[39] The Post refused to print his letter. 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. The reports of the three federal investigations into the claims of "Dark Alliance" were not released until over a year after the series's publication. Gary Webb's Ex-Wife Set to Attend New York Premiere By Richard Horgan October 8, 2014 Cleveland Plain Dealer film critic Clint O'Connor had a solid feature the other day about Kill the. For two years, Blum and Kerry supervised the interrogation of dozens of witnesses who described CIA-related drug deals in central America. "[38], Surprised by The Washington Post article, The Mercury News's executive editor Jerome Ceppos wrote to the Post defending the series. Evidence Begins To Indicate Gary Webb Was Murdered - BSNEWS 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. "But Gary thought that if something was true, it should be told. Gary Douglas Webb of Radnor, PA, passed away on October 19, 2021. And it was ignored by the US media, for all of those reasons. The second article described Blandn's background and how he began smuggling cocaine to support the Contras. Webb's reports prompted three official investigations, including one by the CIA itself which - astonishingly for an organisation rarely praised for its transparency - confirmed the substance of his findings (published at length in Webb's 1998 book, also entitled Dark Alliance). I ask Bell. In the final few months of his life, Bell says, Webb became increasingly withdrawn. . Gary Webb, (born August 31, 1955, Corona, California, U.S.died December 10, 2004, Carmichael, California), American investigative journalist who wrote a three-part series for the San Jose Mercury News in 1996 on connections between the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the U.S.-backed Contra army seeking to overthrow Nicaragua's leftist Dr. Gary A. Webb is a geriatrician in Marco Island, Florida. Tomac is used to good feelings when it comes to Daytona. Gary Webb - Lake Ridge Chapel & Memorial Designers ". The story was picked up by black talk-radio stations. } [81], Peter Kornbluh, a researcher at George Washington University's National Security Archives, also does not agree that the report vindicated the series. Dark Alliance: Gary Webb, Christian Rummel: 9781522694397: Amazon.com We're well aware that they/it (the cia) did do it. Gary Webb | Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune .article-native-ad { But as his ex-wife told the . [34], The Los Angeles Times devoted the most space to the story, publishing a three-part series called "The Cocaine Trail." He was born August 27, 1968 in Saginaw, Michigan to Taylor Jr. and Loretta Webb. I believe that we fell short at every step of our process: in the writing, editing and production of our work. "He definitely was depressed. Ross was a major drug dealer in Los Angeles. line-height:1.5; Do not quote me on anything.". The Death of Gary Webb - Beyond Chron Garry Webb wrote the 1996 "Dark Alliance" series for the San Jose. "As a PhD student, McCoy went to Vietnam and built an absolutely damning case about the CIA's involvement with trafficking heroin. Critics view the series' claims as inaccurate or overstated, while supporters point to the results of a later CIA investigation as vindicating the series. [39] Carey's critique appeared in mid-October and went through several of the Post's criticisms of the series, including the importance of Blandn's drug ring in spreading crack, questions about Blandn's testimony in court, and how specific series allegations about CIA involvement had been, giving Webb's responses. 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. [15], In 1988, Webb was recruited by the San Jose Mercury News, which was looking for an investigative reporter. Obituary | GARY HAYS WEBB of Neenah, Wisconsin | WESTGOR FUNERAL HOMES 'It's just good vibes': Cooper Webb, Eli Tomac in tight Supercross But his central thesis - that the CIA, having participated in narcotics trafficking in central America, had, at best, turned a blind eye to the activities of drug dealers in LA - has never been in question. In 1996, investigative journalist Gary Webb wrote a series of stories exposing the connection between the CIA and the crack cocaine that was being sold in So. He began his career working for newspapers in Kentucky and Ohio, winning numerous awards, and building a strong reputation for investigative writing. Cooper Webb Wife Name Revealed: Who Is Professional SX/MX - Halla News It was accurate. Webb, Gary Gary T. Webb, age 67, of Hamilton, Michigan, passed away peacefully surrounded by his loving family Thursday, November 11, 2021. Work with a bunch of drug dealers to run guns? [67], Webb later moved to the State Assembly's Office of Majority Services. He wrote that the series likely "oversimplified" the crack epidemic in America and the supposed "critical role" the dealers written about in the series played in it. He was born Sept.10, 1957 in Willcox, Ariz. to RG Webb and Winnie Mae Shelton. Both sides were left angry and disappointed. "By the end of his life he was just in a lot of pain," said Webb's ex-wife, Susan Bell. She was a native of Minden, LA, but a resident of Crossett for 65 years. 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 . The story had little immediate impact. The article discussed Webb's contacts with Ross's attorney and prosecution complaints of how Ross's defense had used Webb's series. [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. He received his medical degree from American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine and has been in practice for more than. News coverage noted that there were widespread rumors on the Internet at the time that Webb had been killed as retribution for his "Dark Alliance" series, published eight years before. 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." 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. "He started having motorcycle crashes," Bell says. Emma Lee Webb, age 75, of Crossett, AR passed away Monday February 27, 2023, in her home surrounded by her family. A jury awarded the plaintiffs over 13 million dollars and the case was later settled. We are in the living room of Bell's house just outside Sacramento, California. 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. Should these editors subsequently deem the story to have been fatally flawed, they take the consequences. "Do you think that a part of him did this out of revenge?" By William Kennedy / Jan. 22, 2023 12:00 pm EST. Many writers discussing the series point to errors in it. 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. With hindsight, Bell says, "the signs were there. Part of what makes OConnors article so compelling are the candid thoughts of Webbs former wife Sue Stokes. He accepted Christ at an early age. Hired by the San Jose Mercury News, Webb contributed to the paper's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. } [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. [56] He resigned from the paper in November 1997. Dispelling the Rumors: Gary Webb's Death Confirmed As Suicide "Do not quote me. The Tragic 2004 Death Of Investigative Journalist, Gary Webb [45], The Post's response came from the paper's ombudsman, Geneva Overholser. 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. A flood of inquiries about Gary Webb's shooting death prompts statement. 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. Despite some hyped phrasing, "Dark Alliance" appears to be praiseworthy investigative reporting."[47]. The story offered no evidence to support such sweeping conclusions, a fatal error that would ultimately destroy Webb, if not his editors. What he found, he wrote later, "nearly knocked me off my chair". 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 became, quite unfairly, the victim of one of the most extraordinary examples of piling on by the mainstream press, ever.". The series ran from October 2022, 1996, and was researched by a team of 17 reporters. 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. At that time, Webb (pictured) was best known for the controversial three-part CIA 1996 expose he wrote the San Jose Mercury News called "Dark Alliance: The Story Behind the . "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. But they underestimated the paradigm shifting power of the internet, and the intelligence of Webb, who not only listed the explosive story online . Then, in August the same year, the first of three instalments of "Dark Alliance" appeared. 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. "It says the CIA helped introduce poison into our children. When Ross discovered the market for crack in Los Angeles, he began buying cocaine from Blandn. Webb moved his wife and two young children to a suburb and continued a tradition he had started in Cleveland, restoring their small house with the help of how-to books, installing wainscoting and custom tile, new cabinets and gardens, while putting in overtime at the paper. .article-native-ad p { ", "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.
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