Conspiracy theorist. Danny was a free-lance investigative reporter who was researching a story called "The Octopus". The Octopus, he believed, is a massive global conspiracy that he traced back to the US Government's taking of a computer financial tracking system called Promis which was developed by Inslaw Corporation. He had been warned that he would die if he continued his investigation and told his brother and another individual: "If anything happens to me, don't believe it's an accident." His body was found in Room 517 of the Sheraton Inn, Martinsburg, WV with apparently self-inflicted slash wounds to both wrists. A stickler for details, none of his notes or recently received papers from a confidential source he had met with a day earlier in West Virginia could be located.
(Casolaro had been working for a year on a book on allegations made in 1983 that the U.S. Justice Department had misappropriated software developed by Inslaw Inc., a Washington company.
He was on the point of cracking the story that had absorbed him for a year, he told several people, including his brother, his girlfriend and Hamilton, an inventor who says the Justice Department stole the computer software system he and his wife devised. Casolaro had begun investigating the INSLAW case, a tangled affair of government perfidy and international intrigue. He found out about related scandals - BCCI, S&Ls, Iran-Contra, the October Surprise - but until a week before he died, he found nothing about Inslaw. Then, he joyfully said, he hit Bingo. One more interview and the case was cracked.
His brother, Dr. Anthony Casolaro, doesn't believe it was suicide. Nor does anyone who knew him - or talked to him in his last days. He also said embalming the body before the family even knows he is dead and not getting their permission would have affected blood work. The last known call he made was to his mother. He told her he was on Route 81 in Pennsylvania. He would be late, but he was headed home. (paraphrase courtesy of M. Warner).
In 2024 Netflix released a documentary series called "American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders", based on all the information Danny had found; complete with clips from various television news sources.
Conspiracy theorist. Danny was a free-lance investigative reporter who was researching a story called "The Octopus". The Octopus, he believed, is a massive global conspiracy that he traced back to the US Government's taking of a computer financial tracking system called Promis which was developed by Inslaw Corporation. He had been warned that he would die if he continued his investigation and told his brother and another individual: "If anything happens to me, don't believe it's an accident." His body was found in Room 517 of the Sheraton Inn, Martinsburg, WV with apparently self-inflicted slash wounds to both wrists. A stickler for details, none of his notes or recently received papers from a confidential source he had met with a day earlier in West Virginia could be located.
(Casolaro had been working for a year on a book on allegations made in 1983 that the U.S. Justice Department had misappropriated software developed by Inslaw Inc., a Washington company.
He was on the point of cracking the story that had absorbed him for a year, he told several people, including his brother, his girlfriend and Hamilton, an inventor who says the Justice Department stole the computer software system he and his wife devised. Casolaro had begun investigating the INSLAW case, a tangled affair of government perfidy and international intrigue. He found out about related scandals - BCCI, S&Ls, Iran-Contra, the October Surprise - but until a week before he died, he found nothing about Inslaw. Then, he joyfully said, he hit Bingo. One more interview and the case was cracked.
His brother, Dr. Anthony Casolaro, doesn't believe it was suicide. Nor does anyone who knew him - or talked to him in his last days. He also said embalming the body before the family even knows he is dead and not getting their permission would have affected blood work. The last known call he made was to his mother. He told her he was on Route 81 in Pennsylvania. He would be late, but he was headed home. (paraphrase courtesy of M. Warner).
In 2024 Netflix released a documentary series called "American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders", based on all the information Danny had found; complete with clips from various television news sources.
Gravesite Details
Markers lists August 12 as date of death. Listed as August 10 elsewhere.
Family Members
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