MICHAEL RICONOSCIUTO: The Math/Science Wizard Who Said TOO Much, Part 1

, Michael Riconosciuto (pronounced Riconoshooto), has been called a lying conspiracy theorist, and though he was a child prodigy and often praised as a scientific and computer wizard, ,he is now said to lack skills in both areas. Some of his claims seem outrageous: the Justice Department stole a marvelous software from a private company; the CIA has dealt in drugs, and the Reagan administration broke the law by supplying weapons to the Nicaraguan Contras. He also talks about a strange Indian reservation and numerous experiences no single person was likely to have. Occasionally he takes the legitimate knowledge he has to reach erroneous conclusions. His father was friend of one president and his business partner was an intimate of another, so he may have been inclined to believe that all is not as it appears. Nevertheless, a close examination of his main claims could lead to the conclusion that his claims are mainly on target.

Michael Riconosciuto was a child prodigy and scientific genius who was recruited by the CIA and spent years in successful black operations research. When he was ten years old, he wired his parents’ neighborhood with a working telephone system. In the eighth grade, he created a three dimensional sonar system. As a teenager he won many science fair competitions with laser technology and was invited to do summer research at Stanford. He was involved with his father , Marshall Riconosciuto, in Hercules Research Corporation and developed various electronic devices including an acclaimed power cell. When his father operated a local Hercules Power Company Plant, owned by Dupont, Michael assisted him. His father had been a friend of Richard M. Nixon.

Marshall was also close to W. Patrick Moriarty, the safe fireworks king, who played a key role in Nixon’s kitchen cabinet. Moriarty would eventually go to prison in 1985 on mail fraud counts connected with the failure of his Bank of Irvine. In the process he admitted to bribing many California politicians, and he named some of them. Marshall was allegedly an admirer of Hitler and clearly was a friend of Fred L. Crisman, who helped G-2 agents acquire samples from an alleged crash of 6 UFOs at Maury Island in 1947. They were probably from some US. Experimental craft. Marshall was also a close friend of Clay Shaw and was involved in defending Shaw when Jim Garrison tried to associate him with the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Crisman was questioned by Garrison because some thought he was one of the three tramps picked up after Kennedy was shot.

Investigator James Rothstein, a former New York detective, interviewed Michael Riconosciuto and found that the intelligence people began using him as a “chicken” for sexual purposes to entrap people since he was 13. Michael did not quite admit this to Rothstein, but the investigator found many bits of information that pointed in this direction, including the fact that Michael was sometimes taken to New York City. How likely could this be? Rothstein has been involved in similar cases and may be too anxious to find what he believed were “signs” of abuse. On the other hand, there is a possibility that Rothstein is correct as the author has found, strange as it seems, that some parents—especially members of the conservative elite-- actually find this sort of exposure desirable for their children.

As a young fellow, At that time Michael was manufacturing drugs and once built an under the water lab in Seattle to avoid police detection. He appears to have done a great deal of scientific free-lancing work, including development of modem accessing and error trapping software for Tyme Share, Inc. Charles Emmert, a pal of both Pat Moriarty and Michael’s father, claimed that Mike lived with Janis Joplin for a period and that he was also a cooked amphetamines for the Hells Angels. Emmert added that Michael once shot down an RCA satellite in Mozambique when he was angry with the corporation. According to Emmert, Riconosciuto hung around the Stanford Research Institute wad knew everyone there. For a time, Mike and a fellow named “Victor” ran a teenage prostitute ring to service LA cops.


Before entering Cal Tech, he was recruited for the CIA at age 17. Michael studied physics under Arthur Shallo, inventor of the laser and a Nobel Prize winner. By most accounts he worked for the agency for about 25 years At age 16 or 17, Michael was recruited for the CIA by Al Holbert, a Mossad agent who was connected with federally sanctioned methamphetamine operations in Madera and Mariposa counties. This would have been in 1966. Holbert was allegedly involved in the California drug trade, probably in partnership with CIA people. Michael said learned that Al was also a Soviet agent and he severed his ties with Hobart . In time. Michael became Director of Research for a Wackenhut operation in the California desert. Wackenhut provides security at sensitive military bases, and is filled with former CIA and NSA people. Some say Wackenhut is the “CIA’s CIA.” CIA Director Bill Casey had once been its outside counsel. Wackenhut had a number of joint ventures with the Cabazon Indians, whose reservation was an ideal site for its operations because the tribe has some of the benefits of sovereignty. This nation , had less than thirty members, but numerous companies were located there-- almost all of them fronts for covert operations. In some ways, the alliance with this small nation gave Wackenhut and the intelligence community the advantage of having a small country located on Interstate 10, in the middle of California. Wackenhut, of course, had very close ties to the CIA and has a number of former CIA people in high positions. The CIA used other sovereign Indian reservations for money laundering and drug and gun running. Michael was involved in these activities, particularly laundering the money from these illicit transactions. He told a reporter that gold mesh filters made by Wirecroft Products are often used as currency by intelligence operatives.