The specter of the marauding serial killer has become a relatively common feature on the American landscape. Reactions to these modern-day monsters range from revulsion to morbid fascination--fascination that is either fed by, or a product of, the saturation coverage provided by print and broadcast media, along with a dizzying array of books, documentary films, websites, and "Movies of the Week". The prevalence in Western culture of images of serial killers (and mass murderers) has created in the public mind a consensus view of what a serial killer is. Most people are aware, to some degree, of the classic serial killer 'profile.' But what if there is a much different 'profile'--one that has not received much media attention? In Programmed to Kill, acclaimed and always controversial author David McGowan takes a fresh look at the lives of many of America's most notorious accused murderers, focusing on the largely hidden patterns that suggest that there may be more to the average serial killer story than meets the eye. Think you know everything there is to know about serial killers? Or is it possible that sometimes what everyone 'knows' to be true isn't really true at all?
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About the Author
David McGowan is the author of Derailing Democracy: The America the Media Don?t Want You to See (Common Courage Press, 2000) and Understanding the F-Word: American Fascism and the Politics of Illusion (Writers Club Press, 2001), as well as the webmaster at the Center for an Informed America (www.davesweb.cnchost.com)
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93 of 96 people found the following review helpful
By Donald Hunt
Programmed to Kill: The Politics of Serial Murder, by David McGowan (New York: iUniverse, Inc., 2004) is not just another sensationalized book about serial killers. McGowan, author of Derailing Democracy: The America the Media Don't Want You to See, and Understanding the F-Word: American Fascism and the Politics of Illusion, ties serial murders, programmed assassins, satanic cults and child pornography and prostitution to a fascist political and military conspiracy of frightening scope.
I normally hate reading about this type of material. Too sickening. But McGowan, unlike most authors who treat this stuff, is not interested in sensationalized accounts that appeal to dark prurient interests. Rather, he wants to sound the alarm about the real methods used in fascist takeovers of societies.
McGowan begins by reviewing the evidence for government sponsored mind control experiments dating back to the Nazis and the OSS (forerunner of the CIA). According to McGowan, these shadowy intelligence agencies, along with the military intelligence units, founded, encouraged, and covered up for Satanic cults, whose systematic abuse of children from very young ages provided a contnuing supply of potential mind-controlled programmed assassins. They supplied not only assassins but also child prostitutes, pornography subects and even sacrificial victims. The more susceptible to dissociated states, the easier to program. Mind control in this context refers to "the process of first enhancing an unwitting subject's natural ability to dissociate (creating, in essence, the condition of Multiple Personality Disorder), and then controlling that subject's dissociative states (by creating one or more alter personalities that are effectively under the control of others, and that are unknown to the `core' personality)." (p. xv)
Part I of the book is titled "The Pedophocracy." Here McGowan takes the reader on a tour of child sex, child porn and child murder rings around the world whose members include many high-ranking political figures. One of the things that tie all these scandals together is the cover-up of participants, destruction of evidence, and lenient sentences to those who have to take the fall by authorities around the world. From the Marc Dutroux scandal in Belgium, to one in Latvia involving the Prime Minister and Justice Minister, to another in Portugal, to the scandal in the United Kingdom that reportedly reached into Tony Blair's cabinet, to those of Larry King, Michael Aquino and Craig Spence in the United States with many circumstantial connections to high-ranking political and media figures, McGowan shows how the damage control operations, including numerous "suicides" by potential witnesses, work.
McGowan then details the CIA connections of some of the Satanic groups that have been linked to ritual abuse and killing of children, in particular the Finders, described in an article in the Washington Post from 1987 as "a 1960's style commune ... described in a court document as a `cult' that allegedly conducted `brainwashing' and used children in `rituals (p. 59). After some members of the group were arrested for possible kidnapping when found in the possession of several children who they were keeping in a van and who showed signs of neglect, abuse and sexual abuse, homes and warehouses belonging to group members were searched. U.S. Customs found "photos showing children involved in bloodletting ceremonies of animals and one photograph of a child in chains" (pp. 59-60). While memos written by one of the U.S. Customs investigators detailed evidence of much worse actions, nothing was written in the press about the matter until seven years later when the US News and World Report attempted to put it to rest by downplaying the accusations as "rumors" even though they were in the possession of the memos.
McGowan goes on to note that "the firm that supplied training to CIA officers didn't just employ several members of the Finders, but appears to have in fact been a wholly owned subsidiary of the Finders organization. It should also be noted that the CIA does not, as a general rule-of-thumb, assign the training of its officers to outside contractors, unless, that is, the `private' firm utilized in such a capacity is a CIA front." (p. 61) The leader of the Finders group, Marion Pettie, in a 1998 interview explained that "Going back to World War II, I kept open house mainly to intelligence people in Washington. OSS people passing through, things like that." (p. 65) Regarding evidence found regarding international trafficking of children, the US Custom Service investigator in his memo stated that he was advised by a member of the Washington D.C. police that "the investigation into the activity of the Finders had become a CIA internal matter. The MPD [D.C. police] report has been classified SECRET and was not available for review." (p. 66). No one was indicted.
McGowan concludes Part I by suggesting that "it is certainly in the realm of possibility that the high profile child pornography raids in recent years, which invariably result in relatively few arrests and even fewer prosecutions and convictions, are not intended to punish the victimizers, but to identify and compromise them. And it is not inconceivable that the databases being compiled will be utilized as something of a recruitment list to identify those persons who have been `preconditioned,' so to speak, for future mind control operations." (p. 68)
McGowan begins Part II with the story of Henry Lee Lucas, a serial killer who confessed to nearly 600 murders, committed "rape, torture, mutilation, dismemberment, necrophilia, cannibalism and pedophilia" (p. 71) and who, oddly enough, was the only death-row inmate in the State of Texas spared death by Governor George Bush. McGowan suggests the reason for this and other odd leniencies enjoyed by Lucas lies in the possibility that he was an MK-Ultra programmed assassin.
By perpetuating the myth of the lone serial killer, authorities can deflect attention away from organized groups, cults or intelligence services. McGowan shows that in nearly all cases, the serial killers most likely had accomplices. The close ties of serial killers, child pimps and pornographers to people in position of authority in politics and law enforcement has also been covered up. Lucas himself is quoted as saying: "No one wants to believe the cult story. The TV people cut it out. The writers don't write about it." (p. 88)
Part III looks at some recent scandals as well as historical precedents from the past. Along the way we get a lucid exposition of why the parents of Jon-Benet Ramsey probably killed her and why Charles Lindbergh probably killed his "kidnapped" son.
McGowan concludes that the wave of sensationalized serial killings beginning around 1966 were a domestication of Operation Phoenix, the U.S. program of mass political assassination in Vietnam. The goal was to shock and frighten the public into acceptance of police state measures in the United States and to create a climate of right-wing reaction.
I normally hate reading about this type of material. Too sickening. But McGowan, unlike most authors who treat this stuff, is not interested in sensationalized accounts that appeal to dark prurient interests. Rather, he wants to sound the alarm about the real methods used in fascist takeovers of societies.
McGowan begins by reviewing the evidence for government sponsored mind control experiments dating back to the Nazis and the OSS (forerunner of the CIA). According to McGowan, these shadowy intelligence agencies, along with the military intelligence units, founded, encouraged, and covered up for Satanic cults, whose systematic abuse of children from very young ages provided a contnuing supply of potential mind-controlled programmed assassins. They supplied not only assassins but also child prostitutes, pornography subects and even sacrificial victims. The more susceptible to dissociated states, the easier to program. Mind control in this context refers to "the process of first enhancing an unwitting subject's natural ability to dissociate (creating, in essence, the condition of Multiple Personality Disorder), and then controlling that subject's dissociative states (by creating one or more alter personalities that are effectively under the control of others, and that are unknown to the `core' personality)." (p. xv)
Part I of the book is titled "The Pedophocracy." Here McGowan takes the reader on a tour of child sex, child porn and child murder rings around the world whose members include many high-ranking political figures. One of the things that tie all these scandals together is the cover-up of participants, destruction of evidence, and lenient sentences to those who have to take the fall by authorities around the world. From the Marc Dutroux scandal in Belgium, to one in Latvia involving the Prime Minister and Justice Minister, to another in Portugal, to the scandal in the United Kingdom that reportedly reached into Tony Blair's cabinet, to those of Larry King, Michael Aquino and Craig Spence in the United States with many circumstantial connections to high-ranking political and media figures, McGowan shows how the damage control operations, including numerous "suicides" by potential witnesses, work.
McGowan then details the CIA connections of some of the Satanic groups that have been linked to ritual abuse and killing of children, in particular the Finders, described in an article in the Washington Post from 1987 as "a 1960's style commune ... described in a court document as a `cult' that allegedly conducted `brainwashing' and used children in `rituals (p. 59). After some members of the group were arrested for possible kidnapping when found in the possession of several children who they were keeping in a van and who showed signs of neglect, abuse and sexual abuse, homes and warehouses belonging to group members were searched. U.S. Customs found "photos showing children involved in bloodletting ceremonies of animals and one photograph of a child in chains" (pp. 59-60). While memos written by one of the U.S. Customs investigators detailed evidence of much worse actions, nothing was written in the press about the matter until seven years later when the US News and World Report attempted to put it to rest by downplaying the accusations as "rumors" even though they were in the possession of the memos.
McGowan goes on to note that "the firm that supplied training to CIA officers didn't just employ several members of the Finders, but appears to have in fact been a wholly owned subsidiary of the Finders organization. It should also be noted that the CIA does not, as a general rule-of-thumb, assign the training of its officers to outside contractors, unless, that is, the `private' firm utilized in such a capacity is a CIA front." (p. 61) The leader of the Finders group, Marion Pettie, in a 1998 interview explained that "Going back to World War II, I kept open house mainly to intelligence people in Washington. OSS people passing through, things like that." (p. 65) Regarding evidence found regarding international trafficking of children, the US Custom Service investigator in his memo stated that he was advised by a member of the Washington D.C. police that "the investigation into the activity of the Finders had become a CIA internal matter. The MPD [D.C. police] report has been classified SECRET and was not available for review." (p. 66). No one was indicted.
McGowan concludes Part I by suggesting that "it is certainly in the realm of possibility that the high profile child pornography raids in recent years, which invariably result in relatively few arrests and even fewer prosecutions and convictions, are not intended to punish the victimizers, but to identify and compromise them. And it is not inconceivable that the databases being compiled will be utilized as something of a recruitment list to identify those persons who have been `preconditioned,' so to speak, for future mind control operations." (p. 68)
McGowan begins Part II with the story of Henry Lee Lucas, a serial killer who confessed to nearly 600 murders, committed "rape, torture, mutilation, dismemberment, necrophilia, cannibalism and pedophilia" (p. 71) and who, oddly enough, was the only death-row inmate in the State of Texas spared death by Governor George Bush. McGowan suggests the reason for this and other odd leniencies enjoyed by Lucas lies in the possibility that he was an MK-Ultra programmed assassin.
By perpetuating the myth of the lone serial killer, authorities can deflect attention away from organized groups, cults or intelligence services. McGowan shows that in nearly all cases, the serial killers most likely had accomplices. The close ties of serial killers, child pimps and pornographers to people in position of authority in politics and law enforcement has also been covered up. Lucas himself is quoted as saying: "No one wants to believe the cult story. The TV people cut it out. The writers don't write about it." (p. 88)
Part III looks at some recent scandals as well as historical precedents from the past. Along the way we get a lucid exposition of why the parents of Jon-Benet Ramsey probably killed her and why Charles Lindbergh probably killed his "kidnapped" son.
McGowan concludes that the wave of sensationalized serial killings beginning around 1966 were a domestication of Operation Phoenix, the U.S. program of mass political assassination in Vietnam. The goal was to shock and frighten the public into acceptance of police state measures in the United States and to create a climate of right-wing reaction.
74 of 77 people found the following review helpful
By Steveddd
David McGowan bills the book on his website (The Center for an Informed America), as the book of the century. I nearly started to laugh, but Mr. McGowan may very well be correct in his `modest' assessment. The book is meticulously researched (nearly 500 references) and the authors' knowledge of occultism, elitism, psychology and Satanism combines for the most stunning exposes of governmental corruption and cover-up you will probably ever come across. It makes sense of things like the Franklin cover-up, Bohemian Grove, MK-Ultra, the Manson gang, Marc Dutroux and much, much more.
This book would be an instant #1 Best Seller if it were to get the exposure it deserves. Unfortunately, Programmed to Kill, will never be on the shelf of any of the big outlets and that is a crime in itself. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see this one go out of print in short order considering the implications and the indictment it is on the US and other governmental `crime fighting' agencies, their media outlets and the force driving it all.
The topic of serial killers had never really piqued my curiosity and I tended to shy away from the gruesomeness, not really wanting to hear the sad and morbid stories. I believed, rather naively, what the government and media had told me about the alleged perpetrators, but after reading Mr. McGowan's book, it seems that everything I thought I knew was for the most part, completely wrong.
I've been researching conspiracies for a few years, ever since the governmental fairy tale story about 9-11, but I was still not prepared for the revelations found here. Mr. McGowan appears to blow the lid off what I would categorize as the mother of all conspiracies. Its not a quick read, because it contains a heck of a lot of information in sort of a minimal number of pages. And yet the book goes into quite a bit of depth to cover the details necessary. I was reading about six different books when I started this one, but I didn't touch any of them until I finished this.
For an excellent analysis on the 9-11 Conspiracy see David McGowan's, "The Center for an Informed America" newsletters 67 through 69 and Darren Williams Pentagon video animation.
This book would be an instant #1 Best Seller if it were to get the exposure it deserves. Unfortunately, Programmed to Kill, will never be on the shelf of any of the big outlets and that is a crime in itself. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see this one go out of print in short order considering the implications and the indictment it is on the US and other governmental `crime fighting' agencies, their media outlets and the force driving it all.
The topic of serial killers had never really piqued my curiosity and I tended to shy away from the gruesomeness, not really wanting to hear the sad and morbid stories. I believed, rather naively, what the government and media had told me about the alleged perpetrators, but after reading Mr. McGowan's book, it seems that everything I thought I knew was for the most part, completely wrong.
I've been researching conspiracies for a few years, ever since the governmental fairy tale story about 9-11, but I was still not prepared for the revelations found here. Mr. McGowan appears to blow the lid off what I would categorize as the mother of all conspiracies. Its not a quick read, because it contains a heck of a lot of information in sort of a minimal number of pages. And yet the book goes into quite a bit of depth to cover the details necessary. I was reading about six different books when I started this one, but I didn't touch any of them until I finished this.
For an excellent analysis on the 9-11 Conspiracy see David McGowan's, "The Center for an Informed America" newsletters 67 through 69 and Darren Williams Pentagon video animation.
56 of 58 people found the following review helpful
By M. Koeman
This book is for people who are already familiar with the fact that the media habitually ignore serious issues. If this is new to you, it might be better to first read for example Mc Gowan's own "Derailing Democracy - The America the Media Don't Want You to See", or "Into the Buzzsaw" by Kristina Borjesson.
Programmed to Kill is the result of what strikes me as careful research into America's prosecution policies regarding "serial killers". The non-prosecution of child kidnapping and forced male and female child prostitution crimes is evident from, for example, the Johnny Gosch and Paul Bonacci cases. You can read one court case transcript here: www.ritualabuse.net/franklin.htm
After reading that, you will probably be less surprised that some "serial killers" are released from prison while announcing that they will kill again, or told to go on their way after only paying $60 in court costs. Former Son-of-Sam "serial killer" Dave Berkowitz looks pretty happy these days at www.forgivenforlife.com.
Contrary to popular belief, "serial killers" do not appear to work alone, they are sometimes shielded from prosecution by patsies and the networks of (satanic) ritual abuse and child prostitution in their context are real. What David McGowan writes about is very hard stuff, but he presents it well. In the few places where he speculates, it is clear that he does so and I find his speculations very sensible. The book is very readable throughout. There is, dare I say it, even a spark of humor here and there.
This well-crafted book is indispensable for those who enjoy finding out what the worst is that is being covered up. At least, I can't imagine what could be worse than this. Even if the American government openly admitted that they were behind 9/11, I would find this worse.
Programmed to Kill is the result of what strikes me as careful research into America's prosecution policies regarding "serial killers". The non-prosecution of child kidnapping and forced male and female child prostitution crimes is evident from, for example, the Johnny Gosch and Paul Bonacci cases. You can read one court case transcript here: www.ritualabuse.net/franklin.htm
After reading that, you will probably be less surprised that some "serial killers" are released from prison while announcing that they will kill again, or told to go on their way after only paying $60 in court costs. Former Son-of-Sam "serial killer" Dave Berkowitz looks pretty happy these days at www.forgivenforlife.com.
Contrary to popular belief, "serial killers" do not appear to work alone, they are sometimes shielded from prosecution by patsies and the networks of (satanic) ritual abuse and child prostitution in their context are real. What David McGowan writes about is very hard stuff, but he presents it well. In the few places where he speculates, it is clear that he does so and I find his speculations very sensible. The book is very readable throughout. There is, dare I say it, even a spark of humor here and there.
This well-crafted book is indispensable for those who enjoy finding out what the worst is that is being covered up. At least, I can't imagine what could be worse than this. Even if the American government openly admitted that they were behind 9/11, I would find this worse.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Different Perspective.
It's a very good book written w/a different perspective on this topic. The author does give good information and sources to back up his point. Read more
Published 1 month ago by DeSade
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hard to finish!
This is real hard to finish all at once. I have to read it a little at a time because it is relentless, So fare it is sickning to know their are people like this running around on... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Rod
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Knock Your Socks Off Analogy Concerning Serial Killers
I need not look beyond this courtroom to see all the liars, the haters, the killers, the crooks, the paranoid cowards... We are all expendable for a cause. Read more
Published 8 months ago by R. A. Barricklow
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential piece of the puzzle...
After reading Dave McGowan's eye-opening "Inside The LC-The Strange but Mostly True Story of Laurel Canyon and the Birth of the Hippie Generation" at his Center for an Informed... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Providor Terra Firma
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is the only book I've ever read that gave me flashbacks.
The corruption, brutality, and evil that McGowan describes in this book is literally unthinkable, surpassing by far the most gruesome and hideous depravity you are capable of even... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Vain Saints
5.0 out of 5 stars
This Book Rocks!!
First, some background on me so you know where I'm coming from. I am an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) since 1994. Read more
Published on April 9, 2010 by Jonathan Burnham
5.0 out of 5 stars
RenegadeTimes
Read quite a few books on this subject. I have even myself wrote papers concerning these issues. This book connects the horrendous dots on many levels revealing the cover ups and... Read more
Published on February 22, 2010 by Gina D. Deflorio
5.0 out of 5 stars
Most interesting book I've picked up in a while
Wow is the word best used to describe this book. Dave goes into great detail of child kidnapping, child torture and ritual abuse not often heard in the mainstream press. Read more
Published on September 11, 2009 by Tyler Durden
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Information
Programmed To Kill is a must read for any hard-core conspiracy investigator. It connects many dots. That said, it could use a better structure to the book. Read more
Published on April 28, 2009 by Reade Rogers
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't Trust His "Facts"
I picked this up at the same time as Whoever Fights Monsters: My Twenty Years Tracking Serial Killers for the FBI by Robert K. Ressler. Read more
Published on December 15, 2008 by Lisa Small
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