Detective Toschi and the 1978 Letter

I went to the library and got a bunch of articles about Toschi, his being transfered to the pawn shop detail over the Maupin deal, the April 1978 letter and which other letter that Toschi was accused of possibly writing.















Just read the first few lines of this one. Herb Caen is putting in his two cents regarding Chief Gain!

Thank you Seagull, great reading.

Thanks Seagull...whats your take on these?

not sure what anyone else's take on these are but in my opinion Maupin completely screwed over Toschi. And in the aftermath probably the most knowledgeable, resourceful, an determined person working the Z case got removed from it..

I agree with Kirkham. Maupin totally screwed over Toschi.

I think Maupin did it because his serial newspaper story was being published as a series of novels.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_the_City

Tales Of The City became a series of eight novels. The first four were serialized in the Chronicle, the fifth appeared as a serial in the Examiner. The last three were not serialized.

The first novel was published in 1978 around the time Maupin started his campaign against Toschi. The novels would be distributed nation-wide. I can't think of a better way for Maupin to drum up book sales outside of the Bay Area than by him creating this "scandal".

This is GREAT STUFF Seagull. Thank you for your efforts!!

I agree. Convenient timing. I say it was Maupin and/or one of his cronies. Payback is a bitch. Even though it wasn't anything done directly to Maupin, I have a good feeling Maupin took this personally.

I agree with Nacht that Maupin (flicks wrist) or one of his ASSociates probably wrote the Herb Caen Z letters to screw Toschi and IMO the case too. I still ask - Why would the VTH care if Caen knew Z was still here? Toschi would never have made that mistake.

Above it is mentioned the Exorcist letter was also considered as written by Toschi when they learned of the possibility of him writing the 1978 letter.

While I do believe the 1978 letter to be fake, the Exorcist letter just looks too legit!

Agreed and it looks nothing like the 78 letter imho.


Ignore, works in preview but not in post....weird

The 1978 letter...100% fake in my opinion. It looks 'hokey' or contribed, or as if somebody was writing to make it look like z. The exorcist letter looks natural, and fluid....real in my opinion

Another thought...

Some, including myself have questioned the possibility that Maupin could have been involved in the 1978 letter. Payback for Toschi.

Consider this: What if Maupin was involved with Red Phantom letter to Count Marco and THAT is the 1974 letter that is in question per Keel. What if
THOSE two are the match?

***

In 1974 Maupin came out as being gay. The same year he began writing "Tales in the City"---where Toschi is "the cop" in the book.
Also in 1974, Maupin began writing for....The San Francisco Chronicle.

I'm betting Maupin was not a fan of Count Marco.


--just a thought.

Was the Exorcist letter apparently.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?url=http://news.google.com/newspapers%3Fid%3DPMhYAAAAIBAJ%26sjid%3D7OEDAAAAIBAJ%26pg%3D5712,3736695%26dq%3Darmistead%2Bmaupin%26hl%3Den&rct=j&sa=X&ei=QpcKUYuNG8qc0AX5iIHACg&ved=0CDMQ-AsoADAA&q=Armistead+Maupin&usg=AFQjCNGCjzHVpJMzJC3KlNW4IiIa3vI5wg

I'd agree. The 1978 is fake and the exorcist letter is Zodiac. The word "saterical" has to be Zodiac. Not because of the misspelling but because the letters and slant look so much like Zodiac's printing style.

I don't know much about poetry but the poem about the suicide's watery grave and the desk poem in Bates case have a similar ring to them.

I don't believe Maupin wrote the 1978 fake Z letter. And definitely not Toschi. It's possible Maupin wrote it, but I think it's more likely that someone with closer ties to the Z case wrote it.

If Toschi wrote any fake letters in his own case, he could kiss his career goodbye, thats why I dont think he would ever risk doing that, and I dont think he wrote any at all.

morf13 wrote:

If Toschi wrote any fake letters in his own case, he could kiss his career goodbye, thats why I dont think he would ever risk doing that, and I dont think he wrote any at all.

Any opinion on who wrote them?

patinky wrote:

morf13 wrote:

If Toschi wrote any fake letters in his own case, he could kiss his career goodbye, thats why I dont think he would ever risk doing that, and I dont think he wrote any at all.

Any opinion on who wrote them?

No

This all started with Maupin and Toschi in 1976....

Imagine you write a book and you get fan mail. People praising your work. You are proud...confident.

THEN, come to find out, many of the letters you received were written by one of the very men you were (sort of) writing about! More than one letter was sent glorifying "Toschi". Signed by "college girls", etc.

PUKE.

I mean, I respect Toschi as an officer, but that is beyond ridiculous!

Was this an embarrassment to Maupin? I mean, I guess Maupin could have let it go if it were, but he didn't. He had to have known it would hurt Toschi's career.

The fake letters to Maupin from Toschi were typed. So...just because the 1978 letter mentions Toshci, this makes Maupin think Toschi wrote the 1978 letter?

***

It OBVIOUSLY bothered Maupin. Maupin wrote an entire article about it in a magazine...even shared the letters!!

What an extreme way to get back at Toschi! Fake '78 letter aside!!

***

thanks to Tracers, you can view them here: https://zodiackillersite.forummotion.com/t756-maupin-s-account-of-toschi-and-the-zodiac-letters?highlight=maupin

Here is the first page from the link above:

Interesting the above article mentions Toschi carrying around in his pocket the 1978 letter. --let's hope it was a copy.

Why would Toschi do that if he wrote it himself? I think Toschi took a "liking" to this particular letter...ego.

tahoe27 wrote:

Interesting the above article mentions Toschi carrying around in his pocket the 1978 letter. --let's hope it was a copy.

Why would Toschi do that if he wrote it himself? I think Toschi took a "liking" to this particular letter...ego.

I think it was a copy of the exorcist letter he was carrying as the meeting described in the article took place in 1976 (if I'm reading it right). Thanks for posting that T and for Tracers supplying it. I would like to read that edition of 'Tales of the City' featuring Zodiac and Toschi.

EDIT: Nope the article states it was the note on the right? weird.

traveller1st wrote:

tahoe27 wrote:

Interesting the above article mentions Toschi carrying around in his pocket the 1978 letter. --let's hope it was a copy.

Why would Toschi do that if he wrote it himself? I think Toschi took a "liking" to this particular letter...ego.

I think it was a copy of the exorcist letter he was carrying as the meeting described in the article took place in 1976 (if I'm reading it right). Thanks for posting that T and for Tracers supplying it. I would like to read that edition of 'Tales of the City' featuring Zodiac and Toschi.

EDIT: Nope the article states it was the note on the right? weird.

Yes...you are right.

That alone is interesting as Maupin states differently, but it HAD to be the Exorcist letter he was referring to. But why make that effort to print the '78 letter and specifically point that out?

Maupin could easily mix things up I suppose, but he could just as well have been stirring up shit.

Maupin himself wrote:

"...I was frankly embarrassed for the Inspector (if a little miffed that he had taken me for such an easy mark)."


That statement tells me Maupin took this quite personally.

I suppose that it could be a case of the article having been written when the exorcist letter was on the right then at layout stage it was decided to reverse the placement of the letters to make them chronological not realizing that there was a reference in the text to one of them based on its location on the page.

Yes--probably just a mix-up.

***

When reading this last night, I noticed more about how Maupin came to the conclusion Toshci sent him the fake fan mail.

Maupin noticed a few things, but one of them being the word "help". He had a sense they all sounded familiar.

This I find interesting when considering the 1978 letter:

Notice the author using the word "smarter".

Now, look at the fan mail letters writing about how "smart" Toschi was.

IF Maupin was involved in payback to Toschi, it seems he would have used this same type of thing in his fake letter.

So, we have the letter writer as:

Zodiac - I say no.
Toschi - still possible I suppose
Maupin/Friend - possible
Some random person: possible, but I doubt it

Maupin obviously didn't take this lightly. He acted concerned, but chose to write a magazine article to embarrass this man.

Was the letter written PURPOSELY for Maupin to be able to come forward and write about it and ultimately get Toschi fired? Did he mess with the wrong man? Let me tell you....Armistead is quite full of himself.

Anyone find it strange that all six girls' signatures are written on the same horizontal angle?

It's interesting that the letter says "I'm waiting for a good movie about me." Since Toschi had two movies made about him. I wonder if he really did attend the Dirty Harry premier, as shown in the Fincher film, or maybe the Zodiac Killer movie.