Famous serial killer and former convict Charles Manson is dead

American serial killer Charles Manson has died at the age of 83, as the American media and officials of the California penitentiary service reported yesterday, Sunday.

In the late 1960s, Manson, a former convict, gathered a group of people at his home in Los Angeles and formed the "Manson Family" sect, whose members worshiped him wholeheartedly.

This sect is responsible for many savage murders in affluent neighborhoods of Los Angeles that had caused panic in the city and shocked the world public opinion. Specifically in the summer of 1969, Manson asked his younger followers to kill seven people as part of his plan, according to the prosecutor, to provoke racial strife.

Among the victims was 26-year-old actress Sharon Tate, wife of filmmaker Roman Polanski, who was 8 months pregnant, who was killed with 16 knives. In 1971 Manson was sentenced to death along with four members of his organization. Their sentences were later commuted to life imprisonment.

Sharon's sister Debra Tate told TMZ she received a phone call from officials at Manson Jail, who told her the killer died Sunday night.

A California Penitentiary source later confirmed the news. The notorious killer has been ill for some time and was admitted to a California hospital last week.