vault backup: 2026-05-13 21:30:09
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{
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"permissions": {
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"allow": [
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"WebFetch(domain:theinfoweb.disinfo.zone)",
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"Bash(xargs grep *)",
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"WebSearch",
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"WebFetch(domain:archive.org)",
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"WebFetch(domain:en.wikipedia.org)",
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"WebFetch(domain:covertactionmagazine.com)",
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"mcp__claude_ai_Scholar_Gateway__semanticSearch",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.wired.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:cryptome.org)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.ojp.gov)",
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"WebFetch(domain:law.justia.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.archives.gov)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.justice.gov)",
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"WebFetch(domain:handwiki.org)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.washingtonpost.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.govinfo.gov)",
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"WebFetch(domain:thecinemaholic.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:icis.corp.delaware.gov)",
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"WebFetch(domain:ia801309.us.archive.org)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.congress.gov)",
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"WebFetch(domain:constitution.org)",
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"WebFetch(domain:theorg.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.legistorm.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:grokipedia.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:sites.google.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.courtlistener.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:mhkeehn.tripod.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:en-academic.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.inslawinc.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.icpsr.umich.edu)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.dandb.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:openlibrary.org)",
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"WebFetch(domain:constitution.famguardian.org)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.constitution.org)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.upi.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.newstatesman.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:wikispooks.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.apfn.org)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.nzherald.co.nz)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.law.cornell.edu)",
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"WebFetch(domain:ia601309.us.archive.org)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.wionews.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.projectcensored.org)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.imdb.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:unsolved.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.wrmea.org)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.tampabay.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:theweek.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:www.deseret.com)",
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"WebFetch(domain:mysterydelver.com)",
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"Bash(Get-ChildItem -Path \"C:\\\\Users\\\\David\\\\Documents\\\\SpiderOak Hive\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\10 - PEOPLE\" -Directory)",
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"Bash(Select-Object Name)",
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"Bash(Get-ChildItem -Path \"C:\\\\Users\\\\David\\\\Documents\\\\SpiderOak Hive\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\10 - PEOPLE\" -Recurse -File)",
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"Bash(Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name)",
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"Bash(Sort-Object)",
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"PowerShell($content = Get-Content \"C:\\\\Users\\\\David\\\\Documents\\\\SpiderOak Hive\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\The_Info_Web\\\\40 - EVENTS\\\\INTELLIGENCE_SCANDALS\\\\October Surprise.md\" -Raw; [regex]::Matches\\($content, '\\\\[\\\\[\\([^\\\\[\\\\]|]+\\)\\(?:\\\\|[^\\\\[\\\\]]+\\)?\\\\]\\\\]'\\) | ForEach-Object { $_.Groups[1].Value } | Sort-Object -Unique)"
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]
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}
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}
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@ -1,25 +1,25 @@
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- 2026-04-28T0038 · [[Shalheveth Freier]]
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- 2026-05-02T0111 · [[Gary Webb]]
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- 2026-04-28T0019 · [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]
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- 2026-05-02T0111 · [[Robert Altman]]
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- 2026-04-28T0007 · [[State Department]]
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- 2026-05-02T0111 · [[Ronald Reagan]]
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- 2026-04-28T0006 · [[Project MKUltra]]
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- 2026-05-02T0111 · [[Bert Lance]]
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- 2026-04-28T0006 · [[Ted Gunderson]]
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- 2026-05-02T0111 · [[George H.W. Bush]]
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- 2026-04-27T2340 · [[Ramon J. Martinez]]
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- 2026-05-02T0110 · [[Eugene Hasenfus]]
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- 2026-04-27T2336 · [[Warwick Spinks]]
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- 2026-05-02T0110 · [[Rafael Eitan]]
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- 2026-04-27T2336 · [[UNICEF]]
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- 2026-05-02T0108 · [[Peter Videnieks]]
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- 2026-04-27T2336 · [[Tony Van den Boggaert]]
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- 2026-05-02T0108 · [[William French Smith]]
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- 2026-04-27T2336 · [[Terry Sullivan]]
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- 2026-05-02T0108 · [[Barry Seal]]
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- 2026-04-27T2336 · [[Spartacus International]]
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- 2026-05-02T0108 · [[The Samson Option Narrative]]
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- 2026-04-27T2336 · [[Roy Ames]]
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- 2026-05-02T0105 · [[PROMIS]]
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- 2026-04-27T2336 · [[Robert Jan Warmerdam]]
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- 2026-05-02T0105 · [[Robert Morgenthau]]
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- 2026-04-27T2336 · [[Robert Lang]]
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- 2026-05-02T0104 · [[SIMWA]]
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- 2026-04-27T2336 · [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]]
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- 2026-05-02T0104 · [[DOJ_1994_Report]]
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- 2026-04-27T2336 · [[Richard Halvorsen]]
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- 2026-05-02T0104 · [[Marana]]
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- 2026-04-27T2336 · [[Regina Louf]]
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- 2026-05-02T0104 · [[Syrian Embassy in London]]
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- 2026-04-27T2336 · [[Raymond Woodall]]
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- 2026-05-02T0104 · [[Sabra and Shatila refugee camps]]
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- 2026-04-27T2336 · [[Phillip Paske]]
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- 2026-05-02T0104 · [[Kibbutz Mishmar Hasharon]]
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- 2026-04-27T2336 · [[Peter Howells]]
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- 2026-05-02T0104 · [[Entebbe Airport]]
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- 2026-04-27T2336 · [[Peter Glencross]]
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- 2026-05-02T0104 · [[El Aqsa Mosque]]
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- 2026-04-27T2336 · [[Odyssey Network]]
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- 2026-05-02T0104 · [[Liege]]
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- 2026-04-27T2336 · [[Odyssey Foundation]]
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- 2026-05-02T0104 · [[FOIMS]]
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- 2026-04-27T2336 · [[NAMBLA]]
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- 2026-05-02T0104 · [[Munich Olympic Massacre]]
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- 2026-04-27T2336 · [[Michel Lelievre]]
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- 2026-05-02T0104 · [[Entebbe hijacking]]
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@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ The [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s attempts to confirm the existence of [
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## Dual Loyalty
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## Dual Loyalty
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[[Israel]]'s clandestine nuclear program created a "dual loyalty" dilemma for American Jews in sensitive government roles. [[Lewis Strauss]], former chairman of the [[Atomic Energy Commission]] (AEC), publicly opposed nuclear proliferation while privately supporting [[Israel]]'s nuclear ambitions, a position rooted in his personal experiences with the [[Holocaust]]. Strauss, who insisted his name be pronounced "Straws" to sound assimilated, later used his influence to arrange a fellowship at Princeton for [[Ernst David Bergmann]] after Bergmann's forced resignation from the Israeli AEC.
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[[Israel]]'s clandestine nuclear program created a "dual loyalty" dilemma for American Jews in sensitive government roles. [[Lewis L. Strauss]], former chairman of the [[Atomic Energy Commission]] (AEC), publicly opposed nuclear proliferation while privately supporting [[Israel]]'s nuclear ambitions, a position rooted in his personal experiences with the [[Holocaust]]. Strauss, who insisted his name be pronounced "Straws" to sound assimilated, later used his influence to arrange a fellowship at Princeton for [[Ernst David Bergmann]] after Bergmann's forced resignation from the Israeli AEC.
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Concerns about dual loyalty led to discriminatory practices within U.S. intelligence. The [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and [[NSA]] barred Jewish personnel from Hebrew language training or assignments related to [[Israel]], fearing "Israeli penetration of America." Despite evidence of financial and technical support for [[Dimona]] from American and European Jews, the [[United States]] government maintained a policy of deliberate ignorance. This self-censorship prevented rigorous scrutiny of the program. The case of [[Zalman Mordecai Shapiro|Zalman Shapiro]], a nuclear fuel processor later investigated for the suspected diversion of enriched uranium to [[Israel]], intensified these concerns.
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Concerns about dual loyalty led to discriminatory practices within U.S. intelligence. The [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and [[NSA]] barred Jewish personnel from Hebrew language training or assignments related to [[Israel]], fearing "Israeli penetration of America." Despite evidence of financial and technical support for [[Dimona]] from American and European Jews, the [[United States]] government maintained a policy of deliberate ignorance. This self-censorship prevented rigorous scrutiny of the program. The case of [[Zalman Mordecai Shapiro|Zalman Shapiro]], a nuclear fuel processor later investigated for the suspected diversion of enriched uranium to [[Israel]], intensified these concerns.
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---
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---
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category: "BCCI Scandal"
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tags:
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tags:
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- Person
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- Person
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- Business
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- Shipping
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- BCCI
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- BCCI
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- Banking
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summary: "Abbas Gokal was one of the Gokal brothers who ran the Gulf Group, a London-based shipping company."
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- Finance
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- UK
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- Pakistan
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---
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---
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Abbas Gokal was one of the [[Gokal brothers]] who ran the [[Gulf Group]], a London-based shipping company.[^1]
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Abbas Gokal was one of the [[Gokal brothers]] who ran the [[Gulf Group]], a London-based shipping company.[^1]
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### Role in BCCI Operations
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### Role in BCCI Operations
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Abbas Gokal was used as a front by [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] in 1975 in an attempt to acquire Chelsea National Bank in [[New York]].[^2] Regulators rejected this bid due to concerns about BCCI's involvement.[^2]
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Abbas Gokal was used as a front by [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] in 1975 in an attempt to acquire Chelsea National Bank in [[New York City]].[^2] Regulators rejected this bid due to concerns about BCCI's involvement.[^2]
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The Gulf Group, run by the Gokal brothers, was believed to be BCCI's largest debtor, with loans topping out at $831 million in 1990 that were never repaid.[^3] The Gokal brothers' shipping empire was built with BCCI money.[^3]
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The Gulf Group, run by the Gokal brothers, was believed to be BCCI's largest debtor, with loans topping out at $831 million in 1990 that were never repaid.[^3] The Gokal brothers' shipping empire was built with BCCI money.[^3]
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---
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---
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category: "Other"
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tags:
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tags:
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- Person
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- Person
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- Politics
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summary: "Algerian Foreign Minister who attempted to broker an accord with Iran over the American hostage crisis in 1980."
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- Algeria
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- Diplomat
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- Foreign Minister
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- Iran Hostage Crisis
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- Arms Dealing
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---
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---
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[[Abdelaziz Bouteflika]] was an [[Algeria|Algerian]] Foreign Minister and a well-respected diplomat. He met with various [[Iran|Iranian]] leaders, including [[Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini]], in April 1980 to discuss the [[USA|American]] hostage crisis. However, he failed to broker an accord because he was unable to guarantee arms sales to [[Iran]].[^1]
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[[Abdelaziz Bouteflika]] was an [[Algeria|Algerian]] Foreign Minister and a well-respected diplomat. He met with various [[Iran|Iranian]] leaders, including [[Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini]], in April 1980 to discuss the [[United States|American]] hostage crisis. However, he failed to broker an accord because he was unable to guarantee arms sales to [[Iran]].[^1]
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### Footnotes
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. (Hereafter, "Profits of War")
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[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992.
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---
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---
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category: "Other"
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tags:
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tags:
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- Person
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- Person
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- Politics
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summary: "Major Abdul Salam Jalloud was the right-hand man of Col."
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- Libya
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- Military
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- Iran
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- Islamic Revolution
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- Qaddafi
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---
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---
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Major [[Abdul Salam Jalloud]] was the right-hand man of [[Muammar Qaddafi|Col. Muammar Qaddafi]] of [[Libya]]. He visited [[Iran]] to present [[Muammar Qaddafi|Qaddafi's]] congratulations to the new regime after the [[Iranian Revolution]].[^1]
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Major [[Abdul Salam Jalloud]] was the right-hand man of [[Muammar Qaddafi|Col. Muammar Qaddafi]] of [[Libya]]. He visited [[Iran]] to present [[Muammar Qaddafi|Qaddafi's]] congratulations to the new regime after the [[Iranian Revolution]].[^1]
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During his visit, [[Abdul Salam Jalloud|Jalloud]] was questioned by his [[Iran|Iranian]] hosts about the fate of [[Sheikh Mussa Sadr]], a Shi'ite leader from southern [[Lebanon]], who had disappeared on a visit to [[Libya]] in 1978. The [[Libya|Libyans]] were believed to have killed [[Sheikh Mussa Sadr|Sadr]] for preaching Shi'ite [[Islam]]. [[Abdul Salam Jalloud|Jalloud]] was not allowed to leave [[Iran]] for three weeks until [[Muammar Qaddafi|Qaddafi]] personally intervened and spoke to [[Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini|Khomeini]].[^1]
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During his visit, [[Abdul Salam Jalloud|Jalloud]] was questioned by his [[Iran|Iranian]] hosts about the fate of [[Sheikh Mussa Sadr]], a Shi'ite leader from southern [[Lebanon]], who had disappeared on a visit to [[Libya]] in 1978. The [[Libya|Libyans]] were believed to have killed [[Sheikh Mussa Sadr|Sadr]] for preaching Shi'ite [[Islam]]. [[Abdul Salam Jalloud|Jalloud]] was not allowed to leave [[Iran]] for three weeks until [[Muammar Qaddafi|Qaddafi]] personally intervened and spoke to [[Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini|Khomeini]].[^1]
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### Footnotes
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. (Hereafter, "Profits of War")
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[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992.
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---
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---
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category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
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tags:
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tags:
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- Person
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- Person
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- Businessman
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- Nuclear
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- Philanthropist
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- Israel
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- USA
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summary: "Abraham Feinberg was a wealthy New York businessman and ardent advocate of statehood for Israel."
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---
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---
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Abraham Feinberg was a wealthy New York businessman and ardent advocate of statehood for [[Israel]]. By 1947, he played a major and discreet role in fundraising and White House lobbying for [[Israel]] and the Democratic Party. He would operate at the highest levels between [[Washington D.C.]] and [[Jerusalem]] for two decades.[^1]
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Abraham Feinberg was a wealthy New York businessman and ardent advocate of statehood for [[Israel]]. By 1947, he played a major and discreet role in fundraising and White House lobbying for [[Israel]] and the Democratic Party. He would operate at the highest levels between [[Washington, D.C.]] and [[Jerusalem]] for two decades.[^1]
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Feinberg was a close friend of [[Ernst David Bergmann]], and in the fall of 1947, Bergmann indiscreetly revealed to Feinberg that there was uranium in the [[Negev]] desert, implying a path for [[Israel]] to develop the atomic bomb. Feinberg was astonished by this talk and "shushed him up."[^1]
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Feinberg was a close friend of [[Ernst David Bergmann]], and in the fall of 1947, Bergmann indiscreetly revealed to Feinberg that there was uranium in the [[Negev]] desert, implying a path for [[Israel]] to develop the atomic bomb. Feinberg was astonished by this talk and "shushed him up."[^1]
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---
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---
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category: "Intelligence & Government"
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tags:
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tags:
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- Person
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- Person
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- Terrorist
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- Israel
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- Palestine
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summary: "Palestinian terrorist involved in the 1985 Achille Lauro attack, which was allegedly an Israeli black propaganda operation."
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---
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---
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[[Abul Abbas]] was a Palestinian terrorist. He was involved in the 1985 [[Achille Lauro]] attack, which was an [[Israel|Israeli]] "black" propaganda operation designed to show the world the perceived brutality of Palestinians.[^1]
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[[Abul Abbas]] was a Palestinian terrorist. He was involved in the 1985 [[Achille Lauro]] attack, which was an [[Israel|Israeli]] "black" propaganda operation designed to show the world the perceived brutality of Palestinians.[^1]
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[[Abul Abbas|Abbas]] received orders from [[Mohammed Radi Abdullah]], who was relaying instructions from [[Rafi Eitan]]. He was reportedly receiving millions from [[Israel|Israeli]] intelligence officers posing as Sicilian dons. [[Abul Abbas|Abbas]] gathered a team to attack the cruise ship, with instructions to make the attack severe to highlight Palestinian demands.[^1]
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[[Abul Abbas|Abbas]] received orders from [[Mohammed Radi Abdullah]], who was relaying instructions from [[Rafi]]. He was reportedly receiving millions from [[Israel|Israeli]] intelligence officers posing as Sicilian dons. [[Abul Abbas|Abbas]] gathered a team to attack the cruise ship, with instructions to make the attack severe to highlight Palestinian demands.[^1]
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### Footnotes
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. (Hereafter, "Profits of War")
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[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992.
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---
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---
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category: "Other"
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tags:
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tags:
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- Person
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- Person
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- Education
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summary: "Palestinian student and friend of Ari Ben-Menashe who was the target of an attempted SHABAK recruitment of Ben-Menashe as an informant."
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- Israel
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- Palestine
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---
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---
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[[Adel Mohammad Atamna]] was a Palestinian from the Arab village of Kfar Kara'a, located within the pre-1967 [[Israel|Israeli]] border. He was a student at [[Bar Ilan University]] in 1972, where he became friends with [[Ari Ben-Menashe]].[^1]
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[[Adel Mohammad Atamna]] was a Palestinian from the Arab village of Kfar Kara'a, located within the pre-1967 [[Israel|Israeli]] border. He was a student at [[Bar Ilan University]] in 1972, where he became friends with [[Ari Ben-Menashe]].[^1]
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[[Adel Mohammad Atamna|Atamna]] invited [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe]] to teach English at his village high school. Their friendship deepened when [[Adel Mohammad Atamna|Atamna's]] Jewish landlady evicted him for being Arab, leading [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe]] to offer him his apartment. [[Adel Mohammad Atamna|Atamna]] referred to [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe]] as his brother.[^1]
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[[Adel Mohammad Atamna|Atamna]] invited [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe]] to teach English at his village high school. Their friendship deepened when [[Adel Mohammad Atamna|Atamna's]] Jewish landlady evicted him for being Arab, leading [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe]] to offer him his apartment. [[Adel Mohammad Atamna|Atamna]] referred to [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe]] as his brother.[^1]
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@ -12,4 +12,4 @@ tags:
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[[Adel Mohammad Atamna|Atamna]] was the individual [[SHABAK]] attempted to recruit [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe]] to spy on, an offer [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe]] refused.[^1]
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[[Adel Mohammad Atamna|Atamna]] was the individual [[SHABAK]] attempted to recruit [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe]] to spy on, an offer [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe]] refused.[^1]
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### Footnotes
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. (Hereafter, "Profits of War")
|
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
37
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Adolfo Calero.md
Normal file
37
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Adolfo Calero.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- Contra
|
||||||
|
- Nicaragua
|
||||||
|
- CIA
|
||||||
|
- 1980s
|
||||||
|
- Dark_Alliance_Investigation
|
||||||
|
summary: Longtime CIA agent and former Coca-Cola bottling plant manager in Managua who was selected by the CIA in 1983 to lead the political wing of the FDN and worked closely with Oliver North.
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Adolfo Calero was a longtime [[Central Intelligence Agency]] agent and former manager of the Coca-Cola bottling plant in [[Managua]].[^1] Selected by the CIA in 1983 to lead the political wing of the [[FDN]], Calero worked closely with [[Oliver North]] and met with [[Norwin Meneses]] several times during the years Meneses was selling drugs for the Contras.[^1] He later became a member of the [[Nicaragua|Nicaraguan]] Assembly.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Relationship with Meneses and Blandón
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Norwin Meneses traveled to [[Honduras]] to meet with [[Enrique Bermudez|Enrique Bermúdez]] and brought Calero a crossbow as a gesture of esteem. Calero confirmed the meeting but denied that Meneses or [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]] held any official positions with the FDN.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### San Francisco Activities and USACA
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In 1984, Calero began visiting San Francisco frequently, staying with Contra supporters [[Don Sinicco]] and [[Dennis Ainsworth]] while attending to FDN business. At Calero's request, Sinicco founded [[USACA]], a Contra support group. On June 4, 1984, Ainsworth arranged a private reception for Calero at the St. Francis Yacht Club with sixty influential business leaders. At a subsequent dinner at Caesar's Italian Restaurant, Meneses picked up the tab for the entire party. Two days later, at a cocktail party at Sinicco's home, Meneses met privately with Calero and was photographed in the kitchen huddled with Calero and FDN officials.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Calero has admitted meeting Meneses on at least six occasions in San Francisco but portrayed them as simple greetings at large public gatherings. He repeatedly denied knowing Meneses was a drug trafficker, yet admitted to a Costa Rican paper in 1986 that he knew Meneses was "involved in some illegal things, but I don't know anything." Sinicco's files showed Meneses contributed financially to USACA. Former FDN director Edgar Chamorro declared: "Calero and Bermúdez were our main links with the CIA. They met constantly with the CIA station chief."[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Role in the Contra Leadership
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Calero led the political side of the FDN while Enrique Bermúdez commanded the military side and [[Aristides Sanchez|Aristides Sánchez]] managed supplies and logistics.[^2] Oliver North called Sánchez "Calero's hatchet man," indicating the closeness of their working relationship. Calero worked with Sánchez on Caribbean banking activities and was closely monitored by the CIA throughout his tenure.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Manuel Porro, a man arrested in a [[DEA]] operation alongside Meneses associates who later became a commander of the [[Legion of September 15]], went on to serve as a top aide to Calero and handled some of his Caribbean banking activities.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In January 1985, as the FDN reached its nadir, Reagan national security adviser [[Robert McFarlane]] told Calero that perhaps it was time to start thinking about "cutting both our losses and theirs." The FDN's only ray of hope was to withdraw from battle and lie low until spring, when Congress would let the administration make one more pitch for Contra funding.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Cast of Characters
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 3: "The brotherhood of military minds"
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 9: "He would have had me by the tail"
|
||||||
|
[^4]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 10: "Teach a man a craft and he's liable to practice it"
|
||||||
18
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Adolfo Chamorro.md
Normal file
18
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Adolfo Chamorro.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Iran-Contra"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- person
|
||||||
|
- nicaraguan
|
||||||
|
- contra-war
|
||||||
|
summary: Adolfo Chamorro was a Contra leader who attended weapons sales presentations arranged by Ron Lister and Danilo Blandón as part of the Contra supply network.
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Adolfo Chamorro was a [[Contras|Contra]] leader who attended weapons sales presentations arranged by [[Ron Lister]] and [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]] as part of the Contra supply network. Chamorro appeared alongside other top Contra figures including [[Eden Pastora]] and Mariano Montealgre at Lister's weapons demonstrations.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Weapons Procurement
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón recalled that several top Contra leaders attended Lister's weapons sales presentation, including Eden Pastora, Adolfo Chamorro, and Mariano Montealgre. The meeting illustrated the direct connection between the Blandón-[[Norwin Meneses|Meneses]] drug trafficking network and Contra military procurement. Chamorro, known by the nickname "Popo," was part of the broader Chamorro family network involved in Contra operations, which included [[Edmundo Chamorro]] of UDN-FARN and Fernando "El Negro" Chamorro.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 8.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 8.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "BCCI Scandal"
|
||||||
|
created: 2024-04-25
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-05-01
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Financier
|
|
||||||
- BCCI
|
- BCCI
|
||||||
- Banking
|
summary: "Agha Hasan Abedi was a Pakistani financier who founded the BCCI in 1972, with the intention of creating the Third World's first multinational bank."
|
||||||
- Finance
|
|
||||||
- Pakistan
|
|
||||||
- Islam
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Agha Hasan Abedi was a Pakistani financier who founded the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] in 1972, with the intention of creating the Third World's first multinational bank. He is described as a diminutive man, the son of petty bureaucrats, who handcrafted BCCI into one of the most powerful private organizations globally by the early 1980s.[^1] Abedi was a visionary and a romantic, a Muslim who drifted into the secretive Sufi sect, which influenced his unique business style. He incorporated Islamic mysticism into the bank's driving force, emphasizing spiritual progress and a democratic theory of management, which eventually devolved into corruption. He was known for his ability to build relationships with ruling elites and for his philanthropic efforts in the Third World.[^2]
|
Agha Hasan Abedi was a Pakistani financier who founded the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] in 1972, with the intention of creating the Third World's first multinational bank. He is described as a diminutive man, the son of petty bureaucrats, who handcrafted BCCI into one of the most powerful private organizations globally by the early 1980s.[^1] Abedi was a visionary and a romantic, a Muslim who drifted into the secretive Sufi sect, which influenced his unique business style. He incorporated Islamic mysticism into the bank's driving force, emphasizing spiritual progress and a democratic theory of management, which eventually devolved into corruption. He was known for his ability to build relationships with ruling elites and for his philanthropic efforts in the Third World.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
BCCI's growth was fueled by petrodollars, particularly from [[OPEC]] nations, and Abedi was among the first to recognize the opportunity in these vast deposits.[^3] He cultivated relationships with powerful figures, including [[Zayed bin Sultan AL-Nahayan|Sheikh Zayed]] of [[Abu Dhabi]], who became a key supporter and later owner of BCCI.[^4] Abedi's strategy involved using nominees and a complex offshore network, primarily in the [[Cayman Islands]], to conceal the bank's true ownership and illicit activities.[^5]
|
BCCI's growth was fueled by petrodollars, particularly from [[OPEC]] nations, and Abedi was among the first to recognize the opportunity in these vast deposits.[^3] He cultivated relationships with powerful figures, including [[Zayed bin Sultan AL-Nahayan|Sheikh Zayed]] of [[Abu Dhabi]], who became a key supporter and later owner of BCCI.[^4] Abedi's strategy involved using nominees and a complex offshore network, primarily in the [[Cayman Islands]], to conceal the bank's true ownership and illicit activities.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,15 +1,13 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- Al Girard
|
- Al Girard
|
||||||
|
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Government Official
|
- RemoteViewer
|
||||||
- Remote Viewing
|
summary: "Al Girard was the replacement for Dale Graff as the head of the Remote Viewing unit after Graff's retirement in June 1993."
|
||||||
- Intelligence
|
|
||||||
- DIA
|
|
||||||
- USA
|
|
||||||
- Stargate Project
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Al Girard was the replacement for [[Dale Graff]] as the head of the [[Remote Viewing]] unit after Graff's retirement in June 1993. He took over leadership of the program during a period of significant turmoil and decline[^1].
|
Al Girard was the replacement for [[Dale Graff]] as the head of the [[Remote Viewing]] unit after Graff's retirement in June 1993. He took over leadership of the program during a period of significant turmoil and decline[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Girard reportedly "thought the unit was totally out of control" and seemed to have inherited a situation "way beyond his comfort level." He was described as the kind of government official who wore a three-piece suit to work, suggesting a more conventional approach to his role[^1].
|
Girard reportedly "thought the unit was totally out of control" and seemed to have inherited a situation "way beyond his comfort level." He was described as the kind of government official who wore a three-piece suit to work, suggesting a more conventional approach to his role[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Other"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Business
|
summary: "In 1987, a contribution was made to the West Australian Labor Party from the CIA, involving Richard Babayan and Earl Brian acting on behalf of Hadron."
|
||||||
- Australia
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Alan Bond]] was a wealthy [[Australia|Australian]] businessman. He was involved in joint ventures with [[Carlos Cardoen]] and had connections to the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s operations.[^1]
|
[[Alan Bond]] was a wealthy [[Australia|Australian]] businessman. He was involved in joint ventures with [[Carlos Cardoen]] and had connections to the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s operations.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In 1987, a contribution was made to the West Australian Labor Party from the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], involving [[Richard Babayan]] and [[Earl Brian]] acting on behalf of [[Hadron]]. This money was passed on by one of [[Robert Maxwell|Maxwell's]] companies in [[Australia]] to be held by the [[Pergamon Press Trust Fund]] in [[Moscow]]. [[Richard Babayan|Babayan]] handed the check to [[Yosef Goldberg]], who in turn gave it to [[Alan Bond|Bond]] in his role as the guardian of the [[John Curtin Foundation]] funds.[^1]
|
In 1987, a contribution was made to the West Australian Labor Party from the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], involving [[Richard Babayan]] and [[Earl Brian]] acting on behalf of [[Hadron]]. This money was passed on by one of [[Robert Maxwell|Maxwell's]] companies in [[Australia]] to be held by the [[Pergamon Press Trust Fund]] in [[Moscow]]. [[Richard Babayan|Babayan]] handed the check to [[Yosef Goldberg]], who in turn gave it to [[Alan Bond|Bond]] in his role as the guardian of the [[John Curtin Foundation]] funds.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
@ -15,4 +16,4 @@ In late September 1988, an [[Israel|Israeli]] intelligence officer briefed the h
|
||||||
[[Alan Bond|Bond]] was convicted of bank fraud in May 1992 and sentenced to two and a half years in prison. He later went bankrupt and became involved in African mining investments.[^1]
|
[[Alan Bond|Bond]] was convicted of bank fraud in May 1992 and sentenced to two and a half years in prison. He later went bankrupt and became involved in African mining investments.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. (Hereafter, "Profits of War")
|
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
32
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Alan Fenster.md
Normal file
32
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Alan Fenster.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- Person/Law_Enforcement
|
||||||
|
- United_States
|
||||||
|
- 1980s
|
||||||
|
- 1990s
|
||||||
|
- Dark_Alliance_Investigation
|
||||||
|
summary: Beverly Hills defense attorney who represented Ricky Ross throughout his legal troubles, including the DEA reverse sting case.
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Alan Fenster was a Beverly Hills criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor who represented [[Ricky Ross|"Freeway" Ricky Ross]] throughout his legal troubles.[^1] Fenster first met Ross when Ross was arrested for grand theft auto on March 19, 1982, after LAPD found a Mercedes Benz in his garage with parts that didn't match. Ross dipped into his cash reserves and hired Fenster, a former film studio lawyer who had little trouble getting the auto theft charge tossed out of court.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
"There was no evidence Ricky had any knowledge about that car," said Fenster, whose performance in that felony case would lead him to many years of lucrative employment with Ross. Fenster, who'd been defending drug dealers and drug users since the early 1970s, said it was "my recollection that when I met Rick, he was already dealing drugs. Ricky was introduced to me by another client I had, who was a dealer, and I recall that he told me Ross was someone who was into some serious dealing then."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Defense of Ricky Ross
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Fenster served as Ross's attorney during the [[DEA]] reverse sting prosecution in [[San Diego]], where [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]] served as the chief confidential informant. Fenster described enormous difficulty obtaining any discovery about the government's informant, including Blandón's identity. Ross only knew Blandón as "Danilo" and was not even certain that was his real name.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Ross Trial
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
At the 1996 trial, Fenster fought to obtain government records about Blandón's Contra connections but was repeatedly stymied by prosecutor [[LJ Oneale]]. Fenster filed a motion to dismiss based on the government's illegal withholding of evidence, attaching an affidavit from a private investigator who had spoken to [[Gary Webb]]. The motion exposed Webb's investigation and brought the [[Los Angeles Times|L.A. Times]] into the story.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
During the trial, Fenster cross-examined Blandón extensively about his Contra ties, pressing him on his shifting claims about when he stopped selling cocaine for the Contras. When Blandón claimed he quit in 1982, Fenster asked: "Is it your testimony that you decided to keep the profits from the drug dealing because the Contra organization had enough money to fund their own war?" Blandón paused and looked at O'Neale before saying: "When we raise money for the Contra revolution, we received orders from the," he paused, "from another people." Because of the court order prohibiting CIA testimony, Fenster was unable to pursue that line of inquiry.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Webb secretly supplied Fenster with questions to ask Blandón during cross-examination, after Blandón told Webb that the DEA would not allow him to give an interview. "How am I supposed to cross-examine this guy? I don't even know what to ask!" Fenster told Webb during a lunch break. "Isn't this just crazy? I mean, here I am, defending a man against a life sentence, and I've got to ask some reporter if the prosecution testimony is accurate."[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 7: "Something happened to Ivan"
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Prologue: "It was like they didn't want to know"
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 26: "That matter, if true, would be classified"
|
||||||
41
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Alan Fiers.md
Normal file
41
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Alan Fiers.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- Person/Intelligence
|
||||||
|
- CIA
|
||||||
|
- Contra_War
|
||||||
|
- 1980s
|
||||||
|
summary: Alan Fiers was a former CIA official who ran the Contra program for several years and explained how arms brokers used fraudulent end-user certificates from intermediary countries to divert weapons to the Contras.
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Alan Fiers, a former [[Central Intelligence Agency]] official, ran the Contra program for several years. He provided detailed explanation of how the [[Contras]] obtained weapons despite being unable to purchase them on the international arms market, where only countries can buy weapons.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### End-User Certificates
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Fiers explained the mechanics of fraudulent end-user certificates (EUCs), which were central to the covert arms supply network. "The Contras can't buy weapons on the international arms market. Only countries can buy weapons, and certain countries can't buy weapons if they're embargoed or if they're embroiled in a political confrontation," Fiers said. "So what happens is an arms broker will get an intermediary country to issue false end-user certificates. There is generally some consideration involved and the end-user certificate is issued, but the arms are either not shipped to the country that issued the certificate or are trans-shipped through that country on to a disguised end user, in this case, the Contras."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
EUCs are sworn declarations in which the purchasing government certifies it actually ordered the weapons, providing the U.S. government assurance that American-made weapons were not ending up with terrorists or Communist guerrillas. When [[Oliver North]] began supplying arms for the Contras after the CIA funding cutoff, he frequently used phony EUCs from the [[Guatemala|Guatemalan]] and [[Honduras|Honduran]] governments to divert weapons to the Contras.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Connection to Lister Investigation
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Fiers's explanation of EUCs paralleled a flow chart seized from [[Ronald Lister]]'s home during a 1986 narcotics raid. The chart contained boxes labeled "Swiss Bank," "U.S. State Department," "H.K.," "X Country," and "Factory USA," which U.S. Customs Service Senior Special Agent James P. McShane analyzed as diagramming a scheme to illegally divert American-made weapons to a third party using fraudulent end-user certifications.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Knowledge of Contra Drug Trafficking
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Fiers testified in 1987 that the CIA knew about drug money flowing to [[Eden Pastora|Eden Pastora's]] forces: "We knew that everybody around Pastora was involved in cocaine. We knew it from November of 1984 forward. We reported it." Fiers was convinced that CIA operative [[John Hull]]'s ranch in northern Costa Rica was being used for Contra drug flights. "There is no doubt in Fiers's mind that Pastora's men trans-shipped drugs out of the airstrip on Hull's ranch," investigators for Iran-Contra prosecutor Lawrence Walsh reported in 1991.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Fiers also testified that he ordered CIA station chief [[Joseph Fernandez]] to use two suspected drug traffickers in a CIA operation involving the Contras, over Fernandez's objections. CIA officer [[Octaviano Cesar]] and [[ARDE]] logistics chief [[Adolfo Chamorro|Adolfo "Popo" Chamorro]] both confirmed that Fiers, as head of the CIA's Central American Task Force, approved their arrangement with Colombian drug trafficker [[George Morales]] to supply the Contras.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### CIA Policy on Contra Drug Trafficking
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
One Central American station chief recalled that CIA leadership's unspoken policy was that "we were going to play with these guys. That was made clear by [CIA director William] William Casey and [[Dewey Clarridge|Clarridge]]." Fiers acknowledged the CIA "assigned a low priority to collecting intelligence concerning the Contras' alleged involvement in narcotics trafficking." The policy focus was exclusively on Sandinista involvement in drugs, not Contra involvement. "All of the Central American Stations were seeking information that would link the Sandinistas to drug trafficking," a top CIA official told the Inspector General. "The goal was to diminish the image of the Sandinistas."[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Ilopango Reporting Responsibility
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Fiers acknowledged the CIA "had a capability and indeed a responsibility for reporting what had been happening at [[Ilopango Airbase|Ilopango Air Force Base]]" in [[El Salvador]]. He testified that [[Felix Rodriguez]] was sent to El Salvador in early 1985 as part of a CIA reorganization: "As a result of the change in management of the task force. . .we undertook a complete review of our efforts in San Salvador. . .and made adjustments in that undertaking that left a void. Felix Rodriguez was put into—sent to El Salvador to work in the areas where we had left a void."[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 10: "Teach a man a craft and he's liable to practice it"
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 11: "They were looking in the other direction"
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 13: "The wrong kind of friends"
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,10 +1,14 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Politics
|
- CIA
|
||||||
- Peru
|
- Politician
|
||||||
|
- Israel
|
||||||
|
summary: "President of Peru who declared martial law in Ayacucho in 1980 due to the growing influence of the Shining Path Maoist terrorist group."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
[[Alan Garcia]] was the President of [[Peru]]. In 1980, he declared the department of [[Ayacucho]] under martial law due to the growing influence of the [[Shining Path]], a Maoist terrorist group led by [[Abimael Guzmán Reynoso]].[^1]
|
|
||||||
|
[[Alan Garcia]] was the President of [[Peru]]. In 1980, he declared the department of [[Ayacucho]] under martial law due to the growing influence of the [[Shining Path]], a Maoist terrorist group led by [[Abimael Guzman Reynoso]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. (Hereafter, "Profits of War")
|
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,4 +1,11 @@
|
||||||
Lieutenant Commander [[Alex Dietrich]] is a U.S. Navy pilot who was one of the key eyewitnesses to the 2004 [[Tic Tac Incident]] involving the [[USS Nimitz]] Carrier Strike Group. Her testimony, along with that of her commanding officer, Commander [[Dave Fravor]], has been crucial in validating the incident and bringing the issue of [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] (UAP) to the forefront.[^1]
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- UFO
|
||||||
|
summary: "Lieutenant Commander Alex Dietrich is a U.S."
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Lieutenant Commander [[Alex Dietrich]] is a U.S. Navy pilot who was one of the key eyewitnesses to the 2004 [[Tic Tac]] involving the [[USS Nimitz]] Carrier Strike Group. Her testimony, along with that of her commanding officer, Commander [[Dave Fravor]], has been crucial in validating the incident and bringing the issue of [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] (UAP) to the forefront.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The Tic Tac Encounter
|
### The Tic Tac Encounter
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2025-07-23
|
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
||||||
updated: 2025-07-23
|
|
||||||
title: Alice Astor Bouverie
|
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- philanthropist
|
- RemoteViewer
|
||||||
description: Alice Astor Bouverie was an American heiress, philanthropist, and a key financial backer of Andrija Puharich's Round Table Foundation.
|
summary: "Alice Astor Bouverie was an American heiress, philanthropist, and the only daughter of John Jacob Astor IV, who died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Alice Astor Bouverie was an American heiress, philanthropist, and the only daughter of John Jacob Astor IV, who died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic. She was a significant financial supporter of [[Andrija Puharich]]'s paranormal research.[^1]
|
Alice Astor Bouverie was an American heiress, philanthropist, and the only daughter of John Jacob Astor IV, who died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic. She was a significant financial supporter of [[Andrija Puharich]]'s paranormal research.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In 1948, Bouverie became the first major benefactor of Puharich's [[Round Table Foundation]], providing an initial check of $106,000. She served as the organization's first vice president. Her interest in [[ESP]], particularly mental telepathy, stemmed from her father, who wrote science fiction novels about the subject.[^1]
|
In 1948, Bouverie became the first major benefactor of Puharich's [[Round Table Foundation]], providing an initial check of $106,000. She served as the organization's first vice president. Her interest in [[ESP]], particularly mental telepathy, stemmed from her father, who wrote science fiction novels about the subject.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,14 +1,13 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Lawyer
|
- Lawyer
|
||||||
- Military
|
- LawEnforcement
|
||||||
- Special Forces
|
summary: "After law school, Boyak joined a Hollywood law firm and became involved in criminal defense work, representing a number of 'well placed West Coast drug traffickers.' He later moved to Utah, maintaining a part-time law practice in California."
|
||||||
- CIA
|
|
||||||
- DEA
|
|
||||||
- USA
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
[[Allan Boyak]] is an attorney from [[Utah]] who represented [[Michael Riconosciuto]] in his drug case. Boyak had a background in the [[United States Army Special Forces|U.S. Army Special Forces]] and reportedly did some contract work for the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] during the 1960s and early 1970s. He also worked briefly for the [[Drug Enforcement Administration|DEA]] (or its antecedent agency) in [[California]] before leaving government service to attend law school.[^1]
|
|
||||||
|
[[Allan Boyak]] is an attorney from [[Utah]] who represented [[Michael Riconosciuto]] in his drug case. Boyak had a background in the [[United States Army Special Forces|U.S. Army Special Forces]] and reportedly did some contract work for the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] during the 1960s and early 1970s. He also worked briefly for the [[DEA|DEA]] (or its antecedent agency) in [[California]] before leaving government service to attend law school.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
After law school, Boyak joined a Hollywood law firm and became involved in criminal defense work, representing a number of "well placed West Coast drug traffickers." He later moved to [[Utah]], maintaining a part-time law practice in [[California]].[^1]
|
After law school, Boyak joined a Hollywood law firm and became involved in criminal defense work, representing a number of "well placed West Coast drug traffickers." He later moved to [[Utah]], maintaining a part-time law practice in [[California]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- Allan H. Frey
|
- Allan H. Frey
|
||||||
|
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Biologist
|
- Researcher
|
||||||
- Scientist
|
summary: "In 1961, Frey discovered a radical new technology, later termed Synthetic Telepathy, where a microwave input signal allowed the brain to perceive a message as a voice transmission, even though it was a microwave beam."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Allan H. Frey is a biologist known for his research into the effects of microwave radiation on the human body. Since 1960, he has worked on both classified and unclassified [[Department of Defense]] contracts, including those with the [[Office of Naval Research]] and the [[U.S. Army]][^1].
|
Allan H. Frey is a biologist known for his research into the effects of microwave radiation on the human body. Since 1960, he has worked on both classified and unclassified [[Department of Defense]] contracts, including those with the [[Office of Naval Research]] and the [[U.S. Army]][^1].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In 1961, Frey discovered a radical new technology, later termed [[Synthetic Telepathy]], where a microwave input signal allowed the brain to perceive a message as a voice transmission, even though it was a microwave beam. He posited that living organisms are "complex electrochemical systems that evolved over billions of years in a world with a relatively simple weak magnetic field." His work focused on understanding the effects of [[Electromagnetic Energy|electromagnetic energy]] on biological systems, noting that the world now "glows with electromagnetic (em) energy emissions"[^1].
|
In 1961, Frey discovered a radical new technology, later termed [[Synthetic Telepathy]], where a microwave input signal allowed the brain to perceive a message as a voice transmission, even though it was a microwave beam. He posited that living organisms are "complex electrochemical systems that evolved over billions of years in a world with a relatively simple weak magnetic field." His work focused on understanding the effects of [[Electromagnetic Energy|electromagnetic energy]] on biological systems, noting that the world now "glows with electromagnetic (em) energy emissions"[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Intelligence
|
- Nuclear
|
||||||
- USA
|
- Israel
|
||||||
|
summary: "Allen Dulles served as the Director of the CIA from 1953 to 1961."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Allen Dulles served as the Director of the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] from 1953 to 1961. He, along with his brother [[John Foster Dulles]], the Secretary of State, were infuriated by [[Israel]]'s attempt to mask the extent of its military buildup prior to the 1956 [[Suez Crisis]]. He was regularly present at White House briefings where intelligence from [[U-2 Spy Plane|U-2]] flights, including early information on [[Dimona]], was presented.[^1]
|
Allen Dulles served as the Director of the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] from 1953 to 1961. He, along with his brother [[John Foster Dulles]], the Secretary of State, were infuriated by [[Israel]]'s attempt to mask the extent of its military buildup prior to the 1956 [[Suez Crisis]]. He was regularly present at White House briefings where intelligence from [[U-2 Spy Plane|U-2]] flights, including early information on [[Dimona]], was presented.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,36 +1,26 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2024-04-26
|
category: "PROMIS Scandal"
|
||||||
updated: 2024-08-21
|
created: 2024-04-25
|
||||||
title: Alvin Ash
|
updated: 2026-05-01
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Military Service
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Vietnam War
|
- PROMIS
|
||||||
- Retired Life
|
- INSLAW
|
||||||
description: Alvin Wilson Ash, a retired U.S. Army Lt. Colonel, served in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, earning commendations. Post-military, he worked in IT and raised a family, leaving a legacy of service and dedication.
|
- Military
|
||||||
|
summary: "Alvin Wilson Ash (1921-2019) was a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel who, as a civilian programmer and systems analyst at Computer Usage Company, helped develop PROMIS for the DC U.S. Attorney's Office, subsequently worked at the LEAA within the Department of Justice, sat on the INSLAW advisory board, and was a close personal friend of Bill Hamilton."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
Alvin Wilson Ash, Lt. Colonel, U.S. Army Retired, 97, of Charlottesville, Virginia, died peacefully at sunrise on Sunday, July 7, 2019, at Westminster Canterbury of the Blue Ridge, Charlottesville, Va.
|
Alvin Wilson Ash was born July 30, 1921, in New York City. He attended Nicholas Senn High School in Chicago, where he became an Eagle Scout and ROTC Cadet Lieutenant Colonel, graduating in 1939. He enrolled at the University of Illinois in the ROTC program and enlisted in the U.S. Army in July 1940. He attended the preparatory school at Fort Sheridan hoping for a West Point appointment, and in 1943 received that appointment. He graduated from West Point in 1946.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Alvin Wilson Ash was born July 30, 1921, in New York, New York. He was the son of Mary Gladys Wilson Ash and Saul Ash and lived in the Bronx. In 1926, his family moved to Chicago, where Alvin attended elementary and Nicholas Senn HS. His accomplishments in high school included becoming an Eagle Scout and an ROTC Cadet Lt. Colonel.
|
After graduation, Ash was assigned to the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and then sent on a first tour of duty to Yokohama, Japan, where he served as a second lieutenant of artillery and came to know Prince and Princess Mikasa personally. He subsequently attended parachute jump school at Fort Benning and was assigned to the 11th Airborne Division. In 1951, he jumped behind Communist lines with the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team as Public Information Officer during the Korean War, managing embedded correspondents and controlling published messaging; his unit was among the first to jump into North Korea.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
After graduating high school in 1939, he went to the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in the ROTC program. In July, 1940, Alvin enlisted in the [[U.S. Army]] and attended the Preparatory School at Fort Sheridan, Ill. hoping to receive an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. In 1941, he was assigned to the 12th Bombardment Group of the Army Air Corps at McChord Field, Wash. where he was first sergeant of a B17 Squadron. In June 1943, he received appointment to West Point.
|
After Korea, Ash served in the 504th Field Artillery Battalion in the Panama Canal Zone, as Assistant Professor of Military Science and Tactics at Louisiana State University, and following Air Ground Operations School was stationed at Fort Bragg for Special Warfare School training. He attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and Civil Affairs School, then deployed to [[Vietnam]] in 1962, where he was attached to the U.S. Embassy in Saigon's Special Warfare Branch and received a Medal of Commendation for Meritorious Service. After Vietnam, he was stationed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, assigned to the Advanced Tactics Projects (Intelligence Division). In December 1964, Ash retired as a Lieutenant Colonel after 24 years of service.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
After graduation in 1946, Alvin was assigned to the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Okla. for anti-aircraft gun training. Shortly after, he was sent on his first tour of duty to Yokohama, Japan as a second lieutenant of artillery. Alvin grew to appreciate the culture and people of Japan and even came to know Prince and Princess Mikasa personally. While in Japan, Alvin decided to become a paratrooper and upon returning to the U.S. attended parachute jump school in Fort Benning, Ga., where he was assigned to the 11th Airborne Division.
|
### Role in PROMIS Development
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In 1951, Alvin jumped behind Communist Lines with the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team as the Public Information Officer (PIO). His role was to manage embedded correspondents and control the messaging that was published.[^1] His unit was one of the first to jump into North Korea.
|
In civilian life, Ash worked as a programmer and systems analyst at Computer Usage Company, one of the early commercial computer services firms, and through that work helped develop [[PROMIS]] for the [[U.S. Attorney's office|DC U.S. Attorney's Office]]. He subsequently worked at the [[LEAA|Law Enforcement Assistance Administration]] in the [[Department of Justice]], and in that capacity sat on the advisory board for [[INSLAW]]. He was a close personal friend of [[Bill Hamilton]].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
After a year in Korea, Alvin returned to the United States and married his first wife, Kay Smith Sexton. Together they had two children, Scottie Karen Ash Nicholson and Robert Wilson Ash.
|
Ash married his first wife Kay Smith Sexton after returning from Korea; they had two children. After her death, he married Elfie Hornung Lucarelli in 1967; they had a daughter. Alvin Wilson Ash died July 7, 2019, at age 97, at Westminster Canterbury of the Blue Ridge in Charlottesville, Virginia.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Other military duties included serving for three years in the 504th Field Artillery Battalion in the Panama Canal Zone and assigned as an Asst. Professor of Military Science and Tactics at Louisiana State University. After completing Air Ground Operations School (Combat Operations) he and his family were stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C. where he received training at Special Warfare School. He also attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and Civil Affairs School, which prepared him for deployment to Vietnam in 1962. While in Saigon, Al was attached to the U.S. Embassy in the Special Warfare Branch. In Vietnam, he received a Medal of Commendation for Meritorious Service.
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
After returning from Vietnam, Alvin was stationed at Ft. Belvoir, Va. and assigned to the [[Advanced Tactics Projects]] (Intelligence Division). In December of 1964, Al retired as a Lt. Colonel after serving 24 years in the military. Transitioning to civilian life involved working at Woodward and Lothrop and taking night classes at George Washington University.
|
[^1]: Langley, Michael. *Inchon Landing: MacArthur's Last Triumph*. Times Books, 1979; Google Books ID: VkpyN7bViV0C ("Striking Back").
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
At GWU, he met Elfie Hornung Lucarelli, who eventually became his second wife. Alvin and Elfie married in 1967, and lived in Great Falls, Va. Together they raised a daughter, Nina Lucarelli Ash Donohoe.
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Other jobs as a civilian included working as a programmer and system analyst for [[Computer Usage Company]] and helped develop [[PROMIS]] for the [[U.S. Attorney's office]] DC. Al also worked for [[LEAA]] in the Dept. of Justice. In this role, Alvin sat on the advisory board for [[INSLAW]].
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Alvin was a close personal friend of [[Bill Hamilton]].
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
|
||||||
#### Footnotes
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Striking_Back/VkpyN7bViV0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=alvin%20ash
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- Politician
|
||||||
|
summary: "Gamayel received a letter from George K."
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
[[Amin Gamayel]] served as the president of [[Lebanon]], succeeding his brother [[Bashir Gemayel]] who was assassinated before taking office. His family, the Gamayels, were a powerful Christian family who sought outside forces for money, guns, and political support, notably turning to the international heroin trafficking network.[^1]
|
[[Amin Gamayel]] served as the president of [[Lebanon]], succeeding his brother [[Bashir Gemayel]] who was assassinated before taking office. His family, the Gamayels, were a powerful Christian family who sought outside forces for money, guns, and political support, notably turning to the international heroin trafficking network.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Gamayel received a letter from [[George K. Pender]], President of [[First Intercontinental Development Corporation|FIDCO]], dated July 12, 1983, discussing [[First Intercontinental Development Corporation|FIDCO]]'s interest in arranging financing for the redevelopment of [[Lebanon]]. The letter also mentioned Pender's previous visits to Beirut and meetings with figures like [[Maurice Ghanem]] and Mourad Baroudy. Pender's letter listed [[Robert Booth Nichols]]' telex number for responses.[^1]
|
Gamayel received a letter from [[George K. Pender]], President of [[First Intercontinental Development Corporation|FIDCO]], dated July 12, 1983, discussing [[First Intercontinental Development Corporation|FIDCO]]'s interest in arranging financing for the redevelopment of [[Lebanon]]. The letter also mentioned Pender's previous visits to Beirut and meetings with figures like [[Maurice Ghanem]] and Mourad Baroudy. Pender's letter listed [[Robert Booth Nichols]]' telex number for responses.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "BCCI Scandal"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Banker
|
|
||||||
- BCCI
|
- BCCI
|
||||||
- Banking
|
- Banker
|
||||||
- Money Laundering
|
- CIA
|
||||||
- Panama
|
summary: "Amjad Awan was a manager of BCCI Panama and later the bank's marketing manager for Latin America and the Caribbean."
|
||||||
- Criminal
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Amjad Awan was a manager of [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] [[Panama]] and later the bank's marketing manager for Latin America and the Caribbean.[^1] He gained notoriety as [[Manuel Noriega]]'s personal banker, handling his accounts and facilitating illicit financial transactions.[^2]
|
Amjad Awan was a manager of [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] [[Panama]] and later the bank's marketing manager for Latin America and the Caribbean.[^1] He gained notoriety as [[Manuel Noriega]]'s personal banker, handling his accounts and facilitating illicit financial transactions.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Role in BCCI's Operations
|
### Role in BCCI's Operations
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Scientist
|
- Nuclear
|
||||||
- Physicist
|
- Physicist
|
||||||
- Israel
|
- Israel
|
||||||
|
summary: "Amos Deshalit was a prominent Israeli physicist who headed the physics division at the Weizmann Institute of Science."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Amos Deshalit was a prominent Israeli physicist who headed the physics division at the [[Weizmann Institute of Science]]. He was considered a quantum researcher in the same class as [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]] and [[Niels Bohr]].[^1]
|
Amos Deshalit was a prominent Israeli physicist who headed the physics division at the [[Weizmann Institute of Science]]. He was considered a quantum researcher in the same class as [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]] and [[Niels Bohr]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Deshalit was closely involved with [[Dimona]], [[Israel]]'s nuclear facility. He was one of the former commissioners of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission who, despite initial departures due to funding issues, ended up being closely involved with the nuclear programs.[^1]
|
Deshalit was closely involved with [[Dimona]], [[Israel]]'s nuclear facility. He was one of the former commissioners of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission who, despite initial departures due to funding issues, ended up being closely involved with the nuclear programs.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Military
|
- Nuclear
|
||||||
- USA
|
- Israel
|
||||||
|
summary: "U.S. Army General who served as military aide to Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon and was involved in diplomatic exchanges regarding Israel's Dimona nuclear facility."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
Andrew J. Goodpaster was an American Army General who served as military aide to President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] and later to President [[Richard M. Nixon]]. He recalled that diplomatic exchanges between Eisenhower and [[David Ben-Gurion]] regarding [[Dimona]] were "very closely held" and not available even to close subordinates at the time. While there was presidential concern about "what they were doing at [[Dimona]]," Goodpaster could not remember any "specific exchange about a nuclear umbrella."[^1]
|
|
||||||
|
Andrew J. Goodpaster was an American Army General who served as military aide to President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] and later to President [[Richard Nixon]]. He recalled that diplomatic exchanges between Eisenhower and [[David Ben-Gurion]] regarding [[Dimona]] were "very closely held" and not available even to close subordinates at the time. While there was presidential concern about "what they were doing at [[Dimona]]," Goodpaster could not remember any "specific exchange about a nuclear umbrella."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
33
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Andy Furillo.md
Normal file
33
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Andy Furillo.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Authors & Journalists"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- Person/Journalist
|
||||||
|
- 1980s
|
||||||
|
- Los_Angeles
|
||||||
|
- Crack_Cocaine
|
||||||
|
summary: Andy Furillo was a Los Angeles Times police beat reporter who wrote the first national press story about crack cocaine in November 1984, documenting the explosion of rock houses in South Central Los Angeles.
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Andy Furillo, a freckle-faced police beat reporter hired away from the smaller Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, wrote the first story about [[Crack Cocaine|crack]] to appear in the national press. Published on November 25, 1984 - one day before the [[DEA]] arrested Jairo Meneses and [[Renato Pena|Renato Peña]] Cabrera in San Francisco. The story ran in the Los Angeles Times under the headline "South Central Cocaine Sales Explode into $25 Rocks."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Furillo discovered the story after officers at [[South Central Los Angeles]] police stations mentioned a flood of cocaine in the ghettos. He hit the streets, knocked on doors, and confirmed the officers' accounts. He found a gigantic, wide-open cocaine market flourishing in the poorest section of [[LAPD|Los Angeles]] that no mainstream media outlet had covered.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Story Impact
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Furillo's scoop began: "Police say hundreds, perhaps thousands, of young men, most of them gang members, are getting rich off the cocaine trafficking that has swept through [[Los Angeles|L.A.'s]] black community in the past 18 months." He described the rock house phenomenon and quoted police as saying several hundred rock houses operated in South Central at that time. His story accurately predicted that crack was a threat that could "destroy South Central Los Angeles for years to come."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Times buried the story inside the paper, but it prompted an embarrassed LAPD to launch raids on several dozen rock houses shortly afterward. On December 13, a diversionary explosion police set off during a raid on a West Sixtieth Street rock house killed a woman who happened to be walking by.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Gang Power Shift
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Furillo's story identified street gangs as the prime beneficiaries of the new crack trade and presciently predicted that crack would dramatically alter the power structure on the city's streets by providing gangs with money. He quoted Tom Garrison, director of field operations for the Community Youth Gang Services Project: "They've always had the numbers and the firepower, but now they've got the economic power too."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Aftermath
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Furillo pressed his editors at the Times for permission to do more stories on crack, but they showed little interest. He eventually quit the paper in disgust and returned to the Herald-Examiner, where he continued producing ground-level reporting on crack's impact on inner-city residents.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
His story also prompted the first scientific study of the early L.A. crack market by USC sociologists Malcolm Klein and Cheryl Maxson in early 1985, and caught the attention of the Washington Post's L.A. bureau chief, Jay Matthews, who wrote a follow-up story in December 1984 describing rock cocaine as "a marketing breakthrough that furnishes this middle-class drug to the city's poorest neighborhoods."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 10: "Teach a man a craft and he's liable to practice it"
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Organized Crime"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- OrganizedCrime
|
||||||
|
summary: "Individual under FBI investigation for extortion, insider trading at MCA/Universal, narcotics trafficking, and ties to organized crime."
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
[[Angelo Commito]] was an individual who was under investigation in 1987 for various suspected offenses, including extortion, insider trading (MCA/Universal), the purchase and sale of narcotics/controlled substances, and the allocation and use of the proceeds of its trafficking. His name appeared in [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] wiretap affidavits related to the investigation of [[Music Corporation of America|MCA]] and its alleged ties to organized crime.[^1]
|
[[Angelo Commito]] was an individual who was under investigation in 1987 for various suspected offenses, including extortion, insider trading (MCA/Universal), the purchase and sale of narcotics/controlled substances, and the allocation and use of the proceeds of its trafficking. His name appeared in [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] wiretap affidavits related to the investigation of [[Music Corporation of America|MCA]] and its alleged ties to organized crime.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Belgium Scandals"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Lawyer
|
|
||||||
- Belgium
|
- Belgium
|
||||||
- 1980s-1990s
|
- Dutroux
|
||||||
- Dutroux-Affair
|
summary: "Annie Bouty, a Belgian lawyer, was the partner of Michel Nihoul and assisted in his legal matters during the 1980s and 1990s, including fraud cases."
|
||||||
- X-Dossier
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
Annie Bouty, a Belgian lawyer, was the partner of [[Michel Nihoul]] and assisted in his legal matters during the 1980s and 1990s, including fraud cases. As a lawyer, Bouty worked alongside Nihoul in Brussels, where they shared a residence and professional ties. In the [[X-Dossier]], witness [[Regina Louf]] (X1) accused Bouty of participating in events at Nihoul's parties, where Louf was supplied as a child prostitute. Louf described Bouty masturbating her with a dildo during these gatherings, which served blackmail purposes for contracts. Bouty's law practice overlapped with Nihoul's fraud operations, with the couple arrested in August 1996 alongside [[Marc Dutroux]] for related abductions. Bouty was charged with kidnapping, rape, and manslaughter in the deaths of [[Julie Lejeune]], [[Melissa Russo]], [[An Marchal]], and [[Eefje Lambrecks]], though she denied direct involvement in the murders. She testified that Dutroux abducted girls on Nihoul's orders for sale, with payments deposited into their joint accounts. Bouty was convicted in 2004 and sentenced to 30 years, released on parole in 2012 with conditions including residence in a convent and no contact with minors.[^1]
|
|
||||||
|
Annie Bouty, a Belgian lawyer, was the partner of [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] and assisted in his legal matters during the 1980s and 1990s, including fraud cases. As a lawyer, Bouty worked alongside Nihoul in Brussels, where they shared a residence and professional ties. In the [[X-Dossier]], witness [[Regina Louf]] (X1) accused Bouty of participating in events at Nihoul's parties, where Louf was supplied as a child prostitute. Louf described Bouty masturbating her with a dildo during these gatherings, which served blackmail purposes for contracts. Bouty's law practice overlapped with Nihoul's fraud operations, with the couple arrested in August 1996 alongside [[Marc Dutroux]] for related abductions. Bouty was charged with kidnapping, rape, and manslaughter in the deaths of [[Julie Lejeune]], [[Melissa Russo]], [[An Marchal]], and [[Eefje Lambrecks]], though she denied direct involvement in the murders. She testified that Dutroux abducted girls on Nihoul's orders for sale, with payments deposited into their joint accounts. Bouty was convicted in 2004 and sentenced to 30 years, released on parole in 2012 with conditions including residence in a convent and no contact with minors.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Bouty's involvement in the case included her presence during Nihoul's interrogations and her own detention, where she admitted knowing of the basement captives in Dutroux's home but claimed fear prevented intervention. She described Nihoul's specifications for victims and the use of hidden cameras at parties for blackmail. Bouty's testimony confirmed the roles of accomplices [[Michelle Martin]] and [[Michel Lelievre]], and she implicated Nihoul in ordering abductions for elite clients. The X-Dossier, compiled by [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] and [[Michel Bourlet]], included Louf's accusations against Bouty in orgies at locations like the Dolo nightclub and Faulx-les-Tombes chateau. Bouty denied these claims, attributing them to fabrication. Her partnership with Nihoul involved shared business interests, with financial trails linking to Dutroux's accounts.[^1]
|
Bouty's involvement in the case included her presence during Nihoul's interrogations and her own detention, where she admitted knowing of the basement captives in Dutroux's home but claimed fear prevented intervention. She described Nihoul's specifications for victims and the use of hidden cameras at parties for blackmail. Bouty's testimony confirmed the roles of accomplices [[Michelle Martin]] and [[Michel Lelievre]], and she implicated Nihoul in ordering abductions for elite clients. The X-Dossier, compiled by [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] and [[Michel Bourlet]], included Louf's accusations against Bouty in orgies at locations like the Dolo nightclub and Faulx-les-Tombes chateau. Bouty denied these claims, attributing them to fabrication. Her partnership with Nihoul involved shared business interests, with financial trails linking to Dutroux's accounts.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Politics
|
- Israel
|
||||||
- UK
|
- Soviet
|
||||||
|
summary: "Anthony Eden was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 to 1957."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Anthony Eden was the Prime Minister of the [[United Kingdom]] from 1955 to 1957. He was involved in the secret planning for the [[Suez Crisis]] in 1956, alongside [[Israel]] and [[France]]. The battle plan called for [[Israel]] to initiate the attack, followed by demands from [[France]] and [[Britain]] for a halt to hostilities and withdrawal from the [[Suez Canal]]. When [[Egypt]] refused, [[France]] and [[England]] would launch assaults to occupy the canal.[^1]
|
Anthony Eden was the Prime Minister of the [[United Kingdom]] from 1955 to 1957. He was involved in the secret planning for the [[Suez Crisis]] in 1956, alongside [[Israel]] and [[France]]. The battle plan called for [[Israel]] to initiate the attack, followed by demands from [[France]] and [[Britain]] for a halt to hostilities and withdrawal from the [[Suez Canal]]. When [[Egypt]] refused, [[France]] and [[England]] would launch assaults to occupy the canal.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Eden, however, became anxious by the fast pace of the Israeli Army and the [[United Nations]] ceasefire call. He was the first to break ranks and ordered his troops to cease firing after the [[Soviet Union]] issued what was perceived in [[Israel]] to be a nuclear ultimatum. This decision, made under extreme pressure from the [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]] administration and the opposition Labor Party at home, led to [[Britain]]'s withdrawal from the conflict.[^1]
|
Eden, however, became anxious by the fast pace of the Israeli Army and the [[United Nations]] ceasefire call. He was the first to break ranks and ordered his troops to cease firing after the [[Soviet Union]] issued what was perceived in [[Israel]] to be a nuclear ultimatum. This decision, made under extreme pressure from the [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]] administration and the opposition Labor Party at home, led to [[Britain]]'s withdrawal from the conflict.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "PROMIS Scandal"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- PROMIS
|
||||||
|
- CIA
|
||||||
|
summary: "Alleged mobster observed meeting with Dr. John Philip Nichols and La Cosa Nostra figures, believed to involve financial transactions."
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
[[Anthony Fratianno]] was an alleged mobster mentioned in a surveillance report from the Indio Police Department in August 1981. He was observed meeting with [[Dr. John Philip Nichols]], the Cabazon Administrator, and other [[La Cosa Nostra]] underworld figures. These meetings were believed to involve financial transactions.[^1]
|
[[Anthony Fratianno]] was an alleged mobster mentioned in a surveillance report from the Indio Police Department in August 1981. He was observed meeting with [[Dr. John Philip Nichols]], the Cabazon Administrator, and other [[La Cosa Nostra]] underworld figures. These meetings were believed to involve financial transactions.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,66 +1,70 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
|
created: 2024-04-25
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-05-01
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Intelligence
|
|
||||||
- Israel
|
- Israel
|
||||||
- Iran
|
- Military
|
||||||
- ArmsTrade
|
|
||||||
- PROMIS
|
- PROMIS
|
||||||
|
- INSLAW
|
||||||
|
- October Surprise
|
||||||
|
summary: "Ari Ben-Menashe is a self-proclaimed Israeli military intelligence officer who submitted affidavits to the House Judiciary Committee alleging Earl Brian sold PROMIS to Israeli intelligence and Singapore, then recanted to the Bua Report, admitting he had allowed investigators to assume he was referring to INSLAW's PROMIS to promote his book."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
[[Ari Ben-Menashe]] is a self-proclaimed [[Israel|Israeli]] military intelligence officer, born in Tehran, [[Iran]] in 1951 to affluent Iraqi Jewish parents. He is multilingual, speaking Arabic, English, French, Farsi, Hebrew, and Spanish. His father, Gourdji, was involved with [[LEHI]] (Stern Gang) and knew [[Yitzhak Shamir]].
|
[[Ari Ben-Menashe]] is a self-proclaimed [[Israel|Israeli]] military intelligence officer, born in Tehran, [[Iran]] in 1951 to affluent Iraqi Jewish parents. He is multilingual, speaking Arabic, English, French, Farsi, Hebrew, and Spanish. His father, Gourdji, was involved with [[LEHI]] (Stern Gang) and knew [[Yitzhak Shamir]].[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Ben-Menashe moved to Israel in 1966 at age 14. In 1969, while on [[Kibbutz Mishmar Hasharon]], he was involved in the [[Michael Dennis Rohan]]/[[El Aqsa Mosque]] arson incident. He was recruited by [[SHABAK]] in 1972 but refused to spy on his friends.
|
Ben-Menashe moved to Israel in 1966 at age 14. In 1969, while on Kibbutz Mishmar Hasharon, he was involved in the [[Michael Dennis Rohan]]/[[El Aqsa Mosque]] arson incident. He was recruited by [[SHABAK]] in 1972 but declined a spying role. He was drafted into military service in 1974, assigned to [[Unit 8200]] (Signals Intelligence) on the Iranian desk, where he claims to have broken the Iranian diplomatic code. In 1976, he claims involvement in uncovering a [[Lockheed Aircraft Company|Lockheed]] bribe scandal involving [[Shimon Peres]]. After refusing an assignment to the Rome listening station in 1977, he was court-martialed and released from military service.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
He was drafted into military service in 1974, assigned to [[Unit 8200]] (Signals Intelligence) on the Iranian desk, where he claims to have broken the Iranian diplomatic code. In 1976, he was involved in uncovering a [[Lockheed Aircraft Company|Lockheed]] bribe scandal involving [[Shimon Peres]]. He refused an assignment to the Rome listening station in 1977, was court-martialed, and subsequently released from military service.
|
### Intelligence Career
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In August 1977, he joined the External Relations Department of the [[Israel Defense Forces]]/Military Intelligence (IDF/MI/ERD) as a civilian. He became a Middle East commuter, serving as a liaison with Iranian intelligence ([[SAVAK]]) and exchanging technical information, such as [[Chobham armor]].
|
The claims in this section are drawn from Ben-Menashe's own account in *Profits of War* and have not been independently verified. Multiple congressional investigations found Ben-Menashe's testimony "totally lacking in credibility" and "demonstrably false from beginning to end."[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In 1977, he met [[Mahmoud Amirian]] (Tudeh Party) and [[Sayeed Mehdi Kashani]] (Shi'ite opposition) at Tehran University, and warned Israeli intelligence of an impending Iranian Revolution in 1978. In March 1978, he undertook a mission to [[Nicaragua]] to establish communication with the [[Sandinista National Liberation Front|Sandinistas]], where he met [[Marie Fernanda]] (Freddie), who later became pregnant with their daughter, Herut. The [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] dismissed his warnings about Iran in April 1978.
|
In August 1977, he joined the External Relations Department of Israeli Military Intelligence (IDF/MI/ERD) as a civilian, serving as a liaison with Iranian intelligence ([[SAVAK]]) and exchanging technical information including details on [[Chobham armor]]. He claims to have met [[Mahmoud Amirian]] (Tudeh Party) and [[Sayeed Mehdi Kashani]] (Shi'ite opposition) at Tehran University in 1977 and to have warned Israeli intelligence of an impending Iranian Revolution in 1978. In March 1978, he claims to have undertaken a mission to [[Nicaragua]] to establish communication with the [[Sandinistas]], where he met [[Marie Fernanda]] (Freddie), who later became pregnant with their daughter, Herut. The [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] dismissed his warnings about Iran in April 1978.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In December 1978, he was involved in a plan to assassinate [[Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini]] (with [[Rafi Eitan]] and Col. Assaf Heftez). [[Ruth Ben-David]] acted as an emissary between [[Menachem Begin]] and Ayatollah Khomeini in December 1978. The Shah left Iran in January 1979, and F-14 jets were flown out by Israeli aircrews. [[Mehdi Bazargan]] became Prime Minister of Iran, facing a power struggle with extremists. Ben-Menashe noted the growing Iraqi threat to Iran under [[Saddam Hussein]] and Israeli concerns.
|
In December 1978, he claims involvement in a plan to assassinate [[Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini]] alongside [[Rafael Eitan|Rafi]] and Col. Assaf Heftez. [[Ruth Ben-David]] acted as an emissary between [[Menachem Begin]] and Khomeini in December 1978. The Shah left Iran in January 1979, and F-14 jets were flown out by Israeli aircrews. He attended an Israel-U.S. intelligence exchange conference in September 1979 at which he criticized the U.S. attitude, including that of [[Jack Varona]], [[Robert Gates]], and [[Stansfield Turner]]. Following the U.S. Embassy hostage crisis in November 1979, he observed [[Jimmy Carter]]'s handling of the situation and the involvement of the Hashemi brothers in arms-for-hostages contacts.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
He attended an Israel-[[USA|U.S.]] intelligence exchange conference in September 1979, where he criticized the U.S. attitude (including [[Jack Varona]], [[Robert Gates]], and [[Stansfield Turner]]). Following the [[USA|U.S.]] Embassy hostage crisis in November 1979, he observed [[Jimmy Carter]]'s handling of the situation and the involvement of the [[Hashemi brothers]] in arms sales for hostages.
|
### October Surprise Allegations
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Miles Copeland]]'s group of CIA-connected officers, along with [[William Casey]], [[Robert McFarlane]], and [[Earl Brian]], became involved in secret negotiations with the Iranians. [[David Kimche]] (Mossad Tevel) initiated a secret arms supply to Iran via [[South Africa]] in September 1979. [[Rafi Eitan]] established a network with Senator [[John Tower]], [[Robert McFarlane]], and [[Earl Brian]].
|
The claims in this section are Ben-Menashe's own account from *Profits of War* and are presented as he recorded them. The House October Surprise Task Force found no evidence to substantiate his specific allegations.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The first Madrid meeting (March 1980) involved [[Mehdi Karrubi]], [[Sayeed Mehdi Kashani]], [[Ahmed Omshei]], [[William Casey]], [[Robert McFarlane]], and [[Donald Gregg]]. [[Shimon Peres]] also secretly met with Karrubi. The sale of tires to Iran in April 1980 led to [[Jimmy Carter]]'s anger. The [[Operation Eagle Claw]] rescue mission failed in April 1980.
|
[[Miles Copeland]]'s group of CIA-connected officers, along with [[William J. Casey]], [[Robert McFarlane]], and [[Earl Brian]], became involved in secret negotiations with the Iranians. [[David Kimche]] (Mossad Tevel) initiated a secret arms supply to Iran via [[South Africa]] in September 1979. [[Rafael Eitan|Rafi]] established a network with Senator [[John Tower]], McFarlane, and Brian.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
A second Madrid meeting in May 1980 included [[Mehdi Karrubi]], [[Sayeed Mehdi Kashani]], [[Ahmed Omshei]], [[Khosro Fakhrieh]], [[William Casey]], [[Robert Gates]], [[Robert McFarlane]], and [[Earl Brian]], where Republicans were observed delaying hostage release for political gain. The [[KGB]] made inquiries about Israeli intelligence in 1980. The Israeli Cabinet issued a directive in August 1980 to cooperate with the Republican camp.
|
The first Madrid meeting (March 1980) involved [[Mehdi Karrubi]], Kashani, [[Ahmed Omshei]], Casey, McFarlane, and [[Donald Gregg]]. [[Shimon Peres]] also secretly met with Karrubi. The sale of tires to Iran in April 1980 led to [[Jimmy Carter]]'s anger. The [[Operation Eagle Claw]] rescue mission failed in April 1980. A second Madrid meeting in May 1980 included Karrubi, Kashani, Omshei, [[Khosro Fakhrieh]], Casey, Gates, McFarlane, and Brian, where Republicans were observed delaying hostage release for political gain. The [[KGB]] made inquiries about Israeli intelligence in 1980. The Israeli Cabinet issued a directive in August 1980 to cooperate with the Republican camp.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
An Amsterdam meeting in August 1980 involved [[Sayeed Mehdi Kashani]], Iranian officials, and [[Cyrus Husseinzadeh]] (SAVAMA), where an Iranian shopping list was presented. The Iraqi invasion of Iran occurred in September 1980. A fourth Madrid/Barcelona meeting involved [[George Bush]] and [[Mehdi Karrubi]].
|
An Amsterdam meeting in August 1980 involved Kashani, Iranian officials, and [[Cyrus Husseinzadeh]] (SAVAMA), where an Iranian arms shopping list was presented. The Iraqi invasion of Iran occurred in September 1980. A fourth Madrid/Barcelona meeting involved [[George H.W. Bush]] and Karrubi.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
A Paris meeting in October 1980 included [[George Bush]], [[William Casey]], [[Mehdi Karrubi]], [[Robert Gates]], [[George Cave]], [[Donald Gregg]], [[David Kimche]], [[Shmuel Morieh]], [[Uri Simchoni]], [[Rafi Eitan]], [[Ari Ben-Menashe]], and [[Simon Gabbay]], where the hostage release deal was sealed.
|
A Paris meeting in October 1980 included Bush, Casey, Karrubi, Gates, [[George Cave]], Gregg, Kimche, [[Shmuel Morieh]], [[Uri Simchoni]], Rafi, Ben-Menashe, and [[Simon Gabbay]], where the hostage release deal was sealed. Ben-Menashe received $56 million in [[Guatemala]] in December 1980 from a Saudi ambassador ([[Faissal Ghows]]), with $4 million designated for Brian and $52 million for Kashani. He met Gates at Miami airport for the money transfer. Profits from tire and wheelbase sales ($956,000) were used to initiate a slush fund. The hostages were released on [[Ronald Reagan]]'s inauguration day, January 20, 1981.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Ben-Menashe received $56 million in [[Guatemala]] in December 1980 from a Saudi ambassador ([[Faissal Ghows]]), with $4 million designated for [[Earl Brian]] and $52 million for [[Sayeed Mehdi Kashani]], indicating money laundering. He met [[Robert Gates]] at Miami airport for the money transfer. Profits from tire and wheelbase sales ($956,000) were used to initiate a slush fund. The hostages were released on [[Ronald Reagan]]'s inauguration day, January 20, 1981.
|
In the fall of 1980, the [[Iran-Israel Joint Committee]] was formed to supply arms to Iran, with initial members including Kimche, Morieh, Simchoni, [[Moshe Hebroni]], Rafi, and Ben-Menashe. In February 1981, at a Vienna arms supply conference, a $1 billion deal was struck for F-4 parts, artillery shells, mortars, AK-47s, air-to-surface missiles, Chieftain tank engines, and C-130s. Ben-Menashe made his first trip to post-revolutionary Tehran in February 1981 under the alias "William Grace," meeting Iranian Defense Ministry officials and the Air Force commander. Concerns about the Iraqi nuclear reactor ([[Tammuz 17]]) led to a Mossad operation to plant a homing device.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In the fall of 1980, the [[Iran-Israel Joint Committee]] was formed to supply arms to Iran, with initial members including [[David Kimche]], [[Shmuel Morieh]], [[Uri Simchoni]], [[Moshe Hebroni]], [[Rafi Eitan]], and [[Ari Ben-Menashe]].
|
A meeting in southern France in March 1981 between [[Abol Hassan Bani-Sadr]] and [[Moshe Arens]] fixed June 7 for the reactor attack. The [[Israel Air Force]] attacked Tammuz 17 on June 7, 1981, with pilots including Col. [[Yoram Eitan]] and [[Yair Shamir]]. Weapons flights from Ben-Gurion Airport to Tehran via Argentinean charters began in March 1981. A [[KGB]] inquiry about the flights led to a Soviet shootdown of a cargo plane in July 1981.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In February 1981, at a Vienna arms supply conference, a $1 billion deal was struck for F-4 parts, artillery shells, mortars, AK-47s, air-to-surface missiles, Chieftain tank engines, and C-130s. Ben-Menashe made his first trip to post-revolutionary Tehran in February 1981 under the alias "William Grace," meeting Iranian Defense Ministry officials and the Air Force commander. Concerns about the Iraqi nuclear reactor ([[Tammuz 17]]) were raised, leading to Israeli intelligence gathering and a Mossad operation to plant a homing device.
|
The [[Ora Group]] was formed as a flagship for the slush fund. A New York operation on John Street was established for electronic equipment but was compromised when a Swiss woman leaked information to [[Leslie M. Gelb]] of the New York Times. Rafi used South African intelligence to deal with the Swiss woman.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
A meeting in southern France in March 1981 between [[Abol Hassan Bani-Sadr]] and [[Moshe Arens]] fixed June 7 for the reactor attack. The [[Israel Air Force]] attacked [[Tammuz 17]] on June 7, 1981, with pilots including Col. [[Yoram Eitan]] and [[Yair Shamir]]. Weapons flights from Ben-Gurion Airport to Tehran, via Argentinean charters, began in March 1981. A [[KGB]] inquiry about the flights led to a Soviet shootdown of a cargo plane in July 1981. Ben-Menashe's relationship with [[Marie Fernanda]] continued, and their daughter Herut was born.
|
A strategic U.S.-Israeli agreement involving [[Ariel Sharon]], Gates, and McFarlane allowed the resale of older U.S. arms. Money from arms sales was routed through U.S. banks including Chicago-Tokyo Bank, Chemical Bank, Bank One, and Valley National Bank of Arizona. Smokescreen operations involved private arms brokers including [[John Hortrich]] (alias John de Laroque) and [[Bernard Velliot]]. [[Nicholas Davies]], foreign editor of the London Daily Mirror, was recruited by Mossad.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The [[Ora Group]] was formed as a flagship for the slush fund. A New York operation on John Street was established for electronic equipment, but it was compromised when a Swiss woman leaked information to [[Leslie M. Gelb]] of the New York Times. [[Rafi Eitan]] used South African intelligence to deal with the Swiss woman.
|
A [[TOW missile]] deal in 1983 involved [[Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani]] and Kashani, with a deception campaign involving [[Arieh Jacobson]] and [[Abraham Bar David]]. A T-80 tank was acquired from Iran in 1985. The slush fund financed the [[Likud Party]] (under [[Yitzhak Shamir]] and [[Ehud Olmert]]) and "black" operations.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
A strategic [[USA|U.S.]]/Israeli agreement (involving [[Ariel Sharon]], [[Robert Gates]], and [[Robert McFarlane]]) allowed the resale of older [[USA|U.S.]] arms. Money from arms sales was routed through [[USA|U.S.]] banks (Chicago-Tokyo Bank, Chemical Bank, Bank One, Valley National Bank of Arizona). Smokescreen operations involved private arms brokers like [[John Hortrich]] (alias John de Laroque) and [[Bernard Velliot]]. [[Nicholas Davies]], foreign editor of the London Daily Mirror, was recruited by [[Mossad]].
|
[[Mohammed Radi Abdullah]], a former Jordanian Army Colonel, was involved in "black" operations selling arms to Palestinian groups including [[Abu Nidal]] for intelligence purposes. The [[Achille Lauro]] hijacking in 1985 is described by Ben-Menashe as an Israeli "black" propaganda operation. Contributions were made to [[AIPAC]] and the Jewish Reform Movement. The Mossad European headquarters moved to London in 1982.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
A [[TOW missile]] deal in 1983 involved [[Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani]] and [[Sayeed Mehdi Kashani]], with a deception campaign involving [[Arieh Jacobson]] and [[Abraham Bar David]]. A T-80 tank was acquired from Iran in 1985. The slush fund financed the [[Likud Party]] (under [[Yitzhak Shamir]] and [[Ehud Ulmart]]) and "black" operations.
|
During the [[Falklands War]], Israel froze arms sales to [[Argentina]], and the [[United Kingdom]] reimbursed Israel. [[Australia]] was used for "parking purposes" for C-130s from [[Vietnam]], artillery shells from [[North Korea]], TOW missiles, and [[Silkworm missile]]s from [[China]].[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Mohammed Radi Abdullah]], a former Jordanian Army Colonel, was involved in "black" operations, selling arms to Palestinian groups like [[Abu Nidal]] for intelligence. The [[Achille Lauro]] attack in 1985 is described as an Israeli "black" propaganda operation. Contributions were made to [[AIPAC]] and the Jewish Reform Movement (Conservative Party in Britain). The [[Mossad]] European headquarters moved to London in 1982.
|
A contribution was made to the West Australian Labor Party in February 1987, involving [[Richard Babayan]], Brian, [[Hadron]], [[Yosef Goldberg]], [[Alan Bond]], [[John Curtin Foundation]], [[Robert Maxwell]], and the Pergamon Press Trust Fund.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
During the [[Falklands War]], Israel froze arms sales to [[Argentina]], and the [[United Kingdom|UK]] reimbursed Israel. [[Australia]] was used for "parking purposes" for C-130s from [[Vietnam]], artillery shells from [[North Korea]], [[TOW missile]]s, and [[Silkworm missile]]s from [[China]].
|
### PROMIS Affidavits and INSLAW
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
A contribution was made to the West Australian Labor Party in February 1987 from the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] (involving [[Richard Babayan]], [[Earl Brian]], [[Hadron]], [[Yosef Goldberg]], [[Alan Bond]], [[John Curtin Foundation]], [[Robert Maxwell]], and the Pergamon Press Trust Fund).
|
After [[Danny Casolaro]]'s death in August 1991, Ben-Menashe called [[Bill Hamilton]], president of [[INSLAW]], and claimed that two FBI agents from Lexington, Kentucky — including one named E.B. Cartinhour — had been en route to Martinsburg to give Casolaro evidence that the FBI was illegally using PROMIS software. He stated one agent was disaffected because his superiors had refused to indict senior Reagan officials for their October Surprise role.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
After [[Danny Casolaro]]'s death, Ben-Menashe called [[Bill Hamilton]], the president of [[INSLAW]] Company. Hamilton had been in daily contact with Casolaro until about a week prior to his death. Ben-Menashe claimed that two [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] agents from Lexington, Kentucky, had been en route to Martinsburg to meet Casolaro as part of their investigation into the sale of the [[PROMIS]] software to [[Israel]] and other intelligence agencies. He told Hamilton that one of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] agents, [[E.B. Cartinhour]], was disaffected because his superiors had refused to indict high [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] officials for their role in the [[October Surprise]]. Ben-Menashe claimed the agents were prepared to give Casolaro proof that the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] was illegally using [[PROMIS]] software.[^1]
|
In two affidavits dated February 17 and March 21, 1991, submitted to the Bankruptcy Court, Ben-Menashe claimed personal knowledge of Brian's involvement in international PROMIS distribution. He alleged Brian made a 1987 presentation to Israeli Military Intelligence's External Relations Department claiming ownership of PROMIS rights and stating that the CIA, NSA, DOJ, and Israeli intelligence had been using the software since 1982. He further alleged a 1982 meeting at which [[Rafael Eitan]] received PROMIS from Brian and McFarlane for the Israeli Defense Force Signals Intelligence unit. He claimed knowledge of the 1987 sale of Enhanced PROMIS to the Israeli intelligence community and the Singapore Armed Forces, a public-domain version sold by the Israeli government to the Soviet Union, and an enhanced version sold to Canada.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In two affidavits dated February 17, 1991, and March 21, 1991, submitted to the Bankruptcy Court, Ben-Menashe claimed to have personal knowledge of Brian's involvement in the international distribution of PROMIS. He alleged that Brian made a presentation in 1987 to the External Relations Department of the [[Israel Defense Forces]] to facilitate the use of PROMIS, stating that Brian owned the rights and had been allowing the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], [[NSA]], DOJ, and [[Mossad|Israeli intelligence]] communities to use it since 1982. He also claimed Brian sold PROMIS to the Israeli government in 1987 and that he was told in 1989 of a sale of PROMIS by Brian to Iraqi Military Intelligence. His second affidavit described a 1982 meeting where [[Rafael Eitan]] allegedly received PROMIS from Brian and [[Robert McFarlane]] for the Israeli Defense Force's Signals Intelligence unit. The House Committee Report also indicated Ben-Menashe described the 1987 sale of "Enhanced PROMIS" to the Israeli intelligence community and the [[Singapore]] Armed Forces, and claimed knowledge of a "public domain" version of PROMIS being sold by the Israeli government to the [[Soviet Union]], and an "enhanced version" to [[Canada]].[^2]
|
### Credibility Assessment
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
However, the Special Counsel's investigation found Ben-Menashe's claims to be largely incredible. In meetings with the Special Counsel, Ben-Menashe told a different story, stating he had no knowledge of the transfer of Inslaw's proprietary software by Brian or DOJ. He claimed the "PROMIS" he referred to in his affidavits was not Inslaw's PROMIS, but rather a program developed and enhanced by the [[NSA]] called "[[Milon]]" (phonetic), which he stated was a computer program used to compile dictionaries. He insisted this "other PROMIS" was developed by NSA independently of [[INSLAW|Inslaw's]] program and years before Inslaw's formation. He admitted that he allowed the Hamiltons and others to "assume" he was referring to Inslaw's PROMIS to promote his book, *Profits of War: Inside the secret U.S. - Israel Arms Network* (1992).[^2]
|
Special Counsel [[Nicholas J. Bua]]'s investigation found Ben-Menashe's claims unsupported by credible evidence. When interviewed, Ben-Menashe provided a substantially different account: he stated he had no knowledge of the transfer of INSLAW's proprietary software by Brian or DOJ. He claimed the "PROMIS" in his affidavits referred not to INSLAW's PROMIS but to an NSA program called "Milon" (phonetic), a dictionary-compilation tool developed independently of INSLAW before the company existed. He admitted he allowed the Hamiltons and others to assume he meant INSLAW's PROMIS "to promote his book." The NSA confirmed its internal Product Related On-line Management Information System, also called PROMIS, was written in M204 rather than COBOL, served entirely different functions, and was wholly unrelated to INSLAW's software.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The Special Counsel's investigation, as well as two congressional investigations (the October Surprise Task Force and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations), extensively examined Ben-Menashe's credibility and found him to be "totally lacking in credibility," "fabricated," "demonstrably false from beginning to end," and "riddled with inconsistencies and factual misstatements." The October Surprise Task Force specifically found no evidence to substantiate his allegations regarding a trip to Iran by Robert McFarlane and Earl Brian. The NSA also confirmed that their PROMIS program (Product Related On-line Management Information System) was unrelated to Inslaw's PROMIS, written in a different language (M204 vs. COBOL), and served different purposes. The Special Counsel concluded that Ben-Menashe's testimony offered no support for the allegation that DOJ and Earl Brian conspired to steal and distribute Inslaw's software.[^2]
|
The House October Surprise Task Force, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Special Counsel all found Ben-Menashe's testimony "totally lacking in credibility," "fabricated," and "demonstrably false from beginning to end." The October Surprise Task Force found no evidence for his specific allegations regarding a Casey-Brian trip to Iran. The Special Counsel concluded that Ben-Menashe's account offered no evidentiary support for the allegation that DOJ and Brian conspired to steal and distribute INSLAW's software.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
|
|
||||||
[^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. (Hereafter, "Bua Report")
|
[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010.
|
||||||
[^3]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. (Hereafter, "Profits of War")
|
[^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]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network.* TrineDay, 1992.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "BCCI Scandal"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Arms Dealer
|
|
||||||
- Pakistan
|
|
||||||
- BCCI
|
- BCCI
|
||||||
- Military
|
- CIA
|
||||||
- Iran
|
summary: "Arif Durrani was a Pakistani arms dealer convicted of illegally providing HAWK antiaircraft missile parts to Iran."
|
||||||
- Banking
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Arif Durrani was a [[Pakistan|Pakistani]] arms dealer convicted of illegally providing HAWK antiaircraft missile parts to [[Iran]].[^1] He was the son of an army general.[^2]
|
Arif Durrani was a [[Pakistan|Pakistani]] arms dealer convicted of illegally providing HAWK antiaircraft missile parts to [[Iran]].[^1] He was the son of an army general.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Arms Dealing and BCCI Connections
|
### Arms Dealing and BCCI Connections
|
||||||
|
|
@ -16,7 +15,7 @@ Durrani was described as a wealthy arms merchant who traveled the world in luxur
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Durrani had close connections to the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]], knowing [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] personally and having his operations financed by the bank.[^7] He grew up in [[Karachi]] with many of the men who became BCCI executives and worked with them from the beginning of his career as an arms dealer.[^8] He stated that BCCI basically funded operations on instructions from the government of [[Pakistan]], including the construction of a Mirage factory.[^9]
|
Durrani had close connections to the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]], knowing [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] personally and having his operations financed by the bank.[^7] He grew up in [[Karachi]] with many of the men who became BCCI executives and worked with them from the beginning of his career as an arms dealer.[^8] He stated that BCCI basically funded operations on instructions from the government of [[Pakistan]], including the construction of a Mirage factory.[^9]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
He outlined BCCI's and [[Asaf Ali]]'s weapons deals across the globe, from [[Bulgaria]] to [[Nigeria]].[^10] Durrani also stated that BCCI steered some of his business to [[First American Bank]] in [[New York]], considering BCCI and First American Bank interchangeable for financial transactions.[^11]
|
He outlined BCCI's and [[Asaf Ali]]'s weapons deals across the globe, from [[Bulgaria]] to [[Nigeria]].[^10] Durrani also stated that BCCI steered some of his business to [[First American Bank]] in [[New York City]], considering BCCI and First American Bank interchangeable for financial transactions.[^11]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Until his arrest, Durrani was the managing director of Merex, a California arms firm that supplied the Israelis.[^12]
|
Until his arrest, Durrani was the managing director of Merex, a California arms firm that supplied the Israelis.[^12]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,10 +1,14 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- Arigo
|
- Arigo
|
||||||
|
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Psychic Healer
|
- RemoteViewer
|
||||||
|
- Military
|
||||||
|
summary: "Arigo was a Brazilian psychic healer who gained widespread notoriety for reportedly performing major surgeries with a pocketknife, without anesthesia, stitches, or antibiotics, and without causing any pain."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Arigo was a Brazilian psychic healer who gained widespread notoriety for reportedly performing major surgeries with a pocketknife, without anesthesia, stitches, or antibiotics, and without causing any pain. His extraordinary abilities attracted the attention of [[Andrija Puharich]], who became obsessed with documenting his work[^1].
|
Arigo was a Brazilian psychic healer who gained widespread notoriety for reportedly performing major surgeries with a pocketknife, without anesthesia, stitches, or antibiotics, and without causing any pain. His extraordinary abilities attracted the attention of [[Andrija Puharich]], who became obsessed with documenting his work[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In early 1963, [[Henry Belk]], a benefactor of Puharich's research, proposed that Puharich investigate Arigo in Brazil. Puharich, convinced of Arigo's authenticity, spent the next seven years shuttling between Ossining and Brazil, meticulously documenting Arigo's "surgeries" on 8mm film[^1].
|
In early 1963, [[Henry Belk]], a benefactor of Puharich's research, proposed that Puharich investigate Arigo in Brazil. Puharich, convinced of Arigo's authenticity, spent the next seven years shuttling between Ossining and Brazil, meticulously documenting Arigo's "surgeries" on 8mm film[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,8 +1,31 @@
|
||||||
[[Arnold Burns]] was the Deputy [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] and [[Edwin Meese]]'s second in command. He, along with [[William F. Weld]], complained about [[Edwin Meese]] to [[Howard Baker]], then [[Ronald Reagan]]'s chief of staff. Burns and Weld were reportedly frustrated by being undermined and sidestepped in Meese's office regarding investigations of Meese's friends.[^1]
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Burns and Weld submitted their resignations to President [[Ronald Reagan]] on March 29, 1988, after meeting with [[Howard Baker]]. This was part of an unprecedented mass exodus from the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]], signaling a complete loss of faith in the department. [[Senator Robert Byrd]] called Meese "the crown jewel of Reagan's sleaze factor" and demanded his resignation.[^1]
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "PROMIS Scandal"
|
||||||
|
created: 2024-04-25
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-05-01
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- Lawyer
|
||||||
|
- PROMIS
|
||||||
|
- INSLAW
|
||||||
|
- DoJ
|
||||||
|
summary: "Arnold Burns served as Deputy Attorney General under Edwin Meese and was the senior DOJ official whose private admission to investigators that INSLAW's proprietary rights claim was legitimate became a central finding of the House Judiciary Committee's 1992 INSLAW investigation."
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Arnold Burns served as Deputy [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] and [[Edwin Meese]]'s second in command at the [[Department of Justice|DOJ]] during the Reagan administration. He became a significant figure in two distinct controversies: his admission to DOJ investigators regarding INSLAW's legitimate ownership claims, and his public break with Meese over DOJ's broader conduct.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Role in the INSLAW Case
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Burns was among the senior DOJ officials interviewed by the Department's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) investigators in 1986 in connection with the [[INSLAW]] contract dispute. He told OPR that INSLAW's proprietary rights claim to the enhanced version of [[PROMIS]] was "legitimate" and that the DOJ "would probably lose the case in court on this issue." His statement was made during a period when DOJ was continuing to litigate aggressively against INSLAW despite internal recognition of the weakness of its legal position.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The House Judiciary Committee's September 1992 report (House Report 102-857) cited Burns's admission as pivotal evidence. The committee found it "incredible that the Department, having made this determination, would continue to pursue its litigation of these matters." The committee concluded that DOJ attorneys had "proceeded to challenge INSLAW's claims in court even though it knew that these claims were valid and that the Department would most likely lose in court on this issue."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Bua Report (1993) interpreted Burns's OPR statement differently, arguing that his comments reflected concern about the difficulty of litigating the proprietary rights issue rather than an admission of wrongdoing. The Bua Report concluded that Burns's statements had been "entirely unwarranted" in the interpretation placed on them by the House Judiciary Committee.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Resignation from DOJ
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Burns and [[William F. Weld]], the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, submitted their resignations to President [[Ronald Reagan]] on March 29, 1988, after separately meeting with White House Chief of Staff [[Howard Baker]] to raise concerns about [[Edwin Meese]]'s conduct. Both men had reportedly grown frustrated by being sidestepped in Meese's office and by DOJ decisions made without their knowledge regarding investigations into Meese's associates. Their simultaneous resignations were characterized as an unprecedented vote of no confidence in a sitting Attorney General. Senator [[Robert Byrd]] called Meese "the crown jewel of Reagan's sleaze factor" and demanded his resignation.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
|
[^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]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "BCCI Scandal"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Arms Dealer
|
|
||||||
- Pakistan
|
|
||||||
- BCCI
|
- BCCI
|
||||||
- Banking
|
- CIA
|
||||||
- Military
|
summary: "Asaf Ali is a Pakistani multimillionaire and arms dealer, closely associated with Agha Hasan Abedi and the BCCI."
|
||||||
- France
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Asaf Ali is a Pakistani multimillionaire and arms dealer, closely associated with [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] and the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]]. He is described as a key figure in the Middle Eastern arms business, often brokering deals that involved governments and intelligence agencies.[^1]
|
Asaf Ali is a Pakistani multimillionaire and arms dealer, closely associated with [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] and the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]]. He is described as a key figure in the Middle Eastern arms business, often brokering deals that involved governments and intelligence agencies.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Ali was known for his ability to make things happen in the arms trade, particularly when principals in a transaction preferred not to be seen doing business together. He was deeply involved in BCCI's operations, which facilitated arms sales, drug trafficking, and money laundering on a global scale.[^2]
|
Ali was known for his ability to make things happen in the arms trade, particularly when principals in a transaction preferred not to be seen doing business together. He was deeply involved in BCCI's operations, which facilitated arms sales, drug trafficking, and money laundering on a global scale.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
@ -22,7 +21,7 @@ He was also involved in the sale of Argentine TAM battle tanks to Iran in 1989,
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Ali's connections were extensive, reaching high-level officials and intelligence agencies. He was a good friend of "Happy" [[Minwallah]], a close adviser to former Prime Minister [[Benazir Bhutto]], and was very close with the Pakistani air marshal.[^8] His ability to operate with apparent immunity was due to his deep ties within the Pakistani government and military.[^9]
|
Ali's connections were extensive, reaching high-level officials and intelligence agencies. He was a good friend of "Happy" [[Minwallah]], a close adviser to former Prime Minister [[Benazir Bhutto]], and was very close with the Pakistani air marshal.[^8] His ability to operate with apparent immunity was due to his deep ties within the Pakistani government and military.[^9]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
He was also involved in meetings with [[William Casey]], the former [[CIA]] Director, and accompanied [[Zia ul-Haq|General Zia]] on a trip to Washington where they met with Casey.[^10]
|
He was also involved in meetings with [[William J. Casey]], the former [[Central Intelligence Agency]] Director, and accompanied [[Zia ul-Haq|General Zia]] on a trip to Washington where they met with Casey.[^10]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,17 +1,18 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Authors & Journalists"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Journalist
|
- Journalist
|
||||||
- UK
|
summary: "Financial Times stringer in Peru who became involved in Ari Ben-Menashe's mission to secure rare minerals for Israel's nuclear program."
|
||||||
- Peru
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Barbara Durr]] was a stringer for the *Financial Times* of [[London]] in [[Peru]]. She was also a correspondent for [[CBS]] radio.[^1]
|
[[Barbara Durr]] was a stringer for the *Financial Times* of [[London]] in [[Peru]]. She was also a correspondent for [[CBS]] radio.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Barbara Durr|Durr]] met [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] through [[Peter Jordan]], a photographer. She became involved in [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe's]] mission to secure rare minerals from [[Peru]] for [[Israel|Israel's]] nuclear program. [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe]] used her as a journalist to provide protection and to create public proof of [[Abimael Guzmán Reynoso|Guzmán's]] existence, as there were rumors of his death.[^1]
|
[[Barbara Durr|Durr]] met [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] through [[Peter Jordan]], a photographer. She became involved in [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe's]] mission to secure rare minerals from [[Peru]] for [[Israel|Israel's]] nuclear program. [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe]] used her as a journalist to provide protection and to create public proof of [[Abimael Guzman Reynoso|Guzmán's]] existence, as there were rumors of his death.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Barbara Durr|Durr]] was suspected by [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] of tipping off the [[Cuba|Cubans]] about his contact with the [[Shining Path]]. She was later arrested by the [[Peru|Peruvian]] police, an event that [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] orchestrated to gain her gratitude and cooperation. She was also present during the [[Rafael Cordova|Cordova]] massacre of villagers and attempted to broadcast the plan to prevent it.[^1]
|
[[Barbara Durr|Durr]] was suspected by [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] of tipping off the [[Cuba|Cubans]] about his contact with the [[Shining Path]]. She was later arrested by the [[Peru|Peruvian]] police, an event that [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] orchestrated to gain her gratitude and cooperation. She was also present during the [[Rafael Cordova|Cordova]] massacre of villagers and attempted to broadcast the plan to prevent it.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Barbara Durr|Durr]] accompanied [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] to [[Cangallo]] to secure the release of [[Cynthia McNamara]]. She was also present during [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe's]] tense meeting with [[Carlos Cardoen]] in [[Chile]], where she was used as a veiled threat against [[Carlos Cardoen|Cardoen]] due to her journalistic connections.[^1]
|
[[Barbara Durr|Durr]] accompanied [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] to [[Cangallo]] to secure the release of [[Cynthia McNamara]]. She was also present during [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe's]] tense meeting with [[Carlos Cardoen]] in [[Chile]], where she was used as a veiled threat against [[Carlos Cardoen|Cardoen]] due to her journalistic connections.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. (Hereafter, "Profits of War")
|
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,13 +1,11 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Belgium Scandals"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Belgian_Aristocracy
|
- Belgium
|
||||||
- Banking
|
summary: "Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin served as a director of Societe Generale de Banque (also referred to as 'Society General'), which was described as 'the largest financial firm in the country' (Belgium)."
|
||||||
- Political_Figure
|
|
||||||
- Child_Abuse_Network
|
|
||||||
- Operation_Gladio
|
|
||||||
- X-Dossier
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin served as a director of [[Societe Generale de Banque]] (also referred to as "Society General"), which was described as "the largest financial firm in the country" ([[Belgium]]). This banking institution was controlled by "a fraternity of families who provided most of the funding for CSP political campaigns." The CSP (Parti Social Chretien/[[Christian Social Party]]) was described as a political faction that "at its fringes aligned with Belgium's neofascist movement and [[Operation Gladio]]." Operation Gladio was characterized as "a post-WW2 effort by NATO bloc spy agencies to tamper the dialectic swing away from fascism towards left-leaning political movements."[^1]
|
Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin served as a director of [[Societe Generale de Banque]] (also referred to as "Society General"), which was described as "the largest financial firm in the country" ([[Belgium]]). This banking institution was controlled by "a fraternity of families who provided most of the funding for CSP political campaigns." The CSP (Parti Social Chretien/[[Christian Social Party]]) was described as a political faction that "at its fringes aligned with Belgium's neofascist movement and [[Operation Gladio]]." Operation Gladio was characterized as "a post-WW2 effort by NATO bloc spy agencies to tamper the dialectic swing away from fascism towards left-leaning political movements."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Baron de Bonvoisin's position within Belgium's financial elite placed him at the intersection of banking power and political influence. His directorship at Societe Generale de Banque connected him to [[Count Leopold Lippens]] (chairman of Societe Generale) and [[Count Francois Lippens]] (brother of Leopold Lippens), forming a powerful network of aristocratic and financial interests that dominated Belgian economic and political life. This banking fraternity's control over CSP campaign financing created a system where political power and financial interests were deeply intertwined, facilitating the rise of figures like former Belgian Prime Minister [[Wilfried Martens]] and [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]], both of whom were named alongside de Bonvoisin in the X-Dossier investigations.[^1]
|
Baron de Bonvoisin's position within Belgium's financial elite placed him at the intersection of banking power and political influence. His directorship at Societe Generale de Banque connected him to [[Count Leopold Lippens]] (chairman of Societe Generale) and [[Count Francois Lippens]] (brother of Leopold Lippens), forming a powerful network of aristocratic and financial interests that dominated Belgian economic and political life. This banking fraternity's control over CSP campaign financing created a system where political power and financial interests were deeply intertwined, facilitating the rise of figures like former Belgian Prime Minister [[Wilfried Martens]] and [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]], both of whom were named alongside de Bonvoisin in the X-Dossier investigations.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
@ -16,7 +14,7 @@ The alignment with Operation Gladio placed Baron de Bonvoisin within a network o
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### X-Dossier Allegations and Child Abuse Network
|
### X-Dossier Allegations and Child Abuse Network
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin was identified in the [[X-Dossier]] as one of "powerful figures in a network of child abusers linked to [[Michel Nihoul]]." The X-Dossier investigation revealed multiple witnesses who named him as part of this network, which allegedly operated across Belgium's elite social circles. These allegations placed de Bonvoisin at the center of one of Belgium's most controversial investigations, connecting his aristocratic status and political influence to systematic child abuse and exploitation.[^1]
|
Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin was identified in the [[X-Dossier]] as one of "powerful figures in a network of child abusers linked to [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]." The X-Dossier investigation revealed multiple witnesses who named him as part of this network, which allegedly operated across Belgium's elite social circles. These allegations placed de Bonvoisin at the center of one of Belgium's most controversial investigations, connecting his aristocratic status and political influence to systematic child abuse and exploitation.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Witness [[Regina Louf]] provided detailed testimony about de Bonvoisin's participation in "high society sadomasochist child sex parties around Belgium." These parties were held at "hotel-villa's surrounding the Royal Zoute golf club." X2 claimed to have attended these parties as the mistress of a magistrate named [[Karel Maasdam]] during the 1980s, providing firsthand accounts of the aristocratic and professional figures who participated in these organized abuse events. The location near the prestigious Royal Zoute golf club suggests that these activities occurred within Belgium's most exclusive social circles, leveraging the privacy and prestige of elite venues to conceal criminal behavior.[^2]
|
Witness [[Regina Louf]] provided detailed testimony about de Bonvoisin's participation in "high society sadomasochist child sex parties around Belgium." These parties were held at "hotel-villa's surrounding the Royal Zoute golf club." X2 claimed to have attended these parties as the mistress of a magistrate named [[Karel Maasdam]] during the 1980s, providing firsthand accounts of the aristocratic and professional figures who participated in these organized abuse events. The location near the prestigious Royal Zoute golf club suggests that these activities occurred within Belgium's most exclusive social circles, leveraging the privacy and prestige of elite venues to conceal criminal behavior.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2025-07-22
|
category: "Key Figures"
|
||||||
updated: 2025-07-22
|
|
||||||
title: Bart Cox
|
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- scientist
|
- Stargate
|
||||||
- researcher
|
- RemoteViewer
|
||||||
description: Bart Cox was a division chief at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) who oversaw some of the early psi research, including experiments with Uri Geller.
|
- SRI
|
||||||
|
summary: "Division chief at SRI who oversaw early psi research by Hal Puthoff and Russell Targ, including experiments with Uri Geller."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Bart Cox]] was a division chief at [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]]. He oversaw some of the early [[Parapsychology|psi]] research conducted by [[Hal Puthoff]] and [[Russell Targ]], including experiments with [[Uri Geller]]. Cox was involved in selecting target sites for outbound remote viewing experiments, and on one occasion, he and Puthoff served as outbound experimenters for [[Pat Price]], who precognitively described their location at the Redwood City Marina.[^1]
|
[[Bart Cox]] was a division chief at [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]]. He oversaw some of the early [[Parapsychology|psi]] research conducted by [[Hal Puthoff]] and [[Russell Targ]], including experiments with [[Uri Geller]]. Cox was involved in selecting target sites for outbound remote viewing experiments, and on one occasion, he and Puthoff served as outbound experimenters for [[Pat Price]], who precognitively described their location at the Redwood City Marina.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,10 +1,14 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Military
|
- Politician
|
||||||
- Israel
|
- Israel
|
||||||
|
- Military
|
||||||
|
summary: "Colonel Baruch Bar Lev was a former Israeli military attaché in Uganda."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Colonel [[Baruch Bar Lev]] was a former [[Israel|Israeli]] military attaché in [[Uganda]]. He planned and led the military coup that installed [[Idi Amin]] as the self-proclaimed president of [[Uganda]].[^1]
|
Colonel [[Baruch Bar Lev]] was a former [[Israel|Israeli]] military attaché in [[Uganda]]. He planned and led the military coup that installed [[Idi Amin]] as the self-proclaimed president of [[Uganda]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. (Hereafter, "Profits of War")
|
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- CIA
|
||||||
|
- Politician
|
||||||
|
- Israel
|
||||||
|
summary: "Elected president of Lebanon after the 1982 Israeli invasion; reportedly on the CIA payroll and assassinated before taking office."
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
[[Bashir Gemayel]] was elected president of [[Lebanon]] after the 1982 Israeli invasion. He was reportedly on the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] payroll. Before he could take office, Gemayel was killed by an assassin's bomb. His brother, [[Amin Gamayel]], was subsequently installed as president.[^1]
|
[[Bashir Gemayel]] was elected president of [[Lebanon]] after the 1982 Israeli invasion. He was reportedly on the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] payroll. Before he could take office, Gemayel was killed by an assassin's bomb. His brother, [[Amin Gamayel]], was subsequently installed as president.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[George K. Pender]], President of [[First Intercontinental Development Corporation|FIDCO]], stated in a letter to [[Amin Gamayel]] that he was a good friend of Bashir and had been with him in Beirut in 1976 when the Syrian Army arrived. Pender also mentioned meeting Bashir in Framingham, Massachusetts, during a U.S. speaking tour.[^1]
|
[[George K. Pender]], President of [[First Intercontinental Development Corporation|FIDCO]], stated in a letter to [[Amin Gamayel]] that he was a good friend of Bashir and had been with him in Beirut in 1976 when the Syrian Army arrived. Pender also mentioned meeting Bashir in Framingham, Massachusetts, during a U.S. speaking tour.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "World War II & Nazi Era"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Financier
|
- WW2
|
||||||
- USA
|
- Nazi
|
||||||
|
summary: "Bernard Baruch was an American financier and statesman."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Bernard Baruch was an American financier and statesman. In the late summer of 1939, he collaborated with [[Lewis L. Strauss]] on a proposal to convince the British government to cede a large tract of colonial [[Africa]] for resettlement by European refugees, both Jewish and non-Jewish. They believed that as much as $300 million could be raised for this purpose, but it was ultimately too late to prevent the impending Nazi blitzkrieg.[^1]
|
Bernard Baruch was an American financier and statesman. In the late summer of 1939, he collaborated with [[Lewis L. Strauss]] on a proposal to convince the British government to cede a large tract of colonial [[Africa]] for resettlement by European refugees, both Jewish and non-Jewish. They believed that as much as $300 million could be raised for this purpose, but it was ultimately too late to prevent the impending Nazi blitzkrieg.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Scientist
|
- Nuclear
|
||||||
- France
|
- Israel
|
||||||
|
summary: "Bertrand Goldschmidt was a French nuclear chemist who served during World War II with American nuclear researchers, becoming an expert in the chemistry of plutonium and plutonium extraction."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Bertrand Goldschmidt was a French nuclear chemist who served during World War II with American nuclear researchers, becoming an expert in the chemistry of plutonium and plutonium extraction. He chose to return to [[France]] after the war and joined its [[Atomic Energy Commission]]. Goldschmidt was among the few outsiders permitted to visit the completed reactor at [[Dimona]] in the 1960s.[^1]
|
Bertrand Goldschmidt was a French nuclear chemist who served during World War II with American nuclear researchers, becoming an expert in the chemistry of plutonium and plutonium extraction. He chose to return to [[France]] after the war and joined its [[Atomic Energy Commission]]. Goldschmidt was among the few outsiders permitted to visit the completed reactor at [[Dimona]] in the 1960s.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Goldschmidt had strong emotional ties to [[Israel]], heightened by his marriage into the [[Rothschild]] banking family, known for their contributions to Israeli and Jewish causes. He and his wife visited [[Israel]] in the early 1950s and met [[David Ben-Gurion]] through [[Ernst David Bergmann]]. As director of chemistry for [[France]]'s Atomic Energy Commission, he later became a respected spokesman on nonproliferation issues.[^1]
|
Goldschmidt had strong emotional ties to [[Israel]], heightened by his marriage into the [[Rothschild]] banking family, known for their contributions to Israeli and Jewish causes. He and his wife visited [[Israel]] in the early 1950s and met [[David Ben-Gurion]] through [[Ernst David Bergmann]]. As director of chemistry for [[France]]'s Atomic Energy Commission, he later became a respected spokesman on nonproliferation issues.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,14 +1,13 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2025-07-22
|
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
||||||
updated: 2025-07-22
|
|
||||||
title: Bill Church
|
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- philanthropist
|
- RemoteViewer
|
||||||
- scientist
|
- SRI
|
||||||
description: Bill Church was a philanthropist and amateur scientist, known for being a part owner of Church's Fried Chicken and an early funder of Hal Puthoff's psi research.
|
summary: "Philanthropist and part-owner of Church's Fried Chicken who provided initial funding for Hal Puthoff's psi research at SRI."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Bill Church]] was a philanthropist and amateur scientist, known for being a part owner of [[Church's Fried Chicken]]. In the early 1970s, he provided [[Hal Puthoff]] with ten thousand dollars in initial funding to begin his [[Parapsychology|psi]] experiments at [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]]. This private funding was crucial in the nascent stages of the remote viewing research program, preceding the involvement of the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]].[^1]
|
[[Bill Church]] was a philanthropist and amateur scientist, known for being a part owner of [[Church's Fried Chicken]]. In the early 1970s, he provided [[Hal Puthoff]] with ten thousand dollars in initial funding to begin his [[Parapsychology|psi]] experiments at [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]]. This private funding was crucial in the nascent stages of the remote viewing research program, preceding the involvement of the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,17 +1,23 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2025-07-22
|
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
||||||
updated: 2025-07-22
|
|
||||||
title: Bill Clinton
|
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- president
|
- RemoteViewer
|
||||||
- government
|
- Stargate
|
||||||
description: Bill Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. His administration saw the declassification and termination of the Stargate Project.
|
- Dark_Alliance_Investigation
|
||||||
---
|
summary: "William Jefferson 'Bill' Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States (1993-2001) and Governor of Arkansas during the period when Barry Seal operated his CIA-connected cocaine smuggling operation at Mena airport."
|
||||||
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. His administration oversaw the declassification and termination of the [[STARGATE PROJECT]] in 1995.[^1]
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
While the *Remote Viewers* text does not detail Clinton's direct involvement with the project, it notes that [[William Perry]], who served as Clinton's Secretary of Defense, had previously been involved in funding decisions for the program during the Carter administration.[^1]
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. His administration oversaw the declassification and termination of the [[STARGATE PROJECT]] in 1995.[^1] While the *Remote Viewers* text does not detail Clinton's direct involvement with the project, it notes that [[William Perry]], who served as Clinton's Secretary of Defense, had previously been involved in funding decisions for the program during the Carter administration.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Governor of Arkansas and the Mena Drug Operations
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
As Governor of [[Arkansas]], Clinton presided over the period when [[Barry Seal]] operated his [[Central Intelligence Agency]]-connected [[cocaine]] smuggling operation at Mena airport. Clinton's close friend [[Danny Ray Lasater]] was convicted as part of a major drug ring in Little Rock, raising questions about what the governor knew about the activities at [[Mena, Arkansas|Mena]].[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Arkansas state trooper Larry Patterson testified that troopers were aware "that there was large quantities of drugs being flown into the Mena airport" and that "it was a CIA operation." Despite the scale of Seal's operations, which a letter from the Arkansas attorney general to U.S. Attorney General [[Ed Meese]] valued at $3 billion to $5 billion in smuggled drugs, the state government took no action to shut down the operation. Clinton's administration in Arkansas presided over the period when the Mena airport served as a hub for both drug trafficking and Contra supply operations.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 7: "Something happened to Ivan"
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 7: "Something happened to Ivan"
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Intelligence
|
- Nuclear
|
||||||
- Israel
|
- Israel
|
||||||
|
summary: "Binyamin Blumberg was a former military intelligence officer handpicked by Shimon Peres to direct the Office of Special Tasks, a new intelligence agency created to provide security for Israel's burgeoning nuclear operation at Dimona."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Binyamin Blumberg was a former military intelligence officer handpicked by [[Shimon Peres]] to direct the Office of Special Tasks, a new intelligence agency created to provide security for [[Israel]]'s burgeoning nuclear operation at [[Dimona]]. This office, bureaucratically placed inside the defense ministry, would later become known as LAKAM (Science Liaison Bureau) and was responsible for one of [[Israel]]'s worst mistakes, the recruitment of [[Jonathan Pollard]].[^1]
|
Binyamin Blumberg was a former military intelligence officer handpicked by [[Shimon Peres]] to direct the Office of Special Tasks, a new intelligence agency created to provide security for [[Israel]]'s burgeoning nuclear operation at [[Dimona]]. This office, bureaucratically placed inside the defense ministry, would later become known as LAKAM (Science Liaison Bureau) and was responsible for one of [[Israel]]'s worst mistakes, the recruitment of [[Jonathan Pollard]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Blumberg's sole mission in the late 1950s was protecting [[Dimona]], and he was deeply involved in the details, even overturning bureaucratic rules to ensure the hiring of essential scientists. He and his colleagues in the Office of Special Tasks were constantly improving and embellishing the Israeli cover-up regarding [[Dimona]]'s true purpose, especially during the annual inspections by [[Floyd L. Culler, Jr.]] from the [[United States]].[^1]
|
Blumberg's sole mission in the late 1950s was protecting [[Dimona]], and he was deeply involved in the details, even overturning bureaucratic rules to ensure the hiring of essential scientists. He and his colleagues in the Office of Special Tasks were constantly improving and embellishing the Israeli cover-up regarding [[Dimona]]'s true purpose, especially during the annual inspections by [[Floyd L. Culler, Jr.]] from the [[United States]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Other"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
summary: "Gritz was indicted in May 1987 for using a false passport in the name of Patrick Richard Clark from Vancouver, Canada."
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
[[Bo Gritz]] was a highly decorated Special Forces Green Beret soldier in [[Vietnam]]. He became known for his expeditions to [[Laos]] in search of missing POWs, during which he reportedly uncovered a "massive drug network in Southeast Asia" intertwined with American POWs.[^1]
|
[[Bo Gritz]] was a highly decorated Special Forces Green Beret soldier in [[Vietnam]]. He became known for his expeditions to [[Laos]] in search of missing POWs, during which he reportedly uncovered a "massive drug network in Southeast Asia" intertwined with American POWs.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Danny Casolaro]] was investigating Gritz's expose of [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] drug trafficking in the [[Golden Triangle]]. Casolaro had requested to meet with a former police officer who had information on Laotian warlord [[Kuhn Sa]]'s Golden Triangle drug trade proposal to the [[United States]].[^1]
|
[[Danny Casolaro]] was investigating Gritz's expose of [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] drug trafficking in the [[Golden Triangle]]. Casolaro had requested to meet with a former police officer who had information on Laotian warlord [[Kuhn Sa]]'s Golden Triangle drug trade proposal to the [[United States]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "PROMIS Scandal"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- PROMIS
|
||||||
|
- Journalist
|
||||||
|
summary: "Bickel was a key source for Casolaro's 'The Octopus' investigation."
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
[[Bob Bickel]] was a Texas oil engineer who once worked as an informant for the Customs Bureau. He was a friend and confidante of investigative journalist [[Danny Casolaro]].[^1]
|
[[Bob Bickel]] was a Texas oil engineer who once worked as an informant for the Customs Bureau. He was a friend and confidante of investigative journalist [[Danny Casolaro]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Bickel was a key source for Casolaro's "[[The Octopus]]" investigation. Casolaro obtained papers related to [[Iran-Contra Affair|Iran-Contra]] arms deals, including photocopies of checks drawn on [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] accounts for [[Adnan Khashoggi]] and [[Manucher Ghorbanifar]], from Bickel. Bickel, in turn, obtained these documents from [[October Surprise]] source [[Richard Brenneke]].[^1]
|
Bickel was a key source for Casolaro's "[[The Octopus]]" investigation. Casolaro obtained papers related to [[Iran-Contra Affair|Iran-Contra]] arms deals, including photocopies of checks drawn on [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] accounts for [[Adnan Khashoggi]] and [[Manucher Ghorbanifar]], from Bickel. Bickel, in turn, obtained these documents from [[October Surprise]] source [[Richard Brenneke]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "JFK Assassination"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- JFK
|
||||||
|
- OrganizedCrime
|
||||||
|
summary: "On October 8, 1963, Baker was forced to resign as a Senate investigation into his outside business activities began to reveal numerous questionable deals."
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
[[Bobby Baker]] was a key figure in a major scandal that emerged in the autumn of 1963. He was made secretary of the Senate Democrats in 1955 by then-Vice President [[Lyndon Johnson]], who referred to Baker as "my strong right arm, the last man I see at night, the first I see in the morning."[^1]
|
[[Bobby Baker]] was a key figure in a major scandal that emerged in the autumn of 1963. He was made secretary of the Senate Democrats in 1955 by then-Vice President [[Lyndon Johnson]], who referred to Baker as "my strong right arm, the last man I see at night, the first I see in the morning."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
On October 8, 1963, Baker was forced to resign as a Senate investigation into his outside business activities began to reveal numerous questionable deals. Baker's dealings were tightly interwoven with the [[Clint Murchison, Sr.|Murchison family]] and organized crime figures. The Senate investigation was initially prompted by a lawsuit against Baker in 1963 by his associates in a vending company, who alleged that he failed to uphold certain agreements. These associates were primarily Las Vegas gamblers, including [[Edward Levinson]], a lieutenant of Florida mobster [[Meyer Lansky]], whose Fremont Hotel in Vegas was financed through a [[Jimmy Hoffa|Hoffa]] loan.[^1]
|
On October 8, 1963, Baker was forced to resign as a Senate investigation into his outside business activities began to reveal numerous questionable deals. Baker's dealings were tightly interwoven with the [[Clint Murchison, Sr.|Murchison family]] and organized crime figures. The Senate investigation was initially prompted by a lawsuit against Baker in 1963 by his associates in a vending company, who alleged that he failed to uphold certain agreements. These associates were primarily Las Vegas gamblers, including [[Edward Levinson]], a lieutenant of Florida mobster [[Meyer Lansky]], whose Fremont Hotel in Vegas was financed through a [[Jimmy Hoffa|Hoffa]] loan.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
47
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Brad Brunon.md
Normal file
47
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Brad Brunon.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- Person/Law_Enforcement
|
||||||
|
- United_States
|
||||||
|
- 1980s
|
||||||
|
- Contra_War
|
||||||
|
- Dark_Alliance_Investigation
|
||||||
|
summary: Los Angeles attorney who represented Danilo Blandón and provided firsthand observations about Contra fundraising through cocaine trafficking.
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Bradley Brunon was a Los Angeles attorney who represented [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]] throughout his legal troubles and provided firsthand observations about the intersection of Contra fundraising and cocaine trafficking in the early 1980s.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Observations of Contra Cocaine Trafficking
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Brunon met Blandón while defending a middle-class [[Nicaragua|Nicaraguan]] exile accused of drug trafficking. He said Blandón was one of several former [[Anastasio Somoza|Somoza]] supporters dealing cocaine in [[Los Angeles]] in the early 1980s. "People were being arrested who had high government connections, or high military connections, in the Somoza regime, who didn't have any particular lifestyle consistent with being cocaine dealers, didn't have a background consistent with that, but they were highly politicized individuals. And the only politics I was aware that they were involved with was this attempt to fund the Contra revolutionary insurgency."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Brunon said it was his understanding that "the [[Contras]], and I don't even know if they were known as that then... had no above-the-line funding. Everything was sub rosa and one of the ways they were trying to raise money was importing cocaine." He clarified that this information "was information that I didn't specifically receive from Blandón, but that I had surmised based on a series of events that were happening."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Knowledge of Blandón's Contra Involvement
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón was fairly close-mouthed about his role with the Contras, according to Brunon. "I don't know the formal particulars of it other than there was this kind of atmosphere of [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and clandestine activities and so forth that surrounded him when I met him. He never was specific. I mean, I believed he was involved with the Contras. I don't think there's any doubt about that. Beyond that, I never got into the particulars with him, because I didn't have a need to know at that point."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Encounters with Ronald Lister
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Brunon met [[Ronald Lister]] in 1986, when Lister showed up unannounced at the lawyer's office and began asking very detailed questions about Blandón's background. "It was just like the hair on the back of your neck goes up. What does this guy want? What's he doing here? Is he investigating Blandón?" Brunon said. "I never knew what his true role was. I mean, he covertly insinuated that he was CIA. At least, if not a sworn member, whatever the hell they do to get to become employees — some sort of operative." Brunon "really didn't have much communication with the guy because he scared me."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Brunon described Lister as "one of these guys who would boast about having bugging capabilities, would boast about having wiretap capabilities, you could get any information any time, one of those... I-can-uplink-to-the-satellite sort of guy."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### CIA Claims and the FBI
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
A 1986 [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] report about Blandón obtained by [[Gary Webb]] through a FOIA request revealed that Brunon had called the [[Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office|L.A. County Sheriff's Office]] after a police raid and claimed the CIA had "winked" at Blandón's activities.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### DEA Knowledge of Blandón
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Brunon stated in court in 1992 that the [[DEA]] possessed extensive knowledge of Blandón's drug dealing spanning over a decade: "I have some 300 DEA-6 reports regarding Mr. Blandón, and the reports relate to activities between approximately 1981 and May 1992." This was a period during which Blandón was granted U.S. political asylum, ran a multimillion-dollar cocaine operation, and served as a DEA informant.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Views on Blandón's 1992 Case
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[[LAPD]] narcotics detective Ron Hodges, who investigated Blandón in conjunction with the DEA in 1991-92, told Webb that the case against Blandón was remarkably weak. "What's hard to understand [is] when we actually did the investigation on him and it came to a conclusion, I think he was charged with what they consider a 'no-dope conspiracy,' which is like nothing. It's so minimal. It's like trying to do something when there is nothing there." Brunon pointed out that his client had no criminal record, and the DEA had nothing more than some loose talk with criminal informants and no evidence of actual drug dealing.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 6: "They were doing their patriotic duty"
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Prologue: "It was like they didn't want to know"
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 10: "Teach a man a craft and he's liable to practice it"
|
||||||
|
[^4]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 25: "Things are moving all around us"
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- Lawyer
|
||||||
|
- LawEnforcement
|
||||||
|
summary: "Eckerson's disclosure statements on file at the Mariposa County Courthouse indicated that he owned stock in MCA Entertainment Corporation."
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
[[Bruce Eckerson]] was the Mariposa County District Attorney. He was closely associated with [[Ed Hardy]], president of Curry Company, and County Assessor [[Steve Dunbar]], and Congressman [[Tony Coelho]]. These men were known for their annual camping trips together.[^1]
|
[[Bruce Eckerson]] was the Mariposa County District Attorney. He was closely associated with [[Ed Hardy]], president of Curry Company, and County Assessor [[Steve Dunbar]], and Congressman [[Tony Coelho]]. These men were known for their annual camping trips together.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Eckerson's disclosure statements on file at the Mariposa County Courthouse indicated that he owned stock in [[Music Corporation of America|MCA]] Entertainment Corporation. He was appointed by [[John Van de Kamp]], the State Attorney General, to take charge of the investigation into the "[[Queen's accident]]" and submit a new report, after Van de Kamp allegedly told his assistant to "discard" the original report.[^1]
|
Eckerson's disclosure statements on file at the Mariposa County Courthouse indicated that he owned stock in [[Music Corporation of America|MCA]] Entertainment Corporation. He was appointed by [[John Van de Kamp]], the State Attorney General, to take charge of the investigation into the "[[Queen's accident]]" and submit a new report, after Van de Kamp allegedly told his assistant to "discard" the original report.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2025-07-22
|
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
||||||
updated: 2025-07-22
|
|
||||||
title: Bud Duncan
|
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- photointerpreter
|
- RemoteViewer
|
||||||
- psychic
|
- Military
|
||||||
description: Bud Duncan was an Army civilian photo-interpreter and an early member of the Stargate Project's remote viewing unit.
|
- Stargate
|
||||||
|
summary: "Army civilian photo-interpreter and early member of the Gondola Wish (later Grill Flame) remote viewing unit."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Bud Duncan]] was an Army civilian photo-interpreter and an early member of the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Gondola Wish]] (later [[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]]) remote viewing unit. He was one of the four Army civilians in the initial group of candidates selected by [[Frederick Atwater|Skip Atwater]] and [[Murray Watt|Scotty Watt]].[^1]
|
[[Bud Duncan]] was an Army civilian photo-interpreter and an early member of the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Gondola Wish]] (later [[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]]) remote viewing unit. He was one of the four Army civilians in the initial group of candidates selected by [[Frederick Atwater|Skip Atwater]] and [[Murray Watt|Scotty Watt]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "PROMIS Scandal"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Lawyer
|
- PROMIS
|
||||||
- Government
|
- INSLAW
|
||||||
- USA
|
summary: "Individual asked to represent INSLAW in the PROMIS software case after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[C. Boyden Gray]] was an individual whom [[Daniel Murphy]] asked to "become the [[John Adams]] of the [[INSLAW]] case" and represent [[INSLAW]] after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Murphy asked Gray to represent [[INSLAW]] "simply because it was the right thing to do."[^1]
|
[[C. Boyden Gray]] was an individual whom [[Daniel Murphy]] asked to "become the [[John Adams]] of the [[INSLAW]] case" and represent [[INSLAW]] after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Murphy asked Gray to represent [[INSLAW]] "simply because it was the right thing to do."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,25 +1,41 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
aliases: ["Brick Brewer"]
|
category: "PROMIS Scandal"
|
||||||
|
created: 2024-04-25
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-05-01
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- PROMIS
|
||||||
|
- DoJ
|
||||||
|
- Lawyer
|
||||||
|
- INSLAW
|
||||||
|
summary: "C. Madison 'Brick' Brewer was the DOJ project manager for the INSLAW PROMIS implementation contract, whose prior employment as general counsel for INSLAW's predecessor organization became central to allegations that his administration of the contract was driven by personal vendetta against Bill Hamilton."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
C. Madison "Brick" Brewer was a [[United States Department of Justice|DOJ]] official who served as the Project Manager overseeing the installation of [[PROMIS]] software in United States Attorneys' offices, beginning in late January 1982. Prior to this role, Brewer had been the General Counsel for the Institute for Law and Social Research, the predecessor to [[Inslaw Corporation]].
|
C. Madison "Brick" Brewer was a [[Department of Justice|DOJ]] attorney who served as Project Manager for the [[PROMIS]] software implementation contract with [[INSLAW]], a position he assumed in late January 1982, shortly before the contract was formally signed in March 1982. Before joining DOJ, Brewer had been General Counsel for the Institute for Law and Social Research, the non-profit predecessor organization out of which [[Bill Hamilton]] and [[Nancy Hamilton]] built INSLAW. His transition from the predecessor organization to the government agency administering the INSLAW contract placed him at the center of one of the most contested aspects of the [[PROMIS Software Scandal]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
## Role in the PROMIS Software Scandal
|
### Administration of the INSLAW Contract
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Brewer became a central figure in the [[PROMIS Software Scandal]] due to allegations of bias against [[INSLAW]] and its president, [[Bill Hamilton]]. Inslaw claimed that Brewer's actions were motivated by a personal vendetta, stemming from his earlier departure from the Institute. This alleged bias, according to Inslaw, led to a series of engineered or exploited contract disputes between Inslaw and the DOJ.
|
Brewer attended negotiating sessions for the March 1982 implementation contract. In April 1982, at a meeting with INSLAW representatives, he called a Hamilton memorandum asserting proprietary rights "scurrilous" — a characterization that [[George Francis Bason, Jr.|Bankruptcy Judge Bason]] would later cite as evidence of Brewer's adversarial posture. Brewer consistently opposed escrow arrangements that would have protected INSLAW's proprietary claims while the rights dispute was being litigated, taking positions Hamilton characterized as designed to deny INSLAW any protection for its privately-funded software enhancements.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Bankruptcy Judge Bason, in his findings, concluded that Brewer was "consumed by hatred for and an intense desire for revenge against INSLAW," and that Brewer's actions were part of a strategy to ruin Inslaw. Judge Bason also found that Brewer's bias influenced other DOJ personnel responsible for the Inslaw contract.
|
When INSLAW disclosed in November 1982 that it had pledged government invoices to the Bank of Bethesda as collateral for a line of credit — a violation of the contract's advance payments clause — Brewer was described as "extremely angry" and supported terminating the advance payments arrangement. INSLAW alleged this decision was used to exacerbate a financial crisis that DOJ had helped engineer; Brewer characterized it as a straightforward enforcement of a contractual violation by a company he believed had been dishonest.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
However, an investigation by Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua found no evidence to support the claim that Brewer's actions were driven by a desire for revenge. The investigation concluded that Brewer's concerns about Inslaw were based on his assessment of Inslaw's conduct in connection with the 1981 BJS contract and the 1982 EOUSA contract, and not due to his departure from the Institute. Brewer candidly stated that he believed Hamilton was dishonest and that Inslaw did not intend to fulfill some of its contractual obligations.
|
DOJ employees who received INSLAW's formal complaints about Brewer's conduct received instructions that Brewer "should not take the point outside the Department" on data rights issues — a restriction on his external negotiating role that INSLAW interpreted as protective of Brewer rather than corrective.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
## Key Events and Allegations:
|
### Bankruptcy Judge Bason's Findings
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
* **PROMIS Implementation Contract (1982):** Brewer began his duties at the EOUSA in January 1982, shortly before the PROMIS implementation contract with Inslaw was signed in March 1982. He attended some of the negotiating sessions for the contract.
|
In his September 1987 adversary proceeding ruling, Bankruptcy Judge Bason concluded that Brewer had developed "an intense and abiding hatred" for Hamilton and INSLAW and that Brewer "devised a strategy to have the government 'ruin' INSLAW." Bason further found that Brewer's "poisonous attitude" toward INSLAW had infected other DOJ personnel responsible for administering the contract, contributing to a systematic pattern of decisions adverse to INSLAW that went beyond legitimate contract enforcement.[^2]
|
||||||
* **Early Proprietary Rights Disputes:** In April 1982, Brewer strongly opposed Inslaw's claims of proprietary rights over its PROMIS software, particularly regarding "PROMIS 82." He viewed Inslaw's assertions as "scurrilous" and maintained that the five BJS enhancements were in the public domain, despite Inslaw's claims of private funding.
|
|
||||||
* **Advance Payments Dispute:** Brewer was reportedly "extremely angry" upon learning that Inslaw had obtained commercial financing after representing that it could not, which was a violation of the advance payments clause in their contract. He supported the termination of advance payments, believing Inslaw had been dishonest.
|
|
||||||
* **Alleged Conspiracy to Steal PROMIS:** Inslaw alleged that Brewer, along with others, conspired to steal PROMIS for the benefit of [[Earl Brian]]. The Special Counsel's investigation found no credible evidence to support this allegation, concluding that Brewer's actions were consistent with protecting the government's interests.
|
|
||||||
* **Inslaw Bankruptcy Conversion:** Inslaw alleged that Brewer was involved in a plot to convert Inslaw's Chapter 11 reorganization to a Chapter 7 liquidation. Bankruptcy Judge Bason found that Brewer originated this plan and enlisted [[Thomas Stanton]], Director of the Executive Office of U.S. Trustees (EOUST), in the effort. However, the Special Counsel's investigation found insufficient evidence to support this claim, noting that Brewer and Stanton denied any such discussions.
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
## Sources:
|
Bason also found that Brewer had originated a plan to convert INSLAW's Chapter 11 reorganization to a Chapter 7 liquidation and had enlisted [[Thomas Stanton]], Director of the Executive Office of U.S. Trustees, in this effort.[^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. (Hereafter, "Bua Report")
|
|
||||||
|
### House Judiciary Committee Findings
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The House Judiciary Committee's September 1992 report cited Brewer as a central figure in the DOJ's misappropriation of PROMIS. The committee found that high-level DOJ officials had "deliberately ignored INSLAW's proprietary rights" and misappropriated the software, and that Brewer's documented adversarial conduct was a key mechanism through which this occurred. The report raised the question of whether Brewer's actions were independent or directed from above — specifically, whether [[Lowell Jensen]] had knowingly allowed Brewer's campaign to proceed as part of a broader conspiracy with [[Earl Brian]].[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Bua Report Findings
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Special Counsel [[Nicholas J. Bua]] reached different conclusions from Judge Bason. Bua found that Brewer's actions were consistent with his sincere belief that INSLAW's conduct violated the contract and that Hamilton was being dishonest in asserting proprietary rights over software developed largely with government funds. The Bua Report found no credible evidence that Brewer acted from personal hatred rather than a legal assessment of the government's interests, and no evidence connecting Brewer to any conspiracy involving Brian or to the alleged international distribution of PROMIS.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: 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.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Bankruptcy Court for the District of Columbia, *In re Inslaw, Inc.*, Adversary Proceeding No. 86-0069, Ruling of Judge George F. Bason, September 28, 1987; Independent Handling Proceeding, June 1987.
|
||||||
|
[^3]: 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.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Belgium Scandals"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Victim
|
|
||||||
- Belgium
|
- Belgium
|
||||||
- 1980s
|
summary: "Carine Dellaert was a Belgian woman whose 1983 death was investigated as part of the X-Dossier."
|
||||||
- X-Dossier
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
Carine Dellaert was a Belgian woman whose 1983 death was investigated as part of the [[X-Dossier]]. X1 ([[Regina Louf]]) described witnessing Dellaert's death at one of [[Michel Nihoul]]'s parties, testifying that Dellaert had given birth during a party and was subsequently murdered. An autopsy of Dellaert's remains confirmed evidence of childbirth, corroborating aspects of X1's testimony with physical evidence unavailable to the public.[^1]
|
|
||||||
|
Carine Dellaert was a Belgian woman whose 1983 death was investigated as part of the [[X-Dossier]]. X1 ([[Regina Louf]]) described witnessing Dellaert's death at one of [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]'s parties, testifying that Dellaert had given birth during a party and was subsequently murdered. An autopsy of Dellaert's remains confirmed evidence of childbirth, corroborating aspects of X1's testimony with physical evidence unavailable to the public.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Key Figures"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Intelligence
|
- Stargate
|
||||||
- CIA
|
- CIA
|
||||||
|
- Military
|
||||||
|
summary: "Duckett became the recipient of intelligence on Israel's nuclear program, which was routed to his office from sources like Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Los Alamos through the CIA's Office of Science and Technology."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Carl E. Duckett was an American intelligence official who headed the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s Office of Science and Technology and later served as Deputy Director for Science and Technology. He was recruited to the Agency in 1963 from the Army's Missile Command headquarters and became a key figure in both nuclear intelligence and unconventional research programs.[^1][^2]
|
Carl E. Duckett was an American intelligence official who headed the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s Office of Science and Technology and later served as Deputy Director for Science and Technology. He was recruited to the Agency in 1963 from the Army's Missile Command headquarters and became a key figure in both nuclear intelligence and unconventional research programs.[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Nuclear Intelligence Operations
|
### Nuclear Intelligence Operations
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
18
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Carlos Amador.md
Normal file
18
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Carlos Amador.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Iran-Contra"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- person
|
||||||
|
- colombian
|
||||||
|
- contra-war
|
||||||
|
summary: Carlos Amador was a pilot who planned to fly into Ilopango Air Base to pick up cocaine from Hangar No. 4 and transport it to Miami, according to a DEA cable.
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Carlos Amador was a pilot who planned to fly into [[Ilopango Airbase]] to pick up [[cocaine]] from Hangar No. 4 and transport it to [[Miami]], according to a March 1986 [[DEA]] cable. Amador's planned flight provided direct evidence of the drug trafficking operation at the base where [[Felix Rodriguez]] and [[Oliver North]] managed the [[Contras|Contra]] resupply effort.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Ilopango Connection
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
DEA agent [[Celerino Castillo|Celerino Castillo III]], based in [[Guatemala City]], received reports that Amador "was intending to fly into Ilopango, pick up cocaine at Hangar No. 4, and take it to Miami." When Castillo's investigation escalated, the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] station in [[El Salvador]] sent a desperate message to [[Costa Rica]] Station advising the DEA not to make inquiries about anyone at Hangar No. 4. Amador's case illustrated how the CIA's Contra supply operation and the cocaine trade used the same facilities and infrastructure.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 15.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 15.
|
||||||
67
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Carlos Cabezas.md
Normal file
67
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Carlos Cabezas.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Organized Crime"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- Drug_Trafficker
|
||||||
|
- Contra
|
||||||
|
- Nicaragua
|
||||||
|
- San_Francisco
|
||||||
|
- 1980s
|
||||||
|
- Dark_Alliance_Investigation
|
||||||
|
summary: Nicaraguan cocaine trafficker in San Francisco who testified that drug profits from the Meneses organization were going to the Contras, was convicted in the Frogman Case, and in 1996 admitted on the record to delivering millions in drug money to the Contras.
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Carlos Augusto Cabezas Ramirez was a [[Nicaragua|Nicaraguan]] exile, former [[Nicaraguan National Guard|National Guard]] fighter pilot, lawyer, accountant, and banker who became a cocaine dealer for [[Julio Zavala]]'s drug organization in [[San Francisco]]. As a U.S. government witness, Cabezas testified that his drug profits were going to [[Contras|Contra]] organizations in [[Costa Rica]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Background in Nicaragua
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
By age fourteen Cabezas was helping his mother support nine brothers and sisters. In 1970 he went to the [[United States]], spending four years studying to become a commercial pilot while working nights as a janitor. He returned to Nicaragua with his pilot's license, joined the National Guard, and flew for [[Anastasio Somoza|Somoza]]'s army while managing a crop-dusting company on the side.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Cabezas later enrolled in the National University of Nicaragua, earned an accounting degree, and was hired by the Bank of America, becoming head of the [[Managua]] branch's foreign division. He obtained a law degree in 1978 and set up a practice in Managua. Near the end of the war, Cabezas participated in the terror bombings of the city of Masaya. On July 15, 1979, four days before the shooting stopped, he caught the last flight out of Managua.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Life in San Francisco
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Cabezas came to San Francisco where his wife, three daughters, mother, and siblings were already living. He worked as a sales agent for Lincoln Insurance Company and as a night janitor at the San Francisco Hilton Hotel. In 1980 Lincoln Insurance named him Sales Agent of the Year. By 1981 he and his wife had scraped together $10,000 for a down payment on a row house in Daly City.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
To become a lawyer in [[California]], Cabezas needed to attend law school full-time and pass the bar exam. Unable to afford quitting his two jobs, he approached his former brother-in-law Julio Zavala for a loan.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Recruitment into Drug Trafficking
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Zavala, who was facing mounting legal pressure from [[DEA]] surveillance, offered Cabezas a job delivering cocaine and collecting money. Zavala told him he would pay $500 per kilo delivered, plus a percentage of drug debts collected, and that some of the cocaine profits would help finance the Contras. Cabezas accepted.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Within weeks DEA agent Sandra Smith spotted Cabezas picking up two L.A. drug dealers at the airport and driving them to his Daly City home. The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] soon joined the investigation, placing at least four confidential informants inside the operation and eventually monitoring more than 13,000 phone conversations.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Contra Cocaine Connection
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Cabezas's cocaine came from two sources: Ãlvaro Carvajal Minota, a Colombian in San Francisco connected to the nascent [[Cali Drug Cartel]]; and a Costa Rican source that supplied higher-quality Peruvian cocaine. It was the Peruvian cocaine, Cabezas said, that belonged to the Contras.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In December 1981, Zavala sent Cabezas to Costa Rica to meet two of [[Norwin Meneses]]'s associates: [[Horacio Pereira]], a drug dealer and gambler known as "La Burra," and [[Troilo Sanchez|Troilo Sánchez]], a playboy brother of [[FDN]] leaders [[Aristides Sanchez|Aristides]] and [[Fernando Sanchez|Fernando Sánchez]]. Cabezas told [[Central Intelligence Agency]] investigators this meeting "was the genesis of an effort to raise money for the Contras by selling drugs."[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Horacio Pereira told Cabezas he was representing [[UDN-FARN]] and the FDN in Costa Rica and that the CIA would control the delivery of the money. When Pereira grew suspicious of Zavala's drinking and money management, he cut Zavala out and insisted Cabezas personally handle the Contra money. Cabezas agreed to a 50/50 profit split with Zavala in exchange for assuming financial responsibility.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Cocaine from Costa Rica was smuggled inside woven Peruvian baskets. Each basket contained about a kilo of cocaine hidden inside wax-coated strings within the framework. Cabezas personally brought back twelve kilos during the first part of 1982, earning about $17,000. He told CIA inspectors that "Contra mules, typically airline flight attendants" were also bringing baskets into the United States.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Cabezas delivered drug money directly to FDN leader Aristides Sanchez at the Contras' [[Miami]] offices in a shopping center near the airport, and to Horacio Pereira or FDN logistics officer JoaquÃn "Pelón" Vega in [[Honduras]]. On average, Cabezas carried $64,000 on each of his twenty trips to [[Central America]], and once helped deliver about $250,000 to Pereira and Sánchez.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Meeting with CIA Agent "Iván Gómez"
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In April or May 1982, Pereira and Troilo Sánchez introduced Cabezas to a man calling himself [[Ivan Gomez|Iván Gómez]], who identified himself as the CIA's "man in Costa Rica." Gómez told Cabezas he was there to "ensure that the profits from the cocaine went to the Contras and not into someone's pocket." Cabezas saw Gómez only once more, in late summer 1982.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Arrest and Testimony
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On February 15, 1983, federal agents raided fourteen locations in the San Francisco area. Cabezas, his mother, and numerous others were arrested. Cabezas's attorney advised him to cooperate, and he became a government witness against Julio Zavala.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
At Zavala's trial in late 1984, Cabezas testified under oath that drug profits were going to the Contras. Pages from his ledger books showing cocaine transactions with Contra official Fernando Sánchez were introduced into evidence. Zavala was convicted. Cabezas's testimony went unchallenged—and unreported. Though San Francisco media had extensively covered the arrests, not a single reporter covered the trial.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Cabezas pleaded guilty to drug charges in 1984 and served several years in prison. He later returned to Managua and was practicing law there as of 1998.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Post-Series Interview
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In December 1996, journalist [[Georg Hodel]] located Cabezas in Managua. Cabezas admitted on the record that he had delivered millions of dollars in drug money to the Contras and identified CIA agent Ivan Gómez as having direct knowledge of the operation. He provided names, dates, amounts, and pages from his drug ledgers. "We've got it," Hodel told [[Gary Webb]]. "Cabezas is willing to talk on the record."[[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In 1987, Cabezas had written to [[Doyle McManus|McManus]] of the [[Los Angeles Times|L.A. Times]] after McManus reported there was "no supporting evidence" for Contra drug allegations, telling the reporter: "I am going to tell you that there was indeed 'supporting evidence,' hidden by the government." Cabezas described his trip to Costa Rica with $250,000 and noted the FBI made no attempt to stop him despite his traveling with an FBI informant. He also told McManus the FBI had tape-recorded conversations between Fernando Sánchez, Troilo Sánchez, and himself about drug transactions. McManus replied asking Cabezas to substantiate his "allegations" and inquired about Sandinista drug trafficking. Cabezas sent documents about the Contras and never heard from McManus again.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Cast of Characters
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 5: "God, Fatherland and Freedom"
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 27: "A very difficult decision"
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,31 +1,33 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Iran-Contra"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Business
|
- IranContra
|
||||||
- ArmsDealer
|
- Israel
|
||||||
- Chile
|
summary: "Cardoen later resigned and became a private contractor, securing a deal to supply all blasting equipment to the Chilean Mining Corporation."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
[[Carlos Cardoen]] is a Chilean businessman and arms producer, owner of [[Cardoen Industries]]. He comes from an upper-class Chilean family of Italian descent. After attending university in the [[USA|U.S.]] and receiving a degree as a mining engineer, he returned to [[Santiago]], [[Chile]], after [[Augusto Pinochet|General Augusto Pinochet's]] 1973 coup d'état to work for the government-owned [[Chilean Mining Corporation]]. His job involved procuring explosives for mining, which became a lucrative business for him personally due to kickbacks.[^1]
|
|
||||||
|
[[Carlos Cardoen]] is a Chilean businessman and arms producer, owner of [[Cardoen Industries]]. He comes from an upper-class Chilean family of Italian descent. After attending university in the [[United States|U.S.]] and receiving a degree as a mining engineer, he returned to [[Santiago]], [[Chile]], after [[Augusto Pinochet|General Augusto Pinochet's]] 1973 coup d'état to work for the government-owned [[Chilean Mining Corporation]]. His job involved procuring explosives for mining, which became a lucrative business for him personally due to kickbacks.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Cardoen later resigned and became a private contractor, securing a deal to supply all blasting equipment to the Chilean Mining Corporation. He then ventured into arms brokering, though initially without success. In 1979, he applied to [[SIBAT]], the Foreign Defense Sales Office of the [[Israel|Israeli]] Ministry of Defense, for a license to sell [[Israel|Israeli]] arms in [[South America]]. His request was denied due to his lack of experience and established political connections.[^1]
|
Cardoen later resigned and became a private contractor, securing a deal to supply all blasting equipment to the Chilean Mining Corporation. He then ventured into arms brokering, though initially without success. In 1979, he applied to [[SIBAT]], the Foreign Defense Sales Office of the [[Israel|Israeli]] Ministry of Defense, for a license to sell [[Israel|Israeli]] arms in [[South America]]. His request was denied due to his lack of experience and established political connections.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
After being rejected by [[Israel]], Cardoen obtained a brokering license from the [[South African Arms Corporation|ARMSCOR]] (South Africa's government weapons manufacturer) with the help of the Chilean ambassador to [[South Africa]]. He then secured loans from Chilean banks and began operating as an arms producer and broker.[^1]
|
After being rejected by [[Israel]], Cardoen obtained a brokering license from the [[Armscor|ARMSCOR]] (South Africa's government weapons manufacturer) with the help of the Chilean ambassador to [[South Africa]]. He then secured loans from Chilean banks and began operating as an arms producer and broker.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
By 1985, Cardoen was selling arms to [[Iraq]], with the help of [[South African Arms Corporation|ARMSCOR]] and support from individuals connected to the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], such as [[Alan Sanders]] of [[ITICO]]. He received blueprints for cluster bombs from Sanders and, despite a [[United Nations]] arms embargo against [[Chile]], produced these bombs with a covert [[USA|U.S.]] license. [[Israel]] was interested in acquiring these bombs.[^1]
|
By 1985, Cardoen was selling arms to [[Iraq]], with the help of [[Armscor|ARMSCOR]] and support from individuals connected to the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], such as [[Alan Sanders]] of [[ITICO]]. He received blueprints for cluster bombs from Sanders and, despite a [[United Nations]] arms embargo against [[Chile]], produced these bombs with a covert [[United States|U.S.]] license. [[Israel]] was interested in acquiring these bombs.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In 1985, [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] approached [[Alan Sanders]] to purchase cluster bombs for [[Israel]], and was informed that Cardoen would sell to anyone who paid him. A few weeks later, [[Israel]] received cluster bombs from [[Santiago]] via diplomatic crate.[^1]
|
In 1985, [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] approached [[Alan Sanders]] to purchase cluster bombs for [[Israel]], and was informed that Cardoen would sell to anyone who paid him. A few weeks later, [[Israel]] received cluster bombs from [[Santiago]] via diplomatic crate.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Robert Gates]], then [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] deputy director for intelligence, was approached by [[Nachum Admoni]] ([[Mossad]] director) regarding [[USA|U.S.]] support for Cardoen. Admoni expressed [[Israel|Israeli]] concerns about the support for [[Iraq]], especially through [[Chile]] and [[South Africa]]. By this time, Cardoen owned two chemical weapons plants in [[Santiago]], a cluster bomb factory in cooperation with [[Chile]]'s military, and a third chemical weapons plant in [[Paraguay]]. He was also building a chemical weapons plant outside [[Baghdad]].[^1]
|
[[Robert Gates]], then [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] deputy director for intelligence, was approached by [[Nachum Admoni]] ([[Mossad]] director) regarding [[United States|U.S.]] support for Cardoen. Admoni expressed [[Israel|Israeli]] concerns about the support for [[Iraq]], especially through [[Chile]] and [[South Africa]]. By this time, Cardoen owned two chemical weapons plants in [[Santiago]], a cluster bomb factory in cooperation with [[Chile]]'s military, and a third chemical weapons plant in [[Paraguay]]. He was also building a chemical weapons plant outside [[Baghdad]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Cardoen's [[Santiago]]-produced chemical weapons and those from [[Paraguay]] used artillery cups from [[West Germany]], procured by [[Ihsan Barbouti]]. These materials were shipped to [[Baghdad]] by [[Iraqi Airways]] cargo planes. Cardoen used [[USA|U.S.]] banks, such as the [[Valley National Bank of Arizona]], to finance his sales and obtained raw materials for chemical manufacturing from a factory in [[Boca Raton]], [[Florida]]. The [[Gamma Corporation]], a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] cut-out, sold fuses for the cluster bombs to Cardoen.[^1]
|
Cardoen's [[Santiago]]-produced chemical weapons and those from [[Paraguay]] used artillery cups from [[West Germany]], procured by [[Ihsan Barbouti]]. These materials were shipped to [[Baghdad]] by [[Iraqi Airways]] cargo planes. Cardoen used [[United States|U.S.]] banks, such as the [[Valley National Bank of Arizona]], to finance his sales and obtained raw materials for chemical manufacturing from a factory in [[Boca Raton]], [[Florida]]. The [[Gamma Corporation]], a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] cut-out, sold fuses for the cluster bombs to Cardoen.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In late 1986, [[Israel]] expressed concern about arms shipments to [[Iraq]], with [[Yitzhak Shamir]] threatening to go to [[USA|Congress]]. [[Robert Gates]] called a meeting in [[Santiago]] to calm the [[Israel|Israelis]]. Attendees included Cardoen, Gates, Senator [[John Tower]], [[Pieter Van Der Westhuizen|Gen. Pieter Van Der Westhuizen]] (South African Military Intelligence), and [[Rodolfo Stange|Gen. Rodolfo Stange]] (Chilean Carabineros). At this meeting, [[USA|U.S.]] officials made it clear they intended to maintain the arms channel to [[Iraq]] to bring [[Iraq]] into their sphere of influence, assuring [[Israel]] it would not be harmed. Cardoen continued to supply chemical weapons and cluster bombs to [[Iraq]] despite [[Israel|Israeli]] concerns.[^1]
|
In late 1986, [[Israel]] expressed concern about arms shipments to [[Iraq]], with [[Yitzhak Shamir]] threatening to go to [[United States|Congress]]. [[Robert Gates]] called a meeting in [[Santiago]] to calm the [[Israel|Israelis]]. Attendees included Cardoen, Gates, Senator [[John Tower]], [[Pieter Van Der Westhuizen|Gen. Pieter Van Der Westhuizen]] (South African Military Intelligence), and [[Rodolfo Stange|Gen. Rodolfo Stange]] (Chilean Carabineros). At this meeting, [[United States|U.S.]] officials made it clear they intended to maintain the arms channel to [[Iraq]] to bring [[Iraq]] into their sphere of influence, assuring [[Israel]] it would not be harmed. Cardoen continued to supply chemical weapons and cluster bombs to [[Iraq]] despite [[Israel|Israeli]] concerns.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In September 1988, [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] was sent to [[Chile]] to confront Cardoen. Ben-Menashe offered Cardoen a deal: [[Israel]] would license him to produce [[Uzi]]s, [[Galil assault rifles]], artillery shells, and mortars, and exclusively sell these materials throughout [[South America]], in exchange for stopping his chemical trade with [[Iraq]]. Cardoen was given two weeks to consider the offer. During this visit, Cardoen introduced Ben-Menashe to [[Mark Thatcher]], implying Thatcher was involved in his business.[^1]
|
In September 1988, [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] was sent to [[Chile]] to confront Cardoen. Ben-Menashe offered Cardoen a deal: [[Israel]] would license him to produce [[Uzi]]s, [[Galil assault rifles]], artillery shells, and mortars, and exclusively sell these materials throughout [[South America]], in exchange for stopping his chemical trade with [[Iraq]]. Cardoen was given two weeks to consider the offer. During this visit, Cardoen introduced Ben-Menashe to [[Mark Thatcher]], implying Thatcher was involved in his business.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Cardoen was furious about [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe's]] visit to his plant in [[Paraguay]] and his attempts to stop the trade. He claimed to have the backing of the [[USA|Americans]] and the Chilean government, and threatened [[Israel]] if they interfered. He also revealed that [[Robert Gates|Gates]]'s office provided technology directly from the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], and that [[Ihsan Barbouti]] was a key link in his operations. He mentioned [[Alan Bond]] and British investors as backers.[^1]
|
Cardoen was furious about [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe's]] visit to his plant in [[Paraguay]] and his attempts to stop the trade. He claimed to have the backing of the [[United States|Americans]] and the Chilean government, and threatened [[Israel]] if they interfered. He also revealed that [[Robert Gates|Gates]]'s office provided technology directly from the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], and that [[Ihsan Barbouti]] was a key link in his operations. He mentioned [[Alan Bond]] and British investors as backers.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In February 1989, [[Carlos Cardoen|Cardoen]]'s plant in [[Paraguay]] was not closed down, thanks to [[Andres Rodriguez|President Andres Rodriguez]], who continued to rule the country with [[USA|U.S.]] blessing. Charges were filed against Cardoen in [[Miami]] in April 1992 by the [[USA|U.S.]] Customs Service following newspaper exposés of his involvement with [[Iraq]].[^1]
|
In February 1989, [[Carlos Cardoen|Cardoen]]'s plant in [[Paraguay]] was not closed down, thanks to [[Andres Rodriguez|President Andres Rodriguez]], who continued to rule the country with [[United States|U.S.]] blessing. Charges were filed against Cardoen in [[Miami]] in April 1992 by the [[United States|U.S.]] Customs Service following newspaper exposés of his involvement with [[Iraq]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. (Hereafter, "Profits of War")
|
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,14 +1,13 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "World War II & Nazi Era"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Brothel-Madam
|
- WW2
|
||||||
- Criminal
|
- Nazi
|
||||||
- Belgium
|
summary: "Cecile Beernaert, grandmother of witness Regina Louf (X1), operated a brothel at a hotel-villa in Knokke-Heist, Belgium, during World War II, catering to Nazi officers stationed in the area."
|
||||||
- 1970s-1990s
|
|
||||||
- Dutroux-Affair
|
|
||||||
- X-Dossier
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
Cecile Beernaert, grandmother of witness [[Regina Louf]] (X1), operated a brothel at a hotel-villa in Knokke-Heist, Belgium, during World War II, catering to Nazi officers stationed in the area. Widowed after the war, Beernaert continued running establishments in the region, including a house at Golfpad 4, 8300 Knokke, tucked behind Elizabetlaan 83, on the northwestern boundary of the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]]. Louf claimed Beernaert prostituted her from age two at these locations, using the properties for sexual exploitation of young girls provided to clients including politicians and businessmen. Beernaert, known as Madame Cecile, managed the girls with threats of violence, including beatings with a metal ruler and gun pointed at temples for non-compliance. The brothel operated from the 1970s, with Louf describing two rooms: one for mutual acts between children, the other for quick encounters where men undressed minimally. Beernaert filmed some sessions and used a basement studio for pornography production, distributing materials through networks linked to [[Michel Nihoul]]. Louf's testimony in the [[X-Dossier]] identified the site as a venue for elite abusers, with clients arriving from the golf club.[^1]
|
|
||||||
|
Cecile Beernaert, grandmother of witness [[Regina Louf]] (X1), operated a brothel at a hotel-villa in Knokke-Heist, Belgium, during World War II, catering to Nazi officers stationed in the area. Widowed after the war, Beernaert continued running establishments in the region, including a house at Golfpad 4, 8300 Knokke, tucked behind Elizabetlaan 83, on the northwestern boundary of the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]]. Louf claimed Beernaert prostituted her from age two at these locations, using the properties for sexual exploitation of young girls provided to clients including politicians and businessmen. Beernaert, known as Madame Cecile, managed the girls with threats of violence, including beatings with a metal ruler and gun pointed at temples for non-compliance. The brothel operated from the 1970s, with Louf describing two rooms: one for mutual acts between children, the other for quick encounters where men undressed minimally. Beernaert filmed some sessions and used a basement studio for pornography production, distributing materials through networks linked to [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]. Louf's testimony in the [[X-Dossier]] identified the site as a venue for elite abusers, with clients arriving from the golf club.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Beernaert's operations involved grooming Louf and other children, including friend [[Chantal Storme]], forcing them into sexual acts with each other and clients. Louf stated Beernaert consoled them post-abuse but enforced participation with physical punishment. The house at Golfpad 4 served as a primary location, with Beernaert controlling access and ensuring silence. Louf recalled being branded and forced into acts with dogs during this period. Beernaert's husband, a former police commissioner in Knokke-Heist, provided cover, allowing the brothel to function near the Royal Zoute Golf Club, patronized by nobles and elites including the [[Count Leopold Lippens]] family, who owned the club through Count Maurice Auguste Lippens. Beernaert's activities extended to the 1980s, where Louf was sold to pimp [[Tony Van den Boggaert]] around age 12, transitioning her to Nihoul's parties.[^1]
|
Beernaert's operations involved grooming Louf and other children, including friend [[Chantal Storme]], forcing them into sexual acts with each other and clients. Louf stated Beernaert consoled them post-abuse but enforced participation with physical punishment. The house at Golfpad 4 served as a primary location, with Beernaert controlling access and ensuring silence. Louf recalled being branded and forced into acts with dogs during this period. Beernaert's husband, a former police commissioner in Knokke-Heist, provided cover, allowing the brothel to function near the Royal Zoute Golf Club, patronized by nobles and elites including the [[Count Leopold Lippens]] family, who owned the club through Count Maurice Auguste Lippens. Beernaert's activities extended to the 1980s, where Louf was sold to pimp [[Tony Van den Boggaert]] around age 12, transitioning her to Nihoul's parties.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
35
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Celerino Castillo.md
Normal file
35
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Celerino Castillo.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- Person/Law_Enforcement
|
||||||
|
- DEA
|
||||||
|
- El_Salvador
|
||||||
|
- 1980s
|
||||||
|
- Contra_War
|
||||||
|
summary: Celerino Castillo III was a DEA agent who discovered Contra drug trafficking operations at Ilopango Air Force Base in El Salvador and had his investigation repeatedly shut down by the CIA and State Department.
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
[[DEA]] agent Celerino Castillo III was assigned to the DEA's regional office in [[Guatemala City]] in October 1985, covering both [[Guatemala]] and [[El Salvador]]. Two days into his new job, agent-in-charge Robert Stia warned him that the U.S. government was running a covert operation at [[Ilopango Airbase|Ilopango Air Force Base]] and Castillo should not interfere with it. At the time, El Salvador produced no drugs and had no major drug rings; the DEA had never opened an office in the country.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Through informants including a Cuban named [[Socrates Sofi-Perez]], Castillo discovered that [[Contras|Contra]] pilots based at Ilopango were brazenly flying drugs to the United States and money to [[Panama]], sometimes leaving kilos in plain view or arriving with boxloads of cash. When Castillo ran the pilots' names through DEA computers, nearly all came back as documented narcotics traffickers. Among the busiest was [[Francisco Guirola Beeche]], who was observed zooming in and out of Ilopango hauling drugs in and carrying cash to the Bahamas. His key informant, known as Murga, wrote flight plans for private planes on the civilian side of the base and could move freely on the military side.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Hangar No. 4 and CIA Obstruction
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In March 1986, a cable from the [[Costa Rica|Costa Rican]] DEA office reported that pilot [[Carlos Amador]] intended to fly into Ilopango, pick up cocaine at Hangar No. 4, and transport it to [[Miami]]. The CIA had used Hangar No. 4 for covert Contra operations until turning it over to the [[National Security Council]] and [[Oliver North]]'s "Enterprise" in 1985. The adjoining Hangar No. 5 was still CIA-run. [[Alan Fiers]] acknowledged the CIA "had a capability and indeed a responsibility for reporting what had been happening at Ilopango." When Castillo began investigating, the CIA sent a cable asking the Costa Rica station to persuade the DEA to back off: "El Salvador Station would appreciate Costa Rica Station advising DEA not to make any inquiries into anyone re: Hangar No. 4 at Ilopango since only legitimate CIA supported operations were conducted from this facility."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Investigation Shut Down
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
U.S. Ambassador [[Edwin Corr]], to whom Castillo reported, sent a secret "back channel" cable to the [[State Department]] requesting an internal DEA review. The DEA informed Corr that Castillo's information was "totally inaccurate" and he was told to close his investigation. When Castillo continued investigating, Corr personally ordered him to "stop the witch hunt." Three years later, when Castillo opened a new investigation into drug trafficking at Hangar No. 5, the CIA refused to allow him on the base and assured him there was no drug activity. Castillo was subsequently investigated by the DEA for administrative violations and forced into disability retirement. The DEA later claimed under FOIA it had no reports from Castillo about drug trafficking at Ilopango - a claim the Justice Department Inspector General exposed as false.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Grasheim Raid and CIA Infiltration
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Denied access to Ilopango, Castillo targeted weapons dealer [[Walter Grasheim|Walter "Wally" Grasheim]], whose home was raided on September 1, 1986. The raid uncovered automatic weapons, M-16s, hand grenades, C-4 explosives, and U.S. Embassy license plates and IDs. Grasheim claimed Castillo's informant was working for the CIA and had been used to divert attention from Ilopango. The Justice Department Inspector General confirmed the informant, Murga, was indeed a CIA asset, and the CIA demanded the DEA stop using him.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Chretien's Role in Internal Investigation
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
After returning to Sacramento, [[Gary Webb|Webb]] phoned Castillo and told him about [[Craig Chretien|Chretien]]'s claim that there was no proof the Contras were involved in drugs. Castillo said Chretien had been one of the DEA officials sent to Guatemala to conduct the internal investigation of him. Castillo said Chretien ordered him to use the word "alleged" in his reports to Washington about Contra drug shipments from Ilopango. "They said, 'You cannot actually come out and say this shit is going on.' And I told them, 'I'm watching the fucking things fly out of here with my own eyes! Why would I have to say alleged?'" Castillo said of Chretien's denial: "Aw, bullshit. Of all people, he knows perfectly well what was going on. He was reading all my reports, looking for grammatical errors."[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 13: "The wrong kind of friends"
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 25: "Things are moving all around us"
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,11 +1,14 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- Charles Bohlen
|
- Charles Bohlen
|
||||||
|
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Diplomat
|
- RemoteViewer
|
||||||
- Ambassador
|
- Soviet
|
||||||
|
summary: "Charles Bohlen (1904–1974) was a distinguished American diplomat who served as the U.S."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Charles Bohlen (1904–1974) was a distinguished American diplomat who served as the U.S. Ambassador to the [[Soviet Union]] from 1953 to 1957. He was one of the ambassadors who was subjected to the [[Moscow Signal]], a microwave beam aimed at the [[U.S. Embassy in Moscow]] by the Soviets[^1].
|
Charles Bohlen (1904–1974) was a distinguished American diplomat who served as the U.S. Ambassador to the [[Soviet Union]] from 1953 to 1957. He was one of the ambassadors who was subjected to the [[Moscow Signal]], a microwave beam aimed at the [[U.S. Embassy in Moscow]] by the Soviets[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Bohlen died of pancreatic cancer on January 1, 1974, at the age of sixty-nine. His death, along with that of [[Llewellyn Thomas]] and later [[Walter Stoessel Jr.]], raised concerns about the potential health effects of prolonged exposure to the Moscow Signal[^1].
|
Bohlen died of pancreatic cancer on January 1, 1974, at the age of sixty-nine. His death, along with that of [[Llewellyn Thomas]] and later [[Walter Stoessel Jr.]], raised concerns about the potential health effects of prolonged exposure to the Moscow Signal[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Authors & Journalists"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Journalist
|
- Journalist
|
||||||
- USA
|
summary: "American newspaper columnist and close friend of JFK who recounted Kennedy's meetings with Jewish leaders regarding Middle East policy."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Charles L. Bartlett was an American newspaper columnist and a close friend of [[John F. Kennedy]]. Kennedy recounted to Bartlett a much different version of his meeting with Jewish leaders at [[Abraham Feinberg]]'s apartment, expressing outrage at the suggestion of controlling U.S. Middle East policy in exchange for campaign funds. Bartlett also recalled Kennedy making cynical remarks about [[Myer Feldman]], his presidential point man for Jewish and Israeli affairs.[^1]
|
Charles L. Bartlett was an American newspaper columnist and a close friend of [[John F. Kennedy]]. Kennedy recounted to Bartlett a much different version of his meeting with Jewish leaders at [[Abraham Feinberg]]'s apartment, expressing outrage at the suggestion of controlling U.S. Middle East policy in exchange for campaign funds. Bartlett also recalled Kennedy making cynical remarks about [[Myer Feldman]], his presidential point man for Jewish and Israeli affairs.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Politics
|
- Politician
|
||||||
- France
|
- Israel
|
||||||
|
- Military
|
||||||
|
summary: "Charles de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II and later founded the Fifth Republic, serving as its first President from 1959 to 1969."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Charles de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II and later founded the Fifth Republic, serving as its first President from 1959 to 1969. He was emphatically in favor of an independent nuclear deterrent for [[France]].[^1]
|
Charles de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II and later founded the Fifth Republic, serving as its first President from 1959 to 1969. He was emphatically in favor of an independent nuclear deterrent for [[France]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
De Gaulle won a seven-year term as president of [[France]]'s newly constituted Fifth Republic in December 1958 by promising to find an acceptable compromise for ending the war in [[Algeria]]. The war sharply divided the nation, and other issues, such as continued support for [[Israel]], seemed secondary.[^1]
|
De Gaulle won a seven-year term as president of [[France]]'s newly constituted Fifth Republic in December 1958 by promising to find an acceptable compromise for ending the war in [[Algeria]]. The war sharply divided the nation, and other issues, such as continued support for [[Israel]], seemed secondary.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "PROMIS Scandal"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- PROMIS
|
||||||
|
summary: "Lebanese army officer and member of the MC-10 intelligence cell in Cyprus and Beirut, shot dead in east Beirut in 1989."
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
[[Charlie Frezeli]] was a Lebanese army officer and a member of the [[Middle East Collection 10]] (MC-10) cell in [[Cyprus]] and Beirut. He was shot dead at his home in east Beirut in November 1989.[^1]
|
[[Charlie Frezeli]] was a Lebanese army officer and a member of the [[Middle East Collection 10]] (MC-10) cell in [[Cyprus]] and Beirut. He was shot dead at his home in east Beirut in November 1989.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
18
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Che Guevara.md
Normal file
18
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Che Guevara.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Iran-Contra"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- person
|
||||||
|
- revolutionary
|
||||||
|
- contra-war
|
||||||
|
summary: Che Guevara was the Argentine revolutionary executed in Bolivia with the participation of CIA agent Felix Rodriguez, a Bay of Pigs veteran who later managed the Contra resupply operation.
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Che Guevara was the Argentine revolutionary executed in [[Bolivia]] in 1967 with the participation of [[Central Intelligence Agency]] agent [[Felix Rodriguez]], a [[Bay of Pigs|Bay of Pigs]] veteran who later managed the Contra resupply operation at Ilopango Air Base. Rodriguez had been present at Guevara's capture and execution, an experience that burnished his credentials as a counterinsurgency specialist.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Rodriguez Connection
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Rodriguez's participation in the Guevara operation established him as one of the CIA's most trusted Cuban operatives. His later assignment to manage the Contra resupply operation at Ilopango Air Base in [[San Salvador]] demonstrated how the CIA recycled operatives from earlier Cold War operations into the Contra war. The same networks of Cuban exiles built during anti-Castro operations, including the Guevara hunt, were later deployed to support the Contras, bringing with them established connections to the drug trade and covert warfare.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 15.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 15.
|
||||||
30
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Chepita Blandon.md
Normal file
30
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Chepita Blandon.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Organized Crime"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- Person/Drug_Trafficker
|
||||||
|
- Nicaragua
|
||||||
|
- Contra
|
||||||
|
- 1980s
|
||||||
|
summary: Danilo Blandón's wife, identified by the DEA as closely involved in his trafficking activities, who was arrested in 1992 and had all charges dropped when her husband agreed to become a DEA informant.
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Chepita Blandón was the wife of [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]] who was identified by the [[DEA]] as being closely involved in her husband's cocaine trafficking activities.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Trafficking Activities
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Chepita was a member of the wealthy Murillo family of [[Nicaragua]]. Her uncle, [[Orlando Murillo]], was an economist who served on the board of Nicaragua's Central Bank before the revolution and was a suspected money launderer for the Blandón organization. The DEA opened a NADDIS file on Chepita on March 15, 1985, after she was reported as a "member of a cocaine distribution organization." Despite this, she was granted U.S. political asylum later that same year.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Arrest and Cooperation
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Chepita was arrested alongside Blandón on May 5, 1992, as part of a conspiracy case that carried a mandatory life sentence. All charges against her were dropped when Blandón agreed to become a full-time paid DEA informant. She was subsequently made a naturalized [[United States|U.S.]] citizen.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Role in Drug Operations
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Chepita was involved in the financial operations of Blandón's trafficking network. After Blandón moved to [[Miami]], Ross wired drug money to [[Florida]] in Chepita's name, which Blandón said was paid to [[Roger Sandino]]. Chepita also called [[Ricky Ross]] to invite him to dinner and pressure him to find someone to sell drugs, as part of the DEA sting operation that led to Ross's arrest.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Cast of Characters
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 10: "Teach a man a craft and he's liable to practice it"
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Prologue: "It was like they didn't want to know"
|
||||||
|
[^4]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 24: "They're gonna forget I was a drug dealer"
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Other"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Politics
|
summary: "Chou En-lai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from 1949 until his death in 1976."
|
||||||
- China
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Chou En-lai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of [[China]], serving from 1949 until his death in 1976. At the Bandung Conference of African and Asian nations in April 1955, he promised [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] as many arms as [[Egypt]] could afford, marking a significant step in Nasser's efforts to secure military aid from the Communist world.[^1]
|
Chou En-lai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of [[China]], serving from 1949 until his death in 1976. At the Bandung Conference of African and Asian nations in April 1955, he promised [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] as many arms as [[Egypt]] could afford, marking a significant step in Nasser's efforts to secure military aid from the Communist world.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,14 @@
|
||||||
[[Chris Cannon]] was the San Francisco defense attorney for [[Ben Kalka]]. He explained that the chemical precursors necessary to make the amount of methamphetamine Kalka produced would require all the precursor sold in one year in the [[United States]] on the open market. Cannon struck a deal that resulted in Kalka's sentence being overturned, contingent upon Kalka signing a letter stating he did not obtain his precursors from the [[United States Government|U.S. government]].[^1]
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- Lawyer
|
||||||
|
- LawEnforcement
|
||||||
|
summary: "San Francisco defense attorney for Ben Kalka who uncovered evidence that methamphetamine precursors were provided by the U.S. government."
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
[[Chris Cannon]] was the San Francisco defense attorney for [[Ben Kalka]]. He explained that the chemical precursors necessary to make the amount of methamphetamine Kalka produced would require all the precursor sold in one year in the [[United States]] on the open market. Cannon struck a deal that resulted in Kalka's sentence being overturned, contingent upon Kalka signing a letter stating he did not obtain his precursors from the [[United States|U.S. government]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Michael Riconosciuto]] told Cannon that he had records proving the precursors Kalka used were provided by the [[United States Government|U.S. government]]. Riconosciuto also described the role of federal agents and their authorization for him to sell Kalka the final ingredient needed to make methamphetamine.[^1]
|
[[Michael Riconosciuto]] told Cannon that he had records proving the precursors Kalka used were provided by the [[United States|U.S. government]]. Riconosciuto also described the role of federal agents and their authorization for him to sell Kalka the final ingredient needed to make methamphetamine.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,17 +1,11 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Organized Crime"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- BBC_Personality
|
- OrganizedCrime
|
||||||
- Child_Abuser
|
summary: "Chris Denning was a former BBC Radio One DJ who was good friends with Jimmy Savile and, according to Czech police, head of an international pedophile network running a child porn operation from his Prague apartment."
|
||||||
- UK
|
|
||||||
- 1970s
|
|
||||||
- 1980s
|
|
||||||
- 1990s
|
|
||||||
- 2000s
|
|
||||||
- Operation_Yewtree
|
|
||||||
- VIP_Network
|
|
||||||
- Prague
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Chris Denning was a former BBC Radio One DJ who was good friends with [[Jimmy Savile]] and, according to Czech police, head of an international pedophile network running a child porn operation from his Prague apartment. The investigation into Denning served as the genesis to ongoing probes into a suspected child abuse ring linked to the [[BBC]], which eventually culminated in the infamous [[Operation Yewtree]] investigation after Jimmy Savile's death.[^1]
|
Chris Denning was a former BBC Radio One DJ who was good friends with [[Jimmy Savile]] and, according to Czech police, head of an international pedophile network running a child porn operation from his Prague apartment. The investigation into Denning served as the genesis to ongoing probes into a suspected child abuse ring linked to the [[BBC]], which eventually culminated in the infamous [[Operation Yewtree]] investigation after Jimmy Savile's death.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Denning had been arrested in November 1997 based on information Czech police received from Scotland Yard after [[Warwick Spinks]] went into exile there. Denning was arrested by detectives investigating an international child pornography ring. Police alleged he was the leader of the child sex ring and said he was arrested after cocaine had been fed to young boys in preparation for filming a pornographic video. The arrest came after a two-month surveillance operation in which Scotland Yard supplied vital information about Denning's movements to colleagues on the continent. Denning, who had a flat in Prague and ran a music and video production company from his home in Britain, had been jailed for 10 weeks in February 1996 for possessing child pornography.[^1]
|
Denning had been arrested in November 1997 based on information Czech police received from Scotland Yard after [[Warwick Spinks]] went into exile there. Denning was arrested by detectives investigating an international child pornography ring. Police alleged he was the leader of the child sex ring and said he was arrested after cocaine had been fed to young boys in preparation for filming a pornographic video. The arrest came after a two-month surveillance operation in which Scotland Yard supplied vital information about Denning's movements to colleagues on the continent. Denning, who had a flat in Prague and ran a music and video production company from his home in Britain, had been jailed for 10 weeks in February 1996 for possessing child pornography.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Suspect
|
- CIA
|
||||||
- Michigan
|
- Military
|
||||||
- 1970s
|
summary: "Christopher Busch was the son of Harold Lee Busch, an Executive Financial Director at General Motors, and was a convicted pedophile tied to Francis Shelden and the North Fox Island network."
|
||||||
- Oakland_County_Child_Killer
|
|
||||||
- North_Fox_Island
|
|
||||||
- General_Motors
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Christopher Busch was the son of Harold Lee Busch, an Executive Financial Director at General Motors, and was a convicted pedophile tied to [[Francis Shelden]] and the [[North Fox Island]] network. Busch attended an exclusive Swiss boarding school called Institut Le Rosey during his father's European posting, then briefly attended Wayne State University in the early 1970s before becoming owner of a restaurant called The Scotsman that his father purchased for him. Busch was arrested in January 1977 along with a man named [[Gregory Greene]] for sexually assaulting a boy procured through a church-sponsored big brother program. During his interview, Greene confessed to raping a boy with Busch and stated that Busch would take boys to his family's cabin near Michigan's Ess Lake, and that on one trip a boy had been murdered whom he identified as [[Mark Stebbins]], the first [[Oakland County Child Killer]] victim.[^1]
|
Christopher Busch was the son of Harold Lee Busch, an Executive Financial Director at General Motors, and was a convicted pedophile tied to [[Francis Shelden]] and the [[North Fox Island]] network. Busch attended an exclusive Swiss boarding school called Institut Le Rosey during his father's European posting, then briefly attended Wayne State University in the early 1970s before becoming owner of a restaurant called The Scotsman that his father purchased for him. Busch was arrested in January 1977 along with a man named [[Gregory Greene]] for sexually assaulting a boy procured through a church-sponsored big brother program. During his interview, Greene confessed to raping a boy with Busch and stated that Busch would take boys to his family's cabin near Michigan's Ess Lake, and that on one trip a boy had been murdered whom he identified as [[Mark Stebbins]], the first [[Oakland County Child Killer]] victim.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
When police searched Busch's home after his arrest, they found a suitcase full of 8mm child pornography films described as "homemade movies involving children having sex in a tent in a wooded area," along with commercially produced child porn magazines, photos, and movies. The victim of Busch and Greene, Kenneth Bowman, stated Greene had told him "Chris Busch had killed one kid out in the woods up by Chris's house a couple of years ago." Despite this testimony, Busch was cleared as an OCCK suspect based on a polygraph test. A later review of the polygraph results by another examiner determined the results should not have been indicative of Busch being truthful, and he should not have been cleared.[^1]
|
When police searched Busch's home after his arrest, they found a suitcase full of 8mm child pornography films described as "homemade movies involving children having sex in a tent in a wooded area," along with commercially produced child porn magazines, photos, and movies. The victim of Busch and Greene, Kenneth Bowman, stated Greene had told him "Chris Busch had killed one kid out in the woods up by Chris's house a couple of years ago." Despite this testimony, Busch was cleared as an OCCK suspect based on a polygraph test. A later review of the polygraph results by another examiner determined the results should not have been indicative of Busch being truthful, and he should not have been cleared.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,14 +1,12 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2025-07-23
|
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
||||||
updated: 2025-07-23
|
|
||||||
title: Christopher O. Bird
|
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- author
|
- RemoteViewer
|
||||||
- CIA
|
summary: "American author and alleged CIA operative who co-authored The Secret Life of Plants, popularizing Cleve Backster's plant sentience experiments."
|
||||||
description: Christopher O. Bird was an American author and alleged CIA operative, known for co-authoring "The Secret Life of Plants."
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Christopher O. Bird]] was an American author and alleged [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] operative. He is known for co-authoring the 1973 bestselling book, *[[The Secret Life of Plants]]*, which popularized the controversial experiments of [[Cleve Backster]] on plant sentience.[^1]
|
[[Christopher O. Bird]] was an American author and alleged [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] operative. He is known for co-authoring the 1973 bestselling book, *[[The Secret Life of Plants]]*, which popularized the controversial experiments of [[Cleve Backster]] on plant sentience.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Intelligence
|
- Israel
|
||||||
- Mossad
|
summary: "Cindy Hanin Bentov (a pseudonym) was a Mossad agent."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Cindy Hanin Bentov (a pseudonym) was a [[Mossad]] agent. She enticed [[Mordecai Vanunu]] to leave [[London]] for [[Rome]] a few days before the publication of his story in the *London Sunday Times*. Once in [[Rome]], Vanunu was drugged and returned to [[Israel]] by ship to stand trial.[^1]
|
Cindy Hanin Bentov (a pseudonym) was a [[Mossad]] agent. She enticed [[Mordecai Vanunu]] to leave [[London]] for [[Rome]] a few days before the publication of his story in the *London Sunday Times*. Once in [[Rome]], Vanunu was drugged and returned to [[Israel]] by ship to stand trial.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,38 +1,51 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "BCCI Scandal"
|
||||||
|
created: 2024-04-25
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-05-01
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Lawyer
|
|
||||||
- Government Official
|
|
||||||
- BCCI
|
- BCCI
|
||||||
- Banking
|
- Banking
|
||||||
- Politics
|
- Lawyer
|
||||||
- USA
|
summary: "Clark Clifford (1906-1997) was a Washington attorney who served as Special Counsel to President Truman, co-authored the National Security Act of 1947, served as Secretary of Defense under Lyndon Johnson, and became the central American figure in the BCCI scandal after he and his partner Robert Altman personally vouched to banking regulators that BCCI would not secretly own First American Bank -- a representation that proved false."
|
||||||
- Defense
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
Clark Clifford was a prominent American attorney and government official who advised Democratic presidents since [[Harry S. Truman|Truman]].[^1] He served as chairman of [[First American Bank]] and was chief U.S. counsel to [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]].[^1]
|
Clark McAdams Clifford was born December 25, 1906, in Fort Scott, Kansas. He earned a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis in 1927 and an LL.B. from Washington University School of Law in 1928, after which he practiced law in St. Louis through World War II. He served in the Navy during the war, rising to captain, and arrived at the White House in 1946 as naval aide to President Harry S. Truman. He died October 10, 1997, in Bethesda, Maryland, at age 90.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Political and Legal Career
|
### Truman Administration
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Clifford arrived in [[Washington, D.C.]] in 1945 as a naval aide at the White House.[^2] He was a principal architect of "Fair Deal" politics and a co-author of the [[National Security Act of 1947]], which established the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and the [[National Security Council]].[^2] He was a key figure in the creation of the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] and participated in the formulation of the [[Truman Doctrine]], a policy of Soviet containment.[^2]
|
Clifford served as Special Counsel to President [[Harry S. Truman]] from 1946 to 1950, becoming one of the most influential aides in the Truman White House. In September 1946, he co-authored (with George Elsey) a classified report on Soviet foreign policy -- the "Clifford-Elsey Report" -- assessing that the Soviet Union intended to expand its influence through military force and subversion and recommending a policy of strategic containment. The document anticipated the Truman Doctrine.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
He advised [[John F. Kennedy]] after the [[Bay of Pigs Invasion]] and served as Secretary of Defense under [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], leading efforts to extricate the United States from [[Vietnam]].[^2] Clifford also counseled [[Jimmy Carter]] on the [[Panama Canal Treaty]] and acted as his special envoy to Greece, Turkey, and India.[^2]
|
Clifford was a principal drafter of the [[National Security Act of 1947]], which established the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], the [[National Security Council]], the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]], and unified the military services under a new [[Department of Defense]]. He remained Truman's closest domestic political advisor through the 1948 election, playing a central role in the campaign strategy that produced Truman's upset victory.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
After leaving government service, Clifford maintained a private law practice, representing major corporations such as Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, Time Incorporated, and General Electric.[^2] He was known for his ability to navigate political complexities and his influence in Washington.[^2]
|
In 1950, Clifford left government and founded the Washington law firm Clifford & Miller (later Clifford & Warnke) with his partner Paul Warnke. Over the following three decades the firm became one of the most influential in Washington, with clients including Firestone Tire and Rubber, Time Incorporated, General Electric, and numerous major financial institutions.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Involvement with BCCI
|
### Later Government Service
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Clifford became involved with BCCI through his association with [[Bert Lance]], who introduced him to [[Agha Hasan Abedi]].[^2] Clifford and his law partner, [[Robert Altman]], were instrumental in BCCI's secret acquisition of [[Financial General Bankshares]], which later became First American Bank.[^3] They served as BCCI's lead counsel in the United States and were paid substantial legal fees for their work.[^4]
|
Clifford served as an informal advisor to President [[John F. Kennedy]] following the [[Bay of Pigs Invasion|Bay of Pigs]] failure in April 1961. President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] appointed him Secretary of Defense in January 1968, replacing Robert McNamara. In what became his most consequential decision in public life, Clifford convened a private reassessment of Vietnam strategy and concluded the war was unwinnable at any politically acceptable cost. His recommendations shaped Johnson's March 1968 decision to seek negotiations and decline to seek re-election. Clifford later served President [[Jimmy Carter]] as a diplomatic troubleshooter, negotiating the Panama Canal Treaties and serving as special envoy to Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, and India.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Clifford and Altman were accused of lying to U.S. banking regulators about BCCI's secret ownership of First American Bank.[^10] In February 1988, they sold a large portion of their First American stock to a BCCI front man, making significant profits.[^6] This transaction occurred amidst growing scrutiny of BCCI's activities.
|
### BCCI and First American Bank
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In July 1992, Clifford and Altman were indicted by a New York grand jury on charges of bribery and fraud related to their involvement with BCCI.[^7]
|
In 1977, [[Bert Lance]] -- former director of the Office of Management and Budget under Carter -- introduced Clifford to [[Agha Hasan Abedi]], the Pakistani founder of [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]]. Abedi sought American legal representation for a planned acquisition of [[Financial General Bankshares]], a Washington, D.C.-based bank holding company.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In 1978, BCCI orchestrated a hostile bid for Financial General Bankshares using a group of Middle Eastern investors as nominal purchasers. The [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] filed suit against the participants, alleging undisclosed concert of action. Clifford and his partner [[Robert Altman]] -- the son of a friend, then in his early thirties -- served as counsel to the investor group. Clifford personally assured banking regulators that BCCI would play no ownership or management role in Financial General; he represented the purchase as a straightforward investment by independent Arab shareholders. Regulators approved the sale in 1981 based on these representations.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The bank was subsequently renamed First American Bankshares, Inc. Clifford became chairman of the board; Altman became president. Both men received substantial legal fees for their continued representation of BCCI's interests. In 1986, the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] issued an internal report stating that BCCI had in fact owned First American since 1982 -- a report that was not acted on.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In February 1988, Clifford and Altman sold a large portion of their First American stock to [[Mohammed Hammoud]], a BCCI front man, for substantial profits.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Indictment and Resolution
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In 1989, Senate investigator [[Jack Blum]] brought evidence of BCCI's operations to Manhattan District Attorney [[Robert Morgenthau]], initiating the sequence of investigations that led to BCCI's collapse. When BCCI was seized by regulators worldwide in July 1991, the Federal Reserve Board ordered BCCI to divest its illegally acquired shares in First American.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In July 1992, a New York state grand jury convened by Morgenthau indicted Clifford and Altman on charges of bribery, fraud, and receiving benefits from BCCI in exchange for allowing BCCI to secretly own and control First American while representing to regulators that it did not. The Federal Reserve Board simultaneously brought civil charges.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Clifford, then 85 and suffering from serious heart disease, asserted that he had been deceived by Abedi and the other BCCI principals and had no knowledge of BCCI's actual ownership of First American. New York courts severed his case from Altman's on health grounds; Clifford was never tried. Altman was acquitted by a Manhattan jury in September 1993. In 1992, BCCI's liquidators had pleaded guilty and agreed to forfeit $550 million to settle criminal charges; the BCCI settlement fund ultimately recovered approximately $880 million, including the $225 million settlement by [[Khalid bin Mahfouz]] in December 1993.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Clifford died October 10, 1997, before any final legal resolution of the charges against him. He maintained his innocence to the end.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 9.
|
[^1]: Clifford, Clark, with Richard Holbrooke. *Counsel to the President: A Memoir.* Random House, 1991.
|
||||||
[^2]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, pp. 181-187.
|
[^2]: Beaty, Jonathan, and S.C. Gwynne. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI.* Random House, 1993.
|
||||||
[^3]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 194.
|
[^3]: Beaty, Jonathan, and S.C. Gwynne. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI.* Random House, 1993, p. 215.
|
||||||
[^4]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 217.
|
[^4]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations.* 102nd Congress, 2nd Session, December 1992. (Kerry-Brown Report.)
|
||||||
[^5]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 30.
|
|
||||||
[^6]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 215.
|
|
||||||
[^7]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 14.
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,15 +1,13 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2025-07-23
|
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
||||||
updated: 2025-07-23
|
|
||||||
title: Cleve Backster
|
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- CIA
|
- RemoteViewer
|
||||||
- polygraph
|
- Stargate
|
||||||
- researcher
|
summary: "In 1966, Backster conducted an experiment where he attached polygraph electrodes to a plant and observed its responses to his thoughts, including the intention to harm it."
|
||||||
description: Cleve Backster was a former CIA polygraph expert known for his experiments on plant sentience and his theory of "primary perception."
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Cleve Backster]] was a former [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] polygraph expert and interrogation specialist. He is known for his controversial experiments on plant sentience and his theory of "primary perception," which suggested that plants have consciousness and can respond to human thoughts and intentions.[^1]
|
[[Cleve Backster]] was a former [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] polygraph expert and interrogation specialist. He is known for his controversial experiments on plant sentience and his theory of "primary perception," which suggested that plants have consciousness and can respond to human thoughts and intentions.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In 1966, Backster conducted an experiment where he attached polygraph electrodes to a plant and observed its responses to his thoughts, including the intention to harm it. He claimed the plant showed a measurable reaction, leading him to believe in a form of [[ESP]] in plant life. He published his findings as "Evidence of a Primary Perception in Plant Life," which became the subject of the bestselling book *The Secret Life of Plants*.[^1]
|
In 1966, Backster conducted an experiment where he attached polygraph electrodes to a plant and observed its responses to his thoughts, including the intention to harm it. He claimed the plant showed a measurable reaction, leading him to believe in a form of [[ESP]] in plant life. He published his findings as "Evidence of a Primary Perception in Plant Life," which became the subject of the bestselling book *The Secret Life of Plants*.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2025-07-22
|
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
||||||
updated: 2025-07-22
|
|
||||||
title: Clifford Alexander
|
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- government
|
- RemoteViewer
|
||||||
- official
|
- Military
|
||||||
description: Clifford Alexander was the U.S. Secretary of the Army who supported the Stargate Project.
|
- Stargate
|
||||||
|
summary: "U.S. Secretary of the Army who tacitly supported the Stargate Project during its early years."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Clifford Alexander]] was the U.S. Secretary of the [[U.S. Army|Army]] during the early years of the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Stargate Project]]. He tacitly supported the program, along with [[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command|INSCOM]] commander [[William Rolya]] and Army Chief of Staff [[Edward Meyer]]. His support, though not always overt, contributed to the project's ability to continue operating despite its controversial nature and minimal budget.[^1]
|
[[Clifford Alexander]] was the U.S. Secretary of the [[U.S. Army|Army]] during the early years of the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Stargate Project]]. He tacitly supported the program, along with [[United States Army Intelligence and Security Command|INSCOM]] commander [[William Rolya]] and Army Chief of Staff [[Edward Meyer]]. His support, though not always overt, contributed to the project's ability to continue operating despite its controversial nature and minimal budget.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
aliases: []
|
category: "PROMIS Scandal"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- PROMIS
|
||||||
|
- INSLAW
|
||||||
|
summary: "Cornelius Blackshear was a U.S."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
Cornelius Blackshear was a U.S. Trustee in the Southern District of New York who later became a U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge for the Southern District of New York. He became a key figure in the allegations surrounding the attempted conversion of [[Inslaw Corporation|Inslaw]]'s bankruptcy case and a subsequent alleged cover-up.
|
|
||||||
|
Cornelius Blackshear was a U.S. Trustee in the Southern District of New York who later became a U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge for the Southern District of New York. He became a key figure in the allegations surrounding the attempted conversion of [[INSLAW|Inslaw]]'s bankruptcy case and a subsequent alleged cover-up.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Blackshear initially testified in a deposition on March 25, 1987, that [[Philip White]], the U.S. Trustee for the District of Columbia, had told him that [[Thomas Stanton]], Director of the Executive Office of U.S. Trustees (EOUST), had tried to pressure White to convert [[INSLAW]]'s Chapter 11 reorganization to a Chapter 7 liquidation and to have [[Harry Jones]] assigned to White to effect the conversion. Blackshear also stated that Stanton had never contacted him about detailing Jones, but he thought Stanton might have approached Jones directly. This testimony supported Inslaw's primary allegation of a plot to liquidate the company. However, after speaking with White, Blackshear realized he was mistaken and had confused Inslaw with the UPI case, about which White had told him the IRS had pressured him to join a motion to convert. Blackshear then prepared and signed an affidavit recanting his deposition testimony, stating that he had confused the cases. He also gave a second deposition repeating his new recollections. During the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) investigation, Blackshear essentially repeated his recanting statements, maintaining that White had not told him Stanton pressured him to convert Inslaw, and that he had confused Inslaw with UPI. He did, however, disagree with White regarding a conversation about the possible assignment of Harry Jones to Washington, believing White had told him Stanton planned to bring Jones to Washington, while White maintained Blackshear told this to White. Blackshear also denied discussing with [[Anthony Pasciuto]] at a social gathering that he was sorry for his conduct or had given false testimony in his recantation to avoid hurting people.[^1]
|
Blackshear initially testified in a deposition on March 25, 1987, that [[Philip White]], the U.S. Trustee for the District of Columbia, had told him that [[Thomas Stanton]], Director of the Executive Office of U.S. Trustees (EOUST), had tried to pressure White to convert [[INSLAW]]'s Chapter 11 reorganization to a Chapter 7 liquidation and to have [[Harry Jones]] assigned to White to effect the conversion. Blackshear also stated that Stanton had never contacted him about detailing Jones, but he thought Stanton might have approached Jones directly. This testimony supported Inslaw's primary allegation of a plot to liquidate the company. However, after speaking with White, Blackshear realized he was mistaken and had confused Inslaw with the UPI case, about which White had told him the IRS had pressured him to join a motion to convert. Blackshear then prepared and signed an affidavit recanting his deposition testimony, stating that he had confused the cases. He also gave a second deposition repeating his new recollections. During the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) investigation, Blackshear essentially repeated his recanting statements, maintaining that White had not told him Stanton pressured him to convert Inslaw, and that he had confused Inslaw with UPI. He did, however, disagree with White regarding a conversation about the possible assignment of Harry Jones to Washington, believing White had told him Stanton planned to bring Jones to Washington, while White maintained Blackshear told this to White. Blackshear also denied discussing with [[Anthony Pasciuto]] at a social gathering that he was sorry for his conduct or had given false testimony in his recantation to avoid hurting people.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -11,4 +15,4 @@ Bankruptcy Judge Bason, in his findings, chose to believe Blackshear's original
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: 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. (Hereafter, "Bua Report")
|
[^1]: 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.
|
||||||
30
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Craig Chretien.md
Normal file
30
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Craig Chretien.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- Person/Law_Enforcement
|
||||||
|
- DEA
|
||||||
|
- United_States
|
||||||
|
- 1990s
|
||||||
|
- Dark_Alliance_Investigation
|
||||||
|
summary: DEA Special Agent in Charge of the San Diego regional office who met with Gary Webb in October 1995 in an attempt to dissuade him from publishing the Dark Alliance story, and who was later promoted to head the DEA's International Division.
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Craig Chretien was a [[DEA]] Special Agent in Charge of the National City regional office south of [[San Diego]] who attempted to persuade [[Gary Webb]] to alter or suppress his [[Dark Alliance]] investigation in October 1995.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Meeting with Gary Webb
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On October 19, 1995, Chretien hosted Webb in a room with six DEA agents, including [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]]'s handlers Chuck Jones and Judy Gustafson. Chretien opened by telling Webb that his reporting was getting into "rather sensitive areas" and was endangering undercover operations and putting agents' families at risk. He asked Webb to leave out the fact that Blandón was working for the DEA. "Your story can just go up to a certain point and stop, can't it?" Chretien asked.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
When Webb mentioned that his story was about Blandón, [[Norwin Meneses]], the [[Contras]], and [[Ricky Ross]], Chretien dismissed the Contra connection: "That whole Central American thing. I was down there. You heard all sorts of things. There was never any proof that the Contras were dealing drugs." Chretien proposed that the DEA might help Webb obtain information on Meneses if Webb would focus his story on Meneses rather than Blandón and omit "some other things."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Investigation of Celerino Castillo
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Prior to his posting in San Diego, Chretien had been sent to [[Guatemala]] by DEA headquarters to conduct an internal investigation of [[Celerino Castillo]] III, who had been reporting Contra drug shipments from [[Ilopango Airbase|Ilopango Air Force Base]] in [[El Salvador]]. Castillo told Webb that Chretien ordered him to use the word "alleged" in his reports to Washington about Contra drug flights. "They said, 'You cannot actually come out and say this shit is going on.' And I told them, 'I'm watching the fucking things fly out of here with my own eyes! Why would I have to say alleged?'" Castillo said of Chretien's claim that there was no proof of Contra drug dealing: "Of all people, he knows perfectly well what was going on. He was reading all my reports, looking for grammatical errors."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Promotion to International Division
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Eight days after the meeting with Webb, [[Robert Nieves]], the head of the DEA's International Division and Norwin Meneses's former control agent, unexpectedly resigned. Chretien was selected to replace him and was transferred to [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]]. Webb never spoke to Chretien again. Webb suspected the San Diego meeting had been organized to determine what he knew and where his investigation was heading.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 25: "Things are moving all around us"
|
||||||
29
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Crossan Andersen.md
Normal file
29
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Crossan Andersen.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- Person/Law_Enforcement
|
||||||
|
- United_States
|
||||||
|
- 1980s
|
||||||
|
- Dark_Alliance_Investigation
|
||||||
|
summary: Federal prosecutor in Los Angeles who took the Danilo Blandon case to the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and described it as "a sensitive matter" involving CIA allegations.
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Crossan Andersen was a federal prosecutor in the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney's office who agreed to take the [[Danilo Blandon|Blandón]]-[[Norwin Meneses|Meneses]] drug case to the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) in November 1986.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### "A Sensitive Matter"
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On November 25, 1986, Andersen wrote to the IRS criminal investigation division in Laguna Niguel, asking for agents to assist with the case. "As you know," Andersen wrote, "this is a narcotics investigation involving [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], [[DEA]], and [[LASD Major Violators|LASO]] units in Riverside and Whittier, California. It is a sensitive matter since it involves allegations of drug running in support of the Contra movement in Nicaragua and wholly unconfirmed allegations of [[Central Intelligence Agency]] involvement."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The same morning Andersen dictated his letter, President [[Ronald Reagan]] and Attorney General Edwin Meese were publicly announcing the [[Iran-Contra Affair]], revealing that millions from Iranian missile sales had been illegally diverted to the [[Contras]] by [[Oliver North]]. The timing was not coincidental; the Blandón case and the Iran-Contra scandal were converging.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Closing the Investigation
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Andersen pulled the plug on the OCDETF investigation on July 17, 1987, less than seven months after it began. The investigation had accomplished nothing except to provide cover for Norwin Meneses and his CIA associate to visit the U.S. and create suspicions they were dealing dope. In May 1987, Andersen called DEA agent [[Sandalio Gonzalez]] in Costa Rica and told him to get the CIA operative known as "Roberto" to California for questioning. Gonzalez replied that Roberto would likely never come to California and added that he was being transferred to Bolivia.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Phantom Cooperation Agreement
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
After the investigation was shelved, Andersen was reported to have agreed to a deal under which Norwin Meneses would plead guilty to a cocaine charge as part of a "cooperation agreement" once the Los Angeles case was done. Justice Department investigators later found no record of any such deal, and Andersen specifically denied that an agreement ever existed. Prosecutor Eric Swenson also denied it. The claim appears to have been fabricated to placate FBI agents whose racketeering case against Meneses had been rejected.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 20: "It is a sensitive matter"
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2025-07-23
|
category: "Key Figures"
|
||||||
updated: 2025-07-23
|
|
||||||
title: Dale Graff
|
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- scientist
|
- Stargate
|
||||||
- military
|
- CIA
|
||||||
- intelligence
|
- Military
|
||||||
description: Dale Graff is a U.S. Air Force civilian scientist who played a significant role in the Stargate Project, serving as a project manager and later as the overall manager of the program.
|
- RemoteViewer
|
||||||
|
summary: "Graff's interest in psi phenomena stemmed from a personal experience in 1968, where he had a profound out-of-body experience while caught in a rip current."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Dale Graff]] is a [[U.S. Air Force]] civilian scientist who played a significant role in the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Stargate Project]]. He worked in the Foreign Technology Division at [[Wright-Patterson Air Force Base]] in Ohio, where he was responsible for keeping the Air Force and [[Department of Defense|DoD]] planners aware of cutting-edge military research in the [[Soviet Union]] and [[China]].[^1]
|
[[Dale Graff]] is a [[U.S. Air Force]] civilian scientist who played a significant role in the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Stargate Project]]. He worked in the Foreign Technology Division at [[Wright-Patterson Air Force Base]] in Ohio, where he was responsible for keeping the Air Force and [[Department of Defense|DoD]] planners aware of cutting-edge military research in the [[Soviet Union]] and [[China]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Graff's interest in [[Psi|psi]] phenomena stemmed from a personal experience in 1968, where he had a profound [[Out-of-Body Experience|out-of-body experience]] while caught in a rip current. This led him to research anomalous mental phenomena, and he later sought to integrate psychic abilities into military applications.[^1]
|
Graff's interest in [[Psi|psi]] phenomena stemmed from a personal experience in 1968, where he had a profound [[Out-of-Body Experience|out-of-body experience]] while caught in a rip current. This led him to research anomalous mental phenomena, and he later sought to integrate psychic abilities into military applications.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Activist
|
- Nuclear
|
||||||
- Analyst
|
- Israel
|
||||||
- USA
|
summary: "Daniel Ellsberg was an American activist and former military analyst who famously leaked the Pentagon Papers to the *New York Times* in 1971."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Daniel Ellsberg was an American activist and former military analyst who famously leaked the Pentagon Papers to the *New York Times* in 1971. In 1963, he was involved in high-level nuclear weapons issues as a deputy in the [[Pentagon]]'s Office of International Strategic Affairs. He recalled seeing a "Top Secret, Eyes Only" memorandum from [[McGeorge Bundy]] to President [[John F. Kennedy]] summarizing a change in policy toward the French, indicating that the [[United States]] would cooperate with [[France]] and allow them to use the [[Nevada]] test site for underground testing. This memorandum was dated November 22, 1963, the day of Kennedy's assassination.[^1]
|
Daniel Ellsberg was an American activist and former military analyst who famously leaked the Pentagon Papers to the *New York Times* in 1971. In 1963, he was involved in high-level nuclear weapons issues as a deputy in the [[Pentagon]]'s Office of International Strategic Affairs. He recalled seeing a "Top Secret, Eyes Only" memorandum from [[McGeorge Bundy]] to President [[John F. Kennedy]] summarizing a change in policy toward the French, indicating that the [[United States]] would cooperate with [[France]] and allow them to use the [[Nevada]] test site for underground testing. This memorandum was dated November 22, 1963, the day of Kennedy's assassination.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Following [[China]]'s first nuclear bomb test in 1964, Ellsberg recalled similar talk at high levels in the [[Pentagon]] about taking out the Chinese nuclear capability, with the idea of using unmarked bombers to avoid identification. He noted that cooler heads prevailed, as the mission "just looked too big to be plausibly denied."[^1]
|
Following [[China]]'s first nuclear bomb test in 1964, Ellsberg recalled similar talk at high levels in the [[Pentagon]] about taking out the Chinese nuclear capability, with the idea of using unmarked bombers to avoid identification. He noted that cooler heads prevailed, as the mission "just looked too big to be plausibly denied."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
28
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Daniel Garner.md
Normal file
28
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Daniel Garner.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- Person/Law_Enforcement
|
||||||
|
- United_States
|
||||||
|
- 1980s
|
||||||
|
- 1990s
|
||||||
|
- Dark_Alliance_Investigation
|
||||||
|
summary: LASD Majors II deputy and court-certified money-laundering expert whose prosecution for corruption nearly exposed the Contra-CIA drug connection through documents he had seized from Ronald Lister's home in 1986.
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Daniel Garner was a hard-nosed detective and spiritual leader of the [[LASD Major Violators|Majors II]] squad who was indicted on corruption charges in the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]'s [[Operation Big Spender]] sting. Garner had been a court-certified expert in money-laundering issues and had secretly kept documents seized from [[Ronald Lister]]'s home during the 1986 raids as "insurance."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Lister Documents
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
When Garner hired defense attorney [[Harland Braun]] after his indictment, he produced papers he said the Majors had seized from the home of a money launderer connected to a major drug ring linked to the Contras. Garner had secretly copied ten pages of documents that "give the name of CIA operatives in Iran, specifically mention the Contras, list various weaponry that was being purchased and even diagram the route of drug money out of the United States, back into the United States purchasing weaponry for the Contras as well as naming the State Department as one of the agencies involved."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Trial and Conviction
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
During the trial, Harland Braun attempted to introduce the Contra-CIA evidence as part of an outrageous government conduct defense. Judge Edward Rafeedie gagged Braun and refused to allow the evidence. Garner managed to tell the jury during his testimony that he had discovered "the CIA was doing, conducting illegal activities in which the guys in the CIA were getting rich," but jurors were instructed to disregard the comments. Garner received a fifty-four-month sentence, one of the harshest. Six of seven deputies were convicted.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### After Prison
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Garner was released in 1996 and emerged defiant. "I didn't pump 500 tons of cocaine into the ghetto," Garner said. "I stole American money and spent it in America. The United States government can't say that."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 22: "They can't touch us"
|
||||||
208
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Danilo Blandon.md
Normal file
208
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Danilo Blandon.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,208 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Organized Crime"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- Drug_Trafficker
|
||||||
|
- Nicaragua
|
||||||
|
- Contra
|
||||||
|
- 1980s
|
||||||
|
- Dark_Alliance_Investigation
|
||||||
|
summary: Danilo Blandón Reyes was a Nicaraguan cocaine trafficker who operated a multimillion-dollar distribution ring in Los Angeles from 1981 to 1991, serving as the primary supplier to Freeway Ricky Ross while maintaining connections to the Contra movement and receiving U.S. political asylum despite known drug involvement.
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
"Oscar" Danilo Blandón Reyes was a [[Nicaragua|Nicaraguan]] cocaine trafficker who operated a multiton distribution ring in [[Los Angeles]] from 1981 to 1991.[^2] Blandón was the first major trafficker to establish a direct connection between [[South Central Los Angeles|South Central L.A.]] street gangs and the [[Colombia|Colombian]] cocaine cartels. He was the longtime primary supplier to [[Ricky Ross|"Freeway" Ricky Ross]], the leader of South Central L.A.'s largest [[Crack Cocaine|crack]] distribution network.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Family Background and Early Life
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón was the second son of a wealthy landowning family deeply embedded in the [[Anastasio Somoza|Somoza]] power structure.[^3] His father, Julio Blandón, owned the land on which was built one of the worst slums in [[Managua]] - OPEN #3, an emergency housing district built after the 1972 earthquake leveled the city. The neighborhood, later renamed Ciudad Sandino and numbering over 70,000 residents, was a constant source of recruits for the [[Sandinistas]]. Economist [[Orlando Murillo]], an uncle of Blandón's wife, stated: "It was called Via Misery. People there lived like the niggers in Los Angeles. But it made Danilo's father a very rich man."
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Blandóns were social friends of the Somozas and shared common business interests; Julio Blandón and Somoza were two of the biggest landlords in Managua. Blandón's mother was from the Reyes family - his grandfather was Colonel Rigoberto Reyes, former minister of war and [[Nicaraguan National Guard|National Guard]] commander under Somoza's father, Anastasio I.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón's in-laws, the Murillos, were stalwarts of Somoza's Liberal party. The Murillos had provided leaders for the National Assembly for generations. Orlando Murillo's father had been the assembly's president, and [[Chepita Blandon|Chepita Blandón]]'s father had been Managua's mayor. The Murillos owned large tracts of the capital, including the national telecommunications company headquarters, along with cattle ranches and plantations.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Pre-Revolution Career
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón held a cushy government job as director of wholesale markets, running a program to introduce a free-market economy to Nicaragua's farmers. The $27 million program was jointly financed by the Nicaraguan and [[United States|U.S.]] governments and paid for his M.B.A. from the University of Colombia in [[Bogota|Bogotá]]. He also ran an import-export company, a travel agency, and a firm with a lucrative contract to supply American food to the Nicaraguan National Guard.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Flight from Nicaragua
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón stayed in Managua through the first weeks of June 1979 as Sandinista forces closed in.[^3] On June 19, 1979, he placed his wife and three-year-old daughter on a flight for Los Angeles, where Chepita had relatives, while he and his brother Julio Jr. flew to [[Miami]]. His cousin Flor Reyes said he arrived "[with] one hand in the front and one in the back." Blandón claimed he arrived with only $100 after selling a Sony television; Orlando Murillo said he paid for the airline tickets and gave the couple $5,000.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
After briefly washing cars in Miami, Blandón rejoined his family in Los Angeles in early July 1979, landing a job as a salesman at Torres Used Cars in East Los Angeles, run by two Nicaraguan brothers ([[Jacinto Torres|Jacinto]] and [[Edgar Torres]]) who would later become major [[cocaine]] traffickers known as "the Trees" or "the Twin Towers."
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Contra Fundraising and FDN Chapter
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón claimed his was the first organized Contra group in Los Angeles, calling themselves the [[FDN]]:[^3] "I was the first. We formed a group in L.A. to go and fight against the Sandinistas that we called FDN. We were five people in charge of it in L.A. We were in charge to get some money."
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In 1981, CIA agent [[Enrique Bermudez|Enrique Bermúdez]] visited Blandón's group, gave a pep talk, and asked them to adopt the FDN colors and flag. Blandón's group began raising funds through car theft and loan fraud, using Blandón's credit history to obtain auto loans for vehicles sent to the Contras in [[Honduras]]. "We were the first people, the first group that sent a pickup truck to the Contra revolution in Honduras," Blandón said. When the organization failed to make payments, Blandón lost his credit: "But at that time I didn't care because they [the Contras] were my idea, my cause."
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón testified before a federal grand jury (Grand Jury Number 93-5, Northern District of California) on February 3, 1994, that he had begun dealing cocaine to raise funds for the [[Contras]] in Los Angeles during the early 1980s.[^1] According to Blandón, after [[Ronald Reagan]] took office, the CIA decided his fundraising services were no longer required, and he continued in the drug business on his own.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Los Angeles Operations
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
After being sent to Los Angeles by [[Norwin Meneses]] to sell cocaine, Blandón struggled to establish a customer base in a city he didn't know, unlike [[San Francisco]] where Meneses's drug network was well established. While distributing cocaine, Blandón served as Meneses's "administrator" in L.A., keeping the books for the drug operation, collecting money from customers, and delivering cash to pay Meneses's Colombian cocaine suppliers. Blandón made clear that the profits from the L.A. operation went to the Contra revolution: "whatever we were running in L.A. goes - the profit is - was going to the Contra revolution."[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Meneses also opened a restaurant on Hoover Street in East Los Angeles called the Chicalina, which Blandón helped oversee. Blandón described it to a federal grand jury as a "marketing" operation. In August 1982, Blandón and Maritza Meneses set up JDM Artwork Inc., a silk-screen printing company that quickly became part of the Contras' support network in Los Angeles. [[ARDE]] commander [[Eden Pastora]] visited the firm during a trip to L.A. in 1982, and it printed T-shirts with his likeness. Former Pastora aide Carol Prado claimed the company was used to launder money from drug sales for the Contras. A former associate also claimed the company printed counterfeit twenty-dollar bills that provided operating cash for the FDN.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Partnership with Ronald Lister
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón picked up [[Ronald Lister]] as a partner shortly after going to work for Meneses in late 1981 or early 1982. Lister would remain at Blandón's side for seven years. Blandón told Justice Department interviewers that he and Meneses "entered into an informal partnership [with Lister] for the purpose of selling weapons abroad," specifically in [[El Salvador]]. The plan was for the three partners "to get their share of the profits in weapons, which they would then give to the Contras." Lister introduced a weapons and sophisticated electronics dimension to Blandón's drug ring, though Blandón said he "never believed Lister because he lied too much" about his claimed CIA connections.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Split from Meneses
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón testified that when Ronald Reagan took office and the CIA began funding the Contras directly in 1983, he stopped sending cocaine profits to the Contras. "In 1983, okay, the Contra gets a lot of money from the United States," he told a federal grand jury in 1994. "And the people that was in charge, it was the CIA, so they didn't want to raise any money because they had the money that they wanted." He claimed he then went into business for himself: "So we started — you know, the ambitious person, we started doing business by ourselves."[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
However, substantial evidence contradicts Blandón's timeline. FBI and DEA files showed Blandón and Meneses were still working together as late as 1991. In August 1986, their NADDIS files listed both men as current associates. An August 1986 DEA report stated: "The principal group is controlled by Blandón and is the focal point for drug supply and money laundering for the others. The other group is run by Meneses and is located principally in the San Francisco area... Per CI cocaine is often transported to the Blandón association and then from Blandón to Meneses in San Francisco." Blandón's associate Jacinto Torres told the FBI in 1992 that "Blandón's supplier as of 1984 continued to be Norwin Meneses" and that Meneses was flying planeloads of 200 to 400 kilograms from Miami. Jairo Meneses was arrested on November 26, 1984, the same day Blandón and Meneses were celebrating a 40-50 kilo drug deal at Meneses's house - roughly two years after Blandón claims he quit dealing with Norwin. [[Rafael Cornejo]] confirmed Blandón and Meneses were still working together in 1984.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
A 1990 DEA report stated the two "disassociated" in 1984 but had reunited by the late 1980s to head "a criminal organization that operate(s) internationally from Colombia and Bolivia, through the Bahamas, Costa Rica, or Nicaragua to the United States." The ring was getting cocaine from the politically connected Suarez family in Bolivia and the Ochoa family in Colombia, founders of the [[Medellin Cartel|MedellÃn cartel]]. The Bolivian cocaine came through Miami and the Colombians' powder landed in L.A.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Expansion of Drug Operations
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
As 1982 drew to a close, Blandón's cocaine trafficking business in Los Angeles exploded. Almost overnight he went from receiving small one- or two-kilo packages to multimillion-dollar loads. Lister described the logistics: "I'd go over to D's [Blandón's] house, take my Mercedes over there, put three U-Haul boxes which will cover about 100 keys, about 33 per box plus one you'd squeeze in, in the trunk, go over to south L.A. It was the slickest deal you've ever seen." Two interrelated reasons drove this expansion: the arrival of crack cocaine smoking in Los Angeles, and a street-smart ghetto teenager who would come to be known as "Freeway" Rick.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Path to Ricky Ross
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón observed the cocaine operation run by Ivan Arguellas (also known as Claudio Villavicencio), another Nicaraguan exile, who was supplying Ross in South Central L.A. "I wished I could have known Ricky... because all the time I want to grow in the business," Blandón said. He was jealous - despite all his work for Norwin Meneses (keeping books, working for the Contras, helping run the restaurant and T-shirt company), Meneses was charging him $60,000 a kilo and taking nearly every penny. "I didn't have my own car. I have to rent cars. I used to work with him, you know, coming from San Francisco, going back, and I thought, 'Hey, what are you doing? You're not doing nothing, you know? You're not making no - no money.'"[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón got his break when Ivan Arguellas was shot by his wife and paralyzed. Ivan's brother-in-law, [[Henry Corrales]], took over but had no cocaine sources beyond Blandón. Blandón supplied Henry, who sold to Ross, splitting commissions fifty-fifty. By late 1982 or early 1983, Corrales was selling Ross 10 to 15 kilos a week - roughly 50 kilos a month. But Corrales grew paranoid from the volume and decided to retire to Honduras. Before leaving, he introduced Blandón directly to Ross, in exchange for continuing commissions. The meeting took place at the home of Mary Monroe, a friend of Ross. Blandón recalled Ross's operation: "We went to an apartment... there was a guy with a shotgun: 'Who are you?' We identify ourselves, then you have to pass another guy with another machine gun. And inside, near the dinner table in the living room, there were about five guys, and all the guys were there with a gun at the table."[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón said his direct sales to Ross grew geometrically: "In those times, there were one, two, three, four, five, six, maybe seven a day. Every day." At seven kilos a day, that meant over 200 kilos per month. During 1982 and 1983, Blandón said he and Meneses brought "three or four" planeloads of cocaine from Miami to Los Angeles, with each load ranging between 200 and 400 kilos according to the Torres brothers. These flights continued until at least 1984.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Criminal History
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón was secretly indicted on May 5, 1992, along with six others including his wife Chepita Blandón, for conspiring to distribute cocaine.[^1] He had been buying wholesale quantities from suppliers and reselling to other wholesalers nationwide. He bragged on tape of selling between two and four tons of cocaine to L.A. dealers. The judge ordered him and his wife held without bail, declaring they posed "a threat to the health and moral fiber of the community."
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón's wife Chepita Blandón was identified by the [[DEA]] as being closely involved in his trafficking activities.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### U.S. Political Asylum
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In 1984, despite being known to the DEA as a major cocaine trafficker, Blandón was granted political asylum by the U.S. State Department after two earlier rejections. The DEA had opened a NADDIS file on Blandón on May 24, 1983, after receiving a tip from a confidential informant that he was a member of a cocaine trafficking organization. His attorney [[Brad Brunon|Bradley Brunon]] stated in court in 1992 that the DEA's knowledge of Blandón's drug dealing stretched back even further: "I have some 300 DEA-6 reports regarding Mr. Blandón, and the reports relate to activities between approximately 1981 and May 1992." In early 1984, while Blandón's asylum application was under review, the DEA learned from an informant that he was "the head" of his own cocaine distribution organization based in Los Angeles.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The same pattern occurred with Blandón's wife, Chepita. In early 1985 she was reported to the DEA as a "member of a cocaine distribution organization," and the agency opened a NADDIS file on her on March 15, 1985. Later that same year she was granted political asylum. Immigration experts noted that normally even the slightest hint of drug involvement results in deportation, and State Department policy requires checking with the DEA before approving asylum applications. When the Justice Department's Inspector General examined the Blandóns' immigration records, he found them "in disarray."[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Move to Rialto and Business Fronts
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
During the peak of his trafficking empire in 1984–85, Blandón moved his family from Northridge to a sprawling Spanish-style home in Rialto, San Bernardino County, some thirty miles outside Los Angeles. He withdrew $175,000 in cash from his bank account in Panama and gave it to Orlando Murillo, who purchased the house under his name to keep Blandón's name off the property rolls.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón opened a restaurant called the Nicamex and bought a used car lot in nearby Fontana with an old college buddy, Sergio Guerra, a Mexican millionaire whose family owned major automobile franchises in Guadalajara. Guerra owned the last parking lot on the California side of the Mexican border in San Ysidro, valued at approximately $29 million in the early 1990s. These businesses served as fronts to launder drug money. The car lot, a favorite ploy among Nicaraguan traffickers, was especially useful: cars sold for $2,000 were declared as sold for $4,000, and the lot paid taxes on the inflated amount at a rate cheaper than any money launderer would charge, giving drug profits a legitimate pedigree.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Weapons Sales to Crack Dealers
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Beginning in 1984, Blandón sold high-powered weapons to Ricky Ross and his associates, procured through Ronald Lister and his partner [[William Downing]] at the [[Mundy Security Group]] in Laguna Beach. Blandón gave Ross his first gun—a .22 pistol with a silencer—as a free gift, then began selling him an array of firearms. Ross described Blandón's inventory: "I mean, he sold what is called a Streetsweeper, the Thompsons...he sold Uzi's, he sold pistols, brand new pistols, .38, .357, any kind of pistol that you wanted...any kind of gun that you wanted, he got it for you." Ross and his fellow dealers bought more than a hundred guns from Blandón, who admitted selling Ross a .22 pistol, an Uzi machine pistol, and an Armalite AR-15 assault rifle, the civilian version of the military's M-16 - a weapon the Contras bought by the thousands.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
When asked how a drug dealer knew arms merchants, Blandón replied: "Because I was in the Contra revolution." Lister admitted to the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] that he began acquiring weapons for Blandón between 1982 and 1983, selling him one or two guns a week including "assorted handguns, semiautomatic Uzi machine pistols, KG99 Tec Nine machine pistols, and possibly semi-automatic AK47's," as well as night vision devices.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Electronics Sales
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón also sold electronics equipment to cocaine dealers—walkie-talkies, pagers, police scanners, voice scramblers, cellular phones, and anti-eavesdropping equipment—all procured by Ronald Lister. Ross's crew carried police scanners in their cars during drug deliveries and used one in the counting house. During a 1987 raid, L.A. County Sheriff's Sergeant Robert Sobel complained that the dealers had "electronic police-detection systems, sophisticated weapons—better equipment than we have." An LAPD summary by Deputy Chief Glenn Levant listed "numerous 9-mm Uzies [sic] were seized, along with an AK-47 assault rifle, a fully automatic Mac-11 machine gun, a fully automatic machine gun complete with silencer, and state-of-the-art handguns, rifles and shotguns" at Ross-associated locations.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Rivalry with Torres Brothers
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
As Blandón grew complacent in Rialto, drinking heavily, snorting cocaine, and refusing to leave his house, Ross began buying from the [[Torres Brothers]], Nicaraguan traffickers who had previously worked for Blandón. Ross used the competition to drive down prices from both suppliers. The other Nicaraguan dealers began calling Blandón "Chanchin," meaning "the fat pig," a nickname that turned up as an alias in his DEA files.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The rivalry turned deadly when Blandón, told by Chepita that she had an affair with one of the Torres brothers, hired a former Nicaraguan army officer to kill the man. The Torres brothers confirmed to police that Blandón "became enraged and hired a former military officer of the Nicaraguan army to kill him," but "apparently realized his wife had lied to him about the affair and called off the hit man." Blandón had also proposed that Ross set up a cocaine buy as an ambush, offering: "tell that motherfucker to bring it at such-and-such a place, and I'm going to have some guys there waiting and you keep the dope."[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Credit Arrangements and Volume
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón arranged with his Colombian suppliers to give Ross large amounts of cocaine on credit - initially 20 to 25 kilos, worth approximately $1 million wholesale. Ross was purchasing 100 or more kilos per week from Blandón at the operation's peak. Ross used a South Central apartment as a counting house where money was sorted and wrapped using two or three counting machines running day and night. Blandón acknowledged the volume: "Those times, they were using two or three machines, counting machines, and they were counting day and night." If Ross was moving 150 kilos weekly, Blandón and the Torres brothers were sometimes sharing approximately $5.7 million per week in cash.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Relationship with Ricky Ross
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón was "Freeway" Ricky Ross's primary source of cocaine from approximately 1981-82 onward.[^1] Ross described Blandón as "almost like a godfather to me. He's the one who got me going." Ross stated that everyone he knew in the drug trade, he knew through Blandón: "He was. Everybody I knew, I knew through him. So really, he could be considered as my only source."
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Ross had no knowledge of Blandón's Contra connections. To Ross, Blandón was simply "a nice guy with a lot of cheap dope." When Webb informed Ross that Blandón had been working for the Contras, Ross responded: "And they put me in jail? I'd say that was some fucked-up shit there. They say I sold dope all over, but man, I know he done sold ten times more than me."
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Plea Deal and Government Employment
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Five months after his 1992 arrest, Blandón pleaded guilty to conspiracy.[^1] Despite facing a minimum sentence of life plus a $4 million fine, Blandón received only forty-eight months, later reduced to approximately twenty-eight months. His wife's charges were dropped entirely when he agreed to become a DEA informant.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Assistant U.S. Attorney [[LJ Oneale]] filed motions to have Blandón's sentence secretly reduced twice and then persuaded the court to release him entirely, stating Blandón was needed as a "full-time paid informant" for the [[Department of Justice]]. Since he would be undercover, he was placed on unsupervised probation and released on September 19, 1994, into the custody of INS agent Robert Tellez.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón subsequently became the chief confidential informant in a DEA reverse sting operation that led to the arrest of Ricky Ross and others in [[San Diego]].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Associates
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón's network included his wife Chepita Blandón; money launderer and weapons dealer Ronald Lister; cocaine distributor Henry Corrales; Mexican millionaire and money launderer Sergio Guerra; and [[Aparicio Moreno]], a Colombian supplier with reported ties to the FDN and CIA.[^2] He also had a partnership with Jairo Meneses involving 764 kilos of cocaine seized in Nicaragua in 1991, and owned hotels and casinos in Nicaragua with the Meneses family. The Torres Brothers became his principal rivals for Ricky Ross's business. Weapons were procured through William Downing and the Mundy Security Group. He was vice president of Mundy Security Group Inc., a company incorporated by Ronald Lister in Laguna Beach.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Law Enforcement Warnings
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Torres brothers told detective [[Jerry Guzzetta]] during 1986 debriefings that "Blandón is extremely dangerous because of his access to information" about law enforcement activity. They warned Guzzetta to "be extremely careful about releasing any information to other law enforcement agencies. . .because they were afraid that Blandón had somebody inside the police department or whatever that was feeding him information." The brothers reported Blandón was "working with an ex-Laguna Beach police officer by the name of Ronnie" (Ronald Lister) who "transported 100 kilos of cocaine to the Black market and has transported millions of dollars to Miami for Danilo Blandón." Once cash arrived in Florida, Orlando Murillo would launder it.[^8]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Contra Cocaine Arriving by the Planeload
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
According to Blandón's attorney Brad Brunon, the Contras' cocaine was arriving in the United States literally by the planeload. "The transportation channel got established and got filled up with cocaine rather quickly," Brunon said. "As I understood it, these large transports were coming back from delivering food and guns and humanitarian aid and things like that and they were just loading them up with cocaine and bringing them back. I think 1,000-kilo shipments were not unheard of." Former Meneses aide Enrique Miranda confirmed that Meneses's drug-laden planes were flying out of [[Ilopango Airbase|Ilopango Air Force Base]] in El Salvador, which [[Oliver North]] had selected as the hub for his Contra air force. North's operatives worked there "practically unfettered," according to Iran-Contra prosecutor Lawrence Walsh.[^7]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### 1986 Raid and Release
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On October 27, 1986, [[LASD Major Violators]] detective [[Thomas Gordon]] executed search warrants at fourteen locations across Southern California. Gordon's twenty-one-page affidavit described "a large scale cocaine distributing organization" of "well over 100 persons" and linked Blandón to the FDN, writing that "money and arms generated by this organization comes through the sale of cocaine." At Blandón's home, deputies found small amounts of cocaine, an AR-15 assault rifle, a shotgun, and pay-owe sheets. Blandón spontaneously confessed: "The cocaine is mine." But most raid locations came up dry—suspects appeared to have been forewarned. The CIA's Los Angeles office sent an "Immediate Director" cable asking for traces on Blandón, Ronald Lister, and Norwin Meneses.[^9]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
No charges were filed. The seized documents—including bank records showing $9 million in deposits marked "U.S. Treasury/State" and a note from Blandón's sister about Contra corruption—disappeared from sheriff's evidence storage. Federal agents copied over 1,000 pages that subsequently vanished. On December 10, 1986, Blandón was told no charges would be filed. The next day he hired an immigration attorney and applied for permanent residency, disclosing his arrest but writing: "No complaint filed. They exonerated me 12-10-86." The attorney he hired, John M. Garrisi, was under federal indictment for immigration fraud and was later convicted and disbarred.[^9]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### FBI Surveillance and Operation Perico
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
After the October 1986 raids, Blandón and Ross continued buying and selling millions of dollars worth of cocaine every week, even as the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] watched. Records show Blandón was under periodic surveillance through the first half of 1987. Former L.A. County deputy district attorney Susan Bryant-Deason, who had been cross-designated as a special assistant U.S. attorney, told police in 1996 that she met several times with federal agents trying to keep the Blandón investigation alive, but the agents "were frustrated and wanted to do something but had insufficient evidence."[^10]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In early January 1987, a series of meetings took place in Los Angeles between Blandón, Norwin Meneses, the CIA operative known as "Roberto," and FDN official [[Ivan Torres]]. The meetings were part of the Costa Rican DEA office's secret "Operation Perico," conducted without the knowledge of [[Douglas Aukland|FBI agent Aukland]], who was leading the federal investigation. During these meetings, Torres boasted that the Majors' raids had not interfered with cocaine sales to "Los Angeles black organizations" and had merely caused management changes.[^10]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Move to Miami
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Despite telling Ross nothing would change, Blandón had decided to leave Los Angeles. The raids had blown his cover, his best customer was under siege, and his wife Chepita was showing signs of a nervous breakdown. "When I went to Miami to visit my family, the doctor told me. My wife was sick from the nerves. . .The doctor called me and told me I have to change from L.A. 'If you want to have a wife. . .change from that place, [or] your wife will be in a psychiatric hospital.'" His used car business had been ruined by the publicity from the raids. After being told in December 1986 that no criminal charges would result, Blandón quietly closed up shop, sold his car lot and restaurants, put his house up for sale, and sent Chepita and their daughters ahead to Miami to stay with her uncle, Orlando Murillo. By the time he was ready to go, he was packing $1.6 million in cash.[^10]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Handoff to Roger Sandino
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
"I was prepared to change my life," Blandón testified. But he did not let the cocaine ring go to waste. "I handed it to the Nicaraguans. I introduced my customers to them and they continued doing the business," using his old contacts, his supplier, and his buyers. Blandón's successors were [[Roger Sandino]] and Jose "Chinito" Gonzalez, both Meneses associates. After Blandón moved, Ross called him in Miami to place orders, and Sandino's partner Gonzalez handled pickups and deliveries. Blandón continued as middleman, solving problems, settling disputes, and collecting commissions. "They used to be calling me all the time if they have some problem. I was the middleman, you see, like, I was making something."[^10]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Miami Business Empire
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
After arriving in Miami, Blandón invested his L.A. drug profits in a string of companies, sometimes in partnership with exiled Nicaraguan judge [[Jose Macario|Jose Macario Estrada]], a family friend who was also his immigration lawyer. Both men became directors of Mex-US Import and Export Inc., along with accountant Rene Gonzalez of the Peat Marwick & Mitchell office in Caracas, Blandón's Mexican college friend Sergio Guerra, and Panamanian banker Jose Fernando Soto, the longtime representative of the Swiss Bank Corp. in Panama and an old friend of Orlando Murillo. Blandón also bought his wife a business, Pupi's Children's Boutique, which Chepita ran from a shopping mall in Sweetwater.[^11]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón bought into La Parrilla, a Nicaraguan restaurant co-founded by former National Guard major general [[Gustavo Medina]] and FDN supporter [[Donald Barrios]]. Henry Corrales, Blandón's former cocaine distributor, also owned a piece. The elegant restaurant became a hangout for Contra leaders and was the site of pro-Contra demonstrations and seminars. The Miami Herald named it "the best Nicaraguan restaurant in Dade [County]" in 1987 and awarded it four stars.[^11]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón's main investment was Alpha II Rent-a-Car, which began with an office outside Miami International Airport and spread to twenty-four other locations in southern Florida. The business was so successful he became an authorized outlet for Chrysler Corporation and General Motors vehicles.[^11]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Continued Drug Oversight
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón denied he was personally selling drugs after moving to Miami but admitted overseeing the drug sales of his successors. "I knew everything," he said. Because of the way the cocaine business worked, he had to vouch for Roger Sandino and Jose Gonzalez, which meant mediating disputes between Ricky Ross's crew, the Nicaraguans, and their Colombian suppliers. "They were calling me all the time. 'Hey, the order didn't come with the money. The order didn't come with the merchandise.'" Blandón agreed that Ross's replacements "weren't taking care of the business" and said there were frequent feuds with Meneses's men.[^11]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón continued pursuing Ross, calling two or three times a month to lure him back into the cocaine trade. In the fall of 1987, Blandón called from Detroit and offered Ross fifteen kilos. Blandón and Sandino visited Ross in Cincinnati, and Ross wired money to Florida in Chepita's name, which Blandón said was paid to Sandino. Ross also met with Blandón and a Colombian named Tony in New York City to place cocaine orders. "He kept saying he could get me some stuff for really cheap and we could make a lot of money with it in Cincinnati," Ross said.[^11]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Pressure on Ross and DEA Sting
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
After Ross's release from prison in August 1993, Blandón called him out of the blue, having seen him on television. Chepita followed up, inviting Ross to dinner and pressuring him to find someone to sell drugs to repay a debt owed by Ross's associate Tony McDonald. Ross refused repeatedly. "I told him basically, 'You know what I'm going through right now, you know, and I'm trying to stay clean.'"[^12]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In October 1994, Ross asked Blandón about buying cocaine, but negotiations stalled because Ross had no money. Blandón kept calling and paging him. In February 1995, [[Leroy Brown|"Chico" Brown]], to whom Ross owed $30,000, proposed putting up the money for a deal with Blandón. Ross agreed to make the introduction. In late February and early March 1995, Ross, Brown, and Brown's associate Curtis James met Blandón and a Colombian associate in National City and Chula Vista, south of San Diego. On March 2, 1995, at the Bonita Plaza Mall, Brown handed over $169,445 and the Colombian handed over keys to a Chevy Blazer containing 100 kilos of cocaine. The DEA, which had been running Blandón as an informant, had booby-trapped the vehicle. Federal agents swarmed the parking lot. Ross was captured after a brief foot chase. Blandón served as the chief confidential informant in the case.[^12]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Return to Drug Dealing and San Diego
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón's Alpha II Rent-a-Car business suffered when a deal to rent 3,000 cars to German tourists fell through, and Chrysler yanked his $1.5 million credit line. He lost $300,000 in three months and the lender filed to foreclose. Colombian trafficker [[Humberto Cardona]], who was supplying Blandón's Nicaraguan associates in South Central, suggested he return to cocaine trafficking, telling Blandón he had just sold 2,000 kilos in L.A. Blandón put Alpha II into bankruptcy and moved to San Diego, settling in a house owned by Sergio Guerra.[^13]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Blandón reassembled his cocaine network, reconnecting with the Meneses family through Jose Gonzalez in San Francisco. Between 1990 and 1991, he estimated he provided about 425 kilos of cocaine to the Meneses family, roughly $8.5 million at wholesale. He also reconnected with the Torres Brothers in L.A. DEA informant John Arman infiltrated Blandón's circle, secretly recording conversations about cocaine deals, international suppliers, and Blandón's political connections in Nicaragua. Blandón boasted on tape: "Yeah, I know all the people from the government. They like you, see?"[^13]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Despite intensive DEA surveillance, Blandón evaded arrest repeatedly. In August 1991, he was caught at the border with $114,000 in money orders in Sergio Guerra's car, but only Guerra was charged. In December 1991, an LAPD strike force arrested Blandón with $14,000 and cocaine, but the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego had the charges dropped to protect the DEA investigation. LAPD sergeant Ron Hodges, who had his own case against Blandón, said: "I think they just let him run." Blandón was finally secretly indicted on May 5, 1992.[^13]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### DEA Protection and the Webb Investigation
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Justice Department went to considerable lengths to protect Blandón's status as an informant. In October 1995, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Hall contacted [[Gary Webb]] to warn that publishing details about Blandón would endanger his life and compromise ongoing investigations. The DEA's San Diego office arranged a meeting where [[Craig Chretien|SAC Craig Chretien]] and Blandón's handlers [[Chuck Jones]] and Judy Gustafson pressed Webb to omit Blandón's DEA ties. Jones firmly denied any knowledge of Blandón's Contra drug history, but when Webb revealed he possessed grand jury transcripts proving Blandón had testified about it, Jones inadvertently confirmed the DEA knew. Blandón's case was a "no-dope conspiracy," as [[LAPD]] detective Ron Hodges described it, with no physical evidence of actual drug dealing, only taped conversations with informants. Brunon pointed out that his client had no criminal record and the government had nothing more than loose talk.[^14]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Trial Testimony in the Ross Case
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
At Ross's 1996 trial in San Diego, Blandón testified for the prosecution wearing tinted aviator glasses and a dark suit, escorted by U.S. marshals. Prosecutor LJ Oneale led Blandón through testimony in which he admitted Meneses had recruited him to sell cocaine for the Contras but progressively shifted the date he claimed to have stopped. O'Neale had initially said the split occurred in 1986, then revised it to 1984 before trial, and by the end of his testimony Blandón was insisting he quit in 1982, before he had met Ross. Government documents showed Blandón was still selling cocaine for the Contras through 1986.[^15]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
When defense attorney [[Alan Fenster]] cross-examined Blandón about his Contra fundraising, Blandón began to say: "When we raise money for the Contra revolution, we received orders from the," then paused, looked at O'Neale, and said "from another people." Because of the court order prohibiting CIA testimony, Fenster was unable to pursue the admission. Blandón also confessed under cross-examination that he did not know whether the Contras had received $19 million in CIA aid, contradicting his claim that he quit because the organization had sufficient funds. After the trial, Blandón admitted to the Senate Intelligence Committee and the CIA Inspector General that his Contra contributions continued through 1985.[^15]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Prologue: "It was like they didn't want to know"
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Cast of Characters
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 2: "We were the first"
|
||||||
|
[^4]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 6: "They were doing their patriotic duty"
|
||||||
|
[^5]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 8: "A million hits is not enough"
|
||||||
|
[^6]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 10: "Teach a man a craft and he's liable to practice it"
|
||||||
|
[^7]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 12: "This guy talks to God"
|
||||||
|
[^8]: 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"
|
||||||
|
[^9]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 18: "We bust our ass and the government's involved"
|
||||||
|
[^10]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 20: "It is a sensitive matter"
|
||||||
|
[^11]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 21: "I could go anywhere in the world and sell dope"
|
||||||
|
[^12]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 24: "They're gonna forget I was a drug dealer"
|
||||||
|
[^13]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 23: "He had the backing of a superpower"
|
||||||
|
[^14]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 25: "Things are moving all around us"
|
||||||
|
[^15]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 26: "That matter, if true, would be classified"
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,16 +1,74 @@
|
||||||
Danny Casolaro was an American investigative journalist who probed a complex web of organized crime, drug trafficking, money laundering, and pirated software, which he termed "[[The Octopus]]." His investigation focused on the [[PROMIS Software Scandal]], the [[Iran-Contra Affair]], the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] scandal, and [[PROMIS]] software, among other interconnected events.[^1]
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "PROMIS Scandal"
|
||||||
|
created: 2024-04-25
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-05-01
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- PROMIS
|
||||||
|
- CIA
|
||||||
|
- DoJ
|
||||||
|
- Journalist
|
||||||
|
- Dark_Alliance_Investigation
|
||||||
|
summary: "Joseph Daniel Casolaro was an American freelance journalist investigating a sprawling criminal conspiracy he called 'The Octopus,' linking the PROMIS software theft to Iran-Contra, the October Surprise, and BCCI. He was found dead in a Martinsburg, West Virginia hotel room on August 10, 1991, his wrists slashed twelve times, in a death officially ruled suicide."
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Joseph Daniel Casolaro (June 16, 1947 — August 10, 1991) was an American freelance journalist and former computer-trade magazine owner. Born in Fort Meade, Maryland, he grew up in McLean, Virginia, attended Providence College until 1968, and married Terrill Pace, a former Miss Virginia, with whom he had one son, Trey. He owned several computer-industry trade publications through the 1970s and 1980s, which he sold toward the end of the decade. In early 1990, he returned to investigative journalism, beginning the work that would consume the last eighteen months of his life.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Casolaro was found dead on August 10, 1991, in a hotel room in Martinsburg, West Virginia, with his wrists slashed. His death was officially ruled a suicide by local authorities. The investigation into his death concluded that there was no evidence suggesting the [[United States Department of Justice|DOJ]] influenced the local West Virginia authorities' investigation. Physical evidence in his hotel room, including no sign of forced entry, no evidence of struggle, a suicide note, undisturbed personal effects, and the absence of footprints other than his own, strongly supported the suicide conclusion. Subsequent tests, such as handwriting analysis of the suicide note and fingerprint analysis of the bathroom, corroborated this. The autopsy found the cause of death to be hemorrhage from multiple wrist wounds, with no evidence of unconsciousness or debilitation. Police interviews of those who knew Casolaro found no substantial evidence of foul play. The investigation also noted that Casolaro had ample reason to commit suicide, being unemployed for months, dependent on family for financial assistance, facing a balloon mortgage, and having a prospective publisher refuse to advance him money for his book about "The Octopus."[^1][^2]
|
### The Octopus Investigation
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
His notes and investigations suggested a connection between the "[[The Octopus]]" and a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] 'Old Boy' network involved in arms and drug trafficking since the 1950s. Casolaro's work also delved into the [[Wackenhut Corporation]], the [[Cabazon Indian Reservation]] joint venture, and the alleged modification and sale of the [[PROMIS Software Scandal|PROMIS]] software to foreign governments.[^1]
|
In 1990, [[Bill Hamilton]], founder of [[INSLAW]], contacted Casolaro regarding the alleged theft of INSLAW's [[PROMIS]] software by the [[Department of Justice]]. Casolaro's investigation expanded well beyond the INSLAW contract dispute into what he called "[[The Octopus]]" — a unified criminal conspiracy he believed linked the [[PROMIS Software Scandal]] to the [[Iran-Contra Affair]], the [[October Surprise]], the collapse of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]], drug trafficking by intelligence-connected networks, and organized crime reaching back to the Cold War era.[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Prior to his death, Casolaro had been in contact with key figures in his investigation, including [[Michael Riconosciuto]] and [[Robert Booth Nichols]]. He was reportedly investigating a connection between [[Michael Abbell]], a former Justice Department official, and the [[Cali Drug Cartel]].[^1]
|
The theory held that a core group of intelligence operatives, arms dealers, and organized crime figures had operated since at least the 1970s as a self-sustaining criminal enterprise intertwined with official U.S. covert operations. Casolaro was working on a book about this network, at various points titled "Behold, A Pale Horse" and "The Octopus," though he had been unable to secure a publisher; Little, Brown rejected his manuscript more than a month before his death.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
His primary source was [[Michael Riconosciuto]], a computer scientist and self-described CIA contractor who claimed he had modified PROMIS software at the [[Cabazon Indian Reservation|Cabazon]]-[[Wackenhut Corporation|Wackenhut]] joint venture in Indio, California, and that [[Earl Brian]] had distributed the modified software internationally with DOJ cooperation. Casolaro began interviewing Riconosciuto before Riconosciuto's March 1991 arrest on methamphetamine charges.[^1] Other key contacts included [[Robert Booth Nichols]], an international operative with alleged ties to the [[NSC]], organized crime, and the [[Yakuza]], with whom Casolaro spent hundreds of hours on the phone.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Casolaro's investigation also touched the [[Wackenhut Corporation|Wackenhut]]-Cabazon weapons venture, [[Danny Casolaro|CIA]] "Old Boy" networks involved in drug trafficking since the 1950s, the death of journalist and BCCI investigator Alan Standorf, and alleged connections between former DOJ official [[Michael Abbell]] and the [[Cali Drug Cartel]].[^1][^3] Shortly before his death, Riconosciuto had passed Casolaro a lead about Abbell's Cali connections, warning it might be dangerous. Hamilton, pressed for time, turned the lead over to Casolaro.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Final Days
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On August 5, 1991, Casolaro phoned retired Army CID officer Bill McCoy claiming Time magazine had assigned him a story on "the Octopus" and that Little, Brown had made him an offer — both claims false.[^1] On August 6, he met friend Ben Mason to discuss finances and showed him a 22-point book outline, complaining that a literary agent had been unable to sell it for eighteen months and that late-night harassing calls had been disturbing his sleep for three months. His housekeeper Olga had received calls on his behalf, including one that said: "I will cut his body and throw it to the sharks."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Casolaro arrived at the Sheraton Hotel in [[Martinsburg, West Virginia]] on August 8, 1991, to meet a source who had promised crucial information about the Octopus investigation. On the afternoon of August 9, he met Honeywell engineer William Richard Turner at the hotel, receiving documents Turner had brought. That evening, he was seen at the Heatherfields cocktail lounge with an unidentified man described by witnesses as "maybe Arab or Iranian." Later that night, he told adjacent-room tenant Mike Looney that his source had failed to appear. He purchased coffee at a convenience store around 10:00 p.m.; those were his last confirmed movements.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Before leaving for Martinsburg, Casolaro had warned his brother Anthony: if anything happened to him there, "it would not be an accident."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Death and Autopsy
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On the morning of August 10, 1991, a hotel housekeeper found Casolaro's naked body in the bathtub of room 517. Both wrists had been slashed twelve times — seven to eight cuts on the left, three to four on the right, with one cut deep enough to sever a tendon. The cause of death was determined to be exsanguination (blood loss), occurring approximately one to four hours before discovery. The rest of the room was clean and orderly; a handwritten note on legal stationery read: "To those who I love the most: Please forgive me for the worst possible thing I could have done. Most of all I'm sorry to my son. I know deep down inside that God will let me in."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Items found in the room included an empty Milwaukee beer can, two white plastic trash bags, a single-edge razor blade under the body, a half-empty wine bottle, and four additional unopened razor blades in a small package. No sign of forced entry, no evidence of struggle. The hotel room had not been disturbed. West Virginia authorities ruled the death a suicide.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The investigation's integrity was immediately compromised when a Martinsburg funeral home embalmed Casolaro's body without authorization from officials or his next of kin, as a "courtesy to the family." A second autopsy in January 1992 by Dr. Frost of the West Virginia state medical examiner's office confirmed the suicide ruling but found it impossible to conduct a fully conclusive examination of an embalmed body. Frost noted evidence of early-stage multiple sclerosis of minor severity, detected antidepressants, acetaminophen, and alcohol in the toxicology screen, and concluded that "nothing present in any way...could have incapacitated Casolaro so he would have been incapable of struggling against an assailant."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The family disputed the suicide ruling, citing Casolaro's known fear of blood and squeamishness about medical procedures, the difficulty of slashing one's own wrists twelve times, the threatening calls he had received, and his explicit warning to his brother. His research files on the Octopus investigation were missing from the hotel room.[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Missing Briefcase and Joseph Cuellar
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Casolaro had packed his notes, handwritten outlines, a 12-page Riconosciuto memo detailing PROMIS allegations, newspaper clippings, and names of former CIA officers and arms dealers into a black leather tote bag and a dark brown briefcase when he left for Martinsburg. The briefcase, which his associates said contained documents central to his investigation, was not recovered.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In 2024, Martinsburg police released records under a Freedom of Information Act request by researchers Zachary Treitz and Christian Hansen. These records indicated that another person had visited Casolaro's room on the night of August 9, and that an eyewitness had provided police with a written statement and sketch of this visitor — a description matching [[Joseph Cuellar]], a man who had made contact with Casolaro weeks earlier at a local bar. Cuellar had described himself to Casolaro as a Special Forces operative and had offered to arrange a meeting between Casolaro and [[Peter Videnieks]], the DOJ contracting official central to the PROMIS case, through Videnieks' wife Barbara, who served as executive assistant to Senator [[Robert Byrd]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Congressional and Official Findings
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The House Judiciary Committee's September 1992 report noted that Casolaro had "encountered dangerous individuals associated with organized crime and the world of covert intelligence operations" and recommended further investigation into the circumstances of his death. The committee found no evidence that DOJ had sought to influence the local West Virginia investigation.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Bua Report, completed in March 1993, concluded that the physical evidence "strongly supported" the suicide finding, that DOJ had not influenced the local investigation, and that Casolaro had possessed "ample reason to commit suicide," being unemployed, financially dependent on family, facing a balloon mortgage, and unable to sell his book.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
FBI task force members assigned to examine Casolaro's death privately "questioned the conclusion of suicide" and recommended further investigation; expressing doubt about the ruling reportedly "risked one's career" within the Bureau as of December 1992. FBI documents related to Casolaro remain partially withheld from public release under national security exemptions, while the Bureau simultaneously claims the files are missing — a contradiction noted by MuckRock journalists who filed FOIA requests.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In early 1994, the [[Department of Justice]] announced it was opening "a nationwide investigation" into Casolaro's death, ordered by associate attorney general [[Webb Hubbell]]. Shortly thereafter, Hubbell pleaded guilty to crimes committed while an Arkansas lawyer and resigned from DOJ. Whether the Casolaro investigation proceeded or produced findings was never made public.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Dark Alliance Investigation
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Casolaro's investigation intersected with the drug-trafficking networks documented by journalist Gary Webb. He was investigating connections between the [[Cabazon Indian Reservation|Cabazon Indian tribe]], [[Wackenhut Corporation|Wackenhut International]], and weapons manufacturing for Third World armies including the [[Contras]] in Nicaragua. He had told friends he was convinced that "spies, arms merchants and others were using the reservation as a low-profile site on which to develop weapons for Third World armies, including the Nicaraguan Contras." The [[San Francisco]] Chronicle reported that Contra leader [[Eden Pastora]] had visited a firing range near the reservation for a weapons demonstration in 1981. Casolaro's notebooks also contained the name of former CIA officer [[John Vandewerker]] in connection with activities at the Cabazon reservation.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Bibliography
|
### Bibliography
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
* **Behold, A Pale Horse** (Proposed book title - later changed to The Octopus)
|
- *Behold, A Pale Horse* / *The Octopus* (unfinished manuscript, never published)
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
|
[^1]: Ridgeway, James, and Doug Vaughan. "The Last Days of Danny Casolaro." *Village Voice*, October 15, 1991; West Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Second Autopsy Report, Dr. Frost, January 1992; Martinsburg Police Department records released under FOIA to Zachary Treitz and Christian Hansen, 2024; "FBI Cites Mystery FOIA Exemption to Withhold Danny Casolaro Death Video," *MuckRock*, February 2018.
|
||||||
[^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. (Hereafter, "Bua Report")
|
[^2]: 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.
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 6: "They were doing their patriotic duty."
|
||||||
|
[^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.
|
||||||
|
[^5]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Other"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
summary: "Beavers, a fifteen-year veteran of the sheriff's department, was ultimately forced out of the department and retired on stress leave."
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
[[Dave Beavers]] was a deputy in the Mariposa Sheriff's Department and a friend of [[Ron Van Meter]]. He was part of the search party for Van Meter after his alleged boating accident on Lake McClure. Beavers was one of the deputies who believed Van Meter was murdered after uncovering drug trafficking within the sheriff's department.[^1]
|
[[Dave Beavers]] was a deputy in the Mariposa Sheriff's Department and a friend of [[Ron Van Meter]]. He was part of the search party for Van Meter after his alleged boating accident on Lake McClure. Beavers was one of the deputies who believed Van Meter was murdered after uncovering drug trafficking within the sheriff's department.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Beavers, a fifteen-year veteran of the sheriff's department, was ultimately forced out of the department and retired on stress leave. He later became involved with D.I.G. (Decency in Government), an organization formed by deputies and grand jurors to expose corruption in Mariposa County.[^1]
|
Beavers, a fifteen-year veteran of the sheriff's department, was ultimately forced out of the department and retired on stress leave. He later became involved with D.I.G. (Decency in Government), an organization formed by deputies and grand jurors to expose corruption in Mariposa County.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,4 +1,11 @@
|
||||||
Commander [[Dave Fravor]] is a retired U.S. Navy pilot who is best known as the lead eyewitness in the 2004 [[Tic Tac Incident]] involving the [[USS Nimitz]] Carrier Strike Group. His credible testimony and detailed account of the encounter have been instrumental in bringing the issue of [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] (UAP) to the attention of the public and the U.S. Congress.[^1]
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- UFO
|
||||||
|
summary: "Commander Dave Fravor is a retired U.S."
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Commander [[Dave Fravor]] is a retired U.S. Navy pilot who is best known as the lead eyewitness in the 2004 [[Tic Tac]] involving the [[USS Nimitz]] Carrier Strike Group. His credible testimony and detailed account of the encounter have been instrumental in bringing the issue of [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] (UAP) to the attention of the public and the U.S. Congress.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Naval Career
|
### Naval Career
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- David Baltimore
|
- David Baltimore
|
||||||
|
category: "Psychics & Remote Viewers"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Biologist
|
- RemoteViewer
|
||||||
- Nobel Laureate
|
summary: "David Baltimore is a Nobel Prize-winning biologist."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
David Baltimore is a Nobel Prize-winning biologist. He was the mentor of [[Garry Nolan]], a leading research scientist at [[Stanford University]] specializing in genetics, immunology, and bioinformatics[^1].
|
David Baltimore is a Nobel Prize-winning biologist. He was the mentor of [[Garry Nolan]], a leading research scientist at [[Stanford University]] specializing in genetics, immunology, and bioinformatics[^1].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Politics
|
- Nuclear
|
||||||
- Israel
|
- Israel
|
||||||
|
summary: "David Ben-Gurion, often referred to as the 'Old Man,' was a central figure in the establishment of Israel and served as its first Prime Minister and Defense Minister from 1948 to 1963, with one brief interlude."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
David Ben-Gurion, often referred to as the "Old Man," was a central figure in the establishment of [[Israel]] and served as its first Prime Minister and Defense Minister from 1948 to 1963, with one brief interlude. He was a strong advocate for [[Israel]]'s self-defense and self-reliance, driven by a private nightmare of a second Holocaust at the hands of the Arabs. He believed that [[Israel]]'s security would come through its own capabilities, repeatedly linking the nation's security to its progress in science.[^1]
|
David Ben-Gurion, often referred to as the "Old Man," was a central figure in the establishment of [[Israel]] and served as its first Prime Minister and Defense Minister from 1948 to 1963, with one brief interlude. He was a strong advocate for [[Israel]]'s self-defense and self-reliance, driven by a private nightmare of a second Holocaust at the hands of the Arabs. He believed that [[Israel]]'s security would come through its own capabilities, repeatedly linking the nation's security to its progress in science.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Ben-Gurion was a key proponent of [[Israel]] developing its own atomic reactor, utilizing indigenous natural uranium and locally manufactured heavy water. He publicly stated that nuclear energy would soon produce electricity and desalinated water to make the [[Negev]] desert bloom. However, his primary goal was the development of a nuclear bomb, with the public statements serving as a cover. He oversaw this effort with the aid of his protégé, [[Shimon Peres]], and [[Ernst David Bergmann]], who headed the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission under the direct jurisdiction of the defense ministry.[^1]
|
Ben-Gurion was a key proponent of [[Israel]] developing its own atomic reactor, utilizing indigenous natural uranium and locally manufactured heavy water. He publicly stated that nuclear energy would soon produce electricity and desalinated water to make the [[Negev]] desert bloom. However, his primary goal was the development of a nuclear bomb, with the public statements serving as a cover. He oversaw this effort with the aid of his protégé, [[Shimon Peres]], and [[Ernst David Bergmann]], who headed the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission under the direct jurisdiction of the defense ministry.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Other"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Accomplice
|
summary: "David Cram was a 20-year-old employee of John Wayne Gacy's construction company, PDM, and began living with Gacy at his Norwood Park house in May 1976."
|
||||||
- Illinois
|
|
||||||
- 1970s
|
|
||||||
- John_Wayne_Gacy_Case
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
David Cram was a 20-year-old employee of [[John Wayne Gacy]]'s construction company, [[Painting Decorating Maintenance|PDM]], and began living with Gacy at his [[Norwood Park]] house in May 1976. The house served as both a residence and a home office for the business, where Cram resided on and off alongside another employee, [[Michael Rossi]]. Cram worked for Gacy during a period when multiple young men associated with the company went missing.[^1]
|
David Cram was a 20-year-old employee of [[John Wayne Gacy]]'s construction company, [[Painting Decorating Maintenance|PDM]], and began living with Gacy at his [[Norwood Park]] house in May 1976. The house served as both a residence and a home office for the business, where Cram resided on and off alongside another employee, [[Michael Rossi]]. Cram worked for Gacy during a period when multiple young men associated with the company went missing.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Role in Gacy Operations
|
### Role in Gacy Operations
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Military"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Military
|
- Military
|
||||||
- Israel
|
- Israel
|
||||||
|
summary: "David Elazar, also known as Dado, was the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
David Elazar, also known as Dado, was the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army. He was among [[Golda Meir]]'s closest aides, part of her "kitchen cabinet." During the desperate early days of the 1973 [[Yom Kippur War]], on Monday, October 8, Elazar was present at a dramatic all-night meeting in Meir's office in [[Tel Aviv]]. Faced with the imminent collapse of Israeli forces, the leadership resolved to implement three critical decisions: rally its collapsing forces for a major counterattack; arm and target its nuclear arsenal in the event of total collapse and subsequent need for the [[Samson Option]]; and inform [[Washington D.C.]] of its unprecedented nuclear action to demand an emergency airlift of replacement arms and ammunition.[^1]
|
|
||||||
|
David Elazar, also known as Dado, was the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army. He was among [[Golda Meir]]'s closest aides, part of her "kitchen cabinet." During the desperate early days of the 1973 [[Yom Kippur War]], on Monday, October 8, Elazar was present at a dramatic all-night meeting in Meir's office in [[Tel Aviv]]. Faced with the imminent collapse of Israeli forces, the leadership resolved to implement three critical decisions: rally its collapsing forces for a major counterattack; arm and target its nuclear arsenal in the event of total collapse and subsequent need for the [[Samson Option]]; and inform [[Washington, D.C.]] of its unprecedented nuclear action to demand an emergency airlift of replacement arms and ammunition.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Elazar's daily diary, published in Hebrew, blacked out the night of October 8, recording only the phrase: "Crucial meeting." He later told an aide that he was "scared to death" during this period, as he had a child on duty at the front.[^1]
|
Elazar's daily diary, published in Hebrew, blacked out the night of October 8, recording only the phrase: "Crucial meeting." He later told an aide that he was "scared to death" during this period, as he had a child on duty at the front.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- UFO
|
||||||
|
summary: "In 2023, Grusch went public with his allegations, testifying under oath before the House Oversight Committee's National Security Subcommittee."
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
[[David Grusch]] is a former intelligence officer from the [[National Reconnaissance Office]] (NRO) and the [[National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency]] (NGA) who served as the NRO's representative on the [[UAP Task Force]]. He is a key whistleblower who has provided Congress and the Intelligence Community Inspector General with extensive classified information about deeply covert programs that he says have retrieved intact and partially intact craft of non-human origin.[^1]
|
[[David Grusch]] is a former intelligence officer from the [[National Reconnaissance Office]] (NRO) and the [[National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency]] (NGA) who served as the NRO's representative on the [[UAP Task Force]]. He is a key whistleblower who has provided Congress and the Intelligence Community Inspector General with extensive classified information about deeply covert programs that he says have retrieved intact and partially intact craft of non-human origin.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Whistleblower Testimony
|
### Whistleblower Testimony
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,22 +1,20 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Other"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Criminal
|
summary: "David Owen Brooks (born February 14, 1955) functioned as a teenage accomplice to serial killer Dean Corll in the Dean Corll Murders from 1970 to 1973."
|
||||||
- Accomplice
|
|
||||||
- Texas
|
|
||||||
- 1970s
|
|
||||||
- Dean_Corll_Case
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
David Owen Brooks (born February 14, 1955) functioned as a teenage accomplice to serial killer [[Dean Corll]] in the [[Dean Corll Murders]] from 1970 to 1973. Brooks played a key role in procuring victims and participating in their torture and murder. He introduced [[Elmer Wayne Henley]] to Corll and provided crucial testimony connecting the crimes to broader trafficking networks.[^1]
|
David Owen Brooks (born February 14, 1955) functioned as a teenage accomplice to serial killer [[Dean Corll]] in the [[Dean Corll Murders]] from 1970 to 1973. Brooks played a key role in procuring victims and participating in their torture and murder. He introduced [[Elmer Wayne Henley]] to Corll and provided crucial testimony connecting the crimes to broader trafficking networks.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Background and Recruitment
|
### Background and Recruitment
|
||||||
David Owen Brooks, an 18-year-old resident of [[Houston, Texas]], first met [[Dean Corll]] around 1969 at age 12 through his mother, who worked at Corll's mother's candy company, Pecan Prince. Corll groomed Brooks over years, providing gifts, money, and drugs to gain his trust and loyalty. By 1970, Brooks began actively procuring boys for Corll in exchange for payments of at least $200 per victim, more for attractive ones. He lived with Corll on and off for three years, advancing from recruitment to direct involvement in the assaults, murders, and body disposals. Brooks confessed to participating in at least four murders during this time.[^1]
|
David Owen Brooks, an 18-year-old resident of [[Houston]], first met [[Dean Corll]] around 1969 at age 12 through his mother, who worked at Corll's mother's candy company, Pecan Prince. Corll groomed Brooks over years, providing gifts, money, and drugs to gain his trust and loyalty. By 1970, Brooks began actively procuring boys for Corll in exchange for payments of at least $200 per victim, more for attractive ones. He lived with Corll on and off for three years, advancing from recruitment to direct involvement in the assaults, murders, and body disposals. Brooks confessed to participating in at least four murders during this time.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Role in the Crimes
|
### Role in the Crimes
|
||||||
Brooks collaborated with [[Dean Corll]] and later [[Elmer Wayne Henley]] to lure young males aged 13 to 20, typically from disadvantaged or runaway backgrounds, to Corll's [[Pasadena, Texas]], home. He befriended potential victims, using his teenage status to lower their guard, and transported them to the location where Corll would restrain them on a plywood torture board with handcuffs and ropes. Victims endured sexual assault, torture with items like glass rods, a double-ended dildo, and a hunting knife, before being killed by strangulation or a .22 caliber gunshot to the head. Brooks assisted in these acts and helped bury bodies in mass graves: 17 at the Silverbell boat shed, four near [[Lake Sam Rayburn]], and seven along the [[Bolivar Peninsula]]. His methods included hosting parties with drugs and paint sniffing to incapacitate victims. Brooks' efforts contributed to at least 28 confirmed murders between September 1970 and August 1973.[^1]
|
Brooks collaborated with [[Dean Corll]] and later [[Elmer Wayne Henley]] to lure young males aged 13 to 20, typically from disadvantaged or runaway backgrounds, to Corll's [[Pasadena, Texas]], home. He befriended potential victims, using his teenage status to lower their guard, and transported them to the location where Corll would restrain them on a plywood torture board with handcuffs and ropes. Victims endured sexual assault, torture with items like glass rods, a double-ended dildo, and a hunting knife, before being killed by strangulation or a .22 caliber gunshot to the head. Brooks assisted in these acts and helped bury bodies in mass graves: 17 at the Silverbell boat shed, four near [[Lake Sam Rayburn]], and seven along the [[Bolivar Peninsula]]. His methods included hosting parties with drugs and paint sniffing to incapacitate victims. Brooks' efforts contributed to at least 28 confirmed murders between September 1970 and August 1973.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Confession, Connections, and Investigation
|
### Confession, Connections, and Investigation
|
||||||
Following [[Dean Corll]]'s death on August 8, 1973, Brooks provided a signed confession to [[Harris County Police Department]] on August 9, 1973, at 1:20 p.m., detailing his role and Corll's operations. He corroborated [[Elmer Wayne Henley]]'s account, mentioning a [[Dallas, Texas]], contact named "Art" who had also killed boys, linking the case to the [[Odyssey Foundation]] and [[Odyssey Network]] run by [[John David Norman]]. Brooks stated that Corll belonged to a [[Dallas, Texas]], organization buying and selling boys, running prostitution and drugs, with other members committing murders. His confession aligned with the August 1973 raid on Norman's operation. Brooks' testimony aided the [[Houston Police Department]] and [[Pasadena Police Department]] in recovering bodies and understanding the network, though investigations criticized for dropping leads on interstate ties.[^1]
|
Following [[Dean Corll]]'s death on August 8, 1973, Brooks provided a signed confession to [[Harris County Police Department]] on August 9, 1973, at 1:20 p.m., detailing his role and Corll's operations. He corroborated [[Elmer Wayne Henley]]'s account, mentioning a [[Dallas, Texas]], contact named "Art" who had also killed boys, linking the case to the [[Odyssey Foundation]] and [[Odyssey Network]] run by [[John David Norman]]. Brooks stated that Corll belonged to a [[Dallas, Texas]], organization buying and selling boys, running prostitution and drugs, with other members committing murders. His confession aligned with the August 1973 raid on Norman's operation. Brooks' testimony aided the [[Houston]] and [[Pasadena Police Department]] in recovering bodies and understanding the network, though investigations criticized for dropping leads on interstate ties.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Legal Proceedings and Outcome
|
### Legal Proceedings and Outcome
|
||||||
Brooks was arrested after his confession and tried for his involvement in the murders. In 1975, he was convicted of four counts of murder and sentenced to four concurrent life terms. Despite cooperating with authorities, his active role in procurement and killings resulted in conviction. Henley received a similar sentence for six murders. The case exposed Corll's systematic operation but left unresolved connections to larger child exploitation rings, including those in [[California]].[^1]
|
Brooks was arrested after his confession and tried for his involvement in the murders. In 1975, he was convicted of four counts of murder and sentenced to four concurrent life terms. Despite cooperating with authorities, his active role in procurement and killings resulted in conviction. Henley received a similar sentence for six murders. The case exposed Corll's systematic operation but left unresolved connections to larger child exploitation rings, including those in [[California]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,29 +1,23 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Other"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Serial_Killer
|
summary: "Dean Arnold Corll (December 24, 1939 – August 8, 1973), known as the Candyman Killer, was an American serial killer who murdered at least 28 teenage boys and young men in Houston, Texas, between 1970 and 1973."
|
||||||
- Criminal
|
|
||||||
- Texas
|
|
||||||
- 1970s
|
|
||||||
- Child_Trafficking
|
|
||||||
- Odyssey_Network
|
|
||||||
- Houston_Mass_Murders
|
|
||||||
- Child_Pornography
|
|
||||||
- Roy_Ames_Connection
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
Dean Arnold Corll (December 24, 1939 – August 8, 1973), known as the Candyman Killer, was an American serial killer who murdered at least 28 teenage boys and young men in [[Houston, Texas]], between 1970 and 1973. Corll earned his nickname from his family's candy business, which provided access to neighborhood children. His case revealed connections to larger child trafficking and pornography networks across the United States.[^1]
|
|
||||||
|
Dean Arnold Corll (December 24, 1939 – August 8, 1973), known as the Candyman Killer, was an American serial killer who murdered at least 28 teenage boys and young men in [[Houston]], between 1970 and 1973. Corll earned his nickname from his family's candy business, which provided access to neighborhood children. His case revealed connections to larger child trafficking and pornography networks across the United States.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Background and Early Life
|
### Background and Early Life
|
||||||
Dean Corll was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on December 24, 1939, and moved to [[Houston, Texas]], with his divorced mother in the 1940s. After high school graduation, he joined the U.S. Army and served in [[Texas]] until his honorable discharge in 1964. Returning to [[Houston, Texas]], Corll assisted in running his mother's candy company, Pecan Prince, operated from the family home. The business gained popularity among local children, allowing Corll to build trust within the community. He resided in a bungalow in [[Pasadena, Texas]], and rented a storage shed at 4500 Silverbell since 1970 for storing items related to his crimes. Corll used a private post office box in [[Houston, Texas]], to receive pornographic materials secretly, which he read and destroyed. He claimed membership in an organization based in [[Dallas, Texas]], that bought and sold boys, operated prostitution and drug rings, and involved other members in murdering boys. Corll mentioned a contact named "Art" in [[Dallas, Texas]], who had killed boys, and planned trips to [[Dallas, Texas]], including one at the end of the month before his death.[^1]
|
Dean Corll was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on December 24, 1939, and moved to [[Houston]], with his divorced mother in the 1940s. After high school graduation, he joined the U.S. Army and served in [[Texas]] until his honorable discharge in 1964. Returning to [[Houston]], Corll assisted in running his mother's candy company, Pecan Prince, operated from the family home. The business gained popularity among local children, allowing Corll to build trust within the community. He resided in a bungalow in [[Pasadena, Texas]], and rented a storage shed at 4500 Silverbell since 1970 for storing items related to his crimes. Corll used a private post office box in [[Houston]], to receive pornographic materials secretly, which he read and destroyed. He claimed membership in an organization based in [[Dallas, Texas]], that bought and sold boys, operated prostitution and drug rings, and involved other members in murdering boys. Corll mentioned a contact named "Art" in [[Dallas, Texas]], who had killed boys, and planned trips to [[Dallas, Texas]], including one at the end of the month before his death.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Crimes, Methods, and Network Connections
|
### Crimes, Methods, and Network Connections
|
||||||
Corll's killing spree commenced in September 1970 and persisted until August 1973. He collaborated with teenage accomplices [[David Owen Brooks]] and [[Elmer Wayne Henley]], who lured victims to his home. Victims were typically young males aged 13-20, often from disadvantaged backgrounds or runaways. The murders entailed systematic torture, rape, and killing, with victims restrained on a plywood torture board equipped with handcuffs and ropes. Autopsies indicated all victims suffered sexual assault and torture prior to death, primarily by strangulation or a single .22 caliber gunshot to the head. Corll established a torture chamber in his [[Pasadena, Texas]], bungalow, featuring rolls of polyethylene plastic sheeting, sex toys including a double-ended dildo, glass rods, and a hunting knife. He employed drugs and paint sniffing to incapacitate victims at parties. Bodies received burial in mass graves: 17 at the Silverbell boat shed, four in a wooded area near [[Lake Sam Rayburn]] where Corll's family owned a cabin, and seven along the [[Bolivar Peninsula]] beachline. Some early victims intended for shipment to [[California]] were killed instead.
|
Corll's killing spree commenced in September 1970 and persisted until August 1973. He collaborated with teenage accomplices [[David Owen Brooks]] and [[Elmer Wayne Henley]], who lured victims to his home. Victims were typically young males aged 13-20, often from disadvantaged backgrounds or runaways. The murders entailed systematic torture, rape, and killing, with victims restrained on a plywood torture board equipped with handcuffs and ropes. Autopsies indicated all victims suffered sexual assault and torture prior to death, primarily by strangulation or a single .22 caliber gunshot to the head. Corll established a torture chamber in his [[Pasadena, Texas]], bungalow, featuring rolls of polyethylene plastic sheeting, sex toys including a double-ended dildo, glass rods, and a hunting knife. He employed drugs and paint sniffing to incapacitate victims at parties. Bodies received burial in mass graves: 17 at the Silverbell boat shed, four in a wooded area near [[Lake Sam Rayburn]] where Corll's family owned a cabin, and seven along the [[Bolivar Peninsula]] beachline. Some early victims intended for shipment to [[California]] were killed instead.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Corll's activities included producing or facilitating child pornography, with ties to photographers and producers exploiting boys. Confessions from accomplices revealed Corll's affiliation with a [[Dallas, Texas]], organization involved in boy trafficking, corroborated by the August 1973 raid on the [[Odyssey Network]], where [[John David Norman]] faced arrest for interstate child trafficking. Connections linked Corll to [[Roy Ames]], a [[Houston, Texas]],-based child pornographer operating under [[Clarity Music]]. Raids on Ames' warehouse in December 1973 and February 1975 seized over six tons of child pornography, including images of 11 Corll victims.
|
Corll's activities included producing or facilitating child pornography, with ties to photographers and producers exploiting boys. Confessions from accomplices revealed Corll's affiliation with a [[Dallas, Texas]], organization involved in boy trafficking, corroborated by the August 1973 raid on the [[Odyssey Network]], where [[John David Norman]] faced arrest for interstate child trafficking. Connections linked Corll to [[Roy Ames]], a [[Houston]],-based child pornographer operating under [[Clarity Music]]. Raids on Ames' warehouse in December 1973 and February 1975 seized over six tons of child pornography, including images of 11 Corll victims.
|
||||||
Informant [[Steven Dale Ahern]] reported Ames utilized Corll to exploit boys for pornography, having met Corll through Ames and attended a 1971 sadomasochist orgy at Corll's rented apartment. Ames claimed responsibility for one-third of U.S. domestic child pornography production. A grand jury criticized [[Houston Police Department]] for abandoning leads around September 1, 1973, particularly regarding [[California]]-based operations like [[DOM-Lyric Productions]]. [[David Owen Brooks]] stated early victims were destined for [[California]]. Vice detectives in [[Los Angeles, California]], investigated snuff films featuring a Corll victim, amid probes into murders of Mexican children smuggled for pornography.[^1]
|
Informant [[Steven Dale Ahern]] reported Ames utilized Corll to exploit boys for pornography, having met Corll through Ames and attended a 1971 sadomasochist orgy at Corll's rented apartment. Ames claimed responsibility for one-third of U.S. domestic child pornography production. A grand jury criticized [[Houston]] for abandoning leads around September 1, 1973, particularly regarding [[California]]-based operations like [[DOM-Lyric Productions]]. [[David Owen Brooks]] stated early victims were destined for [[California]]. Vice detectives in [[Los Angeles, California]], investigated snuff films featuring a Corll victim, amid probes into murders of Mexican children smuggled for pornography.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Accomplices, Victims, Investigation, and Outcome
|
### Accomplices, Victims, Investigation, and Outcome
|
||||||
Corll's primary accomplices were 17-year-old [[Elmer Wayne Henley]] and 18-year-old [[David Owen Brooks]]. Brooks introduced Henley to Corll about two years before exposure, after Henley's interest in earning money. Corll compensated them at least $200 per procured boy, more for attractive ones, and they resided with him intermittently for three years, advancing from procurement to participation in torture, murder, and disposal. Henley confessed to aiding at least six murders, while Brooks admitted procuring victims and involvement in some killings. Specific victims included brothers Jerry Waldrop (13) and Donald Waldrop (15), buried with identification cards and a partial [[Houston Police Department]] offense report in the boat shed; 11 unidentified victims matched to seized child pornography photographs. Witnesses to Corll's final murders on August 8, 1973, comprised 20-year-old [[Timothy Cordell Kerley]], raped after binding, and 15-year-old [[Rhonda Louise Williams]], bound but freed by Henley. Henley shot Corll multiple times after untying, terminating the spree. Other victims reported missing over three years, with autopsies confirming rape and torture. The investigation initiated on August 8, 1973, when [[Elmer Wayne Henley]] contacted [[Pasadena Police Department]] to report shooting Corll, discovering his naked body and torture devices in the bungalow. Henley guided officers to the Silverbell boat shed, uncovering 17 bodies, followed by recoveries at [[Lake Sam Rayburn]] and [[Bolivar Peninsula]], totaling 28 confirmed victims. [[Houston Police Department]] and [[Pasadena Police Department]] led the probe, with confessions from Henley and Brooks on August 9, 1973, implicating the [[Dallas, Texas]], organization. Client index cards seized but later destroyed by the U.S. State Department. Henley and Brooks convicted of murder; Henley for at least six killings, Brooks for procurements and murders. Corll's death at age 33 concluded his crimes, establishing him as perpetrator of one of the largest U.S. mass murders of boys, with unresolved interstate child exploitation ties.[^1]
|
Corll's primary accomplices were 17-year-old [[Elmer Wayne Henley]] and 18-year-old [[David Owen Brooks]]. Brooks introduced Henley to Corll about two years before exposure, after Henley's interest in earning money. Corll compensated them at least $200 per procured boy, more for attractive ones, and they resided with him intermittently for three years, advancing from procurement to participation in torture, murder, and disposal. Henley confessed to aiding at least six murders, while Brooks admitted procuring victims and involvement in some killings. Specific victims included brothers Jerry Waldrop (13) and Donald Waldrop (15), buried with identification cards and a partial [[Houston]] offense report in the boat shed; 11 unidentified victims matched to seized child pornography photographs. Witnesses to Corll's final murders on August 8, 1973, comprised 20-year-old [[Timothy Cordell Kerley]], raped after binding, and 15-year-old [[Rhonda Louise Williams]], bound but freed by Henley. Henley shot Corll multiple times after untying, terminating the spree. Other victims reported missing over three years, with autopsies confirming rape and torture. The investigation initiated on August 8, 1973, when [[Elmer Wayne Henley]] contacted [[Pasadena Police Department]] to report shooting Corll, discovering his naked body and torture devices in the bungalow. Henley guided officers to the Silverbell boat shed, uncovering 17 bodies, followed by recoveries at [[Lake Sam Rayburn]] and [[Bolivar Peninsula]], totaling 28 confirmed victims. [[Houston]] and [[Pasadena Police Department]] led the probe, with confessions from Henley and Brooks on August 9, 1973, implicating the [[Dallas, Texas]], organization. Client index cards seized but later destroyed by the U.S. State Department. Henley and Brooks convicted of murder; Henley for at least six killings, Brooks for procurements and murders. Corll's death at age 33 concluded his crimes, establishing him as perpetrator of one of the largest U.S. mass murders of boys, with unresolved interstate child exploitation ties.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
|
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||||
32
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Dennis Ainsworth.md
Normal file
32
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Dennis Ainsworth.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- Person/Politician
|
||||||
|
- United_States
|
||||||
|
- Contra_War
|
||||||
|
- 1980s
|
||||||
|
- Dark_Alliance_Investigation
|
||||||
|
summary: San Francisco Contra supporter and Republican activist who discovered the FDN's cocaine trafficking connections and alerted the FBI, only to be ignored.
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Dennis Ainsworth was a former San Francisco-area economics professor, staunch conservative, and Republican party stalwart who became deeply involved in Contra support activities starting in late 1983.[^1] His discovery of the FDN's cocaine trafficking connections led him to the FBI, which took no action.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Contra Support Work
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In late 1983, Ainsworth began assisting Nicaraguan refugees who had settled in San Francisco after fleeing the [[Sandinistas]]. He met [[Julio Bonilla]], the local coordinator of the [[FDN]], at a seminar at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in February 1984, and was drawn into the Contra support organization [[USACA]], founded by [[Don Sinicco]]. Ainsworth used his political connections to arrange high-profile events for [[Adolfo Calero]], including a private reception at the exclusive St. Francis Yacht Club on June 4, 1984, with about sixty of San Francisco's most influential business leaders and Republicans.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Discovery of Drug Trafficking
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
At a dinner after the yacht club reception, [[Norwin Meneses]] (a man Ainsworth had not previously noticed) paid the bill for the entire party. When Ainsworth asked who the man was, a Nicaraguan friend told him, "You don't want to know." At a cocktail party for Calero two days later, Ainsworth observed Meneses meeting privately with Calero. Meneses then began attending USACA meetings and making financial contributions.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
When [[Renato Pena|Renato Peña]] and Jairo Meneses were arrested on cocaine trafficking charges in November 1984, Ainsworth began suspecting FDN involvement in drugs. Peña confessed to him his role in the Contra drug network. Alarmed, Ainsworth began investigating and received a DEA intelligence report dated February 6, 1984, from a friend in Washington, describing Meneses as "the apparent head of a criminal organization responsible for smuggling kilogram quantities of cocaine to the United States." Ainsworth said: "I had gone through the Looking Glass. I had crossed over into the nether world that 99 percent of the population wouldn't even believe existed."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### FBI Complaint and Aftermath
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In September 1985, a U.S. Customs official told Ainsworth that "national security interests" prevented him from making narcotics cases, and that two Customs officers "who felt threatened and intimidated by National Security interference in legitimate narcotics smuggling investigations had resigned and had assumed false identities." The agent also told Ainsworth that Meneses "would have been arrested in a major drug case in 1983 or 1984 except that he had been warned by a corrupt officer."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Other law enforcement sources told Ainsworth "they had a file on Meneses that was two feet thick." But Ainsworth found no outstanding warrant for Meneses. "Here you had a major cocaine trafficker who was deeply involved with the Contras, and apparently, everyone but me knew about it." In early 1987, Ainsworth went to the FBI and warned that the FDN "has become more involved in selling arms and cocaine for personal gain than in a military effort to overthrow the current Nicaraguan Sandinista government." The FBI took no action. Iran-Contra prosecutor Lawrence Walsh's staff similarly showed no interest. Ainsworth received death threats but the FBI was unimpressed. Frightened, he fled California for the East Coast. "I thought I was part of the establishment. And all of a sudden I was a leper."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 9: "He would have had me by the tail"
|
||||||
27
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Dewey Clarridge.md
Normal file
27
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Dewey Clarridge.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- CIA
|
||||||
|
- United_States
|
||||||
|
- Contra
|
||||||
|
- 1980s
|
||||||
|
- Dark_Alliance_Investigation
|
||||||
|
summary: Chief of the CIA Latin American Division from 1981 to 1984 who oversaw the creation of the Contra project, recruited Contra leaders including Eden Pastora, and was later indicted for perjury during the Iran-Contra investigation.
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Duane "Dewey" Clarridge was the chief of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s Latin American Division from 1981 to 1984 and oversaw the creation of the Contra project.[^1] He recruited many of the Contra leaders, including [[Eden Pastora]] in 1981.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Contra Project Leadership
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Clarridge headed the CIA effort to organize, fund, and direct the [[Contras]] from the project's inception. Under his leadership, the agency assembled the scattered anti-[[Sandinistas|Sandinista]] factions into a unified fighting force, created the [[FDN]], and established the Costa Rican-based Southern Front under Eden Pastora.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
When asked by a British television crew in late 1996 about [[Ivan Gomez|Iván Gómez]], the pseudonymous CIA agent in [[Costa Rica]] whom [[Carlos Cabezas]] identified as supervising Contra drug money, Clarridge said he had never heard of him. The 1998 CIA Inspector General's report confirmed that Gómez was indeed assigned to Costa Rica in 1982, largely corroborating Cabezas's account.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Iran-Contra Indictment
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Clarridge was indicted in 1991 on seven counts of perjury and providing false information to Congress during the [[Iran-Contra Affair]] investigation. He was pardoned before trial by former CIA director [[George H.W. Bush]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Cast of Characters
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 5: "God, Fatherland and Freedom"
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Belgium Scandals"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Intelligence
|
- Belgium
|
||||||
- USA
|
summary: "Brugioni recalled seeing the first signs of what would become the Israeli nuclear reactor at Dimona."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Dino A. Brugioni was a World War II veteran who served as an aerial photographer and later joined the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] in 1948. He was enticed by [[Arthur C. Lundahl]] to join his staff in the Photographic Intelligence Division, where he played a key role in analyzing reconnaissance photos, particularly from the [[U-2 Spy Plane]].[^1]
|
Dino A. Brugioni was a World War II veteran who served as an aerial photographer and later joined the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] in 1948. He was enticed by [[Arthur C. Lundahl]] to join his staff in the Photographic Intelligence Division, where he played a key role in analyzing reconnaissance photos, particularly from the [[U-2 Spy Plane]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Brugioni recalled seeing the first signs of what would become the Israeli nuclear reactor at [[Dimona]]. He and other photo interpreters observed the fencing off of a large, barren area, the construction of a new road, and significant subterranean digging and concrete pouring. They immediately suspected something unusual was happening, given the scale of the construction in the middle of the desert.[^1]
|
Brugioni recalled seeing the first signs of what would become the Israeli nuclear reactor at [[Dimona]]. He and other photo interpreters observed the fencing off of a large, barren area, the construction of a new road, and significant subterranean digging and concrete pouring. They immediately suspected something unusual was happening, given the scale of the construction in the middle of the desert.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "PROMIS Scandal"
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- PROMIS
|
||||||
|
summary: "Egyptian multi-millionaire film producer and son of Mohammed Al-Fayed, romantically involved with Princess Diana; died with her in a 1997 Paris car crash."
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
[[Dodi Fayed]] was an Egyptian multi-millionaire film producer and the son of [[Samira Khashoggi Fayed]] and [[Mohammed Al-Fayed]]. He was romantically involved with [[Diana, Princess of Wales]]. The couple died in a car crash in a Paris underpass in the early hours of August 31, 1997.[^1]
|
[[Dodi Fayed]] was an Egyptian multi-millionaire film producer and the son of [[Samira Khashoggi Fayed]] and [[Mohammed Al-Fayed]]. He was romantically involved with [[Diana, Princess of Wales]]. The couple died in a car crash in a Paris underpass in the early hours of August 31, 1997.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
category: "Organized Crime"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- District_Attorney
|
- OrganizedCrime
|
||||||
- Michigan
|
summary: "Don Berlage was the district attorney for Charlevoix County, Michigan, during the 1970s."
|
||||||
- 1970s
|
|
||||||
- Troop_137
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Don Berlage was the district attorney for Charlevoix County, Michigan, during the 1970s. He prosecuted cases in the area, including those connected to child abuse rings. Berlage's office handled investigations that intersected with broader child trafficking networks.[^1]
|
Don Berlage was the district attorney for Charlevoix County, Michigan, during the 1970s. He prosecuted cases in the area, including those connected to child abuse rings. Berlage's office handled investigations that intersected with broader child trafficking networks.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Role in Prosecutions
|
### Role in Prosecutions
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
created: 2025-07-22
|
category: "Key Figures"
|
||||||
updated: 2025-07-22
|
|
||||||
title: Don Curtis
|
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- physicist
|
- Stargate
|
||||||
- researcher
|
- Physicist
|
||||||
description: Don Curtis was a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who experienced unusual apparitions related to the Uri Geller phenomena.
|
- RemoteViewer
|
||||||
|
summary: "Physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who was part of the group investigating Uri Geller's psychokinetic abilities as part of the Stargate remote viewing program."
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Don Curtis]] was a physicist at [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]]. He was part of the group that investigated [[Uri Geller]]'s psychokinetic abilities. After the group ceased its research activities with Geller, Curtis and his wife experienced one of the last bizarre apparitions: a hovering, holographic, one-armed man in a gray suit with a hook for a hand. This unsettling experience prompted [[Richard Kennett]] to demand a meeting with [[Hal Puthoff]] and [[Russell Targ]] to understand the phenomena.[^1]
|
[[Don Curtis]] was a physicist at [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]]. He was part of the group that investigated [[Uri Geller]]'s psychokinetic abilities. After the group ceased its research activities with Geller, Curtis and his wife experienced one of the last bizarre apparitions: a hovering, holographic, one-armed man in a gray suit with a hook for a hand. This unsettling experience prompted [[Richard Kennett]] to demand a meeting with [[Hal Puthoff]] and [[Russell Targ]] to understand the phenomena.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
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