A Parallax View:

cy, Cover-up, Murder Over the last five years, more than 30 seemingly unrelated people have died, one by one, under very mysterious circumstances. The dead include the following: Philadelphia lawyer Dennis Eisman, Financial Times Reporter Anson Ng, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, Israeli counter-intelligence chief Amiran Nir and John Friedrich, an ally to Lt. Col. Oliver North. All of these men may have been murdered by "The Octopus." "The Octopus" is a name coined by investigative journalist Joseph Casolaro for a theorized "mega-scandal" linking the alleged October Surprise, the Iran-Contra Affair, and perhaps even the evolving BCCI scandal. Unfortunately, on August 10, before Casolaro could publish the results of his investigations, he was found dead in the bathtub of a Martinsburg, West Virginia hotel room. His wrists had been slashed. The local coroner ruled Casolaro's death a suicide. Before an autopsy could be performed -- indeed before his family even knew of his death -- the journalist was embalmed (which is against the law). A razor blade, a suicide note and a half-empty bottle of wine were found in the room where Casolaro died. But an autopsy conducted later at the request of the family showed no alcohol in the journalist's bloodstream at the time of his death. One thing was conspicuously missing from Casolaro's hotel room -- his notes on the "Octopus." Casolaro's family doesn't believe that his death was a suicide. They think he was murdered. In several conversations with his friends and family in the days before his death, Casolaro said that he was elated because he only needed to conduct one more interview before cracking the "Octopus" affair wide open. Ominously, Casolaro had received death threats in the past. He had even told his brother that if he died in an accident, "don't believe it." · The "Octopus" scandal that Casolaro claimed to have uncovered allegedly dates back to the 1980 presidential election and the so-called "October Surprise." Some commentators have alleged that Earl Bain, a former California state secretary of health under Ronald Reagan, may have helped the Reagan campaign broker a deal with the Ayatollah Khomeini to delay release of the 52 American hostages until Reagan was in office, a move that could have secured Reagan's victory in the election. As it happened, the hostages were released just as Reagan was being sworn in. Bain has denied involvement in any deal to delay the release of the hostages. · From alleged treason and election fraud, the "Octopus" scandal next turns to high-tech theft and espionage. In 1981, Edwin Meese, then an advisor to President Reagan, announced an $800 million effort to overhaul the computer systems of the Justice Department, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. The only computer software available to meet the government's needs was owned by a small private firm named Inslaw. Inslaw contracted with the Justice Department in 1982 to install its system in the 20 largest U.S. Attorney's offices for $10 million. Soon after the system was installed, the Justice Department reneged on the contract and refused to pay Inslaw millions of dollars still owed to the company. Eventually, Inslaw was forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a direct result of the payment dispute. In January of 1988, Bankruptcy Court Judge George Bayson ordered the Justice Department to pay Inslaw $6.8 million plus attorney's fees, saying that the Justice Department had stolen the software from Inslaw. Soon after Bayson's ruling on the Inslaw case, he was not reappointed to Bankruptcy Court, despite the fact that more than 90 percent of all Bankruptcy Court judges are routinely reappointed. The Justice Department appealed its loss in the Inslaw case to federal district court, but lost. Next, they appealed to the U.S. Circuit Court, which ruled last spring that the case was originally tried in the wrong court and must be reheard. Inslaw has alleged in court that the Justice Department gave the stolen software to none other than Earl Bain, the alleged mastermind of the October Surprise. The company further alleges that Bain then made millions by selling the software to dozens of foreign governments -- including foreign spy agencies. · Enter the mysterious Mr. Michael Riconosciuto. In 1990, Riconosciuto, who claims to have connections to American intelligence, came forward alleging that he had helped Bain set up the October Surprise and later modified the stolen Inslaw software for intelligence use. Apparently, Inslaw's software is perfect for keeping tabs on the movements of spies. In April 1991, soon after Riconosciuto gave a sworn affidavit to Inslaw's lawyers, he was arrested on drug charges. Riconosciuto claims the charges are trumped-up and that he is "a political prisoner," but remains in a Washington state jail without bail. Philadelphia Attorney Eisman, who was considering becoming Riconosciuto's defense lawyer, was found dead in his car with a single bullet wound to the chest on April 23 in an underground parking lot at 1500 Market Street. "He died of a contact wound directly into the heart," Philadelphia Homicide Detective Thomas Baker said Monday. "The weapon was found laying beside the car and the door of the car was open. The weapon was Eisman's weapon. There was an empty holster on his belt." "He had known for some time that he was under investigation for money laundering," Baker continued. "He found out the day before that he was going to be indicted." The Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office ruled Eisman's death a suicide. But a woman in Eisman's former law office, who identified herself as a secretary who had worked with him for 10 years, said Monday, "No one who knew him believes it. I guarantee you he didn't do it to himself." The secretary refused to give her name, saying "whoever killed him could do the same to me." As for the possible indictment, the secretary said it never came down, adding, "I don't think they had anything on him." "They [The Justice Department] were harassing him," she said. "They wanted privileged information from him [about his clients] so they were giving him a hard time." · Several other suspicious deaths have been linked to the "Octopus," according to the Napa Sentinel -- a twice-weekly paper in California run by a self-described former intelligence officer. "Anson Ng was found dead a month before Casolaro," The Sentinel reported in September. "Ng had a single bullet wound in his chest -- like Eisman. His death was ruled a suicide." Ng, the Sentinel reported, was in Central America attempting to interview a man who allegedly held documents showing that individuals involved in an "Octopus" cover-up had a hit list, which included Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme (whose assassination has never been solved), Israeli Counter-Intelligence chief Amiran Nir (who died in a mysterious plane crash) and John Friedrich, a close ally to Lt. Col. Oliver North. (Just two weeks before Casolaro's death, Friedrich was found dead in Australia with a single bullet wound to the chest.) · Between August 1988 when he was appointed Attorney General and the day he resigned from that post to run in Pennsylvania for the U.S. Senate, Richard Thornburgh was repeatedly asked to appoint a special prosecutor to look into the Inslaw case. Despite the pleas -- one even came from former Attorney General Elliot Richardson -- Thornburgh refused, calling Inslaw's lawsuit "a petty contract dispute." Thornburgh's Justice Department also refused to turn over documents on the Inslaw case to a Congressional committee investigating the matter until he was forced to do so by a Congressional subpoena. Committee staffers say that even now key documents are missing. The question one is left with is why didn't Thornburgh appoint a special prosecutor to look into the Inslaw allegations? Did he have something to hide? Is he somehow complicit in the "Octopus" scandal? Perhaps the Reagan administration chose Thornburgh for the attorney general post because he would keep a lid on any investigation into the matter. Remember, Justice may be blind, but Justice is also a politically appointed position. The whole "Octopus" story sounds like a Lyndon LaRouche theory. But the charges are worthy of investigation because if people start behaving like they are above the law, they are likely to continue that pattern of behavior until someone stops them. Steven Ochs is a senior Economics major from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and editorial page editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. Whose Dream, This Reality appears alternate Thursdays.

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