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According to Michael Riconosciuto: [1]

Wackenhut provides security for the Nevada nuclear test site, the Alaskan pipeline, Lawrence Livermore Labs ... all the high security government facilities in the U.S. They have about fifty thousand armed security guards that work for minimum wage or slightly above.

According to retired FBI special agent William Hinshaw: [2]

"It is known throughout the industry that if you want a dirty job done, call Wackenhut."

Corporate history[]

Former FBI agent George Wackenhut founded Wackenhut corporation in 1954 and bought out his partners by 1958. [2] He would later allow his company to be used by the CIA as a front for covert operations. [2] According to Spy Magazine: [2]

He was a close ally of Florida governor Claude Kirk, who hired him to combat organized crime in the state; and was also friends with Senator George Smathers, an intimate of John F. Kennedy’s.

It was Smathers who provided Wackenhut with his big break when the senator’s law firm helped the company find a loophole in the Pinkerton law, the 1893 federal statute that had made it a crime for an employee of a private detective agency to do work for the government.

Smathers’s firm set up a wholly owned subsidiary of Wackenhut that provided only guards, not detectives. Shortly thereafter, Wackenhut received multimillion-dollar contracts from the government to guard Cape Canaveral and the Nevada nuclear-bomb test site, the first of many extremely lucrative federal contracts that have sustained the company to this day.

By 1965 George Wackenhut was personally earning $2 million a year. [2]

In 1978, Wackenhut acquired the nuclear industry consultants NUSAC of Virginia [3] which shares the name of the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee (NUSAC) of William Alfred Fowler. [4]

In 1979, Wackenhut acquired Stellar Systems, a company that specialized in outdoor electronic security. [3]

Group 4 Falck purchased Wackenhut in 2002 for $570 million. [5] As of 2010, Wackenhut became known as G4S Secure Solutions. Template:Cn

Key personnel[]

Founding[]

Early directors included: [2]

  • Captain Eddie Rickenbacker [2]
  • General Mark Clark [2]
  • Ralph E. Davis [2]

Iran-Contra period[]

Board of Directors:

  • Stansfield Turner - former CIA director
  • Clarence Kelley - former FBI director
  • Frank Carlucci - former CIA deputy director
  • Bobby Ray Inman - former CIA deputy director
  • James Joseph Rowley - former Secret Service director
  • William Casey - outside legal counsel
  • Clarence M Kelley - former FBI director
  • Willis Hawkins - former Assistant Secretary of the US Army
  • Paul X. Kelley - retired four-star general, U.S. Marine Corps
  • Seth McKee, former commander in chief of NORAD
  • Bernard Adolph Schriever - retired US Air Force General, former member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
  • Joseph Carroll, former director, Defense Intelligence Agency
  • John Ammarell - former FBI agent
  • Robert Chasen - former FBI agent, commissioner of US Customs Department under Carter

Others:

  • Robert Kirk - "president of Wackenhut's international subsidiary" [6]
  • A. Robert Frye - VP of Wackenhut Idaho. [3] Involved in negotiations to buy the Valleyfield Chemical Productions Corporation of Quebec. [6]
  • Murray Levine - VP as of 1992. [2]
  • Richard Kneip - SVP for corporate planning as of 1992. [2]
  • Peter Zokosky - Husband of the mayor Regena Zokosky of Indio, California. President of Armtech ammunitions manufacturer.
  • Roderick Sinclair, Sr. - Colonel in the US Army, military attaché to Douglas MacArthur during World War 2, involving in training Japanese intelligence after the war. Father of Sgt. Roderick Sinclair of the Mariposa County Sheriff's Department.
  • John Van De Camp - Attorney General of California. Informed Mariposa County sheriff Paul Paige of Ron Van Meter's allegation that Paige was running a drug trafficking network. [7] Ordered Deputy Attorney General Arnold Overoye to discard a report on Roderick Sinclair. [7]
  • Arnold O. Overoye - Deputy Attorney General of California. Accused by Vivian Wagner of "a consistent procedure ... to refer the complaints directly back to the local agencies to whom the complaints were made." [8]
  • George Vinson - Regional Director of the FBI in Fresno. [8]
  • Earl Brian - Ronald Reagan's secretary of health and welfare services. According to Riconosciuto, Brian "spearheaded" the plan to distribute a backdoored copy of Inslaw PROMIS. [1]
  • Peter Videnieks - Michael Riconosciuto described Videnieks as a frequent visitor to the Wackenhut-Cabazon project and a close associate of Earl Brian. His wife was an aide to Senator Robert Byrd. [9]
  • Al Holbert - Former Israeli intelligence. Recruited Riconosciuto. CIA liaison to Richard Knozzi in Mariposa.
  • Harry Fair - of Tactical Technology in Arlington, Virginia. Chief of Propulsion Technology at the Applied Sciences Division at Pickitinny Arsenal, New Jersey.
  • Ernesto Bermudez - Director of international operations (1987-1989). Commanded 1,500 Wackenhut men in El Salvador (1985-1986). [2]
  • William Barr - US Attorney General. Accused of covering up the Inslaw case [10]
  • Nicholas J. Bua - Judge accused of covering up the Inslaw case [10]
  • Charles Knight - accused of covering up the Inslaw case [10]
  • Michael T. Hurley - Cyprus-based DEA agent involved in the Inslaw affair

Other times[]

  • Richard R. Wackenhut - VP, President, and CEO
  • Alan Bernstein - President and CEO (2002-?) [11]
  • Philip L. Maslowe - XVP, CFO, Treasurer (1997-2002) [12]
  • Sam Brinkley - VP of Homeland and International Security Services (1998-?) [13]
  • Eric Wilson - President of Wackenhut Nuclear Services as of 2007 [14]
  • Marc Shapiro - SVP as of 2007 [14]
  • Lawrence Brede - SVP as of 2007 [15]
  • Robert L. Kilbride - Corporate counsel (1999-?), VP (2001-?). Formerly head of the Economic Crime Unit at the Florida State Attorney's Office .in Fort Pierce, Florida. [16]
  • Bruce Berckmans - VP of International Operations (1975-?). Formerly worked at the CIA station in Mexico City. [2]

Mariposa County[]

The Mariposa County sheriff's department was involved in a Wackenhut-connected drug running operation during the 1980s. [7]

  • Paul Paige - Mariposa County Sheriff [7]
  • Roderick Sinclair - Sheriff's Sergeant. Killed three Secret Service agents in a traffic accident while driving under the influence of Demerol. Son of Colonel Sinclair. [7]
  • Ed Hardy - President of Curry Company, a division of MCA. His close friends included: [7]
    • Tony Coelho - Congressman.
    • Bruce Eckerson - Mariposa County District Attorney.
    • Steve Dunbar - Mariposa County Assessor.
  • Robert E. Coyle - Judge who ordered Assistant US Attorney James White to drop charges against Sinclair. Coyle had been the attorney of record for Curry Company. [7]
  • Richard Knozzi - Named by Riconosciuto as the head of methamphetamine production in Fresno, Madera and Mariposa counties.
  • Jim DeSilva - Named by Riconosciuto as a lieutenant of Knozzi.
  • Ben Kalka - Named by Riconosciuto as a lieutenant of Knozzi.

The Queen's Accident[]

On March 5, 1983, Roderick Sinclair killed US Secret Service agents George P. LaBarge, Donald Robinson, and Donald A. Bejcek in a traffic accident while under the influence of the painkiller Demerol. Sinclair was brought to Fremont Hospital and placed under FBI guard until the drugs were out of his system. Blood tests taken at Fremont Hospital disappeared. [7]

Meridian International Logistics[]

Key personnel: [3]

Other employees:

  • Hidetoshoi Onogi - patent holder

MIL, Inc. was investigated by the Los Angeles FBI for passing classified information to overseas affiliates in Japan and Australia. Japanese investors purchased MCA shortly afterward. [7]

In 1987, California granted MIL subsidiary Meridian Arms licenses to transport and sell machine guns. [3]

Meridian International reportedly "had a lucrative business in Australia and Japan." [3]

Mark P. Robinson was appointed to the Orange County Superior Court by Governor Jerry Brown on his last day in office in 1982. Brown admitted to having "been persuaded against my better judgment to put you on the bench." [17] Robinson resigned on May 22, 1984 for "various personal and professional reasons." [18]

On May 31, 1988, Giaquinto resigned from MIL and surrendered his stock to the company following an investigation by Thomas Gates of the Los Angeles Organized Crime Task Force. [3]

Valleyfield Chemical Productions Corporation[]

In 1981, Wackenhut attempted to purchase the Valleyfield Chemical Productions Corporation in Quebec. The Canadian government blocked the deal. Template:Cn A Wackenhut business trip to Quebec included John Philip Nichols, A. Robert Frye, and Peter Zokosky. [6]

Cabazon reservation[]

Wackenhut/CIA people at the Cabazon reservation:

  • John Philip Nichols - Tribal administrator. Hired by the tribe in 1978. Not a member of the tribe. Claims to have participated in the assassination of Salvador Allende and an attempted assassination of Fidel Castro. [19]
  • John Paul Nichols - Son of John Philip Nichols. [20]
  • Marc Nichols - Son of John Philip Nichols. Took over Cabazon activities in 1990. [6]
  • Michael Riconosciuto - Scientist, Director of Research at the Cabazon facility. Computer programmer and weapons developer.
  • Jimmy Hughes - Mafia hitman. [21] Became security director of the tribe's casino after Alvarez was killed until 1984. Later became a minister in Miami. [20]
  • Glen Heggstad - Private investigator. Accused by Deputy Attorney General Michael Murphy of hiring Jimmy Hughes to kill Fred Alvarez. He was never charged and the case was dropped. [22]
  • Richard Babayan - CIA contract employee. [23]
  • G. Wayne Reeder - Business partner of John Nichols. Attended a late 1981 arms demonstration with Contra leaders Raul Arana and Eden Pastora.[24]

John Philip Nichols[]

According to John Connelly:

In 1978, 12 years before Casolaro began focusing on the Coachella Valley, an expert at applying for government grants arrived there from Florida. He had come to advise the Indian tribes of the desert on how to get government money. He was Dr. John Philip Nichols, and this land of illusion was the perfect place for him: The grandfatherly-looking Nichols was not what he said he was then, and he is not what he says he is now.

Nichols represented himself as a published expert on "socio-health and economic-development planning"; he said he had been active in this field, in both the United States and South America, for more than 25 years. His eleven-page resume said he had spent more than 20 years working for Pro Plan International, an economic-development firm. It also said he had been a labor organizer, had managed a Coca-Cola operation in South America and was an ordained minister and a Ph.D.

Nichols must have made a good impression when he arrived, because he was immediately hired to administer the health-insurance fund of the Morongo Indians, one of the desert tribes. His relationship with the Morongos, however, was brief; they claimed he hadn't delivered the services he'd promised. But Nichols got a second chance, for he had also favorably impressed Joe Benitez, the tribal chairman of the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians in Indio, California.

Background[]

Nichols claimed to have earned his Ph.D from the Philathea Theological Seminary, which has no record of this. [6]

Nichols is listed as a medical doctor in Zurich, Switzerland. [3]

In 1959, Nichols was arrested in Milwaukee for mishandling Teamster funds. Nichols claims that he "took the fall for Hoffa and his friends." The charges were dropped. [6] Interpol records show that Nichols was arrested in Washington D.C. in 1964 on a fugitive warrant. There is no record of the arrest in the National Crime Information Center database and Nichols claims it never happened. [6]

Nichols worked for Harold Okimoto from 1968 to 1972 and became vice president of Okimoto's company Preventor Security Center. [3]

Spy Magazine obtained "confidential correspondance that indicates Nichols has wide-ranging contacts in the world of spooks, operatives, and government officials." [6]

Early Cabazon activities[]

Art Welmas said that "Nichols always had money", but "where and how he got it was always a mystery." [6]

Nichols soon began a successful business selling tax-free cigarettes by mail. California sued the tribe for tax evasion and won in court but was not able to recover any money. [6]

After Cabazon[]

In 1985, attempted to hire a hit man to kill two drug dealers who were supplying his girlfriend with heroin. He offered the hit men $500 and the possibility of steady work in Las Vegas or South America. After pleading guilty, he spent 18 months in prison. [6]

Cabazon Arms trade[]

In 1979, Nichols recruited Peter Zokosky, former president of arms manufacturer Armtech, to begin plans for a munitions plan at Cabazon. The Cabazon Band obtained Defense Department clearance to manufacture munitions in 1983. Nichols attempted to recruit La France Specialties of San Diego to build the weapons plant. [6]

According to Carol Marshall: [23]

Because Indian reservations are sovereign nations and do not come under federal jurisdiction, Wackenhut International had formed a partnership and entered into a business venture with the Cabazon Indians to produce high-tech arms and explosives for export to third-world countries. This maneuver was designed to evade congressional prohibitions against U.S. weapons being shipped to the Contras and middle eastern countries.

In the early 1980’s, Dr. John Nichols, the Cabazon tribal administrator, obtained a department of Defense secret facility clearance for the reservation to conduct various research projects. Nichols then approached Wackenhut with an elaborate “joint venture” proposal to manufacture 120mm combustible cartridge cases, 9mm machine pistols, laser-sighted assault weapons, sniper rifles and portable rocket systems on the Cabazon reservation and in Latin America. At one point, he even sought to develop biological weapons.

A La France memorandum of May 13, 1983 discussed an urgest request by Nichols for the manufacture, within 90 days, of: [6]

a 9mm machine pistol, an assault rifle with laser sighting, a long-distance sniper rifle with a one-mile-plus range, a portable rocket system, a night-vision scope and a battlefield communications system "that cannot be detected by current technology."

May 13, 1983 was the day that Congress passed H.R. 2760 which forbid the government from aiding the Nicaraguan Contras. [6]

Wackenhut claims that no weapons were ever produced at Cabazon. [22]

The Desert Sun has scores of documents from attorneys outlining proposals for arms manufacturing on the Cabazon reservation, located 7 miles from Indio, with security firm Wackenhut Corp. An undated letter from the tribe's late administrator, John Philip Nichols, describes a few of the items they hoped to manufacture at what was being called Cabazon Arms: 9 mm machine pistols, assault rifles with laser sighting, long-distance sniper rifles and a "small portable rocket system, cartridge activated."

But nothing was ever produced on the reservation, as U.S. government contracts weren't awarded, according to Wackenhut officials. With no money flowing in, the company ended the relationship in October 1984.

As reported in the Napa Sentinel: [24]

Nichols, according to former Reeder employees and published accounts, had a plan in the early 1980's to build a munitions plant on the Cabazon Indian reservation near Palm Springs in partnership with Wackenhut, a Florida security firm. The plan fell through.

Weapons manufactured at the Cabazon reservation may have been sold to Iraq through the Sitico company of Hassan Ali Ibrahim Ali. Template:Cn

Biological weapons development[]

A letter of January 20, 1983 from John P. Nichols to Harry Fair of Tactical Technology discussed Nichols's possession of "a unique list of agents and production techniques related to biological warfare", referred to an earlier plan involving Stormont Laboratories, and suggested the use of biological weapons "in small countries bordering Albania or large countries bordering Soviet Union." [3]

Murder of Fred Alvarez[]

Fred Alvarez accused Nichols of mismanaging the tribe's money. [6]

Alvarez's sister Linda Streeter claims that after Alvarez began investigating, Nichols tried to set him up for a drug arrest.

"In early June [1981] they sent Fred to Denver to attend a conference." She says that while he was at the conference, someone offered him a large amount of money to carry drugs back. Alvarez refused. "When he got off the plane," she says, "the police grabbed him, threw him spread-eagle against a car and searched him and his bags."

Alvarez was murdered on July 1, 1981 while Nichols was out of town with Zobosky and Frye. When Zobosky informed Nichols of the murder, "Nichols seemed unaffected, like he already knew." Nichols reported the death of Alvarez to Frye who said "okay" and hung up. The detective assigned to the case was a friend of Nichols who performed a cursory investigation and went on vacation in two days. [6]

In 1984, Nichols's bodyguard Jimmy Hughes claimed that Nichols and his sons John Paul and Mark gave him $5,000 to deliver to two hit men in Idyllwild. According to Hughes, Nichols justified the killing as necessary to maintain the secrecy of a "U.S.-government covert action." [6]

In 2008 Hughes admitted that the killing of Fred Alvarez was "a mafia hit" by "political people." [25]

In 2009, the California Department of Justice took over the investigation of the Alvarez case by citing conflicts of interest in the local police department, and was criticized for failing to arrest suspects known to the local police. [26] Jimmy Hughes was arrested in late 2009 [27] and was denied bail, but was released nine months later on the direction of California Deputy District Attorney Michael T. Murphy who said that prosecutors had "lost confidence to proceed in the prosecution in this case" following interviews with "key witnesses" identified in "old evidence" from the 1980s. [28] Glen Heggstad claims that Murphy falsified the warrant application for Hughes and sought to prevent Heggstad from testifying. [22]

Saudi involvement[]

From Carol Marshall: [23]

Meanwhile, in 1980, Dr. John Nichols obtained the blueprints to Crown Prince Fahd’s palace in Tiaf, Saudi Arabia, and drafted a plan to provide security for the palace.

The Saudis were interested enough to conduct a background check on the Cabazons. Mohammad Jameel Hashem, consul of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, D.C., wrote former South Dakota Senator James Abourezk at his offices in Washington D.C. and noted,

“According to our black list for companies, the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians/Cabazon Trading Company and Wackenhut International are not included.”

Translated, that meant that neither the Cabazons or Wackenhut were Jewish-run enterprises.

According to a memo of August 1, 1980 by Robert Kirk of Wackenhut, [6]

After 1985[]

After John Philip Nichols was arrested in 1985 for attempting to hire hit men, his son John Paul Nichols became manager of the Cabazon tribe. Under John Paul's administration, the Colmac Corporation built a $150 million power plant on Cabazon land which did not hire a single Cabazon. [6]

Mark Nichols married into the Cabazon tribe in 1985 and became tribal administrator in 1990. His wife Virginia Welmas became treasurer and secretary of the Cabazon Business Committee.

In 1990, the Department of Housing and Urban Development paid for the construction of a pari-mutuel offtrack-betting parlor. [6]

In 1991, Nichols hired armed guards to prevent former tribal chairman Art Welmas and Fred Alvarez's sister Linda Streeter from entering a meeting where they had planned to petition for Mark Nichols to be removed as tribal administrator. Welmas and Streeter were expelled from the tribe and each fined $50,000 for talking to the press about their concerns over the tribe's management. [6]

Danny Casolaro[]

Danny Casolaro had made plans to visit the Cabazon reservation before he was murdered in 1991. [6] [9]

It was claimed that Robert Booth Nichols was one of Casolaro's sources. [29]

NBC trade[]

Chemical weapons for Iraq[]

In early 1990, Wackenhut's Special Investigations Division (SID) unit deployed former Marine David Ramirez and five others to smuggle a truck from the Mexican border into Chicago. No one was allowed to look at the cargo. Spy Magazine reported in 1992 that the truck had been carrying equipment for manufacturing chemical weapons and was delivered to Iraq. [2]

Nuclear trade[]

see also: Mega Oil

From John Connolly: [2]

Between 1987 and ’89, three companies in the United States received investments from an Iraqi architect named Ihsan Barbouti. The colorful Barbouti owned an engineering company in Frankfort that had a $552 million contract to build airfields in Iraq. He also admitted having designed Mu’ammar Qaddafi’s infamous German-built chemical- weapons plant in Rabta, Libya.

According to an attorney for one of the companies in which Barbouti invested, the architect owned $100 million worth of real estate and oil-drilling equipment in Texas and Oklahoma ...

As reported on ABC’s "Nightline" last year, the three companies in which Barbouti invested were TK-7 of Oklahoma City, which makes a fuel additive; Pipeline Recovery Systems of Dallas, which makes an anti-corrosive chemical that preserves pipes; and Product Ingredient Technology of Boca Raton, which makes food flavorings. None of these companies was looking to do business with Iraq; Barbouti sought them out.

Why was he interested?

  • because TK-7 had formulas that could extend the range of jet aircraft and liquid-fueled missiles such as the SCUD
  • because Pipeline Recovery knows how to coat pipes to make them usable in nuclear reactors and chemical-weapons plants
  • because one of the by-products in making cherry flavoring is ferric ferrocyanide, a chemical that’s used to manufacture hydrogen cyanide, which can penetrate gas masks and protective clothing

... According to former CIA contract employee Richard Babayan, in late 1989 Barbouti met in London with Ibrahim Sabawai, Saddam Hussein’s half brother and European head of Iraqi intelligence, who grew excited about the work Pipeline Recovery was doing and called for the company’s technology to be rushed to Iraq, so that it could be in place by early 1990.

And the owner of TK-7 swears that Barbouti told him he was developing an atom device for Qaddafi that would be used against the U.S. in retaliation for the 1986 U.S. air strike against Libya.

Barbouri also wanted the ferrocyanide from Product Ingredient.

Assisting Barbouti with these investments was New Orleans exporter Don Seaton, business associate of Richard Secord, the right-wing U.S. Army general turned war profiteer who was so deeply enmeshed in the Iran-contra affair.

It was Secord who connected Barbouti with Wackenhut.

Barbouti met with Secord in Florida on several occasions, and phone records show that several calls were placed from Barbouti’s office to Secord’s private number in McLean, Virginia; Secord has acknowledged knowing Barbouti. He is currently a partner of Washington businessman James Tully (who is the man who leaked Bill Clinton’s draft-dodge letter to ABC) and Jack Brennan, a former Marine Corps colonel and longtime aide to Richard Nixon both in the White House and in exile.

Brennan has gone back to the White House, where he works as a director of administrative operations in President Bush’s office. He refused to return repeated calls from SPY.

Interestingly, Brennan and Tully had previously been involved in a $181 million business deal to supply uniforms to the Iraqi army. Oddly, they arranged to have the uniforms manufactured in Nicolae Ceaucescu’s Romania.

The partners in that deal were former U.S. attorney general and Watergate felon John Mitchell and Sarkis Soghanalian, a Turkish-born Lebanese citizen.

Soghanalian, who has been credited with being Saddam Hussein’s leading arms procurer and with introducing the demonic weapons inventor Gerald Bull to the Iraqis, is currently serving a six-year sentence in federal prison in Miami for the illegal sale of 103 military helicopters to Iraq.

According to former Wackenhut agent David Ramirez, the company considered Soghanalian "a very valuable client."

Unfortunately for Barbouti, none of the companies in which he made investments was willing to ship its products or technology to his European divisions. That, however, doesn’t necessarily mean that he didn’t get some of what he wanted.

In 1990, 2,000 gallons of ferrocyanide were found to be missing from the cherry-flavor factory in Boca Raton. ... According to Louis Champon, the owner of Product Ingredient Technology, it was Wackenhut that guarded his Boca Raton plant, a fact confirmed by Murray Levine, a Wackenhut vice president.

Park-O-Meter[]

Seth Ward's parking meter company Park-O-Meter was used as a front for chemical and biological weapons development. The project was launched witha $2.75 million loan from the Arkansas Development Finance Authority. [10]

Inslaw / Promis[]

Earl Brian had Michael Riconosciuto add a back door to the Inslaw PROMIS software. [10]

The backdoored version of PROMIS was sold to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. [9]

Australia[]

Pine Gap[]

Wackenhut may have been involved in unusual activity at the Pine Gap listening station near Alice Springs, Australia. [30]

It has been claimed that Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam sought to establish Australian sovereignty over Pine Gap and was removed from office by Governor-General John Kerr for this reason. [30]

Lockerbie bombing[]

main page: Pan_Am_103

Pan Am flight 103 was bombed over Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988, killing all on board. Among the victims were five members of the joint CIA-DIA-DEA team Middle East Collection Ten (MC10) whose were traveling to the United States on a secret mission to expose a drug trafficking arrangement between senior US intelligence officials and Monzer al-Kassar, brother-in-law of Syrian intelligence director Ali Issa Duba. This team was led by Beirut deputy station chief Matthew Kevin Gannon, son-in-law of CIA Deputy Director Thomas Twetten. [31] [32] In April 1991, DIA operative Lester Knox alleged that four members of MC10 have been assassinated. [32]

DEA officer Ronald Caffrey had allowed al-Kassar to deliver heroin from Lebanon through Frankfurt under the guise of a sting operation called Operation Khourah, or COREA, [32] which operated through the European security agency TREVI. [33] Juval Aviv, head of the private investigation company Interfor, identified the CIA's COREA unit in Wiesbaden, Germany as responsible for the bombing. [34]

A Mr. Pinsdorf in German intelligence "had serious concerns that the drug sting operation originating in Cyprus had caused the bomb to be placed on the Pan Am plane." [31] German secret police had noticed that the suitcase carrying the bomb was a different color and size than the drug packages, but the CIA ordered the Germans to stand down and allow it through. [34] DIA operative Lester Knox alleged that Cyprus-based DEA official Michael T. Hurley had been responsible for selling Inslaw PROMIS to Middle Eastern governments, and that Hurley had been redeployed to Washington state to prosecute a drug case against Michael Riconosciuto. [32] Shortly before the bombing, Riconosciuto was monitoring the Lebanon hostage crisis out of an apartment owned by Robert Booth Nichols and Ellen Hopko Nichols in Nicosia, Cyprus. Riconosciuto claims that he and Nichols were aware of both the MC10 unit's flight plans and the Iranian plans to bomb their plane, and that Nichols had promised to change the reservations for the MC10 team. [32]

Al-Dustur reported that David Lovejoy, a CIA agent code-named Nutcracker, had given MC10's flight plans to the Iranian embassy in Beirut. [31] [34] Self-proclaimed DIA MC10 officer Lester Coleman identified Lovejoy as Michael Schafer, his former co-worker at the Christian Broadcasting Network in Lebanon. Schafer denies that he is Lovejoy, and Steven Emerson condemned Coleman as a fraud. [33] David Hoffman identified Schafer as Lovejoy aka Michael Franks, and claimed that US signals intelligence intercepted a call from David Lovejoy to Iranian chargé d'affaires Hussein Niknam in which Lovejoy provided the information that the MC10 team would be on Flight 103. [35] Hoffman's information may have originated with Coleman. [36]

David Hoffman's book Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror claims that FBI agent Buck Revell ran onto the tarmac at Heathrow Airport and removed his son and daughter-in-law from flight 103 before it took off, and that South African President Peter Botha and several high-ranking officials were scheduled to be on this same flight but changed their reservatrions at the last hour. Hoffman also accuses Revell of a cover-up in the 1985 crash of a DC-8 in Gander, Newfoundland that killed 248 members of the 101st Airborne. Revell sued Hoffman and his publisher for defamation. [37]

Alyeska Pipeline[]

In 1991, Congress investigated possible criminal activity by Wackenhut and the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, a consortium of Exxon, Mobil, Atlantic Richfield, Unocal, and three other companies that operated the trans-Alaska pipeline. [38] During the investigation, Wackenhut deployed operatives to spy on Congressman George Miller, [39] chairman of the House Interior Committee. [40]

Wackenhut deployed a spy named Ricki Sue Jacobson to investigate oil broker Charles Hamel who had been talking to Congress and the press.[38]

Wackenhut operatives Wayne B. Black and Richard Lund were said to have been involved in "illegal procurement of telephone logs, mail fraud, mail theft, illegal electronic surveillance, use of a falsified Florida driver's license and conducting an investigation in the state of Virginia without a license." [38]

Wackenhut created the fake environmentalist law firm The Accolade Group, with offices in Miami and Virginia, and used it to spy on Charles Hamil and, following the Exxon Valdez oil spill, any "citizens willing to talk about the oil spill and other environmental issues." Other targets of spying included: [39]

  • Trustees for Alaska, a public interest law firm
  • Dan Lawn, an Alaska state Department of Environmental Conservation employee;
  • Dr.Tiki Out - a Cordova marine pollution expert on the board of Cordova District Fisherman United
  • Lewis 'Frank' Dehong - a prominent oil industry commentator and Fairbanks radio talk show host
  • participants in a demonstration against Aleyska for its role in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill

Wackenhut SID operative Sherree Rich named the Ecolit Group as another Wackenhut front company. [41] Wayne Black fired Sherree Rich after she refused an order by Gil Mugarra to collect someone's trash because it was another investigator's assignment. [41]

Wayne Black was fired by George Wackenhut in November 1991. Black was a vice president of the company at the time. [42]

Possible Relationships[]

Dan Moldea[]

Dan E. Moldea's 1986 book Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob describes MCA Records as a criminal enterprise known as The Octopus. [9]

Gambino mafia[]

The FBI in 1978 suspected Robert Booth Nichols of money laundering, and a 1987 memo by FBI Agent Thomas G. Gates says that Nichols may have been associated with the Gambino crime family. [29]

California Bankruptcy Court[]

main article: California Bankruptcy Court

Rodney stitch lists the murders of bankruptcy attorneys Dexter Jacobson and Gary Ray Pinnell as among the deaths related to "the scandals of the 1980s." [43] Bixman includes them in the list of deaths related to Inslaw. [10]

Aguilar-Arredondo killings[]

Jorge Aguilar and Francisco Arredondo were shot to death on November 17, 1992, reportedly following a fistfight. [44] The nearness to the death of Jose Aguilar has led to speculation that their deaths may be related. [45]

David McGowan investigation[]

main article: David McGowan

David McGowan, an investigator in the Riverside County District Attorney's office, was killed along with five members of his family in 2005. [46] While investigating McGowan's death, Riverside County re-opened its investigation into the Alvarez killings. [47]

Victims[]

Suspicious deaths and disappearances[]

  • Ron Van Meter - Deputy Sheriff of Mariposa County, California. Murdered while attempting to arrest other sheriffs' deputies for drug trafficking at Lake McClure. [7]
  • Ben Wagner - Filed a major civil rights lawsuit against California and Mariposa County officials. Disappeared the day after meeting with "Chuck" from the White House. [8]
  • Vivian Wagner - Wife of Ben Wagner. Disappeared. [8]
  • Jerry Goldberg - Reporter for Capitol News Service. Disappeared the same day as Ben and Vivian Wagner. [8]
  • Unidentified Mariposa County victims - Vivian Wagner alleged "the disappearance of citizens possessing incriminating evidence, and the incompletion or failure to investigate `homicides’ and `suicides’"
  • Fred Alvarez - July 1, 1981 - Vice Chairman of the Cabazon Tribal Council and head of security at the casino. [20]
  • Patricia Roberta Castro - July 1, 1981 - Friend of Fred Alvarez.
  • Ralph Arthur Boger - July 1, 1981 - Friend of Fred Alvarez.
  • Paul Morasca - Jan. 14, 1982 - "murdered in January 1982 in the San Francisco condominium he shared with Michael Riconsociuto" [48] According to James de Szigethy, Morasca was a "money launderer for the Gambino family" who was "asphyxiated after being bound with wire in a technique used by the Japanese ‘Yakuza.’" [49]
  • Larry Guerrin - Feb. 1987 - Private investigator. Killed in Mason County, Washington while working as for Michael Riconsociuto [10]
  • Werner Tony Asmar - May 26, 1988 - German-Lebanese DIA agent in MC10. Killed by a bomb in his office in East Beirut. [32]
  • Matthew Kevin Gannon - Dec. 21, 1988 - CIA deputy station chief in Beirut. Worked with DIA unit MC10. Killed in the Lockerbie bombing. [32][31]
  • Charles Dennis McKee - Dec. 21, 1988 - Defense Intelligence Agency, with MC10. Killed in the Lockerbie bombing. [32]
  • Khaled Nazir Jaafar - Dec. 21, 1988 - DEA agent working with DIA operation MC10. Killed in the Lockerbie bombing. [32]
  • Unidentified MC10 #4 - Dec 21, 1988 - MC10 operative. Killed in the Lockerbie bombing. [31]
  • Unidentified MC10 #5 - Dec 21, 1988 - MC10 operative. Killed in the Lockerbie bombing. [31]
  • David Meyer - Feb. 6, 1989 - San Francisco attorney. Died of gunshot the day before he was to appear in court "to expose links between the Justice Department, the CIA and Iran-Contra." [48]
  • Charlie Frezeli - Nov. 1989 - Lebanese army officer and DIA agent in MC10. Shot to death in his East Beirut home. [32]
  • Alan David Standorf - Jan. 1991 - killed by blunt force to the head and was stuffed in his car within weeks of resigning as chief of security at NSA listening post Vint Hill Farms Station due to his unit being deployed to Iraq. [50] Rumored to have been a source for Danny Casolaro.
  • Dennis Eisman - April 1991. Died of gunshot. Law partner of Bernard L. Segal. [51] He owned expensive cars. [52] Was reportedly due to meet with Michael Riconsociuto the next day. [43]
  • Alan Michael May - June 19, 1991 - "had reportedly been involved with Michael Riconosciuto and the movement of $40 million in bribe money to the Iranians, in the operation known as the 'October Surprise.'" [10]
  • Danny Casolaro - Aug. 10, 1991 - Journalist investigating the Inslaw case. [10]
  • Vali Delahunty - Aug. 18, 1992 - Disappeared "as she was trying to warn Riconosciuto about a plan by DEA and Justice Department officials to set him up on a drug charge." Her body was found six months later. [43]
  • Ian Stuart Spiro - Nov. 1992 - Identified by Con Coughlin as a CIA and British spy linked to Oliver North and Terry Waite who was active in the Lebanon hostage crisis. [53] Spiro was reportedly working for Michael Riconsociuto at the time. [10]
  • Gail Spiro - Nov. 1992 - Wife of Ian Stuart Spiro. [10]
  • Sara Spiro - Nov. 1992 - Daughter of Ian and Gail Spiro, age 16. [53]
  • Adam Spiro - Nov. 1992 - Son of Ian and Gail Spiro, age 14. [53]
  • Dina Spiro - Nov. 1992 - Daughter of Ian and Gail Spiro, age 10. [53]
  • Jose Aguilar - Nov. 14, 1992 - Gardener who worked on the street where Ian Stuart Spiro lived. Aged 44. [45]
  • Pete Sandvigen - Dec. 1992 - CIA agent, Afghanistan veteran. According to Rodney Stitch, he was being deployed from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station to investigate Inslaw. "He tried to help Riconosciuto defend against the Justice Department's amphetamine charges, along with exposing the Inslaw scandal." Also known as Peter Sandvugen. [43]
  • Robert Booth Nichols - Feb. 14, 2009 - Reportedly killed by a blow to the head in Geneva, Switzerland, two months after giving a deposition to the FBI. [54]

Retaliation, harassment, etc[]

  • John White - Assistant US Attorney. Forced to resign. [7]
  • Unidentified - CHP Commander investigating the Queen's Accident. Forced to resign. [7]
  • Unidentified - Deputy CHP Commander investigating the Queen's Accident. Forced to resign. [7]
  • Unidentified - Additional multi-agency personnel investigating the Queen's Accident. [7]
  • Dave Beavers - Mariposa County Sheriff's Department deputy. Forced to resign. [8]
  • Rod Cusic - Mariposa County Sheriff's Department deputy. Forced to resign. [8]
  • Michael Riconosciuto - Sentenced to prison for methamphetamine production after he provided testimony to Congress about the Inslaw affair. [1]
  • Patrick Kenneally - Riverside County investigator in the Fred Alvarez case. Forced to resign and move out of the state. Received death threats. [6]
  • George Bason - Backruptcy judge who ruled in favor of Inslaw in the company's lawsuit against the US government. Denied reappointment in 1987. [55]
  • Art Welmas - Cabazon tribal chairman. Expelled from the Cabazon tribe in 1991 and fined $50,000 for talking to the press. [6]
  • Linda Streeter - Sister of Fred Alvarez. Expelled from the Cabazon tribe in 1991 and fined $50,000 for talking to the press. [6]
  • Barry Kumnick - Computer programmer, reportedly worked on PROMIS. Disappeared in 1991 and resurfaced in 1998.

Lawsuits[]

Ben Wagner's lawsuit[]

Ben Wagner filed two civil rights lawsuits against Mariposa County and the state of California on November 20, 1987 and February 11, 1988.

See Also[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Carol Marshall, The Last Circle, Chapter 3, http://web.archive.org/web/20100419060224/http://wiretap.stumblers.net/2010/04/the-last-circle/3/
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 John Connolly, Inside The Shadow CIA, Spy Magazine, Volume 6, Sept 1992, http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_wackenhut06.htm
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 Armen Victorian, Wackenhut Corporation - A Patriot or a Partner in Executive Crime?, 1997 June 2, http://american-buddha.com/wackenhut.crime.htm
  4. Guide to the Papers of William A. Fowler, 1917-1994, Online Archive of California, http://www.oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt2d5nb7kj&view=dsc&style=oac4&dsc.position=2501
  5. Davide Dukcevich, Group 4 Falck Buys Wackenhut For $570 Million, Forbes, 2002 March 8, http://www.forbes.com/2002/03/08/0308wackenhut.html
  6. 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 6.18 6.19 6.20 6.21 6.22 6.23 6.24 John Connolly, Badlands, Spy Magazine, April 1992, http://books.google.com/books?as_pt=MAGAZINES&id=vB9jU1ahAwwC&jtp=42
  7. 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13 Carol Marshall, The Last Circle, Chapter 1, http://web.archive.org/web/20100820105226/http://wiretap.stumblers.net/2010/04/the-last-circle/
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Carol Marshall, The Last Circle, Chapter 2, http://web.archive.org/web/20100419014054/http://wiretap.stumblers.net/2010/04/the-last-circle/2/
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Carol Marshall, The Last Circle, Chapter 5, http://web.archive.org/web/20100419060229/http://wiretap.stumblers.net/2010/04/the-last-circle/5/
  10. 10.00 10.01 10.02 10.03 10.04 10.05 10.06 10.07 10.08 10.09 10.10 Karen Bixman, The Octopus, http://www.american-buddha.com/octopus.htm
  11. Chelsie Woods, Wackenhut deal final after shareholders' vote, Security Systems News, 2002 June 1, http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/wackenhut-deal-final-after-shareholders-vote
  12. Philip L. Maslowe, Businessweek, http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=313017&ticker=NWE
  13. Sam Brinkley, http://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/pdf/061009/BrinkleyBio.pdf
  14. 14.0 14.1 Wackenhut Expedites Corrective Actions as Investigation Continues, Wackenhut press release, 2007 September 26, http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/Wackenhut2.pdf
  15. Wackenhut Services Senior Vice President Sets the Record Straight at House Subcommittee Hearing, Wackenhut press release, 2007 July 20, http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wackenhut-services-senior-vice-president-sets-the-record-straight-at-house-subcommittee-hearing-52756677.html
  16. Robert L. Kilbride Promoted to Vice President by The Wackenhut Corporation., Wackenhut press release, 2001 May 11, http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Robert+L.+Kilbride+Promoted+to+Vice+President+by+The+Wackenhut...-a074432926
  17. Myrna Oliver, Mark P. Robinson, 76; Trial Lawyer, Prosecutor and Reluctant Judge, Los Angeles Times, 2001 November 21, http://articles.latimes.com/2001/nov/21/local/me-6718
  18. James S. Granelli, Ex-Judge Who Wants His Seat Back Faces Suit, Los Angeles Times, 1985 March 05, http://articles.latimes.com/1985-03-05/local/me-12484_1_superior-court-seat
  19. Joel Bleifuss, Scandal Gates, In These Times, 1991, http://beyondweird.com/conspiracies/inslaw4.html
  20. 20.0 20.1 20.2 Unsolved 1981 Triple Murder in California Was Hit Job, Authorities Say, 2009 October 2, Associated Press, http://www.foxnews.com/story/2009/10/02/unsolved-181-triple-murder-in-california-was-hit-job-authorities-say/
  21. http://gangstersout.blogspot.ca/2011/06/hitman-jimmy-hughes.html
  22. 22.0 22.1 22.2 Monica Torline, Glen Heggstad never charged, but looking for vindication in 1981 'Octopus Murders', Desert Sun, 2011 July 3, http://archive.desertsun.com/article/20110703/NEWS0802/107030309/Glen-Heggstad-never-charged-looking-vindication-1981-Octopus-Murders
  23. 23.0 23.1 23.2 Carol Marshall, The Last Circle, Chapter 4, http://web.archive.org/web/20100419055303/http://wiretap.stumblers.net/2010/04/the-last-circle/4/
  24. 24.0 24.1 Harry V. Martin, Inslaw case gets deeper and uncovers more 'bodies', Napa Sentinel, 1991, http://american-buddha.com/inslaw.deeper.bodies.htm
  25. Only On 3: 'Octopus Murder' Suspect Caught On Hidden Camera, KESQ Newschannel 3, 2009 September 29, http://www.kesq.com/Only-On-3-Octopus-Murder-Suspect-Caught-On-Hidden-Camera/506406
  26. PART 35: State Justice Department Stalls Murder Case Arrests, KESQ Newschannel 3, 2009 July 3, http://www.kesq.com/PART-35-State-Justice-Department-Stalls-Murder-Case-Arrests/506756
  27. Virginia McCullough, Jimmy Hughes arrested for the Alvarez triple murders in 1981, https://deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/showthread.php?2331-Jimmy-Hughes-arrested-for-the-Alvarez-triple-murders-in-1981
  28. Mike Daniels, Jimmy Hughes Speaks To KESQ After Charges Dropped, 2010 July 2, http://www.kesq.com/Jimmy-Hughes-Speaks-To-KESQ-After-Charges-Dropped/498710
  29. 29.0 29.1 Henry Weinstein and Paul Feldman, Trial Offers Murky Peek Into World of Intrigue : Testimony: Presenting himself as a CIA operative, a mystery man sues the LAPD for alleged false arrest that he says cost him his gun permit and millions of dollars.,Los Angeles Times, 1993 March 21, http://articles.latimes.com/1993-03-21/news/mn-13734_1_false-arrest
  30. 30.0 30.1 Octopus Revisited, Steamshovel Press, http://www.umsl.edu/~thomaskp/ocrev.htm
  31. 31.0 31.1 31.2 31.3 31.4 31.5 Roy Rowan, Pan Am 103 Why Did They Die?, Time, 1992 April 27, http://plane-truth.com/Aoude/geocities/mckee.html
  32. 32.0 32.1 32.2 32.3 32.4 32.5 32.6 32.7 32.8 32.9 Newshawk, Virginia McCullough, and Lester Coleman, Coleman Testimony On CIA's PAN AM 103 Drug Smuggling Corroborated, 2000 April 18, http://rense.com/general/cole.htm
  33. 33.0 33.1 Steven Emerson, PanAm Scam, American Journalism Review, 1992 September, http://ajrarchive.org/Article.asp?id=1314
  34. 34.0 34.1 34.2 Joel Bainerman, Bush Administration's Involvement in Bombing Pan Am 103, 1997, http://plane-truth.com/Aoude/geocities/bushreagan.html
  35. Excerpt from Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror by David Hoffman, http://forums.utsandiego.com/showthread.php?t=59139&page=11
  36. Daniel Goddard and Lester Coleman, CHAPTER 18: TRAIL OF THE OCTOPUS -- FROM BEIRUT TO LOCKERBIE -- INSIDE THE DIA, Chapter 18, http://netteandme.blogspot.com/2014/06/chapter-18-trail-of-octopus-from-beirut.html
  37. Revell v. David Hoffman, 309 F.3d 1228, 2002 October 30, http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/309/1228/506208/
  38. 38.0 38.1 38.2 Patrick Lee, Probe of Alyeska Conduct Goes Behind Closed Doors, Los Angeles Times, 1991 November 5, http://articles.latimes.com/1991-11-05/business/fi-1061_1_trans-alaska-pipeline
  39. 39.0 39.1 Sheila O, Violence against campaigners, Alyeska and the private security company Wackenhut, http://www.spinwatch.org/index.php/issues/science/item/251-violence-against-campaigners-alyeska-and-the-private-security-company-wackenhut <ref name="alyeska_rich">Sherree Rich, testimony before the US House committee on interior affairs, 1991 November 5, http://www.pinknoiz.com/covert/srich.html
  40. Keith Schneider, A Case of Heavy-Footed Gumshoes, New York Times, 1991 November 10, http://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/10/weekinreview/the-nation-a-case-of-heavy-footed-gumshoes.html
  41. 41.0 41.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named alyeska_rich
  42. Patrick Lee, Chief Alyeska Pipeline Investigator Quits : ENERGY: The secret probe of whistle-blowers causes flap., Los Angeles Times, 1991 November 16, http://articles.latimes.com/1991-11-16/business/fi-1656_1_special-investigations
  43. 43.0 43.1 43.2 43.3 Rodney Stitch, Defrauding America, Chapter 11; as reprinted in Footsteps Into Truth, Phoenix Journal 91 (PJ91), by Gyeorgos Ceres Hatoon, p.68-71, http://www.abundanthope.net/artman2/uploads/1/PJ_91.pdf
  44. OCEANSIDE : Argument Escalates, 2 Wind Up Dead, San Diego County Digest, 1992 November 19, http://articles.latimes.com/1992-11-19/local/me-561_1_oceanside-police
  45. 45.0 45.1 James Thomas Westbrook, Inslaw Spiro Family Mass Murder Part 2, http://web.archive.org/web/20110707060414/http://1979westbrook.com/INSLAW%20--%20Spiro%20Family%20Hit%202.htm
  46. Nathan Baca, Part 1: Pressure leading up to tragedy, KESQ Newschannel 3, http://web.archive.org/web/20071017070007/http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=6449106&nav=menu191_1_1_3
  47. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named baca_30
  48. 48.0 48.1 Karen Bixman, Obstruction of Justice: Exposing the Inslaw Scandal and Related Crimes, Media Bypass, 1995 June, http://www.american-buddha.com/exposing.inslaw.htm
  49. James Ridgway de Szigethy, The 'On The Waterfront' Trials, http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_254.html
  50. Karen Yurconic, Army Secrecy Surrounds Standorf Death, The Morning Call, 1991 February 07, http://articles.mcall.com/1991-02-07/news/2786588_1_army-in-new-jersey-metropolitan-washington-national-airport-job
  51. Deaths elsewhere, Baltimore Sun, 1991 April 25, http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-04-25/news/1991115043_1_segal-blunt-eisman
  52. Michael E. Ruane, A Lawyer, A Rogue, A Friend, Philadelphia Inquirer, 1991 April 24, http://articles.philly.com/1991-04-24/news/25779620_1_red-hair-porsche-bad-word
  53. 53.0 53.1 53.2 53.3 Stacy Finz, father of slain family linked to CIA, British intelligence, North County Blade-Citizen, 1992 November 7, http://web.archive.org/web/20110707060739/http://1979westbrook.com/INSLAW%20--%20Spiro%20Family%20Hit%203.htm
  54. Wayne Madsen, Was Clan Bush involved in looting of other Federal Reserve Banks?, 2009 May 10, http://www.newsfollowup.com/bush_pnac.htm
  55. George Bason, History Commons, http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=george_bason_1
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