In early August 1991, Danny Casolaro, a forty-four-year-old investigative journalist from Fairfax, Virginia, told family and friends he was close to breaking the story that had been consuming him for the past year. With a mixture of trepidation and excitement, he said his findings were “groundbreaking” and that “some major heads were going to roll.”

Less than a week later, Casolaro was found lying in a pool of blood in the bathtub of a Martinsburg, West Virginia, hotel room. His death was ruled a suicide, but many believe he was murdered because he was about to make public the findings of his investigation.

Danny Casolaro

Danny Casolaro began researching a story about stolen computer software in 1990. Shortly after beginning his research, he came to believe the pilfered programs were only the tip of an illicit iceberg.

The reporter’s probe soon ballooned into an investigation of corruption which he believed included high-level United States government officials.

Casolaro Comes Across A Huge Story

In August, Casolaro interviewed former Justice Department employees Bill and Nancy Hamilton, the owners of the computer software company INSLAW. In 1981, they had developed a program called PROMIS (Prosecutors Management Information System), designed to improve the information management techniques of law enforcement agencies by organizing the legal system’s gargantuan amounts of paperwork.

The Hamiltons signed a three-year $10 million contract with the government in March 1982 for use of the PROMIS system which earned them big returns after the first year. By year two, however, the partnership turned sour as the government withheld nearly $2 million in payments from the couple.

Bill And Nancy Hamilton

INSLAW Developers

As a result, INSLAW was driven into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February 1985.

The Hamiltons soon discovered the Canadian government had acquired their software, even though they had never sold the INSLAW program to them. They then left the Justice Department and filed a lawsuit in 1986 charging the United States government with stealing their PROMIS program, distributing it illegally, and depriving them of millions of dollars. The Justice Department insisted it owned the program because the Hamiltons had developed it while working for them.

A federal bankruptcy judge ruled in 1988 that the Justice Department had assumed control of the software by “trickery, fraud, and deceit.” The decision was upheld by a federal district court later that year but was overturned on appeal by the Court of Federal Claims in 1991.

Verdict Overturned

Electronics and computer expert Michael Riconosciuto claims to have worked for the CIA on a variety of covert projects. He says the parties who were involved in the distribution of the INSLAW software were also involved in numerous illegal covert operations carried out during the 1980s, primarily in Central America and the Middle East.

Riconosciuto contends the funds the Hamiltons were supposed to be paid for INSLAW were used to finance some of those operations. He also says Danny Casolaro had a source inside the IRS computer data center who was giving him hard copy printouts on people and projects he was investigating.

In August 1989, the United States House Judiciary Committee began hearings on the brewing INSLAW scandal. Riconosciuto submitted a sworn affidavit to committee investigators. One week later, he was arrested on drug charges.

Michael Riconosciuto

Riconosciuto was sentenced to federal prison after being convicted of distributing methadone and methamphetamine. He claims he was threatened by a Justice Department official for speaking out, that the charges against him were manufactured, and that his conviction was rendered as payback for his congressional testimony against the government.

Although Riconosciuto’s allegations are tainted by his drug conviction, his testimony was supported by a man with far more impressive credentials.

Riconosciuto Imprisoned

Elliot Richardson, best known for resigning as United States Attorney General in 1973 after refusing President Nixon’s order to fire Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, served as legal counsel for INSLAW and Bill and Nancy Hamilton. He testified before the House Judiciary Committee, saying he believed Riconosciuto.

America’s former top lawman said, “There is simply too much to be ignored. In the case of INSLAW, there is a spreading radius of circumstantial evidence, which, at its outer reaches, entails a far more sinister kind of conspiracy than anything revealed in Watergate.”

Richardson died in 1999.

Elliot Richardson

INSLAW Attorney

The deeper Casolaro dove into the INSLAW affair, the more he believed he had uncovered an illicit cabal of organized crime members, government officials, and intelligence agents. He termed the conspiracy of eight high-ranking unsavory intelligence officials “The Octopus,” and he concluded the rogue network was involved in nearly every major scandal of the 1980s, ranging from the political, such as the alleged “October Surprise” of the Iran hostage crisis and Iran-Contra, to the economic, such as the BCCI (the collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International.)  The figurative tentacles of “The Octopus,” Casolaro believed, extended to all branches of world government.

In early August 1991, a year after beginning his research, Casolaro told his brother, Anthony, that, although he had received frequent death threats, he was planning to meet with several informants and then conclude his investigation.

Carrying several briefcases of documents, the investigative journalist checked into room 517 of the Sheraton Inn in Martinsburg, West Virginia, on August 8. The following day, he met with William Turner, a former employee of a major defense contractor, who said he gave him paperwork documenting the corruption the reporter believed was tied to “The Octopus.”

“The Octopus”

At approximately 12:30 p.m. on the following day, August 10, a Sheraton Inn housekeeper found a nude Casolaro lying in a literal bloodbath in his hotel tub. The summoned paramedics found a single edge razor blade, two plastic liner trash bags, and an empty Old Milwaukee beer can beneath Casolaro’s bludgeoned body.

Police determined nothing had been placed in the bathtub drain to prevent any debris from being washed away. No signs of forced entry into the otherwise undisturbed hotel room were found and no one staying in the adjacent rooms had heard any signs of an argument or struggle on the evening of August 9 or the morning of August 10. A note suggesting suicide was found on a desk.

Casolaro Is Found Dead

An autopsy performed at the University of West Virginia four days later found Casolaro’s wrists had been slashed twelve times with the razor blade, resulting in death from excessive bleeding. The time of death was placed between 8:00-11:00 a.m., roughly one-to-four hours before his body was discovered.

Although Casolaro’s death was ruled a suicide, many were bothered by the autopsy’s finding of bruises on his arm and head, suggesting he had been in a recent scuffle.

A second autopsy, conducted five months later by West Virginia State Medical Examiner, Dr. James Frost, upheld the finding after toxicology analysis found traces of alcohol, acetaminophen, and antidepressants in Casolaro’s system. Although two additional autopsies performed by two different doctors reached the same conclusion, most were not convinced that Danny Casolaro had taken his life, partly because of the death threats he said he received and the unexplained bruises found on his body, but primarily because of the manner in which he had died.

Friends and family say Casolaro had a great fear of needles and they believe slashing his wrists would be the last manner he would choose to end his life.

Death Ruled A Suicide

Paramedics had noticed two bloody towels in the bathroom, which, to them, appeared to have been used to wipe blood from the bathroom floor. In addition, on the day following Casolaro’s death, potential evidence was destroyed when a cleaning crew was given the go-ahead to clean his hotel room.

By not addressing who had cleaned up the blood and by giving the go-ahead to clean up the room, may wondered if the authorities were covering up a potential crime scene.

The Debate Begins

Doubts were fueled further when the West Virginia State Assistant Medical Examiner had Casolaro’s body embalmed even though no family member had given permission for him to do so. The Medical Examiner claimed a communication gaffe as he thought the family had granted permission to perform the procedure.

Additional Questions Are Raised

Thirty-three years after his death, many still believe Danny Casolaro was murdered by clandestine government operatives because he learned of their illicit operations during his investigation of INSLAW and the United States Justice Department. His housekeeper, Olga, says she took three threatening phone calls on the day her employer was found bludgeoned to death in the hotel bathtub.

Even though the investigation is officially closed, Casolaro’s wallet, clothing, and other personal items have been retained by the West Virginia authorities without explanation. The suicide note, which tests could not confirm was in Casolaro’s handwriting, has also been detained by police without explanation.

The documents that William Turner gave Casolaro, along with all of the reporter’s other documents relating to the INSLAW investigation, have not been found.  Casolaro’s writings and research notes were given by his family to ABC News and Time Magazine following his death. Both news agencies concluded no foul play was involved.  

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12874208/joseph_daniel-casolaro

Is Danny Casolaro’s Controversial Death

Still Being Covered Up?

Michael Riconoscituo was released from prison in 2017 after serving twenty-six years. The now seventy-five-year-old is among those who believe Danny Casolaro was murdered; he says he fears the same fate could befall him, as he believes American intelligence officials are still angry with him.

Riconoscituo Released

Many believe Danny Casolaro’s death is connected to the 1977 death of Arizona real estate escrow agent Charles Morgan.

Morgan is believed to have worked with the Mafia and other underworld figures in conducting illegal gold and platinum transactions throughout the 1970s. On June 18, 1977, he was found shot to death in a remote part of a desert near Tucson. His death was initially ruled a suicide but was later changed to homicide.

A few days before his death, Danny Casolaro contacted fellow investigative journalist Don Deveraux and told him that, in the course of his research into the INSLAW affair, he had uncovered information about Charles Morgan’s illegal gold transactions. Casolaro agreed to share the information with Devereux but was found dead before doing so.

Here is the link to my write-up on Charles Morgan.

Death in the Desert

SOURCES:

• The Corbett Report
• Fairfax (Virginia) County-Times
• New York Times
• Unsolved Mysteries
• Washington Post