"Look at what happened to Gary Webb. Born in Corona, California, son of a conservatively minded Marine, he met Bell, whose father was a university lecturer, at high school in Indianapolis. Gary's story, however, is far from over and could never be killed by something as trivial as a material bullet. "He had six in a short period of time." The story was picked up by black talk-radio stations. "The government side of the story is coming through the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post", he stated. Ceppos initially defended Webb, and reportedly showed up at an in-house party wearing a military helmet. Should these editors subsequently deem the story to have been fatally flawed, they take the consequences. [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. In city after city, local dealers either bought from Ross or got left behind."[24]. [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. A revised version was published in 1999 that incorporated Webb's response to the CIA and Justice Department reports. When his medical insurance expired, he stopped taking his antidepressants. The story they printed was just awful. Webb was born in Corona, California. Work with a bunch of drug dealers to run guns? But the biggest loss he had was the writing. 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. 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. Webb's reports prompted three official investigations, including one by the CIA itself which - astonishingly for an organisation rarely praised for its transparency - confirmed the substance of his findings (published at length in Webb's 1998 book, also entitled Dark Alliance). For two years, Blum and Kerry supervised the interrogation of dozens of witnesses who described CIA-related drug deals in central America. [45], The Post's response came from the paper's ombudsman, Geneva Overholser. His was the story of a man who gains information of wrongdoing, then, attempting to act in the public interest, seeks protection from his superiors, and the forces of law, and does not receive it. Part of what makes OConnors article so compelling are the candid thoughts of Webbs former wife Sue Stokes. He died by suicide on December 10, 2004. In 2004, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb was found dead from an apparent suicide, as Democracy Now! And the importance of exposing them. "[38], Surprised by The Washington Post article, The Mercury News's executive editor Jerome Ceppos wrote to the Post defending the series. He became an investigator for the California State Legislature, published a book based on the "Dark Alliance" series in 1998, and did freelance investigative reporting. 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. [51] After discussions with Webb, the column was published on May 11, 1997.[53]. Webb's corpse was found in the bedroom, with two gunshot wounds to the head. In a long review of the series' claims in The Baltimore Sun, Weinberg said "I think the critics have been far too harsh. "[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. "He told the guys with him he was fine," she recalls, "got back on the bike, then passed out, half an hour later. He also stated "the series presented dangerous ideas" by suggesting "crimes of state had been committed" (i.e. He leaves behind the love of his life and adoring wife of 41 years, Anne Michelle Phillips. Webb became a staff reporter for the San Jose Mercury News in 1988. "Back then. He was a writer, known for Kill the Messenger (2014), Filming in Georgia (2015) and Crack in America (2015). By the time Webb began researching Dark Alliance, Bell was 38 and they had three children. [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. [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." While working at the legislature, Webb continued to do freelance investigative reporting, sometimes based on his investigative work. Age 43 years. The film broadened the debate which led to the decriminalisation of . Webb, a Pullitzer prize winning journalist, exposed CIA drug trafficking operations in a series of books and reports for the San Jose Mercury News. font-weight:500; 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. "To get back at his editors?". In 1986, Webb wrote an article saying that the Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, Frank D. Celebrezze accepted contributions from groups with organized crime connections. And it was ignored by the US media, for all of those reasons. "Gary didn't take her seriously," says Susan Bell, "because he was always getting calls alleging weird stuff about the CIA. reports. He also defended the series in interviews with all three papers. The CIA admits used the media to ruin his career. [69], Webb was found dead in his Carmichael home on December 10, 2004, with two gunshot wounds to the head. 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. [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." "[82], Kill the Messenger (2014) is based on Webb's book Dark Alliance and Nick Schou's biography of Webb. "As a PhD student, McCoy went to Vietnam and built an absolutely damning case about the CIA's involvement with trafficking heroin. But as his ex-wife told the . 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 Hays Webb, 78, passed away on Monday May 9, 2022, at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center, Neenah. When he was engaged, he worked hard. 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. On the last day Webb was alive, his motorbike broke down while he was moving to his mother's house. Gary Webb was born in Corona, California, in 1955. Webb's series was published on the Mercury News's fledgling website, but it wasn't exactly an instant sensation. [20] The website artwork showed the silhouette of a man smoking a crack pipe superimposed over the CIA seal. } Celebrezze eventually sued the Plain Dealer and won an undisclosed out of court settlement. 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. 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. }. 3) The series oversimplified how the crack epidemic grew. . "[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]. Webb's condition exacerbated his natural recklessness. [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. Jeff Leen, assistant managing editor for investigative reporting at The Washington Post, wrote in a 2014 opinion page article that "the report found no CIA relationship with the drug ring Webb had written about." When facts didn't fit his theory, he tended to shove them to the sidelines. 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. According to Bell, Webb had been unhappy for some time over his inability to get a job at another major newspaper. [3], Webb was born in Corona, California. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? "I told Gary not to go near this story," his source replies, in an emotional voice. Shortly before his death, his motorcycle had been stolen (it was recovered by his family after his death). We were dismissed as a bunch of nuts." Carey ultimately decided that there were problems with several parts of the story and wrote a draft article incorporating his findings. border-bottom: 1px solid #ddd; 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. 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. [41], When the Los Angeles Times series appeared, Ceppos again wrote to defend the original series. It sounds like a Tom Clancy novel, right? [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. padding:0!important; I realise now he was thinking about suicide.". 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. Webb's research took a year, in the course of which he received death threats. . 2) The series's estimate of the money involved was presented as fact instead of as an estimate. "I had to warn Gary that what he was looking at was probably true, but that he would run very big risks," Parry recalls. [71] "The way he was acting it would be hard for me to believe it was anything but suicide," she said. "It was like someone had made a terrible noise, or a terrible smell, in a small room," recalls Jonathan Winer, Kerry's chief senate staff investigator . Webb's experience came as no surprise to Jack Blum, senior prosecutor for the Kerry Committee. 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. He was assigned to its Sacramento bureau, where he was allowed to choose most of his own stories. The series revolves around the first crack epidemic and its impact on the culture of the city. I remain astounded by the editorial decisions they made.". 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.". He had sold his house the week before his death because he was unable to afford the mortgage.[71]. 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. margin-bottom: 20px; "[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." color: #ddd; 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. I have also followed up on key topics raised by Paul Cottrell will leading industry experts like Dr. Peter McCollough on the Tommy Carrigan Show, weekly in 2021 and 2022. He was previously married to Sue Bell. "Although Ross had become a millionaire by 1984," Katz now wrote, "the market was so huge by then that even a dealer of his stature could seem dwarfed How the crack epidemic reached that extreme, on some level," he continues, "had nothing to do with Ross". According to the report, the Inspector-General's office (OIG) examined all information the agency had "relating to CIA knowledge of drug trafficking allegations in regard to any person directly or indirectly involved in Contra activities." He was a former member of Bethlehem . We had been here before." [73], On the other hand, many of the writers and editors who worked with him have had high praise for him. "They use the giant corporate press rather than saying anything directly. 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. The third article, by Mitchell and Fulwood, covered the effects of crack on African-Americans and how it affected their reaction to some of the rumors that arose after the "Dark Alliance" series. Gary Webb's painstaking investigation and the incindiary conclusions he drew from it were based mostly on public records, as detailed in the "notes on sources" section in "Dark Alliance", including: undercover audio tapes, declassified government documents from the CIA, DEA, FBI, L.A. Sheriff's Department, files from the Iran-Contra . [46] Overholser was harshly critical of the series, "reported by a seemingly hotheaded fellow willing to have people leap to conclusions his reporting couldn't back up." margin-top: 10px; "Gary was given the choice of relocating either to San Jose," says Bell, "or to Cupertino". "Exactly," replied Kornbluh, who - referring specifically to the LA Times, said he is "baffled as to how they could be so gullible. . He went into the bedroom, and picked up a .38 that had belonged to his father. [81], Peter Kornbluh, a researcher at George Washington University's National Security Archives, also does not agree that the report vindicated the series. Critics view the series' claims as inaccurate or overstated, while supporters point to the results of a later CIA investigation as vindicating the series. The article resulted in a lawsuit against Webb's paper which the plaintiffs won. Snowfall is an American crime drama television series set in Los Angeles in 1983. There were no offers. [43] He did this in a column that appeared on November 3, defending the series, but also committing the paper to a review of major criticisms. Gary Webb was a journalist of outsized talent. Call 911 for assistance. One of his last articles examined America's Army, a video game designed by the U.S. 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. Cleveland Plain Dealer film critic Clint OConnor had a solid featurethe other day about Kill the Messenger, the journalism true-tale movie opening Friday with Jeremy Renner starring as the late Gary Webb. American racer Cooper Webb is married to his wife named Mariah Williams Webb. He was the much-loved father of Lindsay (Stephen . 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." But they underestimated the paradigm shifting power of the internet, and the intelligence of Webb, who not only listed the explosive story online . The reports of the three federal investigations into the claims of "Dark Alliance" were not released until over a year after the series's publication. * The agency's response was to try to prevent him from getting his doctorate, then block his advancement in the academic world. 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. But Ian Webbknows all too well the emotions that come with that experience. LOS ANGELES, Dec. 12 - Gary Webb, a reporter who won national attention with a series of articles, later discredited, linking the Central Intelligence Agency to the spread of crack . After Webb's death, a collection of his stories from before and after the "Dark Alliance" series was published. [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. [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. .article-native-ad { (Strawser) Webb. He was taken to hospital by air ambulance. 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. Views on Webb's journalism have been polarized. Emma Lee Webb. 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. The story offered no evidence to support such sweeping conclusions, a fatal error that would ultimately destroy Webb, if not his editors. padding-left: 10px!important; ". "I believe that Americans, as a nation, are mainly concerned with living their happy little lives. Meneses, an established smuggler and a Contra supporter as well, taught Blandn how to smuggle and provided him with cocaine. Save 50% with early-bird passes. margin: 0 45px; 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. We are in the living room of Bell's house just outside Sacramento, California. [44], Ceppos' column drew editorial responses from both The New York Times and The Washington Post.
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