In which a murder victim’s daughter tracks down the Mafia hitman-turned-Central-American-minister who killed her father. Eventually, she confronted the guy while wearing a hidden camera. But to get there, she spent twenty-seven years putting together what turned out to be an enormously complicated affair that investigators called The Octopus:
When Begley began looking into the Octopus case, she was overwhelmed. The stories went in every direction. There were connections with Saudi arms dealers, Nicaraguan Contras, the manufacturing of weapons on Indian land, renegade private security companies and a journalist who apparently committed suicide while investigating it. “A lot of it was lies, but a lot of it was true. I was able to confirm it,” she said. “I was finally able to persuade the police to assign a detective to it. I just kept badgering them until they finally listened.”
The guy was arrested last week. But there’s more to this story! Why such a short-ish item with tantalizing allusions to details that are not provided? Come on! Murder, mystery, justice — I want the whole scoop. I hope the LA Times — or someone — follows up.
