In Part One, we told the Finders story the way it’s usually told: six children, two men in a van, a strange D.C. commune, and a case that seemed to vanish.
In this episode, we go into the paper.
The memos.
The FBI Vault files.
The Customs reports.
The DOJ and CIA reviews.
And we separate what is actually documented from what people believe those documents imply.
In 1987, a U.S. Customs agent wrote that he was told the Finders investigation had become a “CIA internal matter,” and that the agency had “admitted to owning the Finders organization as a front.” Years later, DOJ and CIA produced records denying ownership or operational control, describing the connection as a misunderstanding involving a private contractor.
Both statements exist in official records. They cannot both be completely right.
This episode lays out:
• What the 1987 Tallahassee arrest reports actually say
• What Customs Agent Ramon J. Martinez documented in his memo
• What the FBI Washington Field Office later concluded in its 324-page Vault file
• The role of Future Enterprises and the CIA contractor explanation
• The documented discrepancy over alleged evidence
• The difference between confirmed records and inference
No embellishment. No flattening. No internet mythology.
Just Column A vs. Column B.
Because when a case involving children, alleged cages, intelligence references, and redacted federal files ends with “no federal laws were violated,” the real question isn’t just what happened in 1987.
It’s how decisions like that get made.
Sources referenced include:
• FBI Vault – Washington Field Office Finders file
• 1987 U.S. Customs memorandum
• DOJ and CIA review correspondence
• Contemporary reporting and congressional inquiry records
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