Is the Franklin Cover-up Scandal of Child Sex-Trafficking in Boys Town, Nebraska Still Happening Today?
by Health Impact News Staff
In 1988, the raid and closure of the Franklin Federal Credit Union in Omaha, Nebraska revealed a child sex trafficking ring, mainly boys and, later, girls from Boys Town, Nebraska, that included prominent members of society and government officials as the perpetrators.
The investigation into the credit union and its General Manager, Larry King, ended with the arrest and conviction of Larry King for a forty million dollar fraud.
Despite multiple investigations into the credit union, Larry King and Boys Town, one of the greatest cover-ups was not only successful, but resulted in the accusations made and corroborated by several witnesses as nothing more than a “hoax,” leading to multiple conspiracy theories.
A documentary created in 1993 by a film crew from Yorkshire Television in the UK, went to Omaha, Nebraska to make a documentary about the alleged p***phile ring.
Funding for the film was made by the Discovery Channel in the U.S.A. The documentary was set to air in Ireland and the UK as part of Yorkshire Television broadcast, “First Tuesday.” A US broadcast would follow.
The documentary crew claims to have found a vast operation throughout the country, providing children to the wealthy and political establishment for molestation, drug trafficking and blackmail.
A year later, in 1994, the documentary, “
Conspiracy of Silence,” was complete and ready to air in the UK, but the Discovery Channel withdrew support and reimbursed Yorkshire Television the half million it cost to make.
The documentary remains unaired till this day.
Over the years, the documentary has been leaked onto the web. The information in this story is what I gathered from the investigation done by the crew of Yorkshire Television, a book,
The Franklin Cover-Up, written by John DeCamp, an attorney with intimate knowledge of the scandal, and other research.
Boys Town
The documentary begins in Boys Town, Nebraska, a small town founded in 1917 by Father Edward Flanagan.
Monsignor Robert P. Hupp, former Executive Director of Boys Town, is seen in an interview for the documentary, saying:
With cash reserves of five hundred million dollars, Boys Town was considered the richest square mile in the world.
Today, Boys Town may still be the richest square mile in the US, if not the world. According to their
2016 form 990 tax return,
“Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home” has a total net asset of over a billion dollars.
Franklin Federal Credit Union
The Franklin Federal Credit Union was located in Omaha, Nebraska. It was founded in 1968 by community activists, with the goal of making credit available for businesses and individuals in the African-American community of north Omaha.
By qualifying as a “low income credit union,” it could sell certificates of deposit to non-members, which created and allowed the process of swindling millions. Larry King became its manager in 1970.
December of 1988, the NY Times published
a story about the scandal that offers more in regards to King’s role in the local society and government when the author, William Robbins, reported:
According to Noel Seltzer, a former executive for the credit union, stated in an interview for the documentary:
On April 11, 1988, the Franklin Federal Credit Union was raided by the FBI, and King was arrested.
But allegations against King started much sooner, not allegations of fraud or theft, but allegations of child abuse, child sexual abuse, drugs and pornography. All of which were reported to authorities in Omaha and date as far back as 1985.
Lawrence “Larry” King
It appears Larry King’s name first appears when foster and adopted children from a family in Omaha finally came forward about the physical and sexual abuse they were experiencing at the hands of their foster and adopted parents. John DeCamp’s book,
The Franklin Cover-up, provides details about the first time King’s name was brought up in association with child sexual abuse, among other things.
According to DeCamp, on June 10, 1985, the Washington County, Nebraska Sheriff’s Department contacted a Nebraska Department of Social Services (DSS) social worker who was handling a case involving Jarrett and Barbara Webb of Fort Calhoun. Jarrett was a board member of the Franklin Community Federal Credit Union, headed by Larry King, and his wife Barbara is King’s cousin.
Carol Stitt, Director of the Foster Care Review Board (FCRB), told the documentary crew in her interview:
Almost as if already knowing any internal investigation into child abuse allegations made by the children at Boys Town, and accusing someone who clearly had ties to Boys Town, Carol Stitt was correct. Nebraska DSS brought the allegations to the attention of Boys Town, namely Father Val Peter, who claimed to launch their own investigation into the matter. The investigation done by Boys Town and Father Val Peter concluded with, according to the Yorkshire documentary crew:
In a later interview for the documentary, Monsignor Robert P. Hupp states:
This statement is important to remember as it links Larry King to Boys Town. When the documentary crew went to Boys Town to meet Father Val Peter personally, explaining they must give him and Boys Town the opportunity to talk to them about the “very serious” allegations, this is what was said:
Interviewer:
Boys Town employee:
Interviewer:
Boys Town employee:
The start of the Cover-up
The Franklin Cover-up details the account of how the Nebraska Department of Social Services (DSS) provided information to law enforcement that included specifics regarding the allegations made by multiple children, to Nebraska DSS, in which Larry King’s name was consistently given.
A multitude of new reports and allegations from several different witnesses were brought to law enforcement. These new allegations focused on Larry King:
The Yorkshire Documentary Crew remarked that the Omaha police had finally accepted Larry King was involved in the abuse of children. And yet, their Senior Detective, when interviewed, stated:
Carol Stitt, Director of FCRB had a very different opinion on the how the case was being handled by the local police in Omaha when she told the interviewer for the documentary:
Launch of the “Franklin Committee”
A legislative committee, led by then Senator Loren Schmit, to investigate the Franklin Federal Credit Union, its then General Manager, Larry King, and the multiple physical and sexual allegations made against King and other prominent members of society and the government, was finally created November 18, 1988.
According to DeCamp:
Decamp elaborates on this in his book:
Other accounts on file by the FCRB, also supplied to the Executive Board, can be found in DeCamp’s book,
“The Franklin Cover-up.”
Nebraska legislature agreed with and passed the formation of a committee to investigate the Franklin Federal Credit Union and mainly its General Manager, Larry King, beginning the birth of “The Franklin Committee.”
With a formal investigation now launched against the Franklin Federal Credit Union, the allegations of child abuse, mainly against Larry King, were now starting to surface despite the cover up already being made by the Omaha Police Department and others.
Investigation by the Franklin Committee
Carol Stitt, Director of the Foster Care Review Board, in reference to the amount of information turned over to Omaha authorities, before the “Franklin Committee” became involved, is seen in another interview for the Yorkshire Documentary saying:
Senator Loren Schmit, in an interview for the Yorkshire Documentary stated:
Shortly after the investigation started, Senator Schmit recalls, in another interview for the documentary:
Carol Stitt, director of the FCRB, received similar threats which were told in her documentary interview:
Senator Schmit was not deterred by the threats, and moved forward with the investigation. He hired two Private Investigators, Karen Ormiston and Gary Caradori. With the investigations and interviews conducted by Ormiston and Caradori, the heinous acts these children, often from Boys Town, had to endure were finally brought to light. Karen Ormiston in her interview for the Documentary:
When Gary Caradori was hired by Senator Schmit, the Senator, already well aware of the cover up by the Nebraska Police, told Mr. Caradori:
After FBI Becomes Involved, the Media Participates in the Cover-up
The allegations and videotaped witness testimony, investigated and conducted by both Caradori and Ormiston, were so serious that the head of the Franklin Committee, Senator Loren Schmit, sought the advice from his attorney, John DeCamp, who told him to turn everything over to the FBI. At the advice of his attorney, Senator Schmit handed all the evidence they had collected, over three years time, to the FBI. This resulted in an immediate leak to the media. Both Karen Ormiston and Carol Stitt told the documentary crew how the media immediately went after the witnesses, trying to discredit them. Carol Stitt elaborated:
Senator Schmit on how the FBI handled the information provided to them by the Franklin Committee:
According to John Decamp, he and Senator Schmit:
The FBI, who was able to get one witness to recant their testimony, used this to try and get another witness, Alisha Owen, to admit in a phone call, that she too was lying about her testimony.
The phone call, recorded by the FBI on March 9, 1990, by Special Agent Michael Mott, concluded, with proof, Alisha Owen was not lying about her testimony.
John DeCamp’s take on the phone call and his culmination:
When the Yorkshire Documentary crew asked for an interview with the FBI regarding their investigation of the Franklin Scandal, they were told over the phone:
On February 25, 2017, Joseph Lloyd, through MUCKROCK.com, filed
a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), requesting a copy of the FBI’s investigation into the Franklin child prostitution ring allegations that allegedly took place between 1988 and 1991.
The FBI responded on March 7, 2017, stating:
Sudden Death of the Franklin Committee’s Head Investigator
Karen Ormiston and Gary Caradori started looking for more witnesses in Omaha. While they investigated, according to an interview with Ormiston:
The Yorkshire Documentary did an interview with Gary Caradori’s brother, who claimed he and Gary had a conversation in which Gary disclosed he had one piece of evidence, and he was one step ahead of them this time. Gary allegedly told his brother he had:
Gary Caradori and his son AJ were flying back to Omaha from Chicago July 11, 1990. They were in Chicago watching the All-Star baseball game, and Gary was looking into new leads. The
Lincoln Star reported on July 12, 1990, that Gary was a pilot. He and his son AJ were the only 2 passengers in the plane when it crashed in cornfield around 2:30 a.m. Bill Bruce, an air safety investigator for the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) said the plane appeared to have broken up in flight.
The break up and ultimate crash of the plane is still unknown.
According to the
Lincoln Star’s article, Senator Schmit is quoted as saying:
Within 24 hours of the tragedy, FBI agents impounded all records of the investigation.
After the plane crash, Carol Stitt told the Yorkshire Documentary crew:
Before his death, Gary Caradori and Karen Ormiston were able to gather evidence, which consisted of multiple video interviews by several witness. All the victims corroborated each other, as stated by Carol Stitt, director of the FCRB 3 years prior.
Unfortunately, with the sudden death of Gary Caradori, the investigation and the hope for any future witnesses to come forward was ended. Karen Ormiston mentioned in an interview:
The Perpetrators
The perpetrators named by multiple witnesses to Nebraska DSS, Omaha Police, Carol Stitt, Senator Schmit, Gary Caradori, among others include:
- Larry King: General Manager, Franklin Federal Credit Union
- Bob Wadman: Chief of Omaha Police Department
- Harold Anderson: Publisher of the Omaha World-Herald
- Alan Baer: Wealthy Department store heir.
- Deward Finch: Teacher, Coach, Administrator and Superintendent in several school districts across Nebraska
- Peter Citron: Celebrity columnist for the Omaha World Herald
King recruited “investors” and “participators” in his sadistic scheme from none other than, already well know homosexual prostitution ring leader, Craig Spence, who was featuring boys in Washington D.C.
The Washington Times, June 29, 1989, for their front page headline, revealed Craig Spence and his homosexual acts which included midnight tours of the White House.
Image source
The exposure of Craig Spence only bolster’s Paul Bonacci’s recollection of his time with Spence. The documentary crew captured Bonacci telling Decamp about his visit to the White House:
Investigative Reporter, Paul Rodriquez, with the Washington Times, and the one who exposed the callboy network, told John DeCamp in an interview:
Rodriquez went even further telling DeCamp there were approximately “twenty thousand pieces of documents, or twenty thousand documents that they had,” which were all sealed by court order. Telling DeCamp:
Peter Citron, a columnist for the Omaha World Herald, the media outlet that would account for the witnesses being discredited, was finally arrested and charged with foundling an 11 and 12 year-old boy.
As reported by
Jon Sweet, for United Press International (UPI), in July 1990, the incidents happened in 1988 and 1989. Upon his arrest, police found homemade videotapes which involved homosexual themes with young boys.
Mr. Sweet also
reported Citron acknowledged he had previously been charged with “debauching” a minor in Scarsdale, NY in 1965, but the charges were dropped and he moved to Omaha.
He was fired by the World-Herald newspaper shortly after his arrest in 1990.
District Court Judge Merritt Warren could have sentenced Citron the maximum of five years on each count, but Citron only received 20 months to 5 years on one count, and 16 to 36 months on the other count.
None of the alleged perpetrators, named by multiple witnesses to the Omaha Police, Nebraska DSS, FCRB, Franklin Committee and FBI, have ever been accused of sexual abuse or an affiliation with Larry King and the Franklin Federal Credit Union.
Douglas County Grand Jury
On July 23, 1990, just days after Peter Citron was finally convicted of two felony counts of assaulting a minor and declared a “mentally disordered sex offender,” [9] and twelve days after Gary Caradori’s sudden death, the Douglas County Grand Jury issued its report.
The 42-page “Grand Jury Report” cleared King of child abuse.
Alan Baer was indicted for pandering. The grand jury’s reason for this was because the evidence showed the witnesses received substantial amounts of money or other valuable goods in exchange for sex.
Peter Citron was found, by the Grand Jury, to have “inappropriate sexual contact with male minors,” but because he was already indicted and convicted in a separate court, they found no link between Citron, King and the Franklin Federal Credit Union
According to John DeCamp, the grand jury report contained:
Not only did the grand jury clear all the prominent alleged abusers, they went so far as to say some were not the perpetrators, but victims themselves.
The Douglas County grand jury concluded the witness testimonies (made under oath and corroborated by other witnesses) were nothing more than a “Carefully Crafted Hoax”.
Image source
Carefully Crafted Hoax?
Senator Chambers submitted a “Motion to Expunge” to the Douglas County District Court. With this motion, he included an 83-page brief, which documented the jury’s blatant irregularities.
John Decamp brought up the one question the grand jury left unanswered, which the Franklin Committee mentions in their official response to the jury’s report:
The
Omaha World-Herald took to the defense of the jury’s report when their lead editorial from July 29, 1990, read: “Grand Jury Did Its Job; The Insults Are Intolerable.” The same paper whose columnist, Peter Citron, was convicted of child molestation, and its former publisher, Harold Anderson was “whitewashed” in the grand jury’s report.
What happened to the Victims?
The two witnesses that recanted their testimony, based on threats made by the FBI, went on with their lives, somewhat.
One main witness, Troy Bonner, in an official
affidavit made October 1993, after being sworn in under oath, said the lies he told to the grand jury and at the Alisha Owen trial, were lies caused mainly by the FBI. [10]
He admits to lying when he recanted his original testimony to Gary Caradori, which is on video. Boner:
Paul Bonacci and Alisha Owen, who refused to recant their testimony even when faced with perjury charges, did, in fact, get indicted by the Douglas County grand jury for perjury,
On August 8, 1991, Alisha Owen was sentenced to three consecutive, three-to-nine-year prison terms, which if the maximum was served, she would be in prison longer than Larry King.
John DeCamp on the sentence Alisha Owen received:
Within minutes of Owen’s conviction, the prosecution dropped the Douglas County perjury charges against Paul Bonacci.
Aftermath
Several books have been written detailing the events surrounding the Franklin Federal Credit Union, Larry King and Boys Town. The now dubbed “Franklin Scandal” is surrounded by conspiracy and the stench of a cover-up.
What’s Learned?
John DeCamp summed it up best when he told Senator Schmit: