Local News in Brief : Ringleader Given Life for 3 Murders
The ringleader of a group of transients described by police as a “mini-Manson” family has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murders of three men who were abducted off the streets of Hollywood in 1984.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald Coen imposed the sentence on George S. Godfrey, 46, who pleaded guilty last month to three counts of first-degree murder in a plea bargain with the district attorney’s office that spared him a possible death penalty.
Police said Godfrey was the leader of a group that preyed on homosexual prostitutes as part of a plan to “clean up” Hollywood. The three victims, men in their early 20s, were taken to the desert, where two were stabbed and bludgeoned to death with rocks while the third was killed with a shotgun blast.
An associate of Godfrey, Robert Ormsbee pleaded guilty last year to the three murders and was sentenced Friday to 75 years to life in state prison.
Two other men were convicted of involvement in one murder each and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
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