He went into the bedroom, and picked up a .38 that had belonged to his father. Jimmy Webb's battle with ex-wife Patsy Sullivan continues - New York Post He was sentenced to life in prison, though the sentence was shortened on appeal and Ross was released in 2009. The first article in "Dark Alliance" that discussed the failure of law enforcement agencies to prosecute Blandn and Meneses had mentioned several cases. "Report on Alleged Involvement: Findings" 43. To Read the Full Story Become an Adweek+ Subscriber. 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. "[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. Today, Narco News, with support from The Fund for Authentic Journalism, is pleased to announce that the Dark Alliance website has a new, and this time permanent, home at Narco News. His death was especially traumatic to the family since - as the coroner said - it could not be established whether he died instantly, or bled to death. Ricky Ross (drug trafficker) - Wikipedia 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. Webb resigned from The Mercury News in December 1997. Five years ago, a tragedy occurred in American journalism: Investigative reporter Gary Webb - who had been ostracized by his own colleagues for forcing a spotlight back onto an ugly government scandal they wanted to ignore - was driven to commit suicide. 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. The new movie Kill the Messenger, based in part on a 2006 book by a former student of mine, eulogizes Webb . font-weight:500; Snowfall is an American crime drama television series set in Los Angeles in 1983. Gary Webb Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family } Cooper Webb Wife Name Revealed: Who Is Professional SX/MX - Halla News (Strawser) Webb. She kept crying about how terrible it all was - by which I mean that she was, physically, crying. An investigative journalist, Webb became interested in the covert activities of the Central Intelligence Agency. After a local newspaper reported that Webb had died from multiple gunshots, the coroner's office received so many calls asking about Webb's death that Sacramento County Coroner Robert Lyons issued a statement confirming Webb had died by suicide. Because Blandn cooperated with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), he spent only 28 months in prison, became a paid government informant, and received permanent resident status. 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. 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". Some might consider it an inappropriate assignment for a man with responsibilities. Special Reports - Cocaine, Conspiracy Theories And The Cia In - PBS 4) The series "created impressions that were open to misinterpretation" through "imprecise language and graphics. But ultimately, the responsibility was, and is, mine.". The story had little immediate impact. He also had this inherent belief that the truth could not harm him. He was born June 18, 1943, in Appleton, son of the late Wilford and Helen (Hauskey) Webb. [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. When facts didn't fit his theory, he tended to shove them to the sidelines. And he finallyyou know, they finally left the country. [10] The series, which examined the murder of a coal company president with ties to organized crime, won the national Investigative Reporters and Editors Award for reporting from a small newspaper. "Looking back," she says, "I think Gary had been obsessed with suicide for some time. "Everyone got out and left the person who had made the noise - issued the report - alone. 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. In February, Gary Webb gave his ex-wife. He wrote well. * The agency's response was to try to prevent him from getting his doctorate, then block his advancement in the academic world. 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. The truth was that, in all those years, I hadn't written anything important enough to suppress. Gary Webb: Murdered For Exposing The Truth - A New Kind Of Human Webb's research took a year, in the course of which he received death threats. He accepted Christ at an early age. "They use the giant corporate press rather than saying anything directly. It was just more than he could take.". Gary Webb was a journalist of outsized talent. He was so depressed. Gary was born May 5, 1954, to his parents Worley and Margaret Webb, who preceded him in death as well as his brother, David Webb. He was a writer, known for Kill the Messenger (2014), Filming in Georgia (2015) and Crack in America (2015). We are in the living room of Bell's house just outside Sacramento, California. Unfortunately, the railroading of Gary Webb had begun and he was run over. 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. Man Donates Liver To Ex-Wife - CBS News Gary Webb Obituary (1944 - 2022) - Portland, OR - The Oregonian In August of 1996, investigative journalist Gary Webb broke the biggest story of his life. As a result, some major US newspapers ignored its findings completely, while others relegated a brief summary to their inside pages. In and out of work, he had a reputation for taking risks. padding-left: 10px!important; GARY WEBB was an investigative reporter who focused on government and private sector corruption and who won more than thirty journalism awards. "He was crying. "The government side of the story is coming through the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post", he stated. "Like enjoy it.". I realise now he was thinking about suicide.". Nick Schou, a journalist who wrote a 2006 biography of Webb, has claimed that this was the most important error in the series. }. Film of this encounter survives. 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. margin: 0 45px; The CIA, the drug dealers, and the tragedy of Gary Webb - The Telegraph ", In contrast, the series received support from Steve Weinberg, a former executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors. and Drugs Has a Life of Its Own", "Pivotal Figures of Newspaper Series May Be Only Bit Players", "Tracking the Genesis of the Crack Trade", "Examining Charges of CIA Role in Crack Sales", "History Fuels Outrage Over Crack Allegations", "Ex-L.A. Times Writer Apologizes for "Tawdry" Attacks", "Mercury News Executive Editor Jerry Ceppos' Letter to the Washington Post", "Washington Post response to Mercury News Executive Editor Jerry Ceppos", "Despite critics, a good story Crack and the contras", "CIA-Contra-Crack Cocaine Controversy: Epilogue", "CIA-Contra-Crack Cocaine Controversy: Conclusions", United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, "Are You Sure You Want to Ruin Your Career? Can these things possibly be? "Gary didn't take her seriously," says Susan Bell, "because he was always getting calls alleging weird stuff about the CIA. 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. 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". For two years, Blum and Kerry supervised the interrogation of dozens of witnesses who described CIA-related drug deals in central America. That was just the way he was.". 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. "He started having motorcycle crashes," Bell says. Webb came home and put his belongings in order, dropping his Kentucky Post poster in the bin. He was taken to hospital by air ambulance. He then transferred to nearby Northern Kentucky University. As it turned out," she adds, "that was not their intent.". Gary Webb's income source is mostly from being a successful . Gary Stephen Webb (August 31, 1955 December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist. Steven Webb . [71] "The way he was acting it would be hard for me to believe it was anything but suicide," she said. But once the flak really started to fly, from the nation's grandest newspapers, Ceppos - having come under exactly what form of pressure it is difficult to know - printed a retraction which Webb dismissed as spineless. It also stated that the Contras may have acted with the knowledge and protection of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). 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. During and immediately after the controversy over "Dark Alliance," Webb's earlier writing was examined closely. Gary Webb: Vindicated - Narco News [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." "[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." 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. [41], When the Los Angeles Times series appeared, Ceppos again wrote to defend the original series. The article resulted in a lawsuit against Webb's paper which the plaintiffs won. ", Webb had already been cremated and his ashes scattered in the bay off Santa Cruz two weeks before. Eli Tomac on track during Media Day at Daytona International Speedway, Friday, March 3, 2023. "But Gary thought that if something was true, it should be told. 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. His father was a Marine sergeant, and the family moved frequently, as his career took him to new assignments. Should these editors subsequently deem the story to have been fatally flawed, they take the consequences. [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. WRITTEN IN PAIN - Los Angeles Times But the biggest loss he had was the writing. "[2], Ceppos noted that Webb did not agree with these conclusions. Dispelling the Rumors: Gary Webb's Death Confirmed As Suicide [7] After transferring to Northern Kentucky, he entered its journalism program and wrote for the school paper, The Northerner. A secret deal allowed drugs to go unreported by the DCI. A flood of inquiries about Gary Webb's shooting death prompts statement. If the antagonism of competing publications was predictable, what happened to Webb within his own newspaper was not. [60], The House Intelligence Committee issued its report in February 2000. "It says the CIA helped introduce poison into our children. One instalment of the LA Times's 18,000-word rebuttal of Webb's piece, published in October 1996, sought to minimise the importance of his key witness, Ricky Ross. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. She and Gary were married from 1979 to 2000 and had three children. By the autumn of 1997, on medication for clinical depression, he was given leave of absence from the paper. Gary Numan's superfan wife had 'body lift' and exploding breasts 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". [51] After discussions with Webb, the column was published on May 11, 1997.[53]. Poor Gary Webb. Celebrezze eventually sued the Plain Dealer and won an undisclosed out of court settlement. GARY WEBB: His wife's office was burglarized. Why bring up old white people atrocities against black people now? Despite some hyped phrasing, "Dark Alliance" appears to be praiseworthy investigative reporting."[47]. In 1996, the award-winning journalist Gary Webb uncovered CIA links to Los Angeles drug dealers. But they underestimated the paradigm shifting power of the internet, and the intelligence of Webb, who not only listed the explosive story online . "It sounds crazy," says Bell, "but having his motorbike stolen was the last straw. '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. Jeremy Renner as Gary Webb How Kill the Messenger Will Vindicate Investigative Journalist Gary Webb Melinda Welsh September 29, 2014 This one has all the ingredients of a dreamed-up Hollywood. In the final few months of his life, Bell says, Webb became increasingly withdrawn. Jack Blum, who was the lead investigator for Senator John Kerry's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, which produced a highly damning 1989 report on drug-smuggling in the guise of national security, is one of several commentators to have questioned aspects of Webb's original reporting.