[65], After leaving The Mercury News, Webb worked as an investigator for the California State Legislature. 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. There was no coffin, casket or tombstone. He began his career working for newspapers in Kentucky and Ohio, winning numerous awards, and building a strong reputation for investigative writing. Gary Webb's Ex-Wife Set to Attend New York Premiere - Adweek "He thought I was being cowardly. Sue remarried two years ago. "Because of Gary Webb's work," said Senator John Kerry, "the CIA launched an investigation that found dozens of connections to drug runners. Webb, Gary Gary T. Webb, age 67, of Hamilton, Michigan, passed away peacefully surrounded by his loving family Thursday, November 11, 2021. "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 . Contemporary discussions of the series are discussed in the section on, Webb 2011, "Caltrans Ignored Elevated Freeway Safety. 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. In an unprecedented move, the then CIA director John Deutch was dispatched to address community leaders in the Watts district of LA. Why Journalist Gary Webb Died - LewRockwell 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. "The government side of the story is coming through the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post", he stated. 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. It found that "the allegations contained in the original Mercury News articles were exaggerations of the actual facts." [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. [41], When the Los Angeles Times series appeared, Ceppos again wrote to defend the original series. It'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. He died by suicide on December 10, 2004. And this is not a happy story - or," she adds, "a little one.". Corrie had primary biliary cirrhosis, a genetic liver disease that already had. He was found dead on Friday morning in what the police said was an apparent suicide. I realise now he was thinking about suicide.". 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." Gary Webb's family says his death was Suicide. OR was he like Epstein "[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." Despite some hyped phrasing, "Dark Alliance" appears to be praiseworthy investigative reporting."[47]. After the series's publication, the Northern California branch of the national Society of Professional Journalists voted Webb "Journalist of the Year" for 1996. Five years ago, a tragedy occurred in American journalism: Investigative reporter Gary Webb - who had been ostracized by his own colleagues for forcing a spotlight back onto an ugly government scandal they wanted to ignore - was driven to commit suicide. Call 911 for assistance. Can these things possibly be? OR was he like Epstein? 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. 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. 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." Gary Webb's "Dark Alliance" Returns to the Internet - Narco News It was just more than he could take.". "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 . In the final few months of his life, Bell says, Webb became increasingly withdrawn. The new movie Kill the Messenger, based in part on a 2006 book by a former student of mine, eulogizes Webb . Obituary | GARY HAYS WEBB of Neenah, Wisconsin | WESTGOR FUNERAL HOMES Dispelling the Rumors: Gary Webb's Death Confirmed As Suicide Gary Webb, Into the Buzzsaw, CH 13, Prometheus Books. 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. Nobody who heads a government agency can let such an allegation stand.". Webb's ex wife, Susan Bell told reporters that she believed Webb had died by suicide. The complete lack of desire to ask the difficult questions makes me want to scream. The first detailed article on the series's claims appeared in The Washington Post in early October. Gary Webb | Obituary | The Daily Item "Everyone got out and left the person who had made the noise - issued the report - alone. Gary Webb Obituary (2011) - Saginaw, MI - Saginaw News on MLive.com Gary Webb's family says his death was Suicide. He was born August 27, 1968 in Saginaw, Michigan to Taylor Jr. and Loretta Webb. Webb's corpse was found in the bedroom, with two gunshot wounds to the head. Webb, whose plans to become a journalist had begun when he was 13, but never included equine death notices, resigned from the Mercury News a few months later. He was preceded in death by his wife, Melody Webb; parents and three brothers, Albert, Duane and Ronald. Dark Alliance: Gary Webb, Christian Rummel: 9781522694397: Amazon.com 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. Webb took a modestly paid, low-profile job as an investigator with the California State Legislature. Gary Webb: More Pieces In The Suicided Puzzle - Pt 1 - Rense [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. Sheriff: Fatal Blue Grass house fire rule 'undetermined, but accidental' When they married, she was aged just 21. 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. [6], Webb first began writing for the student newspaper at his college in Indianapolis. In city after city, local dealers either bought from Ross or got left behind."[24]. 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." Working in San Jose would have meant daily contact with what Bell describes as "people he did not want to be with". Talking about his wife, Mariah Webb is a nurse who also educates about essential products . Gary's ex-wife Susan Bell states: "The way he was acting it would be hard for me to believe it was anything but suicide." An interesting OPINION, but she supplies no convincing evidence to illustrate what she means by this. [51] After discussions with Webb, the column was published on May 11, 1997.[53]. 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. Gary Webb's Death Confirmed as Suicide | Editor and Publisher He was assigned to its Sacramento bureau, where he was allowed to choose most of his own stories. If the antagonism of competing publications was predictable, what happened to Webb within his own newspaper was not. And it was ignored by the US media, for all of those reasons. "I believe that Americans, as a nation, are mainly concerned with living their happy little lives. Gary Webb, 64, Oroville, Wash., died Oct. 30, 2021. Film of this encounter survives. [52] Webb was allowed to keep working on the story and made one more trip to Nicaragua in March. Join iconic brands and world-class marketing leaders at Brandweek to unlock powerful insights and impact-driven strategies. He was laid off in February 2004 when Assembly Member Fabian Nez was elected Speaker. "Do not quote me. The response from the American press took two months to arrive. After Ceppos' column, The Mercury News spent the next several months conducting an internal review of the story. Their explosive report, which appeared in 1989, was either ignored, or marginalised, by the American press. 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. "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.". In a long review of the series' claims in The Baltimore Sun, Weinberg said "I think the critics have been far too harsh. So, how much is Gary Webb worth at the age of 49 years old? 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. Eighteen Years Ago Today, Journalist Gary Webb Was Murdered After Shortly before his death, his motorcycle had been stolen (it was recovered by his family after his death). His former wife, her voice lowered to a whisper, explains that Webb missed with the first shot (which exited through his left cheek). 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. This did not happen in Webb's case. To show this, the series focused on three men: Ricky Ross, Oscar Danilo Blandn, and Norwin Meneses. His corpse was discovered on the seventh anniversary of his resignation from the Mercury News. The couple got married recently in November of 2020 after dating for some time. When Webb's body was discovered last December, Bell says, this last item had been dumped in the trash. It was truthful. Ceppos initially defended Webb, and reportedly showed up at an in-house party wearing a military helmet. 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. "This is an appalling charge," says a tense-looking Deutch. Webb's condition exacerbated his natural recklessness. 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? Special Reports - Cocaine, Conspiracy Theories And The Cia In - PBS 4) The series "created impressions that were open to misinterpretation" through "imprecise language and graphics. After introducing the three, the first article discussed primarily Blandn and Meneses, and their relationship with the Contras and the CIA. The series provoked outrage, particularly in the Los Angeles African-American community, and led to four major investigations of its charges. Webb, a Pullitzer prize winning journalist, exposed CIA drug trafficking operations in a series of books and reports for the San Jose Mercury News. Garcia is deputy director of the John S Knight Fellowships in Journalism at Stanford University. [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 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. He stayed home, playing computer games, and began smoking cannabis heavily. Gary Webb - Biography - IMDb ". "It says the CIA helped introduce poison into our children. He told me: 'If I can't do what I want to do, what's the point?' The first shot went through his face, and exited at his left cheek. For two years, Blum and Kerry supervised the interrogation of dozens of witnesses who described CIA-related drug deals in central America. [61] According to the report, it used Webb's reporting and writing as "key resources in focusing and refining the investigation." In the column, Ceppos defended parts of the article, writing that the series had "solidly documented" that the drug ring described in the series did have connections with the Contras and did sell large quantities of cocaine in inner-city Los Angeles. 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. 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. Video courtesy of documentary FREEWAY: CRACK IN THE SYSTEM premiering on Al Jazeera America in early 2015. 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 Webb had one huge blind side: He was fundamentally a man of passion, not of fairness. "[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." 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. The series revolves around the first crack epidemic and its impact on the culture of the city. We were dismissed as a bunch of nuts." "He was crying. 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. They failed because the climate was more sceptical then. [4] When Webb's father retired from the Marines, the family settled in a suburb of Indianapolis, where Webb and his brother attended high school. [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. Actor Jeremy Renner portrays Webb.[83]. .article-native-ad { . By the time Webb began researching Dark Alliance, Bell was 38 and they had three children. That wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been willing to stand up and risk it all.". While working at the legislature, Webb continued to do freelance investigative reporting, sometimes based on his investigative work. 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. The story they printed was just awful. After Webb's death, a collection of his stories from before and after the "Dark Alliance" series was published. Gary Webb: Murdered For Exposing The Truth - A New Kind Of Human Gary Webb on the CIA's Role in the 1980s LA Crack Epidemic - Citizen Truth Watkins and Debbie (John) Foutch; grandchildren, Makenzie and Ashlynn Fogg. The Man Who Exposed The Crips, Bloods & CIA Connection to - YouTube What he found, he wrote later, "nearly knocked me off my chair". Gary Webb and 'Kill the Messenger': Reporter played by - cleveland According to Schou, the investigation "confirmed key chunks of Webb's allegations." He was the much-loved father of Lindsay (Stephen . "Like enjoy it.". ", Many of these are in the series archive at. A January 1997 article in American Journalism Review noted that a 1994 series Webb wrote had also been the subject of a Mercury News internal review that criticized Webb's reporting. 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. A Celebration of Life will be . "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". But ultimately, the responsibility was, and is, mine.". "I told Gary not to go near this story," his source replies, in an emotional voice. "You do not understand the power of these people," he adds, referring to the US intelligence services. "He had six in a short period of time." margin: 0 45px; His wife is Sue Webb (m. 1979-2000) Gary Webb Net Worth His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. Gary's documentation is awesome and his work ethic is unbelievable. "It sounds crazy," says Bell, "but having his motorbike stolen was the last straw. 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. "[77], Webb's reporting in "Dark Alliance" remains controversial. Writing on the Los Angeles Times opinion page, Schou said, "Webb asserted, improbably, that the Blandn-Meneses-Ross drug ring opened 'the first pipeline between Colombia's cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles,' helping to 'spark a crack explosion in urban America.' padding:0!important; In August of 1996, investigative journalist Gary Webb broke the biggest story of his life. "The first story he had to file was about a police horse which had died of constipation.". "Gary didn't take her seriously," says Susan Bell, "because he was always getting calls alleging weird stuff about the CIA. His victory in the event last year gave him . Even 10 years after his tragic death, the media refuse to let him rest. Gary Webb: Vindicated - Narco News And it ruined that reporter's career. Webb established incontrovertible links * between Ricky Ross and Blandn who, two years later, would betray Ross to the authorities. His own paper, the Mercury News, criticized the series in 1997 without providing many specifics. ", "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. Newsweek called Kerry a "randy conspiracy buff". [10] The series, which examined the murder of a coal company president with ties to organized crime, won the national Investigative Reporters and Editors Award for reporting from a small newspaper. [26] Other papers were slow to pick up the story, but African Americans quickly took note, especially in South Central Los Angeles where the dealers discussed in the series had been active. 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. [66] [45], The Post's response came from the paper's ombudsman, Geneva Overholser. How Gary Webb Linked The CIA To The Crack Epidemic - All That's Interesting As a result, some major US newspapers ignored its findings completely, while others relegated a brief summary to their inside pages. }. 71K views 8 years ago Gary Webb's son Ian talks about the film in which Jeremy Renner plays his late journalist father. 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. He kept saying that he would never get another job in journalism.". The follow-up reporting in the Los Angeles Times and other papers has been criticised for focusing on problems in the series rather than re-examining the earlier CIA-Contra claims. Webb - whose article had never alleged that the CIA deliberately targeted any ethnic group - became a national celebrity. Instead, he found work in 1978 as a reporter at the Kentucky Post, a local paper affiliated with the larger Cincinnati Post. The second article described Blandn's background and how he began smuggling cocaine to support the Contras. The article suggested this was in retribution for Ross' testimony in the corruption case. He was a former member of Bethlehem . She kept crying about how terrible it all was - by which I mean that she was, physically, crying. Gary Webb Obituary (1944 - 2022) - Portland, OR - The Oregonian Kill the Messenger True Story vs. Movie - Real Gary Webb 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. Herhold: Thinking back on journalist Gary Webb and the CIA 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". [32], The New York Times published two articles on the series in mid-October, both written by reporter Tim Golden. At that time, Webb (pictured) was best known for the controversial three-part CIA 1996 expose he wrote the San Jose Mercury News called "Dark Alliance: The Story Behind the . Born January 3rd, 1943 in Montreal, Quebec, he was the son of the late John Douglas Webb and the late Jeannie (Penny) Hardie Penman. "[2], Ceppos noted that Webb did not agree with these conclusions. Webb's continuing reporting also triggered a fourth investigation. The third article discussed the social effects of the crack trade, noting that it had a disparate effect on African-Americans. 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. Look at the way the US press reports on Iraq. Gary Webb photos on Flickr | Flickr GARY WEBB OBITUARY Gary Frank Webb Sept. 27, 1944 - Oct. 23, 2022 Gary passed away peacefully of complications following cardiovascular surgery. By the late spring of 1996, Webb was ready to publish. padding-left: 10px!important; [34], The Los Angeles Times devoted the most space to the story, publishing a three-part series called "The Cocaine Trail." Cooper and Mariah were engaged before they finally tied the knot. 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. "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.". 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. But, Ceppos wrote, the series "did not meet our standards" in four areas. 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 . Emma Lee Webb, age 75, of Crossett, AR passed away Monday February 27, 2023, in her home surrounded by her family. [60], It found no information to support the claim that the agency interfered with law enforcement actions against Ross, Blandn or Meneses. .article-native-ad p { By: E&P Staff The death of investigative reporter Gary Webb has been confirmed as a suicide, according to a coroner's statement. Do something else with your life," the voice urges. Webb, unlike Blum or Kerry, had to face his difficulties alone. He went into the bedroom, and picked up a .38 that had belonged to his father. Born in Corona, California, son of a conservatively minded Marine, he met Bell, whose father was a university lecturer, at high school in Indianapolis. 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. [56] He resigned from the paper in November 1997. Webb came home and put his belongings in order, dropping his Kentucky Post poster in the bin. With hindsight, Bell says, "the signs were there. Gary Webb's income source is mostly from being a successful .