The Franklin cover-up : child abuse, Satanism, and murder in Nebraska

\*\*This 1992 edition does not contain additional chapters included in the second edition published in 2011.\*\* The shut-down of Omaha, Nebraska's Franklin Community Federal Credit Union, raided by federal agencies in November 1988, sent shock waves all the way to Washington, D.C. $40 million was missing. The credit union's manager: Republican Party activist Lawrence E. "Larry" King, Jr., behind whose rise to fame and riches stood powerful figures in Nebraska politics and business, and in the nation's capital. In the face of opposition from local and state law enforcement, from the FBI, and from the powerful Omaha World-Herald newspaper, a special Franklin committee of the Nebraska Legislature launched its own probe. What looked like a financial swindle, soon exploded into a hideous tale of drugs, Iran-Contra money-laundering, a nationwide child abuse ring, and ritual murder. Nineteen months later, the legislative committee's chief investigator died - suddenly, and violently, like more than a dozen other people linked to the Franklin case. Author John DeCamp knows the Franklin scandal from the inside. In 1990, his "DeCamp memo" first publicly named the alleged high-ranking abusers. Today, he is attorney for two of the abuse victims. Using documentation never before made public, DeCamp lays bare not only the crimes, but the cover-up - a textbook case of how dangerous the corruption of institutions of government, and the press, can be. In its sweep and in what it portends for the nation, the Franklin cover-up followed the ugly precedent of the Warren Commission "The shut-down of Omaha, Nebraska's Franklin Community Federal Credit Union, raided by federal agencies in November 1988, sent shock waves all the way to Washington, D.C. $40 million was missing. The credit union's manager: Republican Party activist Lawrence E. "Larry" King, Jr., behind whose rise to fame and riches stood powerful figures in Nebraska politics and business, and in the nation's capital. In the face of opposition from local and state law enforcement, from the FBI, and from the powerful Omaha World-Herald newspaper, a special Franklin committee of the Nebraska Legislature launched its own probe. What looked like a financial swindle, soon exploded into a hideous tale of drugs, Iran-Contra money-laundering, a nationwide child abuse ring, and ritual murder. Nineteen months later, the legislative committee's chief investigator died - suddenly, and violently, like more than a dozen other people linked to the Franklin case. Author John DeCamp knows the Franklin scandal from the inside. In 1990, his "DeCamp memo" first publicly named the alleged high-ranking abusers. Today, he is attorney for two of the abuse victims. Using documentation never before made public, DeCamp lays bare not only the crimes, but the cover-up - a textbook case of how dangerous the corruption of institutions of government, and the press, can be. In its sweep and in what it portends for the nation, the Franklin cover-up followed the ugly precedent of the Warren Commission." Publisher description Foreword...xi Introduction...xvii Chapter 1. "Nebraska is Death-Laced"...1 Chapter 2. Larry King, a Man Well-Known to Children...5 Chapter 3. Pornography and Ritual Murder...15 Chapter 4. Cover-Up Phase I: The Police...25 Chapter 5. Just How Big Is This Cover-Up?...33 Chapter 6. The Destruction of Commonwealth Savings, Model for Nebraska...38 Chapter 7. The Franklin Committee...53 Chapter 8. "Somebody Has to Tell the Story"...67 Chapter 9. The DeCamp Memo...85 Chapter 10. Paul Bonacci...100 Chapter 11. Cover-Up Phase II: The Douglas County Grand Jury...100 Chapter 12. The Omaha Business Community...129 Chapter 13. The Washington Connection...164 Chapter 14. Cover-Up Phase III: The FBI...182 Chapter 15. Kathleen Sorenson's Story...201 Chapter 16. Four Fighters Who Didn't Quit...214 Chapter 17. "So That the Truth Would Never Come Out"...224 Appendix A: Fifteen Suspicious Deaths...250 Appendix B: Bobby and Me...252 About the Author...274 Index...277