Regarding issues raised in the series's shorter sidebar stories, it found that some in the government were "not eager" to have DEA agent Celerino Castillo "openly probe" activities at Ilopango Airport in El Salvador, where covert operations in support of the Contras were undertaken, and that the CIA had indeed intervened in a case involving smuggler Julio Zavala. [49], The paper also gave Webb permission to visit Central America again to get more evidence supporting the story. "I'd get discouraged," she said, "but I never really gave up hope." Back in 1997, SN&R brought the controversy about Gary Webb to readers with "Secrets and Lies," a cover story about why the mainstream media attacked . Am J Mens Health, 2018 Mar 1:1557988318758788. doi: 10.1177/1557988318758788. 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. The consensus, insofar as one exists, is that he probably overstated both the amount of drug money made by Ross and Blandn, and the percentage of those profits diverted to the Contras. "[76] Scott Herhold, Webb's first editor at The Mercury-News, wrote in a 2013 column that "Gary Webb was a journalist of outsized talent. } By this stage, he was prepared to work as a jobbing reporter. Then, on 10 December, he resigned. Baca claimed that a drug dealer with close links to the CIA had framed her boyfriend, who was also in the cocaine business. When his medical insurance expired, he stopped taking his antidepressants.
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? When Attorney General Janet Reno determined that a delay was no longer necessary, the report was released unaltered. Sue remarried two years ago. Gary Webb, 64, Oroville, Wash., died Oct. 30, 2021. I ask Bell. In a 2013 article in the LA Weekly, Schou wrote that Webb was "vindicated by a 1998 CIA Inspector General report, which revealed that for more than a decade the agency had covered up a business relationship it had with Nicaraguan drug dealers like Blandn. "[77], Webb's reporting in "Dark Alliance" remains controversial. Webb, unlike Blum or Kerry, had to face his difficulties alone. It's . He wrote well. [73], On the other hand, many of the writers and editors who worked with him have had high praise for him. Even 10 years after his tragic death, the media refuse to let him rest. [22], The lede of the first article set out the series' basic claims: "For the better part of a decade, a San Francisco Bay Area drug ring sold tons of cocaine to the Crips and Bloods street gangs of Los Angeles and funneled millions in drug profits to a Latin American guerrilla army run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency." Webb was an assertive figure who drove fast cars and powerful motorcycles, hung heavy metal posters in his office and, at certain times in his life, smoked a fair amount of cannabis. The series follows the stories of several characters whose lives are fated to intersect including CIA operative Teddy McDonald who helps to secure guns for the Contras. The other article, citing interviews with current and former intelligence and law-enforcement officials, questioned the importance of the drug dealers discussed in the series, both in the crack cocaine trade and in supporting the Nicaraguan Contras' fight against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. In February, Gary Webb gave his ex-wife. 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. Asking why crack became so prevalent in the Black community of Los Angeles, the article credited Blandn, referring to him as "the Johnny Appleseed of crack in California. The series ran from October 2022, 1996, and was researched by a team of 17 reporters. "Ross," his report went on, dealt "on a scale never before conceived," with "a staggering turnover" of "50 to 100 kilos of cocaine a day". "[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. I mean - please.". [29] Waters urged the CIA, the Department of Justice, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to investigate. But they underestimated the paradigm shifting power of the internet, and the intelligence of Webb, who not only listed the explosive story online .
Gary Webb FRCPC Obituary (1943 - 2021) - Legacy Remembers "[78], While finding this part of the series unsupported, Schou said that some of the series's claims on CIA involvement are supported, writing that "The CIA conducted an internal investigation that acknowledged in March 1998 that the agency had covered up Contra drug trafficking for more than a decade." Few reporters I've known could match his nose for an investigative story. On Dec. 9, 2004, the 49-year-old Webb typed out suicide notes to his ex-wife and his three children; laid out a certificate for his cremation; and taped a note on the door telling movers, who were . I first heard about Webb eight years ago, I tell Bell, from the Paris-based journalist Paul Moreira.
Gary Webb Obituary (2011) - Saginaw, MI - Saginaw News on MLive.com Webb joined the Mercury News in 1988, via the Cleveland Plain Dealer. 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.
Kill the Messenger True Story vs. Movie - Real Gary Webb 71K views 8 years ago Gary Webb's son Ian talks about the film in which Jeremy Renner plays his late journalist father. [63]Dark Alliance was a 1998 Pen/Newman's Own First Amendment Award Finalist, 1998 San Francisco Chronicle bestseller, 1999 Bay Area Book Reviewers Award Finalist, and 1999 Firecracker Alternative Booksellers Award Winner in the Politics category. Age 43 years. [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. Gary Webb became, quite unfairly, the victim of one of the most extraordinary examples of piling on by the mainstream press, ever.". In 1986, Webb wrote an article saying that the Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, Frank D. Celebrezze accepted contributions from groups with organized crime connections. ", "Reporter's suicide confirmed by coroner", "Repercussions From Flawed News Articles", "Herhold: Thinking back on journalist Gary Webb and the CIA", Ex-L.A. Times Writer Apologizes for "Tawdry" Attacks, "Gary Webb was no journalism hero, despite what 'Kill the Messenger' says", "Jeremy Renner's 'Kill the Messenger' Gets Fall Release Date", The CIA-Contra-Crack Cocaine Controversy: A Review of the Justice Department's Investigations and Prosecutions, United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, Report of Investigation Concerning Allegations of Connections Between CIA and The Contras in Cocaine Trafficking to the United States, Central Intelligence Agency Office of the Inspector General, United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, "Secrecy, Conspiracy, and the Media During the CIA-Contra Affair", Freeway Rick Ross: The Untold Autobiography, "Inside the Dark Alliance: Gary Webb on the CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion", 'A NATURAL STORY': Tribute to 'Dark Alliance' and Journalist Gary Webb, San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center, Archive of Gary Webb stories at Sacramento News and Review, "Frontline: Cocaine, Conspiracy Theories & the C.I.A. In a long review of the series' claims in The Baltimore Sun, Weinberg said "I think the critics have been far too harsh. 4) The series "created impressions that were open to misinterpretation" through "imprecise language and graphics. He stayed home, playing computer games, and began smoking cannabis heavily. He became an investigator for the California State Legislature, published a book based on the "Dark Alliance" series in 1998, and did freelance investigative reporting. 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. He then transferred to nearby Northern Kentucky University. Ross, currently serving life, was already infamous; he had been profiled in the LA Times in December 1994, by writer Jesse Katz, at a time when Ross was at liberty and in penitent mood. But "Dark Alliance" was also posted on the Mercury News's website, with the image of a crack smoker superimposed on the CIA badge. Gary Hays (304) 778-7090: Garcia responded by email but declined to speak on the record about the editing process of Webb's series. A Celebration of Life will be . This did not happen in Webb's case. 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. "[74] Mary Anne Sharkey, Webb's editor at The Plain Dealer, told writer Alicia Shepard in 1997 that Webb was known as 'the carpenter' "because he had everything nailed down. This is why Webb's "Dark Alliance" series is an essential source, a primary text that every journalism student should study. "He started having motorcycle crashes," Bell says. "As a PhD student, McCoy went to Vietnam and built an absolutely damning case about the CIA's involvement with trafficking heroin. Cooper and Mariah were engaged before they finally tied the knot. Webb, Bell explains, had written four letters explaining what he was about to do - one to her, one to each of their three children - and mailed them immediately before he killed himself.
Kill the Messenger review - what really happened to Gary Webb [50] By January, Webb filed drafts of four more articles based on his trip, but his editors concluded that the new articles would not help shore up the original series's claims. The character reporter Irene Abe is said by fans of the show to be a stand in character for the real life Gary Webb. "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. Look at the way the US press reports on Iraq. [52] Webb was allowed to keep working on the story and made one more trip to Nicaragua in March. She and Gary were married from 1979 to 2000 and had three children. The second volume, "The Contra Story," was issued in a classified version on April 27, 1998, and in an unclassified version on October 8, 1998. in Central America", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gary_Webb&oldid=1138520387, This page was last edited on 10 February 2023, at 03:36. Webb worked for several newspapers including The Kentucky Post and Cleveland Plain Dealer. "For the better part of a decade," it began, "a San Francisco drug ring sold tons of cocaine to the Crips and Bloods street gangs of Los Angeles and funnelled millions in drug profits to a Latin American guerrilla army run by the US Central Intelligence Agency.". After Webb's death, a collection of his stories from before and after the "Dark Alliance" series was published. When Ross discovered the market for crack in Los Angeles, he began buying cocaine from Blandn. And when he got something in his head, he was determined to do it. Carey ultimately decided that there were problems with several parts of the story and wrote a draft article incorporating his findings. The first article, by Katz, developed a different picture of the origins of the crack trade than "Dark Alliance" had described, with more gangs and smugglers participating. This emotive last phrase refers to Webb's experience in the immediate aftermath of publication of his three lengthy articles, in the summer of 1996. "Gary was 18 and I was 16 when we first met and started dating in Indianapolis," said Sue Stokes. that the "federal government bore some responsibility, however indirect, for the flood of crack that coursed through black neighborhoods in the 1980s"). "The first story he had to file was about a police horse which had died of constipation.". He also had this inherent belief that the truth could not harm him. It would have been our 25th wedding anniversary," Bell recalls. Gary Douglas Webb of Radnor, PA, passed away on October 19, 2021. The coroner's staff concluded that the second shot hit an artery.[70]. In 1996, the award-winning journalist Gary Webb uncovered CIA links to Los Angeles drug dealers. Webb's ex-wife, Sue Bell, discounted theories Tuesday that her husband had been murdered, saying the 49-year-old Webb had been distraught for some time over his inability to get . He was assigned to its Sacramento bureau, where he was allowed to choose most of his own stories. According to Corn, Webb "was wrong on some important details, but he was, in a way, closer to the truth than many of his establishment media critics who neglected the story of the real CIA-contra-cocaine connection." It was written by Jesse Katz, the same reporter who, less than two years earlier, had described Ross's conglomerate as "the Wal-Mart of crack dealing". "He told the guys with him he was fine," she recalls, "got back on the bike, then passed out, half an hour later. 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.
Gary Webb | Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune We had this huge team of people at the L.A. Times and kind of piled on to one lone muckraker up in Northern California." An investigative journalist, Webb became interested in the covert activities of the Central Intelligence Agency. Webb strongly disagreed with Ceppos's column and, in interviews, was harshly critical of the paper's handling of the story. [33] Golden also referred to the controversy over Webb's contacts with Ross's lawyer. "He had six in a short period of time." The collection, The Killing Game: Selected Stories from the Author of Dark Alliance, was edited by Webb's son, Eric. But as his ex-wife told the . "That's right," says Blum. The article resulted in a lawsuit against Webb's paper which the plaintiffs won. His former wife, her voice lowered to a whisper, explains that Webb missed with the first shot (which exited through his left cheek). It was truthful.
Dark Alliance: Gary Webb, Christian Rummel: 9781522694397: Amazon.com The story had little immediate impact. [51], The editors met with Webb several times in February to discuss the results of the paper's internal review and eventually decided to print neither Carey's draft article nor the articles Webb had filed.
Gary Webb's "Dark Alliance" Returns to the Internet - Narco News As a result, some major US newspapers ignored its findings completely, while others relegated a brief summary to their inside pages. That was just the way he was.". Some might consider it an inappropriate assignment for a man with responsibilities.
Eighteen Years Ago Today, Journalist Gary Webb Was Murdered After [66]
Herhold: Thinking back on journalist Gary Webb and the CIA "They use the giant corporate press rather than saying anything directly. Gary's ex-wife Susan Bell states: "The way he was acting it would be hard for me to believe it was anything but suicide." An interesting OPINION, but she supplies no convincing evidence to illustrate what she means by this. One article, dealing mostly with the response of the Los Angeles Black community to the stories, described the series's evidence as "thin". [72] A New York Times profile of Webb in June 1997 noted that two of his series written for the Cleveland Plain Dealer had resulted in lawsuits that the paper had settled.
Emma Lee Webb of Crossett, Arkansas | 1947 - 2023 | Obituary A January 1997 article in American Journalism Review noted that a 1994 series Webb wrote had also been the subject of a Mercury News internal review that criticized Webb's reporting. [57], The report covered actions by Department of Justice employees in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the DEA, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and U.S.
How the Press and the CIA Killed Gary Webb's Career He told me: 'If I can't do what I want to do, what's the point?' Family (1) Webb - whose article had never alleged that the CIA deliberately targeted any ethnic group - became a national celebrity. Gary Webb's family says his death was Suicide. When he was engaged, he worked hard. "He definitely was depressed. Gary Webb was born on August 31, 1955 in Corona, California, USA. Join iconic brands and world-class marketing leaders at Brandweek to unlock powerful insights and impact-driven strategies. Osborn, Barbara Bliss (MarchApril 1998). When facts didn't fit his theory, he tended to shove them to the sidelines. "It sounds crazy," says Bell, "but having his motorbike stolen was the last straw. Corrie had primary biliary cirrhosis, a genetic liver disease that already had. It was published in 1998 as Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. He was so depressed. Webb, Gary Gary T. Webb, age 67, of Hamilton, Michigan, passed away peacefully surrounded by his loving family Thursday, November 11, 2021. Watkins and Debbie (John) Foutch; grandchildren, Makenzie and Ashlynn Fogg. The story they printed was just awful. It also examined "how CIA handled and responded to information regarding allegations of drug trafficking" by people involved in Contra activities or support.
Gary Webb photos on Flickr | Flickr .article-native-ad svg { 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." One of his last articles examined America's Army, a video game designed by the U.S. When I first heard the news, I tell Bell, I was inclined to believe the conspiracy theories that still proliferate on the internet, suggesting that Webb had been assassinated - either by one of the drug dealers he'd met while writing Dark Alliance, or by the intelligence services who were supposed to police them. Webb's series was published on the Mercury News's fledgling website, but it wasn't exactly an instant sensation. [67], Webb later moved to the State Assembly's Office of Majority Services.
Gary Webb's family says his death was Suicide. OR was he like Epstein It found that Blandn received permanent resident status "in a wholly improper manner" and that for some time the Department "was not certain whether to prosecute Meneses, or use him as a cooperating witness." As it turned out," she adds, "that was not their intent.". Why bring up old white people atrocities against black people now? Calling the Post's overall focus "misplaced", Overholser expressed regret that the paper had not taken the opportunity to re-examine whether the CIA had overlooked Contra involvement in drug smuggling, "a subject The Post and the public had given short shrift. [54] Editors at the paper, on the other hand, felt that Webb had failed to tell them about information that contradicted the series's claims and that he "responded to concerns not with reasoned argument, but with accusations of us selling him out. A series of expose articles in the San Jose Mercury-News by reporter Gary Webb told tales of a drug triangle during the 1980s that linked CIA officials in Central America, a San Francisco drug . font-size: 34px; "[64] Webb's longest response to the controversy was in "The Mighty Wurlitzer Plays On," a chapter he contributed to an anthology of press criticism: .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, If we had met five years ago, you wouldn't have found a more staunch defender of the newspaper industry than me And then I wrote some stories that made me realize how sadly misplaced my bliss had been. Webb's experience came as no surprise to Jack Blum, senior prosecutor for the Kerry Committee. 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. Gary Webb, friends say, was a far more combative character than either the Mercury News's executive editor Ceppos or page editor Garcia. Within weeks, the site was attracting up to 1.3m hits per day. The CIA admits used the media to ruin his career. padding:0!important; Moreira - a senior news producer for Canal Plus - has established a reputation for courage and independence of mind in his own foreign reporting, and was recently described by Le Monde as "the Che Guevara of news media". [59], The first volume of the report found no evidence that "any past or present employee of CIA, or anyone acting on behalf of CIA, had any direct or indirect dealing" with Ross, Blandn, or Meneses or that any of the other figures mentioned in "Dark Alliance" were ever employed by or associated with or contacted by the agency. A jury awarded the plaintiffs over 13 million dollars and the case was later settled. "The cause of death was determined to be self . . Ceppos and Garcia have long since lost any taste for public discussion of "Dark Alliance".
The Man Who Exposed The Crips, Bloods & CIA Connection to - YouTube In February last year he was laid off by the State Legislature. It noted that Blandn and Meneses claimed to have donated money to Contra sympathizers in Los Angeles, but found no information to confirm that it was true or that the agency had heard of it. Webb, according to Bell, was a man who, more than most, found that his mood and self-esteem fluctuated in accordance with his professional fortunes. Webb chose the second option. And yet, for all his Easy Rider tendencies, he was also a dedicated family man with an extraordinary appetite for researching minutiae. While working at the legislature, Webb continued to do freelance investigative reporting, sometimes based on his investigative work. 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. "[82], Kill the Messenger (2014) is based on Webb's book Dark Alliance and Nick Schou's biography of Webb. [8] In 1979, Webb married Susan Bell; the couple eventually had three children. WEBB, Mr. Gary Lee, our beloved son, husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle went home with his heavenly Father Monday, August 29, 2011 at University of Michigan Hospital. He was born August 27, 1968 in Saginaw, Michigan to Taylor Jr. and Loretta Webb. According to Bell, Webb had been unhappy for some time over his inability to get a job at another major newspaper.
Gary Webb on the CIA's Role in the 1980s LA Crack Epidemic - Citizen Truth Webb, whose plans to become a journalist had begun when he was 13, but never included equine death notices, resigned from the Mercury News a few months later. "Look at what happened to Gary Webb. . [55] Webb eventually chose Cupertino, but was unhappy with the routine stories he was reporting there and the long commute. There has been speculation that he may have met with foul play because he had received two gunshot wounds to the head, The Sacramento Bee reported Wednesday. We were dismissed as a bunch of nuts." [13] Webb then moved to the paper's statehouse bureau, where he covered statewide issues and won numerous regional journalism awards. Thank you." The response from the American press took two months to arrive. A 1985 series, "Doctoring the Truth," uncovered problems in the State Medical Board[12] and led to an Ohio House investigation which resulted in major revisions to the state Medical Practice Act. "Which was that, if he wanted a future within the political establishment of the United States, then he should concentrate on other aspects of life.". Webb's corpse was found in the bedroom, with two gunshot wounds to the head. The first shot went through his face, and exited at his left cheek. Poor Gary Webb. . When Webb's body was discovered last December, Bell says, this last item had been dumped in the trash.
Why Journalist Gary Webb Died - LewRockwell It also stated that the Contras may have acted with the knowledge and protection of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Gary Webb's income source is mostly from being a successful . GARY WEBB OBITUARY Gary Frank Webb Sept. 27, 1944 - Oct. 23, 2022 Gary passed away peacefully of complications following cardiovascular surgery. [46] Overholser was harshly critical of the series, "reported by a seemingly hotheaded fellow willing to have people leap to conclusions his reporting couldn't back up." While police were preparing the case against her boyfriend, Baca alleged, officers had disclosed documents which revealed that one of her lover's associates had been working for the Contras. At the end of March, Ceppos told Webb that he was going to present the internal review findings in a column. GARY WEBB: His wife's office was burglarized. He was laid off in February 2004 when Assembly Member Fabian Nez was elected Speaker. I believe that we fell short at every step of our process: in the writing, editing and production of our work. He is survived by his loving wife, Wendie, of Elgin; grandmother, Eileen Carrier of Elgin;. Although Blandn's cartel was undoubtedly one of the first to bring crack to LA, Webb was almost certainly suffering a rush of blood when he described the group as "the first pipeline" into the city.