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And when he got something in his head, he was determined to do it. The Los Angeles Times and other major papers published articles suggesting the "Dark Alliance" claims were overstated and, in November 1996, Jerome Ceppos, the executive editor at Mercury News, wrote about being "in the eye of the storm". We had been here before." 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. But while calling the flaws in the series "unforgivably careless journalism," Overholser also criticized the Post's refusal to print Ceppos' letter defending the series and sharply criticized the Post's coverage of the story. Watkins and Debbie (John) Foutch; grandchildren, Makenzie and Ashlynn Fogg. He then transferred to nearby Northern Kentucky University. After the publication of "Dark Alliance," The Mercury News continued to pursue the story, publishing follow-ups to the original series for the next three months. Occupation: Machine Operators, Assemblers, and Inspectors Occupations. But, Ceppos wrote, the series "did not meet our standards" in four areas. By the end of September, three federal investigations had been announced: an investigation into the CIA allegations conducted by CIA Inspector-General Frederick Hitz, an investigation into the law enforcement allegations by Justice Department Inspector-General Michael Bromwich, and a second investigation into the CIA by the House Intelligence Committee. Gary Webb, friends say, was a far more combative character than either the Mercury News's executive editor Ceppos or page editor Garcia. Then, in August the same year, the first of three instalments of "Dark Alliance" appeared. 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. So, how much is Gary Webb worth at the age of 49 years old? 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. 3) The series oversimplified how the crack epidemic grew. Gary Webb was a journalist of outsized talent. According to Bell, Webb had been unhappy for some time over his inability to get a job at another major newspaper. There is a CIA connection and I can demonstrate it.'". Some editors regarded him as stubborn to the point of insolence. They were outraged by the series's charges.[27]. [33] Golden also referred to the controversy over Webb's contacts with Ross's lawyer. In the six years he worked at its Sacramento office, he won the HL Mencken award, for a story exposing corruption in California's drug enforcement agency, and his Pulitzer prize - won jointly, as part of a Mercury News team covering the 1990 Loma Prieta earthquake. "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.". If you work through friendly reporters on major newspapers, it comes off as The New York Times saying it and not a mouthpiece of the CIA. She was a homemaker and a member of Hunters Chapel Baptist Church. Garcia responded by email but declined to speak on the record about the editing process of Webb's series. Do something else with your life," the voice urges. . "They use the giant corporate press rather than saying anything directly. The second article described Blandn's background and how he began smuggling cocaine to support the Contras. Ross was a major drug dealer in Los Angeles. [8] In 1979, Webb married Susan Bell; the couple eventually had three children. Ceppos failed to reply to one phone message and six emails. The CIA Inspector-General's report was issued in two volumes. [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 report called several of its findings "troubling." This drug ring "opened the first pipeline between Colombia's cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles" and, as a result, "The cocaine that flooded in helped spark a crack explosion in urban America."[23]. There was no coffin, casket or tombstone. Blandn and Meneses were Nicaraguans who smuggled drugs into the U.S. and supplied dealers like Ross. His father was a Marine sergeant, and the family moved frequently, as his career took him to new assignments. The room is decorated with his trophies: a Pulitzer prize hangs next to his HL Mencken award; also on the wall is a framed advertisement for The Kentucky Post. Jeremy Renner as Gary Webb How Kill the Messenger Will Vindicate Investigative Journalist Gary Webb Melinda Welsh September 29, 2014 This one has all the ingredients of a dreamed-up Hollywood. "He had six in a short period of time." He was taken to hospital by air ambulance. 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 . Gary's story, however, is far from over and could never be killed by something as trivial as a material bullet. Born January 3rd, 1943 in Montreal, Quebec, he was the son of the late John Douglas Webb and the late Jeannie (Penny) Hardie Penman. "Looking back," she says, "I think Gary had been obsessed with suicide for some time. Meneses, an established smuggler and a Contra supporter as well, taught Blandn how to smuggle and provided him with cocaine. Thank you." Work with a bunch of drug dealers to run guns? 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 passing of Gary ends more than 50 years with his best friend and loving wife, Marilyn J. Gary Douglas Webb of Radnor, PA, passed away on October 19, 2021. After introducing the three, the first article discussed primarily Blandn and Meneses, and their relationship with the Contras and the CIA. In a 2013 article in the LA Weekly, Schou wrote that Webb was "vindicated by a 1998 CIA Inspector General report, which revealed that for more than a decade the agency had covered up a business relationship it had with Nicaraguan drug dealers like Blandn. A time of fellowship and remembrance is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 6, 2019, at Lake Ridge Chapel and Memorial Designers. 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. "I think Kerry learnt a lesson from all this," reporter Robert Parry says. [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. [11], In 1983, Webb moved to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, where he continued doing investigative work. 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. 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. The response from the American press took two months to arrive. "If I had one dream for you," he wrote, "it was that you would go into journalism and carry on the kind of work I did - fighting, with all your might, the oppression and bigotry and stupidity and greed that surrounds us. 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 was preceded in death by his mother and father, Donna and James Webb of Carpentersville. } His. 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. The article discussed Webb's contacts with Ross's attorney and prosecution complaints of how Ross's defense had used Webb's series. GARY WEBB OBITUARY Gary Frank Webb Sept. 27, 1944 - Oct. 23, 2022 Gary passed away peacefully of complications following cardiovascular surgery. By William Kennedy / Jan. 22, 2023 12:00 pm EST. [65], After leaving The Mercury News, Webb worked as an investigator for the California State Legislature. ", Webb had already been cremated and his ashes scattered in the bay off Santa Cruz two weeks before. It's . 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. 71K views 8 years ago Gary Webb's son Ian talks about the film in which Jeremy Renner plays his late journalist father. 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. In a long review of the series' claims in The Baltimore Sun, Weinberg said "I think the critics have been far too harsh. Both sides were left angry and disappointed. [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. Gary Webb became, quite unfairly, the victim of one of the most extraordinary examples of piling on by the mainstream press, ever.". 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. margin: 0 45px; Emma Lee Webb. He was preceded in death by his wife, Melody Webb; parents and three brothers, Albert, Duane and Ronald. Ross was also released early after cooperating in an investigation of police corruption, but was rearrested a few months later in a sting operation arranged with Blandn's help. [42] The extent of the criticism, however, convinced Ceppos that The Mercury News had to acknowledge to its readers that the series had been subjected to strong criticism. Video courtesy of documentary FREEWAY: CRACK IN THE SYSTEM premiering on Al Jazeera America in early 2015. Taken during the London Open House 2014 event. [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. Webb's corpse was found in the bedroom, with two gunshot wounds to the head. [5], After high school, Webb attended an Indianapolis community college on a scholarship until his family moved to Cincinnati. Even 10 years after his tragic death, the media refuse to let him rest. The first detailed article on the series's claims appeared in The Washington Post in early October. . Eli Tomac on track during Media Day at Daytona International Speedway, Friday, March 3, 2023. This is why Webb's "Dark Alliance" series is an essential source, a primary text that every journalism student should study. [81], Peter Kornbluh, a researcher at George Washington University's National Security Archives, also does not agree that the report vindicated the series. 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. Call 911 for assistance. color: #ddd; 'Dark Alliance' - both as journalism and as a book - is a convoluted narrative, but the crucial link it establishes is between the "agricultural salesman" Oscar Danilo Blandn, a Contra sympathiser with close CIA links, and his best customer, an LA drug dealer known as "Freeway" Ricky Ross.

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