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THE OCTOPUS, SECRET GOVERNMENT AND THE DEATH OF DANNY CASOLARO |
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by Kenn Thomas and Jim Keith Excerpts: After removing Whitlam from office, the Octopus was still not finished with Australia. At 4 A.M. on January 27, 1980, the body of banker Frank Nugan was found in his Mercedes in Lithgow, Australia. He had died from a single gunshot from the .30 caliber rifle which lay on the seat beside him. Nugan had been half owner, with partner Michael Jon Hand, in Nuhan, Ltd., a group of banks founded in 1973, whose most visible subsidiary was Nugan Hand bank in Australia (and whose name is usually applied to the enterprise). Hand had been a Green Beret in Vietnam, working closely with Air America, his commanding officer at the time being William Colby. Hand is also alleged by former associates to have been a drug-runner. The deceased Frank Nugan had been a lawyer in Australia. Others connected to Nugan Hand included the president of the bank, U.S. Rear Admiral Earl P. "Buddy" Yates; the president of Nugan Hand, Inc., Hawaii, Brigadier General Edwin F. Black; and a number of other senior CIA officials. Black had served in the OSS, been a member of the National Security Council, and had commanded all U.S. troops in Thailand during the Vietnam War. The company also retained as a lawyer William Colby, former head of the CIA. Black had been Colby's OSS commander. Inquiries additionally showed that the majority of shareholders in Nuhand, Ltd. were connected to the CIA in some capacity. (Kwitny). p. 91
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