Operation Illwind/1986-child molester sparks largest Pentagon scandal in

[fed-up]

history

what/who else will the investigations into the Foley scandal bring to the light of day?

will history repeat itself?

will guilty congressmen start talking to avoid being charged with child sex crimes?

review of book where I read about this-"When the Pentagon Was For Sale" years ago

http://www.amazon.com/WHEN-PENTAGON-WAS-SALE-Americas/dp/068419516X

WHEN THE PENTAGON WAS FOR SALE: Inside America's Biggest Defense Scandal (Hardcover)
by Andy Pasztor (Author)

From Library Journal
This troubling tale starts with "two scared little girls, the frightfully troubled man who accosted them and the tiny puddle of semen on the grimy basement floor" and spreads to "the biggest Pentagon corruption scandal in history." Pasztor's expose describes Operation Illwind, the investigation and prosecution of a score of officials and contractors who indulged in fraudulent acquisition practices. Big money from lucrative weapons contracts was illegally gained through insider knowledge and pernicious document swapping that "compromised the integrity of the military's procurement system." Basing his book on over 130 interviews (with FBI agents, industrialists, senators, and Defense and Navy secretaries) and a meticulous review of trial transcripts and wiretaps, Pasztor, a Wall Street Journal reporter, doesn't need the innuendos and insinuations that he succumbs to at times. For popular collections.?John Yurechko, Georgetown Univ., Washington, D.C.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Corporate_Welfare/Military_Fraud.html

Military Waste & Fraud: $172 billion/year

excerpted from the book

Take the Rich Off Welfare

by Mark Zepezauer and Arthur Naiman

Odonian Press, 1996
The largest investigation of Pentagon fraud took place between 1986 and 1990. Called Operation Ill Wind, it began when Pentagon official John Marlowe was caught molesting little girls. He cut a deal to stay out of jail and, for the next few years, secretly recorded hundreds of conversations with weapons contractors.

There's no way of knowing how much the crimes Ill Wind looked into cost the taxpayers, but the investigation, which cost $20 million, brought in ten times that much in fines. According to Wall Street Journal reporter Andy Pasztor, "more than 90 companies and individuals were convicted of felonies... including eight of the military's fifteen largest suppliers....Boeing, GE and United Technologies pleaded guilty...Hughes, Unisys, Raytheon, Loral, Litton, Teledyne, Cubic, Hazeltine, Whittaker and LTV...admitted they violated the law."


I wonder if they will call in the guy that was the lead investigator for Operation Illwind and who now specializes in cybercrime according to this article.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_22/b3935015_mz001.htm

MAY 30, 2005


Meet Cyberspace's Head Fed
Nailing the Net's most wanted takes a combo of tech wizardry and good, old-fashioned police work, says FBI agent Daniel Larkin

FBI agent Daniel Larkin was destined, it seems, to be a cybersleuth. Fresh out of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in criminology in the early 1980s, Larkin went to work installing surveillance equipment and dabbled as a private investigator.

A twentysomething whiz kid with no engineering background, he convinced city officials in Pittsburgh to let him install a closed-circuit TV system in the subway network and even wrote the design manuals himself. As a PI, he customized cameras and snuck them into clocks and ceiling lights at retail stores to nail employees stealing merchandise.


...snip

Larkin is no stranger to intense, tricky investigations. He was a team leader in the late '80s on Operation Illwind, which zeroed in on Pentagon graft. For six years, FBI agents tracked corrupt officials and defense contractors in a scam involving lucrative weapons deals. Day and night, Larkin and his colleagues tuned in to 37 different phone taps -- a complex puzzle of communiquEs that they had to piece together. Frequent loud bangs and shouts, Larkin says, caused slight hearing loss in both ears.

But the lengthy eavesdropping taught Larkin and colleagues about the peccadilloes of executives on the take -- and how an understanding of those human frailties could advance the investigation. Operation Illwind led to indictments for fraud and bribery in 12 states and the District of Columbia

[Mabus]

1. Interesting

The Foley story certainly has legs and the GOP is running scared. It would not surprise me in the least if they start turning each other in on other bits of dirty laundry in bids to save themselves. The shit is rolling uphill.

fwiw, I don't recall hearing of Operation Ill Wind before now. Thanks for digging this up and sharing it.

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. Ill Wind - just one more of the Reagan era scandals that

disappeared down the memory tube.

People forget that prior to the current batch of criminals (many of whom are re-treads) Reagan presided over the most corrupt, scandal ridden administration in US history, outpacing even the Teapot Dome scandal and the corruption of the Grant administration.

[Mabus]

4. I don't remember much of the late 80's

I was in and out of the hospital for close to a year before being diagnosed, split with my long-term beau (it was pretty nasty and didn't finally get resolved for almost ten years), changed jobs twice, got stalked and raped (then there was the investigation but since it was an acquaitance rape the DA decided not to prosecute), finally went back to school full-time and started a now 20 year old battle to stop a highway from destroying pristine wetlands so I didn't have a lot of time to stay up on national news.

Yes, there was a lot of stuff that slipped under the radar during the Reagan years. Thankfully we now have the internet and can start educating others, like myself, of the things that happened while we were trying to survive the Reagan-Bush I era.

[fed-up]

5. you can probably find "When the Pentagon was 4 Sale" at a thrift store

or it is selling cheap online.

Glad to read things ae going better for you now.

[leveymg]

Speaking of sex scandals, there was the WH Call Boy Ring during Bush 41

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2003/03/04/15796131.php

Juicy but underreported, and practically forgotten. The Bush family had a lot more clout back then.

[leveymg]

3. Dupe - self-delete