American Beauty Part VI

The Franklin Cover-Up

Originally filmed as a documentary about the Franklin Cover-Up for the U.K.’s Yorkshire television, Conspiracy of Silence was pulled prior to airing due to immense pressure from the US government. All recordings were thought to be destroyed. Luckily, some bright spark saved a copy on U-matic tape format which eventually found its way to the internet. The quality is poor and some brief frames are missing but the story stands as a powerful piece of documentary film-making.

The raiding of the Franklin Community Credit Union in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1989, led to a series of investigations which led to much more than the revelation of money-laundering. The probe culminated in a scandal involving the systematic abuse of young girls and boys by officials in government, entertainment and the media and right up to the Whitehouse and Bush Sr.’s Oval door.

Washington D.C. and other cities were connected to Omaha and which acted as the clearinghouse for the massive numbers of children involved in the high-level abuse. Children were used as “drug mules” in order to sexually compromise politicians and other prominent and powerful people around the country. In other words, it was another example of sexpionage - the American way.

The Franklin Cover-Up, 1  now in its second edition, was written by John De Camp a former Nebraska State senator and ex-Vietnam veteran. Decamp recounts his continuing fight to defend two victims of the paedophile sex ring: Paul Bonacci and Alicia Owen, the only ones left to speak up about the abuse. (Bonacci also claims to have been involved in the kidnapping of Johnny Gosch/Guckert/Gannon which we will explore presently). All other victims have been either murdered, suicided or silenced with threats and intimidation. Other victims have not contemplated coming forward due to the nature of the abuse and the shame and guilt it induces. Understandably, they did not have the courage or strength. With 15-30 recorded suspicious deaths linked to the case it is hardly surprising.

One particular death which had the calling card of the CIA was that of Gary Caridori who was killed the night before he was about to testify. A careful and meticulous pilot, he was flying back from Chicago when his private plane blew up in mid-air, killing his little boy with him. No cause has been determined. As so many cases with distinct governmental connections suspicious deaths seem to be mandatory when so-called investigations ensue.  A list of some of the known deaths connected to the Franklin case follows:

(1.) BILL BAKER. He was a restaurant owner in Omaha, and a partner of Larry King in homosexual pornography operations. He was found shot in the back of the head.

(2.) SHAWN BONER. Brother of victim-witness Troy Boner, he died of a gunshot wound from 'Russian Roulette.'

(3.) GARY CARADORI. Chief investigator for he legislative Franklin Committee, Caradori told associates days before his death that he had information that would 'blow this case wide open.' He died when his plane crashed on July 11, 1990.

(4.) ANDREW 'A.J.' CARADORI. Died at the age of 8, in the plane crash with his father.

(5.) NEWT COPPLE. A confidential informant for Caradori and his investigative firm, Copple was a key behind-the-scenes activist fighting the cover-up of the Franklin case. Son of Commonwealth Savings owner S.E. Copple, businessman in his own right, an ex-champion wrestler with no prior health problems and parents who lived into their late eighties and nineties, Copple suddenly 'died in his sleep' in March 1991, at the age of 70." (Ibid.; p. 250.)

(6.) CLARE HOWARD. The former secretary of Alan Baer, who arranged Baer's paedophile trysts, Howard 'died in her sleep' in 1991.

(7.) MIKE LEWIS. A former caregiver for victim-witness Loretta Smith. He died of a 'severe diabetic reaction' at the age of 32.

(8.) JOE MALEK, associate of Larry King and owner of Peony Park, where homosexual galas were held. His death from gunshot was ruled a suicide.

(9.) AARON OWEN, the brother of victim-witness Alisha Owen. He was found hanged in his cell in Lincoln, Nebraska, hours before one of his sister's court appearances.

(10.) CHARLIE ROGERS. A reputed homosexual partner of Larry King, Rogers said that he feared for his life, in the days before his death. His head was blown off with a shotgun, in what was ruled a suicide.

(11.)   DAN RYAN, an associate of Larry King. He was found strangled or suffocated in a car.

(12.) BILL SKOLESKI. An officer in the Omaha Police Department who was believed to be keeping a file on Larry King, he died of a heart attack.

(13.)  KATHLEEN SORENSON. The foster parent for Nelly and Kimberly Webb after they fled the home of Larry King's relatives, Jarrett and Barbara Webb, she was an outspoken activist against Satanism.

(14.)  CURTIS TUCKER. An associate of Larry King, he fell or jumped out of the window of the Holiday Inn in Omaha.

(15.)  HARMON TUCKER. A school superintendent in Nebraska and Iowa, a reputed homosexual, his death had signs of satanic ritual murder. He was found dead in Georgia, near the plantation which Harold Andersen and Nebraska-Iowa FBI chief Nicholas O'Hara used for hunting."  

(16.)  BILL COLBY. One time director of the CIA and according to De Camp, the "heart and soul of the Franklin Case" 2

 After the full extent of financial corruption Franklin Community Credit Union became clear, further probing revealed that the recently released from prison GOP operative Lawrence E. “Larry” King Jr. allegedly hired photographers to capture legislators and high officials in acts of child rape and molestation. King had not only participated in financial fraud but supervised the running of these paedophile operations in which hundreds of children were systematically abused. According to De Camp:

At the Dallas [GOP] convention in 1984, King threw his splashy party at Southfork Ranch, remembered by me and many other delegates as an unparalleled extravaganza. According to several victim-witnesses, he also arranged some private events during the convention. They recall being flown to Dallas, to be sexually used by convention-goers. Gary Caradori mapped the recollections of the Webb foster children in his notes of February 1990:

 ‘During this visit [the children’s aunt] Marcy informed [social worker] Joanie that [the youngest Patterson Webb sister] Kendra had told her she had been transported around the country several times, she thought to Texas and Louisiana. Marcy remembered Texas in particular, and a Republican Convention because one of the children, possibly Kendra, had a book of matches from Texas and that is how the children had known where they were at. Joanie stated she remembered that the children had been exploited sexually in Texas, and she indicated that it was [the] feeling this activity had been occurring for several years.’ […]

I was later to learn from Paul Bonacci, that he was also at the famed Southfork party. He described it for me in exact detail, some seven years after the party took place. He had been here for the purpose of providing sexual favors for people Larry King wanted to accommodate, satisfy, or compromise. Paul said he was one of a troop of teenaged boys and girls, whom King had shipped to Dallas for his purposes. 3

Alicia Owen is a particularly tragic symbol of modern day America’s wholly corrupt justice system. Before Decamp became her attorney, a court case was held and which resulted in Ms. Owen refusing to recant and being charged with perjury and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Of course, it represented yet another whitewash. Ms. Owen’s testimony concerning forced sexual activities with highly placed officials from law enforcement to government did not go down well.

Having been abused for most of her life, Alicia Owen was now branded a criminal for telling the truth. In Decamp’s words: “This girl never went out looking for somebody to tell her story to. Somebody got her name and went to see her and offered her immunity. Alicia was told that if she didn’t tell what happened that she would really be in deep trouble. So she told it all and the next thing she knew, she was the one being charged.”

What further compounds the misery of all the victims and the freedom of the abusers is that “King went to prison for embezzlement, conspiracy and making false financial record entries...there was no trial on any other charges, and the evidence of child prostitution and abuse perpetrated by King was never presented in any court.”4

On February 5, 1999, in U.S. District Court in Lincoln, Nebraska, Paul Bonacci’s civil action was successful. He was awarded $1,000. 000 dollars in damages in a US court of law. Judge Warren K. Urbom ordered Lawrence King - who was then serving his sentence in Federal prison - to pay the $1 million in damages in what amounted to a clear vindication of the evidence presented. Alicia Owen was released from prison but, according to Noreen Gosch she “…is keeping a very low profile. She’s terribly scared since her brother was murdered as a warning to her to keep her mouth shut. She does not do any interviews. Her parents will not do interviews. They live in fear.”

This brings us back to James Gannon, aka James Guckert or perhaps Johnny Gosch, a paperboy who disappeared on Sept. 5, 1982, in West Des Moines, Iowa. Mrs. Gosch can’t be certain that Guckert is one and the same, but she would understandably like to know. 5

After being ignored by the local police, the FBI and Department of Criminal Investigation in Iowa she decided to hire private investigators that provided her with some interesting tit-bits of information. However it was to be the press conference she held back in 1982, way before the heat from the Franklin affair was to hit the headlines, albeit in muted fashion. She received her first death threat which confirmed to her that she was tapping into the same Franklin cover-up from a different direction to DeCamp. She was told: “Stop making waves or you are going to die.” In 1997 she believes Johnny Gosh then 24 years-old, paid her a visit:

There was a knock at my door at about 2:30 a.m. I went to the door and I could see through the peephole that there was a young man outside. I said, “Who’s there?” He said, “It’s me, mom. It’s Johnny.” I could see that there was someone with him, but I let them in. I don’t know who the other young man was. I asked, but he declined to tell me. Johnny would have been about 24 years old at this point.

What did he tell you?

It was very emotional. I asked if I could call someone to come and help us, thinking that he was home to stay. But Johnny was so terrified. He said, “You don’t understand. You can’t call anyone. No one can know that I’ve been here. If you do, my life is in danger and yours might be, too. They will kill me for what I know.’

Instead of pushing this issue, I said to myself, ‘No, I’m going to let him talk and tell me what’s happened.’ So, during our hour-and-a-half time that we had together. I learned a lot. I asked him names of people. I asked him how they did their organization. What type of things did they do? What methods did they use to traffic in children?

He was here in 1997, but I kept silent for two years and didn’t tell anyone about his visit until 1999 when I was on the witness stand testifying for Paul Bonacci in his civil case. But what I had done in the meantime was to make an appointment with the county attorney. I went in and told him that I had information from an informant. I gave the county attorney the names of the people involved and how the organization worked and asked him to begin an investigation. I did not tell him that the informant was my son.

Did the county attorney investigate?

No, he said that he would not. The only reason he gave was that I would have to somehow convince my informant to turn himself in and be a part of the witness protection program and that they “might” be able to give my informant (Johnny) immunity for any crimes he may have committed during his captivity.

I looked at the county attorney and said, ‘They ‘might’ be able to give him immunity? That doesn’t work for me.’ He responded, ‘Well, you’re going to have to turn over the boy.’ I said, ‘I don’t have the boy.’ I didn’t tell him that it was Johnny, but I did tell him that ‘the informant” had told me that Johnny was still alive.

I said to the county attorney: ‘I came here to share information with you as I always have. This way I can never be charged with withholding information. If you choose not to investigate, that’s up to you. I will continue my investigation as I always have.’ 6

The self-professed CIA agent Paul Bishop who miraculously appeared on the scene in 1984 to “assist” Noreen Gosch during the period of his disappearance, himself disappeared from the Gosch’s lives in 1985 without a word. He reappeared under arrest in February 4th, two weeks before Gannongate. He was reportedly charged with possessing obscene material.

The CIA asset may have been assigned to monitor the situation while genuinely wanting to help the Gosch family. The latter is unlikely however. Whether he was warned off initially and set-up once again is anyone’s guess. To have such a flurry of events taking place around the subject of child prostitution and exploitation all in one month suggests that someone, somewhere was trying to put out a fire.

Meanwhile, Gosch has self-published a book Why Johnny can’t come home which details the events surrounding her son’s disappearance. She also spoke in court in support of Bonacci singling out in particular U.S. Army Lt. Col. Michael Aquino (ret) as a primary mover in the paedophile ring that abducted her son, Johnny Gosch. She established a clear link that the military was involved which was mirrored in the high profile Presidio Affair several years previously.

Returning to De Camp’s book (while the second edition is said to have some factual inaccuracies) the consistent, on the ground confirmation of the victims’ testimonies is compelling. De Camp illustrates the nature of King’s parties and how many of the dignitaries and officials were a mixture of the complicit and the clueless. It seems homosexual blackmailing operations were part of a tag team between Craig Spence and Larry King who were also previous business partners. De Camp also includes suggestions that King was involved with arms shipments and procurements. Arms and slavery seem always seem to merge somewhere down the line:

When Craig Spence turned up dead—a suicide, police were quick to say—in a Boston hotel room, in November 1989, it was the latest in the long string of deaths of persons linked to Iran-Contra covert operations and funding. There is evidence that Larry King had Washington business in that area as well. ‘In the 6 ½ months since federal authorities closed Franklin, rumors have persisted that money from the credit union somehow found its way to the Nicaraguan contra rebels,’ said a World-Herald article on May 21, 1989. 8

What must have perplexed the authorities who were unaware of the scale and depth of the operations was the re-occurring name of George Bush Senior, long since said to have had a predilection for boys and young men. The child sex, homosexual and pornography ring run out of Nebraska by Larry King went all the way up to the White House. This was not due to any particular rumour or hearsay but documented testimonials and facts which would never find there way to court. A Nebraska state police report, Nebraska Foster Care Review Board letter to the Attorney General, Nebraska Senate’s Franklin committee investigative report, and a 50-page report by Omaha’s Boys Town welfare case officer Mrs. Julie Walters, were all ignored. Victims of the paedophiles/pederasts were Kimberly and Nelly Webb who described their abuse in the report:

Nelly said at these trip parties hosted by Larry King, she sat naked ‘looking pretty and innocent’ and guests could engage in any sexual activity they wanted, but penetration was not allowed...Nelly said she first met V. P. George Bush at the Republican Convention where King sang the national anthem, and saw Bush again at a Washington, DC party Larry hosted...Last year she met V.P. Bush and saw him at one of the parties Larry gave while on a Washington, DC trip. At some of the parties there are just men (as was the case at the party George Bush attended)...Nelly said she has seen sodomy committed at those parties.[…]

On December 19, 1988, Nelly was contacted and voluntarily came to the FBI offices on December 30, 1988. She was interviewed by Brady, Tucker and Phillips...in September or October, 1984 when Lisa was 14 she went to Chicago with Larry King and 15-20 boys from Omaha...She indicates she attended a party in Chicago with King and the male youths. She indicated George Bush was present...she sat at a table at the party wearing nothing but a negligee. She stated George Bush saw her on the table. She stated she saw George Bush pay King money and Bush left the party with a nineteen year old black boy named Brent. Lisa said the party Bush attended was in Chicago in September or October 1984. The Chicago Tribune of October 31, 1984 said Bush was in Illinois campaigning for congressional candidates at the end of October. 9

Both Kimberly and Nelly brought up the name of George Bush on other occasions most frequently in “in Lowe’s May, 1989 review of reports by Thomas Vlahoulis from the state attorney general’s office suggesting that they had not only seen Bush, but had met him in person. DeCamp continues:

In spite of four polygraph tests administered by a Nebraska state trooper who said he was convinced Nelly was telling the truth, a Washington country, Nebraska judge in December, 1990 ignored Julie Walter’s 50-page report, numerous debriefings of the girls by foster care officials and youth workers stating the sisters told the truth - specifically about George Bush Sr., and dismissed all charges against their foster parents Jarrett and Barbara Webb, who Nelly and Kimberly said had allowed them to be abused. 10

The testimonies of the two girls and other victims who had the courage to come forward were continually discredited. According to One report from World-Herald in July 1989 “attributed the mention of Bush to a person ‘under psychiatric care,’…In reality, the report was from Nelly Patterson Webb.” 11

The Bush family Empire has a monopoly in the corporate predator stakes which extends to children and young adults alike. This is why an almost impenetrable net of protection and security allows the “Elite” of America and Europe to continue their crimes far from public scrutiny. If persons get too close or those in the same exploitative business become a liability, they are “surplus to requirements” and added to the growing list of those who have been “suicided,” a fate, some believe was visited upon the beat generation writer, Hunter Thompson.

It was more than a little suspicious that the writer supposedly killed himself with a gun no more than a few hours after the Jeff Gannon scandal hit the internet news. If the allegations that Thompson was involved in the production of “snuff” films is true, and with persistent claims and testimonies from abused children to support those allegations, then his apparent suicide becomes even less tenable. There is also the possibility that he killed himself due to guilt from his underground role as a “snuff” movie film-maker. However, keeping in mind the links between the White House call service, Gannongate and the general all pervading stench of paedophilia within governments generally, we would be foolish to think that this is simply a case of timely regret. More likely is that Thompson – who was becoming more and more outspoken against the present administration - was deemed a loose end that was sufficiently removed from the central nexus of abuse to be removed.

This conclusion is further supported by the fact that Paul Bonacci, one of the main witnesses in the Franklin case gave detailed accounts of his abuse in Nevada and recalled specifically Hunter Thompson as the man who filmed the crimes which included forced necrophilia and murder. He was also able to provide a compelling testimony to the presiding judge regarding the descriptions of the ritual meeting ground where some of the snuff films were allegedly carried out. It was none other than Bohemian Grove, located in forested area outside Sacramento, Calif., a ridiculous place where the rich and powerful play at being neo-pagans with much pomp and ceremony. This includes enacting all kinds of silly rituals in front of a statue of an Owl called Moloch and getting excited about “human sacrifices.” 12

The site is heavily guarded and extremely secure. A video of what goes on at the Grove was secretly filmed last year and gives an insight as to the kinds of activates our would-be leaders get up to on their days off. Taking into account the fact Bonacci would have been a child at the time of his abuse; he was able to describe his surroundings in sufficient detail - including the Owl - for the court to rule that this was indeed Bohemian Grove. As such, there may be a much more sinister side to the pantomime that perhaps even some of the participants are not aware of.

Other events during Gannongate suggest damage limitation. According to De Camp's book, a photographer called Rusty Nelson was allegedly involved in recording a great deal of the child rape for Larry King’s blackmail purposes, accompanying him on his lavish parties in order to take the photos of high-profile individuals in compromising positions with young boys and girls. Nelson said he was once offered $50,000 by Hunter Thompson to help film one of his snuff movies, which he declined.

With a somewhat chequered past regarding the boundaries of his photography and with a history revealing a past interest in photographing underage girls, Nelson nevertheless vehemently denied involvement in child prostitution and pornography. It is highly likely that Nelson knows a great deal more than he admitted to in court, yet he confirmed Bonacci’s testimony to Judge Urbom:

Q: Children on the airplane?

A: Yes.

Q: How young?

A: There was one situation went back to Washington, DC...he had probably 10, 12 years old...

Q: Boys, girls?

A: Both...

Q: Who attended the parties?

A: Prominent business people, very prominent high-ranking officials, politicians. The younger people. What would transpire was they would have a party and then a party after the party...after the party was more of a sex-type deal...That’s what Larry [King] would....

Q: These old politicians were having sex with each other?

A: Or people Larry would bring...some younger people

Q: Did you take pictures of the parties?

A: I took pictures at some of the parties, yes...” 13

 Two days after Thompson’s death, Nelson was arrested, for failing to register as a sex offender in a county of which he was no longer a resident. Many believed this to be a warning.

In February of 2005 when James Guckert /Johnny Gosch bombshell was dropped it caused serious concern to those engaged in the crimes on the lower levels. “Suicides” plugged the holes and papered over gargantuan cracks in the Whitehouse edifice. With most of the media ignoring a potentially explosive story, with orders from on high to the respective editors, it is unlikely that the initial window of opportunity will be reopened. It will be consigned to the self-perpetuating bubble of speculation, rumour and five second attention spans so favoured in the American press.

Notes


1 The Franklin Cover-Up: Child Abuse, Satanism, and Murder in Nebraska (1992)  by John W. Decamp, published by AWT. ISBN: 0963215809.
2  Ibid.pp.250-251. [for more information see: The Franklin Cover-Up: Paedophile Conspiracy Update by John Decamp] Kay Griggs also spoke to William Colby two weeks before he was found dead in a lake. She also believes he was murdered.
3  Ibid.;p.167.
4 Ibid; p.224
5  There is evidence that James Guckert may well be Johnny Gosch. From John DeCamp: “Bonacci told me the same thing [that Jeff Gannon is Johnny Gosch].” And this bombshell from Noreen: “...the birthmark on Johnny’s chest is very similar to a mark seen on Gannon's chest in at least one photo. Gannon has a spot on his right cheek in the same place as Johnny.” – ‘Noreen Gosch Speaks About Jeff Gannon,
Johnny Gosch And The Attempted Theft Of Her Book ‘Why Johnny
Can't Come Home’ By Charlene Fassa
6  Transcript of radio interview with Noreen Gosch, Radio Free America, a weekly call-in talk forum sponsored by American Free Press, August 19, 2003. Noreen Gosch’s website can be found at this address: www.johnnygosch.com.
7  Ibid; p.169
8  Mrs. J. Walter’s Nebraska Dept. of Social Services report March 25 1986.
9  Ibid.; p. 175.
10  Ibid. 
11  ‘Bless the Beasts and the Children’ - Photographer for White House child sex ring arrested after Thompson suicide, Tom Flocco, March 13, 2005.
12  U.S. District Court testimony, 2-5-1999, pp. 89-91.
13 ‘Expose: The “Christian” Mafia - Where Those Who Now Run the U.S. Government Came From and Where They Are Taking Us’ By Wayne Madsen, May 2005. www.waynemadsenreport.com/