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20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Cabazon Indian Reservation.md

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----
-tags:
-  - Organization
-  - Organization/Intelligence
-  - Organization/Military
-  - United_States
-  - California
-  - 1980s
-  - Contra_War
-  - PROMIS
-  - Dark_Alliance_Investigation
-category: "Private Organization"
-summary: "The Cabazon Indian Reservation is located near Indio, California, and is home to the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians."
-location: "Indio, California"
----
-
-The [[Cabazon Indian Reservation]] is located near Indio, [[California]], and is home to the [[Cabazon Indian Reservation]]. Its sovereign nation status played a crucial role in a joint venture with [[Wackenhut Corporation]], allowing the parties to operate outside typical federal jurisdiction and congressional prohibitions. During the 1980s, the reservation was used as a site for developing weapons for Third World armies, including the [[Contras]].[^1][^2]
-
-### Joint Venture with Wackenhut Corporation
-
-On April 1, 1981, the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians formalized a joint venture with [[Wackenhut Corporation]], primarily to establish a production facility named "Cabazon Arms" on the reservation. This partnership was designed to manufacture high-tech arms and explosives for export to third-world countries, including the Contras in Nicaragua and nations in the Middle East, effectively circumventing U.S. arms export regulations. The [[San Francisco]] Chronicle described the venture as "a series of international military and security projects that seem to be lifted from the pages of a spy novel."[^1][^2]
-
-[[Dr. John Nichols]], the Cabazon tribal administrator and a former [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] agent who claimed involvement in the agency's Chilean destabilization program in the 1970s, was instrumental in this venture. He obtained a [[Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] secret facility clearance for the reservation to conduct various research projects. Nichols proposed to Wackenhut the production of a range of weapons systems, including 120mm combustible cartridge cases, 9mm machine pistols, laser-sighted assault weapons, sniper rifles, portable rocket systems, night-vision scopes, and battlefield communications systems. The joint venture also explored the development of biological weapons.[^1][^2]
-
-In May 1983, the Cabazons solicited San Diego arms manufacturer [[Tim LaFrance]] to build an arms factory on their reservation. Their letter to LaFrance Specialties stated: "We need the know-how from an organization engaged in the manufacturing of armaments of various types, all consisting of technology not currently found on the marketplace."[^2]
-
-### Contra Connection
-
-Contra leader [[Eden Pastora]] visited a firing range near the reservation for a weapons demonstration in 1981, a claim Pastora has both confirmed and denied on separate occasions. Wackenhut was using the Cabazon reservation's tax-exempt status and its freedom from federal oversight to gain a competitive advantage in soliciting federal weapons projects.[^2]
-
-### PROMIS Software Modification
-
-[[Michael Riconosciuto]] served as the Director of Research for this joint venture. He claimed to have modified the proprietary [[PROMIS]] computer software at the Wackenhut facility on the reservation. This modified software, allegedly made available by [[Earl Brian]] through [[Peter Videnieks]] of the [[Department of Justice|U.S. Department of Justice]], was intended for worldwide implementation in law enforcement and intelligence agencies, leading to the [[PROMIS Software Scandal]]. Riconosciuto's affidavit detailed specific modifications for the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police|RCMP]] and the [[Canadian Security Intelligence Service|CSIS]] in [[Canada]].[^1]
-
-Frequent visitors to the Wackenhut-Cabazon joint venture included [[Peter Videnieks]] and [[Earl Brian]]. The venture maintained close liaison with elements of the [[United States]], including representatives of intelligence, military, and law enforcement agencies.[^1]
-
-### Danny Casolaro Investigation
-
-Investigative journalist [[Danny Casolaro]] was investigating the Cabazon/Wackenhut projects as part of his "[[The Octopus]]" investigation at the time he was found dead in a West Virginia motel room in 1991. 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." His notes contained cryptic references to slow-acting brain viruses, like Mad Cow Disease, which he believed could be used against targeted individuals, and he was concerned he might have been a target of such a virus. The notebooks Casolaro left behind contained the name of former CIA officer [[John Vandewerker]].[^1][^2]
-
-### Termination and Investigations
-
-The Wackenhut/Cabazon Joint Venture was terminated on October 1, 1984. Following its termination, the activities conducted on the Cabazon Indian Reservation became the subject of numerous investigations by various governmental and law enforcement bodies, including the [[Department of Justice|U.S. Department of Justice]], the [[United States House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary|House Judiciary Committee on Inslaw]], [[U.S. Customs|U.S. Customs]], and the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police|Royal Canadian Mounted Police]], as well as police agencies and media worldwide.[^1]
-
-### Footnotes
-
-[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010.
-[^2]: 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."

20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Hermes.md

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+---
+tags:
+  - Organization
+  - Publication
+  - Newsletter
+  - Child_Pornography
+  - Chicago
+  - Illinois
+  - 1970s
+  - Delta_Project
+  - Odyssey_Network
+category: "Crime Investigation"
+summary: "Hermes was an underground boylover newsletter printed in Chicago during the 1970s that served as a communications hub for a nationwide child trafficking and pornography network."
+start: 1970
+location: Chicago, Illinois
+---
+Hermes was an underground boylover newsletter printed in Chicago during the 1970s that served as a communications hub for a nationwide child trafficking and pornography network. The publication used coded classified ads to propagate [[John David Norman]]'s [[Delta Project]] and [[Odyssey Network]], and advertised mail-order hardcore child pornography. It catered to a readership of predatory pedophiles who between themselves used the pronoun "chickenhawk," a reference to a hawk that hunts little chickens. Hermes also published advertisements for clandestine groups providing support and instructions on how to infiltrate community groups such as the boy scouts, big brother programs, and church affiliated youth groups, including guides on how to groom children.[^1]
+
+Hermes was allegedly financed by a philanthropist in Michigan named [[Francis Shelden]], a scion of the old money families of Grosse Pointe, Detroit, who owned [[North Fox Island]] in Lake Michigan. The publication was printed and edited by men associated with John Norman in Chicago. Three principal figures behind the publication were arrested: Elden Gale Wake, an employee of Trinity College in Lake Forest who was identified as the Hermes printer; Patrick Townson, who operated a citizens band radio information show for homosexuals; and David Berta, who along with Townson was involved in Norman's trafficking operation. A dentist associated with the Hermes men named Arthur Langford was found with a collection of sixty-nine 8mm child pornography film reels at his home, one labelled "John Bell -- Michigan trip." Langford and Bell were directors of a children's summer camp in Michigan, as had been Hermes printer Wake.[^1]
+
+### Distribution Network
+
+[[Gerald Richards]] identified the California-based F&S Distributors, operated by [[Guy Strait]], as the West Coast distributor for Hermes. Strait himself admitted writing an article for the publication. In February 1977, a Michigan newspaper reported that Shelden had a financial interest in Hermes. An FBI memo confirmed the Delta Project connection to Hermes and noted the operation was attempting to set up a large scale trafficking network. When Shelden fled to Amsterdam after the North Fox Island exposure, he continued the publishing legacy by founding [[PAN Magazine]] (Paedo Alert News) under the penname Frank Torey, which was used to platform [[John Stamford]]'s [[Spartacus International]] just as Hermes had been used for Norman's Odyssey Network in North America.[^1]
+
+### Footnotes
+[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.

20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/The Finders and The Odyssey Network.md

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+---
+tags:
+  - finders
+  - odyssey-network
+  - child-trafficking
+  - intelligence
+  - john-david-norman
+  - marion-pettie
+  - nambla
+  - cult
+  - washington-dc
+  - 1987
+category: "Crime Investigation"
+summary: "On February 4, 1987, police in Tallahassee, Florida received a call about six dishevelled children in a park under the supervision of two well-dressed men."
+date: 1987-02-04
+location: Tallahassee, Florida
+---
+
+### The Tallahassee Discovery
+
+On February 4, 1987, police in Tallahassee, Florida received a call about six dishevelled children in a park under the supervision of two well-dressed men. The men were members of a commune called [[The Finders]], and the children belonged to women within the group. The children appeared dirty, malnourished, and demonstrated an unfamiliarity with the outside world. One child showed signs of sexual abuse. When questioned, the children stated the men were their teachers taking them to a special school in Mexico for brilliant children, and that they had been weaned from their mothers and were under the control of the "game caller." The van transporting them was registered to a warehouse in Washington, D.C.
+
+### The Washington Raids
+
+This information was relayed to U.S. Customs officers and Metropolitan Police in Washington, D.C., who discovered they already had an informant file stating that [[The Finders]] were conducting brainwashing techniques and that children were used in rituals by the group. Search warrants were secured for the warehouse and a nearby duplex owned by Finders leader Marion Pettie. Inside the warehouse, authorities discovered hot tub and sauna facilities, film sets, a video screening room, a library of books on mind control, and a room full of networked computer equipment with a satellite link. According to U.S. Customs Special Agent Ramon J. Martinez, files on computers operated by a Finders member named Stuart Miles Silverstone contained detailed instructions for obtaining children through impregnation of female members, purchasing, trading, and kidnapping. Other files included telex messages to terminals across the United States and abroad, including a purchase order for two children in Hong Kong to be arranged through an official at the Chinese Embassy, and instructions to move children through different jurisdictions to avoid police attention.
+
+### The CIA Connection and FBI Cover-Up
+
+On February 6, 1987, the FBI took over the investigation and classified all MPD reports related to [[The Finders]] as "Secret." According to a released MPD report dated February 19, 1987, a detective spoke with a CIA official who stated the investigation had been "treading on their toes" and that the CIA "apparently have a vested interest" in the group. It was later revealed that Marion Pettie's late wife had been a CIA employee, one of his sons had worked for Air America, and that the CIA had sent personnel to a Finders-related company called Future Enterprises for computer training. In 1993, the Department of Justice launched an internal inquiry into CIA involvement and a potential FBI cover-up after a Customs memo was leaked to the press.
+
+### The Odyssey Network Link
+
+Among the most significant discoveries were documents found on the two Finders men arrested in Florida. An FBI memo dated March 10, 1987 revealed that names on a seized address list matched individuals in FBI files related to the [[Odyssey Network]] in Dallas, Texas, the interstate boy prostitution operation run by [[John David Norman]]. One name was reflected in a Buffalo file regarding alleged members of the North American Man/Boy Love Association ([[NAMBLA]]) and a possible murder investigation. The two Finders men had been transporting six children in a van "to Mexico" with a list containing addresses for individuals linked to [[John David Norman]]'s trafficking network and suspected NAMBLA members. By 1987, Norman had been a fugitive for years, continuing to operate boy prostitution and pornography rings across multiple states. The convergence of intelligence community involvement, the systematic acquisition and movement of children, and documented links to the same prostitution network connected to the [[Dean Corll]] murders in Houston raises questions that were never satisfactorily answered by the official narrative, which dismissed the entire affair as a satanic panic hysteria before quietly burying the evidence.
+
+[^1]: Dovey S 2023 *Eye of the Chickenhawk* United States Thehotstar