[60], It found nothing to support the claim that "the drug trafficking activities of Blandn and Meneses were motivated by any commitment to support the Contra cause or Contra activities undertaken by CIA." An investigative journalist, Webb became interested in the covert activities of the Central Intelligence Agency. He was assigned to its Sacramento bureau, where he was allowed to choose most of his own stories. And it ruined that reporter's career. He wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, which initially backed his articles but later dropped him. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Take it from someone who knew him well. 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. Twitter. [81], Peter Kornbluh, a researcher at George Washington University's National Security Archives, also does not agree that the report vindicated the series. "That's right," says Blum. The first article in "Dark Alliance" that discussed the failure of law enforcement agencies to prosecute Blandn and Meneses had mentioned several cases. Edmund Webb: Birthdate: estimated between 1751 and 1805 : Death: Immediate Family: Son of Edmund Webb and Nancy Webb Husband of Milly Clark Brother of Daniel Gary Webb; Nancy Lester; Polly Webb; John Webb; Elizabeth "Betsey" Webb and 1 other. One of his last articles examined America's Army, a video game designed by the U.S. Gary Stephen Webb (August 31, 1955 December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist. Do something else with your life," the voice urges. 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: His wife's office was burglarized. Jeremy Renner plays Gary Webb in "Kill the Messenger." (Chuck Zlotnick/Focus Features) Webb resigned and wrote a book defending his reporting. 2 years ago, this past week, I sat on a beach in Del Mar with my wife and she asked me, "When you get to the end of your life, what will you regret [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. "[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. Bell and her children helped Webb prepare 50 packages containing cuttings and his CV which they sent out to newspapers all over the US. As a result, some major US newspapers ignored its findings completely, while others relegated a brief summary to their inside pages. gary webb obituary WEBB, Gary W. Age 67, passed away Monday, March 27, 2017 in the home he built in Madison Township. [50] By January, Webb filed drafts of four more articles based on his trip, but his editors concluded that the new articles would not help shore up the original series's claims. "But Gary thought that if something was true, it should be told. 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. ", As Webb would tell a friend, after he had been ostracised: "You have to look out, when the big dog gets off the porch.". "He was sleeping more, he hated to get up in the morning, he started having a lot of motorcycle. 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. [15], In 1988, Webb was recruited by the San Jose Mercury News, which was looking for an investigative reporter. "I'd get discouraged," she said, "but I never really gave up hope." Back in 1997, SN&R brought the controversy about Gary Webb to readers with "Secrets and Lies," a cover story about why the mainstream media attacked . 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. It was good that his story forced those reports to come out, but part of what made that happen was based on misleading information. "People told me that," she says. Despite some hyped phrasing, "Dark Alliance" appears to be praiseworthy investigative reporting."[47]. Gary was born Sept. 4, 1947, to Percy and Pauline (Haas) Webb. In and out of work, he had a reputation for taking risks. It also examined "how CIA handled and responded to information regarding allegations of drug trafficking" by people involved in Contra activities or support. "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. 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. 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. 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 "Dark Alliance" series remains controversial. 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. After divorcing his wife, being unable to obtain work from newspapers and facing increasing debts, Gary was forced to sell his home. 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 divorced from his wife in 2000, though the two remained close during his final years. 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." Although he attended Northern Kentucky for four years, he did not finish his degree. "You sound very scared," Moreira remarks. ", The report called several of its findings "troubling." 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". [60], The House Intelligence Committee issued its report in February 2000. Gary Webb was born on August 31, 1955 in Corona, California, USA. The third article discussed the social effects of the crack trade, noting that it had a disparate effect on African-Americans. "Gary was 18 and I was 16 when we first met and started dating in Indianapolis," said Sue Stokes. The Media Turns On Gary Webb. 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. His death was ruled a suicide by the Sacramento County coroner's office. [20] The website artwork showed the silhouette of a man smoking a crack pipe superimposed over the CIA seal. 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. It was truthful. He was born January 28, 1950 in Middletown, OH to Paul and Dorothy (Hawkins) Webb. Unable to get work from any major US newspaper, he spent the four months before his death writing for * a free-sheet covering the Sacramento area. [32], The New York Times published two articles on the series in mid-October, both written by reporter Tim Golden. Gary Webb sums up the story in his last major interview just days before his death. One of these was a 1986 raid on Blandn's drug organization by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, which the article suggested had produced evidence of CIA ties to drug smuggling that was later suppressed. Before his death, John Singleton maintained that Snowfall is its own account of how the crack epidemic began on the West Coast . 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. I felt she really trashed me. Gary Webb famously died of two gun shot wounds to the head and his death that was ruled a suicide, is the common sense notion that this was clearly assassination true? [71] "The way he was acting it would be hard for me to believe it was anything but suicide," she said. With Baca's encouragement, he started to investigate a large-scale Nicaraguan cocaine dealer named Oscar Danilo Blandn. Ceppos and Garcia have long since lost any taste for public discussion of "Dark Alliance". 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. By this stage, he was prepared to work as a jobbing reporter. After divorcing his wife, being unable to obtain work from newspapers and facing increasing debts, Gary was forced to sell his home. I remain astounded by the editorial decisions they made.". "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 placed his keys and ID cards on the kitchen table, together with a cremation certificate he had purchased for himself. Furthermore, the duo has been blessed with two daughters, Persia Numan and Raven Numan. Blandn and Meneses were Nicaraguans who smuggled drugs into the U.S. and supplied dealers like Ross. But, Ceppos wrote, the series "did not meet our standards" in four areas. Call 911 for assistance. 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. After police brought the three passengers back to the station, the news had come: John Grachek died at the hospital. "They had him writing obituaries," she said. 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. Uncharacteristically, Persia added her vocals to her father's 2017 song, 'My Name is Ruin'. The series ran from October 2022, 1996, and was researched by a team of 17 reporters. [65], After leaving The Mercury News, Webb worked as an investigator for the California State Legislature. When he was engaged, he worked hard. 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. A jury awarded the plaintiffs over 13 million dollars and the case was later settled. Attorneys' Offices. "I had to warn Gary that what he was looking at was probably true, but that he would run very big risks," Parry recalls. They failed because the climate was more sceptical then. With hindsight, Bell says, "the signs were there. He concluded, "How did these shortcomings occur? [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. His death was ruled a suicide by the Sacramento County coroner's office. [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." If you work through friendly reporters on major newspapers, it comes off as The New York Times saying it and not a mouthpiece of the CIA. The series provoked outrage, particularly in the Los Angeles African-American community, and led to four major investigations of its charges. [13] Webb then moved to the paper's statehouse bureau, where he covered statewide issues and won numerous regional journalism awards. Born in Corona, California, son of a conservatively minded Marine, he met Bell, whose father was a university lecturer, at high school in Indianapolis. I ask Bell. The first effect of the onslaught was to ease the pressure on the CIA. By the late spring of 1996, Webb was ready to publish. Eventually, the media would mostly turn against Webb, attempting to discredit him. Webb's corpse was found in the bedroom, with two gunshot wounds to the head. Gary Webb was an investigative reporter, focusing on government and private sector corruption and winning more than 30 journalism awards. The Real Housewives of Atlanta The Bachelor Sister Wives 90 Day Fiance Wife Swap The Amazing Race Australia Married at First Sight The Real Housewives of Dallas My 600-lb Life Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. The article resulted in a lawsuit against Webb's paper which the plaintiffs won. He was one of six reporters at the San Jose Mercury News to win a 1990 Pulitzer Prize for General News Reporting for a series of stories on the collapse of the Cypress Street Viaduct during northern California's 1989 earthquake. Gary Webb's Ex-Wife Set to Attend New York Premiere By Richard Horgan October 8, 2014 Cleveland Plain Dealer film critic Clint O'Connor had a solid feature the other day about Kill the. Yes. He was born in Jacksonville, Texas, on March 13, 1954, to Carroll and Waldine Webb, the younger brother of Diane Webb. (Strawser) Webb. 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". He stayed home, playing computer games, and began smoking cannabis heavily. Webb's ex wife, Susan Bell told reporters that she believed Webb had died by suicide. The mainstream press, now known as the legacy. And the importance of exposing them. He said: 'No. His erstwhile editors on the Mercury News, meanwhile, saw their careers thrive. He wrote well. His corpse was discovered on the seventh anniversary of his resignation from the Mercury News. On December 10th, 2004 Gary Webb was found dead of two (allegedly self inflicted) gun shots to the head. Celebrity. When facts didn't fit his theory, he tended to shove them to the sidelines. When Ross discovered the market for crack in Los Angeles, he began buying cocaine from Blandn. "[82], Kill the Messenger (2014) is based on Webb's book Dark Alliance and Nick Schou's biography of Webb. The normal process is, or should be, that a reporter files a story and is robustly challenged by his paper's lawyers and editors - who, if satisfied that the report is accurate - publish, then defend the writer to the hilt. [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. Who Is Gary Webb's Wife? After Ceppos' column, The Mercury News spent the next several months conducting an internal review of the story. This is why Webb's "Dark Alliance" series is an essential source, a primary text that every journalism student should study. She was born July 22, 1964 in Jellico, Tennessee. By: E&P Staff The death of investigative reporter Gary Webb has been confirmed as a suicide, according to a coroner's statement. Webb's ex wife, Susan Bell told reporters that she believed Webb had died by suicide. 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. Baca claimed that a drug dealer with close links to the CIA had framed her boyfriend, who was also in the cocaine business. He really did believe that," she says. The story was picked up by black talk-radio stations. Price placed Webb as the shooter. Working in San Jose would have meant daily contact with what Bell describes as "people he did not want to be with". Webb, a former San Jose Mercury News reporter, was found dead in his Carmichael home Friday morning. But Webb The truth was that, in all those years, I hadn't written anything important enough to suppress. [33] Golden also referred to the controversy over Webb's contacts with Ross's lawyer. "Looking back," she says, "I think Gary had been obsessed with suicide for some time. Gary Webb, a hero of authentic journalism, an inspiration to truth-seekers around the world, a friend to all of us at Narco News, but now an unemployable outcast in the world of commercial newspapers, took his own life on December 10, 2004. I realise now he was thinking about suicide.". Webb, one of the boldest and most outstanding reporters of his generation, was the journalist who, in 1996, established the connection between the CIA and major drug dealers in Los Angeles, some of whose profits had been channelled to fund the Contra guerrilla movement in Nicaragua. Gary Webb, a journalist at The San Jose Mercury News, thought it was a far-fetched story to begin with, but in 1995 and 1996, he dug in and produced a deeply reported and deeply flawed three-part . He celebrated his 62nd birthday in 2020. His. 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. 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, Get up to 10% off using the Booking.com app, $6 off a $50+ order with this AliExpress discount code, 10% off selected product with this 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 April 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this April, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. [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. 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