Mugshot of Jack Lasota.
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THE alleged death cult run by anarchist vegans has been compared to the killer Manson family after several of its transgender members were locked behind bars.

Jack “Ziz” LaSota, who cops say started the Zizian crew of anti-establishment computer nerds, was arrested alongside two alleged members on Monday.

Mugshot of Jack Lasota.

Jack ‘Ziz’ LaSota, 32, has been arrested and accused of starting a violent cult called the ZiziansCredit: AP
Mugshot of Daniel Blank.

Daniel Blank was arrested alongside LaSota, and he’s facing trespassing and weapons chargesCredit: AP
Mugshot of Michelle Zajko.

Michelle Zajko was also arrested years after her parents were shot to deathCredit: AP
Charles Manson in court during his trial.

An expert in extremist beliefs compared the crew to Charles Manson, who led a murderous cultCredit: Popperfoto – Getty

She and Michelle Zajko, 32, from Pennsylvania, and Daniel Blank, 26, from California, are being held without bond on trespassing and weapons charges.

In a court hearing, prosecutors accused LaSota, who was born male but used female pronouns online, of founding the group that’s been connected to four murders across Vermont, Pennsylvania, and California.

One of those killings was the fatal shooting of 44-year-old US border patrol agent David Maland, who was murdered near the Canadian border on January 20.

Maland was with a crew of border agents who were caught in a gunfight after trying to stop Teresa Youngblut and Felix Baulkholt on an interstate.

Baulkholt was killed in crossfire, but Youngblut was arrested, and cops have accused them of shooting first at the officers.

The pair were linked to LaSota’s community of online followers, who all share a passion for veganism and a rejection of the gender binary.

Chilling reports of the LaSota’s deadly cult have sparked comparisons to the infamous Manson family cult, which committed a series of murders in Los Angeles in 1969.

However, they don’t quite fit the hippie alternative lifestyle that Manson tried to impose on his followers.

“They’re not all necessarily all connected in one overarching plan. It’s not necessarily like a Manson family type of plan,” Mark Pitcavage, a research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center, told USA Today.

“When you look at [LaSota’s] writings, it’s all about the mind and consciousness. [LaSota] doesn’t really seem interested in left-wing political issues the way most people would understand it.”

Since the shocking arrests, disturbing details about LaSota’s bizarre beliefs and expectations for Zizian followers have come to light.

LaSota, a 34-year-old who went by Ziz, amassed followers online by sharing her beliefs that the brain is made of two hemispheres that capture two genders.

In a blog where she often opened up about violent thoughts, she said that the human mind has separate values that “often desire to kill each other.”

Collage of mugshots and surveillance images of Jack LaSota's associates.

This combination of images from top left shows 2019 Sonoma County Sheriff’s office booking mug shots of LaSota, Alexander Leatham, Emma Borhanian, and, at bottom left, Gwen Danielson, court appearance of Maximilian Snyder, and a Newport City Inn surveillance video image of Teresa YoungblutCredit: AP

‘KILL ORDERS’

Jessica Taylor is an AI safety researcher who knew several Zizian members socially and dated Bauckholt – a German national who lived in New York City and worked on Wall Street.

Bauckholt used his top-notch computer skills to predict market trends with artificial intelligence and provide advice for investors.

Taylor feared the group was descending into a “death cult” or “murder gang” as they were being forced to abide by a strict moral code.

Zizians believed that landlords were inherently corrupt, while animals were innocent creatures that needed to be protected under any circumstances.

“You’re talking about being willing to kill people who they think are bad,” Taylor, who lost touch with Bauckholt in 2023, told USA Today.

Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten after receiving the death penalty for their roles in the Tate-LaBianca murders.

The group strays from the beliefs of the Manson familyCredit: Getty – Contributor

SHOCK ARREST

So far, the anarchist Zizians have been linked to at least four murders, and five of the alleged members have been arrested.

In 2022, LaSota, Emma Borhanian, Gwen Danielson and Alexander Leatham were living in vans on property in California owned by a man named Curtis Lind.

They stopped paying rent, so Lind sued to evict them. In November 2022, the landlord was attacked with a sword and blinded in one eye.

As he was fighting for his life, a desperate Lind fired off shots from his rifle and killed Borhanian – a former Google employee who had attended some of LaSota’s anti-establishment rallies.

Suri Dao and Leatham were arrested and charged with attempted murder after the attack. LaSota was there at the time but wasn’t accused of any crimes.

One month after this attack, Zajko’s parents, Richard, 71, and his wife Rita, 69, were brutally shot in the heads in their Pennsylvania home.

Zajko was questioned by police at the time, but they let her go. Meanwhile, LaSota was hit with obstruction and disorderly conduct charges related to the killings, but she dodged court appearances.

Years went by, and the group got quiet until January 17, when Lind was stabbed to death by a masked attacker.

Maximilian Snyder, who applied for a marriage license with Youngblut, has been linked to that killing, and investigators believe he attacked Lind to stop the landlord from testifying in the attempted murder trial.

Days after this, Youngblut and Bauckholt were stopped in traffic and blew the top off the murderous group’s years-long scheme.

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