Probing one of most organized and complex criminal enterprises in the United States, this report exposes the dynamics of the Octopus, a globe-trotting undercover intelligence operative. Based on 18 years of investigative research, this account reveals high-level, covert government operations and the elaborate corporate structures and the theft of high-tech software (PROMIS) used as smoke-and-mirror covers for narcotics trafficking, money laundering, arms sales, and espionage. The Octopus connections to a maze of politicians and officials in the National Security Council, the CIA, the FBI, and the U.S. Department of Justice are revealed. A detailed look into the recent high-profile arrest of Mafia hit-man Jimmy Hughes is also included in this intriguing analysis.
The Last Circle title refers to the last circle of Hell , the 9th circle at the bottom at the very center of the Dante’s Inferno, Dante places those guilty of treachery and betrayal towards loved ones, close friends, their country, and their masters. Cheri Seymour spent almost 40 years researching & piecing together, connecting unsolved cold cases with Fed/state/local police, dept.of Justice, CIA/FBI, INSLAW /PROMIS software & organized crime. I remember reading about many of these random incidents during the 80’s. Turns out they were all connected. We’re all familiar with Gary Webb & his demise. A lil over 10 yrs before in 1992, Danny Casolaro was an investigative reporter out of Washington DC who was investigating the Octopus, the link between DOJ/CIA, FBI/Organized Crime, the MCA Corp., money laundering, drugs and weapons sales to foreign entities, INSLAW/PROMIS software & a small tribe (30 people) on an Indian Reservation outside of Palm Springs, CA . He was found dead in a bathtub with both his wrists slit. Cherie Seymour includes all of the evidence from Danny’s notes that weren’t missing from his motel room, memoranda from legal testimonies, FBI files, DOJ files, verbatim taped interviews and photographs. There is so many different threads to this never ending story . This reminded me of Real Detectives Season 2 on HBO. There are no footnotes or endnotes but she documents every source in the text, authors of books with pg.#s, links to newspapers stories. She put this book on the Internet in the 90’s for free. I checked it out at my library as a ebook. Like she mentioned, this makes the Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme look like kids play.
Cheri Seymour sets the bar high for a well researched book. There are too many names, places and events and too much time has transpired, but she makes the story work in spite of these barriers. If one can digest all that she uncovers, it becomes abundantly clear that the human family has been subjected to an incredibly huge and pervasive Octopus of evil that still, to this day, rules the world.