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Earl Brian." Ancillary to this last conclusion was a recommenda- = Cabazon/Wackenhut venture included the production of advanced tion for an investigation into Danny Casolaro's death,’ weaponry including biological weapons and fuel-air explosives Richardson would ultimately call for a special prosecutor for © (FAX)—a new technology supposedly the equal of some nuclear the Inslaw case. "When the Watergate special prosecutor began —_ weapons in explosive power. Riconosciuto claimed to have been his inquiry," Richardson remarked, "indications of the President's _ involved in the production of the fuel-air explosives in collabora- involvement were not as strong as those that now point toa wide- _—tion with Gerald Bull, of Space Research Corporation, an arms spread conspiracy implicating lesser government officials in the | dealer who designed the “supergun" and was murdered in theft of Inslaw's technology." Brussels, Belgium in 1990.’ Attorney General William Barr did appoint a retired Federal Riconosciuto had more bombshells to drop on an eager Judge, Nicholas J. Bua, as special prosecutor in November 1991. Hamilton. He maintained that Meese had provided Brian with Incredibly, Bua cleared the Justice Department—the office for © PROMIS as a pay-off on a favour. Riconosciuto made the dra- which he worked—of wrongdoing in the affair. Not mentioned in _ matic allegation that, in 1980, William Casey, outside counsel to the report was the US$25 million that Bua had offered Elliot | Wackenhut prior to his work in the Reagan administration, had Richardson to settle the case—more than triple the amount award- _—hired him and Brian to facilitate the October Surprise (in which ed in the first Federal ruling for Inslaw. Bua made the offer ina the Reagan administration allegedly paid the Iranians not to December 1992 phone call to Richardson and, according to _ release American hostages until after Reagan's election) and pay Richardson, they had at least two the Iranians US$40 million in follow-up calls about it.’ bribes. The PROMIS software, so Inslaw is now back in court, hav- Riconosciuto said, was Brian's ing won a new trial through a 1995 payment for his participation in the Congressional Reference Resolution. October Surprise. "Inslaw, Inc. vs the United States Shortly after he was contacted and the United States Department of by Riconosciuto, Hamilton told Justice" is scheduled for a three- Danny Casolaro about his new week trial to begin on 4th September source. By late 1990, friends say, 1996 in Washington's US Federal Casolaro was talking of almost Court of Claims. Inslaw owners Bill nothing else. He immediately set and Nancy Hamilton are represented about investigating this new infor- by the Atlanta law firm of Pope, mant's background, but what he McGlammery, Kilpatrick and learned only complicated the mat- Morrison, which has advised them ter. not to give interviews about the liti- Casolaro's investigation showed gation—advice they have honoured. that Riconosciuto had been a gifted child whose science projects, including the construction of an argon laser, had enabled him to work as a research assistant to Dr MICHAEL RICONOSCIUTO Jeff Steinberg, an aide to conspira- cy theorist and perennial presidential candidate Lyndon Larouche, had Arthur Schalow, the Nobel laure- originally put Bill Hamilton in touch + + " ate. Other things in Riconosciuto's with Michael James Riconosciuto, a Michael Riconosciuto past had a shadier aspect. After 44-year-old denizen of the shadowy world of covert operatives. leaving Stanford University, he migrated to Haight-Ashbury in Riconosciuto first called Hamilton on 18th May 1990 and —_ San Francisco, where he went to work on an underground news- talked with him for two and a half hours, spinning a gossamer of —_ paper. He told Casolaro that he had acquired some photos which connections that added startling new dimensions to the Inslaw — showed a narcotics agent having sex with an under-age girl; and case. Riconosciuto, in hundreds of collect telephone calls to because the newspaper had published them, the narc framed Hamilton, revealed inside knowledge of the government conspira- Riconosciuto on drug charges. In 1973 he was sent to prison for cy to steal PROMIS from the Hamiltons. He stunned Hamilton _ two years for manufacturing psychedelic drugs. further when he told him that he had personally modified the Casolaro, however, did not buy Riconosciuto's statement that he PROMIS software when he was research director of a joint ven- _ had been innocent of the drug charges. In his notes Casolaro ture of the Cabazon Indian tribe of Indio, California, and the states flatly, "Mike sold dope through Phyllis.” Phyllis remains nation's third-largest private security firm, Wackenhut. unidentified. Riconosciuto revealed that part of his job in the modification of Casolaro also told Bill Hamilton he didn’t totally buy into the software had been to create a "back-door access" for spying Riconosciuto's wild stories. It suited Casolaro that Riconosciuto's into the files of its users. These users included Great Britain, | complete credibility, at least for the moment, be overlooked Canada, South Korea, Japan, Jordan, Israel, Egypt and Iraq (Bill — because he did offer a valuable commodity: leads to follow. Hamilton tallied the figure at "as many as 88 countries"), and they used the software in such activities as the tracking of terrorists. WILD RUMOURS According to Riconosciuto, Attorney General Edwin Meese had The facts that Casolaro investigated were astounding enough, provided PROMIS to Dr Earl Brian and Peter Videnieks from the but the rumours were out of this world. Rumour had it, for Department of Justice, who then supervised the instance, that the Cabazons belonged to worldwide "Reservation Cabazon/Wackenhut project to copy the program. Operations", run on native lands by “the Enterprise”. and The theft of PROMIS, according to Riconosciuto, wasn't all that | Wackenhut under the project name "Yellow Lodge”.* Yellow was going on at the Cabazon Indian Reservation. The Lodge allegedly produced advanced warfare projects, including WILD RUMOURS The facts that Casolaro investigated were astounding enough, but the rumours were out of this world. Rumour had it, for instance, that the Cabazons belonged to worldwide "Reservation Operations", run on native lands by “the Enterprise”. and Wackenhut under the project name "Yellow Lodge”.* Yellow Lodge allegedly produced advanced warfare projects, including NEXUS ¢ 27 OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 1996