THE ROBERT GRAYSMITH "i AM IN CONTROL OF ALL THINGS" CARTOON IN 1978

1/24/2025

Robert Graysmith, author of "Zodiac" (1986}

On April 24th 1978, the San Francisco Chronicle received a letter from the Zodiac Killer stating "Dear Editor: This is the Zodiac speaking I am back with you. Tell herb caen I am here, I have always been here. That city pig toschi is good - but I am smarter and better he will get tired then leave me alone. I am waiting for a good movie about me. who will play me. I am now in control of all things".

Seventeen days later, on May 11th 1978, Robert Graysmith had a cartoon featured in the San Francisco Chronicle "Letters to the Editor" page. It depicted Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (leader of the Soviet Union) swinging from a tiger's tail, with the phrase "I am in control of all things" (with only the word "now" dropped from the April 24th 1978 letter).

In Robert Graysmith's book "Zodiac Unmasked" in 2002, he wrote of a typewritten letter mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on July 19th 1978 (two months after his cartoon). It read "I am the ZODIAC and I am in control of all things. I am going to tell you a secret. I like friction tape. I like to have it around in case I need to truss someone up in a hurry....I have my real name on a small metallic tape. You see, while you have it in your possession, I want you to know it belongs to me and you think I may have left it accidentally. I am athletic. It could be swim fins, or a piece of scuba gear. But maybe you play chess with me. I have several cheap sets in closets all over. I have my name on the bottom of the lid with the scotch tape....My tape is waiting for me all over California. Do you know me? I am the ZODIAC and I am in control".

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev

The wording in this letter exactly mimicked the wording from the Robert Graysmith cartoon, also dispensing with the word "now". The day before this letter arrived, on July 18th 1978, the opening game in the World Chess Championship between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi took place in the Philippines. Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi were two Soviet Union chess grandmasters. The story of their drawn match featured in the Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper on July 18th 1978, alongside a Zodiac Killer story entitled "SF Chief Says Inspector Didn't Write Zodiac Letter". The following day, the July 19th 1978 letter was mailed according to Robert Graysmith. It carried the phrase "But maybe you play chess with me. I have several cheap sets in closets all over". This means we have a possible connection between the beginning of the World Chess Championship featuring two Soviet Union grandmasters and the phrase "I am in control of all things" from a cartoon featuring the Soviet Union leader, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev.

So did Robert Graysmith copy most of the phrase from the April 24th 1978 "Zodiac" letter to use in his cartoon on May 11th 1978, subconsciously leaking the "I am in control of all things" phrase and the "Soviet Union" theme of the cartoon into a forged letter on July 19th 1978, the day after two "Soviet Union" grandmasters opened the World Chess Championship? Writing "But maybe you play chess with me". Did Robert Graysmith forge both letters on April 24th 1978 and July 19th 1978? Or did the Zodiac Killer author both letters - and Robert Graysmith plagiarized the Bay Area murderer? In later years Robert Graysmith spoke of the Zodiac Killer's "game of chess" with the police and newspapers.

"I HAVE MY NAME ON THE BOTTOM OF THE LID WITH THE SCOTCH TAPE"

SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL, JULY 18TH 1978

Rubislaw32 link

1/24/2025 02:13:08 pm

Great spot, Richard - the probability that the Zodiac responded to Graysmith dropping the ''now'' for his cartoon on May 11th 1978.

Hence, July 19th 1978: I am in control of all things.

The Zodiac's primary motivation for The Scotch Tape letter was to ridicule Det Insp Toschi for losing his homicide job. ''But maybe you play chess with me ?''. Pawn Play.

I have little doubt the Zodiac had Aberdeen murder victim Brenda Page in mind (5 days prior), when he wrote the letter. It's almost 2 years ago that Brenda's ex-husband was convicted of her murder. 8 years it took, from the announcement of her murder re-investigation (Feb 2015) to Kit Harrisson's guilty verdict.

The inference that the Zodiac was familiar with Aberdeen, at that 1978 time. A work-posting perhaps ?

Richard

1/24/2025 02:25:34 pm

The question is, what year did the Zodiac Killer become aware of Robert Graysmith?

Rubislaw32 link

1/24/2025 02:44:43 pm

Perhaps the answer is more in line with the Zodiac being a regular reader of the SF Chronicle ?

It's possible the Zodiac didn't twig Graysmith himself, unlike Avery, Herb Caen and Count Marco. But, just always noted a newspaper cartoon.

Richard

1/24/2025 03:07:30 pm

Possibly. I have added a "Scotch tape" and "St. Paul Minnesota" connection to the chess, in an ariicle from the San Francisco Examiner on July 16th 1978.

Richard

1/24/2025 03:28:06 pm

The Paul Masson Winery was in Saratoga. We know who was murdered there.

Rubislaw32 link

1/24/2025 04:08:25 pm

Whoa, Richard - July 16th 1978, and just 3 days before the Zodiac sends his typed Scotch Tape letter to the SF Chronicle, this Scotch Tape/ Chess connection in the SF Examiner.

Nice find.

The conclusion I came to, was a ''super'' Red Herring, if you will:

St Paul, Minnesota - home of Scotch Tape.

St Paul, Minnesota's most famous son is F Scott Fitzgerald - whose first novel, making him famous, is ''This side of Paradise''.

F Scott Fitzgerald's full name was Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald.

Middle names then: '' Scott Key ''. This simply reinforces the inference that there is a Scottish victim claimed.

EdEdwardsCiphers link

1/24/2025 05:30:43 pm

I wonder, because I've not really heard of this chess mention before, which if I understand it, is pretty remarkable.

Does anyone else find it curious that there's a chess mention by the Zodiac, and the solve to the recent cryptogram break was a "knight's move" algorithm?

Is it possible that was a taunt,and what cryptanalysts might call a "crib"?

I'm not sure I understood this full posting right. I still have to get used to actually reading good content Sir Richard. As I mentioned prior, I've come from a desert of dumb, so to find so much good content is a bit jarring.

As always good stuff.

Richard

1/24/2025 11:02:33 pm

Good spot Ed on the "Knight's move" in chess in the 340 of one down and two across. It was a period 19 shift, but if Zodiac was a chess player, then this technique of negotiating a grid formation could have shaped his thinking. Two things I would like to know, is when did Graysmith first create the cartoon for it to be published and when did Zodiac first become aware of Graysmith. Could he have been connected to the newspaper industry and knew Graysmith's fascination with Zodiac before the public.

JIbberjabber

1/25/2025 01:27:21 am

Great question Richard - I have looked into this in the past as I remember reading in at least one of the Graysmith books he was getting silent calls.

He obviously believes Allen is the Zodiac and therefore he thinks it was Allen calling him, and I was wondering when would Allen have heard of Robert Graysmith wrt the Zodiac pre-1986 publication of his first book.

I dont think Graysmith is ever linked to the case in newspaper print until about 1985, although I maybe read 1 or 2 articles from around 1980s mentioning the book as it seems like it was originally intended to be published maybe 4 or 5 years sooner that it actually was.

There is also the question of when did Graysmith start researching the case, even if he was there from the very first letter being recieved at the Chronicle, I get the feeling he didn't start active investigation until the mid to late 1970s.

Personally I doubt Zodiac was ever aware of Graysmith until he started doing promotion for the book late 1985/early 1986 unless as you say Zodiac had some closer connection to the newspapers than simply reading them as a member of the public.

I also was wondering how would Zodiac or Allen or any other hoaxer even get Graysmith's telephone number, I read in one of his books where Graysmith says he intentionally left a phone number in the hopes the real Zodiac would actually taunt him, but so far I have not come across any such article in a newspaper, and as I say even if he did this would not have been until the 1980s IMO.

if Zodiac died before 1986 I think there is a strong likelihood he had never heard of Graysmith. If he was still alive at the time of the publication then I would think definitely and he likely even bought the book

Very interesting question this. I am reading Zodiac unmasked myself and Graysmith is revealing snippets of what I assume were taken to be hoax Zodiac letters all throughout the book. There is one quote where he has Toschi & Armstrong saying there are possibly 5 hoaxers at work mailing letters.

I have recently followed up on one thing Graysmith mentioned. Psychic Peter Hurkos claimed to have been getting threatening letters from Zodiac in December 1970. This is true and the connection is interesting as amongst other things Hurkos was "helping" the police work on the Boston Strangler case in the early to mid 1960s, he seems to have also visited the Tate murder scene in LA. iI have seen him on flyers for magic shows at the Sahara Tahoe hotel in the mid 60s = nothing at the time of Donna Lass dissapearence. In 1969 he was spending a lot of time in San Francisco area appearing on talk shows to discuss subjects like ESP, withcraft & the occult. in 1970 he seems to have been travelling around the wider USA and world doing the same thing. A journalist had wrote a book about him in 1970 trying to debunk him but she later becamce a believer that he did have ESP abilities and through late 1970 they were attending book signings and public appearences togethor. He seems to have been in Southern California around November / December 1970 when he reported the Zodiac letters to the police & FBI.

I first found the articles in the Riverside Press and I wondered if Zodiac had wrote to Hurkos down in Riverside - this would be around the exact same time Avery broke the "Riverside connection" I later found articles which seem to corroborate what Graysmith eventually writes that it was Palm Springs where he was recieving the threats - which is down in Riverside county but is 55 miles from Riverside proper. I cant find any articles that say Hurkos ever promoted the book in Riverside city itself.

a 1977 article written by Hurkos himself mentions he worked on the Zodiac case, but I dont think he did officially. I think he maybe came to San Francisco in 1969 doing the talk show circuits to build his profile, maybe to try and ingragiate himself with SFPD but it looks like he was never part of the case - oifficially at least.

I do think Peter Hurkos is the kind of guy that could have been on the Zodiac's radar in 1969/1970 similar profile to Bellli / Bailey, Avery, Herb Caen etc ie higher profile and mentioning Zodiac and Zodiac related stuff.

Why Zodiac would threaten Hurkos though? did he consider a psychic an actual threat, or was it just more publicity seeking

Would have been interesting to see those Paul Hurkos letters presumably they were handed over to SFPD/FBI.

Richard

1/25/2025 02:40:56 am

With respect to Peter Hurkos, there was ESP mentioned in the letter on October 7th 1969. And you're correct, I don't think Zodiac could have been aware of Robert Graysmith until the 1980s, so if the Zodiac typed the July 19th 1978 letter and amended his "I am now in control of all things" to "I am in control of all things" to mirror a Graysmith cartoon, it's uncanny how Graysmith would eventually become Zodiac's biggest publicist. Or was the reiteration of this phrase just a coincidence it mirrored the Graysmith cartoon. I have searched to see if this cartoon could have been created (or appeared) in the newspapers prior to April 24th 1978, but have found nothing. Did Robert Graysmith consciously take the Zodiac phrase from the April 24th 1978 letter and use it in his "Soviet Union" cartoon. This seems the most logical answer. But the fact that this phrase was featured in the Graysmith cartoon, and was the only part of the April 24th 1978 letter effectively repeated in the July 19th 1978 letter, appears to suggest that the cartoon played a part. That is why I considered the unlikely scenario that Zodiac was familiar with Graysmith's sleuthing of him prior to this cartoon's publication. Hence the idea of Zodiac being inside the San Francisco Chronicle and his ability to source newspaper archives so readily. It's a long shot I know.

Also, how did Graysmith become aware of the letter typed on July 19th 1978, because it didn't feature in his 1986 book. If it was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle they should have records of it. I doubt he was lying about the letter because the editor and other staff would have known if they didn't receive it. I also doubt Graysmith hoaxed it, due to it's really cryptic nature, unlike any other Zodiac communication. I would expect a hoaxer to at least make the letter similar to others, as opposed to the crazy rhetoric displayed in this letter. Keep digging on the Hurkos connection, something may turn up.

Rubislaw32 link

1/25/2025 03:24:20 am

Yes, Richard - I'd be pretty sure the cartoon had an influence on the Zodiac's Scotch Tape letter, 3 days later. And regardless of whether the Zodiac knew of Graysmith or not (probably not).

It's only really in the last 3 years that I have come to terms with (in all probability ), ''Who leaked, and which letters ?''.

The Scotch Tape letter would have been a gift to Graysmith, for his book Zodiac Unmasked, by Intelligence processors FBI. Only case custodians CA DOJ would really have known about its existence, prior to Graysmith's 2nd Zodiac offering, also. That's where elements of the ''diarist'' in Graysmith amount to merely ''artistic licence''.

EdEdwardsciphers link

1/25/2025 07:34:46 am

Peter Hurkos. Wow never heard of him. I've not read the books by Graysmith. I have the first one, and a colleague of mine recommends reading both books to be able to see the clues that Graysmith actually misses while he's en route to confirming his suspect -- Allen.

I"ve never heard of this psychic who apparently consulted on the Tate labianca murders.

That is fascinating to me.

I find it especially interesting that this guy would speak on witchcraft and the occult. I would be very interested in any letters this person would have received from someone claiming to be the Zodiac.

His connection seems very tantalizing to me. It would fit into what I believe is an interesting narrative of the Zodiac.

Thanks Jibs.

Richard

1/24/2025 11:13:34 pm

George Koltanowski (also "Georges"; 17 September 1903 – 5 February 2000) was a Belgian-born American chess player, promoter, and writer. He was informally known as "Kolty". Koltanowski set the world's blindfold record on 20 September 1937, in Edinburgh, by playing 34 chess games simultaneously while blindfolded, making headline news around the world. He also set a record in 1960 for playing 56 consecutive blindfold games at ten seconds per move. He was Belgian Chess Champion in 1923, 1927, 1930, and 1936. Koltanowski became better known for touring and giving simultaneous exhibitions and blindfold displays. Koltanowski toured the United States tirelessly for years, running chess tournaments and giving simultaneous exhibitions everywhere. After his failure in the 1946 U.S. Open in Pittsburgh, he never played tournament chess again, except for two games as a member of the U.S. team in the 10th Chess Olympiad (Helsinki 1952), getting a draw with Soviet Grandmaster Alexander Kotov, one of the strongest players in the world, and a draw with Hungarian International Master Tibor Florian, in a game which Koltanowski appeared to be winning.

JIbberjabber

1/25/2025 02:10:54 am

A rambling post from me there - just my 2 cents I highly doubt Zodiac would have knew Robert Graysmith had any interest in him by 1978, unless he had some more direct connection into the nwspaper and / or the own investigation that was going on against him.
I would say Graysmith was in the game by 1978 but would Z have known this?

Rubislaw32 link

1/25/2025 02:40:09 am

I agree with that, Jibberjabber - that the Zodiac is unlikely to have known about Graysmith specifically, until early 1987 when ''Zodiac'' went into paperback, and started selling ''bucket loads''.

There is evidence that the Zodiac was a fan of syndicated cartoon strips in newspapers. And it only takes a few seconds to mull over a political satire cartoon. But, as to the author (Graysmith) - there were plenty of satire cartoonists out there.

The implication of the cartoon itself was that the Soviet Union were not keeping up with political affairs in Afghanistan after the ''Saur Revolution'' of April 27th 1978. The Zodiac gave off the impression that he considered himself a ''worldly person'' - which he probably equated to being ''wise''. Often, he was actually just a ''Glib Git''.

EdEdwardsCiphers

1/25/2025 06:46:17 am

"Glib Git". You have to love it.

Cragle

1/25/2025 02:47:18 am

Gray Smith was / is a liar and a plagiarist. Richard I have emailed you some information.

Richard

1/25/2025 03:06:07 am

I suspect therefore you have your doubts on the July 19th 1978 letter. Soze may be interested in the "chess" and "St. Paul" connection because she was looking into the Minnesota Mining Company. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M) is a multinational corporation that began as a mining company in Northern Minnesota. Today, 3M is a global company that produces a wide range of consumer and industrial goods.

EdEdwardsCiphers

1/25/2025 06:47:19 am

I hope it wasn't about me Crag?!?! We had some good times, didn't we?

Rubislaw32 link

1/25/2025 10:25:01 am

Plainly obvious:

The FBI gifted the wording of the Scotch Tape letter, and pointed out the ''Deep Real Estate'' ad. to Robert Graysmith, for his book ''Zodiac Unmasked''.

CA DOJ leaked to Lyndon Lafferty a photocopy of the 1990 Celebrity Cipher postcard plain-side, and photocopy of the Benicia High School Note - via Vallejo PD and Benicia PD desk-sergeants, respectively. These two as gifts for his then-prospective book ''The Silenced Badge''. Lafferty was given permission to leak the Celebrity Cipher postcard to the internet, before his book was published.

The FBI hold the original 1990 Celebrity Cipher postcard and original Scotch Tape letter. As for the Benicia High School Note ? I believe it was a mural - but CA DOJ will have the original photographs and any forensics evidence garnered.

Sam Fisher

1/26/2025 01:50:30 pm

In regards to the scotch tape the "St Paul", I can't help but wonder if this ins't a reference to the middle name of Joseph Paul Franklin. On that note isn't it slightly strange that he originally wanted to meet at St Vincent De Pauls in California, and write to PAUL Avery. Is this a slight trolling from the Zodiac that his name includes Paul? Just a thought, but take note how it has 4 letters and there are 4 dots on the mysterious Halloween Card symbol.

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THE ROBERT GRAYSMITH "i AM IN CONTROL OF ALL THINGS" CARTOON IN 1978

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