---
category: PROMIS Scandal
summary: Zalis also reported that Fred Alvarez, Joseph R.
tags:
- Person
- PROMIS
- CIA
- Lawyer
---

[Paul Zalis](/people/paul-zalis/) was a staff writer for the *Indio Daily News* (currently known as the *Desert Sun*). He reported on the subsequent killings of [Fred Alvarez](/people/fred-alvarez/), [Ralph Boger](/people/ralph-boger/), and [Patricia Castro](/people/patricia-castro/). Zalis wrote that Indio City Manager [Phillip Hawes](/people/phillip-hawes/) confirmed that [William Cole](/people/william-cole/), a Los Angeles-based attorney, had been hired to investigate possible links between the triple slayings and the [Cabazon Indian Reservation](/places/cabazon-indian-reservation/).[^1]

Zalis also reported that [Fred Alvarez](/people/fred-alvarez/), [Joseph R. (Mike) Benitez](/people/joseph-r-mike-benitez/), and [William Callaway](/people/william-callaway/) had previously divulged their findings to him in May 1981, asserting that they were marked for death, but their story never got published.[^1]

[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.