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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. His corpse was discovered on the seventh anniversary of his resignation from the Mercury News. The attack on Gary Webb and his series in the San Jose Mercury News remains one of the most venomous and factually inane assaults on a professional journalist's competence in living memory . Unfortunately, the railroading of Gary Webb had begun and he was run over. One of his last articles examined America's Army, a video game designed by the U.S. It was also posted on The Mercury News website with additional information, including documents cited in the series and audio recordings of people quoted in the articles. * The agency's response was to try to prevent him from getting his doctorate, then block his advancement in the academic world. 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 } [8] In 1979, Webb married Susan Bell; the couple eventually had three children. [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. He died on December 10, 2004 in Carmichael, California, USA. Gary's family found that old, storied, ("priceless to us," as his ex-wife, Susan Bell, described it to me) CDROM among his possessions. The "Dark Alliance" series remains controversial. In the final few months of his life, Bell says, Webb became increasingly withdrawn. 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. [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." Gary Douglas Webb of Radnor, PA, passed away on October 19, 2021 Born January 3rd, 1943 in Montreal, Quebec, he was the son of the late John Douglas Webb and the late Jeannie (Penny) Hardie. But the report was correct. Gary Stephen Webb (August 31, 1955 December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist. I realise now he was thinking about suicide.". "Gary was given the choice of relocating either to San Jose," says Bell, "or to Cupertino". She was a native of Minden, LA, but a resident of Crossett for 65 years. There is a CIA connection and I can demonstrate it.'". Gary Webb Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family [18], Webb began researching "Dark Alliance" in July 1995. "[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. It was accurate. [56] He resigned from the paper in November 1997. When Attorney General Janet Reno determined that a delay was no longer necessary, the report was released unaltered. The story offered no evidence to support such sweeping conclusions, a fatal error that would ultimately destroy Webb, if not his editors. padding-left: 10px!important; "[38], Surprised by The Washington Post article, The Mercury News's executive editor Jerome Ceppos wrote to the Post defending the series. 4) The series "created impressions that were open to misinterpretation" through "imprecise language and graphics. .article-native-ad p { Gary Webb - Biography - IMDb He was previously married to Sue Bell. The series ran from October 2022, 1996, and was researched by a team of 17 reporters. Evidence Begins To Indicate Gary Webb Was Murdered - BSNEWS At the end of March, Ceppos told Webb that he was going to present the internal review findings in a column. The first article in "Dark Alliance" that discussed the failure of law enforcement agencies to prosecute Blandn and Meneses had mentioned several cases. 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. Webb's condition exacerbated his natural recklessness. 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". He was a writer, known for Kill the Messenger (2014), Filming in Georgia (2015) and Crack in America (2015). Webb chose the second option. He went into the bedroom, and picked up a .38 that had belonged to his father. 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. "Gary was 18 and I was 16 when we first met and started dating in Indianapolis," said Sue Stokes. Gary Webb photos on Flickr | Flickr When he was engaged, he worked hard. Because the gentile (european caucasian, lepers, fake jews) or white folks agenda has always been to destroy the black man, ever since pharaoh tried to murder Christ by murdering Hebrew babies, until now. "[79], Writing after Webb's death in 2005, The Nation magazine's former Washington Editor David Corn said that Webb "was on to something but botched part of how he handled it." 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 Webb is best known for his "Dark Alliance" series, which appeared in The Mercury News in 1996. When Gary originally broke this mind blowing story, the arrogant authority's assumed they could simply ignore him and hope he'd go away. 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. Gary Webb, 64, Oroville, Wash., died Oct. 30, 2021. Webb's series was published on the Mercury News's fledgling website, but it wasn't exactly an instant sensation. Their explosive report, which appeared in 1989, was either ignored, or marginalised, by the American press. She acted opposite Dirk Bogarde in the groundbreaking film Victim (Basil Dearden, 1961), as the unsuspecting wife of a barrister who is a closet homosexual. [21] This artwork proved controversial, and The Mercury News later removed it. The passing of Gary ends more than 50 years with his best friend and loving wife, Marilyn J. Webb worked for several newspapers including The Kentucky Post and Cleveland Plain Dealer. "He told me, not long before he died, that he didn't want to get up in the mornings," she says. . Webb was born in Corona, California. Save 50% with early-bird passes. "He was sleeping more, he hated to get up in the morning, he started having a lot of motorcycle. Do not quote me on anything.". The reports rejected the series's main claims but were critical of some CIA and law enforcement actions. Dark Alliance - Dark Alliance Webb's then-wife Sue remembers coming home from the shops and finding her. The Tragic 2004 Death Of Investigative Journalist, Gary Webb Some might consider it an inappropriate assignment for a man with responsibilities. Gary Webb Resigns from the San Jose Mercury News After introducing the three, the first article discussed primarily Blandn and Meneses, and their relationship with the Contras and the CIA. Gary Stephen Webb(August 31, 1955 - December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist. When facts didn't fit his theory, he tended to shove them to the sidelines. "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. Two years later, he was promoted to Vice President of Knight Ridder, the Mercury News's parent company; he retired from this position last month. GARY WEBB was an investigative reporter who focused on government and private sector corruption and who won more than thirty journalism awards. 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. This is why Webb's "Dark Alliance" series is an essential source, a primary text that every journalism student should study. [31] In their front-page article, reporters Roberto Suro and Walter Pincus wrote that "available information" did not support the series's claims and that "the rise of crack" was "a broad-based phenomenon" driven in numerous places by diverse players. Corrie had primary biliary cirrhosis, a genetic liver disease that already had. The article suggested this was in retribution for Ross' testimony in the corruption case. Voices: The Gary Webb saga still has lessons today "I believe that Americans, as a nation, are mainly concerned with living their happy little lives. Dispelling the Rumors: Gary Webb's Death Confirmed As Suicide Special Reports - Cocaine, Conspiracy Theories And The Cia In - PBS [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. A time of fellowship and remembrance is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 6, 2019, at Lake Ridge Chapel and Memorial Designers. 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. 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). Gary Webb - Wikipedia Family (1) [42] The extent of the criticism, however, convinced Ceppos that The Mercury News had to acknowledge to its readers that the series had been subjected to strong criticism. Webb's corpse was found in the bedroom, with two gunshot wounds to the head. [62], Examining the support that Meneses and Blandn gave to the local Contra organization in San Francisco, the report concluded that it was "not sufficient to finance the organization" and did not consist of "millions," contrary to the claims of the "Dark Alliance" series. '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 was born on August 31, 1955 in Corona, California, USA. Dec. 13, 2004. The three articles in the series were written by four reporters: Jesse Katz, Doyle McManus, John Mitchell and Sam Fulwood. "I told Gary not to go near this story," his source replies, in an emotional voice. 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." 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. 3) The series oversimplified how the crack epidemic grew. Occupation: Machine Operators, Assemblers, and Inspectors Occupations. Kill the Messenger review - what really happened to Gary Webb [43] He did this in a column that appeared on November 3, defending the series, but also committing the paper to a review of major criticisms. 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. "Although Ross had become a millionaire by 1984," Katz now wrote, "the market was so huge by then that even a dealer of his stature could seem dwarfed How the crack epidemic reached that extreme, on some level," he continues, "had nothing to do with Ross". Although he attended Northern Kentucky for four years, he did not finish his degree. He had sold his house the week before his death because he was unable to afford the mortgage.[71]. For two years, Blum and Kerry supervised the interrogation of dozens of witnesses who described CIA-related drug deals in central America. [55] Webb eventually chose Cupertino, but was unhappy with the routine stories he was reporting there and the long commute. He was laid off in February 2004 when Assembly Member Fabian Nez was elected Speaker. After the series's publication, the Northern California branch of the national Society of Professional Journalists voted Webb "Journalist of the Year" for 1996. Can these things possibly be? 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." 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". 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." "[75], Jonathan Krim, The Mercury News editor who recruited Webb from The Plain Dealer and who supervised The Mercury News internal review of "Dark Alliance," told AJR editor Paterno that Webb "had all the qualities you'd want in a reporter: curious, dogged, a very high sense of wanting to expose wrongdoing and to hold private and public officials accountable." Some editors regarded him as stubborn to the point of insolence. [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. Why bring up old white people atrocities against black people now? "The cause of death was determined to be self . 1) It presented only one interpretation of conflicting evidence and in one case "did not include information that contradicted a central assertion of the series." Ceppos failed to reply to one phone message and six emails. Look at the way the US press reports on Iraq. Return of the messenger: How Jeremy Renner's new film Kill The By William Kennedy / Jan. 22, 2023 12:00 pm EST. [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. Gary Webb | Obituary | The Daily Item The feeling was that with other news outlets calling for Webb's head, the paper's credibility depended on their joining in on the attacks. 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. 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 . [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. He was born August 27, 1968 in Saginaw, Michigan to Taylor Jr. and Loretta Webb. "[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." 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. "Do you think that a part of him did this out of revenge?" The review was conducted primarily by editor Jonathan Krim and reporter Pete Carey, who had written the paper's first published analysis of the series. 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. "[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. "Everyone got out and left the person who had made the noise - issued the report - alone. Much of the article highlighted the failure of law enforcement agencies to successfully prosecute them and stated that this was largely due to their Contra and CIA connections. "People told me that," she says. And this is not a happy story - or," she adds, "a little one.". "[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]. line-height:1.5; Webb made his early reputation as a reporter with the Plain Dealer before going on to fame and turmoil at the San Jose Mercury News. He was sentenced to life in prison, though the sentence was shortened on appeal and Ross was released in 2009. "That's right," says Blum. 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. But "Dark Alliance" was also posted on the Mercury News's website, with the image of a crack smoker superimposed on the CIA badge. "They had him writing obituaries," she said. In an unprecedented move, the then CIA director John Deutch was dispatched to address community leaders in the Watts district of LA. 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. So, this is not something you really make a career out of, nor would you want to. But they underestimated the paradigm shifting power of the internet, and the intelligence of Webb, who not only listed the explosive story online . He said: 'No. He told me: 'If I can't do what I want to do, what's the point?' It also examined "how CIA handled and responded to information regarding allegations of drug trafficking" by people involved in Contra activities or support. By the autumn of 1997, on medication for clinical depression, he was given leave of absence from the paper. 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. The story they printed was just awful. 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 . 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. He was a former member of Bethlehem . Video courtesy of documentary FREEWAY: CRACK IN THE SYSTEM premiering on Al Jazeera America in early 2015. 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"[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." .article-native-ad { Webb followed up Baca's leads at the California State Library, examining Congressional records and FBI reports. When it did, beginning with The Washington Post, it shocked Webb's critics as much as his many admirers. 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. When removal men arrived, on the morning of 10 December 2004, they found a sign on his front door, which read: ''Please do not enter. 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. [32], The New York Times published two articles on the series in mid-October, both written by reporter Tim Golden. By the end of September, three federal investigations had been announced: an investigation into the CIA allegations conducted by CIA Inspector-General Frederick Hitz, an investigation into the law enforcement allegations by Justice Department Inspector-General Michael Bromwich, and a second investigation into the CIA by the House Intelligence Committee. It was an amazing scoop - but one that would ruin his career and drive him to suicide. [65], Within "The Mighty Wurlitzer Plays On" essay Webb stated he believed there was an active "collusion between the press and the powerful" to report freely on inconsequential matters, "but when it comes to the real down and dirty stuff We begin to see the limits of our freedoms". That wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been willing to stand up and risk it all.". GARY WEBB OBITUARY Gary Frank Webb Sept. 27, 1944 - Oct. 23, 2022 Gary passed away peacefully of complications following cardiovascular surgery. He began his career working for newspapers in Kentucky and Ohio, winning numerous awards, and building a strong reputation for investigative writing. The CIA admits used the media to ruin his career. The Death of Gary Webb - Beyond Chron It would have been our 25th wedding anniversary," Bell recalls. font-size: 34px; Gary Webb: Vindicated - Narco News Gary Hays Webb, 78, passed away on Monday May 9, 2022, at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center, Neenah. 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 reads: "There should be no fetters on reporters, nor must they tamper with the truth, but give light so the people will find their own way." The article resulted in a lawsuit against Webb's paper which the plaintiffs won. He was born June 18, 1943, in Appleton, son of the late Wilford and Helen (Hauskey) Webb. Lynn Rd, Ranger WV - Rehold Address Directory "But Gary thought that if something was true, it should be told. And it was ignored by the US media, for all of those reasons. } Chasing Corona - by George Webb What he found, he wrote later, "nearly knocked me off my chair". The CIA Inspector-General's report was issued in two volumes. Gary Webb Obituary (2011) - Saginaw, MI - Saginaw News on MLive.com He then transferred to nearby Northern Kentucky University. Garry Webb wrote the 1996 "Dark Alliance" series for the San Jose. When Webb's body was discovered last December, Bell says, this last item had been dumped in the trash. "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.". He made that very clear. . Webb strongly disagreed with Ceppos's column and, in interviews, was harshly critical of the paper's handling of the story. The second article described Blandn's background and how he began smuggling cocaine to support the Contras. She and Gary were married from 1979 to 2000 and had three children. ", "After Gary died," she says, "a reporter from the LA Times came here. Gary Webb's family says his death was Suicide. OR was he like Epstein Ross was a major drug dealer in Los Angeles. Emma Lee Webb of Crossett, Arkansas | 1947 - 2023 | Obituary Webb joined the Mercury News in 1988, via the Cleveland Plain Dealer. And yet, for all his Easy Rider tendencies, he was also a dedicated family man with an extraordinary appetite for researching minutiae.

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