The Franklin Scandal: The Elite Child Abuse Ring in Nebraska
Authors note: A majority of information in this post comes from four
sources: A Discovery Channel documentary titled "Conspiracy of Silence",
a book by celebrated investigative journalist Nick Bryant titled "The
Franklin Scandal: A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse, and Betrayal", a
book by former Green Beret, former State Senator and attorney John
DeCamp titled "The Franklin Coverup", and the court transcripts between
victim Paul Bonacci and perpetrator Larry King. With the exception of
Bryant's books, you can view these sources in their entirety from links
in the footnotes. Nick Bryant's book is worth purchasing because half of
the proceeds go to charities that fight child abuse and shelter
victims. Only by reading through all of these sources can the full
breadth of the Franklin Scandal be understood, and if you find this post
compelling, I highly recommend you add each of these sources to your
reading list. News articles help augment the cited evidence.
The Paul Bonacci Trial
The New York Times confirmed that both Federal and State investigators were given thousands of files regarding sexual abuse from children and testimonies from people involved in the foster care and education system.32 What happened next is amazing. Instead of indictments of the accused perpetrators to develop cases against them, both Douglas County and Federal Grand Juries ordered the thousands of files to be sealed, declined to interview dozens of witnesses, and then brought charges of perjury against Alisha Owens.33
Note: This information is also a part of my free eBook, 'Lifting the Veil: An Investigative History of the United States Pathocracy'. If you enjoy this post, please download the book by clicking this link.
“Laura Lederer, a senior State Department adviser on trafficking, told me, ''We're not finding victims in the United States because we're not looking for them.'' - New York Times1
"What you have to understand, John [DeCamp], is that sometimes there are forces and events too big, too powerful, with so much at stake for other people or institutions, that you cannot do anything about them, not matter how evil or wrong they are and no matter how dedicated or sincere you are or how much evidence you have. That is simply one of the hard facts of life you have to face. You have done your part. You have tried to expose the evil and wrongdoing. It has hurt you terribly. But it has not killed you up to this point. I am telling you, get out of this before it does. Sometimes things are just too big for us to deal with, and we have to step aside and let history take its course. For you, John, this is one of those times.” - Former CIA Director William Colby2
* * * *
From
Washington, D.C...
“Homosexual
Prostitution Inquiry Ensnares VIPs with Reagan, Bush”.3
This article was published in the Washington Times and
was written by award-winning, Pulitzer Prize nominated journalist
Paul Rodriguez. After years of research, Rodriguez had compiled the
radical evidence necessary to publish such claims. He had uncovered a
homosexual prostitution ring tied to the White House. One central
figure, Craig Spence, a Republican powerbroker, had the political
clout to bring prostitutes on midnight tours of the White House. The
report names multiple White House insiders, military personnel and
members of major media institutions as clients, based on credit card
records procured by Rodriguez.
“Among the client names contained in the vouchers - and identified by prostitutes and escort operators - are government officials, locally based US military officers, businessmen, lawyers, bankers, congressional aides and other professionals...Although the confiscated material was turned over to District police on the scene, witnesses and law enforcement agents say the Secret Service kept one box containing names and other information about high-level government officials who were clients of the male escort business.District police officials say that, to their knowledge, this is the first time the Secret Service has ever become involved in such a raid in this area.” - Washington Times
Craig
Spence would throw extravagant parties for the Washington D.C. elite,
with 'call boys' freely available for interested party-goers. Various
associates, including multiple of Spence's body guards, came forward
and admitted that his house, where the parties were located, was
thoroughly bugged with audio and video recording equipment, with the
intent of extortion and blackmail of those who ended up in
compromising positions.4
Spence
was somewhat of a mystery man. What type of employment did he have?
No one knew for sure, though Spence himself would often boast of his
important connections. One of his associates told the Times:
“He described Mr. Spence as 'strange', saying he often boasted that he was working for the CIA, and on one occasion said he was going to disappear for a while 'because he had an important CIA assignment'. According to the businessman, Mr. Spence told him that the 'CIA might double-cross him', however, and kill him instead and then 'make it look like a suicide.'” Washington Times5
Indeed,
Spence would die just months after the interview, of an apparent
suicide, but not after admitting that his parties were bugged by
friendly intelligence assets which he refused to name.6
The investigation by Paul Rodriguez and his associates would also
screech to a halt after all of the evidence was either classified by
the Secret Service or tied up in red tape. Someone in a high position
of power clearly did not want the full extent of the revelations to
become public.
Homosexual prostitution on
its own isn't shocking, and depending on your conceptions of
morality, no different than the heterosexual prostitution that is
likewise rampant in Washington D.C. with the only tangible difference
being the repercussions of entrapment (especially for Republicans).
However, one particular part of the investigation leads us down a
shocking rabbit hole:
“In addition to credit-card fraud, the investigation is said to be focused on illegal interstate prostitution, abduction and use of minors for sexual perversion, extortion, larceny and related illicit drug trafficking and use by prostitutes and their clients.” - Washington Times (Emphasis mine).7
In fact, the name Craig
Spence would appear repeatedly in another major prostitution inquiry,
this one centered around children, known today as the Franklin
Scandal, one of the darkest stains in the history of the United
States.
* * * *
...To Franklin, Nebraska
The story of the 'Franklin
Scandal' begins with Lawrence E. King, one of the fastest rising
Republican stars of the 1980's. He was a public figure in Franklin,
Nebraska who ran the Franklin Federal Credit Union, along with a
series of restaurants and bars. These various businesses apparently
furnished King's lavish lifestyle of private jets, extravagant
parties and an entourage of assistants and bodyguards.
Larry
King, as he was known, was accused by seven children of child abuse
and prostitution before he sang the National Anthem at the 1988
Republican National Convention but despite various petitions to local
police and the FBI, no official investigations were ever undertaken.8
One of the allegations began from the serious abuse of children at
the hands of Jarret and Barbara Webb, the former a member of the
Franklin Credit Union board the latter a cousin of King, who adopted
various foster children and would proceed to subject them to horrific
physical, emotional and sexual abuse. The girls housed at the Webbs
told of being taken to various parties in the Franklin area where
Larry King and other important local figures sexually abused them.
One of the girls, Eulice Washington, recalled being flown on King's
private jets to be abused across the country.
“Among the first accusers was Eulice Washington, who claimed King flew her to out-of-state pedophilic orgies. She had been adopted by relatives of King's in the 1970s. Her new 'mother' was King's cousin Barbara Webb, and her new 'father' was husband Jarrett Webb, who sat on the board of the Franklin Federal Credit Union. To Eulice Washington, King had been Uncle Larry. 'Larry King set up the pedophile ring,' says Eulice. 'From my knowledge and from what I saw go down, he was the man who got it moving and rolling. Everything went through him. He loves boys. He loves them like he shouldn't.'” - The Franklin Scandal: A Story of Powerbrokes, Child Abuse and Betrayal9
Despite
Eulice passing various lie detector tests, charges were never pressed
against the Webbs.10
The Foster Care Review Board was the first organization to come
across various cases of abuse, from Eulice Washington and others.
They wrote numerous letters to Nebraska's Attorney General
Robert Spire urging an investigation, but their pleas were ignored.
The FCRB testified to the
State Legislature's Investigative Executive Review Board Subcommittee
in 1988 that:
FCRB Chairman Dennis Carlson: The nature of these allegations are something that is going to shock the Committee. They deal with cult activities... they deal with sexual abuse, and there's a correlation between these two different reports. We have, the Boys' Town report... prepared by a worker from Boys' Town named Julie Walters... (which) contains the allegations of the children that were in the Webb foster home, Nelly primarily. Years later, well, two years later, we have Loretta Smith in Richard Young Hospital who's making allegations against Larry King and as far as we know there is no relationship between Nelly and Loretta Smith... Both reports talk about the Omaha Girls Club, both reports mention a specific individual who is the superintendent of schools.State Senator Remmers: The question that came into mind, it's been in my mind since you've been testifying and I think you've answered part of it just now, is you're talking about about these abuses from children from Boys' Town and Girls' Club and so forth, now is there a common thread that goes over here to the Credit Union deal that we are investigating? In other words to the Franklin Credit Union? Is there a common thread there that kind of leads to that?FCRB Member Carol Stitt: Well, the common thread is Larry King.Remmers: Yes, that's what I mean. It all goes back to him? OK.Stitt: Yes, he seems to be more the organizer, or the high-class pimp, I mean if that helps fit this together.11
Larry
King would also be linked to embezzlement before he sang the National
Anthem at the 1988 Republican National Convention, but again avoided
an investigation. The facade unraveled in November 1988, when an IRS
investigation revealed that King had stolen over $40 million from the
coffers of the Franklin Federal Credit Union. The financial
corruption alone shocked the city, but soon reports started
circulating that in addition to various fraudulent accounting
documents, investigators found a huge stash of child pornography as
well.12
More
rumors of sexual abuse began to arise, with multiple allegations that
Larry King was using children from Boys Town, the nearby Catholic
charitable institution for orphaned youth.13
His yellow sports car was notorious on the Boys Town campus, where he
would drive around and pick up minors for his pedophilic activities.
The Catholic management denied any connection to King, but financial
records showed that Boys Town had a close-knit relationship to the
Franklin Federal Credit Union.14
Federal and local authorities immediately moved to close the
investigation and seal evidence, claiming that allegations of child
abuse were unfounded.15
The
authorities backtracked and stated that they had done everything in
their power to investigate these claims. Attorney General Robert
Spire said:
“We
did receive some sensitive information in July. My office acted
promptly and professionally and nothing was sat on.” However, it
would later be revealed that no authorities ever interviewed Eulice
Washington and other children noted by the FCRB until 3 years later
after they made their report public.16
Despite this, Omaha Chief of Police Robert Wadman stated to the press
that “Every step that should have been taken, was taken.”17
However, Wadman would later confess that he had never contacted
Eulice Washington, one of the children abused at the hands of Webb,
nor the Child Protective Services department that handled
Washington's claims.18
Wadman would later be identified as a child abuser at King's parties
by four different victims.19
* * * *
Obstruction, Threats and
Murder
In an early police
investigation, low level police officers attempted to keep their
inquiries a secret from Wadman, seemingly knowing that he would be
adamant about shutting down their investigation. Nebraska Foster Care
Review Board official Dennis Carlson related Omaha Police Officer
Carmean's testimony to the Legislature's Executive Board hearing:
“[Officer Carmean] told me some things which I found to be somewhat startling. I asked if he was interested in information regarding Larry King and he said, yes we are, we're conducting what he called a supersensitive investigation of Larry King and he said this investigation was so supersensitive that they were not even using the steno pool in the Omaha Police Department. They were handwriting their police reports, and he also told me that Chief Wadman had come to their unit and directly asked if they were investigating Larry King.... Investigator Carmean told me, we lied to the Chief and we said, no, we are not investigating Larry King. OK, so that conversation took place on July 20th of 1988”20
Shortly
afterword, Officer Carmean was transferred out of the Robbery and Sex
unit and the investigation stalled. On July 5, 1989, in a lengthy
"Inter-Office Communication" to Omaha Public
Safety Director Pitmon Foxall (a cousin of Larry King), Wadman
announced that Carmean needed a mental health evaluation.21
Many were not convinced of
the Police Department's conclusion that there was no substance to the
abuse allegations, including a group of 12 State Senators who decided
to create their own parallel commission to investigate the charges,
lead by Senator Loran Schmit. Following the money trail, Schmit and
his team quickly found that it could be traced directly to the sex
parties and child abuse. It became clear to Schmit that he was
uncovering some serious 'dirty laundry':
“I received a phone call on the floor of the legislature. The caller would not identify himself, but he said, Loren, you do not want to have an investigation of the Franklin Federal Credit Union, and I asked, who am I speaking to? And they said, that doesn't matter, but you shouldn't have that investigation. And I said, well, why not? And he said, it will reach to the highest levels of the republican party, and we're both good republicans.” - Loran Schmit22
Schmit wasn't the only one
to receive threats. The lead investigator of the State Senator's
Committee, Gary Caradori, had also specified that he had received a
series of threats, such as obvious tampering with his vehicle, as to
send a message. In early July 1990, Caradori made a trip to Chicago
to meet with a secret informant who had evidence which would 'blow
the lid' off the case, and reportedly confided to a friend that he
was one step ahead of those who wanted to squash the investigation,
saying that if 'they' knew what information he had, he would be
killed.23
Upon
returning from Chicago, Caradori's plane crashed, killing him and his
son. The National Transportation Safety Board investigation found
that the wreckage was scattered over a radius between 3/4 to 1 mile,
indicating without a doubt that the plane broke up in the air,
instead of upon impact. Certain items were missing from the crash,
most notably Caradori's briefcase. Within 24 hours, all of the
evidence was collected by the FBI and sealed.24
* * * *
The Paul Bonacci Trial
What
information was so important that the pedophile network would kill
the lead investigator in what looked like a blatant assassination? It
turns out he was meeting with Russell 'Rusty' Nelson, a photographer
for Larry King, who attended King's parties with the intention of
photographing powerful men in compromising positions with minors, in
order to blackmail them later.25
Like Craig Spence, King was known to throw lavish parties for the
Republican elite, with underage prostitutes allegedly in attendance.
Rusty Nelson was in hiding for an entire decade after the Franklin
Scandal broke but ended his silence under oath during a court hearing
in 1999, in order to 'set the record straight'. He revealed that he
had a very close relationship with King and kept hundreds of
thousands of photographs of King's business dealings and parties in
various locations. Most of the evidence had been confiscated, and
more had been destroyed in Gary Caradori's plane crash.
Rusty's
testimony to the District Court was very interesting. Among other
events, he revealed that he personally saw Larry King place a direct
call to then-president Ronald Reagan when other associates could not
resolve a specific problem. He also claimed to have seen and taken
pictures of the Chief of Police of Omaha Robert Wadman at various
parties, engaged in various sexual acts with minors, and had once
seen Wadman accept a large envelope full of bearer bonds from King.
While most of Rusty's evidence was confiscated, he was able to
provide the court with photographs that corroborated his close
relationship to King, such as photographs of King inside his private
jet and limousine, and alongside male strippers.26
The
District Court hearing was not about Rusty Nelson, but rather for
compensation for one of the victims, Paul Bonacci, who had first made
accusations of abuse against Larry King in 1986, two years before
there was even a Franklin Scandal.
The testimony given was so convincing that the judge awarded Bonacci
with $1 million. The plan was to donate the proceeds to charitable
organizations dealing with child abuse, but King has never paid. Paul
Bonacci suffered from Multiple Personality Disorder, a diagnosis
confirmed by three different state-appointed psychiatrists, from
extreme abuse he had received beginning at the age of 3. At the age
of 8, he became associated with Larry King and began attending his
parties as a child prostitute.
The type of abuse Bonacci
underwent at the hands of Larry King is shocking:
Bonacci: “They put guns up to my head, they put guns in my mouth... Larry King sent out boys, men, to jump me, he had them pretty well beat the tar out of me from the waist down so no one would see the marks, i had my fingers broken... I can remember them burning me with hot instruments... placing stuff inside me... almost what I would call a cattle prod”Judge Urbom “Done by Larry King at his direction?”Bonacci: “At his direction.”
Later on in the trial he
would claim:
“If they wanted to get something passed in the legislature, he would put some people that were against it in a compromising position, by using us boys and girls.”27
One of the men in
Washington that Paul Bonacci claimed abused him is Democratic Senator
Barney Frank. Bonacci was also taken on the very same midnight tours
of the White House hosted by Craig Spence that journalist Paul
Rodriguez wrote about in the Washington Times, as a child. He
claimed that immediately after the tours of the White House, he was
taken to another place to be sexually abused.28
* * * *
The Grand Jury Coverup
Before his untimely death,
Gary Caradori had compiled a leads list of 271 victims of sexual
abuse in the Franklin area, though his death precluded interviewing
most, and others recanted their stories under pressure from Federal
authorities, often accompanied by the threat of jail time for
perjury. Along with Paul Bonacci, the investigation proceeded with
three other primary witnesses, Troy Boner, Danny King (no relation to
Larry), and Alisha Owens.
Both Boner and Owens
recounted tales, after passing multiple state-sponsored lie detector
tests,29
of attending hundreds of parties hosted by Larry King where they were
abused by King and other prominent men in Lincoln and Omaha. The
three would repeatedly corroborate each other in interviews taken
under oath by Gary Caradori, initially without knowledge of each
others participation in the investigation.30
Most of the victims claimed that they were used to transport drugs
across state lines, at the demand of Larry King and Alan Baer, a
prominent Omaha millionaire.
Gary Caradori once followed
a lead of Alisha Owens where she claimed that she was often abused at
The French Café in Omaha. He talked to the former manager on the
telephone, Sheila McGuire, who told Gary that:
“We had parties in my apartment above the French Cafe. Larry King would wine and dine potential investors downstairs at the Cafe. When the French Cafe closed about 1 AM, King and his man called Parking Lot Bob-who worked for him (and was our coke connection)-would bring people upstairs to my place. If Larry King investors wanted drugs, booze, children or hookers (male or female) we'd get them. While these guests of Kings took their pleasures-with the kids or whoever-King would sit and watch- while he drank, did coke and played with his young boys....One time, when this guy Irv from NYC wanted Sandra who was about 12 or 13 years old and getting her 1st period, Larry intervened when Sandra refused. King pulled out a roll of $100.00 bills and gave Sandra 5 of them. King then pulled out a small gram of coke and gave that to Sandra. Sandra finally agreed and went off to bed with Irv. King took good care of the local and out of town high rollers. If you had the money to invest at Franklin, King would cater to your most deranged perversion.And, let me tell you another thing. The boys in the board rooms around Omaha are shitting in their Brogans. If this case gets cracked open the list of involved will read like Who's Who. King and his crew have ruined a lot of childrens' lives.”31
The New York Times confirmed that both Federal and State investigators were given thousands of files regarding sexual abuse from children and testimonies from people involved in the foster care and education system.32 What happened next is amazing. Instead of indictments of the accused perpetrators to develop cases against them, both Douglas County and Federal Grand Juries ordered the thousands of files to be sealed, declined to interview dozens of witnesses, and then brought charges of perjury against Alisha Owens.33
Both Grand Juries concluded
that Troy Boner and Alisha Owens had indeed been abused, but claimed
that the adults they testified against were innocent! Alisha Owens
was later found guilty of perjury, and sentenced to between 9 and 15
years. She ended up spending two years in solitary confinement, more
than any other woman in Nebraska history, and a clear message to
other victims: Stay silent.34
"This is unprecedented,
probably in the history of the United States. If the children are not
telling the truth, particularly if they have been abused, they need
help, medical attention. You don't throw them in jail!"
- Dr. Judianne Densen-Gerber, a lawyer, psychiatrist and
nationally prominent specialist on child abuse, during
her visit to Nebraska in December 1990.35
On
the same day that Alisha Owens was convicted of perjury, the charges
against Paul Bonacci, who told a very similar story, were dropped.36
Perhaps they did not want certain testimony to come to trial, such as
Bonacci's claim that Larry King would send limousines to Offut Air
Force Base and pick up CIA agents for his parties.37
The
Grand Jury trial was a mockery of justice, where the state-appointed
attorney Samuel Van Pelt vigorously attacked the charges and mocked
the allegations of the defendants. It has to be noted that a Grand
Jury is a special type of proceeding where the attorney chooses all
of the witnesses and what evidence is presented; there is no
presentation of the defense or cross examination. A
former Chief Judge of New York State once quipped that a special
prosecutor could persuade a grand jury to "indict a ham
sandwich."38
There
are shocking irregularities with the Grand Jury proceedings. First,
it never called Larry King to testify. In fact, the evidence of child
abuse and child pornography has never been presented against King in
any
court of law. One member of the Douglas County Grand Jury claimed
that the Van Pelt helped write the final
report, which is illegal. The report contained some very peculiar
statements, such as “children
do have the right to expect that if
they
exhibit
reasonable behavior, they
will not be abused.” (Emphasis added). It also contained blatant
lies, such as the claim that Paul Bonacci's doctor said that Bonacci
was not capable of the truth, even though not only was the doctor not
called to testify, he said elsewhere that he believed Bonacci's
story.39
Owen's
attorney, Henry Rosenthal, found that the evidence shown to the Grand
Jury was deliberately tampered with. The video testimony taken by
Gary Caradori was edited to remove sections where Troy Boner and
Alisha Owens corroborated each others claims.40
The lawyer representing originally Owens, Boner and (Danny) King
originally claimed to have had over 100 clients who had suffered
sexual abuse in relation to King and Boys Town, but then later
claimed that their testimonies were all fabrications, only months
before admitting she had an affair with an FBI agent who had bullied
Troy Boner into temporarily recanting his testimony.41
There is also the curious
trend of upward mobility for a group of men who were instrumental in
rigging the Grand Juries:42
- US Magistrate Richard Kopf, who deposited Lawrence King in a federal psychiatric hospital so he wouldn’t have to appear before the grand juries, and signed off on the FBI’s federal search warrant of Alisha Owen’s prison cell, is now a US District Court Judge.
- Thomas Thalken, Assistant US Attorney for District of Nebraska, who prosecuted the federal grand jury in Nebraska is now a US Magistrate.
- Gerald Moran, who was the Douglas County Deputy Attorney who prosecuted the Alisha Owen trial. is now a Douglas County District Judge.
- Robert Sigler, who was the Douglas County Deputy Attorney who prosecuted Alisha Owen throughout her multiple appeals, is now an Assistant US Attorney for the District of Nebraska.
* * * *
Troy Boner
Troy Boner had recounted
his testimony during this period, after receiving threats that he
himself would become the victim of perjury charges. However, in 1993
he submitted an affidavit detailing his intimidation and stating
unequivocally that his testimony as well as those of his peers were
truthful.
“I lied because I truly believed and still do believe that it was a situation where I must either '...lie or die' and at the insistence primarily of the Federal Bureau of Investigation officials who were dealing with me at that time...” - Troy Boner's Affidavit43
Boner
repeated the allegations that the Chief of Police Robert Wadmann and
the Omaha
Herald editor
Harold Andersen were primary players in his abuse and the abuse of
his peers. He recounts the various tactics the FBI used in his
intimidation, including alluding to harm that may come about to a
family member if he persisted in telling his story. Shortly after
these threats, Troy's brother Shawn was found dead from a gunshot
wound. The official story was a game of Russian Roulette.44
Troy cites this as a primary motivating factor in coming forward with
the truth in his affidavit.
“But, maybe the most important thing any honest investigator should do is to ask me, Troy Boner, or any of the other kids such as Alisha or Paul Bonacci, to take polygraph, lie detector tests SIDE BY SIDE ON THE SAME QUESTIONS WITH THE PEOPLE WITH THE PEOPLE WE ARE ACCUSING OF THESE THINGS. Example, ask Alan Baer if he shot mainline drugs into me and if he is a major drug dealer and if he had sex with me. Ask Eugene Mahoney if he met me at a bookstore in Council Bluffs and used to regularly pay me to have sex with him as a boy. Ask [redacted] to take a polygraph test on whether he is a big time drug dealer.” - Troy Boner's Affidavit (Emphasis retained)
The polygraph tests never
happened. In 2004, Troy Boner entered an Omaha hospital visibly
shaken and adamant that he was being targeted because of his
testimony. The next day, he was found in a hospital room dead,
drugged and beaten.45
The timing might be related to the reelection campaign of George W.
Bush, who multiple victims claimed had attended Larry King's parties.
Troy would round out a 'suspicious death' list that had recently
reached 15 names, including:46
- Troy Boner
- Shawn Boner, Troy's brother, found shot in the head shortly after Troy was to testify before court. The official explanation of his death was ruled to be a game of 'Russian roulette'.
- Bill Baker, associate of Larry King and alleged to be involved in the production of child pornography.
- Gary Caradori and his eight year old son, Andrew, killed in a plane crash.
- Newt Copple, a primary informant of Caradori, was 70 when he 'died in his sleep' but exhibited no health problems before his death.
- Clare Howard, the secretary of Alan Baer, the wealthy Omaha businessman who was alleged to be a prime member of the child abuse ring. Also 'died in her sleep.'
- Mike Lewis, former caregiver of victim-witness Loretta Smith. Death attributed to 'severe diabetic reaction' at the age of 32.
- Joe Malek, associate of King, died from a gunshot which was ruled a suicide.
- Aaron Owen, the brother of victim-witness Alisha Owen, died in his jail cell hours before Alisha was supposed to testify, ruled a suicide.
- Charlie Rodgers, alleged sexual partner of Larry King, died of a shotgun wound to the head, ruled a suicide.
- Bill Skoleski, Omaha police officer said to be secretly keeping a file on Larry King, died of a heart attack.
- Kathleen Sorenson, foster parent of children who had escaped the Webb family, and outspoken activist on raising awareness of the abuse of the children she cared for.
- Curtis Tucker, an associate of Larry King, who allegedly jumped out the window of a Holiday Inn in Omaha.
- Harmon Tucker, a school superintendent in Omaha.
* * * *
Conspiracy of Silence
In 1993, a television
station in Yorkshire, England traveled to Franklin to uncover the
truth about the tale of child abuse in Franklin, working in tandem
with the Discovery Channel. It was called “Conspiracy of Silence”
and the very day it was set to air, it was pulled. No explanation has
ever been given, though there are rumors that an anonymous person
paid the Discovery Channel $500,000 to revoke the television rights
to the film. It would only be unofficially released two years later,
when someone who helped produce the video and felt it was so
important it needed to be public, leaked a rough draft from the copy
room to attorney and former State Senator John DeCamp. It is now
widely available for viewing online.
Overall, eight high profile
Omaha figures would be accused of sexual assault, with testimonies
corroborated between victims. They were:47
- Larry King
- Robert Wadman, Omaha Chief of Police
- Harold Anderson, recently retired Editor of the Omaha World-Herald
- Alan Baer, wealthy businessman
- Deward Finch, Superintendent of schools.
- Peter Citron, media personality
- Judge Theodore Carson
- PJ Morgan, Mayor of Omaha
Of these men, only one
would be convicted of child abuse, Peter Citron, on an unrelated
breakout of pedophilia claims which launched a separate
investigation. Before the allegations leading to Citron's arrest
broke, he was threatening to sue John DeCamp for naming him as a
child abuser in a memo sent to the Omaha press.
How could such a massive
and orchestrated coverup take place? It involved the FBI withholding
all sensitive files, including explicit videos and pictures of the
relationships between King and his associates and young children. It
involved a campaign of denial by the Omaha Police Department, who's
chief was a primary member of the child abuse ring, and a
disinformation campaign by Nebraska's media, who also had important
members implicated in the ring. It involved zealous FBI agents who
were self-expressed 'good friends' with Robert Wadman. And it
involved a campaign of suspicious deaths designed to silence
testimony. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, it involved an
American public unwilling to believe that powerful men could be
implicated in child abuse, child prostitution and drug running.
Note: This information is also a part of my free eBook, 'Lifting the Veil: An Investigative History of the United States Pathocracy'. If you enjoy this post, please download the book by clicking this link.
1New
York Times, “The
Girls Next Door,” January 25, 2004
2John
DeCamp, “The
Franklin Coverup”. The book is fascinating and is a 'must read'. (PDF Warning).
3Full
text can be read here.
4Washington
Times, “Power
Broker Served Drugs, Sex at Parties Bugged for Blackmail,”
June 30, 1989
5Ibid.
6Washington
Times, “Spence
Arrested in N.Y., Released.” August 9, 1989.
7Washington
Times, “Homosexual
Prostitution Inquiry Ensares VIPs with Reagan, Bush,” June 29,
1989
8FranklinCase.org,
“Franklin
Timeline”
9Nick
Bryant, “The Franklin Scandal: A Story of Powerbrokers, Child
Abuse and Betrayal”. Nick Bryant is a celebrated investigative
journalist who spent nearly a decade researching the Franklin case,
traveling over 40,000 miles and compiling the most complete
accounting of events to date. Unfortunately, I have been unable to
find a freely available copy on the internet. You should buy this
book if any, however, because 50% of the proceeds are being donated
to organizations that are fighting child abuse.
10Ibid.
11John
DeCamp, “The Franklin Coverup,” page 80. PDF
available here.
12Omaha
World-Herald, “Lawsuit:
King Diverted Millions From Franklin,” November 15, 1988
13New
York Times, “A
Lurid, Mysterious Scandal Begins Taking Shape in Omaha,”
December 18, 1988
14Discover
Channel Documentary “Conspiracy
of Silence”.
15Omaha
World-Herald, “'No
Substance,' Say Police, FBI Evidence Called Lacking To Link
Franklin, Abuse,” February 5, 1989
16Nick
Bryant
17Ibid.
18Ibid.
19“Conspiracy
of Silence”
20DeCamp,
page 48
21Ibid,
49
22“Conspiracy
of Silence.”
23DeCamp
24“Conspiracy
of Silence.”
26Ibid.
27Court
Transcripts, “Paul Bonacci vs. Lawrence E. King”
28Ibid.
29“Conspiracy
of Silence”
30Caradori's
videotaped testimony is available here.
31DeCamp
32New
York Times, “Omaha
Grand Jury Sees Hoax in Lurid Tales,” July 29, 1990
33Salem
News, “America's
Greatest Child Sex Scandal: Boys Town in Lincoln, Nebraska,”
December 29, 2012
34DeCamp
35Ibid.
36Nick
Bryant
37Bridget
Howe, “If The West Falls,” Excerpt
Available Here.
38The
Economist, “The
ham sandwich standard ,” February 28, 2014
39DeCamp
40“Conspiracy
of Silence”
41Nick
Bryant
42DeCamp
44DeCamp
45DeCamp
46Ibid.
47“Conspiracy
of Silence.”
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