[37], In 2013, Jesse Katz, a former Los Angeles Times reporter, said of the newspaper's coverage "As an L.A. Times reporter, we saw this series in the San Jose Mercury News and kind of wonder[ed] how legit it was and kind of put it under a microscope, and we did it in a way that most of us who were involved in it, I think, would look back on that and say it was overkill. "But Gary thought that if something was true, it should be told. After Ceppos' column, The Mercury News spent the next several months conducting an internal review of the story. 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. "He told me, not long before he died, that he didn't want to get up in the mornings," she says. Contemporary discussions of the series are discussed in the section on, Webb 2011, "Caltrans Ignored Elevated Freeway Safety. "And to an extent, they succeeded.". 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. [60], The House Intelligence Committee issued its report in February 2000. [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." 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. He was born June 18, 1943, in Appleton, son of the late Wilford and Helen (Hauskey) Webb. Poor Gary Webb. 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. [13] Webb then moved to the paper's statehouse bureau, where he covered statewide issues and won numerous regional journalism awards. By the autumn of 1997, on medication for clinical depression, he was given leave of absence from the paper. And yet, for all his Easy Rider tendencies, he was also a dedicated family man with an extraordinary appetite for researching minutiae. 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. 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. She and Gary were married from 1979 to 2000 and had three children. * The agency's response was to try to prevent him from getting his doctorate, then block his advancement in the academic world. "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. They were outraged by the series's charges.[27]. And the importance of exposing them. [60], It found no information to support the claim that the agency interfered with law enforcement actions against Ross, Blandn or Meneses. Webb followed up Baca's leads at the California State Library, examining Congressional records and FBI reports. Snowfall is an American crime drama television series set in Los Angeles in 1983. [57], The report covered actions by Department of Justice employees in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the DEA, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and U.S. 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. "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.". "[38], Surprised by The Washington Post article, The Mercury News's executive editor Jerome Ceppos wrote to the Post defending the series. } .article-native-ad svg { 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. [34], The Los Angeles Times devoted the most space to the story, publishing a three-part series called "The Cocaine Trail." Then, in August the same year, the first of three instalments of "Dark Alliance" appeared. Attorneys' Offices. So, this is not something you really make a career out of, nor would you want to. Garry Webb wrote the 1996 "Dark Alliance" series for the San Jose. A jury awarded the plaintiffs over 13 million dollars and the case was later settled. [29] Waters urged the CIA, the Department of Justice, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to investigate. But you say - dear God. "Gary Webb was left to fend for himself. [65], After leaving The Mercury News, Webb worked as an investigator for the California State Legislature. Shortly before his death, his motorcycle had been stolen (it was recovered by his family after his death). Webb's condition exacerbated his natural recklessness. Unfortunately, the railroading of Gary Webb had begun and he was run over. Gary Webb, 64, Oroville, Wash., died Oct. 30, 2021. [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." 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. . When removal men arrived, on the morning of 10 December 2004, they found a sign on his front door, which read: ''Please do not enter. By William Kennedy / Jan. 22, 2023 12:00 pm EST. In May 1997, after an internal review, Ceppos stated that, although the story was right on many important points, there were shortcomings in the writing, editing and production of the series. [51] After discussions with Webb, the column was published on May 11, 1997.[53]. } It was an amazing scoop - but one that would ruin his career and drive him to suicide. While police were preparing the case against her boyfriend, Baca alleged, officers had disclosed documents which revealed that one of her lover's associates had been working for the Contras. "It sounds crazy," says Bell, "but having his motorbike stolen was the last straw. The "Dark Alliance" series remains controversial. Webb's research took a year, in the course of which he received death threats. 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. Occupation: Machine Operators, Assemblers, and Inspectors Occupations. In the final few months of his life, Bell says, Webb became increasingly withdrawn. George Webb and Paul Cottrell have begun a weekly series on CoronaVirus now, Mondays at 5PM, EST on paul Cottrell's Rumble Channel. 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 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.". 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." Nobody who heads a government agency can let such an allegation stand.". Vivian Corrie, a part of his liver in a life-threatening operation. Within weeks, the site was attracting up to 1.3m hits per day. font-weight:500; [39] The Post refused to print his letter. Can these things possibly be? In city after city, local dealers either bought from Ross or got left behind."[24]. In a long review of the series' claims in The Baltimore Sun, Weinberg said "I think the critics have been far too harsh. Ceppos failed to reply to one phone message and six emails. It would have been our 25th wedding anniversary," Bell recalls. In interviews after leaving The Mercury News, Webb described the 1997 controversy as media manipulation. Webb put in a call to Robert Parry. "[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." We had this huge team of people at the L.A. Times and kind of piled on to one lone muckraker up in Northern California." His. 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 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. As it turned out," she adds, "that was not their intent.". 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. "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 . Save 50% with early-bird passes. }. He was found dead on Friday morning in what the police said was an apparent suicide. He was previously married to Sue Bell. "[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." What he found, he wrote later, "nearly knocked me off my chair". [11], In 1983, Webb moved to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, where he continued doing investigative work. His wife is Sue Webb (m. 1979-2000) Gary Webb Net Worth His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. When he told me, I said it sounded crazy. 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 . 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. 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.
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