This is our continuing series pulled from archives going
back to 2005. This week, we present a program from 2009 in which
we summarized a conspiracy so vast it’s come to be known as The
Octopus.
Originally released October 4, 2009
THE TITLE of tonight’s show is a reference to the conspiracy
investigated by journalist Danny Casolaro--whose death, despite
the official ruling, remains a mystery.
Casolaro believed it tied the United States government to the
Inslaw case (a software company that accused the Justice
Department of stealing its extremely powerful PROMIS case
management software), the so-called “October Surprise” theory
that Iran had held back the American hostages to help Ronald
Reagan win the 1980 presidential election, the collapse of the
Bank of Credit and Commerce International, and the Iran-Contra
scandal. The scheme was so vast and complex that Casolaro
referred to it as “the Octopus.”
Casolaro was found dead in a hotel room in Martinsburg, West
Virginia in August of 1991, his wrists slashed 10 to 12 times.
His death was, of course, ruled a suicide.
Casolaro’s story might have continued its slow fade into the
dusty corners of conspiracy theory folklore, except that charges
were filed this week against a Miami-based missionary to Honduras
named Jimmy Hughes for the 1981 slayings of Fred Alvarez and two
associates in Rancho Mirage, California. It is believed that
Alvarez was killed to silence him before he could carry out a
threat to expose financial improprieties and other illegal
activity on the Cabazon Indian reservation in Riverside County,
California.
Incredibly, what happened on Cabazon land in the late ‘70s and
early ‘80s reaches around the world and into the highest levels
of the US government -- part of Casolaro’s “Octopus”. Central to
the story (especially when he tells it) is the mysterious Michael
Riconosciuto, now serving a 20-year sentence for production and
distribution of meth.
Understanding “the Octopus” is like the old story of the blind
men trying to comprehend their first encounter with an elephant:
the parts you touch can appear to be completely different and
totally unrelated. Running over the outlines of the case in about
half an hour, we didn’t even mention mainstream media reports --
published prior to 9/11 -- that FBI spy Robert Hanssen sold an
upgraded version of PROMIS to Russia, which in turn sold it to
Osama bin Laden. It’s believed Al Qaeda used the software to
penetrate databases and move funds between banks without being
detected by US counterterror groups.
A PROMIS derivative was also allegedly used by Chinese military
intelligence to steal nuclear secrets from the Los Alamos and
Sandia national laboratories.
So, like the Octopus, the tentacles extending from the
modifications made by Michael Riconosciuto at the Cabazon
reservation are many and far-reaching.
Also: Ireland approves the Lisbon Treaty; President Obama strikes
out in Copenhagen; the Ring of Fire heats up; the IMF becomes the
world’s central bank; and a scam in Montana.
Recommended further reading:
The Cabazon Nation, Jimmy Hughes, and Riverside County DA Rod
Pacheco by Viginia McCullough
The Octopus Conspiracy: One Woman’s Search for Her Father’s
Killer by Andrew Rice (Wired, Feb. 4, 2011)
The Strange Death of Danny Casolaro by Ron Rosenbaum (Vanity
Fair, Dec. 1991)
Wikipedia entry: Danny Casolaro
Wikipedia entry: Inslaw (developer of PROMIS software)
Wikipedia entry: Edwin P. Wilson
The Last Circle by Carol Marshall (pen name of investigative
journalist Cheri Seymour -- link is to free online copy of her
unpublished manuscript)
Trail of the Octopus: From Beirut to Lockerbie -- Inside the
DIA by Lester K. Coleman and Donald Goddard (free online e-book)
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