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34
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/764 Inferno.md
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@ -5,41 +5,49 @@ tags:
- NihilisticViolentExtremism
- CSAM
- ChildExploitation
- RICO
- FederalCase
- TheComNetwork
- Online
start: 2022
location: Online (global)
created: 2026-05-21
updated: 2026-05-21
summary: 764 Inferno is the elite inner cell of the 764 network operating a Lorebook CSAM economy, led by Leonidas Varagiannis and Prasan Nepal at the time of their April 2025 RICO arrests in the District of Columbia.
updated: 2026-10-09
summary: 764 Inferno is the elite inner cell of the 764 network operating a Lorebook CSAM economy, led by Leonidas Varagiannis and Prasan Nepal at the time of their April 2025 arrests, when they were charged in the District of Columbia with a child exploitation enterprise under 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g).
---
[[764 Inferno]] is the elite inner cell of the [[764 Network|764]] nihilistic violent extremist network, distinguished from the broader 764 ecosystem by its operation of the [[Lorebook]] economy, an internal currency system based on curated collections of [[CSAM]] coerced from victims. Inferno membership requires demonstrating capacity to produce CSAM through 764's coercion model and involves active trading of that material among members to establish and maintain rank. The cell was led by [[Leonidas Varagiannis]] (alias "War") and [[Prasan Nepal]] (alias "Trippy") at the time of their arrests in April 2025 on federal RICO charges in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. [[Baron Cain Martin]] (alias "Convict") was named as a co-conspirator in both the DC proceedings and in a separate indictment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in October 2025.[^1]
[[764 Inferno]] is the elite inner cell of the [[764 Network|764]] nihilistic violent extremist network, distinguished from the broader 764 ecosystem by its operation of the [[Lorebook]] economy, an internal currency system based on curated collections of [[CSAM]] coerced from victims. Inferno membership requires demonstrating capacity to produce CSAM through 764's coercion model and involves active trading of that material among members to establish and maintain rank. The cell was led by [[Leonidas Varagiannis]] (alias "War") and [[Prasan Nepal]] (alias "Trippy") at the time of their arrests in April 2025 on a complaint sworn in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, followed by a September 2025 indictment charging a child exploitation enterprise under 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g).[^1] [[Baron Cain Martin]] (alias "Convict") was separately indicted in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in October 2025; the public superseding indictment names no co-conspirators.[^2]
### Structure and Operations
764 Inferno functions as a gated hierarchy within 764's broader network of approximately 100 active members and hundreds of affiliated chatrooms (as documented in 2025 federal proceedings). Entry into Inferno requires demonstrating coercive capacity through the production of CSAM from new victims, with Lorebook holdings serving as the proof of membership criteria. Inferno members hold authority within the broader 764 ecosystem and direct lower-tier members toward target acquisition.
The network's exploitation model follows a documented escalation sequence: victims are initially recruited through social engineering into producing intimate photographs, then blackmailed with those images into producing self-harm footage (cut signs), then into more severe self-harm footage (blood signs), and in the most extreme documented cases, coerced toward suicidal acts. The footage produced at each stage becomes Lorebook material that the producing member uses to build their Inferno standing.[^2]
The network's exploitation model follows a documented escalation sequence: victims are initially recruited through social engineering into producing intimate photographs, then blackmailed with those images into producing self-harm footage (cut signs), then into more severe self-harm footage (blood signs), and in the most extreme documented cases, coerced toward suicidal acts. The footage produced at each stage becomes Lorebook material that the producing member uses to build their Inferno standing.[^3]
Inferno operated across multiple platforms including [[Discord]], [[Telegram]], and encrypted messaging applications. Varagiannis and Nepal coordinated Inferno's activities from the United States (DC area and [[North Carolina]] respectively) with co-conspirators and victims internationally. The April 2025 indictment documented at least eight minor victims, some as young as 13 years old.[^1]
Inferno operated across multiple platforms including [[Discord]], [[Telegram]], and encrypted messaging applications. Varagiannis and Nepal coordinated Inferno's activities from Greece, where Varagiannis resided in Thessaloniki, and [[North Carolina]], where Nepal was arrested, with co-conspirators and victims internationally.[^4] The April 2025 complaint affidavit alleges that the defendants exploited at least eight minor victims, some as young as 13 years old.[^5]
### April 2025 Arrests
The FBI arrested Prasan Nepal in North Carolina on April 22, 2025. Leonidas Varagiannis was arrested in Thessaloniki, Greece on April 29, 2025, by Greek authorities acting on U.S. charges. As of mid-2026, Varagiannis was contesting extradition before the Greek Court of Appeals. Nepal was charged in the District of Columbia with CSAM production, distribution, coercion, extortion, and conspiracy, with a potential life sentence.
The FBI arrested Prasan Nepal in North Carolina on April 22, 2025.[^6] Leonidas Varagiannis was arrested in Thessaloniki, Greece on April 29, 2025, by Greek authorities acting on U.S. charges.[^5] A court in Thessaloniki rejected the U.S. extradition request on July 9, 2025, on the ground that he had applied for and was eligible to receive Greek citizenship, according to the [[Associated Press]].[^7] Greek police announced a separate arrest of a 21-year-old Greek-American man in Thessaloniki on Greek charges in October 2025, which [[To Vima]] reported without naming him.[^8] The Justice Department's October 2026 release states that Varagiannis is held at [[Grevena Prison]] in northern Greece and is expected to be tried there within six months.[^9]
Both Varagiannis and Nepal were also named as co-conspirators in [[Baron Cain Martin]]'s October 2025 Arizona indictment, connecting the DC proceedings to the broader multi-district 764 enforcement wave.[^1]
The April 2025 complaint charged Nepal with one count under 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g), and its affidavit lists predicate offenses of attempted sexual exploitation of a child, coercion and enticement of a minor, and conspiracy to distribute or receive child pornography.[^10] A grand jury in the District of Columbia returned a one-count indictment against both men on September 26, 2025, in No. 1:25-cr-00304, assigned to Judge [[Reggie B. Walton]].[^1][^11] On October 8, 2026, Nepal pleaded guilty before Judge Walton to conspiracy to commit sexual exploitation of a child, a charge carrying a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years; sentencing is set for March 5, 2027.[^9]
### Multi-District Enforcement Coordination
764 Inferno's prosecution represents the DOJ's application of the child exploitation enterprise statute (18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)) and RICO framework to the inner leadership structure of a nihilistic violent extremist network. The Inferno proceedings, the Martin indictment, and the [[Tony Christopher Long]] Eastern District of California case were coordinated components of the multi-district enforcement wave against 764 that produced nine federal arrests and charges between December 2024 and October 2025.
764 Inferno's prosecution represents the DOJ's application of the child exploitation enterprise statute (18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)) to the inner leadership structure of a nihilistic violent extremist network. The Inferno proceedings, the Martin indictment, and the [[Tony Christopher Long]] Eastern District of California case were coordinated components of the multi-district enforcement wave against 764 that produced nine federal arrests and charges between December 2024 and October 2025.
The Martin case added a terrorism count (material support for terrorism) alongside the Inferno-style exploitation enterprise charges, reflecting the DOJ's dual characterization of 764 as both a child exploitation enterprise and a nihilistic violent extremist network.[^3]
The Martin case added a terrorism count (material support for terrorism) alongside the Inferno-style exploitation enterprise charges, reflecting the DOJ's dual characterization of 764 as both a child exploitation enterprise and a nihilistic violent extremist network.[^12]
### Footnotes
[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Leaders of 764 Arrested and Charged for Operating Global Child Exploitation Enterprise." April 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leaders-764-arrested-and-charged-operating-global-child-exploitation-enterprise
[^2]: ISD Global. "764: Networks of Harm." September 2025. https://www.isdglobal.org/isd-publications/764-networks-of-harm/; CNA Research. "764 and The Com: Misconceptions and Guidance." April 2026.
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Arizona Leader of Violent Extremist Network '764' Charged with Running a Child Exploitation Enterprise, Supporting Terrorists, Producing and Distributing Child Pornography, and Other Crimes." October 31, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/arizona-leader-violent-extremist-network-764-charged-running-child-exploitation-enterprise
[^1]: Indictment, United States v. Prasan Nepal and Leonidas Varagiannis, No. 1:25-cr-00304-RBW (D.D.C.), Doc. 19, filed September 26, 2025, Count One and forfeiture allegation. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.285418/gov.uscourts.dcd.285418.19.0.pdf
[^2]: Superseding Indictment (Redacted for Public Disclosure), United States v. Martin, No. 4:25-cr-00190 (D. Ariz.), Doc. 53, filed October 29, 2025. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.azd.1421217/gov.uscourts.azd.1421217.53.0_1.pdf
[^3]: ISD Global. "764: Networks of Harm." September 2025. https://www.isdglobal.org/isd-publications/764-networks-of-harm/; CNA Research. "764 and The Com: Misconceptions and Guidance." April 2026.
[^4]: Affidavit in Support of Criminal Complaint and Arrest Warrant, Special Agent Andrew Rust (FBI), sworn April 15, 2025, No. 1:25-mj-00061-ZMF (D.D.C.), Doc. 1-1, paragraphs 10 and 20. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.279553/gov.uscourts.dcd.279553.1.1.pdf
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-DC. "Leaders of 764 Arrested and Charged for Operating Global Child Exploitation Enterprise." April 30, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/leaders-764-arrested-and-charged-operating-global-child-exploitation-enterprise
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Leaders of 764 Arrested and Charged for Operating Global Child Exploitation Enterprise." April 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leaders-764-arrested-and-charged-operating-global-child-exploitation-enterprise
[^7]: Associated Press, "Greek court rejects extradition request for US national accused of running child exploitation site," July 9, 2025. https://mynorthwest.com/world/greek-court-rejects-extradition-request-for-us-national-accused-of-running-child-exploitation-site/4108364
[^8]: To Vima, "2 Suspects Arrested in Thessaloniki in Int'l Child Porn Investigation," October 17, 2025. https://www.tovima.com/society/2-suspects-arrested-in-thessaloniki-in-intl-child-porn-investigation/
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs. "Leader of Global Violent Extremist Network '764' Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Sexually Exploit Minors." Press Release 26-1164, October 9, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leader-global-violent-extremist-network-764-pleads-guilty-conspiracy-sexually-exploit-minors
[^10]: United States v. Nepal, No. 1:25-mj-00061-ZMF (D.D.C.), Criminal Complaint and Affidavit, sworn April 15, 2025, paragraphs 9 and 18. https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/media/1398431/dl
[^11]: CourtListener docket record for United States v. Nepal, No. 1:25-cr-00304 (D.D.C.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71487411/united-states-v-nepal/
[^12]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Arizona Leader of Violent Extremist Network '764' Charged with Running a Child Exploitation Enterprise, Supporting Terrorists, Producing and Distributing Child Pornography, and Other Crimes." October 31, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/arizona-leader-violent-extremist-network-764-charged-running-child-exploitation-enterprise

33
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/764 Network.md
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@ -12,8 +12,8 @@ tags:
- OnlineExtremism
- TheCom
created: 2026-05-21
updated: 2026-10-04
summary: "764 is a decentralized online child exploitation and coercion network founded around 2020, classified by the FBI as a Tier One terrorist threat with more than 350 active investigations as of 2026, operating within the broader Com ecosystem."
updated: 2026-10-09
summary: "764 is a decentralized online child exploitation and coercion network founded around 2020 within the Com ecosystem, classified by the FBI as a Tier One terrorist threat with more than 350 investigations as of 2026."
start: 2020
location: "United States (online)"
relations:
@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ relations:
with: "[[Athens High School Terrorism Case]]"
start: 2025-11
role: "named in an Alabama indictment, as reported, as one of the groups with which Carson Albert Butler allegedly conspired; indictment reported December 5, 2025"
fn: 12
fn: 13
---
[[764 Network|764]] is a decentralized, transnational network of online groups that engages in the sexual exploitation of minors, production and distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), sextortion, coerced self-harm, and the glorification and incitement of real-world violence. The [[U.S. Department of Justice]] (DOJ) classifies 764 and its affiliated groups under the umbrella term "Nihilistic Violent Extremists" (NVEs), defined as individuals who engage in criminal conduct in furtherance of political, social, or religious goals rooted in a hatred of society and a desire to bring about its collapse through chaos and destruction.[^1] As of early 2026, the [[FBI]] was conducting more than 350 active investigations tied to 764 and similar networks, with DOJ career officials describing it as "as serious a threat as you can imagine."[^2]
@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ The connection between CVLT and 764 runs through a single individual: [[Bradley
- Recruits: new members working toward veteran status
- Inner Cells: elite, highly restricted subgroups requiring demonstrated commitment at the veteran level
Internal communications obtained by researchers reveal explicit content quotas. Members seeking advancement were expected to document grooming of minors for self-harm, arson, "brickings" (throwing bricks; three required for advancement), graffiti (five required), and animal cruelty. Animal abuse was characterized within the network as "one of the lowest and easiest transgressive barriers of entry a minor will carry out."[^7] A member identified in court documents as a 764 leader told recruits: "after producing content you'll grow up the ranks, once you hit veteran you'll be invited to the inferno," referring to [[764 Inferno]], the most restricted inner cell and the subject of the [[U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia]] RICO case against [[Leonidas Varagiannis]] and [[Prasan Nepal]].[^8]
Internal communications obtained by researchers reveal explicit content quotas. Members seeking advancement were expected to document grooming of minors for self-harm, arson, "brickings" (throwing bricks; three required for advancement), graffiti (five required), and animal cruelty. Animal abuse was characterized within the network as "one of the lowest and easiest transgressive barriers of entry a minor will carry out."[^7] A member identified in court documents as a 764 leader told recruits: "after producing content you'll grow up the ranks, once you hit veteran you'll be invited to the inferno," referring to [[764 Inferno]], the most restricted inner cell and the subject of the [[U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia]] child exploitation enterprise case against [[Leonidas Varagiannis]] and [[Prasan Nepal]].[^8]
Operational security within 764 is deliberate: members rotate identities, maintain multiple aliases, use deleted and "ghost" accounts, and create fake "dupe" cells to mislead law enforcement. Cross-cell membership provides resilience against takedowns.[^7]
@ -70,17 +70,17 @@ The United States government had charged at least 37 people with ties to 764 or
Baron Cain Martin ("Convict"), 21, of [[Tucson, Arizona]]: A 29-count superseding indictment returned in the District of Arizona in October 2025 charged Martin with participating in a child exploitation enterprise, conspiring to provide material support to terrorists (the first such charge applied to a 764 member), conspiring to kill or maim persons in a foreign country, five counts of producing CSAM, eleven counts of distributing CSAM, three counts of coercing minors into sexual activity, three counts of cyberstalking, animal crushing, and wire fraud conspiracy. Martin was arrested December 11, 2024 and has been in federal custody since. He allegedly victimized at least nine people, eight of them minors between the ages of 11 and 15. Attorney General [[Pamela Bondi]] and FBI Director [[Kash Patel]] both addressed the case at announcement.[^9]
Leonidas Varagiannis ("War"), 21, a U.S. citizen residing in [[Thessaloniki, Greece]], and Prasan Nepal ("Trippy"), 20, of [[North Carolina]]: Charged in the District of Columbia with operating the "764 Inferno" inner cell as a global child exploitation enterprise. Varagiannis was arrested in Greece in April 2025; Nepal was arrested in North Carolina on April 22, 2025. Nepal had been involved with 764 since late 2020, near the network's inception; Varagiannis joined in late 2023. The alleged conspiracy included coercing victims to cut 764 members' names into their bodies, self-immolation, animal abuse, sexual exploitation of siblings, and threats of murder. Victims were as young as 13.[^8]
Leonidas Varagiannis ("War"), 21, a U.S. citizen residing in [[Thessaloniki, Greece]], and Prasan Nepal ("Trippy"), 20, of [[North Carolina]]: Charged in the District of Columbia with operating the "764 Inferno" inner cell as a global child exploitation enterprise. Varagiannis was arrested in Greece in April 2025; Nepal was arrested in North Carolina on April 22, 2025. Nepal had been involved with 764 since late 2020, near the network's inception; Varagiannis joined in late 2023. The alleged conspiracy included coercing victims to cut 764 members' names into their bodies, self-immolation, animal abuse, sexual exploitation of siblings, and threats of murder. The complaint affidavit alleges that some content traces to children as young as 13.[^8] On October 8, 2026, Nepal pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to conspiracy to commit sexual exploitation of a child, under a plea agreement. Sentencing is set for March 5, 2027.[^10]
[[Tony Christopher Long]] ("Inactive," "Inactivee0," "inactivecvx"), 19, of [[Porterville, California]]: A six-count indictment in the Eastern District of California charged Long with animal crushing (two counts), sexual exploitation of a minor, possession of CSAM, cyberstalking, and interstate threats. Long faces a maximum of 69 years in prison and was in state custody on related charges at the time of the federal indictment.[^10]
[[Tony Christopher Long]] ("Inactive," "Inactivee0," "inactivecvx"), 19, of [[Porterville, California]]: A six-count indictment in the Eastern District of California charged Long with animal crushing (two counts), sexual exploitation of a minor, possession of CSAM, cyberstalking, and interstate threats. Long faces a maximum of 69 years in prison and was in state custody on related charges at the time of the federal indictment.[^11]
Additional cases: A former [[U.S. Navy]] petty officer and four others were charged in December 2025 with founding an online extortion group that prosecutors said helped spawn 764. As of April 2026, [[Project Compass]], an operation coordinated by [[Europol]] with participation from 28 countries including all [[Five Eyes]] members, had resulted in the arrest of 30 perpetrators, the partial or full identification of 179 suspects, and the rescue of four victims.[^11]
Additional cases: A former [[U.S. Navy]] petty officer and four others were charged in December 2025 with founding an online extortion group that prosecutors said helped spawn 764. As of April 2026, [[Project Compass]], an operation coordinated by [[Europol]] with participation from 28 countries including all [[Five Eyes]] members, had resulted in the arrest of 30 perpetrators, the partial or full identification of 179 suspects, and the rescue of four victims.[^12]
### State Prosecutions and Court Statements, 2025-2026
On December 4, 2025, police in [[Athens, Alabama]] stated that a [[Limestone County, Alabama|Limestone County]] grand jury had indicted [[Carson Albert Butler]], 18 at the indictment and 17 at the time of the alleged offenses, on terrorism, two counts of attempted murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder. The indictment alleges that Butler conspired with extremist groups including 764, MKU ([[Maniac Murder Cult]]) and [[No Lives Matter]] to target several students and staff at [[Athens High School]]. Limestone County District Attorney [[Brian Jones]] said he indicted Butler "under the code section where we can charge anyone 16 and older as an adult." The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] had informed Athens police of the alleged threats in June 2025.[^12] See [[Athens High School Terrorism Case]].
On December 4, 2025, police in [[Athens, Alabama]] stated that a [[Limestone County, Alabama|Limestone County]] grand jury had indicted [[Carson Albert Butler]], 18 at the indictment and 17 at the time of the alleged offenses, on terrorism, two counts of attempted murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder. The indictment alleges that Butler conspired with extremist groups including 764, MKU ([[Maniac Murder Cult]]) and [[No Lives Matter]] to target several students and staff at [[Athens High School]]. Limestone County District Attorney [[Brian Jones]] said he indicted Butler "under the code section where we can charge anyone 16 and older as an adult." The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] had informed Athens police of the alleged threats in June 2025.[^13] See [[Athens High School Terrorism Case]].
On October 2, 2026, the [[Multnomah County District Attorney's Office]] in [[Portland, Oregon]] charged a 15-year-old [[Benson Polytechnic High School]] student with 19 counts, including [[Oregon Domestic Terrorism Statute|domestic terrorism]] in the first and second degrees and 12 counts of attempted murder or attempted aggravated murder, over a September 8 chemical release in the school cafeteria. The [[Portland Police Bureau]] release listing the charges does not mention 764.[^13] At the initial appearance, [[OPB]] reported, Deputy District Attorney [[Eric Zimmerman]] said that officials of the FBI had found "numerous references" on the defendant's devices to 764 that morning; [[KPTV]] reported that he described "extensive references to '764'" in seized papers, hard drives and computers, with the FBI review ongoing.[^14][^15] [[KATU]]'s report of the hearing stated that "the references described in court do not, by themselves, establish that the teenager was a member of 764."[^16] The Portland Police Bureau did not identify the defendant because of his age, and his attorneys denied all allegations.[^14][^13] See [[Benson Polytechnic High School Incident]].
On October 2, 2026, the [[Multnomah County District Attorney's Office]] in [[Portland, Oregon]] charged a 15-year-old [[Benson Polytechnic High School]] student with 19 counts, including [[Oregon Domestic Terrorism Statute|domestic terrorism]] in the first and second degrees and 12 counts of attempted murder or attempted aggravated murder, over a September 8 chemical release in the school cafeteria. The [[Portland Police Bureau]] release listing the charges does not mention 764.[^14] At the initial appearance, [[OPB]] reported, Deputy District Attorney [[Eric Zimmerman]] said that officials of the FBI had found "numerous references" on the defendant's devices to 764 that morning; [[KPTV]] reported that he described "extensive references to '764'" in seized papers, hard drives and computers, with the FBI review ongoing.[^15][^16] [[KATU]]'s report of the hearing stated that "the references described in court do not, by themselves, establish that the teenager was a member of 764."[^17] The Portland Police Bureau did not identify the defendant because of his age, and his attorneys denied all allegations.[^14][^15] See [[Benson Polytechnic High School Incident]].
### Scale of Harm and DOJ Threat Assessment
@ -103,10 +103,11 @@ As of May 2026, the most direct connection between the 764 ecosystem and lethal
[^7]: "Blood, Betrayal, and Branding: Inside 764's Hierarchy of Horrors." *maargentino.com*, 2025. https://www.maargentino.com/blood-betrayal-and-branding-inside-764s-hierarchy-of-horrors/
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-DC. "Leaders of 764 Arrested and Charged for Operating Global Child Exploitation Enterprise." Press Release, April 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/leaders-764-arrested-and-charged-operating-global-child-exploitation-enterprise
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Arizona Leader of Violent Extremist Network '764' Charged with Running a Child Exploitation Enterprise, Supporting Terrorists, Producing and Distributing Child Pornography, and Other Crimes." Press Release, October 31, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/arizona-leader-violent-extremist-network-764-charged-running-child-exploitation-enterprise
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Member of Violent Extremist Network '764' Charged with Animal Crushing, Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Cyberstalking and Interstate Threats." Press Release, October 27, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/member-violent-extremist-network-764-charged-animal-crushing-sexual-exploitation-minor
[^11]: CyberScoop. "Project Compass is Europol's new playbook for taking on The Com." https://cyberscoop.com/project-compass-the-com-europol/
[^12]: Wesley Tomlinson, "Indictment: Teen committed terrorism, attempted murder targeting Athens High staff, students," The Decatur Daily, December 5, 2025, https://www.decaturdaily.com/news/limestone_county/indictment-teen-committed-terrorism-attempted-murder-targeting-athens-high-staff-students/article_f6921221-e422-4cb9-a33d-acc4b3430aa4.html
[^13]: Portland Police Bureau, "UPDATE: Teen Criminally Charged with Attempted Murder, Terrorism Following September Incident at Benson HS," October 2, 2026, https://www.portland.gov/police/news/2026/9/8/update-teen-criminally-charged-attempted-murder-terrorism-following-september
[^14]: Joni Auden Land, "Benson High School student faces domestic terrorism charges in chemical spill incident," OPB, October 2, 2026, https://www.opb.org/article/2026/10/02/benson-high-school-student-chemical-charges-oregon/
[^15]: "Portland teen faces domestic terrorism charge," KPTV, October 2, 2026, https://www.kptv.com/2026/10/02/portland-teen-faces-domestic-terrorism-charge/
[^16]: Victor Park, "Benson High School case raises alarm over '764' online network targeting children," KATU, October 2026, https://katu.com/news/local/portland-benson-high-school-case-raises-alarm-over-764-online-network-targeting-children-social-media-fbi-portland-police-bureau-multnomah-county-portland-fire-rescue
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs. "Leader of Global Violent Extremist Network '764' Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Sexually Exploit Minors." Press Release 26-1164, October 9, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leader-global-violent-extremist-network-764-pleads-guilty-conspiracy-sexually-exploit-minors
[^11]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Member of Violent Extremist Network '764' Charged with Animal Crushing, Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Cyberstalking and Interstate Threats." Press Release, October 27, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/member-violent-extremist-network-764-charged-animal-crushing-sexual-exploitation-minor
[^12]: CyberScoop. "Project Compass is Europol's new playbook for taking on The Com." https://cyberscoop.com/project-compass-the-com-europol/
[^13]: Wesley Tomlinson, "Indictment: Teen committed terrorism, attempted murder targeting Athens High staff, students," The Decatur Daily, December 5, 2025, https://www.decaturdaily.com/news/limestone_county/indictment-teen-committed-terrorism-attempted-murder-targeting-athens-high-staff-students/article_f6921221-e422-4cb9-a33d-acc4b3430aa4.html
[^14]: Portland Police Bureau, "UPDATE: Teen Criminally Charged with Attempted Murder, Terrorism Following September Incident at Benson HS," October 2, 2026, https://www.portland.gov/police/news/2026/9/8/update-teen-criminally-charged-attempted-murder-terrorism-following-september
[^15]: Joni Auden Land, "Benson High School student faces domestic terrorism charges in chemical spill incident," OPB, October 2, 2026, https://www.opb.org/article/2026/10/02/benson-high-school-student-chemical-charges-oregon/
[^16]: "Portland teen faces domestic terrorism charge," KPTV, October 2, 2026, https://www.kptv.com/2026/10/02/portland-teen-faces-domestic-terrorism-charge/
[^17]: Victor Park, "Benson High School case raises alarm over '764' online network targeting children," KATU, October 2026, https://katu.com/news/local/portland-benson-high-school-case-raises-alarm-over-764-online-network-targeting-children-social-media-fbi-portland-police-bureau-multnomah-county-portland-fire-rescue

18
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/USA/40 Committee.md
View file

@ -10,24 +10,32 @@ tags:
- Chile
- HenryKissinger
- CIA
summary: "National Security Council subcommittee that approved CIA covert action under Nixon, chaired by Henry Kissinger, which voted 1.665 million dollars to El Mercurio and was never told of the 1970 order for a coup in Chile."
summary: "National Security Council subcommittee that approved CIA covert action under Nixon, chaired by Henry Kissinger, which voted funds to El Mercurio and was never told of the 1970 coup order in Chile."
location: "Washington, D.C."
created: 2026-09-21
updated: 2026-09-21
relations:
- type: participant_in
with: "[[National Security Council]]"
role: "Subcommittee of the Council from 1970 under NSDM 40, succeeding the 303 Committee"
start: 1970-02-17
fn: 2
---
The 40 Committee was the subcommittee of the [[National Security Council]] that reviewed and approved covert operations of the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] during the administration of [[Richard Nixon]]. It succeeded the 5412 Panel of the 1950s, the [[Special Group]], and the [[303 Committee]], and was chaired by the president's national security adviser, [[Henry A. Kissinger|Henry Kissinger]].[^1]
### Chile
The 303 Committee approved the campaign against [[Salvador Allende]] in the Chilean election of 1964 on April 2 of that year. In 1970 the 40 Committee approved 125,000 dollars for a "spoiling operation" against Allende's coalition and then 300,000 dollars more for propaganda. After Allende's plurality on September 4 it met on September 8, where Kissinger asked for a "cold blooded" assessment of the prospects of a military coup, and approved 250,000 dollars for Ambassador [[Edward Korry]] to use on the Chilean congress. It also approved 60,000 dollars for Korry to buy a radio station, which was never spent.[^1][^2]
The 303 Committee approved the campaign against [[Salvador Allende]] in the Chilean election of 1964 on April 2 of that year. National Security Decision Memorandum 40, signed February 17, 1970, converted the 303 Committee into the 40 Committee, updating NSC 5412/2. The Foreign Relations annotation on the memorandum reads "thus updating NSC 5412/2."[^2] On October 18, 1969 Director of Central Intelligence [[Richard Helms]] sent Kissinger a memorandum on the annual review of 303 Committee programs, which the Council's covert-action directive had put under committee review.[^3] In 1970 the 40 Committee approved 125,000 dollars for a "spoiling operation" against Allende's coalition and then 300,000 dollars more for propaganda. After Allende's plurality on September 4 it met on September 8, where Kissinger asked for a "cold blooded" assessment of the prospects of a military coup, and approved 250,000 dollars for Ambassador [[Edward Korry]] to use on the Chilean congress. It also approved 60,000 dollars for Korry to buy a radio station, which was never spent.[^1][^4]
On September 15 Nixon ordered the agency to organize a coup. The Senate's report states: "the 40 Committee was never informed of this direct CIA role." The operation, [[Project FUBELT]], reported to Kissinger or his deputy, and the agency's instruction of September 16 was that it never be discussed at a committee meeting. Korry, who told the Senate "I even attended a 40 Committee meeting," was not told either.[^3]
On September 15 Nixon ordered the agency to organize a coup. The Senate's report states: "the 40 Committee was never informed of this direct CIA role." The operation, [[Project FUBELT]], reported to Kissinger or his deputy, and the agency's instruction of September 16 was that it never be discussed at a committee meeting. Korry, who told the Senate "I even attended a 40 Committee meeting," was not told either.[^5]
The committee authorized 700,000 dollars for the newspaper [[El Mercurio]] on September 9, 1971, and 965,000 dollars more on April 11, 1972. In September 1972 it gave 24,000 dollars to a "powerful businessmen's organization" and declined to fund others "because of their possible involvement in anti-government strikes." That October it approved 100,000 dollars for three private groups within a 1.5 million dollar program for the opposition. On the truckers' strikes the Senate staff wrote: "The 40 Committee did not approve any such support. However, the U.S. passed money to private sector groups which supported the strikers. And in at least one case, a small amount of CIA money was passed to the strikers by a private sector organization, contrary to CIA ground rules." On August 20, 1973, it approved a further million dollars. None of it had reached the private groups when the armed forces took power on September 11.[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, staff report, *Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973,* December 1975. https://archive.org/details/CovertActionInChile196373
[^2]: National Security Archive, "'Extreme Option: Overthrow Allende,'" Electronic Briefing Book, September 15, 2020. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2020-09-15/extreme-option-overthrow-allende
[^3]: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders,* interim report, S. Rept. 94-465, November 20, 1975. Testimony of Edward M. Korry, *Hearings,* vol. 7, *Covert Action,* 1975.
[^2]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, vol. XVII, doc. 30, annotation on National Security Decision Memorandum 40 of February 17, 1970. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v17/d30
[^3]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, vol. II, doc. 195, memorandum from Helms to Kissinger, October 18, 1969. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v02/d195
[^4]: National Security Archive, "'Extreme Option: Overthrow Allende,'" Electronic Briefing Book, September 15, 2020. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2020-09-15/extreme-option-overthrow-allende
[^5]: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders,* interim report, S. Rept. 94-465, November 20, 1975. Testimony of Edward M. Korry, *Hearings,* vol. 7, *Covert Action,* 1975.

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@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ relations:
reverse: true
fn: 13
created: 2026-09-22
updated: 2026-09-22
updated: 2026-10-09
---
The Internal Revenue Service is the agency through which the [[Treasury Department|Secretary of the Treasury]] administers the federal tax laws. Section 7801 of the Internal Revenue Code gives the secretary "full authority to administer and enforce the internal revenue laws" and "the power to create an agency to enforce these laws"; in the service's own words, "the IRS was created based on this legislative grant." Section 7803 provides for a Commissioner of Internal Revenue "to administer and supervise the execution and application of the internal revenue laws." Its main office is at 1111 Constitution Avenue NW in [[Washington, D.C.]][^1] The office of Commissioner of Internal Revenue was created in 1862, with an income tax to pay for the Civil War; in the 1950s the agency was reorganized to replace patronage appointments with career staff, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue was renamed the Internal Revenue Service. Only the commissioner and the chief counsel are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.[^2]
@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ After Representative [[Wayne Hays]] demanded in 1954 that the exemption of [[H.L
### Other Cases
In 1994 [[Nelson Bunker Hunt]] and [[William Herbert Hunt]] paid about 160 million dollars, most of it to the IRS.[^10] In July 2023 Senator [[Ron Wyden]], chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, opened an inquiry into the roughly 158 million dollars that [[Leon Black]] had paid [[Jeffrey Epstein]] between 2012 and 2017 for tax, trust and estate-planning advice, and in July 2025 said the work deserved an IRS examination.[^11] Among former employees, [[Robert Garder Terrell]], spokesman and financial manager of [[The Finders]], had been an IRS appeals officer, and [[Peter Videnieks]], the Justice Department contracting officer on the [[PROMIS]] contract with [[Inslaw]], had worked for the service.[^12][^13]
In 1994 [[Nelson Bunker Hunt]] and [[William Herbert Hunt]] paid about 160 million dollars, most of it to the IRS.[^10] In July 2023 Senator [[Ron Wyden]], chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, opened an inquiry into the roughly 158 million dollars that [[Leon Black]] had paid [[Jeffrey Epstein]] between 2012 and 2017 for tax, trust and estate-planning advice, and in July 2025 said the work deserved an IRS examination.[^11] Among former employees, [[Robert Garder Terrell]], spokesman and financial manager of [[The Finders]], had been an IRS appeals officer, and [[Peter Videnieks]], the Justice Department contracting officer on the [[PROMIS]] contract with [[Inslaw]], described his employment in a 1987 deposition as beginning with the service, followed by the [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration|NASA]] Goddard Space Flight Center and the [[U.S. Customs]] Service.[^12][^13][^14]
### Footnotes
@ -70,4 +70,5 @@ In 1994 [[Nelson Bunker Hunt]] and [[William Herbert Hunt]] paid about 160 milli
[^10]: Gwynne, S.C. "Bunker Hunt," *Texas Monthly,* September 2001. https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/bunker-hunt/
[^11]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, "Wyden Unveils Ongoing Investigation into Private Equity Billionaire Leon Black's Tax Planning and Financial Ties with Jeffrey Epstein," July 25, 2023, https://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/wyden-unveils-ongoing-investigation-into-private-equity-billionaire-leon-blacks-tax-planning-and-financial-ties-with-jeffrey-epstein ; "Leon Black's $158 Million Sent to Epstein Draws Senate Probe." *Bloomberg,* July 25, 2023.
[^12]: Witkin, Gordon, Peter Cary, and Angel Martinez. "Through a glass, very darkly: Cops, spies and a very odd investigation." *U.S. News & World Report,* December 27, 1993 / January 3, 1994; Dean, Eddie. "Finders' Keeper." *Washington City Paper*, May 24, 1996. https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/287890/finders-keeper/
[^13]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010.
[^13]: Deposition of Peter Videnieks, In re INSLAW, Inc., Adversary Proceeding No. 86-0069 (Bankr. D.D.C.), 1987. https://archive.org/details/InslawVidenieksDepositions1987
[^14]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010.

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@ -4,41 +4,226 @@ aliases:
- National Security Council
- NSC
created: 2025-07-22
updated: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-10-09
tags:
- Organization
- Government
- USA
- NationalSecurity
- Presidential
- CovertAction
- PsychologicalWarfare
- NSC5412
- NSC68
- Stargate
- UAPRecords
- IranContra
- DarkAllianceInvestigation
category: "U.S. Government"
summary: "Principal presidential forum for national security and foreign policy matters that under the Reagan administration became an operational intelligence agency running Oliver North's illegal Contra supply network."
summary: "Presidential council created in 1947 that issued the written covert-action directives NSC 4-A, NSC 10/2 and NSC 5412, and whose staff ran the operations later exposed in the Iran-Contra affair."
start: 1947-07-26
location: "Washington, D.C."
relations:
- type: member_of
with: "[[William Yandell Elliott]]"
reverse: true
role: "Office of Defense Mobilization representative on the NSC Planning Board"
start: 1953
end: 1954
fn: 16
- type: member_of
with: "[[40 Committee]]"
reverse: true
role: "Subcommittee that replaced the 303 Committee under National Security Decision Memorandum 40"
start: 1970-02-17
fn: 29
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Oliver North]]"
reverse: true
role: "Council staff member who, per Walsh, had working control of the Secord-Hakim Enterprise"
fn: 64
- type: head_of
with: "[[Robert McFarlane]]"
reverse: true
role: "National Security Adviser; Walsh found that the Council's staff at times became operational under him"
fn: 53
- type: head_of
with: "[[John Poindexter]]"
reverse: true
role: "National Security Adviser, appointment announced by President Reagan on December 4, 1985"
start: 1985-12-04
fn: 65
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Gary Sick]]"
reverse: true
role: "Council staff member, described in the 1993 House Task Force report as a former NSC staff member whose superior was National Security Adviser Brzezinski"
fn: 51
- type: member_of
with: "[[John McCone]]"
reverse: true
role: "Director of Central Intelligence; member of the 303 Committee, the renamed Special Group 5412"
start: 1964-06-02
fn: 26
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Iran-Contra Affair]]"
role: "Council staff ran the Iran and Contra operations; the independent counsel found both violated United States policy and law"
start: 1985
end: 1986-11
fn: 61
---
The National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for considering national security and foreign policy matters with senior advisors and Cabinet officials.[^1]
The National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for considering national security and foreign policy matters with senior advisors and Cabinet officials.[^1] Section 101 of the [[National Security Act of 1947]] established the Council to advise the President on the integration of domestic, foreign and military policies relating to national security.[^1] Section 102(d)(5) of the act allowed the Council to direct the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) to perform "such other functions and duties related to intelligence affecting the national security as the National Security Council may from time to time direct."[^2] The Council used that authority to issue written directives that governed the agency's covert operations. Subcommittees of the Council, later the Special Group (5412), the 303 Committee and the 40 Committee, reviewed and approved those operations.
### Covert directives, 1947 to 1948
On December 17, 1947 the Council approved NSC 4-A, which directed the [[Director of Central Intelligence]] to "initiate and conduct, within the limit of available funds, covert psychological operations designed to counteract Soviet and Soviet-inspired activities which constitute a threat to world peace and security or are designed to discredit and defeat the United States in its endeavors to promote world peace and security."[^3] The directive charged the Director of Central Intelligence with ensuring that such operations were consistent with United States foreign policy and overt foreign information activities. The minutes of the Council's fourth meeting refer only to NSC 4. [[Harry S. Truman]] approved the companion paper, NSC 4, on December 18, 1947.[^4]
NSC 10/2, approved June 17, 1948 and dated June 18, provided that "A new Office of Special Projects shall be created within the Central Intelligence Agency to plan and conduct covert operations."[^5] [[Frank Wisner]]'s memoranda of the period carry the title Assistant Director for Policy Coordination, the title of the [[Office of Policy Coordination]] (OPC).[^6]
### Psychological operations boards
President Truman's directive of April 4, 1951 created the [[Psychological Strategy Board]] to plan and coordinate national psychological operations. The Board consisted of the Under Secretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence, and reported to the Council. [[Gordon Gray]] was its first Director.[^7] NSC 10/5, approved October 23, 1951, set out the Board's functions.[^8]
Executive Order 10483, signed by [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] on September 2, 1953, established the [[Operations Coordinating Board]] (OCB), reporting to the Council. Its members were the Under Secretary of State, who chaired it, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the Director of the Foreign Operations Administration, the Director of Central Intelligence and a representative of the President designated by the President; the Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs could attend its meetings. Section 4 provided that the Psychological Strategy Board be abolished not later than sixty days after the order and its outstanding affairs wound up by the OCB.[^9][^10]
### NSC 68
The State-Defense Policy Review Group met on March 2, 10 and 16, 1950 to consider the drafts that became [[NSC-68]].[^11] The final paper is dated April 7, 1950.[^12]
### Planning Board
The NSC Planning Board prepared the papers that the Council considered. The minutes of the 225th Council meeting, November 24, 1954, list the Planning Board members present as representatives of the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the [[Foreign Operations Administration]], the [[Office of Defense Mobilization]] (ODM), the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]], the CIA, the [[Bureau of the Budget]] and the [[Atomic Energy Commission]].[^13]
The ODM member was [[William Yandell Elliott]], a professor of government at [[Harvard University]]. The minutes of May 27, 1953 identify him as "W. Y. Elliott, ODM Planning Board Member," and the minutes of July 16, 1953 list "William Y. Elliott, Office of Defense Mobilization."[^14][^15] The Foreign Relations list of persons gives his posts as Assistant Director of the Office of Defense Mobilization, 1952 to 1953, and ODM Representative on the Planning Board of the National Security Council, 1953 to 1954.[^16] The Hoover Institution's biographical note for his papers lists him as a member of the National Security Council planning board from 1953 to 1957.[^17] The Harvard Crimson reported in July 1959, when he left for Moscow with Vice President [[Richard Nixon]] as Director of the Harvard Summer School, that since 1953 he had been a member of the National Security Council planning board and had served as assistant director of the Office of Defense Mobilization from 1951 to 1953.[^18] The Eisenhower Library's finding aid for the Council's administrative subseries lists a folder of 1949 to 1953 containing "suggestions by William Elliott re reorganization of the NSC."[^19] Kenn Thomas and Len Bracken wrote in 1998 in *Steamshovel Press* that [[Charles Marsh]] facilitated [[Marion Pettie]]'s tie to Elliott.[^20]
### NSC 5412 and the committee succession
NSC 5412, dated March 15, 1954, told the Director of Central Intelligence to consult the Operations Coordinating Board "and other departments or agencies as appropriate."[^21] The Special Group (NSC 5412) met with Secretary of Defense [[Robert McNamara]] on February 26, 1962.[^22]
NSC 5412/1 was approved on March 12, 1955.[^23] NSC 5412/2, approved December 28, 1955, superseded NSC 10/2, NSC 10/5, NSC 5412 and NSC 5412/1. It provided that designated representatives of the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense of the rank of Assistant Secretary or above, and a representative of the President designated for the purpose, would be advised in advance of major covert programs initiated by the CIA and would be "the normal channel for giving policy approval for such programs."[^24]
In March 1955 a Planning Coordination Group was set up within the Operations Coordinating Board. The Bureau of the Budget had proposed it as "a special grouping of OCB members chaired by Mr. Rockefeller," and [[Nelson Rockefeller]] was designated its chairman on March 10, 1955.[^25]
National Security Action Memorandum 303, signed by [[McGeorge Bundy]] on June 2, 1964 and addressed to the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence, stated: "Henceforth, the Special Group 5412 will be known as the 303 Committee," and that the change "in no way alters the composition, function or responsibility of the Special Group 5412 as authorized by NSC 5412/2." An undated list in the Foreign Relations volume identifies the members of the 303 Committee as Bundy, Director of Central Intelligence [[John McCone]], Acting Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs [[Llewellyn Thompson]] and Deputy Secretary of Defense [[Cyrus Vance]].[^26] The Foreign Relations annotation records that the committee considered a proposal concerning the 1964 [[Chile|Chilean]] presidential election on July 23, 1964.[^27] On October 18, 1969 Director of Central Intelligence [[Richard Helms]] sent [[Henry Kissinger]] a memorandum on the annual review of the 303 Committee's programs.[^28]
National Security Decision Memorandum 40, signed February 17, 1970, converted the 303 Committee into the [[40 Committee]], updating NSC 5412/2.[^29]
### Presidential covert-action directives
NSDD 17 of January 4, 1982, titled "National Security Decision Directive on Cuba and Central America," listed among its decisions "Support democratic forces in Nicaragua."[^30] NSDD 159 of January 18, 1985, titled "Covert Action Policy Approval and Coordination Procedures," states that "The National Security Council must coordinate all of the instruments of US national security." It made the National Security Planning Group, "as a committee of the National Security Council," the body to recommend to the President on each proposed covert action Finding, created a Planning and Coordination Group chaired by the Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, and assigned the Senior Director for Intelligence Programs on the Council staff to act as recorder of the NSPG's minutes, to keep its records and to administer the special access security compartment protecting covert action policies.[^31]
### Psi Research
During the late 1970s, the NSC tasked remote viewers with highly sensitive intelligence problems, including the remote viewing of a new Soviet Typhoon-class submarine at Severodvinsk. The accuracy of sessions by [[Joe McMoneagle]] sparked debate within the NSC regarding the value of psychic intelligence.[^1]
During the late 1970s, the NSC tasked remote viewers with highly sensitive intelligence problems, including the remote viewing of a new Soviet Typhoon-class submarine at [[Severodvinsk]]. The accuracy of sessions by [[Joe McMoneagle]] sparked debate within the NSC regarding the value of psychic intelligence.[^32]
### Modern UAP Involvement
Documents in the CIA's [[Stargate Project]] files refer to the Council's role in the [[Grill Flame]] program. An Army briefing text states "We were tasked by the NSC Staff in late 1979."[^33] [[Jake Stewart]] is listed as an "NSC Staff Member" at a briefing of Rose on the program.[^34] A Grill Flame schedule for August 1 lists a National Security Council stop at the Executive Office Building.[^35] A July 22, 1980 Army document (DAMI-ISH) lists the National Security Council among the officials who favor US government involvement in the field, noting that it "evidently favors" it.[^36] An information paper addressed to the Secretary of Defense states that "The NSC Staff is preparing to brief [[David Aaron]] and [[Zbigniew Brzezinski|Zbig]] on the phenomena and DoD efforts."[^37] Minutes of a Defense Department Grill Flame meeting record that the NSC regarded remote viewing work as a possible privacy act issue and that the White House legal staff was to review it.[^38]
[[Luis Elizondo]] managed Special Access Programs for the NSC during his career. The NSC has been briefed on the [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] issue by the [[UAP Task Force]] and its successor, the [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]].[^2]
A 1984 memorandum in the same files quotes [[Barbara Honegger]] on high-level awareness of parapsychology achievements at the [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]], the Office of Policy Development and the NSC.[^39]
### Dark Alliance Investigation
### UAP records and briefings
Under the Reagan administration, the NSC became an operational intelligence agency based inside the [[White House]]. It ran [[Oliver North]]'s illegal Contra supply network, known as "The Enterprise," after Congress cut off military aid through the [[Boland Amendment]]. CIA records showed that Hangar No. 4 at [[Ilopango Airbase]] was used by the Agency for covert Contra operations until it was turned over to the NSC and North's network in 1985.[^3]
The [[Majestic-12]] record includes the Cutler-Twining memorandum of July 14, 1954, addressed by [[Robert Cutler]], special assistant to the President, to General [[Nathan F. Twining|Twining]]. It refers to an "NSC/MJ-12 Special Studies Project" and a briefing on July 16.[^40] The National Archives wrote that its search of the National Security Council indexes was negative except for the Cutler memorandum.[^41]
CIA agent [[Moises Nunez|Dagoberto Nuñez]] revealed that since 1985 he had engaged in a clandestine relationship with the NSC, and refused to elaborate on narcotics trafficking because of the specific tasks he had performed at the NSC's direction. CIA headquarters ordered an immediate halt to his questioning.[^4]
A memorandum from [[H. Marshall Chadwell]] to the Director of Central Intelligence, catalogued under December 9, 1952, had attached a draft memorandum to the Council and a draft NSC directive. It stated that on August 20 the Director had directed preparation of a National Security Council directive on unidentified flying objects.[^42] The [[Robertson Panel]] met from January 14 to 17, 1953.[^43] Haines wrote that the panel recommended that the National Security Council "debunk UFO reports" and institute a policy of public education, and that following the panel's findings the Agency abandoned efforts to draft an NSC Intelligence Directive on UFOs.[^44] The panel's own report describes its proposed educational program as having the two aims of "training and 'debunking,'" and records that the panel considered the technical manpower cost of following up "every one of the thousand or more reports received through channels each year (1,900 in 1952)" unjustified.[^45]
The NSC's role became public after the October 1986 shootdown of a CIA cargo plane over [[Nicaragua]], exposing the [[Iran-Contra Affair]]. North was indicted on sixteen felony counts. The scandal revealed the NSC had been selling arms to [[Iran]] and diverting profits to the [[Contras]] in direct violation of congressional prohibitions.[^3]
[[Luis Elizondo]] told the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability in written testimony of November 13, 2024: "In my last position, I managed a Special Access Program on behalf of the White House and the National Security Council."[^46] The biography submitted with the testimony gives his position as Director, National Programs Special Management Staff, in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.[^47] In *Imminent* he wrote that the Special Management Staff managed national-level special access programs for the NSC and that the NSC has been briefed on the [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] issue by the [[UAP Task Force]] and its successor, the [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]].[^48]
[[Sean Kirkpatrick]], the first director of that office, held the post of Director, National Security Strategy, at the National Security Council, according to the Defense Department biography released on the office's establishment.[^49] Asked by [[Douglas Dean Johnson]] whether anyone in the White House, the Executive Office of the President or the NSC had pressed him to soften his opposition to the UAP Disclosure Act, Kirkpatrick replied by email on July 23, 2024: "The White House could have cared less about this issue. No one from the White House, EOP, NSC, or any other 'higher authority' called me or my boss to put pressure on me to soften my position on the UAPDA."[^50]
### Gary Sick and the October Surprise
[[Gary Sick]] was a member of the Council staff. The House Task Force report of 1993 describes him as a former NSC staff member and records that his superior was National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski.[^51] Sick published "The Election Story of the Decade" in the *New York Times* on April 15, 1991 and the book *October Surprise* the same year, alleging that the 1980 [[Ronald Reagan]] campaign negotiated with Iranian representatives over the release of the American hostages.[^51] The Task Force, chaired by [[Lee Hamilton]], gave Sick formal interviews and took his sworn deposition. Its report records his testimony that Jamshid Hashemi was his exclusive source for what was discussed at the alleged meetings in Madrid. The Task Force's joint report of January 3, 1993 stated that it "explains why either wholly insufficient or no credible evidence exists to substantiate the allegations that form the October Surprise theory."[^51]
### Central America and the Enterprise
[[Gary Webb]] wrote that under the Reagan administration the NSC became an operational intelligence agency based inside the [[White House]]. It ran [[Oliver North]]'s illegal Contra supply network, known as "The Enterprise," after Congress cut off military aid through the [[Boland Amendment]].[^52] The independent counsel's final report states that the Council's staff "at times became operational, taking on primary responsibility for the execution of the Iran and contra covert operations."[^53]
Webb wrote that CIA records showed that Hangar No. 4 at [[Ilopango Airbase]] was used by the Agency for covert Contra operations until it was turned over in 1985 to the NSC and North's network.[^54] The CIA Inspector General's report gives a different account. It states that in 1984 the CIA moved its activities from Hangar 4 to a newly built hangar, Hangar 5, and that "After CIA had moved out of Hangar 4, it was used in 1985 and 1986 by NHAO and the Private Benefactors in support of their Contra-related operations."[^55] The report says a March 18, 1986 DEA report stated that the pilot [[Carlos Amador]] had recently flown from [[Costa Rica]] to [[San Salvador]], where he had access to Hangar 4. A CIA officer who drafted one cable surmised that another entity operating from Hangar 4 "may have been associated either with Oliver North, the Private Benefactors, or the [[NHAO|Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office]] (NHAO)."[^55]
The CIA Inspector General's report, in its section on [[Moises Nunez]] (paragraphs 480 to 496), records that on March 25, 1987 the CIA questioned him about narcotics trafficking allegations and that "Nunez revealed that since 1985, he had engaged in a clandestine relationship with the National Security Council (NSC)." He "refused to elaborate on the nature of these actions but indicated it was difficult to answer questions relating to his involvement in narcotics trafficking because of the specific tasks he had performed at the direction of the NSC," and he refused to identify the NSC officials involved. A headquarters cable of April 1987 first said a decision had been made to debrief him; the next day a headquarters cable stated "Headquarters has decided against . . . debriefing Nunez," without explanation.[^56] The CIA officer Louis Dupart told the Inspector General that the Agency position was to turn the matter over to others because "it had nothing to do with the Agency, but with the National Security Council." [[Alan Fiers]] wrote to the Inspector General: "because of the NSC connection and the possibility that this could be somehow connected to the Private Benefactor program (otherwise known as the Iran Contra affair) a decision was made not to pursue this matter, but rather to turn it over to Judge Walsh."[^56] On April 10, 1987 CIA officials briefed Senators Warren Rudman and William Cohen of the Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition on Nunez's claim, and the senators asked that committee staff interview him. The report states that an interview of Nunez in San Jose in September 1987 indicated that he denied any relationship with the NSC or with anyone doing work for it.[^56]
Webb quoted the Inspector General's passage in *Dark Alliance*, naming the subject as Nunez, the Frigorificos de Puntarenas principal.[^57] Webb's text separately names a Bay of Pigs veteran, Dagoberto Nunez, as a Costa Rica based associate of North and the CIA who obtained a contract with H&M Corp. for an intelligence-gathering operation against Nicaraguan president [[Daniel Ortega]], and who with [[Felipe Vidal]] was part of the Costa Rican maritime operations.[^58] Both men are described as Cuban Bay of Pigs veterans, and both appear in [[Robert Owen]]'s memoranda to North on shrimp boats and shrimping ventures in Costa Rica. Whether Dagoberto Nunez and Moises Nunez are one person is not stated in the Inspector General's report, the Senate report or Webb's text; the Inspector General and the Senate subcommittee use only the name Moises. See [[Dagoberto Nunez]].
The Senate subcommittee report names a Moises Nunez who, with Frank Chanes, participated in Contra military assistance operations in 1984 and 1985. It says he was employed by Frigorificos de Puntarenas, which the report describes as a drug money laundering front, and by Glenn Robinette on behalf of the Second-North Enterprise, and that the former CIA Costa Rica chief of station [[Thomas Castillo]] told the Iran-Contra committees that Nunez was involved in "a very sensitive operation" for the Enterprise.[^59]
The Senate subcommittee chaired by [[John Kerry]] reported that "The NSC ordered all relevant agencies to withhold their files on [[Panama]] from the GAO," and that the subcommittee "has not been able to undertake a full analysis of how the Noriega problem was handled by the U.S. prior to his indictment."[^60] In a letter of July 13, 1988 to the General Accounting Office, [[Nicholas Rostow]], Special Assistant to the President and Legal Adviser at the Council, described the GAO's request for files on [[Manuel Noriega]] as seeking "sensitive law enforcement and intelligence files covering a substantial period of time."[^60]
### Iran-Contra staff
The Council's role became public after the October 1986 shootdown of a CIA cargo plane over [[Nicaragua]], which exposed the [[Iran-Contra Affair]]. North was indicted on sixteen felony counts.[^52] The scandal revealed that the Council had been selling arms to [[Iran]] and diverting profits to the [[Contras]] in violation of congressional prohibitions.[^52] The independent counsel's executive summary states that "both the Iran and contra operations, separately, violated United States policy and law."[^61] The congressional committees investigating the affair published their report in 1987.[^62]
Walsh wrote that the Council's staff "at times became operational" under [[Robert McFarlane]], who "did not shrink from the operational tasks that were of high personal interest to the President."[^53] The report also states that McFarlane "apparently played no role in approving or implementing the Iran/contra diversion."[^63] Walsh found that North "had working control of the Secord-Hakim covert-action Enterprise," a network of [[Richard Secord]] and [[Albert Hakim]].[^64]
President Reagan announced on December 4, 1985 the resignation of McFarlane and the appointment of Vice Admiral [[John Poindexter]] as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.[^65] The Tower Commission wrote that at the beginning of December 1985 McFarlane resigned and Poindexter succeeded him.[^66] The independent counsel's executive summary states that Reagan's 1985 decision "to authorize the sale of arms to Iran from [[Israel|Israeli]] stocks, despite warnings by Weinberger and Shultz that such transfers might violate the law, opened the way for Poindexter's subsequent decision to authorize the diversion." It records that Poindexter told Congress that "while he made the decision on his own and did not tell the President, he believed the President would have approved."[^61]
The [[Tower Commission]] wrote in 1987 that "it is the Assistant for National Security Affairs who seems to have had the least access to expert counsel familiar with his activities."[^67]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
[^2]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
[^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 15 and Cast of Characters
[^4]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 14: "It's bigger than I can handle"
[^1]: National Security Act of 1947, ch. 343, 61 Stat. 495, sec. 101. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-61/pdf/STATUTE-61-Pg495.pdf
[^2]: National Security Act of 1947, 61 Stat. 495, sec. 102(d)(5). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-61/pdf/STATUTE-61-Pg495.pdf
[^3]: Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), 1945-1950, Emergence of the Intelligence Establishment, doc. 257, December 17, 1947, approving NSC 4-A. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945-50Intel/d257
[^4]: FRUS 1945-1950, Emergence of the Intelligence Establishment, doc. 257, recording that Truman approved NSC 4 on December 18, 1947 and that the file contains no mention of presidential approval of NSC 4-A. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945-50Intel/d257
[^5]: FRUS 1945-1950, Emergence of the Intelligence Establishment, doc. 292, National Security Council directive on the Office of Special Projects (NSC 10/2), June 18, 1948. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945-50Intel/d292
[^6]: FRUS 1945-1950, Emergence of the Intelligence Establishment, doc. 316, memorandum from the Assistant Director for Policy Coordination, Central Intelligence Agency (Wisner). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945-50Intel/d316
[^7]: FRUS 1950-1955, Intelligence Community, doc. 60, editorial note on the directive of April 4, 1951 (the Board of the Under Secretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence, reporting to the NSC; Gordon Gray as first Director). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d60
[^8]: FRUS 1950-1955, Intelligence Community, doc. 157, Executive Order 10483, which refers to the functions assigned in NSC 10/5, approved October 23, 1951. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d157
[^9]: FRUS 1950-1955, Intelligence Community, doc. 157, Executive Order 10483 of September 2, 1953, sec. 1(a), 1(b), 1(d) and 4. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d157
[^10]: FRUS 1950-1955, Intelligence Community, doc. 158, memorandum of September 2, 1953. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d158
[^11]: FRUS 1950, vol. I, docs. 65, 69 and 70, minutes of State-Defense Policy Review Group meetings, March 2, 10 and 16, 1950. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950v01/d65
[^12]: FRUS 1950, vol. I, doc. 85, NSC 68, April 7, 1950. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950v01/d85
[^13]: FRUS 1952-1954, vol. II, part 1, doc. 136, minutes of the 225th meeting of the National Security Council, November 24, 1954, listing the NSC Planning Board members. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v02p1/d136
[^14]: FRUS 1952-1954, vol. II, part 2, doc. 90, minutes of the 146th meeting of the National Security Council, May 27, 1953. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v02p2/d90
[^15]: FRUS 1952-1954, vol. II, part 1, doc. 79, minutes of the 155th meeting of the National Security Council, July 16, 1953. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v02p1/d79
[^16]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, vol. II, part 1, list of persons, entry "Elliott, William Y." https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v02p1
[^17]: Hoover Institution Library and Archives, William Yandell Elliott papers, biographical note: "member, planning board, National Security Council, 1953-1957." https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf1199n4gh/
[^18]: "Elliott Flies to Moscow With Nixon's Mission," The Harvard Crimson, July 23, 1959. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1959/7/23/elliott-flies-to-moscow-with-nixons/
[^19]: Eisenhower Presidential Library, Office of the Special Assistant for National Security Affairs, NSC Series, Administrative Subseries finding aid, folder "National Security Council - organization and Functions (1) [1949-1953]." https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/finding-aids/pdf/who-osansa/nsc-series-administrative-subseries.pdf
[^20]: Kenn Thomas and Len Bracken, "The Finders' Keeper," Steamshovel Press #16, 1998.
[^21]: FRUS 1950-1955, Intelligence Community, doc. 171, NSC 5412, March 15, 1954. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d171
[^22]: FRUS 1961-1963, vol. X, doc. 309, chronology entry for February 26, 1962. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d309
[^23]: FRUS 1950-1955, Intelligence Community, doc. 212, NSC 5412/1, March 12, 1955. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d212
[^24]: FRUS 1950-1955, Intelligence Community, doc. 250, NSC 5412/2, December 28, 1955, paras. 7 and 8. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d250
[^25]: FRUS 1950-1955, Intelligence Community, doc. 210, Bureau of the Budget memorandum, with the annotation on the March 10, 1955 designation of Rockefeller. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d210
[^26]: National Security Action Memorandum No. 303, "Change in Name of Special Group 5412," June 2, 1964, as printed in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XXXIII, doc. 204, with footnote 2 listing the members. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v33/d204
[^27]: FRUS 1964-1968, vol. XXXI, doc. 262, editorial note on the 303 Committee, July 23, 1964. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v31/d262
[^28]: FRUS 1969-1976, vol. II, doc. 195, memorandum from Director of Central Intelligence Helms to Henry A. Kissinger, October 18, 1969. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v02/d195
[^29]: FRUS 1969-1976, vol. XVII, doc. 30, annotation on National Security Decision Memorandum 40 of February 17, 1970, "thus updating NSC 5412/2." https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v17/d30
[^30]: National Security Decision Directive 17, January 4, 1982, National Security Decision Directive on Cuba and Central America. https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/archives/reference/scanned-nsdds/nsdd17.pdf
[^31]: National Security Decision Directive 159, January 18, 1985, Covert Action Policy Approval and Coordination Procedures. https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/archives/reference/scanned-nsdds/nsdd159.pdf
[^32]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
[^33]: CIA CREST document CIA-RDP96-00788R001100290005-5, Army briefing text. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r001100290005-5
[^34]: CIA CREST document CIA-RDP96-00788R001100190001-0, record of an INSCOM briefing of Rose on the Grill Flame program. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r001100190001-0
[^35]: CIA CREST document CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5, Grill Flame schedule, August 1. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r001300120001-5
[^36]: CIA CREST document CIA-RDP96-00788R002000250002-2, DAMI-ISH information paper, July 22, 1980. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r002000250002-2
[^37]: CIA CREST document CIA-RDP96-00788R002000250060-8, information paper addressed to the Secretary of Defense. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r002000250060-8
[^38]: CIA CREST document CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130022-3, minutes of a Department of Defense Grill Flame meeting. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r002000130022-3
[^39]: CIA CREST document CIA-RDP96-00788R001200030003-4, 1984 memorandum quoting Barbara Honegger. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r001200030003-4
[^40]: Memorandum from Robert Cutler to General Twining, July 14, 1954, "NSC/MJ-12 Special Studies Project," as described in the National Archives reference report on Majestic 12. https://www.archives.gov/research/military/air-force/ufos
[^41]: National Archives and Records Administration, reference report on Majestic 12 and the NSC indexes search. https://www.archives.gov/research/military/air-force/ufos
[^42]: H. Marshall Chadwell, memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence, "Unidentified Flying Objects," with attached draft memorandum to the National Security Council and draft NSC directive, CIA CREST document CIA-RDP81R00560R000100020008-2 (reading-room publication date December 9, 1952). https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp81r00560r000100020008-2
[^43]: Gerald K. Haines, "CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90," Studies in Intelligence (1997), section "The Robertson Panel, 1952-53." https://sgp.fas.org/library/ciaufo.html
[^44]: Gerald K. Haines, "CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90," Studies in Intelligence (1997), section "The Robertson Panel, 1952-53": "To meet these problems, the panel recommended that the National Security Council debunk UFO reports" and "Following the Robertson panel findings, the Agency abandoned efforts to draft an NSCID on UFOs." https://sgp.fas.org/library/ciaufo.html
[^45]: "Report of Meetings of Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects (Robertson Panel), 14-18 January 1953," printed as Appendix U to the Condon Report, sections "Educational Program" and the Tremonton film discussion. https://files.ncas.org/condon/text/appndx-u.htm
[^46]: Luis Elizondo, written testimony, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, November 13, 2024. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Written-Testimony-Elizondo.pdf
[^47]: Biography of Luis Elizondo, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing of November 13, 2024. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO12/20241113/117721/HHRG-118-GO12-Bio-ElizondoL-20241113.pdf
[^48]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
[^49]: "Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick's Biography, Released by DoD," with "DoD Announces the Establishment of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office," July 20, 2022. https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/dod-announces-the-establishment-of-the-all-domain-anomaly-resolution-office-july-20-2022/
[^50]: Douglas Dean Johnson, "The UAP Disclosure Act: The proposed Pentagon/AARO re-write of November 2023," July 24, 2024, quoting Kirkpatrick's email of July 23, 2024. https://douglasjohnson.ghost.io/uap-disclosure-act-pentagon-rewrite-nov-2023/
[^51]: Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980 ("October Surprise Task Force"), House of Representatives, 102d Congress, January 3, 1993, Introduction, the Minority views on the Tabatabai request, and the note citing Sick's New York Times article of April 15, 1991 and his depositions. https://archive.org/details/JointReportOfTheOctoberSurpriseTaskForce
[^52]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion*. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 15 and Cast of Characters.
[^53]: Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, vol. I, ch. 1. https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_01.htm
[^54]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance*. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 13.
[^55]: CIA Office of Inspector General, Report of Investigation on allegations of connections between CIA and the Contras in cocaine trafficking, classified December 17, 1997, unclassified January 29, 1998, paras. 447 (March 18, 1986 DEA report), 453 (drafter of the cable) and 1023 (Hangar 4 and Hangar 5). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-06974497
[^56]: CIA Office of Inspector General report, paras. 480 to 496, section headed "Moises Nunez" (para. 490 on the questioning, para. 491 on the headquarters cable, para. 492 on Dupart, para. 493 on the briefing of Senators Rudman and Cohen, para. 494 on Fiers, para. 495 on the September 1987 interview). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-06974497
[^57]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance*. Seven Stories Press, 1998, passage quoting the CIA Inspector General on Nunez's March 1987 questioning and Fiers's statement that it was stopped "because of the NSC connection."
[^58]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance*. Seven Stories Press, 1998, passages on H&M Corp. and Owen's memoranda to North, and on the Costa Rican maritime operations with Felipe Vidal.
[^59]: U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy, S. Prt. 100-165 (December 1988), text at notes 140 and 141 on Frigorificos de Puntarenas, Ocean Hunter, the Second-North Enterprise and Castillo. https://archive.org/details/Kerry-Report-Drugs-Contras
[^60]: U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, *Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy*, S. Prt. 100-165 (December 1988), chapter on Panama and the GAO, and the July 13, 1988 letter from Nicholas Rostow to Nancy R. Kingsbury, General Accounting Office, printed in the report. https://archive.org/details/Kerry-Report-Drugs-Contras
[^61]: Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, executive summary. https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/execsum.htm
[^62]: Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair (1987). https://archive.org/details/reportofcongress05unit
[^63]: Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, vol. I, part II. https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/part_ii.htm
[^64]: Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, vol. I, ch. 2. https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_02.htm
[^65]: Ronald Reagan, "Remarks Announcing the Resignation of Robert C. McFarlane as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and the Appointment of John M. Poindexter," December 4, 1985. https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/remarks-announcing-resignation-robert-c-mcfarlane-assistant-president-national
[^66]: The Tower Commission Report (1987), section "December 1985: Bird's Eye View." https://archive.org/details/towercommission00unit
[^67]: The Tower Commission Report: The Full Text of the President's Special Review Board (1987). https://archive.org/details/towercommission00unit

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20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/American Society for Psychical Research.md
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@ -10,15 +10,28 @@ tags:
- USA
description: The American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) is the oldest psychical research organization in the United States, dedicated to the scientific study of psychic phenomena.
category: "Private Organization"
summary: "The American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) is the oldest psychical research organization in the United States, founded in 1885 by the philosopher and physician William James."
summary: "The American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) is the oldest psychical research organization in the United States, organized in 1884-85 by a Boston committee of nine that included the philosopher and physician William James."
start: 1885
location: "New York City"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Simon Newcomb]]"
reverse: true
role: "first president, 1884-85"
start: 1884
fn: 2
---
The [[American Society for Psychical Research]] (ASPR) is the oldest psychical research organization in the [[United States]], founded in 1885 by the philosopher and physician [[William James]]. It is dedicated to the scientific study of [[Psi|psychic]] phenomena, including [[Telepathy]], [[Clairvoyance]], [[Precognition]], and [[Psychokinesis]].[^1]
The [[American Society for Psychical Research]] (ASPR) is the oldest psychical research organization in the [[United States]], organized between September 1884 and January 1885 by a Boston committee of nine that included the philosopher and physician [[William James]], with [[Simon Newcomb]] as its first president. It is dedicated to the scientific study of [[Psi|psychic]] phenomena, including [[Telepathy]], [[Clairvoyance]], [[Precognition]], and [[Psychokinesis]].[^1]
In the early 1970s, the ASPR was one of the institutions where [[Ingo Swann]] participated in psychic experiments before his involvement with [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]]. [[Karlis Osis]], a parapsychologist at the ASPR, conducted experiments on [[Out-of-Body Experience|out-of-body experiences]] (OBEs) with Swann, where Swann claimed to be able to "float up" and perceive hidden objects. Osis also conducted a [[Psychokinesis|psychokinesis]] experiment with [[Pat Price]], where Price, from a distance, appeared to affect an infrared sensor in a sealed copper box.[^1]
In the early 1970s, the ASPR was one of the institutions where [[Ingo Swann]] participated in psychic experiments before his involvement with [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]]. [[Karlis Osis]], a parapsychologist at the ASPR, conducted experiments on [[Out-of-Body Experience|out-of-body experiences]] (OBEs) with Swann, where Swann claimed to be able to "float up" and perceive hidden objects. Osis also conducted a psychokinesis experiment with [[Pat Price]], where Price, from a distance, appeared to affect an infrared sensor in a sealed copper box.[^1]
### Formation
At a meeting in Boston on September 23, 1884, the question of a society for psychical research in America was placed in the hands of a committee of nine, including James, [[G. Stanley Hall]], [[Edward C. Pickering]], [[Henry P. Bowditch]], [[Charles S. Minot]], [[Samuel H. Scudder]], [[Alpheus Hyatt]], [[William Watson]] and N. D. C. Hodges.[^2] About eighty scientific men replied favorably to its invitation. The society's first meeting was held in Boston on December 18, 1884, and its organization was completed on January 8, 1885, with Newcomb as president.[^2] The first circular describes the English [[Society for Psychical Research]] as "formed in the beginning of 1882."[^2] The Epsilon person record for Sir [[William Fletcher Barrett]], who convened the 1882 London conference, states that in 1884 he "founded the American equivalent," and the April 24, 1885 presidential address to the Society for Psychical Research says Barrett had informed it of the American society.[^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
[^2]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
[^2]: "Formation of the Society" and "Circular No. 1, Issued by the Council," *Proceedings of the American Society for Psychical Research,* vol. I, no. 1 (July 1885), pp. 1-2, with secretaries' records for December 18, 1884. https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofame18589amer
[^3]: Epsilon, person record for Sir William Fletcher Barrett (1844-1925); address of the president, *Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research,* April 24, 1885. https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/person/PERSON68

12
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Duke University Parapsychology Laboratory.md
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@ -17,9 +17,17 @@ The [[Duke University Parapsychology Laboratory]] was a research unit founded in
Rhine's work at Duke helped transform psychical research into "parapsychology," emphasizing dry statistics and experimental rigor. While his methods were blessed by statisticians and gained some public interest, the laboratory's work ultimately failed to firmly establish psi within mainstream science. Critics argued that parapsychologists never seemed to have anything to show for their work beyond marginal statistical evidence, leading to the ghettoization of the field.[^1]
The laboratory also conducted classified research for the U.S. government. In the early 1950s, the Army initiated a secret program with the Duke lab to test whether dogs could locate buried landmines underwater. The lab also conducted experiments on the homing abilities of pigeons for the Army Signal Corps, and on telepathic communication with cats.[^2]
### Establishment and move
The laboratory's early work began at [[Duke University]] in 1930, after [[William McDougall]] invited Rhine and [[Louisa Rhine]] to Durham.[^2] It left the psychology department in 1950 and became a separate entity at Duke.[^3] When Rhine retired from the Duke faculty in 1965, the laboratory moved to the [[Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man]] as the Institute for Parapsychology.[^2][^3]
The laboratory also conducted classified research for the U.S. government. In the early 1950s, the Army initiated a secret program with the Duke lab to test whether dogs could locate buried landmines underwater. The lab also conducted experiments on the homing abilities of pigeons for the Army Signal Corps, and on telepathic communication with cats.[^4]
---
### Footnotes
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
[^2]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
[^2]: "Early Studies in Parapsychology at Duke," Rubenstein Library, Duke University. https://exhibits.library.duke.edu/exhibits/show/parapsychology/about-the-exhibit
[^3]: "Rhine Research Center," NCpedia. https://www.ncpedia.org/rhine-research-center
[^4]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.

11
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Fair Play for Cuba Committee.md
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@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ tags:
- Oswald
- 1960s
category: "Private Organization"
summary: "The Fair Play for Cuba Committee was a pro-Castro political organization founded in 1960 whose primary historical significance is that Lee Harvey Oswald distributed its leaflets in New Orleans in the summer of 1963, raising unresolved questions about whether his activities were genuine political expression, an intelligence operation, or an attempt to establish a pro-communist cover identity before the Kennedy assassination."
summary: "Pro-Castro organization founded in 1960 whose leaflets Lee Harvey Oswald distributed in New Orleans in the summer of 1963."
start: 1960
end: 1963
location: "New York, New York"
@ -31,11 +31,11 @@ The organization was under FBI surveillance from its founding. The FBI's COINTEL
### Oswald and New Orleans
In the summer of 1963, Oswald appeared in [[New Orleans, Louisiana|New Orleans]] distributing FPCC leaflets stamped with a fictitious address ("544 Camp Street," which was actually the address of anti-Castro activist [[Guy Banister]]'s office building). He gave a radio interview defending Castro's Cuba, attempted to recruit members for a New Orleans FPCC chapter, and was photographed distributing leaflets. He may have been the only actual FPCC member in New Orleans.
In the summer of 1963, Oswald appeared in New Orleans distributing FPCC leaflets stamped with a fictitious address ("544 Camp Street," which was actually the address of anti-Castro activist [[Guy Banister]]'s office building). He gave a radio interview defending Castro's Cuba, attempted to recruit members for a New Orleans FPCC chapter, and was photographed distributing leaflets. He may have been the only actual FPCC member in New Orleans.
The anomalies of Oswald's FPCC activities have been extensively analyzed:
The 544 Camp Street address: The address Oswald stamped on his FPCC leaflets - 544 Camp Street - was physically the same building as 531 Lafayette Street, the office of [[Guy Banister]], a former FBI Special Agent in Charge who ran an anti-Castro intelligence network. This proximity has never been satisfactorily explained. Whether Oswald and Banister knew each other, or whether the address connection was deliberate or accidental, remains disputed.
The 544 Camp Street address: The address Oswald stamped on his FPCC leaflets - 544 Camp Street - was physically the same building as 531 Lafayette Street, the office of Guy Banister, a former FBI Special Agent in Charge who ran an anti-Castro intelligence network. This proximity has never been satisfactorily explained. Whether Oswald and Banister knew each other, or whether the address connection was deliberate or accidental, remains disputed.
Intelligence cover theory: Some researchers have argued that Oswald's public pro-Castro activities were designed to establish a left-wing cover identity that would later be used to create the appearance of a Castro-connected assassination motive - either by Oswald himself as part of a planned operation or by others who were using or manipulating Oswald. The CIA's own internal reviews acknowledged that the [[Mexico City]] evidence connecting Oswald to the Cuban and Soviet embassies was handled in ways that remained unexplained.
@ -45,9 +45,12 @@ Genuine belief: Other analysts have argued that Oswald was a genuine if eccentri
Declassified documents have confirmed that the CIA ran targeted operations against the FPCC in 1961-1963, including attempting to use Cuban exile groups to create incidents at FPCC events and working with informants to penetrate the organization. The specific question of whether any CIA-connected operative was directing or monitoring Oswald's New Orleans activities has not been definitively resolved.
The [[Warren Commission]] investigated Oswald's FPCC activities and concluded they were genuine political expression with no intelligence connection. The [[HSCA]] found the CIA's handling of Oswald-related evidence "not in accordance with agency regulations" and noted unexplained gaps.[^2]
The [[Warren Commission]] investigated Oswald's FPCC activities and concluded they were genuine political expression with no intelligence connection.[^2] In New Orleans in 1963 Lee Harvey Oswald wrote to the FPCC's national director [[Vincent T. Lee]] about opening a chapter, and had handouts printed, some stamped with his own name and address, some with the alias "A. J. Hidell," and others listing the FPCC address as 544 Camp Street.[^3] The [[HSCA]] found that Guy Banister's firm occupied an office in the Newman Building at 531 Lafayette Street, that another entrance to the building was at 544 Camp Street, and that [[David Ferrie]] frequented 544 Camp Street regularly in the summer of 1963 as a result of his working relationship with Banister.[^4] The committee stated that there was at least a possibility that Oswald and Banister were acquainted, citing among other facts that Banister's brother Ross told the committee he had seen Oswald handing out FPCC literature that summer and that Banister's secretary, Delphine Roberts, told the committee she saw Oswald in Banister's office on several occasions.[^4] On December 3, 1963, the FBI's electronic surveillance recorded [[Sam Giancana]]'s lieutenant Charles English saying that the FBI was "gonna start running down Fair Play for Cuba."[^5]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Warren Commission. *Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy.* Government Printing Office, 1964. Melanson, Philip H. *Spy Saga: Lee Harvey Oswald and U.S. Intelligence.* Praeger, 1990.
[^2]: House Select Committee on Assassinations. *Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of Representatives.* Government Printing Office, 1979. Davy, William. *Let Justice Be Done: New Light on the Jim Garrison Investigation.* Jordan Publishing, 1999.
[^3]: House Select Committee on Assassinations, *Report,* H. Rept. 95-1828, 95th Cong., 2d sess. (1979), pp. 140-141 (Oswald and the FPCC in New Orleans). https://archive.org/details/reportofselectco1979unit
[^4]: House Select Committee on Assassinations, *Report,* H. Rept. 95-1828, pp. 143-146 (544 Camp Street; Banister; Ferrie). https://archive.org/details/reportofselectco1979unit
[^5]: House Select Committee on Assassinations, *Report,* H. Rept. 95-1828, p. 169. https://archive.org/details/reportofselectco1979unit

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20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Hadron.md
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@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
---
aliases: []
created: 2024-04-25
updated: 2026-05-01
updated: 2026-10-09
location: "Washington, D.C., USA"
tags:
- Organization
- PROMIS
- INSLAW
category: "Private Organization"
summary: "Hadron, Inc. was a Washington-area technology and information services company in which Earl Brian held a controlling interest, and which INSLAW alleged was positioned to acquire INSLAW's assets and software contracts as the intended beneficiary of the DOJ's alleged scheme to destroy the company."
summary: "Hadron, Inc. was a Washington-area technology company controlled by Earl Brian, which INSLAW alleged was positioned to acquire its assets and software contracts as the intended beneficiary of the DOJ's alleged scheme to destroy it."
---
Hadron, Inc. was a technology and information services company in which [[Earl Brian]] held both direct and indirect financial interests. [[INSLAW]] alleged that Hadron was the intended commercial beneficiary of the [[Department of Justice|DOJ]]'s alleged scheme to force INSLAW into liquidation: that DOJ employees delivered copies of INSLAW's proprietary [[PROMIS]] software to Brian and Hadron before INSLAW's bankruptcy, positioning Hadron to acquire INSLAW's assets and client base and then receive a "massive sweetheart contract" from DOJ in the aftermath.[^1]
@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ Hamilton claimed that [[Edward Hurley]], a Hadron Vice President, stated in June
Hamilton alleged that [[James L. Byrnes]], a Deputy Assistant Attorney General with ties to [[Edwin Meese]], spearheaded the award of a $40 million computer services contract to [[Accumenics]], a Hadron subsidiary, in October 1987. Byrnes denied any knowledge of such a contract or any contact with Hadron or its subsidiaries. The Special Counsel found no evidence supporting this allegation.[^2]
INSLAW alleged a connection between [[Peter Videnieks]], DOJ's PROMIS contracting officer, and Hadron, claiming Videnieks had administered Customs Service contracts with Hadron. While a witness suggested a possible meeting between Videnieks and Laiti, Videnieks denied being the contracting officer for any Hadron contract or meeting Hadron management. The Special Counsel found no evidence of a conspiracy, concluding any connection was "tenuous and insignificant."[^2]
[[John Schoolmeister]], a former [[U.S. Customs]] employee, told INSLAW and the House Judiciary Committee that [[Peter Videnieks]], before he became the Justice Department's PROMIS contracting officer, handled two Customs contracts with Hadron and would almost certainly have met Dominic Laiti, Hadron's president, who in Schoolmeister's words "met everyone in government."[^3] Schoolmeister did not claim personal knowledge of any meeting.[^3] Videnieks told the Special Counsel that he did not recall being the contracting officer on any Hadron contract. The Special Counsel found from Hadron's records that two Hadron subsidiaries had Customs contracts in the period, that Videnieks was not the contracting officer on either, and that he supervised the contracting officers on both.[^4] The report found one connection that it called "extraordinarily tenuous": in 1978 and 1979 Videnieks had been the contracting officer on a Customs contract with [[Universal Systems]], which Hadron bought in December 1980, and the report stated that his involvement with Universal Systems ended before the purchase.[^4] It concluded that Schoolmeister's statement tended at most to show that it was possible Videnieks once met Laiti, and that this "falls far short of anything that could fairly be called evidence of a conspiracy."[^5] The Justice Department's 1994 review of the Bua report concurred.[^6]
Hamilton alleged that [[SCT|Systems and Computer Technology, Inc.]] (SCT)'s 1986 attempt to purchase INSLAW was encouraged by DOJ officials and indirectly linked to Brian. The Special Counsel found no evidence supporting these claims, noting that SCT's contacts with DOJ were for due diligence purposes only.[^2]
@ -32,10 +32,14 @@ Hamilton alleged that [[SCT|Systems and Computer Technology, Inc.]] (SCT)'s 1986
### Congressional and Official Findings
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found "no proof of any connection between Earl Brian or Hadron and the Department with regard to the INSLAW contract" in its September 1989 report.[^3] The House Judiciary Committee's September 1992 report described Brian's alleged role in connection with Hadron as "intriguing...but without the requisite degree of causation," raising circumstantial concerns while stopping short of a direct finding.[^1] The Special Counsel's report concluded that the evidence overwhelmingly showed no connection between Hadron and anything related to INSLAW or PROMIS, and that individuals claiming direct knowledge were "unworthy of belief" and contradicted by credible evidence.[^2]
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found "no proof of any connection between Earl Brian or Hadron and the Department with regard to the INSLAW contract" in its September 1989 report.[^7] The House Judiciary Committee's September 1992 report described Brian's alleged role in connection with Hadron as "intriguing...but without the requisite degree of causation," raising circumstantial concerns while stopping short of a direct finding.[^1] The Special Counsel's report concluded that the evidence overwhelmingly showed no connection between Hadron and anything related to INSLAW or PROMIS, and that individuals claiming direct knowledge were "unworthy of belief" and contradicted by credible evidence.[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary. *The INSLAW Affair: Investigative Report.* House Report 102-857, 102nd Congress, 2nd Session, September 10, 1992.
[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United States Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.* March 1993.
[^3]: U.S. Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. *The Inslaw Affair.* September 1989.
[^3]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary. *The INSLAW Affair: Investigative Report.* H. Rept. 102-857, 102d Cong., 2d sess., September 10, 1992, p. 68; U.S. Department of Justice, *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua*, March 1993, p. 102. https://archive.org/details/InslawAffairInvestigativeReport
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United States Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.* March 1993, pp. 102-104. https://archive.org/details/doj-oip-inslaw-1993
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United States Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.* March 1993, p. 104. https://archive.org/details/doj-oip-inslaw-1993
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice. Review of the *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua*, September 27, 1994, p. 54. https://archive.org/details/doj-oip-inslaw-1993
[^7]: U.S. Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. *The Inslaw Affair.* September 1989.

6
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/INSLAW.md
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@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
---
category: "Private Organization"
created: 2024-04-25
updated: 2026-05-01
updated: 2026-10-09
start: 1981
location: "Washington, D.C., USA"
tags:
@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ tags:
- INSLAW
- Software
- DoJ
summary: "INSLAW, Inc. is a Washington-area software company that developed the PROMIS case management system and became the center of a major legal and political scandal after alleging the U.S. Department of Justice stole its proprietary software and drove the company into bankruptcy."
summary: "INSLAW, Inc. is a Washington-area software company that developed the PROMIS case management system and alleged that the Justice Department stole its proprietary software and drove it into bankruptcy."
---
INSLAW, Inc. is a software company founded by [[Bill Hamilton|William A. Hamilton]] and [[Nancy Hamilton]] as the commercial successor to the Institute for Law and Social Research (ILSR), a Washington, D.C. non-profit think tank that originally developed the [[PROMIS]] (Prosecutor's Management Information System) software under grants from the [[LEAA|Law Enforcement Assistance Administration]]. The company became the center of the [[PROMIS Software Scandal]] following its allegation that the [[Department of Justice|U.S. Department of Justice]] systematically stole its proprietary software, drove it into bankruptcy, and distributed modified versions internationally to foreign intelligence agencies.
@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ When the Reagan administration took office in January 1981 and accelerated cuts
In March 1982, INSLAW signed a three-year, $10 million contract with the DOJ's [[Executive Office for United States Attorneys]] to install PROMIS in 20 large U.S. Attorneys' offices and word-processor systems in 74 smaller ones. The contract specified installation of a public-domain version of PROMIS; however, INSLAW argued the version it delivered incorporated substantial proprietary enhancements developed with private capital after May 1981, including a relational database structure and recidivism-risk assessment capabilities. DOJ maintained the contract entitled it only to the public-domain base version.[^1][^2]
C. Madison Brewer was assigned as the EOUSA project manager for the contract, a conflict of interest noted by Senate investigators given his prior tenure as ILSR's general counsel. Contract administrator [[Peter Videnieks]] took consistently adversarial positions on INSLAW's proprietary claims throughout the contract period. On April 11, 1983, Videnieks executed Modification 12 to the contract with INSLAW, which restricted DOJ from distributing PROMIS "beyond the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, and to the 94 United States Attorneys' Offices covered by the contract, pending resolution" of the rights dispute. Nine days later, on April 20, 1983, INSLAW delivered the VAX-platform version of enhanced PROMIS under that modification.[^2]
C. Madison Brewer was assigned as the EOUSA project manager for the contract, a conflict of interest noted by Senate investigators given his prior tenure as ILSR's general counsel. Contract administrator [[Peter Videnieks]] took consistently adversarial positions on INSLAW's proprietary claims throughout the contract period. Modification 12 to the contract with INSLAW, effective April 11, 1983, restricted DOJ from distributing PROMIS "beyond the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, and to the 94 United States Attorneys' Offices covered by the contract, pending resolution" of the rights dispute. Nine days later, on April 20, 1983, INSLAW delivered the VAX-platform version of enhanced PROMIS under that modification.[^2]
DOJ withheld advance payments beginning in November 1982, citing a contractual violation after INSLAW disclosed it had pledged government invoices to the Bank of Bethesda as collateral for a line of credit. INSLAW alleged the withheld payments were pretextual, designed to exacerbate a financial crisis the Department had helped engineer. Under continuing financial duress, INSLAW filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 1985.[^1][^2]

19
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Institute of Noetic Science.md
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@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
aliases:
- "Institute of Noetic Sciences"
created: 2025-07-22
updated: 2025-07-22
updated: 2026-10-09
title: Institute of Noetic Science
tags:
- organization
@ -13,10 +13,23 @@ category: "Private Organization"
summary: "The Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) is an American nonprofit parapsychological research institute founded in 1973 by former Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell following a spontaneous consciousness experience during his return from the Moon."
start: 1973
location: "Petaluma, California, USA"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Edgar Mitchell]]"
reverse: true
start: 1973
fn: 2
---
The [[Institute of Noetic Science]] (IONS) is an American nonprofit parapsychological research institute. It was founded by former Apollo 14 astronaut [[Edgar Mitchell]], a known psi enthusiast. In the context of the *Remote Viewers* narrative, the Institute provided a grant that funded [[Andrija Puharich]]'s efforts to bring [[Uri Geller]] to America in 1972 for scientific testing at [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]].[^1]
The [[Institute of Noetic Science]] (IONS) is an American nonprofit parapsychological research institute. It was founded by former Apollo 14 astronaut [[Edgar Mitchell]], a known psi enthusiast. [[Jim Schnabel]] wrote that the Institute provided a grant that funded [[Andrija Puharich]]'s efforts to bring [[Uri Geller]] to America in 1972 for scientific testing at [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]].[^1]
The Internal Revenue Service tax exemption of the California Institute of Noetic Sciences was issued in June 1973.[^2] A 1973 survey of parapsychology organizations describes the Institute's founder as having stepped down as chief operating officer of EDMA (Edgar D. Mitchell and Associates) Corporation to take up responsibilities in the Institute.[^3] A [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] Office of Research and Development memorandum of January 24, 1973 states that the SRI work with Geller "has been supported by Edgar Mitchell's foundation."[^4] A New Scientist report of October 17, 1974 states that Mitchell "two years ago set up his Institute of Noetic Sciences in Palo Alto" and names [[John White]] as his assistant at the Institute there.[^5] In a 1997 NASA oral history Mitchell said he started the Institute after the flight to study the nature of consciousness, and that it looked at biofeedback, psychic phenomena and Uri Geller.[^6]
---
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
[^2]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "California Institute of Noetic Sciences" (EIN 23-7236986), tax exemption issued June 1973. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/237236986
[^3]: "Research, Investigation and Teaching: A Survey of the International Scene," *New Psychic Frontiers*, p. 208. CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230018-6. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r001200230018-6
[^4]: CIA Office of Research and Development memorandum ORD-413-73, January 24, 1973, CIA-RDP96-00787R000400070029-2. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00787r000400070029-2
[^5]: Joseph Hanlon, report on Uri Geller and the Targ and Puthoff paper, *New Scientist*, vol. 64, no. 919, October 17, 1974, reprinted in CIA-RDP96-00787R000200090024-7. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00787r000200090024-7
[^6]: Edgar D. Mitchell, oral history interview, NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project, September 3, 1997, pp. 12-32 to 12-34, 12-40. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/nasa/EDM_9-3-97.pdf

247
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Music Corporation of America.md
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@ -5,33 +5,256 @@ tags:
- Entertainment
- OrganizedCrime
- TheOctopus
- Antitrust
- LaborRacketeering
category: "Private Organization"
summary: "The Music Corporation of America was a major entertainment corporation that became entangled in investigations related to organized crime and the broader network that Danny Casolaro termed 'The Octopus.'"
aliases:
- MCA
- MCA Inc.
- MCA Inc
- MCA Corporation
- Music Corporation of America
summary: "The Music Corporation of America was a Chicago talent agency founded in 1924 that became a studio and television producer and was the subject of antitrust suits and FBI wiretaps on alleged organized crime ties."
start: 1924
location: "Chicago, Illinois, USA"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Jules Stein]]"
reverse: true
start: 1924
fn: 2
- type: head_of
with: "[[Lew Wasserman]]"
reverse: true
role: "president from 1946, later chairman"
start: 1946
fn: 5
- type: represented
with: "[[Ronald Reagan]]"
role: "talent agency client from about 1939 or 1940, per Reagan's grand jury testimony"
start: 1939
fn: 18
- type: owned
with: "[[Decca Records]]"
role: "80 percent acquired June 18, 1962"
start: 1962
fn: 23
- type: owned
with: "[[Universal Pictures]]"
role: "acquired through Decca, June 1962"
start: 1962
fn: 23
- type: owned
with: "[[Curry Company]]"
role: "Yosemite Park and Curry Company, concessioner at Yosemite National Park"
start: 1973
end: 1993
fn: 45
- type: investigated
with: "[[Department of Justice|DOJ]]"
reverse: true
role: "Antitrust Division grand jury and civil action, consent judgment October 18, 1962"
start: 1961
end: 1962
fn: 21
- type: investigated
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]"
reverse: true
role: "wiretaps of 1987 to 1989 on Robert Booth Nichols and Eugene Giaquinto"
start: 1987
end: 1989
fn: 35
- type: owned
with: "[[Matsushita Electric Industrial]]"
reverse: true
role: "purchase of MCA, closed December 29, 1990"
start: 1990
end: 1995
fn: 42
- type: owned
with: "[[Seagram Company]]"
reverse: true
role: "80 percent interest in MCA Holding I Corp., acquired June 5, 1995"
start: 1995
fn: 43
created: 2025-08-05
updated: 2026-09-22
updated: 2026-10-09
---
The [[Music Corporation of America|MCA]] was a major entertainment corporation that became entangled in investigations related to organized crime and the broader network that [[Danny Casolaro]] termed "[[The Octopus]]."
The [[Music Corporation of America|MCA]] was a talent agency founded in [[Chicago]] in 1924 that grew into a major film and television producer. It was sold to the Japanese electronics maker [[Matsushita Electric Industrial]] in 1990 and, in 1995, 80 percent of it was sold to [[Seagram Company|Seagram]]. It was the defendant in a 1946 antitrust jury trial in [[Los Angeles]] (*Finley v. Music Corporation of America*), in a 1962 civil antitrust action by the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] that ended in a consent judgment, and in a 1987 to 1989 [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] wiretap inquiry into alleged organized crime penetration. Its ties were part of the broader network that [[Danny Casolaro]] termed "[[The Octopus]]."[^1]
### Organized Crime Allegations
### Founding in Chicago
MCA was the subject of a [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] wiretap investigation which, according to [[Cheri Seymour]], was supervised by the federal prosecutor [[Marvin Rudnick]] and later by [[Richard Stavin]] of the Justice Department's [[Los Angeles]] Organized Crime Strike Force. These investigations, which also involved FBI agent [[Thomas Gates]], led them to believe that MCA had been penetrated by organized crime. Specifically, the wiretaps recorded communications between [[Robert Booth Nichols]] and [[Eugene Giaquinto]], then president of MCA home entertainment division. Giaquinto was also a board member of Nichols' holding company, [[Meridian International Logistics|MIL]], which was under FBI investigation as a source of funding for narcotics and the allocation of drug trafficking proceeds.[^1]
[[Jules Stein]], a Chicago ophthalmologist who worked as an assistant to the eye surgeon [[Harry Gradle]], started the Music Corporation of America in 1924 with a college friend, [[William R. Goodheart]]. Moldea wrote that Stein gave up his position with Gradle to found the agency, which worked from a tiny two-room office in downtown Chicago and booked dance bands into nightclubs, ballrooms and hotels for a ten percent commission, drawing its principal business from the nightclubs and speakeasies of the city's South Side.[^2] MCA signed [[Guy Lombardo]] and his orchestra in 1928, and by the mid-1930s represented more than half of the major bands in the country.[^2]
Moldea wrote that [[James Petrillo]], president of the Chicago local and later national president of the [[American Federation of Musicians]], kept other agencies from obtaining booking licenses, that the union's executive board sided with MCA in every dispute between a band and the agency, and that the union gave MCA a "blanket waiver" allowing it to act as booking agent and radio production company at once. Moldea cited Justice Department documents as alleging that union officials, club owners and bandleaders who cooperated with Stein received cash, cars and sometimes MCA stock options, and that Petrillo was never indicted.[^3]
Moldea wrote that accounts of Stein's dealings with the Chicago underworld conflict. In one version, recounted from Justice Department documents, Stein's bootlegging sales for the nightclubs he booked crossed into the territory of the bootlegger Roger Touhy, an enemy of [[Al Capone]], and Touhy threatened Stein or his wife. Stein said later that he stood up to Touhy and took out a $75,000 kidnapping insurance policy.[^4]
Moldea wrote that [[Lew Wasserman]] was groomed as Stein's heir and was named president of the company in 1946, when Stein became chairman of the board. Moldea dated Stein's step back to April 26, 1946, Stein's fiftieth birthday, and quoted Stein as saying of his thirty-three-year-old protege, "Lew was the student who surpassed the teacher."[^5]
### Lew Wasserman
Lew Wasserman was the Chairman of MCA Corporation. He was a powerful figure in Hollywood and a long-time political supporter of [[Ronald Reagan]]. Cheri Seymour wrote that Wasserman represented Reagan during the actor's early days in Hollywood, and that Wasserman and Stein negotiated the sale of Reagan's [[California]] properties at inflated prices, which helped make Reagan a millionaire.[^1]
Wasserman was a major contributor to and sat on the board of the Reagan presidential library, along with [[Edwin Meese]] and others. He was involved in raising $80 million to build it.[^1]
Wasserman was on the MCA board of directors during the FBI investigation into alleged mob ties to MCA. [[Edward Sciandra]] reportedly wanted to go to Wasserman and [[Sidney Sheinberg]] (President of MCA) and tell them who they were up against.[^1]
Reagan and [[Nancy Reagan]] were known to celebrate New Year's Eve with Wasserman and his wife, Edie. [[Howard Baker]] returned to MCA's board of directors in March 1989, just in time to help Wasserman celebrate his seventy-sixth birthday.[^1]
Wasserman's employment agreement with MCA Inc. is dated December 6, 1988, and was amended on November 26, 1990.[^6]
### Finley v. Music Corporation of America, 1946
[[Larry Finley]], who had leased the [[Mission Beach]] amusement park and dance hall from the city of [[San Diego]] in November 1944, sued MCA, Stein, [[Larry Barnett]] and the MCA agent [[Harold Eames Bishop]] on March 20, 1945. Moldea wrote that Finley claimed MCA had charged him far more for bands than it charged other ballrooms and had conspired to freeze him out of San Diego, and that he sued for triple damages under the Sherman Act in a $3.1 million suit.[^7] The case was docketed as Civil No. 4328 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, and the trial before Judge [[Paul J. McCormick]] began in Los Angeles on January 29, 1946.[^8][^9]
After about ten days of trial the jury returned a general verdict for the plaintiffs, with treble damages of $55,500. Moldea wrote that the jury deliberated for only a few hours, that McCormick had earlier dismissed the charges against Stein, and that in his final statement to the court McCormick called MCA "the Octopus ... with tentacles reaching out to all phases and grasping everything in show business." Moldea wrote that the image became MCA's nickname in the Hollywood trade and the press.[^8] A four-part series by [[David G. Wittels]] titled "Star-Spangled Octopus" ran in the *[[Saturday Evening Post]]* beginning August 10, 1946.[^10]
In the memorandum reported at 66 F. Supp. 569, dated June 24, 1946, McCormick held that the evidence did not fix the damages with the certainty the Supreme Court's decisions required, found the jury's estimate of $18,500 in actual damages legally unsupported, and assessed costs and attorney's fees of $9,092.85 against the defendants.[^9] Moldea wrote that the court's ruling on damages quickly put a damper on the Justice Department's MCA investigation in Washington.[^11]
### The 1952 blanket waiver under Reagan's SAG presidency
Moldea wrote that Reagan, president of the [[Screen Actors Guild]] for five consecutive one-year terms, engineered a "blanket waiver" in 1952 exempting MCA from Guild rules that barred a talent agency from also engaging in film production. Reagan's second wife, actress Nancy Davis, sat on the SAG board at the time. MCA was the only such firm granted that status, which gave it the ground floor in television production and placed it in a position to offer jobs to the actors it represented. Other talent agencies complained that the arrangement gave MCA an unfair advantage.[^12]
Moldea wrote that in July 1952 there was a series of meetings between certain members of the SAG board and MCA, including Wasserman, [[Taft Schreiber]], the MCA attorney [[Laurence Beilenson]] and another MCA representative, and that no record of the meetings was kept. A Justice Department document quoted by Moldea stated that "Wasserman and Schreiber could sell SAG anything" because of their relationship with Reagan. The deal allowed MCA to work in television production through its talent agency, MCA Artists, and a new production company, [[Revue Productions]], headed by Schreiber.[^13] The Antitrust Division later reported, in Moldea's quotation, that "The MCA-SAG arrangements, in effect, have placed MCA in a highly favorable competitive position over other talent agencies and television producers," and Moldea wrote that the Justice Department received information that "The central fact of MCA's whole rise to power was undoubtedly the blanket waiver."[^14]
Moldea wrote that, according to Justice Department documents, several government sources believed the favorable treatment Reagan later received from MCA, after his film career declined, was a payoff for services rendered while he led the Guild.[^12] Moldea wrote that MCA arranged for Reagan to appear as master of ceremonies at the Last Frontier hotel in [[Las Vegas]] from February 14 to 28, 1954, where [[Johnny Roselli]] was on the payroll as a "public relations consultant."[^15] In a June 7, 1961 interview recorded by the Antitrust Division attorney [[Leonard Posner]], an industry source called Reagan "a complete slave of MCA who would do their bidding on anything."[^16]
Moldea wrote that in 1959 the SAG membership re-elected Reagan president for a sixth term to lead a strike against the studios, that MCA and a few smaller studios made an early separate peace with the Guild, and that, according to the president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the 1960 settlement with the major studios came with the help of [[Sidney Korshak]].[^12]
### Grand jury and Reagan's testimony
Moldea wrote that after the election of [[John F. Kennedy]] and the appointment of [[Robert F. Kennedy]] as attorney general, the government began a concentrated probe of MCA's business affairs and empaneled a federal grand jury to hear charges including restraint of trade, conspiracy with the Guild to monopolize talent and film program production, extortion, discrimination, blacklisting and predatory business practices.[^12] The [[Federal Communications Commission]] subpoenaed Schreiber on March 8, 1961, and he declined to testify except in secret session. On August 25, 1961 the attorney general authorized a grand jury in the Southern District of New York; the Antitrust Division then moved it to Los Angeles, and by mid-November 1961 it was calling witnesses, among them [[Cary Grant]] and [[Danny Kaye]].[^17]
On February 5, 1962, Reagan testified before the federal grand jury in Los Angeles, questioned by the Antitrust Division attorney [[John Fricano]]. The transcript, taken down by the shorthand reporter Lucille Girlow, was first published in full in Moldea's book. Asked his profession, Reagan answered, "Actor, I think." He testified that MCA had represented him since about 1939 or 1940, when it bought the William Meiklejohn agency and took six of its clients, among them [[Jane Wyman]] and [[Bill Demarest]], as its first motion picture clients; that his first MCA agent was Wasserman and then [[Art Park]]; that he had been president of the Guild about five and a half years from 1946 or 1947 and again for a final year; and that his wife Nancy Davis, whom he married in March 1952, had sat on the Guild board in 1952.[^18]
Fricano asked Reagan why the Guild had granted MCA a blanket or unlimited waiver. Reagan answered that "I personally never saw any particular harm in it," that the Guild believed it could "pull the rug out from under them" if harm followed, and that he did not recall participating in the July 1952 negotiations or the June 1954 extension. Fricano showed him Grand Jury Exhibit 41, a letter of June 7, 1954 from the Guild's counsel Beilenson to Wasserman stating that the July 23, 1952 letter agreement "was executed under a specific set of circumstances where Revue was willing to sign a contract giving the guild members reuse fees when no one else was willing to do so." Reagan answered, "I don't recall it, no." He said he had told the Guild's executive secretary that he felt self-conscious about his long association with MCA and "sometimes I kind of ran for cover and was very happy to duck a committee duty in these matters." Of the many meetings in his career he said, "my memory is like a kaleidoscope of meetings."[^18]
Reagan also testified about *[[General Electric Theater]]*: that Schreiber of Revue approached him, that he was employed by the advertising agency [[BBD&O]] rather than by Revue at a salary he put at $120,000 a year, and that in the spring of 1959 Wasserman, with Schreiber present, set terms giving him a 25 percent ownership interest in the films. He said Wasserman ruled in his favor in a dispute between Schreiber and his agent Park over foreign motion picture rights.[^18]
Moldea wrote that Reagan "displayed a remarkable loss of memory while on the witness stand."[^12] In *Where's the Rest of Me?* (1965), written with [[Richard Hubler]], Reagan described the day as "a long, unhappy afternoon being interrogated by a federal lawyer who'd seen too many Perry Masons."[^19] On February 13, 1962 the Antitrust Division subpoenaed the [[Internal Revenue Service]] for the income tax returns of Ronald and Nancy Reagan for 1952 through 1955, and for the returns of the Guild's executive secretary [[John Dales]], his assistant [[Chet Migden]] and four members of the 1952 board. Moldea wrote that no charges were filed against anyone, and that on February 15 Posner learned from a source that MCA "has a means of obtaining information from the grand jury itself," a leak he could not trace.[^19]
A *[[Washington Post]]* article of March 15, 1987 reprinted by Moldea states that the grand jury never charged Reagan with any crime, and Moldea states that Los Angeles journalist [[David Robb]] first uncovered and published portions of the transcript.[^20]
Moldea wrote that Reagan later acknowledged that the government's action against MCA affected his political beliefs, inclining him toward a more conservative stance, and that MCA's Jules Stein and Taft Schreiber were among the guiding forces in shaping that philosophy.[^12]
### The 1962 Justice Department action
The Antitrust Division filed a civil complaint against MCA Inc. on July 13, 1962 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, Central Division, docketed as Civil No. 62-942-WM, under Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act and Section 7 of the Clayton Act. The government was represented by Leonard R. Posner and [[Malcolm D. MacArthur]] and MCA by [[Allen E. Susman]] and [[Albert C. Bickford]] of the firm of Beilenson, Meyer, Rosenfeld and Susman.[^21] Moldea wrote that the complaint was approved by Robert Kennedy, named the Guild and the [[Writers Guild of America West|Writers Guild of America, West]] as co-conspirators for their waivers to MCA, and was filed with a request for a ten-day temporary restraining order against MCA's planned sale of its talent agency to its own employees.[^22]
MCA had acquired 80 percent of the stock of [[Decca Records]], the parent of [[Universal Pictures]], on June 18, 1962, a purchase that included Universal's library of 250 post-1948 feature films and about 2,500 hours of filmed television programs.[^23] Moldea wrote that on July 15 Wasserman filed an affidavit stating "I deny that MCA has been guilty of any violations of law or any other alleged wrongful acts charged," that Judge [[William C. Mathes]] granted the restraining order on July 16, and that Posner told the court the government wanted "to dissolve this mammoth corporation and turn these actors free to whomever they want."[^24]
On July 23, 1962 the parties filed a stipulation and order under which MCA dissolved its talent agency without selling it, surrendering its guild and union franchises. The stipulation stated that nothing in it was an admission of any violation of law. Posner said the action "destroys the power base MCA Inc. used for leverage for its filmed television production," and *[[Daily Variety]]* headlined its report "MCA DISSOLVES ENTIRE AGENCY."[^25]
The Final Judgment was entered October 18, 1962. It enjoined MCA from engaging in the talent agency business; barred it for seven years from acquiring or merging with any major television, motion picture or phonograph record production or distribution company without the Justice Department's written consent or a court finding, naming five television, six motion picture and six record companies as the "major" companies; barred tying the license of television programs, feature films or phonograph records to one another; and set a procedure, running to October 1, 1967, under which Universal could license 215 of 229 listed feature films for television to distributors other than MCA. The defendant denied any violation, and the judgment was entered on consent before any testimony was taken.[^21] Moldea wrote that the settlement took the case off the public record and spared Stein, Wasserman, Schreiber, Reagan and others from answering questions in open court, and that the Guild franchise for MCA expired at 12:01 a.m. on July 19, leaving 1,400 clients free.[^26]
The Antitrust Division's public listing of legacy judgments includes *U.S. v. MCA, Inc.*, case open date July 13, 1962, final judgment October 18, 1962, with a public comment period on its possible termination that closed April 19, 2019.[^27] A 1952 consent judgment against Decca Records, *United States v. Decca Records, Inc.* (S.D.N.Y., Civil No. 46-779), was the subject of a Justice Department motion to terminate in December 2020 stating that Decca Records, Inc. merged into MCA Inc. in 1966 and that MCA Inc. dissolved in 2015.[^28]
### Universal and Decca
Moldea wrote that after MCA bought Universal Pictures it made plans to produce motion pictures as well as television programs, that in the midst of the grand jury's investigation MCA purchased Universal and its parent company Decca Records, that the government went to court to block the takeover, and that the consent decree forced MCA to choose between being a talent agency and a production company. He wrote that production yielded nearly ten times the money of the agency and that MCA dissolved its talent agency.[^12] Moldea also wrote that Decca Records bought Universal Pictures in 1952, the same year as the MCA-SAG arrangement.[^29]
Moldea wrote that on September 19, 1962, the day after Attorney General Kennedy announced the proposed consent decree, workers began razing the Revue-Universal studio for the $110 million Universal City, which included a fifteen-story black-glass administration building.[^29]
### Reagan's Malibu Canyon land
Moldea wrote that Reagan bought 290 acres in Malibu Canyon in 1951 for $85,000, and that on December 13, 1966, a little over a month after his election as governor of California, he sold 236 of those acres to [[Twentieth Century-Fox]] for $1,930,000, or $8,178 an acre, in an arrangement handled by Stein and Schreiber with legal work by Reagan's attorney [[William French Smith]]. Moldea wrote that Fox's own appraisers had put the land at about $4,000 an acre.[^30]
### Sidney Korshak
Moldea wrote that federal investigators described Sidney Korshak, a [[Beverly Hills]] attorney, as the principal link between the legitimate business world and organized crime.[^31] He wrote that after [[Willie Bioff]], a front man for the Chicago Mafia in Hollywood, testified, Chicago's new liaison in the motion picture industry became Korshak, who had represented Bioff. Moldea quoted [[Charles Gioe]], a Chicago Mafia figure, as telling Bioff that Korshak was "our man."[^31] Moldea also wrote that Korshak became a close friend of Stein and Wasserman.[^31]
[[Seymour Hersh]], with [[Jeff Gerth]], published a four-part series on Korshak in *[[The New York Times]]* from June 27 to 30, 1976. Moldea quoted the Times as stating that "Mr. Korshak is the most important link between organized crime and legitimate business," and quoted Wasserman in that series as calling Korshak a "very good personal friend" and saying of the underworld allegations, "I don't believe them." Moldea wrote that three days after the series Korshak was among about three hundred guests at the Wassermans' fortieth wedding anniversary party.[^32]
The Bureau's file on Korshak, file 92-5053, is held on archive.org in three parts.[^33] A Bureau memorandum in that file dated July 2, 1976 quotes the Hersh and Gerth article, headlined "Korshak Again the Target of a Federal Investigation," as reporting that officials said the FBI "was accumulating evidence on Korshak's alleged involvement in a labor racketeering scheme in southern California." The memorandum states that the two reporters had interviewed over 300 people, including members of the Los Angeles and San Francisco Justice Department strike forces, while making inquiries into labor problems in the Long Beach area.[^33]
### Organized crime allegations
MCA was the subject of an FBI wiretap investigation which, according to [[Cheri Seymour]], was supervised by the federal prosecutor [[Marvin Rudnick]] and later by [[Richard Stavin]] of the Justice Department's Los Angeles Organized Crime Strike Force. These investigations, which also involved FBI agent [[Thomas Gates]], led them to believe that MCA had been penetrated by organized crime. Specifically, the wiretaps recorded communications between [[Robert Booth Nichols]] and [[Eugene Giaquinto]], then president of MCA home entertainment division. Giaquinto was also a board member of Nichols' holding company, [[Meridian International Logistics|MIL]], which was under FBI investigation as a source of funding for narcotics and the allocation of drug trafficking proceeds.[^1]
John Connolly reported in *[[Spy (magazine)|Spy]]* in January 1993 that Giaquinto left MCA and its board when reports of the investigation surfaced.[^34]
The intercepted conversations reportedly revealed connections to [[La Cosa Nostra]], including members of the [[Gambino Crime Family]] and [[Bufalino Crime Family]]. The wiretap application itself stated that the purpose of the interceptions was to determine the "source, type and quantity of narcotics/controlled substances, methods and means of delivery, and the source of funding for purchasing of narcotics/controlled substances." It was also apparent from the intercepted conversations that Eugene Giaquinto had a special relationship with [[John Gotti]].[^1]
### Leveraged Buyout and Investigation Shutdown
The continuation affidavit of Gates, sworn in 1987, names Giaquinto and [[Joseph Garofalo]] as persons committing offenses "involving the sale and possession of controlled substances," and lists among the matters the intercepts were to establish "The source of funding for the purchasing of narcotics/controlled substances and the allocation and use of the proceeds from its trafficking."[^35] It records a July 20, 1987 call in which Giaquinto told Nichols that MCA stock had fallen four points, and a July 23 call in which Giaquinto told Nichols that [[ZZZZ Best]] was a money-laundering operation for heroin money and asked what to do if Nichols's name came up.[^35] An excerpt of the affidavit reproduced in Meridian's Ninth Circuit brief describes agents investigating whether others used extortionate practices "to ensure that Eugene Giaquinto retains his position as the president of Home Entertainment for MCA/Universal, Inc."[^36]
At the time of these investigations, MCA was being offered in a leveraged buyout to Japanese interests. An FBI investigation could have jeopardized this sale. In her account the wiretaps were then sealed by the [[Department of Justice|DOJ]], and no case against MCA or its executives followed. The Los Angeles Organized Crime Strike Force was disbanded, Richard Stavin resigned, and Thomas Gates closed the FBI investigation. The Japanese ultimately purchased MCA in what was reported as the largest corporate sale in U.S. history at the time.[^1]
Seymour reproduced reports she attributed to John Cohen, an investigator for the [[House Committee on the Judiciary|House Judiciary Committee]], in which Gates is recorded as saying that the wiretaps showed a close working relationship between the MCA board and high-level Justice Department officials.[^1]
Marvin Rudnick, who lost his job for refusing to drop the investigation, later had part of his story told in the 1993 book *Stiffed: A True Story of MCA, The Music Business, and the Mafia* by William Knoedelseder.[^1]
### Pisello and the strike force
The prosecution that did come out of the investigation was of [[Sal Pisello|Salvatore Pisello]], a middleman in MCA's dealings. In June 1984 MCA gave Pisello 30,000 dollars to study a "Latin record label" and in January 1985 another 50,000 dollars; he also received payments from Sugar Hill Records in connection with efforts to have MCA distribute its records and buy its catalog. Indicted in 1986 for evading taxes on this income, he was convicted for 1984 and 1985 and sentenced to four years' imprisonment and three years' probation; the Ninth Circuit affirmed on June 8, 1989.[^2]
[[Sal Pisello|Salvatore Pisello]] was convicted in federal district court on two counts of tax evasion for 1984 and 1985, acquitted on a third count for 1983, and sentenced to four years' imprisonment on one count and three years' probation on another; the Ninth Circuit affirmed on June 8, 1989. The court recited that in June 1984 [[MCA Records]] gave Pisello $30,000 to investigate a "Latin record label," that in January 1985 it paid him another $50,000, and that in 1984 [[Sugar Hill Records]] paid him about $156,109 in connection with his efforts to have MCA distribute its records and purchase its catalog of master recordings.[^37]
Moldea reported in June 1988 that Pisello attended the March 1984 convention of the [[National Association of Recording Merchandisers]] at the [[Diplomat Hotel]] in [[Hollywood, Florida]], as a representative of MCA Records. He wrote that in December 1987 the strike force's chief, [[David Margolis]], and his deputy, [[Michael DeFeo]], told Rudnick that he could pursue a tax case against Pisello, who had earned about $600,000 from his dealings with MCA, but could not call several MCA executives as witnesses.[^38] Moldea reported that on October 2, 1987 MCA filed a formal complaint against Rudnick with the Justice Department, retained [[William Hundley]] to present its case in Washington, and received a letter in mid-October from [[John Newcomer]], the head of the Los Angeles strike force, stating that "Neither MCA nor any of its executives or employees are targets of that case and its attendant investigation."[^38]
### Leveraged buyout and Matsushita
At the time of the wiretap investigations, MCA was being offered in a leveraged buyout to Japanese interests. An FBI investigation could have jeopardized this sale. In Seymour's account the wiretaps were then sealed by the Justice Department, and no case against MCA or its executives followed. The Los Angeles Organized Crime Strike Force was disbanded, Richard Stavin resigned, and Thomas Gates closed the FBI investigation. The Japanese ultimately purchased MCA in what was reported as the largest corporate sale in U.S. history at the time.[^1]
Marvin Rudnick, who lost his job for refusing to drop the investigation, later had part of his story told in the 1993 book *Stiffed: A True Story of MCA, The Music Business, and the Mafia* by [[William Knoedelseder]].[^39]
*[[Broadcasting (magazine)|Broadcasting]]* reported on October 1, 1990 that MCA had issued a statement on September 25 that it was "in discussions with a major international company regarding a possible negotiated acquisition of MCA," that Matsushita acknowledged it was talking with MCA, that MCA's stock had risen more than $25, or 66 percent, in two days, and that [[Michael Ovitz]] of [[Creative Artists Agency]] was helping represent Matsushita. The same article stated that "MCA continues to be subject to allegations of ties with organized crime," and that Wasserman, then 77, was assumed by many to be the sole arbiter of a sale.[^40] The October 22 issue reported that, with MCA-Matsushita and MGM-Pathe, four of the eight major Hollywood studios would be foreign-owned.[^41]
Matsushita closed its purchase on December 29, 1990, acquiring about 77.7 million MCA shares at $66 each for about 97 percent of the company, in a transaction reported at $6.6 billion. A federal judge in Los Angeles, [[Manuel Real]], had declined the day before to block the sale in a shareholder suit contending that Wasserman was to receive a new preferred Matsushita stock that would save him $100 million in capital gains and estate taxes.[^42]
On June 5, 1995 Seagram completed the purchase of an 80 percent interest in MCA Holding I Corp., the indirect parent of MCA Inc., from Matsushita for $5.7 billion, with Matsushita retaining 20 percent. Seagram's September 1996 annual report lists [[Frank Biondi]], president and chief executive of [[Viacom]] until January 1996, as chairman and chief executive officer of MCA Inc.[^43]
### Yosemite concession
Seymour wrote that the park concessioner [[Curry Company]] was owned by MCA. A park ranger, [[Paul Berkowitz]], testified before the House Interior Subcommittee on National Parks and Recreation about drug distribution by Curry Company officials.[^1] Moldea wrote that at the end of 1972 MCA added the Yosemite Park and Curry Company, which held the food, lodging and transportation concessions at [[Yosemite National Park]], to its Recreation Services Division. The National Park Service's finding aid for the park's concession records lists the changes in control of the company as Shasta Natural Resources in 1970, MCA in 1973 and Matsushita in 1991.[^44][^45]
On January 8, 1991 the [[National Park Foundation]] and MCA entered an agreement in principle under which the Foundation, as a pass-through, would buy 100 percent of the stock of the Yosemite Park and Curry Company from MCA. The House Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands held an oversight hearing on the transaction on January 9, 1991 and the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands, National Parks and Forests held one on February 21, 1991; a final purchase agreement was approved on September 20, 1991, and the [[General Accounting Office]] reported on the sale on September 10, 1992. The National Park Service planned a sale on September 29, 1993 to the concessioner it selected, at an effective price of $61.5 million, which the new concessioner could finance through MCA at 8.5 percent interest over fifteen years.[^46] At a joint House oversight hearing on March 24, 1993, an Interior Department attorney, [[Lars Hanslin]], testified that the National Park Service recommended [[Delaware North]] for a fifteen-year contract and that the price of $49.5 million plus interest, a total of $61.5 million, had been negotiated by the Interior Department with Matsushita and the present owner. The committee chairman, [[George Miller]], said that MCA at one point had put the figure at $100 million, and Hanslin answered, "I think that is true." A National Park Service witness described a note held by MCA under which MCA reserved the right to select a successor concessioner if the contract was terminated.[^47]
### Connection to "The Octopus"
Danny Casolaro's investigation into "The Octopus" included MCA, and he was reportedly told by Robert Booth Nichols about the leveraged buyout. [[Dan Moldea]], in his 1986 book *Dark Victory: [[Ronald Reagan]], MCA, and the Mob*, had previously labeled MCA as "The Octopus," a term that likely inspired Casolaro's own use of the phrase.[^1]
Danny Casolaro's investigation into "The Octopus" included MCA, and he was reportedly told by Robert Booth Nichols about the leveraged buyout.[^1] The nickname predates his investigation. Moldea wrote that it originated in McCormick's 1946 statement in the Finley case, and his bibliography lists a 1961 article by Nat Hentoff, "The Octopus of Show Business," in *The Reporter* and a February 1962 article, "MCA: The Octopus Devours the World," in *Show*. [[Dan Moldea]] applied it to the company in his 1986 book *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*.[^8][^48]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
[^2]: *United States v. Pisello,* 877 F.2d 762 (9th Cir. 1989). https://openjurist.org/877/f2d/762
[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
[^2]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 1. Full text at https://archive.org/details/dark-victory-ronald-reagan-mca-and-the-mob
[^3]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 1.
[^4]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 2.
[^5]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 6.
[^6]: The Seagram Company Ltd., Annual Report on Form 10-K405 for the transition period ended June 30, 1996, filed September 27, 1996, Item 14 exhibit list, items 10(bb) and 10(cc) (Employment Agreement between MCA Inc. and Lew R. Wasserman dated December 6, 1988; Amendment dated November 26, 1990). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/88188/0000950123-96-005242.txt
[^7]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 5.
[^8]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, Prologue and ch. 6. The case is cited in Moldea's notes as *Finley v. MCA*, U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, Central Division, Civil Action No. 4328-M (1946).
[^9]: *Finley v. Music Corporation of America*, 66 F. Supp. 569 (S.D. Cal. June 24, 1946) (Civ. No. 4328, McCormick, J.). https://static.case.law/f-supp/66/cases/0569-01.json ; https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1556053/finley-v-music-corporation-of-america/
[^10]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 7 and bibliography (Wittels, David G., "Star-Spangled Octopus," *The Saturday Evening Post*, August 10, 17, 24 and 31, 1946).
[^11]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 7.
[^12]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, Prologue.
[^13]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 13.
[^14]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 13.
[^15]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 14.
[^16]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 21.
[^17]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, chs. 21 and 22.
[^18]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 23, "verbatim transcript" of Reagan's February 5, 1962 testimony before the federal grand jury in Los Angeles (taken down by certified shorthand reporter Lucille Girlow), pp. 167-201.
[^19]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 24, quoting Ronald Reagan with Richard G. Hubler, *Where's the Rest of Me?* (1965).
[^20]: Moldea, Dan E. "Ronald Reagan's 1962 grand jury testimony," reprinting the *Washington Post*, March 15, 1987. https://www.moldea.com/ReaganGJ.html
[^21]: *United States v. MCA Inc.*, 1962 Trade Cases para. 70,459 (S.D. Cal., Central Division, Civil No. 62-942-WM, Final Judgment entered October 18, 1962; Case No. 1695 in the Antitrust Division). Final Judgment as posted by the Antitrust Division, https://www.justice.gov/atr/page/file/1145241/dl . The film-library provision (paragraph V) permits Universal to offer 215 or more of 229 listed films for licensing; Moldea's account describes it as an order that Universal sell 215 of the 229 films.
[^22]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 24.
[^23]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 24.
[^24]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 25.
[^25]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 25, including the note quoting *Daily Variety*, July 24, 1962.
[^26]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 25.
[^27]: U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, "Legacy Antitrust Judgment: U.S. v. MCA, Inc.," updated March 19, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/atr/legacy-antitrust-judgment-mca-inc
[^28]: Memorandum of Law in Support of the United States' Motion to Terminate a Legacy Antitrust Judgment and Declaration of T. Jakob Sebrow, *United States v. Decca Records, Inc.*, No. 1:20-mc-778 (S.D.N.Y. filed December 21, 2020) (originally Civil Action No. 46-779). https://www.justice.gov/media/1111836/dl ; https://www.justice.gov/media/1111841/dl
[^29]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 26.
[^30]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 28.
[^31]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, Prologue and ch. 14.
[^32]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 32; bibliography entry Hersh, Seymour M. (with Jeff Gerth), *The New York Times*, June 27-30, 1976.
[^33]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, file 92-5053, "Sidney Korshak," Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts section, three parts, memorandum dated July 2, 1976 quoting Seymour M. Hersh with Jeff Gerth, "Korshak Again the Target of a Federal Investigation," *The New York Times*, June 1976. https://archive.org/details/SidneyKorshak
[^34]: Connolly, John. "The Story That Killed Danny Casolaro." *Spy,* January 1993. https://archive.org/details/SpyMagazine
[^35]: Affidavit of Special Agent Thomas G. Gates in support of an application to continue interception of wire communications of Martin Bacow, Eugene Giaquinto, Joseph Garofalo, Robert Nichols and others, before Judge J. Spencer Letts, C.D. Cal. (continuation affidavit citing intercepts through September 1, 1987), Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Gates." https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks (file Gates.pdf), paragraphs 5, 69 and 79.
[^36]: Appellant's Opening Brief, *Meridian International Logistics, Inc. v. Gates,* No. 90-55281 (9th Cir.), certificate dated June 27, 1990 (case removed as CV 89-4383 RG (Kx), C.D. Cal.). https://archive.org/details/MeridianV.Gates
[^37]: *United States v. Pisello,* 877 F.2d 762 (9th Cir. June 8, 1989) (No. 88-5156). https://static.case.law/f2d/877/cases/0762-01.json ; https://openjurist.org/877/f2d/762
[^38]: Moldea, Dan E. "MCA Music & the Mafia: Did the Justice Department cut Reagan's Hollywood pals a break?" *Regardie's*, June 1988. https://www.moldea.com/MCAMusic.html
[^39]: Knoedelseder, William. *Stiffed: A True Story of MCA, the Music Business, and the Mafia.* HarperCollins, 1993, pp. xvii, 434-448, 464.
[^40]: "Look who's talking...again," *Broadcasting*, October 1, 1990, pp. 30-31. https://archive.org/details/bc-1990-10-01
[^41]: "Selling Hollywood," *Broadcasting*, October 22, 1990. https://archive.org/details/bc-1990-10-22
[^42]: "Japanese firm closes purchase of MCA," Associated Press, December 30, 1990, reprinted in the *Deseret News*. https://www.deseret.com/1990/12/30/18898485/japanese-firm-closes-purchase-of-mca-br/
[^43]: The Seagram Company Ltd., Annual Report on Form 10-K405 for the transition period ended June 30, 1996, filed September 27, 1996: Item 1 (Entertainment), Item 10 (directors and executive officers), and Notes 2 and 3 to the financial statements. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/88188/0000950123-96-005242.txt
[^44]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, ch. 31.
[^45]: National Park Service, Yosemite National Park, finding aid for the Yosemite concession records, Online Archive of California. https://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c89s1wh3/
[^46]: Memorandum from the Director, National Park Service, to the Secretary of the Interior, "Yosemite Park and Curry Company Transaction," in *Yosemite Concession Contract: Joint Oversight Hearing before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands of the Committee on Natural Resources, House of Representatives*, 103d Cong., 1st Sess., Serial No. 103-15 (March 24, 1993), pp. 84-85. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-103hhrg73649/pdf/CHRG-103hhrg73649.pdf
[^47]: *Yosemite Concession Contract*, Serial No. 103-15 (March 24, 1993), statement of Lars A. Hanslin, Senior Attorney, Department of the Interior, and the question period with Chairman Miller and Representatives Vento and Calvert. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-103hhrg73649/pdf/CHRG-103hhrg73649.pdf
[^48]: Moldea, Dan E. *Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob*. New York: Viking, 1986, bibliography (Hentoff, Nat. "The Octopus of Show Business," *The Reporter*, November 23, 1961; Davidson, Bill. "MCA: The Octopus Devours the World," *Show*, February 1962).

11
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/The Com.md
View file

@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ tags:
start: 2019
location: "Online (global)"
created: 2026-05-21
updated: 2026-05-21
summary: "The Com is a transnational online criminal ecosystem spanning three overlapping spheres (cybercrime, child exploitation, and offline violence), with 764 as its dominant sextortion subnetwork and hundreds of active FBI investigations across all U.S. field offices as of 2025."
updated: 2026-10-09
summary: "The Com is a transnational online criminal ecosystem spanning cybercrime, child exploitation and offline violence, with 764 as its dominant sextortion subnetwork and hundreds of FBI investigations across all U.S. field offices as of 2025."
---
[[The Com]] (short for "the Community," sometimes spelled "the Comm") is a transnational online criminal ecosystem rather than a single organization. The [[Canadian Anti-Hate Network]]'s 2025 report defines it as "an interconnected series of chat servers, websites, and people that come together to boast and collaborate on their illegal actions." Membership and victimization both trend toward younger ages - participants and their victims can be children - and The Com explicitly recruits through gaming platforms, social media, and encrypted messaging applications. The [[FBI]] classified [[764 Network|764]] as a "Tier One" terrorist threat with investigations in every U.S. field office and estimated more than 350 active investigations tied to 764 and related networks as of April 2026.[^1]
@ -68,12 +68,12 @@ The [[FBI]] classified 764 as a Tier One/Category 1 terrorist threat, its highes
The most significant U.S. prosecutions:
- [[Baron Cain Martin|Baron Martin]] (Tucson, Arizona): Indicted April 2026 on 29 counts including the first-ever federal terrorism charge under the material support statute against a 764 member. Trial scheduled June 2026.
- [[Alexis Aldair Chavez]]: RICO and child exploitation guilty plea, December 2025.
- [[Leonidas Varagiannis]] and [[Prasan Nepal]]: Charged April 2025 for leading 764 Inferno; both face life in prison.
- [[Leonidas Varagiannis]] and [[Prasan Nepal]]: Charged April 2025 for leading 764 Inferno. On October 8, 2026, Nepal pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to conspiracy to commit sexual exploitation of a child, with a sentence range of 15 to 30 years. The Justice Department says Varagiannis is held in Greece and is expected to be tried there within six months.[^5]
- [[Michail Chkhikvishvili]] (MKY leader): Sentenced 15 years federal prison, May 2026.
Canada designated 764, MKY, and [[Terrorgram Collective]] as terrorist entities on December 10, 2025. The UK designated MKY as a proscribed terrorist organization on July 2, 2025. The [[RCMP]] arrested [[Jeffrey Roussel]] of Quebec City in April 2026 on terrorism charges for promoting 764 ideology and recruiting teenagers via Telegram - among the first prosecutions under Canada's designation.
The Netherlands arrested the No Lives Matter founder on terrorism charges in July 2025. Romania convicted the MKY-affiliated "Tobbz" to 14 years in August 2023. Sweden recorded at least six attacks recorded and promoted on Telegram by a 14-year-old known as "Slain764" before that individual's arrest in September 2024.[^5]
The Netherlands arrested the No Lives Matter founder on terrorism charges in July 2025. Romania convicted the MKY-affiliated "Tobbz" to 14 years in August 2023. Sweden recorded at least six attacks recorded and promoted on Telegram by a 14-year-old known as "Slain764" before that individual's arrest in September 2024.[^6]
### Footnotes
@ -81,4 +81,5 @@ The Netherlands arrested the No Lives Matter founder on terrorism charges in Jul
[^2]: Argentino, Marc-Andre. "The Pillars of the Com Network." https://www.maargentino.com/the-pillars-of-the-com-network/; Argentino. "Understanding the Relationship Between 764 And The Com." https://www.maargentino.com/understanding-the-relationship-between-764-and-the-com-network/
[^3]: Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. "The 764 Network: A Global Threat for Child Abuse and Radicalization." https://globalextremism.org/post/764-network/; ADL. "764." https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/764; ISD. "Networks of Harm: A Victim-Centric Resource on the 764 Network." https://www.isdglobal.org/publication/networks-of-harm-a-victim-centric-information-resource-on-the-764-sextortion-network-2/
[^4]: CyberScoop. "Feds are probing 764, The Com's use of cybercriminal tactics." https://cyberscoop.com/the-com-764-cybercrime-violent-crime-fbi-intellignce-report/
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Leaders of 764 Arrested and Charged for Operating Global Child Exploitation Enterprise." April 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leaders-764-arrested-and-charged-operating-global-child-exploitation-enterprise; Government of Canada. "Government of Canada Lists Four New Terrorist Entities." December 10, 2025. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2025/12/government-of-canada-lists-four-new-terrorist-entities0.html
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs. "Leader of Global Violent Extremist Network '764' Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Sexually Exploit Minors." Press Release 26-1164, October 9, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leader-global-violent-extremist-network-764-pleads-guilty-conspiracy-sexually-exploit-minors
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Leaders of 764 Arrested and Charged for Operating Global Child Exploitation Enterprise." April 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leaders-764-arrested-and-charged-operating-global-child-exploitation-enterprise; Government of Canada. "Government of Canada Lists Four New Terrorist Entities." December 10, 2025. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2025/12/government-of-canada-lists-four-new-terrorist-entities0.html