This is the beginning of a long-form thread documenting Eye of the...

228 views Apr 16, 2026 ~19 min read

This is the beginning of a long-form thread documenting Eye of the Chickenhawk by Simon Dovey — one of the most disturbing and essential books I’ve ever read. The book documents organized child trafficking, state-protected abuse networks, and coverups spanning multiple decades.

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I won’t be sharing graphic details of abuse. The focus is on names, timelines, institutions, and patterns.
The goal is to help people understand how systemic these operations are and how often they were protected from the top down.

I came to this subject through David McGowan’s Programmed to Kill.
Though it’s a book about serial killers, McGowan opens with Pedogate — a chapter not about serial murderers, but about elite-run child trafficking rings.
That choice tells you everything about his thesis.

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Eye picks up where that chapter left off.
It’s a spiritual sequel. The main criticisms of PTK are the lack of citations. That’s not the case here. Dovey references court docs, FOIA files, news reports, & testimony from survivors & law enforcement.

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This thread isn’t meant to summarize the book so you don’t have to read it.
I hope it pushes more people to pick it up.
Because as disturbing as it is, this history is important. Power doesn’t just exploit, it conceals, protects, and repeats.

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Understanding how these systems operate is necessary if we want to dismantle them.
What you’ll see in this thread is a record of how people in powerful positions enabled organized abuse for decades, and how institutions covered it up.

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🧵 EYE OF THE CHICKENHAWK: 
The underground child abuse scene in the U.S. was structured, documented, and coordinated. Using terms like “chickenhawk” (adult predators) and “cadet” (boy victims), the trade was normalized through mail-order publications and coded networks

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Multiple magazines served as front operations:
•Better Life Monthly
•Hermes
•BLK
•Fag Rag
These newsletters used code and advocacy rhetoric to obscure actual trafficking and grooming methods.

One of the most prominent organizers:
John David Norman, a convicted pedophile who ran a nationwide sex trafficking operation called The Odyssey Foundation in the 1970s.

It was disguised as a “mentorship” program matching adult men with boys for “travel and education.”

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When Dallas police arrested Norman, they found:
•Thousands of index cards with names and addresses of clients
•Explicit photos
•Letters to/from U.S. military personnel, doctors, and government officials
•Distribution infrastructure through the mail system

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The cards were handed to the State Department.
They were never entered into evidence.
They were destroyed in 1975, during the Cold War “cleanup” period.
To this day, no investigation has accounted for the network Norman was facilitating.

Dean Corll, known as the “Candyman,” murdered at least 28 boys in Houston between 1970–73.

His known accomplices, Elmer Wayne Henley and David Owen Brooks, confessed that Corll wasn’t just a killer he was a key cog in a network, supplying boys to other
Pedophiles.

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According to Henley & Brooks:
•Corll delivered boys to an unnamed Dallas-based buyer
•The buyer paid in cash
•Corll told them he was protected, and if anything happened to him, they would be silenced

These claims match Norman’s operational base and timeline.

Victim photos later recovered from Roy Ames, a Houston pornographer, show at least 11 of Corll’s victims in his stash, including those previously thought “missing.”

This links Corll to a pornographic distributor.

Ames ran a “record label” but was known in underground circles as a producer of child pornography.
He had ties to Guy Strait in California and William Byars Jr., heir to the Humble Oil fortune (now Exxon).

These names surface repeatedly in U.S. trafficking files.

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In 1973 and 1975, Houston police raided Roy Ames’ warehouse.
They seized six tons of illegal material, including:
•Photos of Corll’s victims
•Mail correspondence
•Letters requesting more violent content
Ames was convicted, served time, and resumed operations.

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Byars and Strait were key West Coast figures.
Strait was arrested multiple times for child porn.
Byars had alleged connections to J. Edgar Hoover and was shielded by family wealth.

Together, they were the distribution wing.
Corll and Ames were the supply chain.

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An ID card and a Houston police report were found buried with one of Corll’s victims — suggesting an attempt to leave a paper trail.

The report was never entered into evidence. FOIA requests decades later showed no record of it in HPD files.

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Multiple witnesses tied to Corll, Ames, or Norman were later found dead under mysterious circumstances:
•Kenneth Hellstrom — murdered after giving information
•Michael Salcido — stabbed to death before testifying
•Steven Ahern — vanished

No investigations followed.

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Authorities in Texas, & later Illinois often released or redirected known perpetrators without notifying other states. The Odyssey Network continued under new names:
•Delta Project
•BoyPower
•Project Lambda
Each absorbed by different mailing hubs and “youth initiatives.”

While Norman was arrested in Texas, he resurfaced in Chicago in the mid-1970s — just in time for the rise of John Wayne Gacy.

Gacy’s known victims: 33 boys.
Timeline overlaps with Norman’s periods of freedom in Chicago.

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Breakdown of Gacy’s murder timeline vs Norman’s freedom:
•When Norman was free, 26 boys vanished.
•When Norman was jailed, only 7 victims disappeared.
•Norman’s Chicago hub was less than 15 miles from Gacy’s house.

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Gacy’s early defenders claimed he was acting alone.
But his own testimony contradicts that:

“There were others involved.”
“Some had keys.”
“I worked for a syndicate.”

This was recorded by attorneys and in pre-sentencing interviews.

Gacy was photographed with:
•Rosalynn Carter
•Mayor Bilandic
•Illinois judges and police chiefs

He worked for the Democratic Party in Chicago. He was a local asset with connections. Reminds you of anyone?

Among Gacy’s named associates were:
•Michael Rossi – lived with Gacy, dug trenches
•David Cram – admitted finding victim IDs
•Phillip Paske – later worked with Norman in jail

Paske and Norman restarted a trafficking operation from inside Cook County Jail.

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That operation used:
•Cook County typewriters
•U.S. postal privileges
•Guard cooperation

They called it “Delta Project” and rebuilt the Odyssey mailing list under a new name.

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The prison chaplain gave Norman printing access. He used it to recruit boys via classified ads, all from inside a maximum-security jail. His bail was paid by anonymous benefactors in California.
He was released with full awareness of his arrest record. He restarted the operation

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In 1977,  David Berta was arrested for producing child pornography. His accomplice: a 19-year-old go-go dancer named John Bell, also a survivor of horrific abuse in state care. Bell was part of a foster system pipeline that funneled kids to institutions accused of rampant abuse.

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Bell became involved with the Odyssey Network, John Norman’s boy prostitution ring. Bell graduated into being both victim and perpetrator within this network, specifically, in a “Delta dorm” arrangement that connected to a clandestine group called The Delta Project.

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Berta and Bell were caught attempting to sell 8mm films of child abuse. Berta was also an editor for a newsletter called Hermes, one of several underground publications used to connect and coordinate pedophile networks.

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The investigation into Hermes revealed a network with national reach. Three men—Berta, Patrick Townson, and Elden Gale Wake—were linked to John Norman and The Delta Project, a trafficking ring with operations in Chicago, L.A., and Dallas.

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These operations used coded newsletters (Hermes, Better Life) to advertise boys, exchange information, and arrange meetups. Norman ran this web from prison with help from outside collaborators like Philip Paske—another convicted murderer and child molester.

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One of the most disturbing links uncovered: a Michigan dentist was caught with 69 reels of child pornography, some labeled “John Bell – Michigan trip.” He and Bell had been directors of a children’s summer camp.

Also involved: Elden Wake, the Hermes printer.

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The trail led to North Fox Island, a private island owned by Michigan philanthropist Francis D. Shelden. Shelden had funded Hermes, employed Wake, and ran a front group—Brother Paul’s Children’s Mission—which ran the island as a “summer camp.”

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Michigan State Police believed the island was part of an international ring producing child pornography. Photos from the island appeared in known publications used by pedophile networks.

A warrant tied the island directly to Shelden.

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Shelden, a geology professor and heir to old money, was well-connected in Michigan politics and charity. He sat on boards for youth organizations, ran Big Brother programs, and even worked with delinquent children through General Motors’ charity.

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Despite this public image, Shelden was heavily involved with Hermes and Better Life Monthly, a self-described “boy love” publication.

His associate Gerald Richards testified that Shelden used a network of “magic shows” to trade boys between pedophiles.

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Richards and Shelden would meet in hotels and at Shelden’s estate to abuse boys. Eventually, Shelden proposed setting up a permanent summer camp on his island—with Richards as director.

The camp was incorporated under a fake church in New Jersey.

The operation had all the trappings of a real nonprofit, using phony religious front groups (The Church of New Revelation, Ocean Living Institute) and fake sea-steading ventures. Key incorporator: Adam Starchild, a tax attorney who’d faked his death in 1975.

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Starchild, real name Malcolm McConahy, had been kicked out of the Boy Scouts in 1965 for wanting to engage in sex with boys. He was later caught transporting four minors across state lines and charged with child pornography.

Starchild helped set up Brother Paul’s Mission as a tax-exempt “youth charity.” The camp received donations and mail from “sponsors,” who paid to receive pornography and, in some cases, visit the boys on-site.

This was a pay-to-access brothel disguised as a camp.

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Gerald Richards was sentenced to 2–20 years in prison in 1976. From prison, he mapped out the network and exposed its reach—from coast to coast and across the Atlantic.

It included Chicago, North Fox Island, Tennessee, and Louisiana.

One major node: Father Bud’s Boys Farm in Monteagle, Tennessee. This “foster home” was run by Rev. Claudius Vermilye and funded through The Church of New Revelation. Boys were drugged and filmed in orgies sold to paying sponsors.

washingtonpost.com/archive/politi…

In Sept. 1976, child pornography reels found in Dallas were traced to a New Orleans troop called Troop 137. Arrests followed of multiple scout leaders, including Richard Halvorsen and Raymond Woodall—both of whom had worked at a Florida boarding school. fox8live.com/2018/10/04/tv-…

The school, Adelphi Academy, was owned by millionaire Peter Bradford, who used his wealth to dodge charges in Florida. At least six boys were trafficked from New Orleans to Florida through this channel.

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Troop 137 was used to groom ~40 low-income boys. At least ten were prostituted to wealthy men across the country. Among the accused: NFL minority owner Richard Jacobs, Boston real estate mogul Hugh Mellor, and CA millionaire Robert Mallers.

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The DA responsible for prosecuting, Harry Connick Sr., was later implicated. One witness alleged he was in a relationship with a prime suspect and covered for him. That suspect, John Reed Campbell, housed pornography and painted the boys used by Troop 137.

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Campbell, a known associate of Halvorsen, was tipped off about the investigation. Police found suitcases of child pornography in his home—but he was never arrested.

He fled New Orleans three days after meeting with Connick.

When he finally returned in 1980, charges were dismissed after Connick reassigned the case to a different prosecutor. Campbell walked free.

Newspapers later linked the DA to the abuse ring in a series of damning headlines.

gykendall1.medium.com/mea-maxima-cul…

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Among the clients of “Adelphi Tours”—a side operation set up by Woodall and Lang—were two U.S. Congressmen, one U.S. Senator, and a clergyman. Lang, suspected to be an intelligence asset, received only probation. He later moved to Saudi Arabia.

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The arrest warrant for Francis Shelden was delayed multiple times by prosecutor Peter Deegan, despite ample evidence. Shelden fled and remained a fugitive, as did Dyer Grossman.

Deegan even postponed warrants due to “workload.”

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After public exposure in Dec. 1976, a teen who’d known Shelden for nearly a decade, Joe Moore, was found dead of a reported suicide.

A similar suicide occurred in the Oakland County Child Killings case. That suspect was also linked to Shelden.

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That suspect’s death ended the OCCK investigation. He was found dead with a high blood alcohol level, a rifle beside him, and one arm tucked under the pillow, a position that raised serious questions.

Police later tied him to 8mm snuff films.

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The “Hermes–Delta–Fox Island” network was massive, interlinked, and filled with men who operated under the cover of charity, education, religion, and political service.

Nearly all of them had institutional ties. Very few faced punishment.

Francis D. Shelden, a wealthy Michigan businessman and University of Michigan donor, was at the center of one of the most disturbing elite abuse networks ever exposed. He owned North Fox Island, a remote property in Lake Michigan used for child exploitation

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Shelden’s island operation was part of a broader child pornography distribution network that had ties to major institutions, political families, and global trafficking routes. The level of institutional protection surrounding him was extraordinary.

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Shelden ran tax-exempt charitable foundation “Brother Paul’s Children’s Mission,” which he used as a front to bring boys to the island. He coordinated with licensed social workers to identify and transport “at-risk” children under the guise of rehabilitation and education.

key associate of Shelden was Gerald Richards, a former Franciscan brother and licensed social worker who helped transport boys to North Fox Island. Richards was later charged and convicted for his role in the trafficking ring.

catherinebroad.blog/2024/04/03/a-f…

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Richards was also tied to another pedophile ring in California. He had connections to the Church and used religious affiliations to cover his movements across state lines.

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North Fox Island was equipped with an airstrip. Shelden flew boys in by private plane, indicating a level of wealth and autonomy that most abusers don’t have. He was a licensed pilot and member of exclusive aviation clubs, allowing him to avoid commercial oversight.

Authorities discovered that the materials produced on the island were being distributed not only across the U.S. but internationally, with links to Amsterdam, which was then a global hub for child pornography production and trafficking. sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

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Materials were mailed through commercial and diplomatic channels. Some went through the Netherlands and wound up in collections seized by law enforcement during European child pornography raids.

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When the investigation into Shelden began, he fled the country. Despite clear evidence and public knowledge of his crimes, Shelden was never extradited. He lived abroad for years, protected by his wealth, status, and network.

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In 1996, Penthouse reported that Shelden was living in the Netherlands. The Dutch government, despite pressure, did not return him. This isn’t uncommon. High-level players in these networks often find safe haven in countries with weak extradition laws.

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Richard Lawson, a known associate of Shelden, later told police that the network extended far beyond North Fox Island. He named individuals involved in “contracting” children for exploitation, some of whom had ties to organized crime and major American corporations.

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At least one of these individuals was tied to General Motors. According to Lawson, the abuse rings operated with a “corporate shield.” Executives donated money, facilities, or legal assistance in exchange for silence or immunity.

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Richard Lawson specifically named Christopher Busch, the son of Harold Lee Busch, an executive at General Motors, as a participant in the abuse and a figure protected by corporate privilege. Police found CP in Busch’s home, but charges were dropped. GM’s legal team intervened.

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Executives & lawyers from JP Morgan, Dow Chemical, & even a former DuPont family associate were accused of funding & protecting elements of this network. The DuPont connection centers around a private donor who allegedly funneled money into the same charity used by Shelden

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The DuPont family controlled General Motors for decades and were key financiers of elite abuse networks. Francis Shelden, who ran the North Fox Island ring, was embedded in this world. Shelden’s allies included executives from GM and backers from the DuPont chemical dynasty.

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The DuPonts were “literally fascists.” Their firm, along with GM’s Alfred P. Sloan, maintained financial ties to IG Farben, the Nazi chemical conglomerate throughout the 20’s–30s. GM’s subsidiary Opel built tanks for Hitler while DuPont supplied weapons through Remington Arms

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In 1933, the DuPonts helped fund “The Business Plot” to overthrow FDR and install a fascist dictatorship. The financier was Guaranty Trust Co., a J.P. Morgan firm. That same financial network backed the very institutions shielding abusers in Michigan and Delaware decades later.

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Joe Biden’s political rise was funded by DuPont. His 1972 Senate campaign was bankrolled and staffed by DuPont employees. He held his victory party in a DuPont ballroom & later moved into a DuPont-owned mansion. He admitted in the 1980s he “prostituted” himself to their interests

When a DuPont family member raped Biden’s 3-year-old daughter, Beau Biden (then DA) declined to prosecute. delawareonline.com/story/news/cri…

Eye also cites entries from Ashley Biden’s leaked diary detailing inappropriate showers with her father.

npr.org/2024/08/19/g-s…

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The Delaware State Police had reportedly received tips about abuse rings involving the DuPont-connected elite. But no meaningful investigation ever followed. This pattern; credible leads ignored when they point upward, recurs throughout the book.

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The Oakland County Child Killer case overlaps here. Several boys who had been brought to Fox Island were later victims in Michigan’s infamous OCCK murders. The timing, geography, and victim profiles strongly suggest a connection.

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Christopher Busch, son of a General Motors executive, was a known pedophile and a prime suspect in the OCCK case. He was found dead in an apparent suicide, with evidence suggesting he had been protected for years. His name appears alongside Shelden’s in network diagrams.

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Police had photos and testimonies linking Busch to child victims, but he was never charged. 1 witness said his dad’s money “made everything go away.”
Many of the institutions tasked with investigating had direct financial & political ties to the families and corporations involved

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The connection to Amsterdam and international shipping suggests intelligence agency involvement or at least awareness. CIA-linked front companies have long been used to move illicit materials, and Fox Island’s setup was consistent with those patterns.

A child victim of Shelden later identified elements of this network in California and New York. Some of these nodes intersect with other elite scandals of the era, including Boys Town and the Franklin case.

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Francis Shelden died in exile, never facing trial. Most of his co-conspirators evaded serious punishment. But their names appear again and again across documents, police reports, and victim accounts, always connected, never fully held accountable.

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Despite scattered coverage in the 70s and 80s, most Americans have never heard of Francis Shelden, North Fox Island, or the elite child trafficking network he helped run. The media simply dropped the story — or was told to.

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Victims were institutionalized or discredited. Whistleblowers were reassigned, fired, or ignored. Journalists who dug too deep had their stories killed.
Systemic protection of elite abusers is backed by case files, interviews, and police testimony.

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Victims who named high-level abusers were often dismissed or disappeared. One was institutionalized after implicating his father in ritual abuse and murder. Another, Duffy Jones, was stabbed to death after giving names to police. Others were simply “lost” in the system.

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After fleeing Michigan, Francis Shelden expanded his operation. With offshore assets secured and political protection in place, he joined a larger international network based in Amsterdam. What followed reveals a coordinated, elite-protected operation spanning continents.

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Richard Lawson alleged Francis Shelden financed a snuff film involving Timothy King, produced by Bob Moore. Investigators found claims credible. He claimed the motive for the killings were the profits from filming and selling snuff films of children. (Det. Corey Williams, 2005)

If Shelden financed snuff films, it could explain the 1977 murder of art dealer John McKinney in Michigan. McKinney was tied to the Cranbrook Institute, where several abusers were affiliated. catherinebroad.blog/2020/10/05/joh…

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By 1976, Shelden had fled Michigan ahead of a warrant. He used a 4-month delay to offshore his estate and relocate to Amsterdam. He was fast-tracked for Dutch citizenship, shielding him from extradition.

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Shelden’s front was “The Educational Foundation for Youth in Illinois,” with offshore ties to “The Trust Company of the West Indies Inc.” Both were incorporated by Adam Starchild

Shelden gave Starchild full power of attorney. Assets, including North Fox Island, were transferred to an offshore trust. The next trustee? Dutch senator Edward Brongersma a literal pro-pedophilia advocate on the Dutch judiciary committee. muse.jhu.edu/pub/15/article…

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In Amsterdam, Shelden launched PAN: Paedo Alert News, under the alias “Frank Torey.” It served as the European equivalent of John Norman’s Odyssey Network, rebranded as Spartacus International.

PAN was published by John Stamford, a British defrocked priest who had fled the UK in 1972 after being charged for operating a child porn ring by mail. tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…

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Stamford openly claimed he left Britain for Holland because the British “don’t understand” adult-child relationships. He began running Club Spartacus, a hub for pedophile literature and sex tourism.

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Stamford’s operations delivered sex tourists to children, and vice versa, in places like the Philippines and Thailand. His Amsterdam home was raided in the 1980s police found large caches of child pornography.

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Club Spartacus was tied to NAMBLA in the U.S. Several NAMBLA members were also Club Spartacus members. Names of Westchester members were found in Stamford’s files, according to the FBI.

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A 1995 investigation revealed Club Spartacus had a computer system detailing member preferences: child’s age, origin etcetera. Members could select a child and a middleman would arrange access.

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Stamford fled again, to Germany, then transferred operations to German publisher Bruno Gmünder Verlag. He later fled to Belgium, where he was charged with child exploitation in 1993.

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A German article claimed Scotland Yard suspected Stamford of filming snuff films: boys were raped and killed, the videos sold for 1,500 marks per strip to “high-end” clients.

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A PJ officer testified that a British witness claimed Stamford filmed a Filipino child being t’d & k’d, the body buried at a construction site. Belgian media reported the case in 1995.

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Stamford died of a heart attack during trial in December 1995. Francis Shelden died less than a year later in September 1996. Belgian authorities had begun probing ties between Stamford’s ring and Belgian serial killer Marc Dutroux.

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Stamford’s network extended to Australia. In 1979, Clarence Henry Osborne—a Queensland government stenographer—was caught photographing boys. His home had thousands of nude photos, tape recordings, and a card catalog of over 2,500 boys.

This is the beginning of a long-form thread documenting Eye of the...

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