Franklin child prostitution ring allegations

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''Conspiracy Of Silence: 1994 Franklin Scandal: A True Story About Sex, Child Abuse, Murder and Drugs, Covered up By Authorities[1]

"Conspiracy of Silence", a documentary listed for viewing in TV Guide Magazine was to be aired on the Discovery Channel, on May 3, 1994. This documentary exposed a network of religious leaders and Washington politicians who flew children to Washington D.C. for sex orgies. Many children suffered the indignity of wearing nothing but their underwear and a number displayed on a piece of cardboard hanging from their necks when being auctioned off to foreigners in Las Vegas, Nevada and Toronto, Canada. At the last minute before airing, unknown congressmen threatened the TV Cable industry with restrictive legislation if this documentary was aired. Almost immediately, the rights to the documentary were purchased by unknown persons who had ordered all copies destroyed. A copy of this videotape was furnished anonymously to former Nebraska state senator and attorney John De Camp who made it available to retired F.B.I. chief, Ted L. Gunderson. While the video quality is not top grade, this tape is a blockbuster in what is revealed by the participants involved.

Comments by Ted L. Gunderson:[2][3]

In mid-1993, after The Franklin Cover-Up had been circulating for almost a year, the British-based TV station, Yorkshire Television, sent a top-notch team to Nebraska to launch its own investigation of the Franklin case. Yorkshire had a contract with the Discovery Channel to produce a documentary on the case for American television.

They spent many months in Nebraska, and also travelled this country from one end to the other, interviewing, filming, and documenting piece-by-piece the Franklin story as I had told it in the book. They spent somewhere between a quarter-million and one-half million dollars investigating the story, deploying probably a thousand times the resources and abilities that I personally had.

Over the year that I worked with them, I was amazed at the team’s ability to gather new documents and witnesses which kept opening up new and frightening facts about Franklin. They were a crack team. In the final weeks that they were in Nebraska, they expressed their certainty that they would win awards for this documented horror story of government-sanctioned abuse of children; and government protection of some of this country’s most powerful businessmen and politicians, who had been the chief acts in the Franklin story.

Finally, the big day came. Their documentary was to air nation-wide on the Discovery Channel on May 3, 1994. It was advertised in the TV Guide and in newspapers for that day. But no one ever saw that program. At the last minute, and without explanation, it was pulled from the air. It was not shown then, and has never been broadcast anywhere since.

I have a copy of that program, which arrived anonymously in my mail in late 1995. When I watched this pirated copy, I could see clearly why the program had been suppressed. Conspiracy of Silence proved, beyond doubt, that the essential points I had stressed in the book (and more) were all true.

For instance, the team had interviewed Troy Boner. Sometime after that grand jury was over, Troy, guilt-stricken because of his lying over Gary Caradori’s death, contacted me and told the truth about what had happened. This is recorded in a remarkable affidavit (see Chapter 20). The Yorkshire TV team spent a small fortune to confirm Troy’s charges. They flew Troy to Chicago and paid for a lengthy polygraph (lie detector) test at the Keeler Polygraph Institute. With the results of that test, the Yorkshire team was so convinced that Troy was telling the truth, that they featured him in their documentary.

It was only in mid-1996, that I finally pieced together, through sources I am not at liberty to disclose, what happened to stop the broadcast of this documentary.

1. At the time the Yorkshire TV team and the Discovery Channel were doing the documentary, they had no idea how high up the case would go into Government, and what major institutions and personalities in this country, would be found to be linked to the Franklin story. Ultimately, the documentary focused on several limited aspects documented in this book, and developed them much more extensively than I ever had the resources or abilities to accomplish.

2. These areas which the documentary focused on, were: (a) the use and involvement of Boys Town children and personalities in the Franklin Scandal, particularly Peter Citron and Larry King’s relationships to Boys Town; (b) the linkage of Franklin to some of this country’s top politicians in Washington, and in the US Congress, with particular attention on those who attended parties held by Larry King at his Washington mansion on Embassy Row; (c) the impropriety of these politicians and businessmen and compromising of these people by Larry King, through drugs and using children for pedophilia.

3. When the broadcast tape was sent to the United States, Customs officials seized the documentary and held it up as being ‘pornographic material’. Attorneys for Discovery Channel and Yorkshire TV were able to get the documentary released. Then, the lawyers went through the film for months, making this or that change or deletion, so that the documentary ultimately advertised to be shown on the Discovery Channel on May 3, 1994, would survive any claims of libel or slander that any of the individuals identified in the documentary might attempt to bring. The lawyers had cleared the documentary for broadcast.

4. During the several months that the documentary was being prepared and advertised for showing, major legislation impacting the entire future of the Cable TV industry was being debated on Capitol Hill. Legislation, which the industry opposed, was under debate for placing controls on the industry and the contents of what could be shown. Messages were delivered in no uncertain terms from key politicians involved in the Cable TV battle, that if the Conspiracy of Silence were shown on the Discovery Channel as planned, then the industry would probably lose the debate. An agreement was reached: Conspiracy of Silence was pulled, and with no rights for sale or broadcast by any other program; Yorkshire TV would be reimbursed for the costs of production, the Discovery Channel itself would never be linked to the documentary; and copies of Conspiracy of Silence would be destroyed.

Not all copies were destroyed, however, as I and some others received anonymously in the mail a copy of the nearly-finished product.

When the Discovery Channel program, Conspiracy of Silence, was being prepared, the British investigative team insisted that they would not go forward on the program unless they had the on-camera personal interview, and verification of Bill Colby himself, that John DeCamp was reporting the truth with respect to Franklin, and with respect to this book, The Franklin Cover-Up. Colby went on camera, and thoroughly shocked the Yorkshire TV team in how strongly he came out, risking himself, to support me and my work on Franklin.

Bill also wrote a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno, in which he strongly recommended that the Justice Department investigate this case from the standpoint I outlined in my book, a copy of which he enclosed with his letter. He got a formal response back from a Justice Department official, promising that the Department would indeed look into the case.
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The Franklin child prostitution ring allegations took place between 1988 and 1991 and involved an alleged child sex ring serving prominent citizens of Nebraska, as well as high-level U.S. politicians.[1] The allegations also claimed that the alleged sex ring was led by "a cult of devil worshipers involved in the mutilation, sacrifice and cannibalism of numerous children."[1] The allegations centered on the actions of Lawrence E. King Jr., who ran the now defunct Franklin Community Federal Credit Union (FCFCU) in Omaha, Nebraska.[2]

State Foster Care Review Board Investigation

The Nebraska State Foster Care Review Board submitted the results of a two-year investigation into the alleged physical and sexual abuse of foster children to the Executive Board of the Nebraska Legislature, who were investigating reports of child sexual abuse linked to the credit union. Authorities launched a probe, interviewing a number of claimed abuse victims who said that children in foster care were flown to the U.S. East Coast and were abused at "bad parties".[3]

FBI Raid

On April 11, 1988, the offices of the Franklin Credit Union were raided and closed by the FBI, after evidence of lavish spending by Larry King attracted the attention of the IRS. King was arrested, and a federal investigation showed he had stolen $40 million from the credit union. The pedophilia allegations were not looked into.[2]

Nebraska State Legislature Investigation

In November 1988, the Nebraska State government set up an investigation into the financial collapse of the Franklin Credit Union.[2] A legislative committee was formed, with Republican Senator Loran Schmit named as its chairman.

Anonymous Threats

During the investigation, several members claim to have received anonymous threats. Loran Schmit claimed to have received a phone call on the floor of the legislature. The caller did not identify himself, but said, "Loran, you do not want to have an investigation of the Franklin Credit Union." Loran said when he asked why not, the caller said, "it will reach to the highest levels of the Republican Party, and we're both good Republicans."[4]

Carol Stitt, Director of the Nebraska Foster Care Review Board, also claimed to have received a threat the night before she testified before the Legislative Committee. Stitt said the caller had told her that if she spoke, she would not live to regret it.[5]

Professional Investigators

The Investigation hired professional investigators Karen Ormiston and Gary Caradori to help gather information.

Grand Jury

A grand jury in Douglas County (of which Omaha, Nebraska is the largest city and county seat) determined the abuse allegations were baseless, describing them as a "carefully crafted hoax" and indicted two of the accusers on perjury charges.[6] The grand jury also suggested that the abuse stories originated from a vindictive employee terminated by Boys Town, the famed refuge for troubled youths.[6] Later, a federal grand jury concluded that the abuse allegations were unfounded and indicted 21-year-old Alisha Owen, an alleged victim, on eight counts of perjury despite accepting she had been badly abused.[7]. On August 8, 1991, she was sentenced to serve nine to twenty-seen years in prison. Dr Judianne Densen-Gerber, a prominent child abuse specialist said at the time, "If the children are not telling the truth, particularly if they have been abused, they need help, medical attention. You don't throw them in jail".[7]

The same grand jury also indicted multiple officers of the credit union, including King, for crimes related to the embezzlement of funds from the credit union.[6][8] Alisha Owen served 4-1/2 years in prison.[9]

UK Documentary

In 1993, a team from British network ITV's Yorkshire Television traveled to Nebraska to produce a documentary on the issue, funded by US cable network the Discovery Channel. The resultant documentary, Conspiracy of Silence was scheduled to air on May 3, 1994, as part of ITV's award-winning First Tuesday program, but was pulled at the last minute, never to be aired. A poor-quality copy was compiled from various video sources and is available online.[10] neither Yorkshire Television nor Discovery Channel have ever commented officially on why it was not aired. The documentary was produced by investigative journalist Tim Tate and directed by award-winning film-maker Nick Grey.[11]

See also

References

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  4. http://www.franklincase.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=17&Itemid=12 Loran Schmit to ITV Yorkshire Television Crew. At 13:00
  5. http://www.franklincase.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=17&Itemid=12 Carol Stitt to ITV Yorkshire Television Crew. At 13:50
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  10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5NNsUr6hWo
  11. https://spotlightonabuse.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/tim-tate-on-the-making-of-the-franklin-scandal-documentary-conspiracy-of-silence/