A grandiose, overarching stream of consciousness, the manuscript redefines every event of the twentieth century without a back-up fact. Also, any suggestion that Casolaro was “offed” by the Octopus because he was getting too close to the truth, was damned by the belated autopsy done by the state medical examiner, who concluded that the wounds of Casolaro’s wrists appeared to be self-inflicted. Meanwhile, local officials determined that the suicide note found in room 517 was written by Casolaro himself.
The national media had long dismissed Casolaro as a flake. His suicide was simply proof of his craziness. The fact that the autopsy revealed traces of antidepressant only confirmed his mental fragility.
Not everyone, however, was convinced that Casolaro died by his own hand. There was suggestive evidence to suggest the contrary:
• According to a review of the autopsy by a pathologist at George Washington University, the gashes on Casolaro’s wrists did not have the usual “hesitation marks” of the suicide. One cut went so deep as to sever a tendon making it impossible to hold the razor responsible.
• The assistant head housekeeper at the Sheraton discovered two bloody towels under the sink. “It looked like someone threw the towels on the floor,” she told investigative reporter John Connolly. This was
• The accordion file containing Casolaro’s latest researches was missing.
There were other oddities in the case. A waitress in the Sheraton’s cocktail lounge recalled that Casolaro had been drinking there with an “Arab or Iranian” man. He was never located. And at Casolaro’s funeral two unknown figures appeared, one of whom placed a medal on Casolaro’s casket and saluted. Casolaro had never served in the military.
Undoubtedly Casolaro had been mixing with some shady characters towards the end of his life. One of his “informants” was Michael Riconoscuito, a self-professed intelligence operative cum science genius. Riconoscuito claimed to have developed gene warfare for the CIA, along with Gerald Bull’s supergun for Iraq, plus the modifications of the Department of Justice PROMIS software, believed by many conspiracists to be implicated in October Surprise. Riconoscuito
For the record, Nichols claimed to be out of the country when Casolaro committed suicide, or was suicided.
Although the Octopus as an omnipotent conspiracy theory is more the stuff of thriller than of history, Casolaro was wading in a murky swamp with some dark-hearted creatures. The list of why and who had cause to off Casolaro is almost endless. To all the above can be added: he may have stumbled across information on a Wackenhut–CIA “dirty job” that no one wanted aired; a Judiciary Committee’s Investigative Report on Inslaw/PROMIS declared “As long as the possibility exists that Danny Casolaro died as a result of his investigation into the Inslaw matter… it is imperative that further investigations be conducted.”
While a subsequent report by DoJ Special Counsel Nicholas Bua released in 1993 on the PROMIS case declared Casolaro’s death to be suicide, conspiracists noted that Bua was not the independent counsel requested by the Judiciary Committee.
If Casolaro was “suicided” his death is a grim stop sign to other conspiracy researchers. A point perhaps underlined by the fate of Jim Keith, who wrote (with Kenn Thomas) an exhaustive study of the Casolaro case. In 2004, Keith went into the Washoe Medical Hospital for a mundane knee operation. He died “in mysterious circumstances” from a blood clot on his lung.
John Connolly, “Dead Right”,
Ken Thomas and Jim Keith,
“The Inslaw Affair: Investigative Report by the Committee on the Judiciary”, 1992
DOCUMENT: HOUSE REPORT 102–85, “THE INSLAW AFFAIR: INVESTIGATIVE REPORT BY THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY”, 1992 [EXTRACTS]
On August 10, 1991, the lifeless body of Mr. Daniel Casolaro, an investigative reporter investigating the INSLAW matter, was discovered in a hotel room in Martinsburg, WV. Mr. Casolaro’s body was found in the bathtub with both of his wrists slashed several times. There was no sign of forced entry into the hotel room nor of a struggle. A short suicide note was found.
Following a brief preliminary investigation by the local authorities, the death was ruled a suicide. The investigation was reopened following numerous inquiries by Mr. Casolaro’s brother and others into the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death. On January 25, 1992, after expending over 1,000 man-hours investigating his death, the local authorities again ruled Mr. Casolaro’s death a suicide.
The committee did not include the death of Daniel Casolaro as part of its formal investigation of the INSLAW matter. Nevertheless, it is a fair statement to observe that the controversy surrounding the death continues to be discussed in the press and to other figures connected to the INSLAW litigation. These questions appear to be fostered by the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death and the criticism of the Martinsburg Police Department’s investigation.
Other sources have been quoted in the media indicating that Mr. Casolaro did not commit suicide, and that his death was linked to his investigation of INSLAW, Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), and other matters such as the Iran/Contra affair. It has been reported that Mr. Casolaro had confided to several people that he was receiving death threats because he was getting close to concluding his investigation. Furthermore, he told family and friends not to believe that, if he died, it was by accident. According to his brother, Mr. Casolaro’s investigation began to come together during the summer of 1991. Several people indicated he was upbeat and that on the weekend of August 10, 1991, he was in Martinsburg, WV, to receive significant information for his project from a source.
Mr. Casolaro died on August 10, 1991, and his death was officially ruled a suicide on January 25, 1992, over 5 months later. The criticism of the investigation of Casolaro’s death by the Martinsburg, WV, police center on the following areas: Prior to any coroner’s investigation and before his family was notified, Mr. Casolaro’s body was embalmed, which may have limited the effectiveness of autopsies or toxicological examinations. Some evidence has also surfaced indicating that immediately following the discovery of the body, the room was not sealed by the Martinsburg authorities, potentially allowing for the contamination of the possible crime scene. Additionally, it was reported that the room in which Mr. Casolaro was found was cleaned before a thorough criminal investigation could be conducted.
Information received from other sources reveal other curious circumstances surrounding Mr. Casolaro’s death that may or may not have been considered by Martinsburg authorities. In a sworn statement to the committee, Richard Stavin (a former Department of Justice Organized Crime Strike Force prosecutor) stated:
I received a call from Danny Casolaro approximately one week before he was found dead… . He spoke to me about INSLAW. He spoke to me about a group he called, the Octopus. I believe he mentioned Robert Nichols, and
