2.2 KiB
| title | aliases | created | updated | category | tags | summary | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Vandewerker |
|
2026-05-17 | 2026-10-09 | Intelligence & Government |
|
Former CIA officer who employed Richard Wilker and knew of his weapons business activities with Ronald Lister in El Salvador. |
John Vandewerker was a former CIA officer who once employed Richard Wilker as a salesman and knew of Wilker and Ronald Lister's business activities in El Salvador.1
Vandewerker said he knew Lister and Wilker were involved in some business activity in El Salvador. "It was kind of touchy... as far as getting out of the country and all that kind of stuff." He did not elaborate. Coincidentally, Vandewerker's name was found in the notebooks of investigative reporter Danny Casolaro after his death, in connection with the goings-on at the Cabazon Indian Reservation.1
Peter Zokosky told FBI agents in 1992 that those present at the September 10, 1981 night-vision demonstration for the Cabazon venture included a "Mr. VANDERWORKER," and that Jimmy Hughes acted as interpreter for three Spanish-speaking males described as the customers. The records found do not establish whether he is John Vandewerker. The demonstration is described on the Cabazon Indian Casino page.2
Vandewerker also confirmed to journalist Nick Schou that Ronald Lister and William Nelson knew each other. When Lister was running to Fluor Corporation's headquarters in 1982 and 1983, it was Nelson - the CIA's former deputy director of operations - with whom he was meeting.3
Footnotes
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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" ↩︎
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Federal Bureau of Investigation, Los Angeles, FD-302 of the interview of Peter Zokosky, file 74-86438, interview October 5, 1992 (transcribed December 9, 1992). https://archive.org/details/INSLAW-CabazonWackenhunt ↩︎
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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" ↩︎