From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: CENSORED: THE STRANGE DEATH OF DANIEL CASOLARO
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Distribution: na
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 09:15:10 GMT

THE STRANGE DEATH OF DANIEL CASOLARO

For more than a year, Danny Casolaro, a Washington, D.C.-based
freelance journalist, had been sorting through a web of intrigue --
the S&L debacle, BCCI, Iran-contra, the contra-connected Wackenhut
Corp., the Wackenhut- connected Inslaw case, and the Inslaw-connected
"October Surprise."  The "Octopus,'' as Casolaro called it, began with
the U.S.  Justice Department which, according to a federal bankruptcy
court for Washington D.C., "stole' ' computer software (called Promis)
from Inslaw Corp., a private firm, "by trickery, fraud, and deceit.  "

During the week of August 5, Casolaro told a number of friends that he
had just come back from meeting with a source, and that he now knew
everything about Inslaw and Promis.  He also told them that he was going
back to West Virginia to meet a source who was to help him nail down the
last piece of evidence in his investigation.

On Saturday, August 10, Casolaro was found dead in Room 517 of the
Martinsburg, W.Va., Sheraton.  His body was found with twelve incisions
in his arms in a bathtub of bloody water.  Though police have ruled
Casolaro's death a suicide, Casolaro's family and many familiar with
the case find suicide implausible.  Unexplained questions include:

Death threats.  In the weeks before his death Casolaro had spoken fre-
quently about threats on his life.  In fact, just before he left for
Martinsburg he told his brother, "If anything happens to me, don't
believe it's an accident."  For reasons unknown, Casolaro's family
wasn't notified of his death until two days after his body was
discovered.  And by that time, his body had already been embalmed
illegally.  Additionally, the hotel almost immediately brought in an
industrial cleaning company to sanitize the room, thereby greatly
diminishing any opportunity for an independent forensic investigation.

The day before he died, Casolaro met with a source at the same hotel.
But the stack of documents given to him by the source, as well as his
tape deck and a briefcase containing a draft copy of his book, which he
always carried with him, have never been found.  Also unexplained, is a
half-empty bottle of red wine and a broken wine glass that police found
next to the bathtub, and an empty can of beer found inside the tub.  No
alcohol was found in Casolaro's bloodstream.

"The key thing about the death of Casolaro," says former Attorney
General Elliot Richardson, who is representing Inslaw, "is that al-
though others were seeking to delineate...the 'octopus,' he was the
only one who told people who have no reason to misrepresent what he said
that he had hard evidence, and was on the point of getting conclusive
evidence....  The idea that he committed suicide with a razor blade
under these circumstances seems highly implausible "

(SSU CENSORED RESEARCHER:  MARK LOWENTHAL)

SOURCE:VILLAGE VOICE 36 Cooper Square, NewYork NY 10003

DATE:  10/15/91

TITLE:  "The Last Days of Danny Casolaro"

AUTHORS:James Ridgeway and Doug Vaughan

SOURCE:THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN 520 Hampshire St., San Francisco,
CA 94110-1417

DATE:8/28/91

TITLE:  "Dead Men Tell No Tales"

AUTHOR:Vince Bielski

SOURCE:  IN THESE TIMES 2040 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL 60647

DATE:September 4-10, 1991

TITLE:  "Murder in the Martinsburg Sheraton?"

AUTHOR:Joel Bleifuss

COMMENTS:  Reporter Joel Bleifuss, who also investigated the related
Inslaw software theft issue, said "While the death of journalist Danny
Casolaro was given some initial notice by the mass media, that media
ignored the context in which his mysterious death -- murder -- occurred.
Casolaro was investigating what are possibly interconnected scandals --
the October Surprise, the Inslaw case, the 'private' security firm
Wackenhut, BCCI, organized crime and the Pentagon's procurement
process -- none of which has been seriously examined by the national
media."  Bleifuss added that fuller coverage of Casolaro's death, would
help focus public attention on the various scandals he was investi-
gating.  "That the mass media did not take this apparent murder more
seriously is one more indication that this nation's press corps has
abandoned its role as the public watchdog,'' Bleifuss concluded.

Journalist Vince Bielski charged that while "A number of mainstream
outlets carried the news of Danny Casolaro's death, no outlet did a
serious investigation.  The story was forgotten, as is the case with
many controversial stories."  Bielski adds that the "public needs to
know that reporters have been killed because of their work.  This may or
may not have been the case with Casolaro, but the public certainly
deserved more information to help people make up their own minds."

Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive