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Date:         Tue, 22 Dec 1992 10:50:42 PST
From:         Paul Franklin <pfranklin@IGC.APC.ORG>
Subject:      Re: Bobbie Riconosciuto speaks out/INSL
Comments: To: POLITICS@ucf1vm.cc.ucf.edu

Date: December 12, 1992
Place: Public Forum, Louden Nelson Center, Santa Cruz, California.

Virginia: It's interesting to note Bobbie that I was talking
about this (muffled) Danny Casolaro's case there was a gentleman
who was doing independent research for a man, that I hope Dave
doesn't come off the ceiling when I mention the name, Lars Hanson
who has resurfaced a day ago and is now in San Jose ... (audience
uproar) ... having been to Baghdad, Miami, Lars Hanson, about a
year ago, contacted me about a gentleman who died the same
weekend as Danny Casolaro.  Police reported it was a heart
attack.  I talked with his ex-wife.  He died naked in his law
office, which is also a research center, with his hand
outstretched toward a gun just out of reach.  The blood that
covered his bed in the next room was excessive.  His hand, his
left hand, typical Earl Brian style, was dissected with a
screwdriver and nailed to the floor, but the report was "Dead of
a heart attack."
     He was looking into a lawsuit for Lars Hanson involving a
man named Von Metzger, and a company belonging to a man named
Robert Booth Nichols.  In one case, Michael Riconosciuto was a
partner there doing something about cluster bombs for Argentina.
I immediately called Thomas Gates who's mentioned in the House
Judiciary report who testified that Casolaro contacted him just
days before his death saying that Robert Booth Nichols had
threatened him, and Thomas Gates said to me "Gee, really?"  I
said "Yes."  Thomas Gates and I talked again on Friday and we
went over ... Thomas Gates is an FBI agent whose life has been
threatened by Robert Booth Nichols, the same man who's mentioned
in Vanity Fair, Spy magazine, and other publications as being in
contact and threatening Danny Casolaro, my friend who was the
reporter who was killed in Martinsburg, West Virginia in August
of 1991.  Thomas Gates was warned by Michael Riconosciuto through
a variety of people as well as through independent third parties
that Robert Booth Nichols had a contract on his life.  First he
would ruin him civilly, he had a civil lawsuit against him, and
then he would ruin him by killing him.  This was conveyed to
Thomas Gates, FBI agent, by several people, even though [he] at
first refused to return the calls to the reporters who were
warning him about the death threats.
     The other person I talked to on Friday is this Gene Gilbert.
Gene Gilbert is the Riverside assistant D.A. who I still want to
believe wears a white hat, investigating since 1981, the triple
execution of Fred Alvarez who was a Cabazon Indian who stumbled
across a telex transferring $8,000,000,000 (billion) in gold.
The date of the five page telex, given to me by his parents was
July 3, 1979, prior to the taking of the hostages.  The name on
the bottom of the telex was Dr. John Nichols of the Cabazon
Indian Reservation - anybody who had read "The Inside Job" (by
Mary Frikker & Steve Pizzo) knows that that gentleman is the self
acknowledged hit man of (President Salvador) Allende, in Chile,
and was a member on the failed attempt on Castro's life in Cuba.

Bobbie: He was convicted of solicitation of murder.  He served 18
months, guys.

Virginia: And is still in control of the Cabazon Indian
Reservation, with the sanction and acknowledgment of the United
States Congress.  Remember last year, Mr. Lantose did a HUD
investigation into the millions of dollars of HUD money being
spent to do: off track racing, bingo operations, cigarette
operations, and card rooms.  And nothing was ever done.  Nothing
was ever done.  I sent Mr. Lantose, by FAX, the 32 page
agreement, dug up for me, by a private investigator, buried by
the bag man for the Alvarez killing, Jimmy Hughes, and the
agreement showed the distribution profits of the gaming, at the
Cabazon Indian Reservation split 50-50.  Fifty (percent) to the
Nichols family, 50% to G. Wayne Reader.  G. Wayne Reader has
buried more banks, of San Marino Savings and Loan, has buried
more banks than you or I will ever count.

Dave: He's a, Reader's a CIA operative who's talked about an
inside job ... (muffled).

Virginia: The distribution of the [Bingo Pavilion Inc.] showed
that 50% of the gaming profits went to the Nichols family, 50% to
Reader.  Reader divided his 50%: 50% American Savings and Loan,
50% Hill Top Developers.  That went to Lantos' committee 48 hours
before the hearing.  They did nothing.  Mr. Tom Lantos sat on it,
and buried it, using as his operative, a man by the name of John
Littman whose father is Alan Littman, senior partner with
Pillsbury, Madison, Sutro, and ostensibly a freelance writer who
writes for the Chronicle.  Mr. Littman got 90% of his information
from Michael Riconosciuto and never once mentioned his name.

Bobbie: That's okay (sarcastic?)

Dave: One thing, Virginia, let me jump in for a second, one of
the things that corrupts the system - one of the (muffled)
tactical devices is the old carrot and stick situation.  One of
the reasons why there was not more opposition to Adolf Hitler
than there was, was the institution of the kind of social and
criminal justice system that we have here in which the justice
system is criminalized.  You were speaking about Gene Gilbert,
who you'd like to believe still wears a white hat.  One of the
problems with a situation like this is when things, like Mort
Sahl asked in his autobiography "Heartland" - Mort Sahl was a
political comedian who was among the very first people to
question the Warren Report and he asked, he said

"How many lies can you allow yourself to believe before you
belong to the lie?"

and he asked if it was too late for America, this was in 1976.
One of the problems is there are a lot of people who might stand
up against this, but, most people have families, and the same
kind of pressure that has been brought to bear on Bobbie and her
children, and the same kind of pressure that has been brought to
bear on Rae Russbacher and a lot of other people can be brought
to bear on the families of anybody.  There are a lot of
prosecutors, a lot of cops, a lot of investigators, a lot of
people who might stand up if they were the only one's to face
retribution, but fascism is a very cruel system.  Rather than
face a brave man who might be willing to stand up - there are a
lot of brave men who would go into battle, but they can't ask
their wives and kids to go into battle, and they lean on the
family.
     The fellow who ran the Bishop, Baldwin, Rewald, Dillingham,
and Wong, Ron Rewald, who is in prison in Terminal Island, where
Gunther Russbacher is, where Michael Riconosciuto is - he
basically stated, he was asked why he wouldn't roll over about
the operation he was involved in, he was a CIA operative whose
undercover, money laundering operation came to light and he
basically took the fall for it, and he said "My family are still
safe."  That's the bottom line for a lot of this stuff, that a
totalitarian system will use your loved ones to get at you and a
lot of people who would otherwise resist succumb under that kind
of pressure.  Plus, there's the carrot.  That's the stick, and to
keep your mouth shut, if you collaborate, then you get cut in on
some of the action.  If, on the other hand, you decide to face
the torture chambers of the Gestapo, not only will you go, but
your kids may go too, and your wife may go too.

Bobbie: Your kids may go first.

Dave: Yep, while the parents watch, and that's sort of (muffled)
is one of the things that corrupts.  How many people are going to
stand up to that as individuals, particularly when - what is
happening with Mike Riconosciuto and Bobbie, what happened with
the Russbachers, and what in my opinion also happened with the
Spiro family, Ian Stewart Spiro, and Gail and the children, I
think that was a more extreme example, but I think what is
happening with Bobbie and Mike was also happening with the Spiro
case.  This is an example, what the Nazis refer to as
Schrecklichkeit, or frightfullness.  It's basically the
demonstrative, strategic use of terror.  There are a lot of
people with a lot of things they might disclose about some of the
unraveling national security scandals, and when you hold up Ian
Spiro, or you hold up Michael Riconosciuto family and say "Look,
you want to talk, this is what's going to happen to you."  It's
like holding an individual out and publicly burning them or
decapitating them.  It's a way of demonstrating to the society as
a whole what will happen to you if you step out of line, and it
is a technique not new to the Nazis, but one which they formally
codified as "Schrecklichkeit," or frightfullness - this being
mean enough, evil enough, and amoral enough to intimidate the
hell out of anybody who would stand up against them, to make it
clear that if you want to do what's right, this is what's going
to happen, and you will go down by yourself and nobody will care.
And then the people who *do* talk about it are "conspiracy
theorists," and they're automatically (muffled).

Virginia: [We're all] conspiracy theorists and thank God there
are others like me, because a man named Mike, from San Diego, I'm
not going to give his last name, had the thoughtfulness, when the
first body was found, at the Spiro home, to begin recording the
audio portion of the television tape as they came across the
(muffled).  For two days Mr. Spiro was the chief suspect in the
murder of his family.  The English Press, the European Press, the
Middle Eastern Press were not buying it.  But when they found the
body of Spiro, the television reporters kept talking and the next
three reports clearly label the body decapitated.  The next
report, on the television was the body had did not have a scratch
on it, and when I called the Sheriff down there and I say there's
a slight problem with this because Michael Riconosciuto was in
touch with Mr. Spiro, Mr. Spiro was assembling information to go
before Judge Bua's Grand Jury for Michael Riconosciuto.  All of a
sudden, I get the attention of the Sheriff's department and they
have been calling me ever since wanting to know *exactly* what
information Mr. Spiro was garnering for Mr. Riconosciuto, but he
*still* committed suicide.  (muffled) cyanide or decapitated,
it's unclear which.
(to be continued)

     The right thing to do is never the easiest thing to do.  The
     moral, ethical, and most compassionate imperative from within
     your heart may in fact be the most difficult.  To be informed is
     important, to tell others is even more important, but without
     tangible action, our efforts are meaningless.

     Paul Franklin
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