"You do not understand the power of these people," he adds, referring to the US intelligence services. Voices: The Gary Webb saga still has lessons today It sounds like a Tom Clancy novel, right? In February, Gary Webb gave his ex-wife. Work with a bunch of drug dealers to run guns? Gary Webb on the CIA's Role in the 1980s LA Crack Epidemic - Citizen Truth He went into the bedroom, and picked up a .38 that had belonged to his father. At the end of March, Ceppos told Webb that he was going to present the internal review findings in a column. 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. He also defended the series in interviews with all three papers. [34], The Los Angeles Times devoted the most space to the story, publishing a three-part series called "The Cocaine Trail." 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. So he blew her off. She was a homemaker and a member of Hunters Chapel Baptist Church. When Attorney General Janet Reno determined that a delay was no longer necessary, the report was released unaltered. The Man Who Exposed The Crips, Bloods & CIA Connection to - YouTube Gary's story, however, is far from over and could never be killed by something as trivial as a material bullet. The passing of Gary ends more than 50 years with his best friend and loving wife, Marilyn J. His assignments included investigating racial profiling by the California Highway Patrol and charges that the Oracle Corporation had received a no-bid contract award of $95 million in 2001. [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. "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 . 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. "It sounds crazy," says Bell, "but having his motorbike stolen was the last straw. He was born at Emmanuel Hospital in. [40] Ceppos also asked reporter Pete Carey to write a critique of the series for publication in The Mercury News, and had the controversial website artwork changed. [66] 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". "[2], Ceppos noted that Webb did not agree with these conclusions. For two years, Blum and Kerry supervised the interrogation of dozens of witnesses who described CIA-related drug deals in central America. [11], In 1983, Webb moved to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, where he continued doing investigative work. 'It's just good vibes': Cooper Webb, Eli Tomac in tight Supercross Walter Bogdanich, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who worked with Webb on The Plain Dealer, told American Journalism Review editor Susan Paterno "He was brilliant; he knew more about public records than anybody I've ever known. Webb came home and put his belongings in order, dropping his Kentucky Post poster in the bin. Family and friends will gather to celebrate his life of 59 years at 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 7, 2019, at Lamesa Continue Reading Leave a Message, Share a Memory 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. He is survived by his loving wife, Wendie, of Elgin; grandmother, Eileen Carrier of Elgin;. "Gary was given the choice of relocating either to San Jose," says Bell, "or to Cupertino". 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. [71] When asked by local reporters about the possibility of two gunshots being a suicide, Lyons replied "It's unusual in a suicide case to have two shots, but it has been done in the past, and it is in fact a distinct possibility." The CIA Inspector General's report, commissioned in response to the allegations in "Dark Alliance", was published in the autumn of 1998. Gary Webb's "Dark Alliance" Returns to the Internet - Narco News Webb began to shift from cynicism to curiosity. I remain astounded by the editorial decisions they made.". Corrie had primary biliary cirrhosis, a genetic liver disease that already had. Webb followed up Baca's leads at the California State Library, examining Congressional records and FBI reports. Despite some hyped phrasing, "Dark Alliance" appears to be praiseworthy investigative reporting."[47]. California senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein also took note and wrote to CIA director John Deutch and Attorney General Janet Reno, asking for investigations into the articles' allegations. Family (1) He had also lost his house the week before his suicide. The Mercury News reporter came under sustained attack from the weightier US newspapers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and, especially, the Los Angeles Times, infuriated at being scooped, on its own patch, by what it saw as a small-town paper. Webb's pieces were not dealing with nameless peasants slaughtered in some distant republic, but demonstrated a clear link between the CIA and the suppliers of the gangs delivering crack to the ghetto of Watts, in South Central Los Angeles. Hired by the San Jose Mercury News, Webb contributed to the paper's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. "The government side of the story is coming through the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post", he stated. Dark Alliance: Gary Webb, Christian Rummel: 9781522694397: Amazon.com In a long review of the series' claims in The Baltimore Sun, Weinberg said "I think the critics have been far too harsh. He said: 'No. Gary Webb's family says his death was Suicide. [60], It found nothing to support the claim that "the drug trafficking activities of Blandn and Meneses were motivated by any commitment to support the Contra cause or Contra activities undertaken by CIA." 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. Gary is survived by his loving wife of 41 years, Barbara; their son, Jeff; his nephew, Christopher (Stephanie) Webb; niece, Sara (Gary) Dugan; and . He died on December 10, 2004 in Carmichael, California, USA. My wife has kept me grounded for . Should these editors subsequently deem the story to have been fatally flawed, they take the consequences. [67], Webb later moved to the State Assembly's Office of Majority Services. Who Is Gary Webb's Wife? Osborn, Barbara Bliss (MarchApril 1998). This support "was not directed by anyone within the Contra movement who had an association with the CIA," and the Committee found "no evidence that the CIA or the Intelligence Community was aware of these individuals support. In an unprecedented move, the then CIA director John Deutch was dispatched to address community leaders in the Watts district of LA. * The agency's response was to try to prevent him from getting his doctorate, then block his advancement in the academic world. [39] The Post refused to print his letter. The article discussed Webb's contacts with Ross's attorney and prosecution complaints of how Ross's defense had used Webb's series. But the tragedy had a deeper meaning. Ross was a major drug dealer in Los Angeles. Webb's experience came as no surprise to Jack Blum, senior prosecutor for the Kerry Committee. Baca claimed that a drug dealer with close links to the CIA had framed her boyfriend, who was also in the cocaine business. A secret deal allowed drugs to go unreported by the DCI. 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. 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." And it ruined that reporter's career. . Gary Webb was at his desk in the Mercury News's Sacramento office, in July 1995, when he received a message to call Coral Baca, a Hispanic woman from the San Francisco Bay area, allegedly connected to a Colombian drug cartel. "He was sleeping more, he hated to get up in the morning, he started having a lot of motorcycle. The second article described Blandn's background and how he began smuggling cocaine to support the Contras. Shortly before his death, his motorcycle had been stolen (it was recovered by his family after his death). "Gary didn't take her seriously," says Susan Bell, "because he was always getting calls alleging weird stuff about the CIA. } 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. 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 series examined the origins of the crack cocaine trade in Los Angeles and claimed that members of the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua had played a major role in creating the trade, using cocaine profits to finance their fight against the government in Nicaragua. [61] According to the report, it used Webb's reporting and writing as "key resources in focusing and refining the investigation." [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. Many writers discussing the series point to errors in it. But, Ceppos wrote, the series "did not meet our standards" in four areas. Jimmy Webb's battle with ex-wife Patsy Sullivan continues - New York Post "Look at what happened to Gary Webb. Gary Webb, 49, Journalist Who Wrote Disputed Articles, Is Dead Their explosive report, which appeared in 1989, was either ignored, or marginalised, by the American press. I felt weak and distressed; the whole thing was so fresh. Emma Lee Webb, age 75, of Crossett, AR passed away Monday February 27, 2023, in her home surrounded by her family. The response from the American press took two months to arrive. Gary Webb photos on Flickr | Flickr [33] Golden also referred to the controversy over Webb's contacts with Ross's lawyer. They were outraged by the series's charges.[27]. When Webb wrote another story on the raid evidence in early October, it received wide attention in Los Angeles. "Allow Gary Webb to be there [in the CIA investigation]," a heckler shouts. Webb worked for several newspapers including The Kentucky Post and Cleveland Plain Dealer. 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. I ask Bell. 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. ", Webb had already been cremated and his ashes scattered in the bay off Santa Cruz two weeks before. In interviews after leaving The Mercury News, Webb described the 1997 controversy as media manipulation. Ross was also released early after cooperating in an investigation of police corruption, but was rearrested a few months later in a sting operation arranged with Blandn's help. Unfortunately, the railroading of Gary Webb had begun and he was run over. He was taken to hospital by air ambulance. But the report was correct. Save 50% with early-bird passes. "By the end of his life he was just in a lot of pain," said Webb's ex-wife, Susan Bell. . Gary Webb's Death Confirmed as Suicide | Editor and Publisher [5], After high school, Webb attended an Indianapolis community college on a scholarship until his family moved to Cincinnati. WRITTEN IN PAIN - Los Angeles Times If the antagonism of competing publications was predictable, what happened to Webb within his own newspaper was not. I'm glad that I didn't dissuade him, because it was important to get the truth out but for Gary Webb, there was a very high price to pay." There is a CIA connection and I can demonstrate it.'". ", The significant legacy of the Webb case, "the reason this whole affair remains so significant today," Blum says, "is this: the knowledge that, if one individual dares raise such serious issues, they risk confronting a tremendous apparatus that is prepared to whack them hard, and there is very little they can expect by way of support. "[38], Surprised by The Washington Post article, The Mercury News's executive editor Jerome Ceppos wrote to the Post defending the series. The truth was that, in all those years, I hadn't written anything important enough to suppress. ", In contrast, the series received support from Steve Weinberg, a former executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. He was a former member of Bethlehem . He also had this inherent belief that the truth could not harm him. After Ceppos' column, The Mercury News spent the next several months conducting an internal review of the story. Webb's condition exacerbated his natural recklessness. Gary Hays Webb, 78, passed away on Monday May 9, 2022, at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center, Neenah. color: #ddd; The Department of Justice Inspector-General's report was released on July 23, 1998. 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. By Sam Stanton Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 am PST Wednesday, December 15, 2004. . Gary Webb - Wikispooks Writing on the Los Angeles Times opinion page, Schou said, "Webb asserted, improbably, that the Blandn-Meneses-Ross drug ring opened 'the first pipeline between Colombia's cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles,' helping to 'spark a crack explosion in urban America.' A revised version was published in 1999 that incorporated Webb's response to the CIA and Justice Department reports. 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. With Baca's encouragement, he started to investigate a large-scale Nicaraguan cocaine dealer named Oscar Danilo Blandn. Carey ultimately decided that there were problems with several parts of the story and wrote a draft article incorporating his findings. It also stated that the Contras may have acted with the knowledge and protection of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). *, 'Dark Alliance: The CIA, The Contras and the Crack Cocaine Explosion' is published in the UK by Seven Stories Press, priced 11.99, Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. The CIA/MSM Contra-Cocaine Cover-up - Consortium News Garry Webb wrote the 1996 "Dark Alliance" series for the San Jose. When his body was found, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was on the DVD machine, and his favourite CD, Ian Hunter's live album Welcome to the Club, was in the CD player. Webb's ex-wife, Stokes, now remarried and still living in Sacramento, had heard it all before, too. [71] "The way he was acting it would be hard for me to believe it was anything but suicide," she said. "[72] California Representative Maxine Waters, who was Webb's strongest supporter in Congress after the "Dark Alliance" controversy broke, issued a statement after Webb's death calling him "one of the finest investigative journalists that our country has ever seen. His. 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. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, Extra 20% off selected fashion and sportswear at Very, Up to 20% off & extra perks with Booking.com Genius Membership, $6 off a $50+ order with this AliExpress discount code, 10% off selected orders over 100 - eBay discount code, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK March 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this March, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. "Gary was 18 and I was 16 when we first met and started dating in Indianapolis," said Sue Stokes. [3], Webb was born in Corona, California. Contemporary discussions of the series are discussed in the section on, Webb 2011, "Caltrans Ignored Elevated Freeway Safety. And the importance of exposing them. Herhold: Thinking back on journalist Gary Webb and the CIA His career ended, his livelihood was destroyed and certain games were started to be . that the "federal government bore some responsibility, however indirect, for the flood of crack that coursed through black neighborhoods in the 1980s"). [19] The series was published in The Mercury News in three parts, from Sunday, 18 August 1996 to 20 August 1996, with a first long article and one or two shorter articles appearing each day. Ricky Ross (drug trafficker) - Wikipedia As a result, some major US newspapers ignored its findings completely, while others relegated a brief summary to their inside pages. During and immediately after the controversy over "Dark Alliance," Webb's earlier writing was examined closely. Gary Webb's painstaking investigation and the incindiary conclusions he drew from it were based mostly on public records, as detailed in the "notes on sources" section in "Dark Alliance", including: undercover audio tapes, declassified government documents from the CIA, DEA, FBI, L.A. Sheriff's Department, files from the Iran-Contra . The story they printed was just awful. Then, on 10 December, he resigned. Why bring up old white people atrocities against black people now? 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. He began his career working for newspapers in Kentucky and Ohio, winning numerous awards, and building a strong reputation for investigative writing. He was the much-loved father of Lindsay (Stephen . There were no offers. Nick Schou, a journalist who wrote a 2006 biography of Webb, has claimed that this was the most important error in the series. The third article discussed the social effects of the crack trade, noting that it had a disparate effect on African-Americans. So, how much is Gary Webb worth at the age of 49 years old? "[62] It also found no evidence to support Webb's suggestion that several other drug smugglers mentioned in the series were associated with the CIA, or that anyone associated with the CIA or other intelligence agencies was involved in supplying or selling drugs in Los Angeles.[62]. Gary Webb - Biography - IMDb The three articles in the series were written by four reporters: Jesse Katz, Doyle McManus, John Mitchell and Sam Fulwood. 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. "[55] In June 1997, The Mercury News told Webb it was transferring him from the paper's Sacramento bureau and offered him a choice between working at the main offices in San Jose under closer editorial supervision, or spot reporting in Cupertino; both locations were long commutes from his home in Sacramento. 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. [60], The House Intelligence Committee issued its report in February 2000. When it did, beginning with The Washington Post, it shocked Webb's critics as much as his many admirers. The CIA, the drug dealers, and the tragedy of Gary Webb - The Telegraph Snowfall is an American crime drama television series set in Los Angeles in 1983. "It says the CIA helped introduce poison into our children. [16] As part of The Mercury News team that covered the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, Webb and his colleague Pete Carey wrote a story examining the causes of the collapse of the Cypress Street Viaduct. Few reporters I've known could match his nose for an investigative story.