UNCLE DONALD'S CASTRO STREET |
| |
"DAN WHITE'S LAST CONFESSION" by Mike Weiss. It was published September 18, 1998 in the San Jose Mercury News
"I really lost it that day," White said.The truth finally came out of Dan White. IT WAS PREMEDITATED MURDER. He went to City Hall that Monday morning in 1978 for the purpose of murdering Mayor Moscone, Supervisor Harvey Milk, and two other liberals, Supervisor Carol Ruth Silver, and California State Assemblyman Willie Brown. White also confessed that he had intended to kill himself, but was unable to do it. Falzon believed what he was told, but saw no sense in revealing the confession at the time. However, I think this new information tends to refute the popular opinion that homophobia was a motive in Milk's murder. In 1998, Falzon decided to expose the shocking truth that he had kept secret for thirteen years. He contacted reporter Mike Weiss who had closely followed the story since the beginning. Weiss and Falzon had spent numerous hours discussing and arguing the details of the story which Weiss published as the book "DOUBLE PLAY" in 1984. So it made sense that Falzon would choose to share his secret with Weiss so many years later. After serving his year of parole time in Los Angeles, White was allowed to return to San Francisco. Mayor Diane Feinstein publicly asked him not to return to The City, but he did. Although he chose not to live with his wife, Mary Ann, he lived quietly and without incident until he committed suicide by asphyxiation in the garage of her home on October 21, 1985. There was no celebrating in the gay community when the news was announced. White's death was essentially ignored.
The above is entirely my opinion, except for the quotes from Mike Weiss.
|
After his trial and sentencing on May 21, 1979, Dan White was taken to Soledad Prison, some 150 miles south of San Francisco. He was paroled on January 6, 1984 after serving 5 years and 1 month in prison for murdering two men.
Several rallies were held in San Francisco the day of White's release. People were requested to remain home from work that day in a show of solidarity. Scott Smith called for a noise-making rally at noon in the Castro to protest White's release. Hundreds gathered in the intersection of 18th and Castro, blocking traffic. Wooden spoons, garbage can lids, and similar noise makers were used to create a roar of protest that could be heard for blocks. At a rally in Union Square, some speakers called for the public to punish White themselves in various ways. One speaker hoped that someone would kill White, an act that many gays feared would happen, and most feared would greatly damage the images of the gay community and the City of San Francisco.
White's release was carried out with great secrecy. The afternoon before his scheduled release, he was transferred 200 miles south to a facility in the Tehachapi mountains north of Los Angeles. The next morning, he was handed over to the Los Angeles Parole Department which had arranged for an apartment for him somewhere in LA. He was given $200 in cash, the standard amount given to released prisoners. The press was given no information other than that White had been secretly released. His parole was not to exceed one year. He remained in hiding for a period of nine months During that period, he contacted his old friend, San Francisco Detective Frank Falzon, whom he had not talked to since the trial. White invited Falzon to join him in L.A., saying that he wanted to explain things.
BACK TO MILK INDEX