The Franklin Coverup Scandal: The Child sex ring that reached Bush/Reagan Whitehouse

[villager]

time to revisit this again... from the DU archives:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2761520

[Exultant Democracy]

1. It was alredy in my thougts because of Herman Cain, he nd King have all the same "friends."

[hlthe2b]

2. I'd been thinking of that as well... Sure be nice to learn the full truth...

Since we are now about to learn what Nixon said in Grand Jury testimony, how about we open the full files to this Bush I scandal..... (Yeah, THAT will happen)..... :eyes:

[peace frog]

3. This immediately came to mind

thanks for re-posting.

[NashVegas]

4. Ah, Yeah. The Sex Scandal That Never Broke

I was living in Albany, NY, at the time. Read the newspaper (both the Times-Union and Metroland) pretty religiously, paid attention to current affairs. Watched TV news. Don't recall ever seeing anything about this until that article got posted here on DU.

[broiles]

5. Bull-

This is in the same category as all that crap about the Clintons. I don't believe any of this either.

[Angry Dragon]

10. Too many people die around the bushes, too many lies,

too many illegal things happen around them
I guess it is just coincidence

[justiceischeap]

15. It was investigated by the Federal govt. It's not some untrue conspiracy theory. nt

[Major Nikon]

23. And what was the result of that investigation?

[justiceischeap]

24. No clue myself, but I'm sure others can tell you.

Here's some info I've found using Google

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_J._Spence#Washington_Call-Boy_Scandal
http://www.hereinreality.com/callboy.html

[Raksha]

29. No, it isn't just slander and hearsay.

Check out some of the documentation at the links. Some mysterious deaths involved too.

[newspeak]

31. yeah, well it was a repug senator who attempted to

expose the truth. And, what I read, the victims were threatened with jail if they didn't recant their testimony and two refused. So, you can believe what you want. All I know is in our newspapers at one time they exposed corruption, like the iran-contra, putting drugs on our streets, BCCI money laundering, promis software theft scandals, and most of those brave journalists wound up D-E-A-D!!!!

All of it was reported in numerous newspapers-I read about those scandals in our newspaper in california. And what did the government do? Some of those investigating being complicit?

Just because someone isn't brought down, does not mean it didn't happen. It means that there are many americans who would rather stick their head in the sand until enough catch on just how morally bankrupt some in power are and how far they will go, including murder, to not be exposed.

[newspeak]

33. actually it's not

the great clenis got a BJ from one who was willing--and after spending millions of tax payer money to have something stick on clinton to make him ineffectual or do their bidding-they pinned him on a technicality-a lie, but how the question was asked, was it a lie? Also, Starr, imprisoned a woman who refused to LIE-imprisoned her with no due process.

Now you want to equate that with a repug senator who came forth to expose the truth about children being sexually molested by some deviant, rich men? Nope, no equivalency.

[Politicalboi]

44. But Clinton did have affairs

I knew he was guilty with Monica. I was hoping it wasn't true, but it was. Just like I think Bush is guilty of the sex ring in the WH in 1989 as reported in the Washington Times. IMO Bush 1 is a true criminal, so is his whole family. I only hope something big comes out of this and we finally get to see that POS tried for the crimes he committed.

[polmaven]

47. Huge difference

A consensual "affair" between two adults is nowhere even close to a child sex ring. NOT EVEN CLOSE!!!

[AntiFascist]

53. Interesting comments at the Wikipedia stub, sounds like a coverup attempt...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Franklin_child_prostitution_ring_allegations

Paul Bonacci and Alisha Owen were indicted for perjury, however only Owen was convicted. Bonacci was declared incompetent to stand trial. The Omaha World Herald is the newspaper of record for the state of Nebraska, and they followed the Franklin case quite closely, publishing some 700 related articles during the period in question. The previous Wikipedia article (now deleted) was sourced using a number of complete Omaha World Herald articles posted online for educational purposes. The accuracy of the online postings has been verified. Although the consensus among previous editors was that this form of sourcing was allowable, it has recently been disallowed.

...

A Federal Grand Jury was called after the original Douglas County Grand Jury findings were overturned (and sealed) for "procedural irregularities." It was the Federal Jury that ruled that the abuse had occurred but that there was insufficient evidence to indict the accused, the Federal Jury also indicted Owen on eight counts of perjury (but not Bonacci) which were largely related to claims against Omaha Chief of Police Wadham but this Grand Jury, unlike the county one, made no claims regarding a hoax. Another error in the stub is the dates and it should read between 1985 and 1991. The 1985 Nebraska Foster Care Board made the original claims and the failure of law enforcment to act on those claims was the reason the Franklin Committee was set up (it was the main part of their brief). The Franklin Committee issued a subpoena to Attorney General Robert Spire to provide records proving that the 1985 claims had been investigated as he had claimed but he refused. Spire’s investigator, Thomas Vlahoulis was then issued a subpoena and he testified that none of the original claims had been investigated by the Attorney Generals department but they had been turned over to the Omaha P.D. whose Chief of police was one of those accused. It was this claimed "cover-up" that led to the first Grand jury which took testimony from two of the victims named in the 1985 investigation and another four of the 60 victims that Carodori had found who were willing to testify. Wayne (talk) 06:36, 14 May 2011 (UTC)

[bobthedrummer]

59. ^^^

RECALL SCOTT WALKER!

[yodermon]

6. "Conspiracy of Silence" - the yanked 1994 Discovery Channel Documentary.

about the Franklin Coverup. It never aired, but was listed in the TV guide.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7725966698433381712

[Old and In the Way]

21. First time I've seen this video...thanks for posting!

Man, William Colby, CIA Director, on the record about this? Yeah, there is a lot of incriminating evidence about this prostitution ring - King steals $40MM, gets 10 years. The girl who recanted her testimony after obvious political/FBI pressure, gets 25 years? Now that's a message you're sending to anyone else so inclined to corroborate the evidence. Pretty poor tape, a 2nd or 3rd generation video I think...but the information is clear enough.

[SpiralHawk]

7. The Bush pedo scandal had Nebraska roots, and now...

Nebraska's football team is playing Paterno's team this Saturday in Happy Valley.

Coincidence?

[WinkyDink]

26. You joke, but: Graham Spanier, PSU Pres---after being Chancellor of U. of NEBRASKA.

[Old and In the Way]

8. The same year Larry King is convicted on tax evasion and fund

embezzlement ($40MM of Franklin Savings deposits are unaccounted for), Herm Cain leads a buyout of Godfathers for $30MM. Both King and Cain are hi-profile black Republicans in Omaha. Coincidence?

Why would Pillsbury reward the guy who took their $300MM asset and turned it into a $30MM buyout opportunity? Why would an investor group risk $30MM with this clown's performance?

[SpiralHawk]

9. Wow

Just wow. Fracking plug ugly wow.

[bobthedrummer]

19. In deep politics there are no coincidences as you and I and many others well know Old and In the Way

RECALL SCOTT WALKER!

[newspeak]

35. now that I didn't know

something that makes you go hmmmmm.

[Old and In the Way]

39. I found a Godfathers link to the Franklin Savings scandal

http://www.american-buddha.com/franklincoverup.12.htm


In retrospect, the informant thought, it was likely that the heavyset young man had been Larry King. That would agree with a report by Jerry Lowe from June 18, 1989, of an interview with a former Franklin employee:

indicated that Willie Thiesen's name had been linked with Larry King's as being homosexually involved ... and that King had also had similar relationships with Harold Andersen, Eugene Mahoney, and Bob Wadman.


fascinating stuff....but wait....there's more!

http://winsipcuster.blogspot.com/2011/11/jerry-sandusky-second-mile-foundation.html

Laminature is deeply concerned that the Omaha/Happy Valley connection may even include current Republican presidential hopeful, Herman Cain. "Cain came to Godfather's Pizza in Omaha from Philadelphia where he worked at the headquarters of Burger King. Cain eventually put together what appears to be a sugar-coated deal to buy Godfather's Pizza from Pillsbury at the same time that Larry King, the top black Republican fund raiser in Omaha and the center of the Franklin Cover-Up story was stealing money from Franklin Savings. So, what appears to be a totally disconnected relationship between Jerry Sandusky and Peter Retzlaff of Paris Corporation, a paper products company is not at all disconnected from Omaha and the William "Willie" Theisen pizza connection with Larry King's pedophile ring there. You see, Retzlaff is also on the incorporation records for Southwest Farm and Ranch, Inc. and Southwest Dairy Inc., two companies that take Midwest grains, as does Pillsbury but for human consumption, and sells it to the cattle industry for what? Meat for Burger King hamburgers and Godfather's Pizzas.

Being a serial sexual harasser seems to be only the tip of Herm's problems.

[leveymg]

11. Here's the Front Page of the Washington Times 6/29/89 - the only DC paper that covered Bushboygate

[JackRiddler]

20. That headline tells you...

How the Moonies came to own Mr. Bush.

[newspeak]

32. wasn't it before looney mooney bought the paper?

I thought the scandal was before mooney bought the paper. And speaking about mooney, I bet some think that the crowning of mooney and his wife, with some of our congresscritters there in a government facility, is all just a conspiracy too. Of course, it was on the front page of numerous papers, including the NY times.

Oh, and the crowning happened when little boots became our glorious leader.

[JackRiddler]

36. Nope. The paper was *founded* by Moon in 1982.

"The Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the church. The Times is known for presenting socially and politically conservative views."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Times

So it's always been Moonie, a vehicle to promote their political aims in the capital city of the free world.

.

[newspeak]

37. thanks for the info

so, the bush family and the moonies are bestest of friends now?

[LiberalEsto]

38. One of the Washington Times' own reporters was fired

when credit card slips turned up with his name on them. He is now one of the resident evil ones at the Heritage Foundation.

[KoKo]

42. So, that was his reward

for writing the article... Interesting.

[LiberalEsto]

48. eventually

in the interim he became managing editor of the paper I worked for.
he proceeded to purge all the liberals from the staff, filled it with repug-bots, and ultimately destroyed the paper. I quit because working with him was intolerable.

[KoKo]

41. I was just thinking that today...

I always wondered why the "Moonie Times" printed that story...but, thinking about it today in connection to the Penn State revelations with Paterno's connection to Poppy's lawyer. It hit me that the story in WaTimes was probably a way for the "Rev. Moon" to extract some very nice stuff from Poppy. And, I remembered that crowning of Moon during Bush II's first year (I think it was first year) and also that John Conyers and other prominent congress critters were there. It was bizarre but never got legs beyond what we here on DU were posting about in disgust.

[Old and In the Way]

22. Rodriguez is interviewed in the video.....

The credit card evidence that would show who the johns were, was sealed by the federal courts. Wonder who they were protecting?

[jwirr]

12. Dupe. Sorry

[jwirr]

13. You know what DU friends? We are in a hell of a lot worse trouble

than we will ever know. Our government has been run by some of the sickest people in the world and I do not mean physically or mentally ill. I mean morally bankrupt.

[bobthedrummer]

14. K&R The truth has always been available-only at this late date is it being listened to.

RECALL SCOTT WALKER!

[bobthedrummer]

16. Another DU link: The Franklin Cover-up (started by hang a left January 11, 2005)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2935337

RECALL SCOTT WALKER!

[Politicalboi]

45. Just scanned some of the posts and found this by Minstrel Boy

Excerpted from my blog:

The Nebraska State legislature retained investigator Gary Caradori to sort through allegations of a paedophile ring run out of the Franklin Credit Union, which implicated not only some of the most powerful figures in the state, but high officials in Washington as well.

Caradori travelled to Chicago to gather testimony and evidence of a child prostitution ring which implicated senior Republicans both in the state and in DC, and operated with the knowledge of Vice President Bush (a number of the teens placed Bush at sex parties) and the protection of intelligence agencies, all tied to King's credit union. He'd taken along his young son, who wanted to see the 1990 All-Star Game.

Before returning to Nebraska, Caradori called the committee chief, Senator Loran Schmit, to say he had the smoking gun. "We've got them! There's no way they can get out of it now!" He would be bringing home photographic evidence supporting the fantastic though reluctant testimony of the victimized teens. En route, his small plane exploded in midair, killing both him and his son. A farmer witnessed a flash of light and heard an explosion. That report made the early news, but subsequent stories said the plane exploded on impact. The wreckage was removed to a military base and ruled an accident, though the cause was not determined. His briefcase was never recovered.

Though both Caradori and Schmit had received numerous death threats, Caradori believed they were in the clear. He'd assured the Senator "It's unlikely that they would kill you or me, Loran, because that would be too obvious. But then again, you never know." In the Nebraska statehouse later the day of Caradori's death, Schmit told reporters "There were a lot of people in this state who wanted to see Gary dead. They got their wish."


Another "Plane Crash" how convenient. Man I hope this opens a huge can of worms. Let's get Poppy before he croaks. I hope after more shit comes out at Penn State he has many sleepless nights.

[sarcasmo]

17. If I remember right weren't their posts about W have male escorts on the White House logs?

[arcane1]

18. The Jeff Gannon aka James Guckert (aka Johnny Gosch?) scandals

I remember Gannon being asked straight up if he was the kidnapped child, and he denied it. The story was definitely revived at that time, and Johnny's mother even had a photo sent to her of her son.

Thanks for the reminder, I'm going to look this up

[SpiralHawk]

25. Gannon was the AWOL Bush White House official Male B & D escort

with over 200 documented visits to the White House,

Always thot it strange that the Corporate Media (R)deliberately ignored that salacious truth...They failed America then, as so often.

[Raksha]

30. Yeah, that's why all the DU threads in 2004 and 2005.

That was when the story broke about Jeff Gannon, the so-called White House correspondant who moonlighted as a call boy. There was speculation that he and Johnny Gosch might be one and the same person. Thanks for refreshing my memory.

[KoKo]

43. Didn't Jeff Gannon have a blog or something for awhile?

I haven't thought about him in years...and the White House Logs. As I remember some thought he was visiting Rove and not Bush II. It was a big deal around here for months.

[AntiFascist]

54. Andy Stephenson appeared on MSNBC in April 2005, talking about this....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x354236

"he did great but dietl cut him off before he could answer about paul bonacci..but andy was out there and got it on msm...!! yeah andy!!"

For 2 months afterward he was stalked by the right wing, while dying from cancer:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_elizabet_050714_the_stalking_of_andy.htm

"And it got more vicious from there. Due to the frozen
funds – exacerbating Johns Hopkins' mislaying of a deposit check -- and the confusion it caused us all, Andy 's surgery date was canceled by Johns Hopkins. It was with great difficulty that we were able to persuade the doctor to be put Andy back into the surgical rotation. That cost him two weeks while he suffered from the most aggressive, invasive form of cancer."


http://www.jjraymond.com/political/2007/pedophile.html

[bobthedrummer]

56. Andy Stephenson was the first DUer that I talked to offline. We discussed many things, especially

the history and tactics of extreme American political opposition groups/domestic black operations. This is finally recognized as stone cold reality, not "tinfoil", due to the fact that there are so many "targets" speaking openly, fearlessly.

RECALL SCOTT WALKER!

[Raksha]

27. K & R - Thanks for the DU archive link.

I can remember reading these threads and articles when I was a DU newbie in November 2004. Some of the threads were very active and I spent days reading them. I had never heard of the Franklin cover-up or Johnny Gosch before so it was quite an eye-opener.

[Kingofalldems]

28. Kick and Rec

[Hotler]

34. k&r n/t

[slay]

40. Oh I remember...

thanks for posting this though - goes to show just how totally corrupt you have to be to be in power - not just here - but all over the world. it's the evil head of capitalism - where the worst shit rises to the top.

[tilsammans]

46. K&R, and . . . OMG n/t

[TalkingDog]

49. according to a conspiracy website there a links between Penn State and the Franklin scandal

I ran across this yesterday while looking for the NY Times link to the indictment and figured since Sandusky and Paterno had links to the GOP there might be a grain of truth.

I'm not much for making connections, but somebody with a little more flair for it might have a go.


"Look for the connection between Penn State "Nittany Lions" and the University of Nebraska "Corn Huskers." "

http://winsipcuster.blogspot.com/2011/11/jerry-sandusky-second-mile-foundation.html

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22George+Bush%22+%22Franklin+Sex+Scandal%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Penn+state%22+%22corn+huskers%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

https://www.google.com/search?q=Nebraska+%22cornhuskers%22+sex+scandal&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22George+Bush%22+%22Franklin+Sex+Scandal%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.muckety.com/Graham-B-Spanier/90958.muckety
http://www.muckety.com/33A37137E7CC822C2D6DAE8E58BAA064.map

[bobthedrummer]

50. A DU collaborative investigation: Thelma Colbert, Shannon Ross and other deaths at DoJ

The archived thread below was started May 8, 2007 and it is certainly worthy of placement and serious consideration in this thread today. There is no statute of limitations for murder in The United States of America. Deprivation of rights under color of law can be a capital offense.

A DU collaborative investigation: Thelma Colbert, Shannon Ross and other deaths at DoJ
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x847120

RECALL SCOTT WALKER!

[trueblue2007]

51. sick. these monsters belong in jail forever

[bobthedrummer]

57. Some of them are on the Boards of the "privatized" correctional institutions that are spreading.

RECALL SCOTT WALKER!

[madokie]

52. It had been a while since I read about this

Thanks for taking me back and refreshing my memory.
There's a lot of missing children and I suspect that some are sold into slavery of some sort. This world is full of some sleezy bastards who will do anything for a dollar. if there is a buck to be made they'll do it.

[bobthedrummer]

55. Kick.

RECALL SCOTT WALKER!

[truebrit71]

58. K&R

...