The Octopus Murders on Netflix: Who is Michael Riconosciuto and where is he now?

Michael Riconosciuto is a key person in Netflix's latest true crime documentary, American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders, here's what you need to know about his current whereabouts.

After watching American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders, fans have been desperate to know about Danny Casolaro and where Christian Hansen is now. Fans are also intrigued by Michael Riconosciuto and his current whereabouts.

In the first episode of the four-part docu-series, The Octopus Murders, Michael Riconosciuto is introduced to the audience as a person of interest in this case. Michael spoke to Danny Casolero on several occasions ahead of his murder and was linked to the PROMIS, the Prosecutor’s Management Information System, the software used to track criminal cases.

But who was Michael Riconosciuto and where is he now?

Who was Michael Riconosciuto?

Michael Riconosciuto was Danny Casolero's main source back in 1990 who opened the writer's eyes to the October Suprise aka the Regan election scandal and the PROMIS and INSLAW scandal.

Michael was arrested at the age of 24 for manufacturing Pcp and LSD in an underwater lab, he went to prison for two years and was scouted by people working in American intelligence who wanted to control his knowledge of chemistry and computer science.

When Christian contacted Michael in 2014, the pair exchanged several letters and information about the octopus scandal. Michael revealed that he was hired by the Reagan campaign to make hostages held in Iran were kept in Iran to make President Carter look weak and give Reagan an edge in the election. 

Michael said he went to Iran in 1980 with Earl Brian (a Farsi language specialist) and they exchanged $40million to the Iranian government to hold the hostages there until after the election, making it look as if Reagan would be able to rescue the hostages. The hostages were released within hours of President Reagan being sworn in. PROMIS was linked to this as the source codes for the PROMIS software were awarded to Earl Brian for his work with the Iranian government. 

Michael then claimed that he was tasked with creating a backdoor to this software so that the US government could access information from anyone using the system. 

Why Was Michael Riconosciuto imprisoned?

Michael Riconosciuto was arrested in 1991 - while he was working with Danny Casolaro - on federal drug charges. He claimed that his 30 year sentence was payback from the government for the testimony he gave in the INSLAW case. 

He maintained his innocence the entire time and claimed he was set up. He was released from prison after 26 years in 2017.

In the final episode of the documentary, Michael Riconosciuto is interviewed. In the interview, he revealed that he was blamed for Danny's death and for manipulating him with lies and leading him to kill himself from frustration.

The documentary seemed to conclude that Michael was somewhat of a 'web-spinner' who elaborated some of his stories and created confusion about the truth.

Where is Michael Riconosciuto now?

The 75-year-old Michael Riconosciuto now lives on the West Coast and is still in contact with Christian Hansen and director Zachary Treitz. The electronics expert is reportedly doing well claims the director of the documentary.

"He seems to be okay," director Zachary Treitz tells MovieMaker about Michael. "It’s always hard for me to say how Michael’s doing. He lives in a state of constant stress and adrenaline. So how he’s doing compared to me? Probably not as well. I mean, it’s a very intense, heightened life that he lives that my art could not handle. So I don’t know. I think he’s alright."

The director also reflected on Michael's challenging past. "Michael spent about a third of his life in prison. The numbers are really scary and shocking. Imagine that amount of time." 

The director also spoke about Michael's reliability as a source. "It simply takes almost years to decipher everything… it’s part of, I think, the larger idea of Michael, and a lot of these people, to keep this thing going, keep playing the game.

"He just keeps telling us a lot of different things, but there’s never been a sort of like, Okay, you guys, you did it. It’s coming out. Now, I can sit you down on Oprah’s couch and we can like talk. There’s been none of that. Well, maybe that’ll happen after it comes out," he said.