MCA, Organized Crime & the Justice Department
The DOJ investigation that was shut down and sealed in the 1980s
This part 3 in my series on Danny Casolaro’s investigation into The Octopus. Part 1 & part 2 are also available on my Substack.
Danny Casolaro was in frequent communication with federal investigators who were looking into MCA’s close ties to the mafia. This included FBI Special Agent Thomas Gates and Special Prosecutor Richard Stavin of the DOJ’s Organized Crime Strike Force. Furthermore, Danny was also regularly in touch with Robert Booth Nichols who was in business with the President of the MCA Home Entertainment Division Eugene Giaquinto. MCA was a large, yet forgotten, piece of Danny’s investigation.
A source provided Cheri Seymour documents that were under seal and originated from the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation into the Inslaw case. One report included in these documents satiated the following statement:
“The confidential source said Danny Casolaro called Thomas Gates a few days before his death and asked Gates to come to Martinsburg, VA to meet with him. Casolaro said he had valuable information relating to MCA and illegal activities. Gates told Danny he could not justify the trip. Danny’s body was found in a Martinsburg hotel a few days later. Gates was very upset about this and initiated official authorization to testify to the Judiciary Committee about the death of Danny Casolaro.” - Report No. 91
A Web of Federal Investigations
There were multiple overlapping federal investigations into the mafia’s involvement in the entertainment industry, including the use of payola (pay to play songs on the radio), labor racketeering in the movie industry, and the manufacturing and sale of records and home videos. Describing this spiderweb is beyond the scope of this article, but there are some crucial facts that are salient to Danny Casolaro’s Octopus.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Mx.’s Substack to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.