When Attorney General Janet Reno determined that a delay was no longer necessary, the report was released unaltered. 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." Vivian Corrie, a part of his liver in a life-threatening operation. The February 2000 report by the House Intelligence Committee in turn considered the book's claims as well as the series' claims. Cooper Webb Wife Name Revealed. Garcia is deputy director of the John S Knight Fellowships in Journalism at Stanford University. 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. Look at the way the US press reports on Iraq. "You do not understand the power of these people," he adds, referring to the US intelligence services. "He started having motorcycle crashes," Bell says. "[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." [34], The Los Angeles Times devoted the most space to the story, publishing a three-part series called "The Cocaine Trail." . But Ian Webbknows all too well the emotions that come with that experience. ", As Webb would tell a friend, after he had been ostracised: "You have to look out, when the big dog gets off the porch.". Webb, unlike Blum or Kerry, had to face his difficulties alone. An editorial in the Times, while criticizing the series for making "unsubstantiated charges", conceded that it did find "drug-smuggling and dealing by Nicaraguans with at least tentative connections to the Contras" and called for further investigation. [66] 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." Webb's ex-wife, Sue Bell, discounted theories Tuesday that her husband had been murdered, saying the 49-year-old Webb had been distraught for some time over his inability to get . It was truthful. (Strawser) Webb. When his medical insurance expired, he stopped taking his antidepressants. 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. In interviews after leaving The Mercury News, Webb described the 1997 controversy as media manipulation. Webb disagreed with this conclusion.[1][2]. [68], In August 2004, Webb joined the Sacramento News & Review, an alternative weekly newspaper, where he continued doing investigative writing. . ", Many of these are in the series archive at. Gary Douglas Webb of Radnor, PA, passed away on October 19, 2021. 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. There is a CIA connection and I can demonstrate it.'". But Webb had one huge blind side: He was fundamentally a man of passion, not of fairness. [11], In 1983, Webb moved to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, where he continued doing investigative work. And when he got something in his head, he was determined to do it. This did not happen in Webb's case. It concluded, however, that these problems were "a far cry from the type of broad manipulation and corruption of the federal criminal justice system suggested by the original allegations.". It was just more than he could take.". 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. 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. "Gary was 18 and I was 16 when we first met and started dating in Indianapolis," said Sue Stokes. 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. Occupation: Machine Operators, Assemblers, and Inspectors Occupations. When she got indignant," she adds, "he went to meet her.". 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. We were dismissed as a bunch of nuts." When it did, beginning with The Washington Post, it shocked Webb's critics as much as his many admirers. This is why Webb's "Dark Alliance" series is an essential source, a primary text that every journalism student should study. I realise now he was thinking about suicide.". "[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." That wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been willing to stand up and risk it all.". Celebrezze eventually sued the Plain Dealer and won an undisclosed out of court settlement. Who Is Gary Webb's Wife? "I had to warn Gary that what he was looking at was probably true, but that he would run very big risks," Parry recalls. The coroner's staff concluded that the second shot hit an artery.[70]. "[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]. And it ruined that reporter's career. Age 43 years. 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. 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." One article, dealing mostly with the response of the Los Angeles Black community to the stories, described the series's evidence as "thin". Relationships with other women ended badly. "Gary didn't take her seriously," says Susan Bell, "because he was always getting calls alleging weird stuff about the CIA. ", Webb had already been cremated and his ashes scattered in the bay off Santa Cruz two weeks before. [32], The New York Times published two articles on the series in mid-October, both written by reporter Tim Golden. 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. His victory in the event last year gave him . 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. Both sides were left angry and disappointed. Webb's continuing reporting also triggered a fourth investigation. Work with a bunch of drug dealers to run guns? At the end of March, Ceppos told Webb that he was going to present the internal review findings in a column. Part of what makes OConnors article so compelling are the candid thoughts of Webbs former wife Sue Stokes. [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." Webb's research took a year, in the course of which he received death threats. According to a description of Webb's injuries in the Los Angeles Times, he shot himself with a .38 revolver, which he placed near his right ear. 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." He was found dead on Friday morning in what the police said was an apparent suicide. For two years, Blum and Kerry supervised the interrogation of dozens of witnesses who described CIA-related drug deals in central America. Gary Stephen Webb (August 31, 1955 December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist. 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." It also stated that the Contras may have acted with the knowledge and protection of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). 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. 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. To pay off his mounting debts, Webb sold the Carmichael property, where he was living alone, and arranged to move in with his mother. Gary E. Webb, a dedicated husband, dad, pappy, coach, mentor, teacher, supporter, hero, and best friend, was called home by the Lord while surrounded by family. Gary Webb was born on August 31, 1955 in Corona, California, USA. But "Dark Alliance" was also posted on the Mercury News's website, with the image of a crack smoker superimposed on the CIA badge. "That's right," says Blum. Going to the CIA to ask if they've ever profited from drug sales in Los Angeles, I suggested to Kornbluh, is rather like asking Fagin if he has ever picked a pocket. [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, according to Bell, was a man who, more than most, found that his mood and self-esteem fluctuated in accordance with his professional fortunes. [6], Webb first began writing for the student newspaper at his college in Indianapolis. 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. Few reporters I've known could match his nose for an investigative story. Webb, whose plans to become a journalist had begun when he was 13, but never included equine death notices, resigned from the Mercury News a few months later. Attorneys' Offices. ", "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. GARY WEBB was an investigative reporter who focused on government and private sector corruption and who won more than thirty journalism awards. By this stage, he was prepared to work as a jobbing reporter. "Everyone got out and left the person who had made the noise - issued the report - alone. 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 . [63]Dark Alliance was a 1998 Pen/Newman's Own First Amendment Award Finalist, 1998 San Francisco Chronicle bestseller, 1999 Bay Area Book Reviewers Award Finalist, and 1999 Firecracker Alternative Booksellers Award Winner in the Politics category. 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. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? "And to an extent, they succeeded.". 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. "Because of Gary Webb's work," said Senator John Kerry, "the CIA launched an investigation that found dozens of connections to drug runners. In the final few months of his life, Bell says, Webb became increasingly withdrawn. 2) The series's estimate of the money involved was presented as fact instead of as an estimate. He went into the bedroom, and picked up a .38 that had belonged to his father. Dr. Gary A. Webb is a geriatrician in Marco Island, Florida. 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. Gary Webb was a journalist of outsized talent. The series ran from October 2022, 1996, and was researched by a team of 17 reporters. 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 said: 'No. His corpse was discovered on the seventh anniversary of his resignation from the Mercury News. 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. 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. [49], The paper also gave Webb permission to visit Central America again to get more evidence supporting the story. 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 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. 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.' [28] Maxine Waters, the representative for California's 35th district, which includes South-Central Los Angeles, was also outraged by the articles and became one of Webb's strongest supporters. 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. By: E&P Staff The death of investigative reporter Gary Webb has been confirmed as a suicide, according to a coroner's statement. There were no offers. The truth was that, in all those years, I hadn't written anything important enough to suppress. Gary was preceded in death by his mother and father, Donna and James Webb of Carpentersville. padding-bottom: 20px; "But that," pointed out Blum, who is now a Washington attorney, "in no way - in no way - diminishes the wrongness of what these bastards did. ", In contrast, the series received support from Steve Weinberg, a former executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors. He received his medical degree from American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine and has been in practice for more than. 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". So, this is not something you really make a career out of, nor would you want to. 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. I mean - please.". The new movie Kill the Messenger, based in part on a 2006 book by a former student of mine, eulogizes Webb . reports. He was born August 27, 1968 in Saginaw, Michigan to Taylor Jr. and Loretta Webb. In February last year he was laid off by the State Legislature. The article discussed Webb's contacts with Ross's attorney and prosecution complaints of how Ross's defense had used Webb's series. "He walked in one day," Bell recalls, "and said, 'You are not going to believe what I just found out.' 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. 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". [71] "The way he was acting it would be hard for me to believe it was anything but suicide," she said. [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. But, Ceppos wrote, the series "did not meet our standards" in four areas. "The government side of the story is coming through the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post", he stated. Do something else with your life," the voice urges. During and immediately after the controversy over "Dark Alliance," Webb's earlier writing was examined closely. 3) The series oversimplified how the crack epidemic grew. "Like enjoy it.". Why bring up old white people atrocities against black people now? Despite some hyped phrasing, "Dark Alliance" appears to be praiseworthy investigative reporting."[47]. Webb's then-wife Sue remembers coming home from the shops and finding her. He was a writer, known for Kill the Messenger (2014), Filming in Georgia (2015) and Crack in America (2015). It would have been our 25th wedding anniversary," Bell recalls. .article-native-ad { Tomac is used to good feelings when it comes to Daytona. Webb - whose article had never alleged that the CIA deliberately targeted any ethnic group - became a national celebrity. It was an amazing scoop - but one that would ruin his career and drive him to suicide. As a result, some major US newspapers ignored its findings completely, while others relegated a brief summary to their inside pages. He also stated "the series presented dangerous ideas" by suggesting "crimes of state had been committed" (i.e. [9], Webb's first major investigative work appeared in 1980, when the Cincinnati Post published "The Coal Connection," a seventeen-part series by Webb and Post reporter Thomas Scheffey. He recently told the American Journalism Review (whose scrupulously researched piece, by Susan Paterno, is the only serious documentation of the Webb case I could find anywhere in the orthodox American media) that Webb's critics in rival newspapers, "quoted these CIA guys - who had a tremendous amount to hide - as though they were telling the truth. The complete lack of desire to ask the difficult questions makes me want to scream. .article-native-ad strong { "Looking back," she says, "I think Gary had been obsessed with suicide for some time. Attend in Miami or virtually, Sept. 1114. According to Walt Bogdanich, a former colleague on the Plain Dealer who has won two Pulitzers and now works for The New York Times, Webb was the best retriever of information from public records he has ever seen. 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". "If there was an eye to the storm," Katz wrote, "if there was a mastermind behind crack's decade-long reign, if there was one outlaw most responsible for flooding LA's streets with mass-marketed cocaine, his name was Freeway Rick. Peter Kornbluh, senior analyst with the George Washington University's National Security Archive, was one of the first to suggest that Webb had overplayed his hand in the Mercury News version of "Dark Alliance". His erstwhile editors on the Mercury News, meanwhile, saw their careers thrive. [18], Webb began researching "Dark Alliance" in July 1995. Unfortunately, the railroading of Gary Webb had begun and he was run over. [65], After leaving The Mercury News, Webb worked as an investigator for the California State Legislature. Begun 1996, the divorce and battle over cash of Grammy winner Jimmy Webb age 75, father of six, wed 22 years to Patsy, 64, daughter of late actor Barry Sullivan is getting longer. By the autumn of 1997, on medication for clinical depression, he was given leave of absence from the paper. One of his last articles examined America's Army, a video game designed by the U.S. . 4) The series "created impressions that were open to misinterpretation" through "imprecise language and graphics. This emotive last phrase refers to Webb's experience in the immediate aftermath of publication of his three lengthy articles, in the summer of 1996. But the tragedy had a deeper meaning. The series revolves around the first crack epidemic and its impact on the culture of the city. Sue remarried two years ago. It sounds like a Tom Clancy novel, right? Webb's experience came as no surprise to Jack Blum, senior prosecutor for the Kerry Committee. What was new about Webb's reports, published under the title "Dark Alliance" in the Californian paper the San Jose Mercury News, was that for the first time it brought the story back home. Garry Webb wrote the 1996 "Dark Alliance" series for the San Jose. 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. 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. 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. He is survived by his loving wife, Wendie, of Elgin; grandmother, Eileen Carrier of Elgin;. Even 10 years after his tragic death, the media refuse to let him rest. The story they printed was just awful. Depressed, he became increasingly unpredictable in his behaviour and embarked on a series of affairs; he was divorced from Bell in 2000, though he remained close to her throughout his life and lived in a house in nearby Carmichael. But ultimately, the responsibility was, and is, mine.". Hired by the San Jose Mercury News, Webb contributed to the paper's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. [17] The Mercury News's coverage of the earthquake won its staff the Pulitzer Prize for General News Reporting in 1990. "[38], Surprised by The Washington Post article, The Mercury News's executive editor Jerome Ceppos wrote to the Post defending the series. His series of articles - which prompted the distinguished reporter and former Newsweek Washington correspondent Robert Parry to describe Webb as "an American hero" - incited fury among the African-American community, many of whom took his investigation as proof that the White House saw crack as a way of bringing genocide to the ghetto. I remain astounded by the editorial decisions they made.". Gary Webb (304) 778-2546: Jamie Webb (304) 778-2546: Status: Homeowner. When he told me, I said it sounded crazy. Webb, Gary Gary T. Webb, age 67, of Hamilton, Michigan, passed away peacefully surrounded by his loving family Thursday, November 11, 2021. And yet, for all his Easy Rider tendencies, he was also a dedicated family man with an extraordinary appetite for researching minutiae. "But Gary thought that if something was true, it should be told. With Baca's encouragement, he started to investigate a large-scale Nicaraguan cocaine dealer named Oscar Danilo Blandn. [48] Despite the controversy that soon overtook the series, and the request of one board member to reconsider, the branch's board went ahead with the award in November. Webb had become, as somebody put it, "radioactive". "He told me, not long before he died, that he didn't want to get up in the mornings," she says. border-bottom: 1px solid #ddd; "Report on Alleged Involvement: Findings" 43. 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. "I think the behaviour of the media in all of this has been amazing," says Bell. And he finallyyou know, they finally left the country. By Sam Stanton Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 am PST Wednesday, December 15, 2004. . n 1996, journalist Gary Webb wrote a series of articles under the title "Dark Alliance" for the suggesting a CIA connection between anti-government contras in Nicaragua and monies raised from. ", The report called several of its findings "troubling." He was laid off in February 2004 when Assembly Member Fabian Nez was elected Speaker. "They use the giant corporate press rather than saying anything directly. [69], Webb was found dead in his Carmichael home on December 10, 2004, with two gunshot wounds to the head. "The first story he had to file was about a police horse which had died of constipation.". 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. 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. The article resulted in a lawsuit against Webb's paper which the plaintiffs won. But you say - dear God. The first one, "The California Story," was issued in a classified version on December 17, 1997, and in an unclassified version on January 29, 1998. 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. The response from the American press took two months to arrive. "As a PhD student, McCoy went to Vietnam and built an absolutely damning case about the CIA's involvement with trafficking heroin. [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.
The Breeze Radio Station Philadelphia,
Tamarack Beach Shark,
Articles G
