POLI: The Franklin Scandal: The "Hoax" of a Crime That Never Took Place

[pressimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/7de13484a590.jpg[/pressimg] Omaha is a unique town. It is one of those cities where all assumptions that outsiders have of it are true yet, at the same time, false. It is the largest city in a historically conservative state. Its famous stockyards are just a few miles away from the culturally rich Old Market. Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo, just off I-80, is widely regarded as one of the best, if not the best, zoos in the country. For two weeks every June, Omaha hosts the NCAA College World Series. So crucial is the CWS to the city’s economy, that the wants and needs of the NCAA take priority over everything else.

Christopher Landis
ATS Press Corps
atsnews.com

Therefore, Omaha isn’t ‘No Man’s Land.’ In fact, a 2007 Census Bureau estimate shows that Omaha has a higher population than cities such as St. Louis, Miami (Fla.), Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, and Orlando. (2007 Census)

Nor is Omaha a stranger to tragedies and injustices. One of the most hideous racially provoked crimes took place in 1919 at the Douglas County Courthouse. After being falsely accused of raping a white woman, Will Brown, an African-American, was held on the top floor of the courthouse. A large mob, consisting of white males, gathered and stormed the building. After locating Brown, they grabbed him and drug him outside, ripping his clothes off in the process.

Once outside, Brown was hung from a lamp post, shot multiple times, and burned. His charred remains were then tied to a car and drug through the streets of downtown Omaha. Pieces of the rope he was hung with were sold for 10 cents. Photograph of Omaha Lynching

Recently, in December 2007, Omaha was in the news after a 19-year-old gunman, Robert Hawkins, walked into Westroads Mall (which is literally right down the street from my apartment) and opened fire, killing eight people before killing himself.

On November 4, 1988, the offices of the Franklin Credit Union and of its principle executive, Lawrence E. “Larry” King, were raided by the IRS and FBI. Thirty-nine million dollars was discovered missing.

When Larry King took over the Franklin Credit Union in 1970, the two year institution was facing financial difficulties. The Union’s stated purpose was to help minorities receive loans. Its offices were located in the predominantly African-American community of North Omaha.

In the years leading up to the scandal, according to Franklin researcher Ted Gunderson, King was regarded as “the fastest-rising star in the Republican party.” However, King wasn’t always a Republican. He was once a registered Democrat who, after gauging the political winds of Nebraska, concluded that he could get ahead further and faster in the Republican Party than he could in the Democratic. The Republican Party, therefore, served as more of an expedient than it did an ideology. Yet, he became one of the most influential republicans in the state of Nebraska and the most influential African-American in the Republican Party as a whole. He courted prominent republicans locally and nationally and frequently entertained guests at his Washington D.C. condominium on Embassy Row. With a yearly salary of $17,000, King was able to pay the $5,000 monthly rent for his condominium.

Shortly after Franklin’s offices were raided, rumors about other activities, besides the obvious fraud that was taking place, began cropping up. Activities such as kidnapping, child abuse, child sexual abuse, drug use, drug dealing, drug trafficking, prostitution, the selling of children (in other words, slavery) Satanic rituals (some involving actual animal or human sacrifice), and murder were some of the, what seemed at the time, outrageous claims being tossed about. Initially, those accused were prominent figures in the Omaha community. However, at the time, the names of the accused were known to only a few people.

In a letter to a reporter from the Omaha World-Herald, former State Senator, John DeCamp, listed for the first time the accused perpetrators. It has since become known as “The DeCamp Memo.” The list included:

• Lawrence (Larry) E. King - managed the Franklin Credit Union Bank in Omaha, Nebraska; was quoted at one time as "Being the fastest rising Republican star in the nation”; sang the National Anthem at the 1984 and 1988 GOP Convention
  
• Alan Baer - Heir to the J.L. Brandeis & Sons Department Store chain, sold to Younkers in 1987; former Co-owner of the AA Omaha Lancer hockey team; investments in Ak-sar-ben, Baer Marketing Firm, The Omaha Reader paper, and many other businesses both locally and nationally; died in November of 2002
  
• Harold W. Andersen - publisher of the Omaha World-Herald throughout Larry King's indictment, and The Franklin Trial; the only American to ever be president of the International Federation of Newspapers; Chairman of the Franklin Community Federal Credit Union Advisory Board
  
• Robert Wadman – Omaha Chief of Police; very close friend of Nick O’Hara, regional head of the FBI
  
• Eugene Mahoney - former Omaha vice squad officer; later head of the Nebraska Forestry Service; has a state park named after him
  

The DeCamp Memo turned Nebraska on its ear. From Omaha to Scottsbluff, it was the talk of the state. Every new development in the Franklin case spread across the state like a tsunami. Town to town, an anxiety hung like a dark, impenetrable cloud. Moreover, as the state’s most dominant source of news and information, the Omaha World-Herald had free reign to print only what they wanted to print and tell its readers only what they (OWH) wanted them to believe.

The Herald would set the tone for how the local media and, ultimately, the national media would treat the case. The paper’s “journalists” appointed itself as “the voice of reason” in a scandal that could shake the institutions of government to its very foundation. The Herald tossed aside objectivity, a sacred tenant for any respectable media organization, and embarked on a campaign of disinformation, half-truths and in some cases, outright lies. It knowingly distorted facts in order to best serve its own agenda. More importantly, with its vicious attacks against accusers and witnesses, The Herald’s campaign was designed to destroy the credibility of the “victim-witnesses,” while using its publication as a tool to invoke fear and intimidation, discouraging others from coming forward. By the time the Grand Jury was convened, Alisha Owen and Paul Bonacci, two of the some 80 accusers, had already been convicted by a jury of their peers who were misled into a decision, like sheep off a cliff, by a corrupt media organization that has been granted no legal authority whatsoever by the Constitution of the United States or the State of Nebraska. Whether this was done in an attempt to protect its publisher, Harold Andersen, or if they had other motives, only the Omaha World-Herald knows.

Larry King acquired power by catering to the inner desires of those who were (and still are) already powerful. The Franklin Credit Union was his means. At the time, it appears that the only people who knew about King’s dark side was the African-American community of North Omaha. State Senator Ernie Chambers, who represented North Omaha in the State Legislature, had collected dozens of reports and complaints on King’s actions over the years. His activities were well-know. But that didn’t stop him and, at times, he certainly wasn’t trying to hide it. For example, in a multi-million dollar renovation on Franklin’s offices, he demanded that a bedroom be built. The door was locked and entry was prohibited. King was the only one allowed in, except for the “friends” that sometimes accompanied him.

As he rose through the ranks of the Republican Party and acquired more wealth, his power and influence expanded from the local level to the national level. He sung the Star-Spangled Banner at the 1984 and 1988 Republican National Convention. He went from managing a small credit union in Omaha, Nebraska to rubbing elbows with U.S. presidents, congressman, senators and other members of the political elite.

According to his personal photographer, Russell Nelson, his parties were a virtual “who’s who” of the political elite establishment. High-ranking Republican and government officials routinely attended King’s infamous parties. Some of the reported activities include homosexual orgies, drug use and drug dealing, Satanic rituals and sacrifices, child abuse, child sexual abuse and murder. This claim would later be corroborated by the testimony of Alisha Owen and Paul Bonacci. What took place at these “parties” would be corroborated, as well. Bonacci has stated that he would frequently go on trips all over the country with Larry King. On one occasion, after landing in Las Vegas, they traveled 80 miles north to a secluded airstrip where victims (children) would be auctioned off for up to $50,000. Some of those auctioned would leave in unmarked planes belonging to “foreigners with accents and wearing turbans.”

Another trip Bonacci recalls is traveling with King and another boy to Sacramento, California. From there, they drove north, into an “area that had big tress.” (Bohemian Grove?).

Eulice Washington, also a victim, recalled that at one particular party she saw George Bush Sr. pay King money and then leave with “a nineteen year old black boy named Brent.”

It has even been reported that during the Reagan and Bush administrations, midnight tours of the White House were common among the male prostitutes.
[pressimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/cfab7e298214.gif[/pressimg] In July 1990, the World-Herald’s hard work to hide and discredit paid off when the grand jury threw out nearly every charge dealing with sexual child abuse. It was labeled by the grand jury as “a carefully crafted hoax.” The Franklin Committee assigned to investigate the matter responded in a statement,
“We assume from their choice of words – a carefully crafted hoax, that the Grand Jury was persuaded that the testimony of the witnesses corroborated each other…Otherwise, it could not be logically deemed ‘carefully crafted.’”

Gary Caradori

The Franklin Committee was one of the few “official” bodies that were actually trying to investigate the Franklin case. It hired Gary Caradori has lead investigator. Caradori, a former private investigator and first-rate pilot, remarked to his wife, “If even half of what I have heard is true, this is the biggest thing to ever hit Nebraska.”
In hindsight, Caradori’s remark to his wife was an understatement. The Franklin scandal, if the truth were to ever get out, would be the biggest thing to ever hit the United States - period. Watergate, compared to Franklin, was amateur night. Caradori was completely unaware of the forces aligned against him. However, he would quickly take notice of them.
In September 1989, Caradori’s house was broken into. The following April, a telephone repairmen notified him that his phones were tapped. He reported to Nebraska Secretary of State, Alan Beerman, that he and his employees had encountered numerous threatening situations.
“Why?” he asked Beerman in a letter. “Am I too close to something they do not want to become public?”
In early July 1990, Caradori and his 8-year-old son A.J. flew in Caradori’s private plane to Chicago to attend the Major League Baseball All-Star Game being held in Wrigley Field. Of course, there were other matters he wanted to attend to, as well. He planned on doing some investigative work. When new evidence turned up, he called Nebraska State Senator Loran Schmit, head of the Franklin Committee, and reportedly said “We’ve got them! There’s no way they can get out of it now!” Caradori informed Schmit that he would review the new evidence with him when he returned to Nebraska. Caradori and his 8-year-old son didn’t make it that far.

A rural farmer in Lee County, Illinois reported that he saw a flash of light, heard an explosion and saw the plane fall out of the sky. This initial description of the crash was what the local newscasts in Omaha reported at first. In subsequent newscasts, without evidence to the contrary, it was reported that the plane exploded upon impact with the ground, not in the air. The deputy sheriff, who was the first to arrive on the scene, reported that there were debris and child pornography pictures all over the place. Then three flatbed trucks appeared and pulled into the field. A team of men got out of the trucks, picked up all the debris and pictures and then drove away. It is not clear who these men were. However, most Franklin researchers lean towards the FBI. Perhaps they were practicing for the Pentagon on 9/11.

The Spanish weekly, “Pronto,” quoted a private investigator who has worked on the Franklin case, Roy Stephens, as saying “…there is reason to believe THAT THE CIA is directly implicated, and that the “FBI refuses to help in the investigation and has sabotaged any efforts” to solve the case.

It gets even more suspicious.

Prior to Caradori’s death, Omaha Chief of Police Robert Wadman was essentially run out of Omaha. Wadman was never charged with any crime, but there was enough backlash against him which, guilty or not, made it nearly impossible for him to do his job effectively while maintaining credibility with the public. It was generally believed by the public that Wadman had committed some improprieties and was tightly connected to the Franklin scandal. Those improprieties probably would have come out had Caradori finished his investigation. In the meantime, Wadman had moved on to a new position in a new town.

Caradori’s plane crashed in or around Aurora, Illinois. The Aurora Police Department, however, caught a break. Aurora had just hired a new Police Chief, one who was quite familiar with Gary Caradori and the matter he was investigating. Would you care to hazard a guess as to whom?

Robert. Wadman. Former Chief of Police in Omaha, Nebraska; associate of Larry King; accused of sexual child abuse; generally believed to be the father of one of Alisha Owen’s children; close friend of Nick O’Hara, Regional Director of the FBI in Omaha.

The National Transportation Safety Board has never determined a cause for the plane crash. Caradori’s wife and brother maintain that he was murdered. Senator Schmit remarked, “There were a lot of people in this state who wanted to see Gary dead. They got their wish.”

Contra Connection?

There is, in fact, evidence which suggests that millions of dollars ended up in the hands of the Contras after being laundered through Franklin.
Russell Nelson stated to investigator John DeCamp that he believed King "had some association with the Contra ordeal through Michael Aquino, head of the 'Temple of Set.'" Aquino is not only a Satanist, but a CIA agent known to be involved in the MK-Ultra and Project Monarch operations. A May 1989 article in the Omaha World-Herald corroborated this claim by acknowledging that “rumors have persisted that money from the credit union somehow found its way to the Nicaraguan contra rebels."

However, it is the Omaha World-Herald – keep that in mind.

Others Implicated

- Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska)
- Ray Cline – former Deputy Director of CIA
- William Casey – former Director of CIA (1981-87)
- Charles Dutcher – Associate Director of Presidential Personnel under Reagan
- Ronald Roskens – former Chancellor of the University of Nebraska; Director of ConAgra Foods; Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development under George H.W. Bush
- Todd Blodgett - son of Iowa state Republican assembly member Gary Blodgett; protégé of Lee Atwater; Bush/Quayle election committee domestic policy adviser
List courtesy of Conservative Babylon

Merely the Tip

Volumes could be written on the Franklin Credit Union scandal. It was clear early-on that the local media, especially the Omaha World-Herald, wanted to kill the story. Likewise, certain politicians and high-ranking government officials in Washington wanted the same thing. A documentary on the Franklin case, “Conspiracy of Silence,” was prevented from being televised because these politicians and officials feared the backlash. The methods used to silence and discredit credible witnesses are methods that have been used for hundreds of years. Those who fail to be silent or discredited would be eliminated.

[pressimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1378af3e9cf3.gif[/pressimg] Another witness, Troy Boner, whose testimony backed up Alisha Owen’s and Paul Bonacci’s, suddenly recanted after his brother was found dead with a gunshot wound. According to Boner, his brother was afraid of guns. Yet, it was ruled a suicide. Troy Boner has since disappeared.

Another victim, Danny King (no relation to Larry King), also corroborated Owen’s and Bonacci’s testimony. He, too, has disappeared without a trace after recanting his testimony.

Owen and Bonacci were eventually indicted on perjury. Even though they stuck by their stories, while others did not and recanted, they were the ones who were indicted. The actions of the grand jury can be summed up in a written statement explaining their decision, “…children do have the right that if they exhibit reasonable behavior, they will not be abused.” (Emphasis added)

In other words, so long as the child behaves, they shouldn’t be abused. However, if they don’t behave, then feel free to abuse them in any manner you like. Also, at no point did the grand jury ever call Larry King to testify. Apparently, the grand jury felt that the testimony of the “accused mastermind” was irrelevant.

Shortly before King’s trial was set to start, he was suddenly declared too “mentally incompetent” to stand trial. The following day, President Bush (#41) arrived in Omaha for a fundraiser. Around the time Air Force One was landing, King was being hauled away to Springfield, Missouri to undergo mental evaluations. It is believed by many that King was planning on asking his good friend, President George Bush Sr., for his assistance in the Franklin case. King never got that chance. A few days later, King was shipped to a federal mental facility in Minnesota.

A mere four months later, King was suddenly declared competent enough to stand trial. In his absence, the grand jury had already thrown out all of the sexual abuse charges. These two events together prevented the name of George Bush Sr. from being spoken in open court and on the public record, which would have implicated him in numerous illegal activities. The one who did implicate Bush, Bonacci, was sent to prison.

An article on the Frances Farmers Revenge website connects King to Craig Spence, one known to head a male-prostitution ring in Washington D.C. Spence, too threw parties at his home. Like King, Spence recorded activities which would be used as blackmail. Four months after the initial story broke, Spence was found dead in his room at the Ritz-Carlton in Boston. It was ruled a suicide.

It was a classic cover-up, the blueprint of which has been employed countless times.

In 1999, Bonacci won a one million dollar lawsuit against Larry King. Bonacci, whose story has never waivered, was compensated for telling the same story that got him convicted of perjury years before. Judges don’t award someone $1,000,000 if they think the person is lying. Officially, the court said it was because King never contested the charges. If that were truly the case, the judge could’ve ruled in favor of Bonacci for one dollar. Awarding $1,000,000 to someone who has already been convicted of perjury is absolutely absurd – especially when it’s known that the defendant (King) is in prison and all but bankrupt. Not surprisingly, Bonacci has yet to receive the one million dollar judgment. He probably never will.

...and the cover-up is complete

In July 2007, John DeCamp, author of “The DeCamp Memo” and the book “The Franklin Cover-Up,” was notified by the U.S. District Court in Omaha that all records from the Franklin Credit Union case would be turned over to the police for destruction.

Welcome to the New World Order.

Awesome story Chris. I remember when the scandal first broke but had no idea it was That huge. Well covered my friend.

I have always wondered how many things the government has covered up to protect its favorite sons . This only cements it in my mind that there are many more we have yet to see the light of day on.

Reading stories like this make me wish that I had the time to go in depth as you have. The Truth is Out There!

Great writing/research! I will be following this thread!

King is no longer in prison. He's alive and well in Virginia. Also Nick Bryant has written a brand new book on this subject. It was weird in his interview on Coast to Coast he never mentioned any of the work done by John DeCamp who originally broke the story. Seems strange to me. Anyways, it's a very fascinating story. One that every American should read about. The evil and corruption that exists in this country is downright disgusting.

This is the case that should've brought down almost every damn politician in the country. Even the ones that weren't intimately involved with the travesties knew of it, hid it, protected their friends in exchange for higher promotions.

And I can't see this as simply being a republican deviancy. I wish I could, but I can't. If the dems caught wind of this and were on the outskirts, ie, completely clean, they would send heads rolling like bowling balls.

Proof that very sick people are at the head of this country. I live for the day these appalling sickos get their comeupance.

S & F excellent research. Too bad they can not be tried a second time. If you are big and powerful enough you do not go to jail even if you murder people. Just look at Edward Kennedy.

It is about time American realized there are the rich and powerful and then the rest of us. Democrat vs Republican is a dog & pony (donkey & elephant) show to entertain the masses. If you look closely at all the "socialist legislation" you will find it is intentionally flawed so it makes matters worse not better.

If a doctor treats a patient for free he is breaking the law. If a doctor's clerk makes a typo filling out Medicaid paperwork, the government can confiscate ALL his assets through "Civil Asset Forfeiture" The welfare system, instead of helping a person better themselves traps them in a cycle of poverty. "civil rights" laws dumped the mentally ill out on the city streets so activists have street people to point at and yell about. Yet if a church or a group of individuals tries to feed or provide shelter for these people the "authorities" come down on them like a ton of bricks because they do not have the correct "paperwork"

We need to take a long hard look at ALL our laws and see if they actually are beneficial or create more problems, but Congress and state legislatures are more concerned with piling more and more laws on top of people until the whole country is so bound in red tape we can no longer function. There is not an adult in the USA who can not be fined or jail for breaking some law they are not even aware of.

I am consistently blown away at the lack of attention paid to threads similar to this that focus on proven conspiracies, but yet the "Norway Spiral" will have an unlimited number of replies, flags, and stars.

For as much as I love to spend time on ATS, I am highly suspect of a majority of the members.
If the movement was truly to "deny ignorance" then threads covering topics like this, the Fabian Society, and The Bank of International Settlements would be on the forefront of everyone's mind, but instead most people seem to spend their time posting back and forth comments, which are purely speculative in nature.

I am in no way saying that this is somehow a result of the set-up of the ATS website.
I think that maybe I am slowly losing faith in my fellow humans.

Excellent thread on a topic of which I am fairly well versed.

And if I am not mistaken Alisha Owen is currently incarcerated and has spent the majority of her time incarcerated in solitary confinement.
That will break anyone's soul.

Here is a great link that covers the topic in great detail.

And here is another link that goes into the topic in great detail.

Star and Flag for sure.

[edit on 3/2/2010 by Josephus23]

[edit on 3/2/2010 by Josephus23]

Here's a youtube interview with the author of the new Franklin Scandal book -- I read the book right when it was published.

www.youtube.com...

I think the reason stories like this get little attention is because none of us are surprised. I believe we all know everyone is a "little bit sick" and we almost expect those in power to abuse it and play out any sick thought that might flash through their heads.

The Norway Spiral was fascinating, this was business as usual.

reply to post by thedeadtruth


Here, here....

Good response and something that I have not thought of.

Although I am inclined to think that you are giving a little too much credit to some people.

Add to my previous post.

I think that Alicia Owen was released from prison in 05.
I could be wrong, again, but I am trying to find a link to this issue.

Quite a few of the ladies in my office are from the North side, they said they actually knew some of the victims, and they all share the same disparaging story.. not able to come forward because of lack of credibility... ruined their live trying to fix their emotions with chemicals... Or they could be junkie liars : )


But this story is fascinating and I seriously had to stop looking into it.. it was taking over my whole thought process.. I would think about it several times a day, looking up Gosch and Gannon, trying to establish links of my own.. not a very good subject to havce occupying your mind..

The re relase of the story is really attracting a lot more attention around here.

Great job putting it all together...

reply to post by Sonof the Widow


At the very least. So many anomalies exist in this crock of a case that calling it closed is a travesty of justice.

Remember that several of the lower level men charged were actually convicted of child molestation, etc... but because the massive childhood trauma had induced dissociative disorder in these kids, they self medicated with narcotics given to them by the perps, and consequently their testimony was considered irrelevant.

But for some effen reason Alicia Owen went to jail for perjury.

If the evidence in the depositions (which included Alicia Owen) is considered invalid, then how in Christ's good name can she be guilty of perjury.

The perps, except King, were convicted, but the kids were not named as the victims.
(How does that make a lick of sense?)

Please remember that this went all the way up to the White House folks.

Interestingly enough though, Paul Bonacci won a million dollar civil claim against Larry King with John DeCamp as Bonacci's lawyer and the charges were for...

I will let you read.

Here is a snippet.

U.S. government mind control programs, like MK-Ultra and Monarch, directed against helpless victims--human guinea pigs--have been virtually ignored by the Big Media Cartel.
On Feb. 27, 1999, however, U.S. District Court Judge Warren Urbom found former Franklin S&L manager Lawrence E. King guilty of numerous crimes committed against mind control victim Paul A. Bonacci. King, serving a 15-year sentence for his role in the theft of $40 million from Franklin, an Omaha, Neb., credit union, was ordered by Judge Urbom to pay Bonacci $800,000 in compensatory damages and an additional $200,000 in punitive damages.
This legal judgement against a notorious perpetrator of satanic-ritual child abuse is unprecedented. In the Memorandum of Decision, Judge Urbom wrote, "King continually subjected the plaintiff [Bonacci] to repeated sexual assaults, false imprisonment, infliction of extreme emotional distress, organized and directed satanic rituals, forced the plaintiff to 'scavenge' for children to be a part of the defendant King's sexual abuse and pornography ring, forced the plaintiff to engage in numerous sexual contacts with the defendant King and others and participate in deviate sexual games and masochistic orgies with other minor children.

Link to source.

This is a federal court civil judgment people.

Something wicked this way came.

Watch this movie.

Google Video Link

Speculating on the question posted upthread, I'd suggest that stories of this nature, proven conspiracies of such atrocities, don't get much attention here for the very fact that the actual wrongs committed are so revolting that few want to, as Barbara Bush might say, "waste their beautiful mind"(s) on such horrors. It's really a wrenching case and casts such a long shadow across the ruling the elite that I can really understand why so many would rather stay ignorant and/or in denial.

I am not quite sure how I missed this story up until today. Thank you for the sharing and bringing attention to this story. With what is going on in our world today, it is imperative that we the people stand up and SHOUT IN UNISON via the world wide web. I stand against EVIL and CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR. (Not a political party, not a race).

Originally posted by Tentickles
I have always wondered how many things the government has covered up to protect its favorite sons . This only cements it in my mind that there are many more we have yet to see the light of day on.

Blackmailing people must be big business.

I am sure people have no idea of how twisted humans can be, as they like to project there own morals into a situation, where they cannot even fathom the evil.

I came upon this story about 6 months back while researching mind control, Project MKUltra, etc. and I'm not sure if I've been the same since. It is so sad that more people don't know about this. It makes me sick. Learning about this has shown me the bigger picture, there is no "right" and "left", its all corrupt, all the way around. I feel like its important for more people to know about this, I wouldnt be surprised if this kind of thing still goes on, just look at what happened at Penn State...

Then to think about all the lives lost, children killed and trafficked around the world.. mysterious "suicides"..what a mess...