Gary Webb: Vindicated - Narco News Hired by the San Jose Mercury News, Webb contributed to the paper's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. "That's right," says Blum. He was found dead on Friday morning in what the police said was an apparent suicide. Although he attended Northern Kentucky for four years, he did not finish his degree. Join iconic brands and world-class marketing leaders at Brandweek to unlock powerful insights and impact-driven strategies. Gary Webb and the Iran-Contra-Cocaine Connection | WilderUtopia "You sound very scared," Moreira remarks. His career ended, his livelihood was destroyed and certain games were started to be . Should these editors subsequently deem the story to have been fatally flawed, they take the consequences. Occupation: Machine Operators, Assemblers, and Inspectors Occupations. 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 series was published on the Mercury News's fledgling website, but it wasn't exactly an instant sensation. ", Many of these are in the series archive at. 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 . Emma Lee Webb, age 75, of Crossett, AR passed away Monday February 27, 2023, in her home surrounded by her family. Gary Webb's income source is mostly from being a successful . [81], Peter Kornbluh, a researcher at George Washington University's National Security Archives, also does not agree that the report vindicated the series. "To get back at his editors?". 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. Why bring up old white people atrocities against black people now? (Strawser) Webb. The character reporter Irene Abe is said by fans of the show to be a stand in character for the real life Gary Webb. Two years later, he was promoted to Vice President of Knight Ridder, the Mercury News's parent company; he retired from this position last month. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. 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? So, this is not something you really make a career out of, nor would you want to. American racer Cooper Webb is married to his wife named Mariah Williams Webb. [5], After high school, Webb attended an Indianapolis community college on a scholarship until his family moved to Cincinnati. A secret deal allowed drugs to go unreported by the DCI. [45], The Post's response came from the paper's ombudsman, Geneva Overholser. [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. Gary Webb Obituary (2009) - Elgin, IL - Elgin Courier News - Legacy.com Some might consider it an inappropriate assignment for a man with responsibilities. Cooper Webb Wife Name Revealed. When Gary originally broke this mind blowing story, the arrogant authority's assumed they could simply ignore him and hope he'd go away. Gary Webb's "Approach Split" in the atrium of 20 Triton Street London. Gary Webb's son on new movie "Kill the Messenger" - YouTube The second article described Blandn's background and how he began smuggling cocaine to support the Contras. It also examined "how CIA handled and responded to information regarding allegations of drug trafficking" by people involved in Contra activities or support. ". A 1985 series, "Doctoring the Truth," uncovered problems in the State Medical Board[12] and led to an Ohio House investigation which resulted in major revisions to the state Medical Practice Act. 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. . Evidence Begins To Indicate Gary Webb Was Murdered - BSNEWS [11], In 1983, Webb moved to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, where he continued doing investigative work. Lynn Rd, Ranger WV - Rehold Address Directory Herhold: Thinking back on journalist Gary Webb and the CIA Webb, Gary Gary T. Webb, age 67, of Hamilton, Michigan, passed away peacefully surrounded by his loving family Thursday, November 11, 2021. 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. When he was engaged, he worked hard. Gary Webb Obituary (1954 - 2021) - Dorr, MI - Grand Rapids Press 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. "[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." Garcia is deputy director of the John S Knight Fellowships in Journalism at Stanford University. It would have been our 25th wedding anniversary," Bell recalls. Emma Lee Webb of Crossett, Arkansas | 1947 - 2023 | Obituary * The agency's response was to try to prevent him from getting his doctorate, then block his advancement in the academic world. George Webb and Paul Cottrell have begun a weekly series on CoronaVirus now, Mondays at 5PM, EST on paul Cottrell's Rumble Channel. [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. We were dismissed as a bunch of nuts." He also defended the series in interviews with all three papers. 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. The third article discussed the social effects of the crack trade, noting that it had a disparate effect on African-Americans. E&P Staff. He was a former member of Bethlehem . After introducing the three, the first article discussed primarily Blandn and Meneses, and their relationship with the Contras and the CIA. She said the paper wanted to make up for what it had done in the past. 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. He also had this inherent belief that the truth could not harm him. 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. Kill the Messenger True Story vs. Movie - Real Gary Webb Baca claimed that a drug dealer with close links to the CIA had framed her boyfriend, who was also in the cocaine business. "I think Kerry learnt a lesson from all this," reporter Robert Parry says. The Tragic 2004 Death Of Investigative Journalist, Gary Webb The series provoked outrage, particularly in the Los Angeles African-American community, and led to four major investigations of its charges. OR was he like Epstein? font-size: 34px; Gary Webb - Spartacus Educational "[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." The article suggested this was in retribution for Ross' testimony in the corruption case. [3], Webb was born in Corona, California. But Ian Webbknows all too well the emotions that come with that experience. Webb is best known for his "Dark Alliance" series, which appeared in The Mercury News in 1996. His father was a Marine sergeant, and the family moved frequently, as his career took him to new assignments. Gary Webb - Wikipedia 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. 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." In August of 1996, investigative journalist Gary Webb broke the biggest story of his life. It was an amazing scoop - but one that would ruin his career and drive him to suicide. 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. [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." Pictured as a teenage fan: Gary Numan with Gemma, his now wife, getting his autograph in 1985 years before they got together Gary was 600,000 in debt, and on the verge of going under in. "This is an appalling charge," says a tense-looking Deutch. While working at the legislature, Webb continued to do freelance investigative reporting, sometimes based on his investigative work. In interviews after leaving The Mercury News, Webb described the 1997 controversy as media manipulation. [8] In 1979, Webb married Susan Bell; the couple eventually had three children. [68], In August 2004, Webb joined the Sacramento News & Review, an alternative weekly newspaper, where he continued doing investigative writing. "[77], Webb's reporting in "Dark Alliance" remains controversial. 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. Webb established incontrovertible links * between Ricky Ross and Blandn who, two years later, would betray Ross to the authorities. Kill the Messenger review - what really happened to Gary Webb Dark Alliance - Dark Alliance The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department began its own investigation into the "Dark Alliance" claims.[30]. Gary Webb, friends say, was a far more combative character than either the Mercury News's executive editor Ceppos or page editor Garcia. [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. The new movie Kill the Messenger, based in part on a 2006 book by a former student of mine, eulogizes Webb . 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. "You do not understand the power of these people," he adds, referring to the US intelligence services. Gary Webb photos on Flickr | Flickr Walter Bogdanich, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who worked with Webb on The Plain Dealer, told American Journalism Review editor Susan Paterno "He was brilliant; he knew more about public records than anybody I've ever known. Poor Gary Webb. I first heard about Webb eight years ago, I tell Bell, from the Paris-based journalist Paul Moreira. 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. One of his last articles examined America's Army, a video game designed by the U.S. 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. I felt weak and distressed; the whole thing was so fresh. Gary Webb famously died of two gun shot wounds to the head and - reddit Calling the Post's overall focus "misplaced", Overholser expressed regret that the paper had not taken the opportunity to re-examine whether the CIA had overlooked Contra involvement in drug smuggling, "a subject The Post and the public had given short shrift. In a long review of the series' claims in The Baltimore Sun, Weinberg said "I think the critics have been far too harsh. Their explosive report, which appeared in 1989, was either ignored, or marginalised, by the American press. The complete lack of desire to ask the difficult questions makes me want to scream. Gary Webb passed away on March 2, 2019. This did not happen in Webb's case. [39] The Post refused to print his letter. Talking about his wife, Mariah Webb is a nurse who also educates about essential products . "He told the guys with him he was fine," she recalls, "got back on the bike, then passed out, half an hour later. He leaves behind the love of his life and adoring wife of 41 years, Anne Michelle Phillips. 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. 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. 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. That was just the way he was.". [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." Occupation: Machine Operators, Assemblers, and Inspectors Occupations. 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. Celebrezze eventually sued the Plain Dealer and won an undisclosed out of court settlement. His corpse was discovered on the seventh anniversary of his resignation from the Mercury News. He concluded, "How did these shortcomings occur? The reports rejected the series's main claims but were critical of some CIA and law enforcement actions. "Back then. Gary Webb's "Dark Alliance" Returns to the Internet - Narco News 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. After the series's publication, the Northern California branch of the national Society of Professional Journalists voted Webb "Journalist of the Year" for 1996. He was assigned to its Sacramento bureau, where he was allowed to choose most of his own stories. "He walked in one day," Bell recalls, "and said, 'You are not going to believe what I just found out.' 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". How Kill the Messenger Will Vindicate Investigative Journalist Gary Webb Gary Webb became, quite unfairly, the victim of one of the most extraordinary examples of piling on by the mainstream press, ever.". Attorneys' Offices. Webb, a Pullitzer prize winning journalist, exposed CIA drug trafficking operations in a series of books and reports for the San Jose Mercury News. Both Gary's ex-wife Susan and his brother Kurt viewed the body and they confirmed the location of the wounds to me when I met them. Gary Webb, Into the Buzzsaw, CH 13, Prometheus Books. Gary Webb (304) 778-2546: Jamie Webb (304) 778-2546: Status: Homeowner. "[79], Writing after Webb's death in 2005, The Nation magazine's former Washington Editor David Corn said that Webb "was on to something but botched part of how he handled it." Webb's research took a year, in the course of which he received death threats. Webb, unlike Blum or Kerry, had to face his difficulties alone. By William Kennedy / Jan. 22, 2023 12:00 pm EST. "He was sleeping more, he hated to get up in the morning, he started having a lot of motorcycle. The three articles in the series were written by four reporters: Jesse Katz, Doyle McManus, John Mitchell and Sam Fulwood. [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. Bell and her children helped Webb prepare 50 packages containing cuttings and his CV which they sent out to newspapers all over the US. "I am scared," the voice replies. His former wife, her voice lowered to a whisper, explains that Webb missed with the first shot (which exited through his left cheek). They failed because the climate was more sceptical then. 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. 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. Gary Webb | Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune }. 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. 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. Gary Webb | Obituary | The Daily Item And yet, for all his Easy Rider tendencies, he was also a dedicated family man with an extraordinary appetite for researching minutiae. [66] ", The report called several of its findings "troubling." He placed his keys and ID cards on the kitchen table, together with a cremation certificate he had purchased for himself. 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, Up to 20% off & extra perks with Booking.com Genius Membership, $6 off a $50+ order with this AliExpress discount code, 10% off selected orders over 100 - 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 March 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this March, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. The Department of Justice Inspector-General's report was released on July 23, 1998. The feeling was that with other news outlets calling for Webb's head, the paper's credibility depended on their joining in on the attacks. 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. ", "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. Man Donates Liver To Ex-Wife - CBS News But the tragedy had a deeper meaning. .article-native-ad { Do something else with your life," the voice urges. Garcia responded by email but declined to speak on the record about the editing process of Webb's series. Emma Lee Webb. Gary Hays (304) 778-7090: "Look at what happened to Gary Webb. Gary Webb Obituary (1944 - 2022) - Portland, OR - The Oregonian [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. The attack on Gary Webb and his series in the San Jose Mercury News remains one of the most venomous and factually inane assaults on a professional journalist's competence in living memory . In a three-part series published in the San Jose Mercury News, "Dark Alliance," Webb alleges that not only was the CIA aware cocaine sold in the U.S. during the 1980s was funding the Nicaraguan Contras, they were complicit in its distribution. On one road trip, in 2001, he came off the motorcycle and split his helmet open. The story was picked up by black talk-radio stations. "[64] Webb's longest response to the controversy was in "The Mighty Wurlitzer Plays On," a chapter he contributed to an anthology of press criticism: .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, If we had met five years ago, you wouldn't have found a more staunch defender of the newspaper industry than me And then I wrote some stories that made me realize how sadly misplaced my bliss had been. 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. Maxine Waters found a govt employee ran the South Central LA drug ring & The DOJ removed that section of the report : r/conspiracy 3 yr. ago Posted by shylock92008 "They tried to make us look like crazies," says Blum. 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 . But the biggest loss he had was the writing. "Do you think that a part of him did this out of revenge?" Gary was born Sept. 4, 1947, to Percy and Pauline (Haas) Webb. "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 had also lost his house the week before his suicide. Gary Douglas Webb of Radnor, PA, passed away on October 19, 2021 Born January 3rd, 1943 in Montreal, Quebec, he was the son of the late John Douglas Webb and the late Jeannie (Penny) Hardie. [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. His. Blandn and Meneses were Nicaraguans who smuggled drugs into the U.S. and supplied dealers like Ross. By this stage, he was prepared to work as a jobbing reporter. Webb chose the second option. He said: 'No. Webb disagreed with this conclusion.[1][2]. 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". [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. 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. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? How the Press and the CIA Killed Gary Webb's Career When he was engaged, he worked hard. "[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. [33] Golden also referred to the controversy over Webb's contacts with Ross's lawyer. Thank you." Gary Stephen Webb(August 31, 1955 - December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist. Gary Webb (Investigative Journalist) Wiki, Biography, Age, Wife, Family 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. Gary Stephen Webb (August 31, 1955 December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist. Then, on 10 December, he resigned. It's . 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." I mean - please.". Gary Hays Webb, 78, passed away on Monday May 9, 2022, at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center, Neenah. 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. [7] After transferring to Northern Kentucky, he entered its journalism program and wrote for the school paper, The Northerner. By the time Webb began researching Dark Alliance, Bell was 38 and they had three children. According to Schou, the investigation "confirmed key chunks of Webb's allegations." Gary Numan's superfan wife had 'body lift' and exploding breasts Webb followed up Baca's leads at the California State Library, examining Congressional records and FBI reports. And it was ignored by the US media, for all of those reasons. 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?