Author : Harry Martin
Date : 04/02/91
Desc : Federal Corruption Series Part V

-----------------------------------------------------------------------


Watergate
Iran--Contra
Savings & Loan Scandal
INSLAW Theft
Federal Bankruptcy Scandal
CIA Covert Operations
Did you ever wonder what the fathers of our country
would think about it if they came back to visit today?

KEY WITNESS IN INSLAW CASE ARRESTED BY JUSTICE DEPARTMENT AS PREDICTED
By Harry V. Martin
Fifth in a NEW SERIES
(c) Copyright Napa Sentinel
April 2, 1991
Reprinted with permission of the Napa Sentinel

Within eight days of signing a damaging statement against the U.S.
Justice Department in the INSLAW software case, a key witness against
the government has been arrested and held without bail. Michael J.
Riconoscuito was arrested Friday night and is being held without bail
at Snohomish County jail in Everett, Washington.

Riconoscuito is being held without bail and no charges have been
filed against him. He was arrested with two local men who had just sold
him computer equipment for $1000. The two were known drug users.
Riconoscuito, according to jail officials, is being held for the U.S.
Marshal's Office--not on any alleged local criminal violation.

Riconoscuito, and the two other persons, were arrested Friday night
by more than a dozen U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents.

On March 21, Riconoscuito, a computer software technician, filed an
affidavit in the INSLAW case. In February, Riconoscuito was called by a
former Justice Department official and warned against cooperating with
an investigation into the case by the House Judiciary Committee. The
former Justice Department official is reported to have threatened
Riconoscuito with criminal prosecution if he talked about the INSLAW
case. The Justice Department has been accused by a Federal bankruptcy
Judge of stealing INSLAW's PROMIS software which has the capability of
tracking criminal and military movements. According to sworn
affidavits, Riconoscuito was allegedly told by U.S. Justice Department
officials that if he did testify in the INSLAW case he would be
criminally prosecuted in an unrelated savings and loan case and would
suffer an unfavorable outcome in a child custody dispute.

The threat was made by telephone and a recording was made of the
conversation, according to Riconoscuito. He indicated that two copies
of the recorded telephone conversation were confiscated by federal
agents when he was arrested. Riconoscuito told the "St. Louis Post-
Dispatch" that at least one other copy remained in a secured location.

Riconoscuito's testimony, along with others, claims that the U.S.
Justice Department illegally distributed INSLAW's software to military
and intelligence agencies in Iraq, Libya, South Korea, Singapore,
Israel, Canada and other nations.

A Federal Judge ruled last week in Washington, D.C., that the INSLAW
case be transferred from the Bankruptcy Court to the U.S. District
Court.

During the early 1980s, Riconoscuito served as the Director of
Research for a joint venture between the Wackenhut Corporation of Coral
Gables, Florida and the Cabazon Band of Indians of Indio, California.
The joint venture was located on the Cabazon reservation. The joint
venture sought to develop and manufacture certain materials that are
used in military and national security operations, and biological and
chemical warfare weapons. The Cabazon Band of Indians are a sovereign
nation and thus have immunity from U.S. regulations and stringent
government controls.

The Wackenhut-Cabazon joint venture was intended to support the needs
of a number of foreign governments and forces, including forces and
governments in Central America and the Middle East. The Contras in
Nicaragua represented one of the most important priorities for the
joint venture. The joint venture maintained close liaison with certain
elements of the U.S. Government, including representatives of
intelligence, military and law enforcement agencies. Among the frequent
visitors to the Wackenhut-Cabazon joint venture were Peter Videnicks of
the U.S. Department of Justice and a close associate of Videnicks, Dr.
Earl W. Brian--who served in the California cabinet of Governor Ronald
Reagan and who has very close ties and business dealings with Meese.

In connection with Riconoscuito's work, he engaged in some software
work in 1983 and 1984 on the PROMIS computer software product,
developed by INSLAW but being used--without payment--by the U.S.
Department of Justice. A federal court has awarded INSLAW $6.8 million
against the U.S. Department of Justice.

According to Riconoscuito's court affidavit, Brian was spearheading
the plan for the worldwide use of the PROMIS computer software--which
was licensed and patented to INSLAW. "The purpose of the PROMIS
software modifications that I made in 1983 and 1984 was to support a
plan for the implementation of PROMIS in law enforcement and
intelligence agencies worldwide." He said that some of the
modifications that he made were specifically designed to facilitate the
implementation of PROMIS within two agencies of the Government of
Canada: the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Security and
Intelligence Service. "Earl W. Brian would check with me from time to
time to make certain that the work would be completed in time to
satisfy the schedule for the RCMP and CSIS implementations of PROMIS."
Brian, without permission from INSLAW, but acting with the U.S.
Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese, reportedly
sold this version of PROMIS to the Government of Canada, according to
Riconoscuito."

Riconoscuito predicted his own arrest eight days later. In his
affidavit filed with the court on March 21, 1991, he states, "In
February 1991, I had a telephone conversation with Peter Videnicks,
then still employed by the U.S. Department of Justice. Videnicks
attempted during this telephone conversation to persuade me not to
cooperate with an independent investigation of the government's piracy
of INSLAW's proprietary PROMIS software being conducted by the
Committee on the Judiciary of the U.S. House of Representatives.

"Videnicks stated that I would be rewarded for a decision not to
cooperate with the House Judiciary Committee investigation. Videnicks
forecasted an immediate and favorable resolution of a protracted child
custody dispute being prosecuted against my wife by her former husband,
if I were to decide not to cooperate with the House Judiciary Committee
investigation.

"One punishment that Videnicks outlined was the future inclusion of
me and my father in a criminal prosecution of certain business
associates of mine in Orange County, California, in connection with the
operation of a savings and loan institution in Orange County. By way of
underscoring his power to influence such decisions at the U.S.
Department of Justice, Videnicks informed me of the indictment of those
business associates prior to the time when that indictment was unsealed
and made public.

"Another punishment that Videnicks threatened should I cooperate with
the House Judiciary Committee, is prosecution by the U.S. Department of
Justice for perjury. Videnicks warned me that credible witnesses would
come forward to contradict any damaging claims that I made in testimony
before the House Judiciary Committee, and that I would subsequently be
prosecuted for perjury by the U.S. Department of Justice for my
testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.

As predicted, after Riconoscuito's affidavit was filed with the court
and reported in the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" and "Washington Post," he
was arrested and is now being held without bail and with no charges.

The INSLAW case is becoming another Watergate and involves former
Attorney General Edwin Meese, a federal judge, several high officials
of the U.S. Department of Justice and even former White House aide
Robert C. McFarlane, who transferred INSLAW software to Israel.

There are many affidavits being filed in the case to verify
wrongdoing on the part of the Justice Department. Yet the Justice
Department continues to refuse to supply the House Judiciary Committee
with any documents in the case. The Committee is now threatening to cut
U.S. Department of Justice funding if they don't cooperate in supplying
these documents.
---
þ Synchronet þ Rick's BBS telnet://ricksbbs.synchro.net:23