Word: morantz
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Late one afternoon, about 30 Arizona and California law officers descended on a sparsely developed section of Lake Havasu City, Ariz. Their quarry was Charles ("Chuck") Dederich, 65, the founder of Synanon, who was wanted in connection with an attempt in October to murder Los Angeles Attorney Paul Morantz with a rattlesnake hidden in his mail box. The officers found Dederich at home. Said Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney John Watson: "He was in a stupor, staring straight ahead, with an empty bottle of Chivas Regal in front of him." Because his physical condition did not permit...
From the first, Los Angeles police suspected that Synanon members were responsible for the attack on Morantz, who had won, for a client, a $300,000 lawsuit against the 900-member group. Synanon, founded by Dederich 20 years ago as a rehabilitation organization for alcoholics and drug addicts, had done worthy work, but in recent years had become a capriciously governed and toughly disciplined cult. Soon after the snake attack, police arrested two suspects: Synanon Members Joseph Musico, 28, and Lance Kenton, 20, the son of Bandleader Stan Kenton. Synanon has steadfastly maintained that it "had no involvement...
Attorney Paul Morantz unlocked the door of his house in Los Angeles last week and put his left hand into the mailbox. "I felt a sharp pain, and then it felt as though my hand was in a vise," he recalls. When he pulled his hand back, he brought with it a 4½-ft. diamondback rattlesnake, its fangs buried near his left thumb. He managed to shake off the snake and ran screaming to a neighbor, who applied a tourniquet that saved Morantz from almost certain death. Fire department paramedics chopped off the snake's head with...
Three weeks earlier. Lawyer Morantz had won a $300,000 judgment against Synanon for a married couple who said that the wife was kidnaped and abused by members of the organization. From his hospital bed, where he was listed for a time in guarded condition, Morantz said: "I've been told that inside Synanon I'm on their enemies list." But Synanon Lawyer Dan Garrett insisted that the group had had no part in the rattlesnake attack. Said he: "Synanon does not and will not condone, support or harbor any individual engaged in such activities...
Still, what happened to Paul Morantz is only the latest in a series of curious misfortunes that have befallen people who have challenged Synanon in court, in print or on the air. Among the other victims...