Joseph O'Toole

Joseph O'Toole was a former U.S. Air Force colonel whose last job was in procurement, including liaison with the CIA. After his retirement in 1978, he became managing director of the aircraft sales division of FXC International in Santa Ana, California.¹

FXC International was approached by the CIA to open an aircraft division to broker secret sales of aircraft worldwide on behalf of the U.S. government. Since Israel already had relations with FXC International, it was used to "paper" American equipment in what might have been perceived as illegal sales, allowing the CIA to monitor these transactions.¹

O'Toole was involved in negotiations to sell Chilean F-5Es to Iran through Singapore, believing at the time that this sale had U.S. government authorization, specifically from Robert Gates. He was asked to act as a broker and buy the planes from Chile on behalf of Israel, which would put an American stamp of approval on the deal.¹

In April 1989, O'Toole was involved in a deal to sell three C-130s to Tehran, working with Richard St. Francis of TransCapital Corporation and Mike Timpani. This deal was intended to be a go-between for Israel and Iran, but it was ultimately cut out. O'Toole was later indicted for conspiracy to sell C-130s to Iran in violation of the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, though his case was severed from Ben-Menashe's at their request, as he had cooperated with the government in setting up Ben-Menashe.¹