What happened to Michael Riconosciuto? American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders culprit’s whereabouts explored

Netflix’s American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders was released on the platform on February 28, 2024, and opens up a casket of an international conspiracy. The four-part docuseries shows photojournalist Christian Hansen and documentary maker Zachary Treitz on a chase across the country to uncover a three-decade-old mystery. Hansen tries to track the events and people connected to journalist Danny Casolaro’s research and eventual death.

In the process, Hansen came in contact with Michael Riconoscuito, one of the chief sources for Danny. As American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders shows, Riconoscuito had a lot of inside information, potentially explosive for the people concerned. He was framed and imprisoned for more than two decades. Recently released, Riconoscuito keeps in touch with Hansen and Treitz.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the docuseries. Reader’s discretion is advised.

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Who is Michael Riconoscuito seen in American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders?

Michael was a programmer who reprogrammed PROMIS (Image via Netflix)

Michael Riconoscuito was one of the main sources of information for journalist Danny Casolaro. The journalist was digging up information about an international conspiracy involving the governmental administration of the US and other nations.

Danny Casolaro found out about Michael Riconoscuito when the former was researching the INSLAW case. While INSLAW had sold a software named PROMIS, to the Department of Justice, the government did not pay the company the millions it was promised. This led the INSLAW co-owner Bill Hamilton to sue the government and win, although the verdict was later overturned.

In 1991, an affidavit by Michael, the computer engineer stated that the government had tasked him to reprogram the PROMIS software. The software would help the US to spy on other entities/states that bought PROMIS. While Michael was threatened by the Justice Department for speaking openly, he was framed and arrested under drug charges within a week.

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What happened to Michael Riconoscuito?

75-year-old Michael is released from prison (Image via Netflix)

Michael Riconoscuito served in the prison for 26 years and was released in 2017. As American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders shows, Michael is scared to meet the same fate as Danny. Believing the US intelligence officials were targeting him, he missed his probation hearing, which led to his being jailed again for months.

As Trietz says, the Federal Judge heard Michael’s probation and released him. The 75-year-old Michael stays free in the US now, but Trietz believes, he is in constant stress and fear.

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What is American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders docuseries about?

American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders presents the mystery around the death of journalist Danny Casolaro. It follows his controversial research on “The Octopus” theory of conspiracies. The story is presented by another journalist Christian Hansen who accidentally came across the story of Danny’s work and death.

As per the Netflix crime documentary, Danny was looking into the INSLAW case when his research took him to various leads. As Danny named his project, “The Octopus”, the multi-directional project hinted at a high-level international conspiracy.

The Netflix docuseries suggests that Danny suspected the US Presidential office’s collusion with other departments to spy on governments of other countries. His multi-pronged research had stories from espionage to drugs and murders.

He reached out to many sources and Michael was one of them. In August 1991, Danny went to Martinsburg, West Virginia, to meet another source. The next morning, his lifeless body was found in the bathtub of his hotel room with multiple slashes on his wrists.

Hansen is pursuing Danny's case (Image via Netflix)

Some FBI officials, his family, and the people aware of his research believe Danny was silenced because he knew too much about the cases he was examining. While the court ruled Danny’s death as suicide, his family refuses to believe so.

Trying to unravel the mystery-shrouded case, Hansen decided to track down and follow Danny’s sources and research links. This took him to Michael Riconoscuito and he went to meet Michael personally as the latter left prison.

American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders, the documentary into Danny Casolaro’s research and his mysterious death, presented by Hansen and Treitz, is available for streaming on Netflix.