Peter Zokosky

Peter Zokosky was an arms manufacturer and a key figure in various covert operations and business ventures, often associated with Robert Booth Nichols and Michael Riconosciuto. He was a former president of Armtec, a company that produced combustible cartridge cases for the Army, and was under a non-compete agreement with them until August 1981. Zokosky also served as a consultant to the British Government on shell casings.¹

The Justice Department Inquiry

Zokosky told the Justice Department's special counsel, Nicholas Bua, that he was the former president of Armtec Defense Products of Coachella, California, which in the early 1980s was the single-source supplier of combustible cartridge casings to the Army. He took people from the Cabazon-Wackenhut joint venture to Picatinny Arsenal in Dover, New Jersey, to meet Dr. Harry Fair and the Army project officer R. Scott Westley, whom he knew from Armtec, about establishing a second-source casing plant on the reservation. Robert Frye recalled first meeting Michael Riconosciuto on a trip to the arsenal in May 1981; Zokosky agreed there was a May trip but said Riconosciuto was not on it and that Frye met him on a second trip in October 1981.²

Bua examined the "Special Operations Report" titled "Nicaraguans and Earl Brian at Lake Cahuilla, 9/10/81," which placed Earl Brian at the joint venture's weapons demonstration of September 10, 1981. He found it had been typed on October 10, 1991, by Gene Gilbert, an investigator for the Riverside County District Attorney, after a jailhouse interview with Riconosciuto, and that all its information except license plate numbers came from Riconosciuto; the former Indio officer Dave Baird, who had memorized the plates at the demonstration, did not identify Brian as Gilbert's later report said. Gilbert told Bua that had he known the stir it would cause he "would have left Earl Brian's name out."²

Involvement in Cabazon/Wackenhut Joint Venture

The writer Cheri Seymour wrote that Zokosky was a key participant in the Cabazon/Wackenhut joint venture, which aimed to develop and manufacture arms on the reservation, and was considered crucial for his expertise in the slurry process used in combustible cartridge cases; that he met Michael Riconosciuto, Dr. John Philip Nichols and Robert Frye at Picatinny Arsenal in May 1981, where Riconosciuto demonstrated his knowledge of weapons systems, particularly a railgun; and that he attended the Lake Cahuilla weapons demonstration in Indio, California, on September 10, 1981, where night-vision goggles and rifles were tested for Contra leaders.¹

Biological Warfare Technology

Seymour wrote that Zokosky took part in the proposed development of biological warfare "viruses" at Stormont Laboratories, grown in cow uteri, and with Robert Booth Nichols presented a proposal for biological warfare technology and anti-toxin kits to the Army (Dr. Harry Fair at Picatinny Arsenal) and to FMC Corporation; she described the technology as capable of selectively wiping out segments of humanity with the appropriate genetic material. Zokosky spoke of incubating viruses in fish tanks at Hercules Research, where, Seymour wrote, Michael Riconosciuto worked on the same technology.¹

Connections to Robert Booth Nichols and Meridian International Logistics

Zokosky was a board member of MIL, a holding company headed by Robert Booth Nichols. He stated that MIL was a "front company" used to funnel money to its board of directors, with funds, he said, coming from the NSA, partly from drug profits. He believed that Robert Booth Nichols worked for the NSC and NSA, doing "contract work" for various government agencies, and that Nichols handled "corporate and government" transactions related to narcotics at a higher level.¹

Zokosky and Nichols were involved in a proposed joint venture with FMC Corporation, where Michael Riconosciuto was Vice President of Meridian Arms. Zokosky also discussed Robert Booth Nichols and Michael Riconosciuto conducting business in Australia, which he thought had something to do with the Nugan Hand Bank.¹

Role in "The Octopus" Investigation

Peter Zokosky was a key source for Cheri Seymour's investigation into "The Octopus." He provided Seymour with a copy of the "Special Operations [Surveillance] Report" on the Lake Cahuilla meeting, which he had obtained from a friend in Washington, D.C., the document the special counsel had traced to Gilbert's 1991 interview with Riconosciuto. He also provided an audio-taped conversation with Michael Riconosciuto narrating the murders of Paul Morasca and Mary Quick, and their connection to drug operations. Zokosky stated that Paul Morasca was killed due to a "narcotics deal" gone awry and his involvement in laundering drug profits.¹

Zokosky was initially defensive about Danny Casolaro's death, stating he believed Casolaro committed suicide, though his wife, Regina Zokosky, indicated he had previously said otherwise. He allowed Cheri Seymour and Kelly O'Meara to review a manuscript written by Robert Booth Nichols about Danny Casolaro's death, titled "Danny Casolaro's Octopus."¹

He also provided Cheri Seymour with a handwritten "Time Line" outlining a chronology of events from 1981 to 1985, which proved helpful in the investigation of the Fred Alvarez triple murders. Zokosky said that Dr. John Philip Nichols had been in Canada with him at the time of the Alvarez murders; John Belton said the trip had been arranged as an alibi.¹

Other Connections

Zokosky claimed to have served in ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) in submarines during World War II and performed "remote viewing" for the military between the 1950s and 1970s at Hewlett Packard Corporation. He also identified himself as a psychic and a member of the Psychic Association of London, using Tarot Cards for readings.¹

He was an investor in the Cabazon Indian Reservation and a skeet range, though he stated that the Mob built the Casino for the Cabazons. He also testified on behalf of Patrick McGuire at the Montana Freeman trial.¹