The link between drug-running and the Reagan regime's support for the right-wing terrorist group throughout the 1980s had been public knowledge for over a decade. It found that CIA officials ignored information about possible Contra drug dealing; that they continued to work with Contra supporters despite allegations that they were trafficking drugs, and further asserted that officials from the CIA instructed Drug Enforcement Agency officers to refrain from investigating alleged dealers connected with the Contras. By Sam Stanton Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 am PST Wednesday, December 15, 2004. . His was the story of a man who gains information of wrongdoing, then, attempting to act in the public interest, seeks protection from his superiors, and the forces of law, and does not receive it. After the publication of "Dark Alliance," The Mercury News continued to pursue the story, publishing follow-ups to the original series for the next three months. Occupation: Machine Operators, Assemblers, and Inspectors Occupations. 71K views 8 years ago Gary Webb's son Ian talks about the film in which Jeremy Renner plays his late journalist father. It would have been our 25th wedding anniversary," Bell recalls. Thank you." Gary Webb, Into the Buzzsaw, CH 13, Prometheus Books. Do not quote me on anything.". Gary's documentation is awesome and his work ethic is unbelievable. Like Schou, Corn cites the inspector general's report, which he says "acknowledged that the CIA had indeed worked with suspected drugrunners (sic) while supporting the contras. "[2], Ceppos noted that Webb did not agree with these conclusions. When Webb wrote another story on the raid evidence in early October, it received wide attention in Los Angeles. Pictured as a teenage fan: Gary Numan with Gemma, his now wife, getting his autograph in 1985 years before they got together Gary was 600,000 in debt, and on the verge of going under in. "He had six in a short period of time." [73], On the other hand, many of the writers and editors who worked with him have had high praise for him. Contemporary discussions of the series are discussed in the section on, Webb 2011, "Caltrans Ignored Elevated Freeway Safety. When they married, she was aged just 21. We were dismissed as a bunch of nuts." Webb may indeed be physically dead, but his research is more alive today than ever before, and continues to haunt the shadow government and snowball into a monster that will undoubtedly have its eventual revenge. He was a former member of Bethlehem . "They tried to make us look like crazies," says Blum. She and Gary were married from 1979 to 2000 and had three children. The legendary civil-rights activist Dick Gregory was arrested while he protested outside the CIA's headquarters; Gregory began referring to the organisation as "Crack in America". "If I had one dream for you," he wrote, "it was that you would go into journalism and carry on the kind of work I did - fighting, with all your might, the oppression and bigotry and stupidity and greed that surrounds us. Sue remarried two years ago. So, how much is Gary Webb worth at the age of 49 years old? Five years ago, a tragedy occurred in American journalism: Investigative reporter Gary Webb - who had been ostracized by his own colleagues for forcing a spotlight back onto an ugly government scandal they wanted to ignore - was driven to commit suicide. He is the oldest son of Pulitzer Prize-winninginvestigative journalist Gary Webb, the subject of the 2014 film "Kill the Messenger," starring Hollywood heavyweight Jeremy Renner. "I had to warn Gary that what he was looking at was probably true, but that he would run very big risks," Parry recalls. By this stage, he was prepared to work as a jobbing reporter. border-bottom: 1px solid #ddd; It's . Occupation: Machine Operators, Assemblers, and Inspectors Occupations. But "Dark Alliance" was also posted on the Mercury News's website, with the image of a crack smoker superimposed on the CIA badge. Film of this encounter survives. At the end of March, Ceppos told Webb that he was going to present the internal review findings in a column. And when he got something in his head, he was determined to do it. Webb's then-wife Sue remembers coming home from the shops and finding her. After examining the investigations and prosecutions of the main figures in the series, Blandn, Meneses and Ross, it concluded that "Although the investigations suffered from various problems of communication and coordination, their successes and failures were determined by the normal dynamics that affect the success of scores of investigations of high-level drug traffickers These factors, rather than anything as spectacular as a systematic effort by the CIA or any other intelligence agency to protect the drug trafficking activities of Contra supporters, determined what occurred in the cases we examined. "[38], Surprised by The Washington Post article, The Mercury News's executive editor Jerome Ceppos wrote to the Post defending the series. [8] In 1979, Webb married Susan Bell; the couple eventually had three children. This did not happen in Webb's case. Gary Webb : Murdered For Exposing The Truth - Educate Inspire Change But as Krim told Webb's biographer Nick Schou, "The zeal that helped make Gary a relentless reporter was coupled with an inability to question himself, to entertain the notion that he might have erred. [61] According to the report, it used Webb's reporting and writing as "key resources in focusing and refining the investigation." Unable to get work from any major US newspaper, he spent the four months before his death writing for * a free-sheet covering the Sacramento area. When Attorney General Janet Reno determined that a delay was no longer necessary, the report was released unaltered. In the six years he worked at its Sacramento office, he won the HL Mencken award, for a story exposing corruption in California's drug enforcement agency, and his Pulitzer prize - won jointly, as part of a Mercury News team covering the 1990 Loma Prieta earthquake. I ask Bell. Jeff Leen, assistant managing editor for investigative reporting at The Washington Post, wrote in a 2014 opinion page article that "the report found no CIA relationship with the drug ring Webb had written about." And "we really didn't do anything to advance his work or illuminate much to the story, and it was a really kind of tawdry exercise. The reports rejected the series's main claims but were critical of some CIA and law enforcement actions. The second article described Blandn's background and how he began smuggling cocaine to support the Contras. In a three-part expos, investigative journalist Gary Webb reported that a guerrilla army in Nicaragua had used crack cocaine sales in Los Angeles' black neighborhoods to fund an attempted coup of Nicaragua's socialist government in the 1980s and that the CIA had purposefully funded it. If the antagonism of competing publications was predictable, what happened to Webb within his own newspaper was not. Shortly before I left for Sacramento, Moreira, who knew Webb, had shown me unbroadcast footage which shows the French reporter making a phone call to a media commentator in the US, asking him about Webb's death. He began his career working for newspapers in Kentucky and Ohio, winning numerous awards, and building a strong reputation for investigative writing. [21] This artwork proved controversial, and The Mercury News later removed it. The response from the American press took two months to arrive. 'Dark Alliance' - both as journalism and as a book - is a convoluted narrative, but the crucial link it establishes is between the "agricultural salesman" Oscar Danilo Blandn, a Contra sympathiser with close CIA links, and his best customer, an LA drug dealer known as "Freeway" Ricky Ross. Gary Webb Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family . OR was he like Epstein? Webb strongly disagreed with Ceppos's column and, in interviews, was harshly critical of the paper's handling of the story. The first article in "Dark Alliance" that discussed the failure of law enforcement agencies to prosecute Blandn and Meneses had mentioned several cases. Dr. Gary A. Webb is a geriatrician in Marco Island, Florida. Gary Webb was born in Corona, California, in 1955. We are in the living room of Bell's house just outside Sacramento, California. But the biggest loss he had was the writing. In February, Gary Webb gave his ex-wife. He then transferred to nearby Northern Kentucky University. When Ross discovered the market for crack in Los Angeles, he began buying cocaine from Blandn. Man Donates Liver To Ex-Wife - CBS News According to Walt Bogdanich, a former colleague on the Plain Dealer who has won two Pulitzers and now works for The New York Times, Webb was the best retriever of information from public records he has ever seen. } In a three-part series published in the San Jose Mercury News, "Dark Alliance," Webb alleges that not only was the CIA aware cocaine sold in the U.S. during the 1980s was funding the Nicaraguan Contras, they were complicit in its distribution. Gary Webb famously died of two gun shot wounds to the head and - reddit Investigative journalist Gary Webb wrote a series of stories in 1996 for the San Jose Mercury News that documented the US-government-backed Contra insurgents' drug pipeline into Los Angeles. "I believe that Americans, as a nation, are mainly concerned with living their happy little lives. The room is decorated with his trophies: a Pulitzer prize hangs next to his HL Mencken award; also on the wall is a framed advertisement for The Kentucky Post. "[77], Webb's reporting in "Dark Alliance" remains controversial. Leen, who covered the cocaine trade for the Miami Herald in the 1980s, rejects the claim that "because the report uncovered an agency mindset of indifference to drug-smuggling allegations", it vindicated Webb's reporting. A perceptive, engaging woman of 48, she has turned an adjoining study into a small shrine to her late husband, who would have celebrated his 50th birthday five weeks ago. He was a writer, known for Kill the Messenger (2014), Filming in Georgia (2015) and Crack in America (2015). He was born August 27, 1968 in Saginaw, Michigan to Taylor Jr. and Loretta Webb. Although it did find that both men were major drug dealers, "guilty of enriching themselves at the expense of countless drug users," and that they had contributed money to the Contra cause, "we did not find that their activities were responsible for the crack cocaine epidemic in South Central Los Angeles, much less the rise of crack throughout the nation, or that they were a significant source of support for the Contras. [9], Webb's first major investigative work appeared in 1980, when the Cincinnati Post published "The Coal Connection," a seventeen-part series by Webb and Post reporter Thomas Scheffey. He was preceded in death by his wife, Melody Webb; parents and three brothers, Albert, Duane and Ronald. 3) The series oversimplified how the crack epidemic grew. Baca claimed that a drug dealer with close links to the CIA had framed her boyfriend, who was also in the cocaine business. Gary Webb and 'Kill the Messenger': Reporter played by - cleveland [68], In August 2004, Webb joined the Sacramento News & Review, an alternative weekly newspaper, where he continued doing investigative writing. "[58], It also concluded that "the claims that Blandn and Meneses were responsible for introducing crack cocaine into South Central Los Angeles and spreading the crack epidemic throughout the country were unsupported." This drug ring "opened the first pipeline between Colombia's cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles" and, as a result, "The cocaine that flooded in helped spark a crack explosion in urban America."[23]. Shortly before his death, his motorcycle had been stolen (it was recovered by his family after his death). Gary Douglas Webb of Radnor, PA, passed away on October 19, 2021. He said: 'No. "Gary was given the choice of relocating either to San Jose," says Bell, "or to Cupertino". Webb took a modestly paid, low-profile job as an investigator with the California State Legislature. [55] Webb eventually chose Cupertino, but was unhappy with the routine stories he was reporting there and the long commute. What he found, he wrote later, "nearly knocked me off my chair". Call 911 for assistance. But ultimately, the responsibility was, and is, mine.". Gary Webb on the CIA's Role in the 1980s LA Crack Epidemic - Citizen Truth She was a native of Minden, LA, but a resident of Crossett for 65 years. Gary Stephen Webb (August 31, 1955 December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist. I realise now he was thinking about suicide.". Gary Webb, 64, Oroville, Wash., died Oct. 30, 2021. By the late spring of 1996, Webb was ready to publish. He went into the bedroom, and picked up a .38 that had belonged to his father. "I told Gary not to go near this story," his source replies, in an emotional voice. Can these things possibly be? [65], After leaving The Mercury News, Webb worked as an investigator for the California State Legislature. Gary Webb became, quite unfairly, the victim of one of the most extraordinary examples of piling on by the mainstream press, ever.". Gary Webb passed away on March 2, 2019. "It says the CIA helped introduce poison into our children. How Kill the Messenger Will Vindicate Investigative Journalist Gary Webb Ricky Donnell "Freeway Rick" Ross (born January 26, 1960) is an American author and convicted drug trafficker best known for the drug empire he established in Los Angeles, California, in the early to mid 1980s. LOS ANGELES, Dec. 12 - Gary Webb, a reporter who won national attention with a series of articles, later discredited, linking the Central Intelligence Agency to the spread of crack . He was born Sept.10, 1957 in Willcox, Ariz. to RG Webb and Winnie Mae Shelton. Ceppos failed to reply to one phone message and six emails. Gary Webb, 49, Journalist Who Wrote Disputed Articles, Is Dead line-height:1.5; The CIA/MSM Contra-Cocaine Cover-up - Consortium News Jimmy Webb's battle with ex-wife Patsy Sullivan continues - New York Post Gary Webb Obituary (2009) - Elgin, IL - Elgin Courier News - Legacy.com A passing motorist - a heavily tattooed young man - gave him a lift home, then returned and stole the motorcycle, which police recovered from him three days after Webb's death. Today, Narco News, with support from The Fund for Authentic Journalism, is pleased to announce that the Dark Alliance website has a new, and this time permanent, home at Narco News. [41], When the Los Angeles Times series appeared, Ceppos again wrote to defend the original series. "If there was an eye to the storm," Katz wrote, "if there was a mastermind behind crack's decade-long reign, if there was one outlaw most responsible for flooding LA's streets with mass-marketed cocaine, his name was Freeway Rick. (Strawser) Webb. On Dec. 9, 2004, the 49-year-old Gary Stephen Webb, Pulitzer prize-winning US investigative journalist, typed out suicide notes to his ex-wife and his three children; he laid out a certificate for his cremation; he taped a note on the door telling movers - who were coming the next morning to move him out of his rental house near Sacramento - to Within weeks, the site was attracting up to 1.3m hits per day. And he finallyyou know, they finally left the country. At the commemorative service for Webb, held at the Doubletree Hotel in Sacramento, Bell read out the letter Webb had written to his son Eric, now 17. Last edited on 10 February 2023, at 03:36, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion, CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking, "To readers of our 'Dark Alliance' series", "America's 'crack' plague has roots in Nicaragua war", "War on drugs has unequal impact on black Americans", "Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Inquiry Findings", "The CIA and Crack: Evidence Is Lacking Of Alleged Plot", "Though Evidence Is Thin, Tale of C.I.A. American racer Cooper Webb is married to his wife named Mariah Williams Webb. Gary was born May 5, 1954, to his parents Worley and Margaret Webb, who preceded him in death as well as his brother, David Webb. Newsweek called Kerry a "randy conspiracy buff". What was new about Webb's reports, published under the title "Dark Alliance" in the Californian paper the San Jose Mercury News, was that for the first time it brought the story back home. I remain astounded by the editorial decisions they made.". Should these editors subsequently deem the story to have been fatally flawed, they take the consequences. "I think the behaviour of the media in all of this has been amazing," says Bell. [5], After high school, Webb attended an Indianapolis community college on a scholarship until his family moved to Cincinnati. Webb's experience came as no surprise to Jack Blum, senior prosecutor for the Kerry Committee. [48] Despite the controversy that soon overtook the series, and the request of one board member to reconsider, the branch's board went ahead with the award in November. [49], The paper also gave Webb permission to visit Central America again to get more evidence supporting the story. Gary's story, however, is far from over and could never be killed by something as trivial as a material bullet. He leaves behind the love of his life and adoring wife of 41 years, Anne Michelle Phillips. But they underestimated the paradigm shifting power of the internet, and the intelligence of Webb, who not only listed the explosive story online . "He thought I was being cowardly. Nick Schou, a journalist who wrote a 2006 biography of Webb, has claimed that this was the most important error in the series. Celebrezze eventually sued the Plain Dealer and won an undisclosed out of court settlement. According to the report's "Epilogue," the report was completed in December 1997 but was not released because the DEA was still attempting to use Danilo Blandn in an investigation of international drug dealers and was concerned that the report would affect the viability of the investigation. It sounds like a Tom Clancy novel, right? After the announcement of federal investigations into the claims made in the series, other newspapers began investigating, and several papers published articles suggesting the series' claims were overstated. Corrie had primary biliary cirrhosis, a genetic liver disease that already had. The third article discussed the social effects of the crack trade, noting that it had a disparate effect on African-Americans. Emma Lee Webb, age 75, of Crossett, AR passed away Monday February 27, 2023, in her home surrounded by her family. Then, on 10 December, he resigned. Webb, a Pullitzer prize winning journalist, exposed CIA drug trafficking operations in a series of books and reports for the San Jose Mercury News. Return of the messenger: How Jeremy Renner's new film Kill The [36] McManus wrote that Blandn's and Meneses's contributions to Contra organizations were significantly less than the "millions" claimed in the series, and stated there was no evidence that the CIA had tried to protect them. The Man Who Exposed The Crips, Bloods & CIA Connection to - YouTube Chasing Corona - by George Webb In May 1997, after an internal review, Ceppos stated that, although the story was right on many important points, there were shortcomings in the writing, editing and production of the series. .article-native-ad strong { Webb, unlike Blum or Kerry, had to face his difficulties alone. "[25] It also found disparities in the treatment of Black and White traffickers in the justice system, contrasting the treatment of Blandn and Ross after their arrests for drug trafficking. That was just the way he was.". Gary Webb Obituary (1954 - 2021) - Dorr, MI - Grand Rapids Press To show this, the series focused on three men: Ricky Ross, Oscar Danilo Blandn, and Norwin Meneses. E&P Staff. I first heard about Webb eight years ago, I tell Bell, from the Paris-based journalist Paul Moreira. Even 10 years after his tragic death, the media refuse to let him rest. By a fortunate coincidence of timing, the report was released on a day when the Monica Lewinsky scandal dominated every front page in the country.
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