vault backup: 2026-10-09 18:00:33

20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Father Bud's Boys Farm.md

@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 ---
 aliases:
   - "Boys Farm, Inc."
+  - "Boys' Farm"
+  - "Boys' Farm of Roarks Cove"
+  - "Boys Farm"
+  - "Boy's Farm, Inc."
 tags:
   - Organization
   - FosterHome
@@ -10,27 +14,125 @@ tags:
   - ChurchOfNewRevelation
   - NorthFoxIsland
 category: "Private Organization"
-summary: "Home for wayward boys near Alto, Tennessee, founded in 1971 by Claudius Vermilye and partly financed with state and county funds, where boys were filmed for more than 270 sponsors."
+summary: "Home for wayward boys near Alto, Tennessee, founded in 1971 by Claudius Vermilye and partly financed with state and county funds, whose seized photographs and sponsor list led to a 1977 conviction."
 location: "Roarks Cove, near Alto, Tennessee"
 start: 1971
 end: 1976
 relations:
+  - type: founded
+    with: "[[Claudius Vermilye]]"
+    reverse: true
+    start: 1971
+    fn: 3
+  - type: funded
+    with: "[[Tennessee]]"
+    reverse: true
+    role: "state and county funds"
+    start: 1971
+    fn: 2
+  - type: funded
+    with: "[[Francis Shelden]]"
+    reverse: true
+    role: "listed sponsor"
+    start: 1976
+    fn: 1
+  - type: investigated
+    with: "[[J. William Pope]]"
+    reverse: true
+    start: 1976
+    fn: 1
+  - type: investigated
+    with: "[[Tennessee Bureau of Investigation]]"
+    reverse: true
+    role: "out-of-state interviews of sponsors"
+    fn: 5
 created: 2026-04-28
-updated: 2026-09-23
+updated: 2026-10-09
 ---
-Boys Farm, Inc., known as Father Bud's Boys Farm, was founded in 1971 by the Rev. [[Claudius Vermilye]], formerly rector of the Episcopal church at Alto, Tennessee, as a rehabilitation center for wayward boys in the Roarks Cove community near Alto; national wire reports placed it at Winchester and the investigator [[Kenneth Wooden]] at Monteagle. The boys were sent there by the state correction department, juvenile authorities and welfare agencies, and the farm was partly financed with state and county funds.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
 
-Films found on the Michigan photographer [[Gerald Richards]] at his arrest in July 1976 and films seized in the [[New Orleans]] raid on [[Troop 137]] led Tennessee authorities to raid the farm after they recognized some of the "actors"; Vermilye's name had also turned up in the files of the New Orleans scoutmaster [[Richard Halvorsen]]. The raid produced films of sexual acts between boys at the farm and a list of more than 270 "active sponsors," among them [[Francis Shelden]], owner of [[North Fox Island]]. District Attorney General [[J. William Pope]] said the boys were shown obscene films and given liquor before orgies filmed with a hidden camera, that films were sold to sponsors to raise money for the farm, and that some sponsors came to the farm to have sex with the boys. Half a dozen Illinois men had bought films from Vermilye, one for more than 4,000 dollars. Richards testified that the farm "sold raw film to other men. They would bring it to me to process." An investigator for the district attorney general, Pete Bouldin, described the [[The Church of New Revelation|Church of the New Revelation]], one of the network's fronts, as a "referral agency which distributes pornography around the country"; Boys Farm, Inc., was listed as a separate organization from the church. Vermilye was convicted on June 3, 1977.[^1][^2][^3][^5]
+Boys Farm, Inc., known as Father Bud's Boys Farm, was a home for wayward boys in the Roarks Cove community near Alto, [[Tennessee]], founded in 1971 by the Rev. [[Claudius Vermilye]], formerly rector of the [[Episcopal Church|Episcopal]] church at Alto. District Attorney General [[J. William Pope]] said the state correction department, juvenile authorities and welfare agencies sent boys to the farm, and the [[Chicago Tribune]] reported that it was partly financed with state and county funds.[^1][^2]
+
+### Founding and Operation
+
+Vermilye had been pastor of the Alto parish from 1958 to 1962, when he was known locally as "Bud." He established the farm in 1971, and it ran for about five years.[^3] [[The Living Church]] of August 3, 1958, listed him among the Tennessee deacons ordained on June 24 of that year, "in charge, Christ Church, Alto."[^4] The [[Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals]] later described him as a seminary graduate and ordained Episcopal priest who had run Boys Farm, Inc., "supposedly a home for wayward and homeless boys," for "some four or five years" before his arrest. The court found that the home "was not church-sponsored or related," and that it "seems to have been maintained largely from funds raised by Vermilye from the sale of photographs and slides of the children to some 200 or more 'sponsors.'"[^5]
+
+Some of the boys were placed at the farm by "various courts and welfare agencies," and others were "placed" there by their parents, the court wrote.[^5] The Tribune placed the home at [[Winchester, Tennessee]], the [[Franklin County, Tennessee|Franklin County]] seat.[^2] [[Kenneth Wooden]], an author and investigative reporter for [[CBS]]'s 60 Minutes, testified that the farm was at [[Monteagle, Tennessee|Monteagle]].[^6] A federal court order of January 10, 1978, in a civil-rights suit filed on February 25, 1977 against Vermilye, quoted the complaint's description of juveniles in the custody of the Tennessee department of corrections who were placed with Vermilye "at Boy's Farm, Inc., Monteagle, Tennessee, for rehabilitation," and recorded the defendants' interrogatory answers that four juveniles had been transferred to Boy's Farm, Inc. from the Tennessee department of corrections.[^7]
+
+Vermilye's obituary in the [[Coastland Times]] stated that he directed the Boy's Farm of Roarks Cove while serving the [[Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee|Diocese of Tennessee]], and that in Tennessee he was a member of the [[Tennessee Corrections Association]] and president of the [[Franklin County Mental Health Association]].[^8]
+
+Vermilye's eldest son, then 22, disappeared on July 5, 1974. His car was found behind the student union building of a seminary at [[Sewanee]], and his empty wallet was found on Alto Road. Vermilye told investigators he was "absolutely certain" that the son had been killed and buried in the Roarks Cove area, and he ran newspaper advertisements offering a reward. After the charges against him, Tennessee authorities looked on the disappearance "with a different light," although they could establish no link. [[Pete Bouldin]], an investigator in the district attorney general's office, said, "To us he's still just a missing person."[^1]
+
+Wooden testified that Vermilye contacted him after his appearance on the [[Today show]] and the publication of his book, and asked for help in obtaining a boy from the State of Tennessee. Wooden said that after the priest's arrest he began an investigation of children's sex and pornography throughout the United States that had lasted nine months and was continuing.[^6]
+
+### The Raid and the Sponsor List
+
+Films found on the Port Huron, Michigan, physical fitness teacher [[Gerald Richards]] at his arrest in July 1976, and films seized in the [[New Orleans]] raid on [[Troop 137]], led Tennessee authorities to raid the farm after police there recognized some of the "actors" in them.[^1] Vermilye's name also appeared in the files of the New Orleans scoutmaster [[Richard Halvorsen]], which police searched.[^2]
+
+An investigator from the local district attorney's office executed a search warrant at the farm. Officers seized developed and undeveloped photographs of residents, correspondence with sponsors, and card catalogs containing "several hundred names of past and present financial contributors from across the country." Agents of the [[Tennessee Bureau of Investigation]] and local investigators conducted out-of-state interviews with a large number of sponsors, several of whom testified at trial in exchange for a grant of immunity from prosecution in Tennessee.[^5] In 1987 the Court of Criminal Appeals wrote that "The vast majority of the information used at the trial of this cause was furnished to law enforcement officials by the sponsors of the home."[^9]
+
+Police also seized a list of more than 270 "active sponsors" of the farm, and [[Francis Shelden]], the sole owner of [[North Fox Island]], was among the names.[^1][^2]
+
+Pope said the boys had been shown obscene films and given liquor to stifle their inhibitions before sex orgies, which were allegedly filmed with a hidden camera. He said some of the pictures were sold to "active sponsors" to raise money for the farm, and that some of these sponsors allegedly came to the farm to engage in homosexual activity with the boys.[^1] A Tribune investigation of the Tennessee case disclosed that a half-dozen Illinois men had bought films from the priest, one of them for more than $4,000.[^2]
+
+Richards told the [[Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency|Senate subcommittee]] in Chicago: "That was Boys Farm in Tennessee, which sold raw film to other men. They would bring it to me to process."[^10] Asked by Senator [[Charles Mathias]] whether she knew of any institution that participated in federal funding or federal programs, [[Michael Sneed]] of the Tribune answered: "According to information that the authorities gave us, the farm in Tennessee received such funds. Additional funds came, however, from the filming of orgies involving these young boys and patrons who would pay money for these films."[^11]
+
+### Indictment, Trial and Appeal
+
+The Tribune reported that Vermilye was indicted on sixteen counts: three of crimes against nature, eight of aiding and abetting crimes against nature, four of contributing to the delinquency of minors and one of using minors in the production of pornographic materials.[^2]
+
+The trial was held at Winchester. [[United Press International]] reported on the day of the verdict that Vermilye, 48, a divorced father of five who founded the farm after his 1971 divorce, was "attempting to clear himself of nine felony counts" and could receive up to 135 years in prison if convicted of all counts.[^12] A jury of ten men and two women returned its verdict on Friday, June 3, 1977, after four days of testimony, and Circuit Judge [[Thomas Greer]] said he would pronounce sentence later. The UPI report of the verdict in [[The New York Times]] said he was found guilty of all charges against him, "three counts of crimes against nature upon boys in his care and nine counts of aiding and abetting instances of specific homosexual acts." The prosecution called the farm a "house of lust."[^13] The Tribune and the [[Traverse City Record-Eagle|Record-Eagle]] gave his age as 47.[^1][^2]
+
+The [[Washington Post]] reported that Greer "consolidated the 12 sentences against Vermilye (totaling 105-165 years) into three groups, to run 25 to 40 years."[^3] The appellate opinions describe the convictions as three charges of crime against nature and five of aiding and abetting crime against nature, with eight sentences (three of five to ten years and five of ten to fifteen years) divided into three groups to run consecutively, for "an effective total sentence of not less than 25 nor more than 40 years imprisonment." The first opinion adds that the trial judge directed a verdict on the count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor before the case went to the jury.[^5][^9]
+
+Under cross-examination Pope asked Vermilye, "Wasn't this a house of lust rather than a house of love?" and Vermilye answered, "No," and "I'd call it a house of damaged children from broken homes."[^12] Vermilye took the stand in his own defense and denied, according to the Post, that he had committed homosexual acts with the boys under his care, or that he had posed them for pornographic photographs sent to the farm's sponsors. He was confronted with some 2,000 photographs and thirteen letters he had written to a Delaware sponsor the previous year, offering slide sets for $25, and he admitted sending nude photographs and sexually explicit letters to some homosexual sponsors. He maintained that he had done so only as a "counselor" in an effort to "keep their desires in the closet."[^3] The appellate court recorded that he testified that the farm had been infiltrated by agents of a national "child porn" ring, that he offered the testimony of one former resident of the farm to corroborate his own, and that he presented two character witnesses.[^5]
+
+The court recorded that, according to those who testified at trial, the sexual activities of the residents were "wholly consensual in nature," and that "Not one of them testified to the use of force on Vermilye's part."[^5]
+
+Judge Greer, the Post reported, told the defendant that he was convinced that the two boys who testified for the defense had committed perjury at Vermilye's direction. Vermilye's attorneys said they planned to appeal.[^3] His lawyer, [[Joe Bean]], described the boys as youths who "had been kicked out of their homes and mental and penal institutions," and said: "Vermilye has done much good for humanity."[^14]
+
+The Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee affirmed the convictions on February 26, 1979. It upheld the search warrant, held that each offense was "massively corroborated by both direct and circumstantial evidence," and sustained consecutive sentencing on the ground of a "four or five year course of dealing" by a "persistent and repeated offender, who derived most (if not all) of his livelihood from the sexual exploitation of these children." Certiorari was denied on July 2, 1979.[^5]
+
+Vermilye filed a petition for post-conviction relief on August 8, 1984, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. The trial court dismissed it after an evidentiary hearing. The appellate court affirmed on September 4, 1987, and the Tennessee Supreme Court denied permission to appeal on December 28, 1987.[^9]
+
+Vermilye died at his home on June 22, 2018, at Kill Devil Hills, [[North Carolina]], at the age of 89, where he had retired in 1997.[^8]
+
+### The Congressional Record
+
+The [[House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime|House Subcommittee on Crime]] took testimony on the case in 1977. Wooden told the subcommittee that after the arrest of the priest "for running a porn operation from his Boys' Farm in Monteagle, Tenn.," he began an investigation.[^6] When the subcommittee asked for a specific instance of the trade, the Tribune's Sneed answered: "The Michigan man mentioned Father Bud's farm in Tennessee."[^15]
+
+On March 4, 1977, [[Robert F. Leonard]], president-elect of the [[National District Attorneys Association]], wrote to [[Benjamin Civiletti]], Assistant Attorney General-designate for the Criminal Division, that "there may very well be a national conspiracy made up of an inter-relating network of foster homes, churches, nature camps and other similar programs." The letter named [[Dyer Grossman]] as a person who "goes from state to state setting up these organizations," and said: "Some of the expenditures for these youngsters are unknowingly being provided by public funding."[^16] Leonard's prepared statement to the subcommittee said the association had "evidence connecting offenders in Michigan, Illinois, Louisiana, California, Tennessee, New Jersey, and other states."[^17]
+
+In the Senate subcommittee's record, Senator [[William V. Roth, Jr.]] described "a man of the cloth who ran a farm for wayward teens" who "has allegedly staged homosexual orgies with boys and mailed pictures of the activities to his donors around the country."[^18]
 
 ### The Distribution Network
 
-The writer S. Dovey wrote that film was mailed from the farm to Richards for development and distribution through MAIL-O-MATIC in [[North Carolina]] and F&S Distributors in California. Dovey also wrote that the farm was raided on November 10, 1976, and reported the next day by the *Detroit Free Press* as a national pornography hub, and that it was incorporated under the Church of the New Revelation, through which it was linked to [[Dyer Grossman]] and [[Adam Starchild]], and connected through a letter from Vermilye to Halvorsen with Troop 137 and with the Chicago network of [[John David Norman]], the [[Delta Project]] and the [[Odyssey Network]].[^6]
+The writer S. Dovey wrote that film was sent from Vermilye's farm to Richards for development and distribution through [[Mail-O-Matic|MAIL-O-MATIC]] in North Carolina and F&S Distributors in California as early as July 1976. Dovey also wrote that the farm was raided on November 10, 1976, and that the [[Detroit Free Press]] reported it the next day as a national pornography hub. Dovey wrote that the farm was incorporated under [[The Church of New Revelation]], through which it was linked to Grossman and [[Adam Starchild]], and that Vermilye wrote to Halvorsen inviting him to visit. Dovey placed the farm within a network that reached Troop 137, the Chicago operation of [[John David Norman]], the [[Delta Project]] and the [[Odyssey Network]].[^19]
+
+In his Senate testimony Richards described [[Better Life]] as "a philosophical group" run through the mail, said that the name of its leader, as he knew it, "may be an alias," and said he believed the same man ran the Mail-O-Matic operations in Rocky Mount.[^20] Asked by Senator [[John Culver]] about the organizations of another witness before the subcommittee, Richards said the only one he knew of was "a movie film business," and that "It's now called F & F Distributors."[^21]
+
+The Record-Eagle, reprinted in the House record, listed "Boy's Farm Inc. of Alto, Tenn." among three "charitable" organizations that police had pinpointed as "fronts," alongside Boy Scout Troop 137 and [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]]. According to Richards, it reported, the Church of the New Revelation, the [[Ocean Living Institute]] and the [[Educational Foundation for Youth]] were three other corporations set up as "tax dodges." The paper reported that Starchild told it the organizations were not set up as fronts for homosexual pornography, though it was possible they had been "used" for that purpose by Grossman.[^22]
 
 ### Footnotes
 
-[^1]: "Former Clergyman Is Convicted of Acts Against His Wards." United Press International, *The New York Times,* June 4, 1977, p. 33. https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/04/archives/former-clergyman-is-convicted-of-acts-against-his-wards.html
-[^2]: Wright, Marilyn. *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1976-1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
-[^3]: *Chicago Tribune,* May 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, and in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, 1977. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
-[^4]: Testimony of Kenneth Wooden, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977.
-[^5]: Testimony of Gerald S. Richards, May 27, 1977, in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, p. 41. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
-[^6]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. The incorporation under the Church of the New Revelation and the letter to Halvorsen are not borne out by the hearing record, which lists Boys Farm, Inc., separately and records only Vermilye's name in Halvorsen's files. Sole source for the passages so cited.
+[^1]: Marilyn Wright, Traverse City Record-Eagle, 1976-1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime, *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 87-88. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
+[^2]: "How Ruses Lure Victims to Child Pornographers," *Chicago Tribune,* May 17, 1977, Exhibit D-8, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 439-440. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
+[^3]: Kirk Loggins and James Branscome, "Boys Farm Scandal," *Washington Post,* June 5, 1977, Exhibit D-10, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 442-443. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
+[^4]: *The Living Church,* August 3, 1958, vol. 137, no. 5, ordinations (Tennessee, deacons). https://archive.org/details/living-church_1958-08-03_137_5
+[^5]: *Vermilye v. State,* 584 S.W.2d 226 (Tenn. Crim. App. Feb. 26, 1979), cert. denied, July 2, 1979. https://cite.case.law/sw2d/584/226/
+[^6]: Testimony of Kenneth Wooden, director, National Coalition for Children's Justice, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 202-203. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
+[^7]: [ex-ward] v. Vermilye, 78 F.R.D. 68 (E.D. Tenn. Jan. 10, 1978) (No. CIV-4-77-5). https://cite.case.law/frd/78/68/
+[^8]: "Claudius I. 'Bud' Vermilye," *The Coastland Times,* June 27, 2018, https://www.thecoastlandtimes.com/2018/06/27/claudius-i-bud-vermilye/; death notice, *The Daily Advance* (Elizabeth City, N.C.), Kill Devil Hills, June 2018, via Legacy.com.
+[^9]: *Vermilye v. State,* 754 S.W.2d 82 (Tenn. Crim. App. Sept. 4, 1987), permission to appeal denied, Dec. 28, 1987. https://cite.case.law/sw2d/754/82/
+[^10]: Testimony of Gerald S. Richards, Chicago, May 27, 1977, in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, 1977, p. 41. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
+[^11]: Testimony of George Bliss and Michael Sneed, Chicago Tribune, Chicago, May 27, 1977, in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, p. 62. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
+[^12]: "Priest on trial denies sex charges," United Press International, *Columbia Missourian,* June 4, 1977. https://cdm16795.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/colmo7/id/77557
+[^13]: "Former Clergyman Is Convicted of Acts Against His Wards," United Press International, dateline Winchester, Tenn., June 3, *The New York Times,* June 4, 1977, p. 33. https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/04/archives/former-clergyman-is-convicted-of-acts-against-his-wards.html
+[^14]: "The Cup and the Rack," reprinted in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, p. 157 (quoting Joe Bean). https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
+[^15]: Testimony of Michael Sneed, George Bliss and Ray Moseley, Chicago Tribune, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, p. 112. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
+[^16]: Letter of Robert F. Leonard, president-elect, National District Attorneys Association, to Benjamin Civiletti, March 4, 1977, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, p. 78. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
+[^17]: Prepared statement of Robert F. Leonard, National District Attorneys Association, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, p. 75. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
+[^18]: Statement of Senator William V. Roth, Jr., in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, p. 73. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
+[^19]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
+[^20]: Testimony of Gerald S. Richards, in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, pp. 37, 44. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
+[^21]: Testimony of Gerald S. Richards, in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, p. 43. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
+[^22]: Marilyn Wright, "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws," Traverse City Record-Eagle, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, p. 82. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041

20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Gay Palace.md

@@ -9,12 +9,29 @@ tags:
   - Child_Prostitution
   - Warwick_Spinks
 category: "Private Organization"
-summary: "The Gay Palace was a boy brothel masquerading as a gay nightclub in Amsterdam's Spuistraat district, managed by Warwick Spinks during the 1980s and 1990s."
+summary: "The Gay Palace was a club at 44 Spuistraat in Amsterdam managed by Warwick Spinks in the late 1980s, described by S. Dovey as a boy brothel masquerading as a gay nightclub."
 location: "Amsterdam, Netherlands"
+updated: 2026-10-09
 ---
-The Gay Palace was a boy brothel masquerading as a gay nightclub in Amsterdam's Spuistraat district, managed by [[Warwick Spinks]] during the 1980s and 1990s. A Scotland Yard informant claimed to have seen films screened at the Gay Palace showing boys aged eleven to fourteen in bondage being raped by masked men, and stated that Spinks was selling copies of a "special videotape" for 4,000 pounds showing a boy being tortured. A different informant named "Frank" described another film Spinks had shown him of a boy being tortured with needles, castrated, and cut open with a knife inside a barn.[^1]
+The Gay Palace was a club at 44 Spuistraat in [[Amsterdam]], managed by [[Warwick Spinks]] in the late 1980s, according to [[Nick Davies]].[^1] S. Dovey described it as a boy brothel masquerading as a gay nightclub.[^2] Davies wrote that it and [[Boys Club 21]], across the road, each had "a perfectly legal business, running a bar and offering the services of adult male prostitutes who could take customers upstairs to bedrooms," and that Williams and Spinks "had much wider and crueller interests."[^3] Spinks told [[The Guardian]] in 1998: "All I was doing was running a legally licensed brothel which was controlled by the state and underwent regular checks."[^4]
 
-The Gay Palace operated across the street from [[Boys Club 21]], managed by [[Alan Williams]]. Together the two establishments formed the core of British-run child trafficking operations in Amsterdam's Spuistraat district, investigated under [[Operation Framework]] in 1992-93. The establishments were presented as legitimate gay businesses, providing cover for their actual function as trafficking hubs. Clients included prominent figures from across Europe.[^1]
+A Scotland Yard informant claimed to have seen films screened at the Gay Palace showing boys aged eleven to fourteen in bondage being raped by masked men, and stated that Spinks was selling copies of a "special videotape" for 4,000 pounds showing a boy being tortured.[^2][^3] A different informant named "Frank" described another film Spinks had shown him of a boy being tortured with needles, castrated, and cut open with a knife inside a barn.[^2]
+
+The Gay Palace operated across the street from Boys Club 21, managed by [[Alan Williams]]. S. Dovey wrote that together the two establishments formed the core of British-run child trafficking operations in Amsterdam's Spuistraat district, investigated under [[Operation Framework]] in 1992-93, that the establishments were presented as legitimate gay businesses, providing cover for their actual function as trafficking hubs, and that clients included prominent figures from across Europe.[^2]
+
+### Address
+
+Davies's 1998 article lists "The Boys for Men Club at 44b Spuistraat" beside the Boys Club 21, the Blue Boy and the Why Not, and says Spinks "worked at Boys For Men in Spuistraat."[^5] Davies's 2000 article places him running the Gay Palace at number 44.[^3]
+
+### Gay Palace, Rotterdam
+
+A feature in De Arbeiderspers of August 29, 1990, headed "Gay Palace - 6 jaar 'druk en knus'," concerns a Gay Palace in Rotterdam, described as Rotterdam's largest and only gay discotheque, six years old in 1990, whose owner is quoted: "Wij zijn hier niet zo extravagent, wij zijn wat huiselijker" [We are not so extravagant here, we are a bit cosier].[^6] It is a separate Rotterdam business with its own owner. The records found show no connection between it and the Amsterdam club managed by Spinks.
 
 ### Footnotes
-[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
+
+[^1]: Nick Davies, "A paedophile ring in Amsterdam," The Guardian, April 5, 1997, https://www.nickdavies.net/1997/04/05/a-paedophile-ring-in-amsterdam/
+[^2]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
+[^3]: Nick Davies, "Paedophilia is easy 2: how a paedophile murder inquiry fell apart," The Guardian, November 27, 2000, https://www.nickdavies.net/2000/11/27/paedophilia-is-easy-2-how-a-paedophile-murder-inquiry-fell-apart/
+[^4]: Kate Connolly and Owen Bowcott, "Fugitive Briton linked to Dutch child porn hits at 'witch-hunt' from Prague refuge," The Guardian, July 31, 1998, page 15.
+[^5]: Nick Davies, "Paedophile networks traffick young boys across Europe," dated October 1, 1998 and marked "Previously unpublished," https://www.nickdavies.net/1998/10/01/paedophile-network-trafficks-young-boys-across-europe/
+[^6]: De Arbeiderspers, "Gay Palace - 6 jaar 'druk en knus'," August 29, 1990, Delpher ddd:010948872:a0173.

20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Ocean Living Institute.md

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ location: "New Jersey, USA"
 start: 1974
 relations:
 created: 2026-04-28
-updated: 2026-09-23
+updated: 2026-10-09
 ---
 The Ocean Living Institute was incorporated in Delaware in 1974, with its principal place of business in [[New Jersey]], ostensibly to promote education and research in oceanography. [[Adam Starchild]] was listed as its president and [[Dyer Grossman]] as its executive director. The Internal Revenue Service granted it an "automatic" tax exemption, as it did the [[The Church of New Revelation|Church of the New Revelation]], without challenging or investigating its claim to be a charitable organization. [[Gerald Richards]], organizer of [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]] on [[North Fox Island]], told police that the institute, the church and the Educational Foundation for Youth of Illinois had been set up as tax dodges and used as fronts for the production of child pornography; Starchild said they might have been "used" for that purpose by Grossman.[^1]
 
@@ -21,9 +21,10 @@ At Richards's arrest in July 1976 police found a letter from Grossman proposing
 
 ### The Grossman Letter
 
-The writer S. Dovey wrote that Richards handed over the letter in August 1976, postmarked July 19, 1976, with the institute's return address, and that it mentioned a twelve-year-old boy Grossman had obtained through a Big Brother program. The writer S. Dovey described the institute as a sea-steading project. Dovey also wrote that Starchild was Malcolm Willis McConahy, an offshore tax attorney who faked his death in 1975, and a scoutmaster in Minneapolis expelled in 1965.[^2]
+The writer S. Dovey wrote that Richards handed over the letter in August 1976, postmarked July 19, 1976, with the institute's return address, and that it mentioned a twelve-year-old boy Grossman had obtained through a Big Brother program. The writer S. Dovey described the institute as a sea-steading project. Dovey also wrote that Starchild was Malcolm Willis McConahy, an offshore tax attorney who faked his death in 1975, and a scoutmaster in Minneapolis expelled in 1965, and that the institute was incorporated in New Jersey.[^2] The federal trust litigation documents Starchild's continued activity under that name from 1976 to 1985.[^3]
 
 ### Footnotes
 
-[^1]: Wright, Marilyn. "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws." *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 86-87. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
-[^2]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. It gives New Jersey as the state of incorporation; Starchild's continued activity under that name in 1976 to 1985 is documented in the federal trust litigation. Sole source for the passages so cited.
+[^1]: Wright, Marilyn. "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws." *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 82-83. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
+[^2]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
+[^3]: *National Bank of Detroit v. Shelden,* 730 F.2d 421 (6th Cir. 1984) (Nos. 82-1737, 82-1905). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/433085/national-bank-of-detroit-v-francis-d-shelden-the-trust-company-of-the/

20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/The Church of New Revelation.md

@@ -13,8 +13,20 @@ summary: "Tax-exempt church incorporated in Delaware in 1974 with a Kearny, New
 location: "Kearny, New Jersey"
 start: 1974
 relations:
+  - type: head_of
+    with: "[[Adam Starchild]]"
+    reverse: true
+    role: "president"
+    start: 1974
+    fn: 1
+  - type: employed_by
+    with: "[[Dyer Grossman]]"
+    reverse: true
+    role: "youth director"
+    start: 1974
+    fn: 1
 created: 2026-04-28
-updated: 2026-09-23
+updated: 2026-10-09
 ---
 The Church of the New Revelation was incorporated in Delaware in 1974, listing its principal place of business in [[New Jersey]]; its articles of incorporation stated that it was formed to train and indoctrinate ministers, brothers and sisters in its teachings and ordain them to carry out its work. [[Adam Starchild]], listed in the Kearny telephone book, was its president and [[Dyer Grossman]] its youth director. The Internal Revenue Service declared it exempt from taxes without challenging or investigating its claim to be a charitable organization. [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]], the camp on [[North Fox Island]] organized by [[Gerald Richards]], was created and operated under its auspices; Richards named the church, the [[Ocean Living Institute]] and the Educational Foundation for Youth as fronts for the production of child pornography. A letter from Grossman found on Richards recommended setting up "child care" sites under the church or the foundation because of their tax exemptions.[^1]
 
@@ -22,10 +34,13 @@ The Church of the New Revelation was incorporated in Delaware in 1974, listing i
 
 ### Father Bud's Boys Farm
 
-The writer S. Dovey wrote that [[Father Bud's Boys Farm]] in Tennessee was incorporated under the church and that Grossman created the church on paper; [[Francis Shelden]] and Starchild were connected to it through the incorporation of the North Fox Island mission.[^3]
+The writer S. Dovey wrote that the church was incorporated in New Jersey and that [[Father Bud's Boys Farm]] in Tennessee was incorporated under it and that Grossman created the church on paper; [[Francis Shelden]] and Starchild were connected to it through the incorporation of the North Fox Island mission.[^3]
+
+The [[Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals]], reviewing Vermilye's conviction, found that the farm "was not church-sponsored or related."[^4] The Traverse City Record-Eagle, reprinted in the House record, listed "Boy's Farm Inc. of Alto, Tenn." among three "charitable" organizations that police had pinpointed as "fronts," alongside Boy Scout Troop 137 and Brother Paul's Children's Mission. According to Richards, it reported, the church, the Ocean Living Institute and the Educational Foundation for Youth were three other corporations set up as "tax dodges."[^1]
 
 ### Footnotes
 
-[^1]: Wright, Marilyn. "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws." *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 86-87. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
+[^1]: Wright, Marilyn. "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws." *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 82-83. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
 [^2]: *Chicago Tribune,* May 1977, reprinted in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, 1977. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
-[^3]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. It gives New Jersey as the state of incorporation. The contemporaneous reporting lists Boys Farm, Inc., of Alto, Tennessee, as a separate organization and names Starchild, not Grossman, as the church's president. Sole source for the passages so cited.
+[^3]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
+[^4]: *Vermilye v. State,* 584 S.W.2d 226 (Tenn. Crim. App. Feb. 26, 1979), cert. denied, July 2, 1979. https://cite.case.law/sw2d/584/226/