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THE LAST CIRCLE Pennsylvania, has a cell a very short distance from fellow espi- onage inmates Edwin Wilson and Jonathan Pollard. While his tale is critical to understanding what has happened to Promis, the fact remains that Riconosciuto has been out of the loop and in legal trouble for eight years. He has been in a maximum security prison for at least six. So it was surprising when, in 1998, he con- tacted homicide detective Sue Todd in Hercules and told her that the murder of a father and son, execution style, was connected to the Promis story. One connection was obvious. Hercules is a "company town" connected to a weapons manufacturer, described in Seymour's book, which also connects to the Cabazon Indian Reservation. ‘Edwin Wilson and Jonathan Pollard. While his Sn nnnr ey ren nn ne For more than a year and a half, members of the RCMP trav- onage inmat elled through the US, often in the company of Sue Todd, a savvy tale is critical to understanding what has happened to Promis, the female homicide detective from the small California town of fact remains that Riconosciuto has been out of the loop and in Hercules. Even now, questions linger as to what the Canadians legal trouble for eight years. He has been in a maximum security were really after. But there is absolutely no question that while prison for at least six. So it was surprising when, in 1998, he con- surreptitiously in the US, the Mounties spent more time with tacted homicide detective Sue Todd in Hercules and told her that author and investigative reporter Cheri Seymour than with anyone __ the murder of a father and son, execution style, was connected to else. And for good reason. the Promis story. One connection was obvious. Hercules is a Seymour, under the pen name of Carol Marshall, is the author "company town" connected to a weapons manufacturer, described of a meticulously researched e-book entitled The Last Circle in Seymour's book, which also connects to the Cabazon Indian (located at http://www.lycaeum.org/books/books/last_circle/). Reservation. Anyone seeking to understand the Promis story must include this book as a part of their overall research. THE THREE BILLS I first met Cheri in person this spring after she had contacted I lived in Washington, DC, from August 1994 until late October me via the Internet. I travelled to her home, some three hours out- of 1995. It was during that time that I was a semi-regular visitor side of Los Angeles, and viewed acres of documentation for a at the Fairfax, Virginia, home of Bill McCoy, a loveable sixty- saga that started with drug-related murders and police corruption something giant, always adorned with a beret, who complained around methamphetamine production in northern California in the ruthlessly about what had happened to the United States since "the 1980s. That investigation later connected politicians like Tony damned Yankee army" had taken over. Writers were "scribblers". Coelho and major corporations like MCA, and eventually led toa — People who thought they knew something about covert operations shadowy scientist named Michael Riconosciuto. Familiar names without ever having seen one were "spooky-groupies". like Ted Gunderson and relatively unknown names like Robert "Mac", as we called him, had his investigative fingers in almost Booth Nichols weave throughout this detailed epic that takes us to everything, but he was most involved with Promis. McCoy was a the Cabazon Indian Reservation in retired Chief Warrant Officer from the California desert and into the the US Army's Criminal Investigation deepest recesses of the 1980s _ Promis software was modified Division. He had broken some of the Reagan/Bush security apparatus. biggest cases in Army history. It was Gunderson, a retired FBI Special by Riconosciuto allegedly Mac who introduced me to Bill Tyree Agent in Charge (SAC) from Los to include the back door and Bill Hamilton in 1994. Angeles, and Nichols, a mysterious . _ I recall scratching my head as I Los Angeles man, exposed through "eavesdropping" capability, but would be sitting at Mac's dinner table, court documents obtained bi . when a call would come in from : | also enhanced with one form of Seymour as being a career CIA oper- Hamilton asking if there was any new ative, were connected with scien- Al [Artificial Intelligence] _ information from Tyree. "Not yet," tist/programmer Riconosciuto in a McCoy would answer. "I'll call as sinister, yet now very well docu- soon as I get something." mented phase of Promis's develop- "How," I asked, "could a guy ina ment. In affidavits, Riconosciuto claims that one of the tasks he maximum security prison like Walpole State Penitentiary in performed at the Cabazon reservation was to install a back door in Massachusetts be getting information of such quality that some- the version of Promis that was sold to Canada. one like Hamilton would be calling urgently to see what had come In August of this year, the RCMP investigators told both in?" Seymour and me that they had travelled to the reservation several That, answered McCoy, was the work of someone known only times and had confirmed many details of Seymour's research. as "the Sergeant Major", and alternatively as "His Eminence", They had also interviewed Riconosciuto on more than one occa- who fed the information to Tyree, who in turn fed it to McCoy, sion. As with everyone else I have ever met who has spoken with who then passed it on to Hamilton. Sometimes, however, Tyree him, both the Mounties and Seymour kept a reserved distance and Hamilton communicated directly. To this day, the identity of from him and always "counted their fingers after every hand- the Sergeant Major remains a mystery—and the puzzle-piece shake". most pursued by the RCMP when they visited me in August 2000. By using treaties between the US government and Native It was also not by coincidence, then, that in the same winter of American peoples that recognise Native American reservations as 994-95 McCoy revealed to me that he was using former Green sovereign nations, the CIA has long and frequently avoided statu- Berets to conduct physical surveillance of the Washington, DC, tory prohibitions against operating inside the United States. The offices of Microsoft in connection with the Promis case. FTW has financial rewards for tribal nations have been significant, and the _ recently received information indicating that piracy of Microsoft extra security afforded by tribal police in remote areas has beena _ products at the GE Aerospace Herndon facility was likely tied to real blessing for covert operatives. larger objectives, possibly the total compromise of any Windows- The Last Circle describes in detail how Promis software was based product. It is not by chance that most of the military and all modified by Riconosciuto allegedly to include the back door of the intelligence agencies in the US now operate on Macintosh "eavesdropping" capability, but also enhanced with one form of systems. Al and subsequently applied to the development of new weapons In late 1996, Tyree mailed me a detailed set of diagrams and a systems. Some of these may have included "ethnospecific" lengthy narrative explaining the exact hows and whys of the mur- biowarfare compounds capable of attacking specific races. der of Danny Casolaro and an overall view of the Promis saga that Riconosciuto, now serving time in a Federal prison in is not only consistent with what is described by Seymour in The by Riconosciuto allegedly to include the back door “eavesdropping” capability, but also enhanced with one form of systems. In late 1996, Tyree mailed me a detailed set of diagrams and a lengthy narrative explaining the exact hows and whys of the mur- der of Danny Casolaro and an overall view of the Promis saga that is not only consistent with what is described by Seymour in The NEXUS - 31 Al [Artificial Intelligence] ... DECEMBER 2000 — JANUARY 2001