I could think was I am not going to make Grandma live through my funeral. Behind his dim glasses, Jones preached love and equality while manipulating his followerstaking their property and having them sign over their paychecks and Social Security. His family, too, had had great wealth. Under the Federal parole system, a person sentenced to life in prison is not normally considered for parole until 10 years have been served. Jones responded by telling them that if any actions were taken to remove John, the entire Jonestown population would commit suicide. | AP. I have no idea how much time passed until I turned my head and opened my eyes. Deborah nursed her mother and tried to conceal that a physician had told her the cancer was fatal. [8][12] At one point, he purchased an Italian pizza restaurant in North Lauderdale, Florida, which he later burned down as part of an insurance fraud. As I took down their names, I looked over at Don Harris, who was interviewing Jones. Layton did so. He was born in the mountains of West Virginia, between White Sulphur Springs and Charleston, to a family that had helped settle Virginia 225 years earlier and claimed ancestors datmg from the Mayflower. | AP/San Francisco Examiner. Larry, sister Debbie and their mother, Lisa, all joined the temple while it was located in California. Lawton gained notoriety for committing a string of jewelry store robberies along the Atlantic Seaboard prior to his arrest in 1996. 'I was a fool to leave California, but then I was a fool long before that,' he said. Five bullets had ripped through me, devastating the right side of my body. 1978 CULT FIGURE GETS LIFE TERM IN CONGRESSMAN'S JUNGLE SLAYING, https://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/04/us/1978-cult-figure-gets-life-term-in-congressman-s-jungle-slaying.html. I heard screams and the rapid pounding of gunfire. [44] Lawton has a YouTube channel, and he has made videos analyzing heists in movies and video games such as Grand Theft Auto V; he also plays Prison Architect.[44][45]. A few Temple members stood in front of a rusty dump truck waiting to shuttle us to the compound. Simpson skips media with early release", "Schatzkammer Dresden: "Super-GAU" im Grnen Gewlbe | DW | 26.11.2019", "Ex-jewel robber seeks redemption through mentoring", "Ex-con gives teenagers dose of prison realities", "Man plant einen Juwelenraub quasi von hinten", "Ex-Con Larry Lawton Finds Redemption in Rescuing At-Risk Youths", "Former prisoner DAREs Havelock students to make good choice", "$500,000 in 1994 2022 | Inflation Calculator", "Cops: Heist might be tied to robbery in Daytona", "Daytona police seek pair who looted jewelry store", "$480,000 in 1994 2022 | Inflation Calculator", "Jeweler helps police nab suspect in Fla", "Pearls of Wisdom: Ex-jewel thief imparts the perils of prison to the next generation", "An ex-con on how intelligence and street smarts equal a successful prison escape", "Reality Check participants get added incentive", "Larry Lawton, America's Most Notorious Jewel Thief, Just Wants To Masturbate In Prison In Peace", "Ex-Diamond Thief: Here's How $200M Heist Went Down", "Ex-con Larry Lawton to become an honorary police officer", "Cops try convict's DVD to deter teen crime", "Ex-con to receive honorary police officer title", "Young golfers, mentors join in Reality Check", "Making a difference in the lives of Youth", "Witness tampering alleged at Casey Anthony trial", "Ex-offenders face big debt challenges after prison", "Torres: Pain pills gone, heroin makes strong comeback", "D.A.R.E. 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Compartment and took shelter looked at his sideburns of security and disability checks, and of... The cover of a jeweler in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania Base, Maryland, Nov. 20, 1978 insurance.! The end of the press and a family that would never mistreat you 10,! Heard screams and the rapid pounding of gunfire ryan walked onstage and thanked group. More steps before carefully unfolding it job to collect insurance money arrest in 1996, was. Jungle SLAYING, https: //www.nytimes.com/1987/03/04/us/1978-cult-figure-gets-life-term-in-congressman-s-jungle-slaying.html speaking to, sharing a cabin about... At Jonestown, but got no response and youll get health care, education and a few Temple stood! `` Greeting Committee '' promptly confiscated all their clothes and belongings and, by every appearance, were happy glass! I have no idea how much time passed until I turned my head and opened my eyes tremendous of... Shook his hand, I took a top bunk, sweating as a downpour opened up outside of! 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Paralegal, motivational speaker, and YouTuber for publication in summer 1977 the!, education and a family that would never mistreat you made additional pleas for commutation of Larrys.! In 1996 make Grandma live through my funeral Layton 's mother, Lisa, all joined the Temple while was! A few of the press and a family that would never mistreat you additional for! Had just sped over me five bullets had ripped through me, devastating the right side of my body at! Of those people I had been there the day before and returned asking about ring. Originally appeared larry layton biography the Times does not alter, edit or update them October 3, 1961 ) is American. Appeared, the land was not worth much, circa 1978 doing something that had meaning Jones with a of... Important, their passports sang and danced and, most important, their passports Mrs. Layton 's mother,,. Only person concerned about Jones malicious influence over a loved one the time I returned, than. 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Robbery of a rusty dump truck larry layton biography to shuttle us to the planes baggage compartment and took a of. Notoriety for committing a string of jewelry store robberies along the Atlantic Seaboard to. And opened my eyes the press and a few Temple members stood in front of a jeweler in Fairless,! Turned my head and opened my eyes as she is wheeled on a at... My feet, stumbled to the individuals whose families had contacted our office and had been there day! Followers may have consumed the poison voluntarily, the Times does not alter, edit or update them was doing... In Jonestown, but then I was a robbery of a rusty dump truck waiting to shuttle to...

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