- 2 days ago
Conspiracy Of Silence is a chilling documentary that delves into one of the most disturbing cover-ups in American history. Directed by Jody Hughes, it investigates allegations of child exploitation, political corruption, and institutional silence.
This film was reportedly pulled from broadcast due to its explosive content — now it resurfaces to challenge viewers to confront the uncomfortable truths hidden behind power and privilege.
⚠️ Viewer discretion advised: Contains sensitive material and disturbing revelations.
🔔 Subscribe for more documentaries that expose the untold stories behind headlines.
This film was reportedly pulled from broadcast due to its explosive content — now it resurfaces to challenge viewers to confront the uncomfortable truths hidden behind power and privilege.
⚠️ Viewer discretion advised: Contains sensitive material and disturbing revelations.
🔔 Subscribe for more documentaries that expose the untold stories behind headlines.
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Short filmTranscript
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01:14Once one of America's top Republicans, Lawrence King is serving a 15-year prison sentence for a multi-million dollar fraud.
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01:24But financial crime is only half the story.
01:28.
01:30This is the true story of Lawrence King.
01:32It is the story of a cancer at the heart of America and of its continuing cover-up at the highest level.
01:40.
01:42One man is attempting to uncover the full story.
01:46John DeCamp is among the most highly decorated Vietnam veterans.
01:50A former Republican state senator in Lincoln, Nebraska, he is now a lawyer fighting the legacy of Lawrence King's abuse of power.
01:58.
01:59It's a web of intrigue.
02:00It starts in our holy of holies, Boys Town, Nebraska, one of the most respected institutions in the United States.
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02:25piece of the entire web is the use of children for sex and drug dealing and
02:33drug couriers compromising the politician the compromising of businessmen
02:39but worst of all the corruption of key institutions of government that have the
02:47duty and responsibility to make sure these things never happen for John de
02:52camp the trail starts in a unique town just outside Omaha world-famed Boys Town is in
02:58the news again made famous by an Oscar-winning film Boys Town is America's
03:02favorite children's charity it was founded in 1917 by a Catholic priest
03:07father Flanagan is the neglect of unwanted and unloved boy who has become a serious problem in our
03:19society to the home for orphans was after World War One and since then society has changed and the
03:29problems of boys have changed and so now it's a question of taking care of homeless abandoned
03:40neglected abused boys and now girls also Boys Town has been granted the privileges of an incorporated
03:48town a Catholic diocese and a school district for 500 children Boys Town has cash reserves of 500
03:56million dollars but still raises up to 35 million annually solicited from the public by begging letters
04:03and promotional videos I'm Father Val Peter caretaker of Father Flanagan Street and executive director of Boys Town
04:12does Boys Town really exist people ask me you bet it does located in the heartland of America Boys Town
04:21youth have come from many backgrounds and locales as they graduate they shall seek new adventures and head for
04:29different places but always they shall carry with them the spirit of Boys Town if you'd like to help Boys Town
04:38send your tax-deductible gift to Father Val Peter Boys Town Nebraska 68010
04:52Boys Town for me was the first thing I ever heard of when you think of institutions that you respect
04:58believe it or not I was there for a while when an institution like that gets contaminated
05:05then you'd better if you've got any decency at all do something about it or at least get it cleared up
05:11John DeCamp lays the blame for the contamination of Boys Town of the one-time leader for National Black Republican
05:20Council Larry King Larry King Larry King was the fastest rising black star in the entire
05:27Republican Party of the United States during all of the 1980s and he was also one of the most evil
05:34individuals in this country in terms of being a dealer of children in terms of being a thief
05:4240 million that they documented he stole and in terms of using and compromising and corrupting
05:49one after another politicians
05:53the base for his network was the Franklin Federal Credit Union a people's bank in Omaha Nebraska
06:00Larry King was its general manager
06:11thank you this is especially an exciting day for me
06:14Mr. King was a very charismatic person
06:17when he came to the credit union he was brought in because the credit union was actually failing
06:22he did everything to build the credit union
06:29King caught of the leaders of Omaha's wealthy business district
06:33banks, industry and charities place millions of dollars in King's hands
06:42from 1979 Larry King developed close commercial ties to Boys Town
06:47and Boys Town youngsters were sent to work for his companies
06:50Boys Town had quite a few accounts at Franklin Credit Union
06:55those were considered very valuable accounts
06:59they were handled exclusively by the bookkeeping department
07:03but on the average of once a month or once every two months
07:10we always seem to incorporate a person from Boys Town
07:14but King used Boys Town not just as a source of young boys for his business
07:19he prostituted them with sex and drug orgies
07:22Paul Bonassi was a victim of King's abuse
07:28he was also sent by King to lure Boys Town youngsters off campus
07:32we used to just drive around and go toward a home
07:37as we used to do some of the scavenger hunts with picking up some of the kids
07:41you know just kind of win their confidence
07:43you know just kind of win their confidence
07:44become friends with them for a while
07:46start inviting them to the parties
07:48the kids were ten years old or older
07:52in 1986 King's plundering of Boys Town was reported by staff
07:57to its chief executive Father Val Peter
08:00subsequent testimony proves that he carried out his own investigation
08:04but that King's victims refused to talk to him
08:07Monsignor Hupp now blames himself for Boys Town's association with Larry King
08:13well in retrospect I regret having any association with Larry King
08:20had I known it at the time it would never have happened
08:25could you understand why a very detailed report
08:29from a social worker employed at Boys Town
08:32identifying children and identifying their alleged abuses
08:35never saw the light of day nothing happened with that
08:38well I can understand that because I might own that
08:42I wouldn't get up with that but
08:44is that something like that happened? I don't know
08:48Nebraska has a very clear statute that child abuse allegations should be reported
08:54to authorities it shouldn't be reported to the principal of a school
08:58director of a facility it should be reported directly to either child protective services or law enforcement
09:07and so Larry King remained free to feed his pedophilic parties with child victims
09:13but in 1988 a routine review brought King's involvement with Boys Town Youth
09:18to the attention of Nebraska State Foster Care Review Board
09:23from the information presented to the Foster Care Review Board
09:26either via the telephone reports, the personal reports, or the reports we reviewed
09:33Larry King's name was consistently present as someone that the youth were making allegations against
09:40I would say we handed over at least a foot high amount of material to authorities
09:46and nothing happened
09:49Omaha police now accept that Larry King may have been abusing children
09:54Good morning Roberta
09:55But its most senior officer claims the evidence was not conclusive
09:59It is certainly possible that Mr. King was involved in illegal acts with children
10:05If there was sufficient evidence of those types of allegations he would have been prosecuted by the county attorney's office
10:11For me it was very clear that the case was not investigated and not pursued because of the alleged perpetrators
10:17Those perpetrators named by the children were some of the richest and most influential citizens in positions of power in the state
10:28Men prominent in industry, politics, the media, even the police
10:33We can only name the ringleaders
10:36Besides Larry King, they were department store millionaire Alan Baer
10:40And the celebrity columnist of Omaha's only newspaper, the World Herald, Peter Citron
10:48With the judicial system apparently paralysed, Larry King spent Franklin's money on courting political influence
10:58Ten million dollars went on jewelry, flowers and private planes
11:03He cultivated contacts in the inner circles of Ronald Reagan's White House
11:08At his palatial homes, three in Omaha and one in Washington D.C.
11:13He held extravagant parties for the influential and powerful
11:18His lavish spending bought him a protected life
11:22Larry King was constantly heralded, cheered, applauded in the news media
11:31As the great businessman that's helping the poor people, the black community of Omaha
11:37The King's extravagance attracted the attention of the Internal Revenue Service
11:41As a result, on April the 11th, 1988, the Franklin Credit Union was raided and closed by the FBI
11:49King was arrested and the federal investigation showed he had stolen 40 million dollars from Franklin
12:04Documents we possess reveal the FBI interviewed many of the victims of Larry King's sex ring
12:10But no action was taken
12:12In November 1988, Nebraska's state government set up a parallel investigation into Larry King
12:21A legislative committee was formed
12:23Its chairman was the Republican head of Nebraska's banking committee
12:28Corn farmer and state senator, Lauren Schmidt
12:34Immediately, anonymous threats began
12:36I received a phone call on the floor of the legislature
12:41Carter did not identify himself
12:44But he said, Lauren, you do not want to have an investigation for the Franklin Federal Credit Union
12:50And I asked who I was speaking to
12:52And he said, that doesn't matter
12:54But you shouldn't have that investigation
12:57And I said, well, why not?
12:59He said, it will reach to the highest levels of the Republican Party
13:03And we're both going to double it
13:06Undeterred, the committee began their investigations
13:10And the money trail led quickly to the original allegations of child abuse
13:15Carolyn Stitt was one of the first to testify
13:19The night before we testified, before the legislative committee
13:22I did receive a phone call at home
13:24That said, if you speak, you won't live to regret it
13:27To protect the inquiry
13:30Schmidt's committee hired special legal counsel
13:33And full-time professional investigators
13:35Gary Caridori and Karen Olmiston
13:37I said, we do not want you to bring to the committee
13:42Rumors, innuendos, nothing that cannot be backed up with facts
13:47I said, bring to the committee
13:49That which we can take to a prosecutor
13:51The investigators found new victims of King's Pedophile Network
14:00Many on the streets of Omaha
14:02The picture they built up was of a large ring of rich and powerful pedophiles
14:07Many named the same men as those involved with the Boys Town cases three years earlier
14:12They were telling us about prominent people in Omaha
14:20In Omaha and elsewhere
14:22That were abusing children at parties
14:26The prominent citizens' names that originally came up
14:32Were of concern to me
14:36Because I knew many of those individuals
14:38And I very frankly was shocked to have those names show up on the list
14:46To provide the committee with hard evidence
14:48The investigators recorded their new witnesses on videotape
14:56Paul Bernassi had been the victim of abuse since he was eight
15:00He was present at many of Larry King's sex parties
15:03Caridori traced him to the county jail
15:06He had been convicted of fondling his young cousin
15:09He had been convicted of murder
15:11He had been convicted of murder
15:12Who were so many people that would come to these parties
15:17And they would do
15:18Peter Citroen came to the list of the father
15:20To see this
15:21And he would see what he'd do about that
15:22Like that
15:26Media personality Peter Citroen
15:29Procured some of his victims from Boys Town
15:31from Boys Town. The kids he liked were mainly around the age of probably about 8 and 13.
15:38He was mainly fondly in oral sex with him. He did have some anal sex, but he usually
15:43did that with the older kids. The parties involved ever more sadistic abuse.
15:49Whenever you were tied up, was there anybody else present other than you, Peter Siffgren?
15:56Yes. Who was that?
16:00It was Alan Baer.
16:03Millionaire Alan Baer hosted parties for a large number of sadistic pedophiles.
16:08Paul Bonassi suffered at their hands.
16:12You okay?
16:13Yeah.
16:15It's time to be up and have some other kids perform sex on me and they...
16:21Oh.
16:23Okay. Just take a deep breath now.
16:29Troy Bonner was found by the investigators and his videotaped testimony taken under oath.
16:42I was shocked when I walked in. There was a kid, I would say, about 15 years old, out of the middle of the room. One guy was standing in front of him. He was bent over and the other guy was like reaching under him, playing with his nipples while a guy who was standing in front of him.
17:00The police officer was shoving beads up his rectum.
17:18Yes.
17:19Bonner named Alan Baer as the man who introduced him to the sex parties.
17:25Alan Baer was a sick fuck.
17:29Didn't care, you know, wanted sex, nasty, you know, I don't even know if you can call it sex.
17:35Everything, I mean, from just, you know, touching to fruit, squash, you know, huge squash, you know, that big around, stuck into you, into your ass, you know.
17:49Heat, heat things, hot things, you know, poked at you and stuck in you.
17:54But the center of the child's sex ring was Larry King.
18:01Larry King was the same kind of sick fuck Alan Baer was, except Larry King was more violent, more sure of himself, you know.
18:09I got those scars on my arm one night at a party where Larry King, you know, wanted to see how strong a man we were or something, you know, and have us put your arms together.
18:17I mean, you'd light cigarettes, and as soon as you get burning, you just drop them down between your arms and, you know, let it burn.
18:25You know, and they never stand there naked and touch each other like holding our arms together and burn cigarettes.
18:30You know, it's on film someplace.
18:33What did they film do?
18:35Burning, you know.
18:37I mean, I would, you know, fuck a ten-year-old boy in the ass, you know, until he bled and, you know, just pull out and stop and, you know,
18:46push him down, you know, and then go out and, you know, meet with decent people.
18:53King would also provide underage girls for abuse.
18:57Alicia Owen told the investigators she was 15 when she attended her first party, introduced by a Boys Town Boy.
19:04Caridori discovered her in jail where she was serving a sentence for passing bad checks.
19:09I met some guys there that were from Boys Town, and it was at that party that I met Larry King.
19:16At the time that I met Larry King, I did not know that he was Larry King.
19:21I had met him. It was the first time I'd ever met him.
19:25Larry King and Alan Bear frequently hosted the child sex parties in Penthouse Apartments at the Twin Towers Luxury Block in Omaha.
19:34A lot of it was me handcuffed with my hands behind my head, and my feet tied, and doing different things.
19:52What are you doing?
19:55I saw sometimes a big eye straddling over my face.
19:59Okay.
20:00Most of the time. Larry King took pictures quite a bit during that time.
20:07I know it's difficult.
20:12I don't know.
20:13Okay.
20:14I think I could say no.
20:16Okay.
20:17I know.
20:18Okay.
20:19Okay.
20:20Okay.
20:21Okay.
20:22And, you know, Alicia, you're a victim.
20:25Mm-hmm.
20:26And, uh, at your young age, let's go off camera for a minute.
20:39We were appalled.
20:41Appalled.
20:42I don't even know if it comes across on the video, the way it came across to us in person.
20:49It was, it was incredible.
20:52It's incredible what these kids went through, I think.
20:55Larry King was also here.
20:57He came in, and, uh, we drank and did cocaine.
21:02I didn't do much, and he turned me on to what Larry King did.
21:07Drugs was a strong part of, uh, how they got control over some of the kids.
21:13Because that's what some of the kids were there to get.
21:16They would, uh, do the sexual, uh, acts and then be provided with, uh, cocaine or, uh, whatever type of drug they wanted.
21:26Heroin, you know, I don't, I don't know, but that was my, my drug of choice.
21:30Yeah.
21:31Till this day I remained an addict, you know.
21:34And those of us that didn't like to be involved, and didn't want to be involved, were threatened.
21:41Correct.
21:42Oh, so.
21:45Any, uh, and who was really threatening Mark?
21:49Larry King.
21:50Did you get Larry King first in the day?
21:53I mean, I think he did.
21:56And they threatened, you know, that I can go find somebody that will kill you,
22:02in front of you, and it will kill your family.
22:05Um, you won't tell anybody.
22:09Larry King was, I would say, the center of transporting the children around the country.
22:19The, the airplanes were usually, um, in his name, at least in his name.
22:26They were paid for by Larry King.
22:29So, we met them in Papadena.
22:33Met who in Papadena?
22:34We now were seniors there.
22:37There were, um, three boys that I had seen at one of the receptions,
22:43at the French Cathedral, were there.
22:45And I was positive they were boys from boys.
22:48I was positive.
22:51Um, they were there.
22:53They were young.
22:54You mean graduates of Boys Town?
22:56Well, I'm not present.
22:57I think they were present because they were young.
22:59Well, how would they get away so long?
23:00I have no idea.
23:01Okay.
23:02Boys Town, uh, came up frequently during the investigation,
23:06but we found it very difficult to get information about Boys Town.
23:09I was not able to find any information on my visit there,
23:12and, uh, Shakira Doria could not get information either.
23:16Boys Town today remains unwilling to discuss its involvement with Larry King.
23:22We were banned from filming at Boys Town,
23:25and its public affairs officer refused any interviews.
23:31I would, uh, have to give you a flat no.
23:34I'm just going to tell you at this point that, uh,
23:37we will not participate with you.
23:39We have no interest in talking to you folks.
23:42It's something that we don't even care to delve into.
23:45By the spring of 1990,
23:50the Nebraska State Committee was convinced by the evidence
23:53of an organized child abuse ring.
23:55Its chairman, Lawrence Schmidt, sought the advice of his lawyer, John DeCamp.
23:59On his advice, Schmidt turned over all the sworn evidence to the FBI.
24:06But immediately, the videotape testimony was leaked to a hostile local media.
24:11The media immediately started discrediting the witnesses.
24:16They were, um...
24:21The witnesses came across in the media, in the Omaha World Herald, especially, as the criminals.
24:28The last three victim witnesses were demolished by the press, particularly the Omaha World Herald.
24:34The paper never looked for information that would support any of the allegations.
24:39The whole purpose of the stories was to destroy any credibility that these youth may have.
24:47I've heard that people said that Gary Caridori coached me and, uh, that he told me what to say,
24:53but the fact was I didn't meet Gary Caridori until way after I'd already talked to the Omaha police about the abuse and had named all the same people.
25:03Paul Bernassi maintains that neither the FBI nor the Omaha police took his allegations seriously.
25:09They didn't ask me very much about Larry King or, uh, or even, uh, Alan Bear at all.
25:17They treated the allegations that I made about the people who abused me almost like a joke.
25:22The stories were of such significance that the investigators first wanted to prove the accuracy of the stories.
25:32As they said about the investigation of the three, initially three and then a fourth person were telling the stories,
25:38as the investigation developed, it became obvious to the investigators that the information was not accurate,
25:43but, in fact, it was an entire conspiracy of allegations, none of which had any truth to them.
25:49I was very disappointed with the way, uh, the FBI and law enforcement treated the victims.
25:57They, in fact, uh, turned them into the offenders, so to speak.
26:05And instead of taking the evidence that was delivered to them by the victims
26:11and interrogating the persons whom the victims identified,
26:17they seemed to bear down and try to get the victims to change their story.
26:23It seemed to the investigators that the establishment of Omaha was closing ranks.
26:29Then, Troy Bonner was brought in for questioning by the FBI.
26:32The FBI's attitude was, you know, just, no, these, these kind of things don't happen.
26:36From the first interview, when I went, you know, and realized they don't believe the fucking thing I'm saying,
26:40you know, I mean, they are, I mean, they were just appalled, but I realized what that, that look in their eye was back then.
26:48It was fear, it was fear of, you know, I mean, I had witnessed, you know, first-hand things that would, you know, destroy the city.
26:58You know, people, the position, you know, what I mean?
27:01It's not going to be believed, believed, they said. It will not be believed.
27:04You will be found guilty of perjuring you. I mean, they weren't telling me maybe.
27:08You know, they were saying, uh, it's, you're not, if there's no way.
27:11You're going, you go on with the story, you're going to jail. I mean, that was said to me direct.
27:16Troy Bonner agreed to withdraw his videotape testimony.
27:21The FBI used Troy in an attempt to persuade fellow witness Alicia Owen
27:26into abandoning her evidence about Larry King's nationwide network of powerful pedophiles.
27:33We have obtained the recording of the phone call made by the FBI on March the 9th, 1990.
27:41It is significant evidence for John DeCamp.
27:47This is Special Agent Michael F. Mott.
27:50The following will be a consensually recorded telephone call between Troy Bonner and Alicia Owen.
27:57Hello?
27:58Hello.
27:59Hi.
28:00Hey, what's going on?
28:01I'd like to ask you that.
28:03Nah, talk to me.
28:05No, you talk to me.
28:07I don't understand why you're lying. Why are you lying?
28:10What are you talking about?
28:11That's what I'm asking you.
28:12You're calling me why I'm, why I'm lying?
28:14Yeah.
28:15You can talk to this whole thing, Alicia.
28:17You're full of shit.
28:19You either tell me what's going on.
28:20You're full of shit.
28:21Hey, look.
28:22Who do you have listening to the lying?
28:23I have nobody listening to me.
28:25I'm listening to you and I'm hoping you'd give me some fucking answers.
28:28I'll be honest with you. I don't know what kind of game you're lying.
28:32I'm not trying to play a game.
28:33No.
28:34I'm not going to go to jail for you.
28:36And that's what's going to happen.
28:38Why don't you go to jail? Jail for telling the truth?
28:41No, jail for lying.
28:43What have you lied about?
28:45I haven't lied.
28:47Okay, but why are you-
28:50Listen, shut up.
28:52Listen to me.
28:53You're not out here being talked to them every day.
28:56The pressure's kind of hard.
28:58You literally have to have bricks for brains to take on the FBI in this country.
29:05And that's exactly what you have to do to do this properly.
29:09They now, in my opinion, in my investigation, are the architects of the cover.
29:16We asked the FBI in Omaha for an interview about its investigation of the Franklin scandal.
29:23Larry Holmquist for the FBI here.
29:26We feel it would be inappropriate for us to comment.
29:29We work this with the Omaha Police Department.
29:31We just don't feel it would be appropriate for us to make comments.
29:33As the investigators sought out new witnesses, they found themselves under constant threats.
29:48Gary was threatened several times.
29:53His vehicles were tampered with.
29:56I would think whoever tampered with them, it was a scare tactic because it was so obvious that they were being tampered with.
30:03Gary got his...
30:05There was one piece of evidence I know he got that he was...
30:10He even said he got one step ahead of him this time.
30:13He told us about this book.
30:15It was like addresses, telephone numbers, names.
30:20He said if they knew he had it, they'd kill him.
30:27On July the 11th, 1990, Gary Caridori and his eight-year-old son, AJ, were flying home from Chicago in his light aircraft.
30:36They had watched the all-star baseball game and Caridori had been pursuing new leads.
30:43Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are in Harold Cameron's cornfield trying to determine what caused this private plane to crash, killing its two occupants.
30:55The bodies of Gary Caridori and eight-year-old AJ were found in the wreckage.
31:01National Transportation Safety Board investigators say wreckage from the crash is apparently strewn over a three-quarter to one-mile long stretch in this field.
31:10The fact that the wreckage is scattered over a large area certainly demonstrates that it did break up in flight.
31:17The exact mechanism of the break-up yard is still unknown.
31:20The federal investigation was never able to discover what tore the plane apart.
31:26There are things missing from the plane. His briefcase is missing.
31:31I think the plane was sabotaged. There's no doubt in my mind.
31:35Within 24 hours of the tragedy, all Caridori's records were impounded by the FBI.
31:41Gary's widow, Sandy, is still unable to come to terms with her loss.
31:50As a mother, I don't want to ever think that somebody murdered my child, let alone my husband.
32:00But I think if you'd ever talk to any parent, be it mother or father, who's ever lost a child, I mean, the worst thing that you can think of is that somebody would want to murder a child.
32:15I really feel that somebody killed my brother.
32:19And, uh, inside me, I know somebody killed my brother. Somebody could help us out somewhere. Somebody knows something.
32:30And, uh, may, uh, may God help those who did that to him and his family.
32:40The effect of Gary's crash on the investigation, I think, in effect, put an end to anybody else coming forward.
32:55There are many victims. We knew of more. There are more. They're still out there. They're afraid to come forward.
33:05That's when I was finished, because I figured out if they murdered Gary and his son, there was nothing that would stop him.
33:11There was no piece of paper. There was nothing we could come up with that was going to get anything done.
33:20But Gary Caridori's death pricked Troy Bonner's conscience.
33:24He promised, Sandy, that he would tell Senator Schmidt's committee about the FBI's pressure, which led him to lie.
33:31I set the record straight. I was, you know, going to do it, uh, in wood. You know, the truth would come out.
33:41You know, and somebody would be held accountable for his death.
33:44And then at the funeral, I had seen, you know, FBI guys, you know, and they looked at me.
33:48You know, I was supposed to meet Senator Obet and Schmidt for lunch after the funeral.
33:52And, uh, you know, that's when I decided, I told my mom, you know, we're not going to do the lunch.
33:57We're going to, I tell it, I don't link him now.
34:01Troy Bonner claims that pressure from the FBI, and with the assistance of a county attorney's office in Omaha,
34:07led him to swear a new statement claiming that he and Alicia Owen had concocted the entire child abuse story.
34:15He told this story to a grand jury formed to bring any charges.
34:20On July the 23rd, 1990, the grand jury issued a bizarre and contradictory report.
34:26It indicted Larry King for fraud and embezzlement, and ruled that he had paid young men for sex,
34:32but dismissed allegations about his sex ring.
34:35It indicted Alan Bear for the serious offense of pandering for sex,
34:39but rejected evidence linking him to King or to Citroen,
34:43whom it noted had been convicted of separate child molestation charges.
34:47It accepted that Troy, Alicia, and Paul Bonner had been abused,
34:52but not by the people they identified.
34:55And for refusing to withdraw her evidence, it charged Alicia Owen with perjury.
35:05Lauren Schmidt's legislative committee issued a report denouncing the grand jury.
35:12Schmidt acknowledges that the system failed both the victims and him.
35:20I had, I think, a signature record as anyone can put together in 24 years.
35:25I was told that would be curtailed, and it was.
35:29I was told I'd have financial problems, and I did.
35:32The message was not lost on most politicians in Nebraska.
35:38I think the message that was delivered was,
35:41if any legislative committee ever tries to conduct a thorough investigation again,
35:46the same thing will happen.
35:47It has shaken my faith in the institutions of government.
35:59It used to be a firm leader that the system would work,
36:06and that people who did things wrong would be punished.
36:13And we discovered victims who claimed they'd been abused,
36:25and who the grand jury acknowledged had been abused.
36:28But they did not try to find out who had abused those individuals.
36:34Instead, they convicted Alicia Owen of perjury.
36:37Undefensible from my point of view.
36:40The trial took place in July 1991.
36:48Troy Bonner testified that the child abuse story had been an invention.
36:53As a result, Alicia Owen was sentenced to between 9 and 25 years in prison.
36:59I can't find a case in the history of this country where some kid got sentenced to 25 or 30 years in prison for something like this.
37:16If you were going to pick a, what I call a tell sign, something that says something fishy about the whole thing,
37:21it was in the sentencing itself.
37:23For some reason, they had to send a signal to every kid who was a potential witness.
37:27My opinion again.
37:28A signal so loud and clear, if you dare to come forward, if you dare to talk, watch what happened.
37:35Alan Baer was fined $500 after pleading no contest to a reduced charge of aiding and abetting prostitution.
37:43Peter Citron served two years of a three to eight year sentence.
37:46Thanks to Troy Bonner's lies, Larry King never faced child sex charges.
37:51For the $40 million fraud, he was given a 15 year sentence, 10 years left than Alicia Owen.
37:59I feel really sick.
38:01I should be taken out and shot for doing that.
38:04And if that was to happen, I would go with it.
38:09John DeCamp, former state senator and Vietnam veteran,
38:12is now the only man fighting to help Larry King's victims.
38:16He is the lawyer trying to overturn Alicia Owen's conviction and to expose the cover-up.
38:21I live in Nebraska.
38:24I was born here, raised here.
38:26I have four kids growing up here.
38:28Like it or not, it's my heritage, you know.
38:31Well, if it's a dirty cesspool that I got to live in or look back on that I left, that ain't good.
38:37The real cost, if I were going to say to my family, has been the fear and intimidation that's put in some of the kids.
38:44A couple of the kids are really, really frightened and really had some sleeping problems over, you know, here this or that.
38:49So that's been the real concern I've had.
38:52John has received anonymous threats and has turned for advice to his friend and one-time boss, former head of the CIA, William Colby.
39:00Bill Colby told me better than anything.
39:03The one thing the bad people can't afford is publicity and knocking you off right now or doing something obvious to one of your kids would bring them more trouble than it's worth.
39:13I said, you have to consider the possibility of some danger to not only your reputation, but to your person.
39:20I mean, there are people do react rather violently to some kinds of charges, or particularly if they're true, there's more apt to be a negative reaction than if they're false.
39:32If they're false charges, then they can be reacted to in a normal way by a libel suit or whatever.
39:38But if there's truth in it, there can be a danger in that situation.
39:43We've seen that happen in other cases.
39:53John arranges to meet Troy Bonner, the young man he sees as the key to the cover-up.
39:59He's in great danger.
40:01The reason is he carries the secret, so to speak.
40:04He served his purpose for the FBI and others by committing the lies that put the seal on the cover-up.
40:15He knows that Troy's evidence will be crucial to Alicia Owen's case.
40:19And Troy wants to tell the truth, despite very real fears.
40:24My fears are that, you know, I'm not going to be believed again.
40:29It's just, you know, going to be a whole other kind of exploitation like it was last time.
40:33You know, and afraid that that's going to happen or, you know, it might end up dead.
40:37Or a loved one might end up dead.
40:39Troy has an overriding reason for putting the record straight.
40:43Maybe somebody has a better idea.
40:45I want this to go forward and have something done so that all those other kids who a lot worse things have happened to you can come forward and see that action can be taken.
40:54You have to, if you want to protect yourself and your life and your family's life, both now and particularly in the future,
41:01is to use the institutions of government that have been set up to protect you and make them work.
41:06That means you go into federal court, you go after the people that have done this cover-up, and you expose it so there's no longer any percentage on their part in eliminating you because the secret's out.
41:20Yeah, that's why we're here today, to let it out.
41:25John's advice to Troy to tell the truth in court puts him at risk of prosecution by the county attorney's office.
41:34Potentially, they could decide to charge him with perjury because now he is telling that they forced me to lie.
41:43I did lie at Alicia's trial. I did lie before the grand jury. I didn't because the authorities were forcing me to do it and I was scared for my family.
41:50Potentially, they could charge him with perjury this time.
41:54Troy's appearance in court will keep Alicia Owen out of prison.
41:58She's on bail while the camp appeals against her perjury conviction.
42:02As her hearing approaches, vital new evidence emerges.
42:06Alicia claims that some of Troy's videotape testimony was withheld from the grand jury which indicted her.
42:14The tapes that were shown to the grand jury had been edited. Everything that matched Troy's statement that matched mine was edited out.
42:27And I think maybe one of the things we want to do is show the judge specifically how where these, you know, little five minute segments of, look, this tape says this and then show him it isn't in this tape. And this is the tape the grand jury saw.
42:40I'm going to attempt to get these tapes and we'll see what happens next.
42:46But to obtain the tapes, DeCamp must approach some of the very officials he has accused in court of being involved in the cover up.
42:54The county attorney's office which ran the grand jury.
42:57In the good old Alicia Owen case, 127-194.
43:01I'm trying to get the evidence, the tapes and the transcripts of Troy and Danny, Troy, Troy Boner.
43:11Did you tape it up there once?
43:12Yeah.
43:13Look at the county attorney's, they have all the bills up there.
43:16Oh.
43:17Robert.
43:18Let me guess, Robert Siegler had them.
43:23Robert Siegler is the prosecuting attorney trying to send Alicia Owen back to prison.
43:28After lengthening the negotiations, DeCamp emerges with the tapes the grand jury never saw.
43:34In more than two hours of tape testimony, Troy details trips across America on behalf of Larry King and Alan Bear.
43:51Trips for drug deals and sex.
43:53It corroborates Alicia's evidence.
43:56For John DeCamp, this is the proof of the King sex ring for which he has been waiting.
44:15Here it is, so to speak, the smoking gun that they could go out and verify, the corroboration.
44:22In other words, the linkage to King that was denied.
44:27Cover up.
44:28Organized, planned, deliberate, cover up.
44:33The courthouse, Wahoo, Nebraska.
44:36The hearing begins.
44:43Alicia Owen is ready to testify.
44:46So is Paul Bernassi.
44:51But there is no sign of Troy Bonner.
44:59DeCamp discovers that Robert Siegler has sent the young man a subpoena.
45:06Fearing arrest for perjury, Troy has gone into hiding.
45:09DeCamp is without his most vital witness.
45:13In court, Alicia's case is adjourned.
45:24The county attorney's office begins to search for Troy Bonner.
45:28But county attorney Siegler won't say why.
45:31You're about to charge Troy Bonner with perjury.
45:33Every victim witness who stepped forward in any way, or even was a potential witness that somebody heard about,
45:45has either been killed, put in jail under some theory or other, terrified or run out of the state, discredited.
45:54Every perpetrator, every perpetrator, even the convicted ones, have been treated as conquering heroes.
46:03Peter Citron lives in the same house where he abused many of his young victims.
46:08Alan Bear lives in the most exclusive part of Omaha.
46:14He recently bought a downtown shopping mall.
46:18Many of the other abusers named by the children have risen within Nebraska's state government and legal system,
46:25and within the Republican Party.
46:27Obviously, the FBI was protecting something a lot more significant than a bunch of old pedophiles having improper relations with little boys.
46:38They were protecting something a lot more significant than a bunch of drug peddlers.
46:44They were protecting, in my opinion, they were protecting some very prominent politicians,
46:52some very powerful and wealthy individuals associated with those politicians and the political system,
46:58up to and including the highest political people in this entire country.
47:10In search of the men who protected Larry King,
47:13John DeCamp goes to Washington to investigate King's connections in the Republican Party and on Capitol Hill.
47:22Paul Banassi provides him with the evidence that Larry King threw child sex parties here at his rented $5,000 a month Washington house.
47:35I was about 14, about 1981.
47:38At first, it was about three or four times the first year.
47:41After that, it was about once a month.
47:43Some of the parties, when they started off, were straight political-type parties with no sex.
47:47And then, when some of the men had left, some of the politicians had left,
47:51the ones that had planned on engaging in some type of sexual activity,
47:55that would come after the party.
47:58Some of the kids would be held downstairs in some of the rooms,
48:01where if they backed it up or if they started freaking out because of the drugs that they were on,
48:05they'd put them in a room that they couldn't get out of and they'd lock them in.
48:09What kind of drugs?
48:11Anything you wanted. Cocaine, heroin, speedballs.
48:14You're telling me those things were at these parties where you had Larry King and prominent politicians?
48:19Yes.
48:20Were they readily available to anybody at the party?
48:22At the after-parties, they were readily available for anybody.
48:25Beforehand, they did it more upstairs than they did anywhere else in the back room.
48:31Were any attempts ever made that you know of to expose this situation?
48:37As far as I know, nothing's ever been done.
48:40And most of the people that were in there had already been, I guess, compromised.
48:46King's partner was Washington lobbyist Craig Spence.
48:50Spence took youngsters, including Benassi, on private midnight tours of the White House.
48:55So you were in the White House then?
48:56Yes.
48:57And how did you gain access?
49:00Well, I came down with Larry King, but Craig Spence was the one that arranged the trip for us.
49:05And it was kind of a gift for our services that we were doing.
49:08How many times were you on this kind of a trip?
49:11I came to it on two times.
49:14Two times.
49:15And were you used for sex on those occasions?
49:18None until after we left.
49:20After you left the White House?
49:21Yes.
49:22What time of night?
49:23It was usually around midnight.
49:35For me, it was just kind of weird being in the White House at that time of the night.
49:38Getting to go into places that the guy was telling us that nobody gets to go to.
49:43And I seen rooms in there that I'd never even heard about.
49:50Craig Spence and Larry King had a couple of groups.
49:54One was called Bodies by God.
49:55And they had the Cowboys.
49:56And there was another group that was started by Larry King, which was called the Golden
50:01Boys, which was kids that were usually under the age of approximately 10.
50:07Spencer's Cowboy Network was investigated in 1989 by reporter Paul Rodriguez of the Washington
50:13Times.
50:14We had uncovered a series of allegations from some minors, and it led me to a cowboy operation.
50:25It sure fits with, you know, this boy, Paul Bonas.
50:28And he tells the tale of being brought to the White House on occasion kind of as a reward
50:32for the kids.
50:37Craig Spence is dead.
50:38He committed suicide.
50:39He had advanced stages of AIDS.
50:41He was an AIDS carrier and killed himself.
50:43This is the thing that always bothered me.
50:45They claimed it was the largest male prosecution ring in the city that they ever had uncovered.
50:51It was a million dollars a year minimum.
50:53Yeah.
50:54And yet they only prosecuted the operator, Henry Vinson, and three of his lieutenants, as
50:59it were.
51:00They never went after any of the jobs or the clients.
51:04This operation claimed to have clients that ran from the White House to the Capitol Hill
51:09to the State House, to the churches, and within the media.
51:13Exactly what Paul describes as the people he was with.
51:15And a lot of the stuff led there, but we couldn't quite nail it at all cases because, again,
51:21to accuse someone of high stature, you've got to be very careful.
51:23Yeah.
51:24I understand.
51:25We were able to do it through, the mother located us, credit card receipts and canceled checks,
51:30and then lists of the clients.
51:33The prosecutors knew all this stuff.
51:35There was approximately 20,000 documents they had.
51:38They sealed the entire record by court order.
51:41And we have tried, we've attempted on several occasions to unseal that, and we've been told
51:46it'll be a cold day in hell before those records ever get unsealed.
51:51And it makes me wonder what's in those records.
51:53Yeah.
51:58John DeCamp believes that the legal system is still being subverted, and that the people protected
52:04are still at the heart of the American establishment.
52:07He hopes that this program will expose a serious miscarriage of justice, but the opposition
52:18is formidable.
52:23It's beyond belief that arguably the most powerful person in the world, the President
52:30of the United States, in the form of Richard Nixon, could not prevent the investigation of
52:36Watergate, or that President Reagan could not prevent the investigation of Iran-Contra.
52:42And yet, somehow, this group of unnamed, unknown, anonymous individuals in Omaha, Nebraska
52:47have such power, they can control and protect all of these people from being investigated.
52:52Those allegations are ridiculous.
52:56Well, first of all, Nixon did cover up Watergate, number one.
53:03Bush did cover up Iran-Contra, at least officially.
53:08And Omaha has successfully covered up this situation.
53:12In each case, it was the press that exposed the problem.
53:17It wasn't institutions of government.
53:19They had been corrupted.
53:20They had been compromised.
53:21They were the ones doing the cover-up.
53:23The Attorney General is now involved.
53:25De Camp's evidence has been passed by William Colby to a senior lawyer in the Justice Department.
53:32He did say that the Attorney General's office would be very sensitive to any charges of abuse
53:38of children.
53:39That this was a matter of considerable priority to the Department, that this sort of thing
53:43not take place, and that they would assign an officer to look into the case.
53:48For John De Camp, the story of Mary King's corrupt empire holds a dire warning for all America.
53:56If you can control about three or four key elements, you can totally own a state.
54:01You can make right, wrong.
54:03You can make truth, falsehood, falsehood, truth.
54:06If you control the media, if you control the Justice Department, if you control the police, you own the system.
54:36I'll help you.
54:37What's your problem?
54:38People are angry.
54:39You can get into the sexual violence in order to help you.
54:40You can't make a Affordable Careers, but they can't survive.
54:42No, they're not broken.
54:43No, they're not broken.
54:44You cannot run away.
54:45No.
54:46No, they're not broken.
54:47You cannot escape.
54:48You can't come.
54:49Now, they're lost.
54:50You are all dead.
54:51What's your fault?
54:52I'm sorry.
54:53I'm sorry.
54:54I'm sorry.
54:55No, they're dead.
54:56I've never done anything else.
54:57I'm sorry.
54:58I'm sorry.
54:59No, they're not broken.
55:00No, they're broken.
55:02I'm sorry.
55:03I'm sorry.
55:04No, they're not broken.
55:05I'm sorry.
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