So, this is not something you really make a career out of, nor would you want to. "[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]. 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.". His. By the late spring of 1996, Webb was ready to publish. Emma Lee Webb. "[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. Osborn, Barbara Bliss (MarchApril 1998). And when he got something in his head, he was determined to do it. Age 43 years. font-weight:500;
Gary Webb | American journalist | Britannica He concluded, "How did these shortcomings occur?
Kill the Messenger review - what really happened to Gary Webb 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. [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. 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 . There were no offers. Investigative journalist Gary Webb wrote a series of stories in 1996 for the San Jose Mercury News that documented the US-government-backed Contra insurgents' drug pipeline into Los Angeles. In city after city, local dealers either bought from Ross or got left behind."[24]. [5], After high school, Webb attended an Indianapolis community college on a scholarship until his family moved to Cincinnati. As a result, some major US newspapers ignored its findings completely, while others relegated a brief summary to their inside pages. He had sold his house the week before his death because he was unable to afford the mortgage.[71]. 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 series revolves around the first crack epidemic and its impact on the culture of the city. The CIA Inspector-General's report was issued in two volumes. "As a PhD student, McCoy went to Vietnam and built an absolutely damning case about the CIA's involvement with trafficking heroin. In 2004, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb was found dead from an apparent suicide, as Democracy Now! The February 2000 report by the House Intelligence Committee in turn considered the book's claims as well as the series' claims. The second volume, "The Contra Story," was issued in a classified version on April 27, 1998, and in an unclassified version on October 8, 1998.
Jimmy Webb's battle with ex-wife Patsy Sullivan continues - New York Post "Look at what happened to Gary Webb. Cuts and amendments were made at the request of Ceppos, executive editor of the Mercury News, and Webb's immediate editor Dawn Garcia, among others. Parry, the first reporter to write about the US authorities' drug-running on behalf of the Contras, had survived a campaign by the White House to discredit first his story, then his reputation.
Gary Webb - Lake Ridge Chapel & Memorial Designers I mean - please.". Instead, he found work in 1978 as a reporter at the Kentucky Post, a local paper affiliated with the larger Cincinnati Post. "But Gary thought that if something was true, it should be told. [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.
Dark Alliance - Dark Alliance "By the end of his life he was just in a lot of pain," said Webb's ex-wife, Susan Bell. The coroner's staff concluded that the second shot hit an artery.[70]. Gary Webb was a journalist of outsized talent. 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. GARY WEBB was an investigative reporter who focused on government and private sector corruption and who won more than thirty journalism awards. He was so depressed. Occupation: Machine Operators, Assemblers, and Inspectors Occupations. By this stage, he was prepared to work as a jobbing reporter. But they underestimated the paradigm shifting power of the internet, and the intelligence of Webb, who not only listed the explosive story online . That wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been willing to stand up and risk it all.". 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. When he was engaged, he worked hard. 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 first article in "Dark Alliance" that discussed the failure of law enforcement agencies to prosecute Blandn and Meneses had mentioned several cases. By 1997, Bell tells me, Webb - whose 30-year career had earned him more awards than there is room for in her study - had been reassigned to the Mercury News's office in Cupertino. The first detailed article on the series's claims appeared in The Washington Post in early October. If he could have chosen his own epitaph, it might have been a line from the letter he posted to Bell, immediately before he killed himself: "I do not regret," Webb told her, "anything that I have written." Few reporters I've known could match his nose for an investigative story. Contemporary discussions of the series are discussed in the section on, Webb 2011, "Caltrans Ignored Elevated Freeway Safety. In interviews after leaving The Mercury News, Webb described the 1997 controversy as media manipulation. 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. My wife has kept me grounded for . 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. Even 10 years after his tragic death, the media refuse to let him rest.
Cooper Webb Wife Name Revealed: Who Is Professional SX/MX - Halla News Meneses, an established smuggler and a Contra supporter as well, taught Blandn how to smuggle and provided him with cocaine. But Ian Webbknows all too well the emotions that come with that experience. Gary Webb passed away on March 2, 2019. "You do not understand the power of these people," he adds, referring to the US intelligence services. In August of 1996, investigative journalist Gary Webb broke the biggest story of his life. ", In contrast, the series received support from Steve Weinberg, a former executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors. As it turned out," she adds, "that was not their intent.". Views on Webb's journalism have been polarized. After his resignation from The Mercury News, Webb expanded the "Dark Alliance" series into a book that responded to the criticism of the series and described his experiences writing the story and dealing with the controversy. Webb established incontrovertible links * between Ricky Ross and Blandn who, two years later, would betray Ross to the authorities. Gary Stephen Webb (August 31, 1955 December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist. The "Dark Alliance" series remains controversial. "I am scared," the voice replies. There has been speculation that he may have met with foul play because he had received two gunshot wounds to the head, The Sacramento Bee reported Wednesday. "That's right," says Blum. I remain astounded by the editorial decisions they made.". Cooper and Mariah were engaged before they finally tied the knot. "[82], Kill the Messenger (2014) is based on Webb's book Dark Alliance and Nick Schou's biography of Webb. Their explosive report, which appeared in 1989, was either ignored, or marginalised, by the American press. The new movie Kill the Messenger, based in part on a 2006 book by a former student of mine, eulogizes Webb . Family (1) He was sentenced to life in prison, though the sentence was shortened on appeal and Ross was released in 2009. Part of what makes OConnors article so compelling are the candid thoughts of Webbs former wife Sue Stokes. 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.
Gary Webb Obituary (1944 - 2022) - Portland, OR - The Oregonian He made that very clear. Call 911 for assistance. Gary Webb was born in Corona, California, in 1955. Poor Gary Webb. "He rang me up that day. [61] According to the report, it used Webb's reporting and writing as "key resources in focusing and refining the investigation." 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. [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. Gary Webb was born on August 31, 1955 in Corona, California, USA. And the importance of exposing them. 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. 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. His death was ruled a suicide by the Sacramento County coroner's office. padding-left: 10px!important; We had been here before." 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.
Gary Webb Was Right | HuffPost Latest News Tara Becker-Gray Lee News Network Jan 17, 2019 0 1 of 2 C. Webb The body found at a house fire at 13308 95th Ave. in rural Blue Grass on Thursday night has been identified as Cynthia Webb, 59.. He was the much-loved father of Lindsay (Stephen .
The Warning in Gary Webb's Death - Consortium News .article-native-ad strong { "[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. He also stated "the series presented dangerous ideas" by suggesting "crimes of state had been committed" (i.e. ", As Webb would tell a friend, after he had been ostracised: "You have to look out, when the big dog gets off the porch.".
Obituary | GARY HAYS WEBB of Neenah, Wisconsin | WESTGOR FUNERAL HOMES Special Reports - Cocaine, Conspiracy Theories And The Cia In - PBS 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. For two years, Blum and Kerry supervised the interrogation of dozens of witnesses who described CIA-related drug deals in central America. To pay off his mounting debts, Webb sold the Carmichael property, where he was living alone, and arranged to move in with his mother. Army. GARY WEBB OBITUARY Gary Frank Webb Sept. 27, 1944 - Oct. 23, 2022 Gary passed away peacefully of complications following cardiovascular surgery. The story offered no evidence to support such sweeping conclusions, a fatal error that would ultimately destroy Webb, if not his editors. * The agency's response was to try to prevent him from getting his doctorate, then block his advancement in the academic world. "He told the guys with him he was fine," she recalls, "got back on the bike, then passed out, half an hour later. 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. Many writers discussing the series point to errors in it. He began his career working for newspapers in Kentucky and Ohio, winning numerous awards, and building a strong reputation for investigative writing. He was born June 18, 1943, in Appleton, son of the late Wilford and Helen (Hauskey) Webb. We're well aware that they/it (the cia) did do it. "He was crying. He died by suicide on December 10, 2004.
The CIA/MSM Contra-Cocaine Cover-up - Consortium News "And to an extent, they succeeded.". 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. At the commemorative service for Webb, held at the Doubletree Hotel in Sacramento, Bell read out the letter Webb had written to his son Eric, now 17. 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 . [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.
Gary Webb: Vindicated - Narco News He was taken to hospital by air ambulance. He began his career working for newspapers in Kentucky and Ohio, winning numerous awards, and building a strong reputation for investigative writing.
How Gary Webb Linked The CIA To The Crack Epidemic - All That's Interesting *, '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.
Gary Webb and the Iran-Contra-Cocaine Connection | WilderUtopia He was born Sept.10, 1957 in Willcox, Ariz. to RG Webb and Winnie Mae Shelton. Webb came home and put his belongings in order, dropping his Kentucky Post poster in the bin. Some editors regarded him as stubborn to the point of insolence. color:rgb(46,179,178); "They use the giant corporate press rather than saying anything directly. Who Is Gary Webb's Wife? 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". 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. "[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." [44], Ceppos' column drew editorial responses from both The New York Times and The Washington Post. Carey ultimately decided that there were problems with several parts of the story and wrote a draft article incorporating his findings. His former wife, her voice lowered to a whisper, explains that Webb missed with the first shot (which exited through his left cheek). font-size: 34px; This did not happen in Webb's case. Garcia responded by email but declined to speak on the record about the editing process of Webb's series. [39] Carey's critique appeared in mid-October and went through several of the Post's criticisms of the series, including the importance of Blandn's drug ring in spreading crack, questions about Blandn's testimony in court, and how specific series allegations about CIA involvement had been, giving Webb's responses. OR was he like Epstein? 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. 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. "Gary was given the choice of relocating either to San Jose," says Bell, "or to Cupertino".
Man Donates Liver To Ex-Wife - CBS News When he was engaged, he worked hard. "It says the CIA helped introduce poison into our children. reports. He really did believe that," she says. "He definitely was depressed. 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. [36] McManus wrote that Blandn's and Meneses's contributions to Contra organizations were significantly less than the "millions" claimed in the series, and stated there was no evidence that the CIA had tried to protect them. It would have been our 25th wedding anniversary," Bell recalls. In an unprecedented move, the then CIA director John Deutch was dispatched to address community leaders in the Watts district of LA. I realise now he was thinking about suicide.". He went into the bedroom, and picked up a .38 that had belonged to his father.
Emma Lee Webb of Crossett, Arkansas | 1947 - 2023 | Obituary I first heard about Webb eight years ago, I tell Bell, from the Paris-based journalist Paul Moreira. "For the better part of a decade," it began, "a San Francisco drug ring sold tons of cocaine to the Crips and Bloods street gangs of Los Angeles and funnelled millions in drug profits to a Latin American guerrilla army run by the US Central Intelligence Agency.". And this is not a happy story - or," she adds, "a little one.". "I believe that Americans, as a nation, are mainly concerned with living their happy little lives. On one road trip, in 2001, he came off the motorcycle and split his helmet open. 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. 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." It also stated that the Contras may have acted with the knowledge and protection of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). When Webb wrote another story on the raid evidence in early October, it received wide attention in Los Angeles. In February, Gary Webb gave his ex-wife. "Gary didn't take her seriously," says Susan Bell, "because he was always getting calls alleging weird stuff about the CIA. The whole business, I suggested to Blum, has echoes of a classic Alfred Hitchcock plot. 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. [60], It found no information to support the claim that the agency interfered with law enforcement actions against Ross, Blandn or Meneses. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department began its own investigation into the "Dark Alliance" claims.[30]. He was born at Emmanuel Hospital in. margin-top: 10px; [41], When the Los Angeles Times series appeared, Ceppos again wrote to defend the original series. in Central America", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gary_Webb&oldid=1138520387, This page was last edited on 10 February 2023, at 03:36. Webb's corpse was found in the bedroom, with two gunshot wounds to the head. 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. Webb's then-wife Sue remembers coming home from the shops and finding her. Actor Jeremy Renner portrays Webb.[83].
Gary Webb Obituary (2011) - Saginaw, MI - Saginaw News on MLive.com Gary Webb | Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune 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. The couple got married recently in November of 2020 after dating for some time.
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