Danny Casolaro was found dead in a hotel bathtub at the Sheraton hotel in August 1991 - the official verdict was suicide.
At the time of his death, he was investigating a sprawling criminal conspiracy he labelled ‘The Octopus’.
The exact nature and extent of Casolaro’s Octopus, or whether it existed at all has been subject to much debate and speculation since.
The cause of Casolaro’s death itself was disputed, with many authors and investigators regarding the suicide verdict with scepticism, leading to suspicions that Casolaro was silenced because of what he had discovered about The Octopus.
Had Casolaro stumbled upon a vast criminal conspiracy?
Evidence for
The Inslaw scandal
Casolaro’s starting point for his investigation was a real criminal case — a wide-ranging Washington scandal involving allegations that the US Government had stolen software company Inslaw’s PROMIS program and added illegal back doors in order to spy on foreign governments.
Casolaro called his conspiracy ‘Octopus’ for a reason, as he followed the trail from PROMIS to reveal a much larger story, one that encompassed such seemingly disparate events as the October surprise, the collapse of bank BBCI and the illegal drugs and arms trade — all orchestrated by a secret cabal of global elites.
Whilst the full extent of Casolaro’s Octopus is in dispute, it is based on several real events.
Casolaro’s suspicious death
Casolaro was found dead in a hotel bathtub, seemingly having slit his wrists and bled to death. However, friends, family and some investigators immediately doubted the verdict.
Suspiciously, the large accordion file containing Casolaro's notes and evidence regarding the Octopus investigation were missing.
Casolaro had also been complaining to friends about anonymous death threats he had been receiving. On one occasion, his neigbour Olga Mokros fielded multiple calls in the space of a few hours, one in which a voice said he was going to cut Casolaro’s body up and “throw it to the sharks”.
"I don't know how he didn't pass out from the pain after the first two slashes."
Attending paramedic
Paramedics and medical professionals found problematic details in the suicide.
One pathologist who studied the autopsy noted the lack of hesitance marks and the savage, deep nature of the cuts to Casolaro’s wrists as been highly unusual.
This was echoed by an attending paramedic who told investigators — “I’ve never seen such deep incisions on a suicide...I don't know how he didn't pass out from the pain after the first two slashes.”
Casolaro was noted to be particulary squeemish, to the point he would even avoid blood tests. Would he really chosen such a bloody method to end his life?
The toxicology report also came under scrutiny. Antidepressants were found in Casolaro’s blood, yet he had no history of depression and had never been prescribed the drugs.
Evidence against
Vagueness of the allegations
Despite Casolaro’s general thesis sounding credible, it lacks detail and no solid evidence has ever emerged to link the multiple seemingly disparate events that made up his putative Octopus.
The extent to with Casolaro had unearthed new material that might prove to be a threat to the alleged conspirators is unknown. He did not have a reputation as an investigative journalist and the various strands that were said to make up his story were already in the public domain.
With no evidence from his investigation surviving his death, whether Casolaro had really cracked the mysterious case of the Octopus will probably never be known.
Did journalist Danny Casolaro uncover a vast global conspiracy called the Octopus? - add your comment below
