Michael Riconosciuto

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Michael Riconosciuto (birth date unknown) is (as of 2000) an American activist advocating for several conspiracy theories, and claiming to have expertise in computers, electronics, and explosives.

Imprisoned on drug charges as of the early 2000s, he claims to have been involved in the Inslaw affair (a legal case in which the the U.S. Government was charged with illegal use of computer software), the so-called "October surprise" and other plots. Riconosciuto claims to be an electronics and computer expert and to have been hired to alter Inslaw's PROMIS software to allow for clandestine tracking of individuals. Riconosciuto claims his knowledge of PROMIS made him a threat to the United States Government, particularly the Justice Department, and that this resulted in his incarceration. Some of his supporters see his prosecution as a means of interfering with his ability to agitate about Inslaw, and thus describe him as a political prisoner.

Along with his father Marshall Riconosciuto, he associated closely with the Tacoma conspiracy theory advocate Fred Crisman.

[edit] Biography

Details of Riconosciuto's early life are uncertain. Though some of his claims have been criticized as unreliable, he has in fact demonstrated considerable technical skill. According to an article originally published in the Village Voice,

He was a gifted child: When he was just 10 years old, Michael wired his parents' neighborhood with a working private telephone system that undercut Ma Bell; in the eighth grade, he won a science fair with a model for a three-dimensional sonar system. By the time he was a teenager, he had won so many science fairs with exhibits of laser technology that he was invited to be a summer research assistant at Stanford's prestigious Cooper Vapor Laser Laboratory. Dr. Arthur Schalow [sic], a Nobel laureate, remembers him even now [1991]. "You don't forget a 16-year-old youngster who shows up with his own argon laser." ^[1]

In the late 1960s, he was under surveillance by police investigating drug offenses, and was arrested in the early 1970s. He served a two year prison sentence. Jerry Uhrhammer, a reporter for the Tacoma Morning News Tribune, claims to have read Riconosciuto's court file and learned that psychiatrists who examined him in 1972 before his first drug conviction described him as mentally unstable and having difficulty distinguishing fact and fiction. ^[2]

Riconosciuto claimed that, in 1980, he delivered millions of dollars to Iran as a payoff for the "October surprise".

In the early 1990s, Riconosciuto claimed to have modified the PROMIS software developed by Inslaw, Inc. Riconosciuto was a main source for investigative journalist Danny Casolaro, who died in 1991 while researching Inslaw. Casolaro's death was twice ruled a suicide, but others have argued that there were unanswered questions about the case. Shortly before Casolaro's death, Riconosciuto was again arrested on drug charges, and has remained incarcerated since.

Riconosciuto also claims to have developed what he calls a "barometric" or "pineapple" bomb. He further claimed to have correctly predicted the September 11, 2001 attacks, and to have other inside knowledge of terrorist activities.

[edit] External links

• Michael Riconosciuto
• Riconosciuto Warns of 9-11
• Summary of Michael Riconosciuto's Information Presented in Terrorism Cover Up in America
• Federal sting often put more drugs on the streets
• Chip Berlet about Michael Riconosciuto

[edit] References