Nexus - 0401 - New Times Magazine-pages

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whose knowledge of a DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) was investigating, acquired another important informant and plan to set up Riconosciuto on a drug charge would have made introduced him to Casolaro who started speaking with him regu- her an important witness for Riconosciuto. She disappeared on larly on the telephone.” This was Robert Booth Nichols, who, 18th August 1992, but her body was not discovered until the fol- Casolaro said in his notes, "looks like Clark Gable".*" Nichols lowing April in a ravine near Lakebay, Washington.'* Another presented himself as a dashing, spy-like figure with connections Riconosciuto ally, Pete Sandvigen, who was working to help to both the legal and illegal underworld, including the infamous Riconosciuto defend himself against the drug charges, died the Gambino crime family. He was also someone who had worked at following December, an ammo clip from his gun mysteriously the Cabazon reservation with Riconosciuto. Riconosciuto and missing.'® Nichols formed a business partnership in the 1970s to manufac- Barry Kusnick, a computer engineer who had also worked on ture fertiliser, pesticide and weaponry, including fuel-air explo- PROMIS enhancements, also made the list. According to one sives and the G-77, an inexpensive sub-machine-gun invented by report, Kusnick's enhancement was called "Brainstorm", an artifi- Nichols, but the two had argued in 1984 and have not spoken cially intelligent program that applied the prognosticating ability since.” of PROMIS to individual thought-patterns. It ostensibly allowed Nichols and Casolaro spoke on the phone 15 times in July— PROMIS to deduce from personality characteristics the potential calls which lasted as long as two hours. They met in person at the action of the person being traced. As in the Inslaw case, Kusnick Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, DC, on 10th July 1991. apparently made the modifications under a government contract, Casolaro was so impressed with the sophistication and ‘insider’ but the government failed to pay on it, attempting instead to drive knowledge his new friend Nichols had that he also came to con- Kusnick into bankruptcy. Kusnick had previously done commu- sider him a mentor. At one point, Casolaro spoke to him about nications and intelligence work for Northrop Corporation and the his money troubles and Nichols offered financial assistance—in US military. His body has never been found, and, nine months exchange for a 25 per cent interest in Casolaro's home and right of after he was reported missing, family members were unable to get first refusal if he sold it.* a known business partner to acknowledge knowing him. Five To tempt a girlfriend, Wendy Weaver, into accompanying him boxes of his belongings were found in a lock-up facility.” to his meeting with Nichols at the Four Seasons, Casolaro Sherman Skolnick, long-time chairman of Chicago's Citizen's described him as the president of the Bechtel Corporation who Committee to Clean Up the Courts, charged that nearly 40 wit- had just arrived from Kuwait. Nichols intimated at the dinner nesses in the Inslaw case had been murdered, and complained that party that he was going to be named state security minister of the a federal judge appointed to review the case failed to show con- Caribbean island of Dominica, which would become a centre for cern over the safety of other witnesses. He also claimed that a rebuilding Kuwait. He also repeated his warnings to Casolaro Special Federal Grand Jury in Chicago planned to do an end-run that the matters the journalist was delving into were dangerous. around the judge and issue high-level indictments. Skolnick also Weaver recalls that Nichols warned Casolaro at least five times reported that three of the grand jury witnesses joined with about the danger of associating with Riconosciuto, and that if Riconosciuto to file suit against the judge for obstructing the Casolaro said anything that went against Nichols' former partner indictments and for having witnesses interrogated by an FBI agent Riconosciuto, he would be killed. At one point during the who himself was suspected of murdering Casolaro."* evening, responding to a slight from another patron at the bar that To me, however, the most interesting of all the mysterious Weaver later described as imagined, Nichols grabbed the man, deaths connected to Inslaw was that of 1960s political activist slammed him against the wall and declared that he would kill him. Abbie Hoffman. Hoffman wrote an early piece on the October Later that evening, Casolaro confided to Weaver that Nichols Surprise for Playboy magazine and shortly thereafter was "really scared him". In his notes, Danny Casolaro characterised involved in a suspicious automobile accident. Most regarded his Nichols as "very powerful".* death on 12th April 1989 as the suicide it was reported to be, due On another night, Casolaro and a different friend met Nichols at erhaps in part to the depression e suffered from the continuing pain resulting from that accident. Others, however, suspected foul play in Hoffman's death—notably, David Dellinger, a fellow member of the Chicago 8. Dellinger's sus- icions even led him to attempt to retrieve the coroner's report for examination, but he was stopped y a threatened court battle. "They basically would not allow that to go to court," Dellinger con- cluded. "But [Abbie's son] Andrew and Abbie's first wife, Sheila, are convinced that he was killed." "CLARK GABLE" Bill and Nancy Hamilton, own- ers of the Inslaw company and PROMIS software that Casolaro was investigating, acquired another important informant and introduced him to Casolaro who started speaking with him regu- larly on the telephone.” This was Robert Booth Nichols, who, Casolaro said in his notes, "looks like Clark Gable".*! Nichols presented himself as a dashing, spy-like figure with connections to both the legal and illegal underworld, including the infamous Gambino crime family. He was also someone who had worked at the Cabazon reservation with Riconosciuto. Riconosciuto and Nichols formed a business partnership in the 1970s to manufac- ture fertiliser, pesticide and weaponry, including fuel-air explo- sives and the G-77, an inexpensive sub-machine-gun invented by Nichols, but the two had argued in 1984 and have not spoken since.” Nichols and Casolaro spoke on the phone 15 times in July— calls which lasted as long as two hours. They met in person at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, DC, on 10th July 1991. Casolaro was so impressed with the sophistication and ‘insider’ knowledge his new friend Nichols had that he also came to con- sider him a mentor. At one point, Casolaro spoke to him about his money troubles and Nichols offered financial assistance—in exchange for a 25 per cent interest in Casolaro's home and right of first refusal if he sold it.* To tempt a girlfriend, Wendy Weaver, into accompanying him to his meeting with Nichols at the Four Seasons, Casolaro described him as the president of the Bechtel Corporation who had just arrived from Kuwait. Nichols intimated at the dinner party that he was going to be named state security minister of the Caribbean island of Dominica, which would become a centre for rebuilding Kuwait. He also repeated his warnings to Casolaro that the matters the journalist was delving into were dangerous. Weaver recalls that Nichols warned Casolaro at least five times about the danger of associating with Riconosciuto, and that if Casolaro said anything that went against Nichols' former partner Riconosciuto, he would be killed. At one point during the evening, responding to a slight from another patron at the bar that Weaver later described as imagined, Nichols grabbed the man, slammed him against the wall and declared that he would kill him. Later that evening, Casolaro confided to Weaver that Nichols "really scared him". In his notes, Danny Casolaro characterised Nichols as "very powerful".* On another night, Casolaro and a different friend met Nichols at NEXUS - 33 DECEMBER 1996 - JANUARY 1997