"They tried to make us look like crazies," says Blum. When he was engaged, he worked hard. Attend in Miami or virtually, Sept. 1114. The CIA admits used the media to ruin his career. 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. Video courtesy of documentary FREEWAY: CRACK IN THE SYSTEM premiering on Al Jazeera America in early 2015. 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. When facts didn't fit his theory, he tended to shove them to the sidelines. The first shot went through his face, and exited at his left cheek. Noting that most of the activities discussed in the report had nothing to do with the people Webb reported on, Kornbluh told Schou, "I can't say it's a vindication. [29] Waters urged the CIA, the Department of Justice, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to investigate. The article resulted in a lawsuit against Webb's paper which the plaintiffs won. 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. The whole business, I suggested to Blum, has echoes of a classic Alfred Hitchcock plot. And it was ignored by the US media, for all of those reasons. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. Webb undeniably made mistakes of detail and emphasis in the newspaper version of "Dark Alliance". 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. "Do you think that a part of him did this out of revenge?" Her husband began his career on The Kentucky Post, and rapidly proved himself to be the sort of character who can be a secretive agency's worst nightmare: a full-blooded provocateur who liked to put the hours in at the library. "It says the CIA helped introduce poison into our children. Who Is Gary Webb's Wife? He also stated "the series presented dangerous ideas" by suggesting "crimes of state had been committed" (i.e. By the late spring of 1996, Webb was ready to publish. 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. He made that very clear. 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 reports rejected the series's main claims but were critical of some CIA and law enforcement actions. The Los Angeles Times and other major papers published articles suggesting the "Dark Alliance" claims were overstated and, in November 1996, Jerome Ceppos, the executive editor at Mercury News, wrote about being "in the eye of the storm". "[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. Born in Corona, California, son of a conservatively minded Marine, he met Bell, whose father was a university lecturer, at high school in Indianapolis. He was preceded in death by his wife, Melody Webb; parents and three brothers, Albert, Duane and Ronald. reports. 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.' 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. 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. Famously known by the Family name Gary Stephen Webb, was a great Engineer.He was born on August 31, 1955, in Carmichael, California.Carmichael is a beautiful and populous city located in Carmichael, California United States of America.. Gary Webb Early Life Story, Family Background and Education. Tomac is used to good feelings when it comes to Daytona. Should these editors subsequently deem the story to have been fatally flawed, they take the consequences. Every year since investigative journalist Gary Webb took his own life in 2004, I have marked the anniversary of that sad event by recalling the debt that American history owes to Webb for his. "Gary didn't take her seriously," says Susan Bell, "because he was always getting calls alleging weird stuff about the CIA. Webb is best known for his "Dark Alliance" series, which appeared in The Mercury News in 1996. 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 . [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. His. [20] The website artwork showed the silhouette of a man smoking a crack pipe superimposed over the CIA seal. [11], In 1983, Webb moved to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, where he continued doing investigative work. Gary Hays Webb, 78, passed away on Monday May 9, 2022, at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center, Neenah. Garcia is deputy director of the John S Knight Fellowships in Journalism at Stanford University. "I told Gary not to go near this story," his source replies, in an emotional voice. The claim that the drug ring of Meneses-Blandn-Ross sparked the "crack explosion" has been perhaps the most criticized part of the series. "That's right," says Blum. 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. 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. [5], After high school, Webb attended an Indianapolis community college on a scholarship until his family moved to Cincinnati. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Gary's family found that old, storied, ("priceless to us," as his ex-wife, Susan Bell, described it to me) CDROM among his possessions. He stayed home, playing computer games, and began smoking cannabis heavily. Poor Gary Webb. In the column, Ceppos defended parts of the article, writing that the series had "solidly documented" that the drug ring described in the series did have connections with the Contras and did sell large quantities of cocaine in inner-city Los Angeles. 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. He crashed and shredded his clothes, face and body on a barbed-wire fence." "[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. Gary Stephen Webb(August 31, 1955 - December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist. Gary Webb sums up the story in his last major interview just days before his death. But Webb had one huge blind side: He was fundamentally a man of passion, not of fairness. . "Do not quote me. "Everyone got out and left the person who had made the noise - issued the report - alone. [35] The second article, by McManus, was the longest of the series and dealt with the role of the Contras in the drug trade and CIA knowledge of drug activities by the Contras. 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. [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. It's . I remain astounded by the editorial decisions they made.". 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. [71] "The way he was acting it would be hard for me to believe it was anything but suicide," she said. I first heard about Webb eight years ago, I tell Bell, from the Paris-based journalist Paul Moreira. American racer Cooper Webb is married to his wife named Mariah Williams Webb. [61] According to the report, it used Webb's reporting and writing as "key resources in focusing and refining the investigation." I realise now he was thinking about suicide.". 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. 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]. When Webb's body was discovered last December, Bell says, this last item had been dumped in the trash. "[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. .article-native-ad { Newsweek called Kerry a "randy conspiracy buff". Celebrezze eventually sued the Plain Dealer and won an undisclosed out of court settlement. 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. [60], The House Intelligence Committee issued its report in February 2000. Gary Webb's wife, Sue Webb (now Sue Stokes), said that he had been depressed for years due to his inability to get hired at a daily newspaper. Webb followed up Baca's leads at the California State Library, examining Congressional records and FBI reports. .article-native-ad p { .article-native-ad svg { After the series's publication, the Northern California branch of the national Society of Professional Journalists voted Webb "Journalist of the Year" for 1996. Nick Schou, a journalist who wrote a 2006 biography of Webb, has claimed that this was the most important error in the series. "I am scared," the voice replies. An investigative journalist, Webb became interested in the covert activities of the Central Intelligence Agency. Its pointed to as one of the clearer cases of CIA intervention as revenge for Webb revealing damaging secrets about the agencies involvement in drug smuggling. [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. He then transferred to nearby Northern Kentucky University. Eli Tomac on track during Media Day at Daytona International Speedway, Friday, March 3, 2023. [67], Webb later moved to the State Assembly's Office of Majority Services. Call 911 for assistance. 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. It was truthful. Maxine Waters found a govt employee ran the South Central LA drug ring & The DOJ removed that section of the report : r/conspiracy 3 yr. ago Posted by shylock92008 2) The series's estimate of the money involved was presented as fact instead of as an estimate. Gary Stephen Webb was a Pulitzer prize winning American investigative reporter who exposed cocaine trafficking by the CIA.He wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, which initially backed his articles but later dropped him.Webb was put under pressure most certainly from the CIA under John Deutch for his reporting. His career ended, his livelihood was destroyed and certain games were started to be . Dec. 13, 2004. Do not quote me on anything.". 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. Webb's experience came as no surprise to Jack Blum, senior prosecutor for the Kerry Committee. 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. [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. The CIA Inspector-General's report was issued in two volumes. Webb's research took a year, in the course of which he received death threats. Gary Douglas Webb of Radnor, PA, passed away on October 19, 2021. Webb, unlike Blum or Kerry, had to face his difficulties alone. The three articles in the series were written by four reporters: Jesse Katz, Doyle McManus, John Mitchell and Sam Fulwood. He was the much-loved father of Lindsay (Stephen . When Gary originally broke this mind blowing story, the arrogant authority's assumed they could simply ignore him and hope he'd go away. 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. 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. 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 . Snowfall is an American crime drama television series set in Los Angeles in 1983. [4] When Webb's father retired from the Marines, the family settled in a suburb of Indianapolis, where Webb and his brother attended high school. 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. The February 2000 report by the House Intelligence Committee in turn considered the book's claims as well as the series' claims. But as his ex-wife told the .