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Message #2031 "ALT.CENSORSHIP"
Date: 06-Nov-91 18:31
From: dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcli
To: All
Subj: the INSLAW case: "Napa Sentinel" series, part 1
From: dave@ratmandu.corp.sgi.com (dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcliffe)
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Harry Martin, Editor & Publisher of the "Napa Sentinel", has been
doing some of the best investigative journalism published anywhere
in recent years. This begins a 10-part series (plus 7 addendums)
on the INSLAW case.
FEDERAL CORRUPTION
By Harry V. Martin
A NEW SERIES
(c) Copyright Napa Sentinel, 1991
March 12, 1991
Reprinted with permission of the Napa Sentinel
EDITOR'S NOTE: When discussing the widespread corruption in the
federal Bankruptcy Courts, it is difficult to focus on just the
Northern California jurisdiction. This new series will focus on the
extent of the corruption throughout the nation and its linkage to
various courts.
When the U.S. Government sent Anthony Souza to Northern California
to investigate what government officials called "the dirtiest
system" in the United States, it was aware that the entire
bankruptcy system is unraveling. Former LendVest Trustee Charles
Duck was the main focal point of Souza's investigation-even though a
local bankruptcy judge called him the most "honest man" he had ever
known. Duck's ties to bankruptcy judges throughout the Bay Area is
providing a picture of intense corruption going deep inside the law
enforcement agencies. Even Souza admits privately that his hands
are tied.
There has been one known murder in Northern California that has
strong possible links to the bankruptcy system. There have been
several more in Texas. This series will focus on different
incidents from various parts of the country.
One of the most bizarre cases of corruption in the bankruptcy
system involves a small Washington-based computer software firm
called INSLAW. In 1982 the firm signed a three year contract for
$10 million with the U.S. Department of Justice. The software
program INSLAW developed was a case-management computer program
called PROMIS. The software, which was developed by Bill Hamilton,
enabled the U.S. attorneys to keep track of information on cases,
witnesses and defendants, and to manage their caseloads more
effectively.
Though the U.S. Attorney's Office placed the PROMIS program into
operation in several of its offices, it refused to pay Hamilton.
Subsequently Hamilton was forced into the bankruptcy court. Former
U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson, representing Hamilton,
advised him to sue the Justice Department for stealing his software.
Anthony Pasciuto, who was the deputy director of the Executive
Office for U.S. Trustees, which oversees bankruptcy estates on
behalf of the court, had stated that the Justice Department was
improperly applying pressure on his office to convert INSLAW's
Chapter 11 reorganization into a Chapter 7 liquidation, which would
mean that all company assets, including the rights to PROMIS would
be sold at auction.
U.S. Trustee Cornelius Blackshear corroborated Pasciuto's story.
Two days after he was visited by Justice Department officials,
Blackshear issued a sworn affidavit recanting his earlier testimony.
The Justice Department recommended that Pasciuto be fired. The
memo seeking his dismissal reads ". . . but for Mr. Pasciuto's
highly irresponsible actions, the Department would be in a much
better litigation posture than it presently finds itself."
Federal Bankruptcy Judge George F. Bason, Jr., ruled in 1987 that
the Justice Department had acted illegally in trying to put INSLAW
out of business. Bason sent Edwin Meese a letter recommending that
he designate an appropriate outside official to review the dispute
because of the prima facie evidence of perjury by Justice Department
officials, Meese did not respond.
Later that year after nearly three weeks of trial, Bason ruled in
favor of INSLAW in its suit against the Justice Department. "The
department (of Justice) took, converted, stole INSLAW's software by
trickery, fraud and deceit," the judge stated, adding, "the Justice
Department engaged in an outrageous, deceitful, fraudulent game of
cat and mouse, demonstrating contempt for both the law and any
principle of fair dealing." Judge Bason ordered the Justice
Department to pay INSLAW $6.8 million. Bason's verdict was upheld
on appeal by U.S. District Court Judge William B. Bryant. Three
months after Bason's ruling, he was denied re-appointment to the
bankruptcy court.
Hamilton's trouble began when a friend of Meese attempted to buy
out INSLAW, but Hamilton turned him down. In a court document, the
potential buyer is quoted as saying, "We have ways of making you
sell." It was after that the trouble for INSLAW began.
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on investigations, chaired by
Senator Sam Nunn, began an investigation into the INSLAW case. Once
the inquiry got under way, the Senate Judiciary Committee's chief
investigator, Ronald LeGrand, received a phone call from an unnamed
senior officer at the Justice Department--a person LeGrand had
known for years. The caller told LeGrand that the "INSLAW case was
a lot dirtier for the Department of Justice than Watergate had been,
both in its breadth and its depth."
The Nunn Committee completed its investigation and published its
report. It recognized that INSLAW has been a victim of the system
and stated that "the Justice Department had been uncooperative,
refusing to allow witnesses to testify without representatives of
the litigation division being present to advise them. The effect
of their presence was to intimidate those who might otherwise have
cooperated with the investigation." The report states, "The staff
learned through various channels of a number of Department employees
who desired to speak to the Subcommittee, but who chose not to out
of fear for their jobs."
Congressman Jack Brooks of Texas has opened a new investigation
into the INSLAW case. Brooks is investigating allegations that
Justice Department officials--including Meese--conspired to force
INSLAW into bankruptcy in order to deliver the firm's software to a
rival company. The rival firm, according to court records and law
enforcement officials, was headed by Earl W. Brian, a former Cabinet
officer under then California Governor Ronald Reagan and a longtime
friend of several high-ranking Republican officials. Meese had
accepted a $15,000 interest-free loan from Brian. Meese's wife was
an investor in the rival company. This is the same company that
allegedly sought to buy INSLAW from Hamilton and made the alleged
threat.
What happened to PROMIS?
* The program is in use throughout the nation
and has been used also for military intelligence
information. It has the ability to track troop
movements.
* An official of the Israeli government claims
Brian sold the PROMIS program to Iraqi military
intelligence at a meeting in Santiago, Chile.
The software could have been used in the recent
Persian Gulf War to track U.S. and allied troop
movements. Ari Ben-Menashe, a 12 year veteran
of Israeli intelligence, made the statement in a
sworn affidavit to the court.
* The software is now operative with the CIA,
the National Security Agency, the Defense
Intelligence Agency, and the U.S. Department of
Justice. Only the Justice Department is
authorized by the court to use the software.
* Brian now claims he acquired the property
rights to the software and consummated a sale to
Israel, although he had allowed its use by the
Israeli intelligence forces for as many as five
years before the actual sale.
In essence, a small company in Washington developed a very
sensitive computer program which the Justice Department obtained.
The courts ruled in favor of the developer and the judge who made
the ruling was never re-appointed. The software was acquired by a
friend of Meese and the Justice Department has never paid for its
use and has allowed other agencies the right of its use.
The bankruptcy court was a tool--as it appears to be with other
jurisdictions--to support the economic gain of a few. Charles Duck
was not alone--as the record will prove.
(To be continued).
--
daveus rattus
yer friendly neighborhood ratman
KOYAANISQATSI
ko.yan.nis.qatsi (from the Hopi Language) n. 1. crazy life. 2. life
in turmoil. 3. life out of balance. 4. life disintegrating.
5. a state of life that calls for another way of living.
--- GEcho/beta
* Origin: macgate.mn.org (1:282/22.0)
Message #2028 "ALT.CENSORSHIP"
Date: 06-Nov-91 18:32
From: dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcli
To: All
Subj: the INSLAW case: "Napa Sentinel" series, part 2
From: dave@ratmandu.corp.sgi.com (dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcliffe)
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Harry Martin, Editor & Publisher of the "Napa Sentinel", has been
doing some of the best investigative journalism published anywhere
in recent years. This is part 2 of a 10-part series (plus 6
addendums) on the INSLAW case.
HOW THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT USED THE BANKRUPTCY COURT
By Harry V. Martin
Second of a New Series
(c) Copyright Napa Sentinel, 1991
March 15, 1991
Reprinted with permission of the Napa Sentinel
The corruption of the bankruptcy system is endemic of a political
patronage system with its roots going back to former U.S. Attorney
Edwin Meese, according to many former employees of the Department of
Justice. The INSLAW case--reported last week in the "Napa
Sentinel"--is a microcosm of the entire system.
As a result of the INSLAW cases, many heads in the Justice
Department were lopped off. When Judge George Bason, a bankruptcy
court judge, refused to liquidate INSLAW, ruling instead that the
Department of Justice used deceit, trickery and fraud, he was only
one of four who were not re-appointed to their jobs. A total of 132
were re-appointed.
But to show the collusion of the Justice Department, when it
removed Judge Bason from the bench after his ruling against them and
for INSLAW, they had S. Martin Teel appointed to the bench to
replace Bason. Who was Teel? He was a Department of Justice
attorney who unsuccessfully argued the INSLAW case before Judge
Bason.
Tony Pasciuto admitted that he was ordered to pressure the
bankruptcy judge to rule against INSLAW. After being subpoenaed by
INSLAW's attorney, Pasciuto was offered a long-awaited transfer by
the Justice Department from Washington, D.C. to Albany, New York.
Pasciuto bought a home in Albany and then changed his testimony.
After the testimony was completed, the Justice Department cancelled
his transfer. Pasciuto had to commute from Albany to Washington.
Former Attorney General Elliott Richardson made a list of the
baffling questions of why the Justice Department wanted INSLAW
declared insolvent and why it wouldn't pay a $6.8 million settlement
to the small company. INSLAW received an offer to sell their
company and they refused. The buyer informed the company that he
had powerful political influence and "We have ways of making you
sell." Within 90 days of that threat, the Justice Department
commenced its attack on INSLAW.
The company that made the attempt to buy INSLAW had financial
connections to Meese and some of Meese's cronies. When the battle
ended, INSLAW was broke, an attorney, a Justice Department
whistleblower and a judge were out to work, but INSLAW was saved by
a corporate giant--IBM--who rescued the company virtually from the
auction block.
The company that allegedly made the threat was Hadron. It has had
brushes with the Security Exchange Commission, it has gone to the
brink of being broke and one of its companies has been accused by
the SEC of fraud and manipulation of stock prices, the company lost
$4.3 million in one year. It soon sunk $12 million in the red.
But once Meese became Attorney General, Hadron suddenly received
lucrative Pentagon contracts, along with the Agency for
International Development. The company was also awarded a $40
million contract from the Justice Department, despite protests
against the bidding process. One member of Hadron's board was Dr.
Earl Brian, who was in Reagan's California cabinet along with Meese.
Meese was chief of staff in California. The Deputy Attorney General
was D. Lowell Jensen, who had competed against INSLAW years earlier.
The person in charge of making Justice Department payments for
INSLAW's software--and who didn't--was an employee who had been
fired from INSLAW. Jensen was also in trouble when the Senate was
investigating the Iran-Contra scandal. Apparently the Senate
committee discovered a memo written by Jensen to the National
Security Council warning that the Miami federal prosecutors where on
Ollie North's trail. The memo revealed that the Justice Department,
who was supposed to prosecute the Iran-Contra affair, actually was
tipping off the government in advance.
One Justice Department official testified at the INSLAW hearing
that INSLAW's software could be dangerous. Thomas Stanton testified
"INSLAW could besmirch the U.S. Trustee program." The program is so
sophisticated that it could trace all assets, track all trustees and
judges. Another Justice Department employee stated that the U.S.
Trustee program was flagrantly political. "It was a way of getting
cronies into office. There would be 50 or 60 positions to be filled
. . . it was Meese's baby." The official also stated, "It was
always puzzling to me how he got away with what he got away with.
He'd do things that were blatantly wrong and no one would question
him--it's kind of scary."
The Meese program would concentrate too much power in one
government department. "It's supposed to act as a watchdog over
lawyers and trustees, but the problem is it's more. It has a
considerable amount of power to control the administration of
cases. When a case moves from bankruptcy to liquidation, the U.S.
Trustees office names the trustee, who converts the assets, oversees
the auction, and retains appraisers who will put a price tag on the
leavings. The U.S. Trustee's program also links Justice and the
IRS. The thing that's a little frightening about it is that the
U.S. Trustee department sees itself as a part of the tax-collecting
function of government. The Justice Department represents the IRS,
and the IRS is often the biggest creditor in liquidation," states a
leading bankruptcy attorney.
(To be continued)
--
daveus rattus
yer friendly neighborhood ratman
KOYAANISQATSI
ko.yan.nis.qatsi (from the Hopi Language) n. 1. crazy life. 2. life
in turmoil. 3. life out of balance. 4. life disintegrating.
5. a state of life that calls for another way of living.
--- GEcho/beta
* Origin: macgate.mn.org (1:282/22.0)
Message #2029 "ALT.CENSORSHIP"
Date: 06-Nov-91 18:32
From: dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcli
To: All
Subj: the INSLAW case: "Napa Sentinel" series, part 3
From: dave@ratmandu.corp.sgi.com (dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcliffe)
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Harry Martin, Editor & Publisher of the "Napa Sentinel", has been
doing some of the best investigative journalism published anywhere
in recent years. This is part 3 of a 10-part series (plus 6
addendums) on the INSLAW case.
BANKRUPTCY, JUSTICE SCANDAL COULD EQUAL WATERGATE
By Harry V. Martin
Third in a NEW SERIES
(c) Copyright Napa Sentinel
March 22, 1991
Reprinted with permission of the Napa Sentinel
As if things weren't getting hot enough for the federal bankruptcy
court system, but now the INSLAW case is becoming another Watergate.
INSLAW was a Washington, D.C.-based computer firm that sold a highly
technical tracking software program to the U.S. Department of
Justice. Federal judges have upheld INSLAW's contention that the
Justice Department, under Attorney General Edwin Meese, stole
INSLAW's computer program.
A bankruptcy judge that made the ruling was not re-appointed to a
14-year term. Several Justice Department officials have since been
fired or quit over the case.
Now a U.S. House Subcommittee is investigating the case and
putting a lot of heat on the Justice Department. Attorney General
Dick Thornburgh has been placed in an awkward position because of
the case. Though he was not Attorney General at the time the INSLAW
scandal broke, he was the man who investigated it and cleared the
Justice Department of wrong doing.
Testimony has come forward that the Justice Department, under
Meese, pressured the bankruptcy courts to declare INSLAW insolvent,
forcing the company to release its assets--including the critical
software. INSLAW was once threatened if it didn't sell its company
to a close Meese associate. After the threat, INSLAW's life was
made miserable by the Justice Department. When INSLAW sued the
Justice Department it was awarded $6.8 million. The judge who made
the award was fired and replaced with a newly appointed judge--the
man who prosecuted the case for the Justice Department. A second
judge upheld the first judge's ruling.
The House subcommittee is accusing Thornburgh of stonewalling the
Committee's request for hundreds of documents involved in the INSLAW
case. Two years ago, the same stalling tactics by the Attorney
General's office played havoc with a Senate investigation of the
same problem. But Texas Congressman Jack Brooks is putting the heat
on the Justice Department to turn over its records on INSLAW--
Brook's committee controls the purse strings of the Justice
Department and has more clout than did the Senate Committee.
The protected software has been pirated to the Canadian
government. Those who were found responsible for the pirating were
close associates of Meese. "No sooner had the piracy been confirmed
in Canada than an Israeli intelligence officer alleged that PROMIS
(INSLAW's software program) was being used illegally by the CIA and
other U.S. intelligence agencies," states James J. Kilpatrick in the
March 15 edition of "The Miami Herald."
After the re-appointment of the federal bankruptcy judge was
halted because of his ruling on the INSLAW case, almost every
bankruptcy judge that is handed the case declines to have anything
to do with it. "Nobody wants to touch the case," states Chief
District Judge Aubrey Robinson.
According to Brooks, the Justice Department is now ready to turn
over the documents, states the "Legal Times" of Washington, D.C.
The scandal touches many high officials in the Justice Department
or formerly associated with the Department. They include:
* Edwin Meese, former Attorney General.
* Attorney General Richard Thornburgh.
* U.S. Attorney Jay Stephens.
* Justice Department Watchdog Michael Sheheen, Jr.
* Gerald McDowell, chief of the Criminal
Division's Public Integrity Section.
* Lawrence McWhorter, head of the Executive
Office of the U.S. Attorney's Criminal Division.
* Bankruptcy Judge Cornelius Blackshear.
* North District of California Federal District
Judge D. Lowell Jensen, who was a former Deputy
Attorney General and once chief competitor to
INSLAW in California.
The Brooks Committee has also learned that the Justice
Department's computer system is "all botched up" and has also
learned that there is a lot of sensitive data within the Department
of Justice computer files that is not secure. The INSLAW program
was to organize everything and track cases all over the country.
The Justice Department is the prime law enforcement agency in the
United States. A scandal there could rock the nation in a similar
fashion as Watergate did during the Nixon Administration.
The Justice Department oversees the Federal Bankruptcy Court and
the Trustee system. The Justice Department is investigating the
Federal Bankruptcy Court and the Trustee System. The Justice
Department has been caught using the Bankruptcy System for their own
interest. In other words, the Justice Department is investigating
the Justice Department's Bankruptcy System for potential wrongdoings
by the Justice Department.
But is there really justice in this land?
(To be continued)
--
daveus rattus
yer friendly neighborhood ratman
KOYAANISQATSI
ko.yan.nis.qatsi (from the Hopi Language) n. 1. crazy life. 2. life
in turmoil. 3. life out of balance. 4. life disintegrating.
5. a state of life that calls for another way of living.
--- GEcho/beta
* Origin: macgate.mn.org (1:282/22.0)
Message #2030 "ALT.CENSORSHIP"
Date: 06-Nov-91 18:32
From: dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcli
To: All
Subj: the INSLAW case: "Napa Sentinel" series, part 4
From: dave@ratmandu.corp.sgi.com (dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcliffe)
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Harry Martin, Editor & Publisher of the "Napa Sentinel", has been
doing some of the best investigative journalism published anywhere
in recent years. This is part 4 of a 10-part series (plus 6
addendums) on the INSLAW case.
BANKRUPTCY COURT EXAMINES SOFTWARE ALLEGATIONS
AGAINST JUSTICE DEPARTMENT PIRATING
By Harry V. Martin
Fourth in a NEW SERIES
(c) Copyright Napa Sentinel
March 29, 1991
Reprinted with permission of the Napa Sentinel
If you own a VCR or rent or buy movies, you will be familiar with
the warning that appears on your screen that the film you are
viewing is protected by a copyright and that the Federal Bureau of
Investigations or Interpol can arrest you for copying the film. The
warning is to prevent "pirating" of someone else's copyrighted
material.
But what's good for the goose is not always good for the gander.
The United States Justice Department stands accused of pirating
copyrighted material--having supplied it to the Canadian government,
the Israeli government and Iraqi government . . . and to the FBI,
itself.
That is how deep the INSLAW computer software case has become.
The case started out when the Justice Department bought PROMIS, a
copyrighted software program that helps to track criminal cases
throughout the United States. When friends and associates of then
Attorney General Edwin Meese attempted to buy the software company,
INSLAW turned them down and then life was made miserable for INSLAW.
Within 90 days the Justice Department reneged on their contract with
INSLAW and refused to pay for the software program, even though it
was using it. The Justice Department is accused by federal judges
of attempting to bankrupt INSLAW and then hasten the bankruptcy
court to declare them insolvent. Instead, the courts ruled that the
Justice Department used "fraud, deceit and trickery" against INSLAW
and awarded the small computer software company $6.8 million in
damages.
The case became deeper when friends of Meese began to sell the
program to foreign military establishments and the Justice
Department began to provide the copyrighted material to other U.S.
government agencies. A man who was once fired from INSLAW was put
in charge of INSLAW's payments--which were never forthcoming.
Another Justice Department official, who is now a Federal Judge in
Northern California, was a direct competitor to INSLAW in
California. The Judge who made the $6.8 million ruling lost his
job. The attorney for the Justice Department who fought against the
Judge's ruling was promoted to the Judge's vacant position. There
have been wholesale changes and firings at the Justice Department
over the INSLAW case.
The Justice Department is now under investigation by a House
subcommittee and this committee is receiving many documents to
support the premise that the Justice Department has a skeleton in
its closet that stinks greater than Watergate.
But new documents emerging in the case demonstrate a wider
scandal. In an affidavit dated February 17, 1991, Ari Ben-Menashe
describes his 12 year service for the Government of Israel in
foreign intelligence and provides an eyewitness account of a
presentation to an Israeli intelligence agency in 1987 in Tel Aviv,
by Earl W. Brian of the United States.
Brian is a close associate of Meese from his California days.
Brian and Meese were both in Ronald Reagan's California Cabinet when
Reagan was governor.
According to Ben-Menashe's affidavit, Brian stated in his presence
that he had acquired the property rights to the PROMIS computer
software and that as of 1987 "all U.S. intelligence agencies,
including the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Central Intelligence
Agency and the National Security Agency, were using the PROMIS
computer software." Ben-Menashe further states in his affidavit
that Brian consummated a sale of the PROMIS computer software to the
Government of Israel in 1987.
He further claimed that Brian also sold the PROMIS computer
software to Iraqi Military Intelligence. According to Ben-Menashe's
affidavit, the Israeli intelligence officer learned of this sale
from an eyewitness who helped Brian broker the sale in his office in
Santiago, Chile--Carlos Carduen of Carduen Industries. Carduen has
been a major supplier to the Government of Iraq with weapons and
munitions.
The Federal Government of Canada has admitted that INSLAW's PROMIS
software is currently operating in at least two federal departments,
including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The Mounties are using
the program in 900 locations in Canada.
INSLAW never sold its software to Canada, Iraq, Israel, the
Central Intelligence Agency or the National Security Agency. It
also has not been paid by the Justice Department for its use,
despite the $6.8 million ruling in INSLAW's favor.
The Justice Department insists that the FBI is not using the
PROMIS program. Yet FBI Director William Sessions and Deputy
Assistant Director Kier Boyd, have made it clear that the FBI now is
unable or unwilling to provide assurances that pirated software is
not included in the case management information system used by FBI
field offices.
And in a startling development, a man named Charles Hayes has
asserted that the U.S. government has pirated the PROMIS computer
program. The Justice Department has sued Hayes in the U.S. District
Court in Lexington, Kentucky, seeking to compel him to return copies
of computer software left on equipment Hayes' salvage business
purchased from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Lexington. Hayes has
publicly claimed that the salvaged equipment contained pirated
copies of INSLAW's PROMIS software.
One cover-up begets another cover-up? This is how Watergate
spread.
(To be continued)
--
daveus rattus
yer friendly neighborhood ratman
KOYAANISQATSI
ko.yan.nis.qatsi (from the Hopi Language) n. 1. crazy life. 2. life
in turmoil. 3. life out of balance. 4. life disintegrating.
5. a state of life that calls for another way of living.
--- GEcho/beta
* Origin: macgate.mn.org (1:282/22.0)
Message #2039 "ALT.CENSORSHIP"
Date: 06-Nov-91 18:34
From: dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcli
To: All
Subj: the INSLAW case: "Napa Sentinel" series, part 5
From: dave@ratmandu.corp.sgi.com (dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcliffe)
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Harry Martin, Editor & Publisher of the "Napa Sentinel", has been
doing some of the best investigative journalism published anywhere
in recent years. This is part 5 of a 10-part series (plus 6
addendums) on the INSLAW case.
Watergate
Iran--Contra
Savings & Loan Scandal
INSLAW Theft
Federal Bankruptcy Scandal
CIA Covert Operations
Did you ever wonder what the fathers of our country
would think about it if they came back to visit today?
KEY WITNESS IN INSLAW CASE ARRESTED BY JUSTICE DEPARTMENT AS PREDICTED
By Harry V. Martin
Fifth in a NEW SERIES
(c) Copyright Napa Sentinel
April 2, 1991
Reprinted with permission of the Napa Sentinel
Within eight days of signing a damaging statement against the U.S.
Justice Department in the INSLAW software case, a key witness
against the government has been arrested and held without bail.
Michael J. Riconoscuito was arrested Friday night and is being held
without bail at Snohomish County jail in Everett, Washington.
Riconoscuito is being held without bail and no charges have been
filed against him. He was arrested with two local men who had just
sold him computer equipment for $1000. The two were known drug
users. Riconoscuito, according to jail officials, is being held for
the U.S. Marshal's Office--not on any alleged local criminal
violation.
Riconoscuito, and the two other persons, were arrested Friday
night by more than a dozen U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
agents.
On March 21, Riconoscuito, a computer software technician, filed
an affidavit in the INSLAW case. In February, Riconoscuito was
called by a former Justice Department official and warned against
cooperating with an investigation into the case by the House
Judiciary Committee. The former Justice Department official is
reported to have threatened Riconoscuito with criminal prosecution
if he talked about the INSLAW case. The Justice Department has been
accused by a Federal bankruptcy Judge of stealing INSLAW's PROMIS
software which has the capability of tracking criminal and military
movements. According to sworn affidavits, Riconoscuito was
allegedly told by U.S. Justice Department officials that if he did
testify in the INSLAW case he would be criminally prosecuted in an
unrelated savings and loan case and would suffer an unfavorable
outcome in a child custody dispute.
The threat was made by telephone and a recording was made of the
conversation, according to Riconoscuito. He indicated that two
copies of the recorded telephone conversation were confiscated by
federal agents when he was arrested. Riconoscuito told the "St.
Louis Post-Dispatch" that at least one other copy remained in a
secured location.
Riconoscuito's testimony, along with others, claims that the U.S.
Justice Department illegally distributed INSLAW's software to
military and intelligence agencies in Iraq, Libya, South Korea,
Singapore, Israel, Canada and other nations.
A Federal Judge ruled last week in Washington, D.C., that the
INSLAW case be transferred from the Bankruptcy Court to the U.S.
District Court.
During the early 1980s, Riconoscuito served as the Director of
Research for a joint venture between the Wackenhut Corporation of
Coral Gables, Florida and the Cabazon Band of Indians of Indio,
California. The joint venture was located on the Cabazon
reservation. The joint venture sought to develop and manufacture
certain materials that are used in military and national security
operations, and biological and chemical warfare weapons. The
Cabazon Band of Indians are a sovereign nation and thus have
immunity from U.S. regulations and stringent government controls.
The Wackenhut-Cabazon joint venture was intended to support the
needs of a number of foreign governments and forces, including
forces and governments in Central America and the Middle East. The
Contras in Nicaragua represented one of the most important
priorities for the joint venture. The joint venture maintained
close liaison with certain elements of the U.S. Government,
including representatives of intelligence, military and law
enforcement agencies. Among the frequent visitors to the
Wackenhut-Cabazon joint venture were Peter Videnicks of the U.S.
Department of Justice and a close associate of Videnicks, Dr. Earl
W. Brian--who served in the California cabinet of Governor Ronald
Reagan and who has very close ties and business dealings with Meese.
In connection with Riconoscuito's work, he engaged in some
software work in 1983 and 1984 on the PROMIS computer software
product, developed by INSLAW but being used--without payment--by
the U.S. Department of Justice. A federal court has awarded INSLAW
$6.8 million against the U.S. Department of Justice.
According to Riconoscuito's court affidavit, Brian was
spearheading the plan for the worldwide use of the PROMIS computer
software--which was licensed and patented to INSLAW. "The purpose
of the PROMIS software modifications that I made in 1983 and 1984
was to support a plan for the implementation of PROMIS in law
enforcement and intelligence agencies worldwide." He said that some
of the modifications that he made were specifically designed to
facilitate the implementation of PROMIS within two agencies of the
Government of Canada: the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the
Canadian Security and Intelligence Service. "Earl W. Brian would
check with me from time to time to make certain that the work would
be completed in time to satisfy the schedule for the RCMP and CSIS
implementations of PROMIS." Brian, without permission from INSLAW,
but acting with the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney
General Edwin Meese, reportedly sold this version of PROMIS to the
Government of Canada, according to Riconoscuito."
Riconoscuito predicted his own arrest eight days later. In his
affidavit filed with the court on March 21, 1991, he states, "In
February 1991, I had a telephone conversation with Peter Videnicks,
then still employed by the U.S. Department of Justice. Videnicks
attempted during this telephone conversation to persuade me not to
cooperate with an independent investigation of the government's
piracy of INSLAW's proprietary PROMIS software being conducted by
the Committee on the Judiciary of the U.S. House of Representatives.
"Videnicks stated that I would be rewarded for a decision not to
cooperate with the House Judiciary Committee investigation.
Videnicks forecasted an immediate and favorable resolution of a
protracted child custody dispute being prosecuted against my wife by
her former husband, if I were to decide not to cooperate with the
House Judiciary Committee investigation.
"One punishment that Videnicks outlined was the future inclusion
of me and my father in a criminal prosecution of certain business
associates of mine in Orange County, California, in connection with
the operation of a savings and loan institution in Orange County.
By way of underscoring his power to influence such decisions at the
U.S. Department of Justice, Videnicks informed me of the indictment
of those business associates prior to the time when that indictment
was unsealed and made public.
"Another punishment that Videnicks threatened should I cooperate
with the House Judiciary Committee, is prosecution by the U.S.
Department of Justice for perjury. Videnicks warned me that
credible witnesses would come forward to contradict any damaging
claims that I made in testimony before the House Judiciary
Committee, and that I would subsequently be prosecuted for perjury
by the U.S. Department of Justice for my testimony before the House
Judiciary Committee.
As predicted, after Riconoscuito's affidavit was filed with the
court and reported in the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" and "Washington
Post," he was arrested and is now being held without bail and with
no charges.
The INSLAW case is becoming another Watergate and involves former
Attorney General Edwin Meese, a federal judge, several high
officials of the U.S. Department of Justice and even former White
House aide Robert C. McFarlane, who transferred INSLAW software to
Israel.
There are many affidavits being filed in the case to verify
wrongdoing on the part of the Justice Department. Yet the Justice
Department continues to refuse to supply the House Judiciary
Committee with any documents in the case. The Committee is now
threatening to cut U.S. Department of Justice funding if they don't
cooperate in supplying these documents.
(To be continued)
--
daveus rattus
yer friendly neighborhood ratman
KOYAANISQATSI
ko.yan.nis.qatsi (from the Hopi Language) n. 1. crazy life. 2. life
in turmoil. 3. life out of balance. 4. life disintegrating.
5. a state of life that calls for another way of living.
--- GEcho/beta
* Origin: macgate.mn.org (1:282/22.0)
Message #2042 "ALT.CENSORSHIP"
Date: 06-Nov-91 18:35
From: dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcli
To: All
Subj: the INSLAW case: "Napa Sentinel" series, part 6
From: dave@ratmandu.corp.sgi.com (dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcliffe)
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Harry Martin, Editor & Publisher of the "Napa Sentinel", has been
doing some of the best investigative journalism published anywhere
in recent years. This is part 6 of a 10-part series (plus 6
addendums) on the INSLAW case.
HOUSE JUDICIARY INVESTIGATORS SEEK NEW DECLARATION
By Harry V. Martin
Sixth in a NEW SERIES
(c) Copyright Napa Sentinel, 1991
April 5, 1991
Reprinted with permission of the Napa Sentinel
Congressional investigators have flown to Tacoma, Washington, to
interview Michael Riconoscuito--a key witness in the INSLAW case.
Riconoscuito provided a damaging statement against the U.S. Justice
Department in the stolen software case that potentially could become
another Watergate.
Riconoscuito stated in his declaration that the U.S. Justice
Department had threatened to have him arrested should he cooperate
with the House Judiciary Committee investigation into the U.S.
Justice Departments role in the INSLAW case. Two federal judges
have ruled that the U.S. Justice Department stole INSLAW's PROMIS
software and used "trickery and deceit" in the the case. One of
those judges was not re-appointed to the bench after his ruling.
The House Committee has already heard testimony that accuses the
U.S. Justice Department of attempting to interfere with the courts
in an effort to have INSLAW declared insolvent. Instead, the courts
awarded INSLAW $6.8 million in damages.
Within eight days of Riconoscuito's declaration he was arrested
and held without bail. Drug Enforcement Agency agents made the
arrest. On Wednesday a Federal Grand Jury indicted Riconoscuito on
one count of distribution of methanphetamines. He is still being
held without bail. Whether or not the U.S. Department of Justice
retaliated against Riconoscuito's willingness to testify before the
U.S. House Judiciary Committee, the House investigators are
questioning Riconoscuito at Kitsap County Correctional Center. One
member of the investigation stated that the House Committee is
deeply concerned with the timing of Riconoscuito's arrest,
particularly after he signed an affidavit stating he was threatened
with arrest if he did testify.
The Judiciary Committee is investigating allegations that top
Justice Department officials under former Attorney General Edwin
Meese engaged in a criminal conspiracy to steal software developed
by INSLAW and then furnished it to other countries including, Iraq,
Libya, South Korea, Israel and Canada.
Congressman Jack Brooks, chairman of the Committee, has accused
the Justice Department of a cover-up by withholding more than 200
documents in the INSLAW case. A U.S. Bankruptcy judge ruled in 1987
that officials of the Justice Department stole the sensitive
computer software--used to track criminals and also military
movements--"through fraud, trickery and deceit." The ruling was
later affirmed by another federal Judge.
Riconoscuito has a previous drug conviction for manufacturing PCP
aboard a Seattle houseboat 18 years ago. Riconoscuito's declaration
states that he was hired to modify INSLAW's PROMIS software so that
it could be sold to Canada and other customers. During the time of
modification, Riconoscuito was working on a joint venture with a
private security firm and the Cabazon Indians in Indio, California.
The joint venture also included military equipment and biological
and chemical warfare weapons for use and/or sale in Central America
and the Middle East.
One Indian and two companions who were opposed to these operations
and who alleged that tribal money was being filtered into foreign
banks, were found slain execution style in Ranch Mirage. No one has
been arrested in the case. The sister of one of the slain men
reported the Indian ties with the Iran-Contra scandal and the
software modification. That report was delivered to a New York
television studio seven years ago. She is now preparing all of it
in declaration form and supplying it to the U.S. House Judiciary
Committee investigation.
In other related matters, another affidavit was filed in the
INSLAW case which reports that a man bought U.S. Justice Department
computers and court computers for salvage and found the pirated
PROMIS software program in the surplus computer. The General
Accounting Office has expressed grave concern over the salvaged
computers, noting that the U.S. Justice Department has sold surplus
computers without first erasing sensitive information from the
memory banks. "The error may have put some informants, witnesses
and undercover agents in a `life-and-death' situation," the GAO
states. The data could include the names of government informants,
federally protected witnesses and undercover agents, grand jury
proceedings, sealed indictments, confidential FBI investigations and
personal data about Justice Department employees. These computers
were sold by the Justice Department for as little as $45. The man
in Lexington, Kentucky, who found the pirated PROMIS software in the
U.S. Justice Department surplus computer also found sealed grand
jury indictments.
Charles Hayes was the man who bought the equipment in July 1990
for $45. He has now been sued by the U.S. Justice Department for
the return of the computers, stating that the memory bank had not
been erased. The U.S. Justice Department did not go after Hayes
until after he signed an affidavit about the protected PROMIS
software. It is not certain whether the U.S. Justice Department
wants the sensitive material back or they want the computers to
block them from being used as evidence against them in the INSLAW
case. Hayes did return the equipment. This was not an isolated
case. Another U.S. Attorney Office notified federal agents that
once again sensitive data that could potentially identify agents
and witnesses may have been lost.
(To be continued.)
--
daveus rattus
yer friendly neighborhood ratman
KOYAANISQATSI
ko.yan.nis.qatsi (from the Hopi Language) n. 1. crazy life. 2. life
in turmoil. 3. life out of balance. 4. life disintegrating.
5. a state of life that calls for another way of living.
--- GEcho/beta
* Origin: macgate.mn.org (1:282/22.0)
Message #2038 "ALT.CENSORSHIP"
Date: 06-Nov-91 18:35
From: dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcli
To: All
Subj: the INSLAW case: "Napa Sentinel" series, part 7
From: dave@ratmandu.corp.sgi.com (dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcliffe)
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Harry Martin, Editor & Publisher of the "Napa Sentinel", has been
doing some of the best investigative journalism published anywhere
in recent years. This is part 7 of a 10-part series (plus 6
addendums) on the INSLAW case.
CANADIANS BEGIN PROBE ON PIRATED SOFTWARE FROM JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
By Harry V. Martin
Seventh in a NEW SERIES
(c) Copyright Napa Sentinel, 1991
April 12, 1991
Reprinted with permission of the Napa Sentinel
The growing INSLAW software theft is now reaching foreign
proportions. While the U.S. House Judiciary Committee is
investigating the theft of INSLAW's PROMIS software by the U.S.
Justice Department, the Canadian Parliament will commence its own
investigation.
Two agencies of the Canadian Government, the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian Security and Intelligence
Service (CSIS)--equivalent to the CIA--are using the pirated PROMIS
software, allegedly supplied to them by Dr. Earl Brian, a close
associate and financial partner of former U.S. Attorney General
Edwin Meese and a former California cabinet officer under then
Governor Ronald Reagan.
A Federal Bankruptcy judge--who was not re-appointed to the bench
after his ruling--said the U.S. Justice Department used trickery,
fraud and deception in "stealing" the PROMIS software. The
sophisticated software is used for tracking criminal and military
activities. It was illegally sold to South Korea, Iraq, Israel,
Canada and Libya by the United States.
According to an affidavit, the software was converted in a joint
venture between Wackenhut Corporation of Coral Gables, Florida, and
the Cabazon Band of Indians of Indio--an independent nation. The
declaration by Michael J. Riconoscuito alleges that Dr. Brian was
deeply involved in the joint venture. One Indian and two of his
companions who objected to the joint venture--which also dealt with
military weapons, biological and chemical warfare--were found
murdered in execution style. That execution was reported on 20/20
by Barbara Walters and the CIA was named as the prime suspect in the
case. The software was specifically modified for the Canadian
government.
Riconoscuito stated in an affidavit he was warned by officials of
the U.S. Justice Department that if he cooperated with the U.S.House
Judiciary Committee he would be arrested. Eight days after he
signed the affidavit he was arrested by more than a dozen Drug
Enforcement Agency officers near Tacoma, Washington. He was held
without bail for several days and then charged with a single drug
count. Though arrested in the State of Washington, he was held
without bail awaiting a federal marshal to pick him up.
He, along with several others, have stated in an affidavit to the
court and to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, that the PROMIS
software was modified and sold to several countries, including
Canada.
Late last week, Members of Parliament demanded that the Solicitor
General of Canada, Pierre Cadieux, appear before a parliamentary
committee to answer charges the RCMP and CSIS are using stolen
computer software. Cadieux's ministry is responsible for the RCMP
and CSIS.
Though both the RCMP and the CSIS originally denied they are using
PROMIS, court documents show a Canadian communications department
official admitted last year that the RCMP was using PROMIS, although
INSLAW never authorized its Canadian sale.
"Did CSIS and the RCMP use PROMIS software or modifications of it?
If so, what were the circumstances of the acquisition? Was the
software stolen, and if so, was the Canadian Government aware of
it?" These are the questions Parliament wants to ask Cadieux. The
Canadian Solicitor has indicated that the Government is already
launching its own investigation into the pirated software scandal.
Canadian officials are indicating that the pirated software sales
may have helped to illegally fund the Contras in Nicaragua. Contra
funding and supplies was one of the most important aspects of the
Cabazon-Wackenhut joint venture. Riconoscuito has had inside
connections with the CIA and U.S. Justice Department and some
testimony put forward states that he helped to launder $40 million
for the Bush-Quayle campaign--that report has not been substantiated
by any more than one government source.
Brian is the owner of a holding company which has interests in the
Financial News Network, United Press International and Hadron, Inc.
Hadron was the company that was unsuccessful in buying out INSLAW,
Affidavits on file with the court allege that Hadron, through Reagan
cronies, attempted to force INSLAW out of business after it was
awarded a $10 million contract by the U.S. Justice Department.
The scandal involves Meese, Brian, former National Security
Advisor Robert McFarland, several senior staff members at the U.S.
Justice Department, and even federal judges. The "Vancouver Sun,"
the leading newspaper in Western Canada, states, "The pirated
software battle already has been compared to Watergate and the
Iran-Contra scandal."
(To be continued.)
--
daveus rattus
yer friendly neighborhood ratman
KOYAANISQATSI
ko.yan.nis.qatsi (from the Hopi Language) n. 1. crazy life. 2. life
in turmoil. 3. life out of balance. 4. life disintegrating.
5. a state of life that calls for another way of living.
--- GEcho/beta
* Origin: macgate.mn.org (1:282/22.0)
Message #2041 "ALT.CENSORSHIP"
Date: 06-Nov-91 18:36
From: dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcli
To: All
Subj: the INSLAW case: "Napa Sentinel" series, part 8
From: dave@ratmandu.corp.sgi.com (dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcliffe)
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Harry Martin, Editor & Publisher of the "Napa Sentinel", has been
doing some of the best investigative journalism published anywhere
in recent years. This is part 8 of a 10-part series (plus 6
addendums) on the INSLAW case.
MURDER OF THREE INDIANS MAY BE PART OF HOUSE PROBE ON INSLAW CASE
By Harry V. Martin
Eighth in a NEW SERIES
(c) Copyright Napa Sentinel, 1991
April 16, 1991
Reprinted with permission of the Napa Sentinel
A security guard, who linked the CIA with the execution-style
murder of one Indian and two other men who objected to the tribe's
manufacturing of weapons, chemical and biological warfare devices
and the conversion of INSLAW''s sensitive software, fled to Sonoma
and Lake counties right after the murders. The security guard's
secret hiding places were sanctioned by the Riverside County
District Attorney's Office and the state Department of Justice.
The security guard testified in a video-taped interview about the
murders and named names. The video-taping was taken by the
Riverside County District Attorney's Office after a Cabazon Indian
and his two companions were found slain. The security guard's
testimony to the DA's Office revealed that he was the bag man who
carried $10,000 from the Indian Reservation in Indio to the top of
an aerial tram in Palm Springs. The $10,000 was "hit" money.
According to the testimony, several ex-Green Berets, then employed
as firemen in the City of Chicago, executed the three Indians.
Who paid for the executions? According to the testimony, a man
who was once closely associated with Jimmy Hoffa and who then
operated the Bingo Parlor on the Indian Reservation, provided the
$10,000 for the killing. The three slain men had raised serious
objections to the Wackenhut-Cabazon joint venture. Wackenhut was
involved as agents for the CIA to provide arms to the Contras and
also to convert INSLAW's stolen PROMIS software for use by the
Canadian Government. The Canadian Government has ordered an
investigation into the pirated software scandal and the U.S. House
Judiciary Committee is conducting its own investigation in what has
been described as the U.S. Department of Justice's "trickery, deceit
and theft" of the software. The U.S. Government has been connected
with the illegal sale of the sensitive software to South Korea,
Libya, Iraq, Israel and Canada, as well as being pirated by a number
of U.S. agencies, including the CIA, National Security Agency and
other military units. The software is also in use by the FBI. Only
the U.S. Justice Department was licensed to use the software, which
tracks criminals and can be used for military tracking, as well.
INSLAW was awarded $6.8 million by two federal courts against the
U.S. Justice Department.
The scandal has deepened considerably, especially since the
testimony of Michael J. Riconoscuito, who worked closely with the
Wackenhut company, and Dr. Earl Brian--a close aid and financial
business associate of former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese and
former California Cabinet official in the Ronald Reagan
governorship. The scandal has caught several members of the U.S.
Justice Department, the National Security Council, the federal
bankruptcy court, and other government officials in a vice.
Newspapers from Canada and the United States rate the INSLAW case
equal to the Iran-Contra scandal and Watergate.
Riconoscuito provided an affidavit which compromised the U.S.
Justice Department and covert CIA operations. The affidavit stated
that Riconoscuito was warned by U.S. Justice Department officials
that if he cooperated with the House Judiciary investigation of the
INSLAW case, he would be arrested. Within eight days of signing the
affidavit, Riconoscuito was arrested in the State of Washington and
held without bail. He was later charged with one count of
distribution of methanphetamines--a crime that usually has a low
bail. Riconoscuito was being held for U.S. Marshals. Investigators
from the House Judiciary Committee interviewed Riconoscuito in a
Tacoma jail last week.
Riconoscuito's mention of the Wackenhut-Cabazon joint venture,
sparked more controversy. The House Judiciary Committee is now also
reviewing information on the Indian murders.
The "Sentinel" was able to obtain an exclusive interview with
people closely associated with the Cabazon nation and the murders.
The security guard, who was the bag man, had just left the military
service as an airborne ranger working on covert assignments. He
was hired as a security guard for the Cabazon nation. Another man,
a licensed investigator, was hired to question the security guard
about what he knew. It was learned that a key Indian of the tribe
was making strong objections to the laundering of money from the
Bingo Parlor. The main antagonist was Fred Alvarez.
The security guard was given $10,000 to give to a hit man in Palm
Springs. He has subsequently video-taped his confession to the
Riverside County District Attorney's office. Alvarez, in an
exclusive interview with the "Desert Sun," complained about the U.S.
Government's abuses of the Indian nation. He told the "Sun" that
people were going to kill him. Alvarez was murdered in execution
style after the interview.
The Riverside District Attorney's Office and the California
Department of Justice commenced their separate investigations of the
murders. A report was issued by the state linking the people behind
the Cabazons with direct links to organized crime--a chief Mafia
Family, the Gambino Family--and the CIA. The Cabazon reservation,
however, is an independent nation. In video interviews, the
security guard told how Wackenhut demonstrated new weapons with both
the FBI and the CIA present. He also testified to the presence at
these demonstrations of Dr. Earl Brian.
The man who paid the security guard $10,000 was later convicted of
attempted murder after five more Indians were shot to death. He was
linked by law enforcement officials to organized crime and CIA
covert operations.
The security guard testified that the Indio reservation was
convenient for the U.S. Government because it was an independent
nation and because it was close to the Mexican border, where arms
were shipped enroute to the Contras. The security guard's testimony
was so sensitive, that late one night the Riverside County District
Attorney's Office arranged for an armed escort to get him off the
reservation. He went to Sonoma and Lake counties, and then back to
Southern California to work with the Department of Justice. He fled
to New Mexico and now has left the country. He may return to
testify before the House Judiciary Committee, though he is in fear
of his life right now.
Like in the INSLAW case, those principles involved have fallen
like flies. The first federal judge to rule in INSLAW's favor
against the U.S. Justice Department was not re-appointed to another
14-year term. Many members of the U.S. Justice Department quit or
were fired in direct relationship to this case. The chief
investigator for the Riverside County District Attorney's Office was
later taken off the case and transferred to the Juvenile Division
and then given early retirement. Shortly after his retirement, the
DA investigator states that he was pulled off the road one day by a
CIA agent and told to forget all about the "desert" if he wanted to
enjoy his retirement.
The man who gave the money to the security guard for the murder,
was also the same man who is reported to have been the trigger man
in Chile in 1971--the target: President Salvador Allende.
(To be continued.)
--
daveus rattus
yer friendly neighborhood ratman
KOYAANISQATSI
ko.yan.nis.qatsi (from the Hopi Language) n. 1. crazy life. 2. life
in turmoil. 3. life out of balance. 4. life disintegrating.
5. a state of life that calls for another way of living.
--- GEcho/beta
* Origin: macgate.mn.org (1:282/22.0)
Message #2040 "ALT.CENSORSHIP"
Date: 06-Nov-91 18:36
From: dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcli
To: All
Subj: the INSLAW case: "Napa Sentinel" series, part 9
From: dave@ratmandu.corp.sgi.com (dave "who can do? ratmandu!" ratcliffe)
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Harry Martin, Editor & Publisher of the "Napa Sentinel", has been
doing some of the best investigative journalism published anywhere
in recent years. This is part 9 of a 10-part series (plus 6
addendums) on the INSLAW case.
INSLAW CASE GETS DEEPER AND UNCOVERS MORE `BODIES'
By Harry V. Martin
Ninth in a NEW SERIES
(c) Copyright Napa Sentinel, 1991
April 19, 1991
Reprinted with permission of the Napa Sentinel
When Michael J. Riconoscuito signed his affidavit implicating the
U.S. Justice Department in the theft and pirating of INSLAW's PROMIS
software, he opened a can of worms that may never go away.
Riconoscuito revealed in his affidavit that the CIA, U.S. Justice
Department and the FBI all had links to the Cabazon Indians and to
John Phillip Nichols and that the Indian reservation in Indio,
California, was linked directly to the Contras. Those links
resulted in the death of many people.
Riconoscuito also warned in his affidavit that he was going to be
arrested if he cooperated with a U.S. Congressional probe of the
Justice Department involving the pirated software. Within eight
days of signing the affidavit, like clock work, Riconoscuito was
arrested and held without bail for the U.S. Marshal. But not to be
thwarted, investigators from the Congressional Judiciary Committee
met and interviewed Riconoscuito.
Riconoscuito's statements, however, have sparked a new inquiry
into the entire Wackenhut-Cabazon Indian joint venture and
additional coverups by the U.S. Government over the stolen software,
money laundering, Mafia ties and illegal shipments to the Contras.
It was the U.S. Justice Department that warned Riconocuito not to
speak out. His statements have also launched an investigation into
the pirated software by the Canadian Government, as well.
One Indian and two companions who protested against the
manufacturing of military equipment--including chemical and
biological warfare--the alteration of the PROMIS software, and
shipments to the Contras, were murdered execution style. The man
who was used to transport the blood money from CIA operatives and
the killers, has fled the country, but not before providing video
taped testimony on the murders.
Implicated in the entire Wackenhut-Cabazon Justice Department
affair, was a man called John Phillip Nichols. Nichols took over
the Bingo Hall and later the reservation. The Cabazon Indians are
an independent nation.
Nichols, who has been linked to Jimmy Hoffa and assassination
attempts of Fidel Castro and Salvador Allende, has strong Mafia
ties. He has been convicted of soliciting murder.
Linda Streeter, the sister of Alfred Alvarez, the slain Indian,
has asked the California Department of Justice to assign a special
prosecution unit to investigate the case. The information on the
murders has been forwarded to the Congressional Judiciary Committee
now probing the U.S. Justice Department.
The Riverside County Grand Jury and the Riverside County District
Attorney's Office have extensive testimony on the murders.
Even 20/20 has done a segment on the Indian involvement and the
murders. Nichols is the one who persuaded the U.S. Government to
provide the Cabazon Indians with military and security equipment.
Nichols' ties are oulined on page 304 of "Inside Job--the Looting
of America's Savings and Loans" by Stephen Pizzo, Mary Fricker and
Paul Muolo.
"At San Marino Savings in Southern California we heard about a
major borrower, G. Wayne Reeder (who also attempted a couple of
failed ventures with Herman Beebee), meeting in late 1981 at an arms
demonstration with Raul Arana and Eden Pastora, Contra leaders who
were considering buying military equipment from Reeder's Indian
bingo-parlor partner, Dr. John Nichols. Among the equipment were
night-vision goggles manufactured by Litton Industries and a light
machine gun. 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. Nichols was a self-described CIA veteran of
assassination attempts against Castro in Cuba and Allende in Chile.
Authorities said he was a business associate of members of the Los
Angeles Mafia. He was later convicted in an abortive murder-for-
hire scheme and sentenced."
The intertwining mess of the U.S. Justice Department, FBI, CIA,
former Attorney General Edwin Meese, Dr. Earl Brian, a former
Reagan California Cabinet member, and the Federal Bankruptcy Courts
demonstrates a broad stroke of corruption throughout the higher
echelons of government. Today, a Congressional Committee is
attempting to sort everything out--but a Senate Committee once tried
the same thing and was totally thwarted when the U.S. Justice
Department refused to cooperate.
We have, in the past year, examined the CIA-Contras-Nazi-Banking
connections, the CIA-Justice Department-Bankruptcy Court
connections, and the CIA-Mafia-Drug connections. It is a never
ending story.
(Conclusion Friday-for now).
--
daveus rattus
yer friendly neighborhood ratman
KOYAANISQATSI
ko.yan.nis.qatsi (from the Hopi Language) n. 1. crazy life. 2. life
in turmoil. 3. life out of balance. 4. life disintegrating.
5. a state of life that calls for another way of living.
--- GEcho/beta
* Origin: macgate.mn.org (1:282/22.0)
Message #642 "ALT.CENSORSHIP"
Date: 03-Nov-91 21:37
From: Peter Kaplan -Yodh
To: All
Subj: Inslaw, Thornberg, Conspiracy, Paranoia?
From: kaplan@sol1.lrsm.upenn.edu (Peter Kaplan -Yodh)
Organization: Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter, University
of Pennsylvania
>Apparently there is a total media blackout going on throughout the state of
>Pennsylvania right now while former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh is
>wrapping up his off-year special campaign for the US Senate. The blackout
>concerns Thornburgh's stonewalling of the House Judiciary Subcommittee's
>investigation of the INSLAW company's forced bankruptcy and attempted
>liquidation by the U.S. Justice Department started in 1983 after Justice
>had already signed a $10 million, three-year contract w/INSLAW to install
>their court case tracking software PROMIS (Prosecutor's Management
>Information System) in the department's 20 largest U.S. Attorney's offices,
>and to develop a separate program for its 74 smaller offices.
>
> *** PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO ANYONE YOU KNOW IN PENNSYLVANIA ***
>
___________________________________________________________________________
I'm all in favor of repeating the questions raised by the Inslaw case,
which have been written about in one local paper (The City Paper,
Philadelphia's
free alternative/entertainment paper). And my impression is that Dick
Thornberg is, if not an evil man, cetainly not the kind of politician I want
to represent me in congress.
However...
This Inslaw thing just doesn't make sense. It smells of paranoia.
My basic questions are: Who supposedly shafted Inslaw? What was in it for
them? And what is the real or imagined connection between the people who
did Inslaw corp. in and the administration or Thornberg?
BTW: Please, Vote Wofford!!
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| Peter Kaplan (internet) kaplan@sol1.lrsm.upenn.edu | This space |
| (215) 898-8260 | intentionally |
| Physics is as physics does. | left blank. |
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--- GEcho/beta
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