The first season of American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders: This four-part documentary series delves into the August 1991 death of American investigative journalist Danny Casolaro..Although his friends and family believed there might have been more to his death than a suicide, the local police enforcement at the time ruled it a suicide. At the time, Danny was working on his book, an investigative account of events that he thought would alter the last fifty years of American history. Was Danny really on the right track, and was his excessive knowledge the reason for his murder?
Review: ‘American Conspiracy – The Octopus Murders’ revolves around the events leading up to Danny Casolaro’s death and the secretive nature of his book. Photojournalist Christian Hansen continues Casolaro’s research and writings thirty years after his passing in an attempt to bring this story to a fitting end. Zachary Treitz, the director of the series, is tracking him and recording it as they go.
Detectives concluded that Danny Casolaro committed suicide when he was discovered dead in a bathtub at a West Virginia hotel, his wrists slashed. However, as Christian’s interviews take place, we learn from the former paramedic who was dispatched to the scene, Don Shirley, what he felt was not consistent with this theory. According to him, there were too many cuts on both of his wrists, too deep cuts, and too much blood all over the bathroom and room walls for it to have been a self-inflicted wound. Was the true cause of Casolaro’s death then being concealed? And why? Danny’s brother, Tony Casolaro, claims that three weeks before this incident, the journalist informed him that if there was an accident that resulted in his death, it was not an accident.
Layers upon layers of political conspiracy theories, purported money laundering, illicit arms deals, espionage, and more surface as the documentary series delves deeper through Christian’s perspective. For Danny, it started out as a straightforward inquiry into a case that was still pending between senior Department of Justice officials and the computer software company Inslaw. The company had created Promis, a criminal tracking system that was able to identify connections between cases and create links between them through tracing and tracking.
After initially using this software, the Department of Justice stopped paying Inslaw, nearly forcing the company into bankruptcy. The owner, Bill Hamilton, contended that the reason for the delay was that the Department had stolen the software’s source code and that a rival company, owned by Ronald Reagan’s close associate Earl Brian, was developing a comparable product. The Department explained this as a result of delays on Inslaw’s part in delivering the services it had promised.
Casolaro discovered a connection to an emerging story as he read the narrative more closely. A man known as Michael Riconosciuto—a technical genius, eccentric, and prodigy—said he worked for the US government and was provided access to the software through a backdoor, which allowed him to alter it. Although the US government was selling Promis to other nations as intelligence software, it appears that this backdoor access allowed the US government to spy on what other nations were spying on. Furthermore, other theories went so far as to claim that Reagan had arranged a deal with the Iranian government to keep the American hostages held captive in Iran in order to discredit Jimmy Carter, the president at the time. This theory is known as the “October Surprise.” Reagan’s election as president was the only time the hostages were freed, and Dr. Earl Brian was the one who arranged this arrangement.
If you think that’s a lot to process and simultaneously mind-boggling, that’s only a small portion of Casolaro’s writings and research. As Christian continues to delve deeper, it seems as though each tale Casolaro uncovers leads him to a new one. thus giving the impression that there was a vast, global web made up of various tentacles representing clandestine US intelligence agency operations and activities. Danny then focused on eight well-known figures from a former spy network, identifying them as the masterminds behind global conspiracies that were being orchestrated, and he gave them names.
The show explores the thoughts of the investigative journalist Danny Casolaro as it presents his theories and discoveries. It also shows how his subject has become so much a part of him that even his friends would try to change the subject when he started talking about it. Casolaro appeared to be continuously pursuing fresh leads that he thought would lead him closer to the truth, despite his mounting debts. But was he, rather, being led? Strangely enough, Christian appeared to be following the same path in his search for the truth and his desire to finish Casolaro’s unfinished book. And sometimes it’s about taking a step back and selecting one’s sanity instead, as stated by another investigative journalist.
“American Conspiracy – The Octopus Murders” alternates between two timelines using archival footage, research, and interviews over the course of four fifty-minute episodes. However, the fact that Christian plays Casolaro in the reconstructed scenes adds to the viewer’s confusion and frustration with this constant shifting of timelines. In addition, Michael Riconosciuto made disclosures that some experts felt were meant to mislead, with some truth hidden beneath a mountain of lies. This is on top of the various informational domains and theories that surface regarding purported connections to additional homicides, military intelligence, illicit drug and weaponry trades, and other related topics.
Although the background music heightens the atmosphere and makes for an engaging and captivating watch, this intricate series leaves viewers without any clear answers. It shares everything that director Zachary and Christian discovered during their investigation, some of which raises additional concerns and skepticism and some of which is, to be honest, pretty frightening.
Also read | REVIEW OF QUEEN OF TEARS SEASON 1
