Family (1) Actor Jeremy Renner portrays Webb.[83]. When Ross discovered the market for crack in Los Angeles, he began buying cocaine from Blandn. The CIA Inspector General's report, commissioned in response to the allegations in "Dark Alliance", was published in the autumn of 1998. 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). "[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." "It sounds crazy," says Bell, "but having his motorbike stolen was the last straw. When Webb pressed the Mercury News to allow him to investigate the LA connection further, his own newspaper issued a retraction which earned its editor, Jerry Ceppos, wide praise from rival publications, but effectively disowned Webb, who then suffered the kind of corporate lynching that reporters are usually expected to dispense rather than endure. Gary Stephen Webb was a Pulitzer prize winning American investigative reporter who exposed cocaine trafficking by the CIA.He wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, which initially backed his articles but later dropped him.Webb was put under pressure most certainly from the CIA under John Deutch for his reporting. Webb's ex-wife, Stokes, now remarried and still living in Sacramento, had heard it all before, too. 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. 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. 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. Working in San Jose would have meant daily contact with what Bell describes as "people he did not want to be with". When his medical insurance expired, he stopped taking his antidepressants. Gary's story, however, is far from over and could never be killed by something as trivial as a material bullet. In 2004, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb was found dead from an apparent suicide, as Democracy Now! Webb's ex-wife, Sue Bell, discounted theories Tuesday that her husband had been murdered, saying the 49-year-old Webb had been distraught for some time over his inability to get . "[38], Surprised by The Washington Post article, The Mercury News's executive editor Jerome Ceppos wrote to the Post defending the series. [65], Within "The Mighty Wurlitzer Plays On" essay Webb stated he believed there was an active "collusion between the press and the powerful" to report freely on inconsequential matters, "but when it comes to the real down and dirty stuff We begin to see the limits of our freedoms". 2) The series's estimate of the money involved was presented as fact instead of as an estimate. Sue remarried two years ago. Garcia responded by email but declined to speak on the record about the editing process of Webb's series. * The agency's response was to try to prevent him from getting his doctorate, then block his advancement in the academic world. Within weeks, the site was attracting up to 1.3m hits per day. The CIA Inspector-General's report was issued in two volumes. [44], Ceppos' column drew editorial responses from both The New York Times and The Washington Post. In and out of work, he had a reputation for taking risks. Despite some hyped phrasing, "Dark Alliance" appears to be praiseworthy investigative reporting."[47]. The other article, citing interviews with current and former intelligence and law-enforcement officials, questioned the importance of the drug dealers discussed in the series, both in the crack cocaine trade and in supporting the Nicaraguan Contras' fight against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. His victory in the event last year gave him . As a result, some major US newspapers ignored its findings completely, while others relegated a brief summary to their inside pages. He told me: 'If I can't do what I want to do, what's the point?' Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? "Report on Alleged Involvement: Findings" 43. Although Blandn's cartel was undoubtedly one of the first to bring crack to LA, Webb was almost certainly suffering a rush of blood when he described the group as "the first pipeline" into the city. Tomac is used to good feelings when it comes to Daytona. Webb joined the Mercury News in 1988, via the Cleveland Plain Dealer. [45], The Post's response came from the paper's ombudsman, Geneva Overholser. What was new about Webb's reports, published under the title "Dark Alliance" in the Californian paper the San Jose Mercury News, was that for the first time it brought the story back home. 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. 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. 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. Gary Stephen Webb (August 31, 1955 December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist. Webb's then-wife Sue remembers coming home from the shops and finding her. Famously known by the Family name Gary Stephen Webb, was a great Engineer.He was born on August 31, 1955, in Carmichael, California.Carmichael is a beautiful and populous city located in Carmichael, California United States of America.. Gary Webb Early Life Story, Family Background and Education. By William Kennedy / Jan. 22, 2023 12:00 pm EST. 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. "He had six in a short period of time." 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. } The article discussed Webb's contacts with Ross's attorney and prosecution complaints of how Ross's defense had used Webb's series. The second article described Blandn's background and how he began smuggling cocaine to support the Contras. 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. On one road trip, in 2001, he came off the motorcycle and split his helmet open. Attend in Miami or virtually, Sept. 1114. 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. "I think Kerry learnt a lesson from all this," reporter Robert Parry says. Film of this encounter survives. An investigative journalist, Webb became interested in the covert activities of the Central Intelligence Agency. 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 third article discussed the social effects of the crack trade, noting that it had a disparate effect on African-Americans. He received his medical degree from American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine and has been in practice for more than. 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. By: E&P Staff The death of investigative reporter Gary Webb has been confirmed as a suicide, according to a coroner's statement. According to Schou, the investigation "confirmed key chunks of Webb's allegations." He died on December 10, 2004 in Carmichael, California, USA. [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. When he was engaged, he worked hard. 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 . "[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. Webb became a staff reporter for the San Jose Mercury News in 1988. In 1996, the award-winning journalist Gary Webb uncovered CIA links to Los Angeles drug dealers. He is survived by his loving wife, Wendie, of Elgin; grandmother, Eileen Carrier of Elgin;. Shortly before his death, his motorcycle had been stolen (it was recovered by his family after his death). [49], The paper also gave Webb permission to visit Central America again to get more evidence supporting the story. "[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. 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. ", The report called several of its findings "troubling." Webb established incontrovertible links * between Ricky Ross and Blandn who, two years later, would betray Ross to the authorities. ", In contrast, the series received support from Steve Weinberg, a former executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors. Ceppos failed to reply to one phone message and six emails. At the end of March, Ceppos told Webb that he was going to present the internal review findings in a column. He cites the case of Alfred McCoy, now Professor of South East Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin. 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. "He was crying. ", Many of these are in the series archive at. 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's family found that old, storied, ("priceless to us," as his ex-wife, Susan Bell, described it to me) CDROM among his possessions. Some might consider it an inappropriate assignment for a man with responsibilities. American racer Cooper Webb is married to his wife named Mariah Williams Webb. . "He told me, not long before he died, that he didn't want to get up in the mornings," she says. While working at the legislature, Webb continued to do freelance investigative reporting, sometimes based on his investigative work. 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. 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. "He started having motorcycle crashes," Bell says. George Webb and Paul Cottrell have begun a weekly series on CoronaVirus now, Mondays at 5PM, EST on paul Cottrell's Rumble Channel. It was just more than he could take.". "Do you think that a part of him did this out of revenge?" 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. There were no offers. She and Gary were married from 1979 to 2000 and had three children. 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 . 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. "[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." margin: 0 45px; [61] According to the report, it used Webb's reporting and writing as "key resources in focusing and refining the investigation." Carey ultimately decided that there were problems with several parts of the story and wrote a draft article incorporating his findings. Corrie had primary biliary cirrhosis, a genetic liver disease that already had. 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. "He thought I was being cowardly. He made that very clear. "Exactly," replied Kornbluh, who - referring specifically to the LA Times, said he is "baffled as to how they could be so gullible. "[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 followed up Baca's leads at the California State Library, examining Congressional records and FBI reports. "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 . color:rgb(46,179,178); This did not happen in Webb's case. "[77], Webb's reporting in "Dark Alliance" remains controversial. Instead, he found work in 1978 as a reporter at the Kentucky Post, a local paper affiliated with the larger Cincinnati Post. 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. Talking about his wife, Mariah Webb is a nurse who also educates about essential products . By Sam Stanton Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 am PST Wednesday, December 15, 2004. . 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. ", The significant legacy of the Webb case, "the reason this whole affair remains so significant today," Blum says, "is this: the knowledge that, if one individual dares raise such serious issues, they risk confronting a tremendous apparatus that is prepared to whack them hard, and there is very little they can expect by way of support. 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. I ask Bell. Webb's corpse was found in the bedroom, with two gunshot wounds to the head. His death was ruled a suicide by the Sacramento County coroner's office.