"He was crying. Look at the way the US press reports on Iraq. Some editors regarded him as stubborn to the point of insolence. "I think Kerry learnt a lesson from all this," reporter Robert Parry says. "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. "They tried to make us look like crazies," says Blum.
Gary Webb Obituary (1954 - 2021) - Dorr, MI - Grand Rapids Press One of these was a 1986 raid on Blandn's drug organization by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, which the article suggested had produced evidence of CIA ties to drug smuggling that was later suppressed. Attend in Miami or virtually, Sept. 1114. A secret deal allowed drugs to go unreported by the DCI. 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. Call 911 for assistance. There was no coffin, casket or tombstone. "He thought I was being cowardly. . He then transferred to nearby Northern Kentucky University. 71K views 8 years ago Gary Webb's son Ian talks about the film in which Jeremy Renner plays his late journalist father. Webb took a modestly paid, low-profile job as an investigator with the California State Legislature. } ", "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. If he could have chosen his own epitaph, it might have been a line from the letter he posted to Bell, immediately before he killed himself: "I do not regret," Webb told her, "anything that I have written." border-bottom: 1px solid #ddd;
Gary Webb Obituary (2009) - Elgin, IL - Elgin Courier News - Legacy.com Garcia responded by email but declined to speak on the record about the editing process of Webb's series. ", Many of these are in the series archive at. Webb established incontrovertible links * between Ricky Ross and Blandn who, two years later, would betray Ross to the authorities. The February 2000 report by the House Intelligence Committee in turn considered the book's claims as well as the series' claims. Tomac is used to good feelings when it comes to Daytona. 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." [56] He resigned from the paper in November 1997. "I had to warn Gary that what he was looking at was probably true, but that he would run very big risks," Parry recalls. "[77], Webb's reporting in "Dark Alliance" remains controversial. Attorneys' Offices. [68], In August 2004, Webb joined the Sacramento News & Review, an alternative weekly newspaper, where he continued doing investigative writing.
Eighteen Years Ago Today, Journalist Gary Webb Was Murdered After "He had six in a short period of time." When it did, beginning with The Washington Post, it shocked Webb's critics as much as his many admirers. I remain astounded by the editorial decisions they made.". 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. "The government side of the story is coming through the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post", he stated. It was written by Jesse Katz, the same reporter who, less than two years earlier, had described Ross's conglomerate as "the Wal-Mart of crack dealing". Gary-Webb TL, Walker EA, Realmuto L, Kamler A, Lukin J, Tyson W, Carrasquillo O, Weiss L. Translation of the National Diabetes Prevention Program to Engage Men in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods in New York City: A Description of Power Up for Health. But you say - dear God. "[72] California Representative Maxine Waters, who was Webb's strongest supporter in Congress after the "Dark Alliance" controversy broke, issued a statement after Webb's death calling him "one of the finest investigative journalists that our country has ever seen. He went into the bedroom, and picked up a .38 that had belonged to his father.
Lynn Rd, Ranger WV - Rehold Address Directory After Ceppos' column, The Mercury News spent the next several months conducting an internal review of the story. 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.
Gary Webb : Murdered For Exposing The Truth - Educate Inspire Change He was taken to hospital by air ambulance. ", "After Gary died," she says, "a reporter from the LA Times came here. . The first detailed article on the series's claims appeared in The Washington Post in early October. Cooper Webb Wife Name Revealed.
Gary Numan's superfan wife had 'body lift' and exploding breasts By the autumn of 1997, on medication for clinical depression, he was given leave of absence from the paper. Webb moved his wife and two young children to a suburb and continued a tradition he had started in Cleveland, restoring their small house with the help of how-to books, installing wainscoting and custom tile, new cabinets and gardens, while putting in overtime at the paper. One of his last articles examined America's Army, a video game designed by the U.S. The first shot went through his face, and exited at his left cheek. "[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." For two years, Blum and Kerry supervised the interrogation of dozens of witnesses who described CIA-related drug deals in central America. 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. "[80], Not all writers agree that the Inspector-General's report supported the series's claims. Gary Webb, Into the Buzzsaw, CH 13, Prometheus Books. reports. The series follows the stories of several characters whose lives are fated to intersect including CIA operative Teddy McDonald who helps to secure guns for the Contras. } Gary is survived by his wife of 48 years, Beverly Webb; children Margaret . He leaves behind the love of his life and adoring wife of 41 years, Anne Michelle Phillips. Cleveland Plain Dealer film critic Clint OConnor had a solid featurethe other day about Kill the Messenger, the journalism true-tale movie opening Friday with Jeremy Renner starring as the late Gary Webb. "[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." Ricky Donnell "Freeway Rick" Ross (born January 26, 1960) is an American author and convicted drug trafficker best known for the drug empire he established in Los Angeles, California, in the early to mid 1980s. "It sounds crazy," says Bell, "but having his motorbike stolen was the last straw. 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. The CIA admits used the media to ruin his career. 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. 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. He had also lost his house the week before his suicide. Few reporters I've known could match his nose for an investigative story. Gary was born Sept. 4, 1947, to Percy and Pauline (Haas) Webb. Taken during the London Open House 2014 event.
News coverage noted that there were widespread rumors on the Internet at the time that Webb had been killed as retribution for his "Dark Alliance" series, published eight years before. 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 . [67], Webb later moved to the State Assembly's Office of Majority Services. 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]. "And to an extent, they succeeded.". That wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been willing to stand up and risk it all.". In the final few months of his life, Bell says, Webb became increasingly withdrawn. He accepted Christ at an early age.
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. Blandn and Meneses' high-volume supply of low-priced high-purity cocaine "allowed Ross to sew up the Los Angeles market and move on. He also had this inherent belief that the truth could not harm him. He told me: 'If I can't do what I want to do, what's the point?' According to the report, the Inspector-General's office (OIG) examined all information the agency had "relating to CIA knowledge of drug trafficking allegations in regard to any person directly or indirectly involved in Contra activities." 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. When he was engaged, he worked hard. The CIA Inspector General's report, commissioned in response to the allegations in "Dark Alliance", was published in the autumn of 1998. 2) The series's estimate of the money involved was presented as fact instead of as an estimate. "[76] Scott Herhold, Webb's first editor at The Mercury-News, wrote in a 2013 column that "Gary Webb was a journalist of outsized talent. 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.
How the Press and the CIA Killed Gary Webb's Career 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. The consensus, insofar as one exists, is that he probably overstated both the amount of drug money made by Ross and Blandn, and the percentage of those profits diverted to the Contras. [52] Webb was allowed to keep working on the story and made one more trip to Nicaragua in March. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department began its own investigation into the "Dark Alliance" claims.[30]. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Gary's documentation is awesome and his work ethic is unbelievable. Garry Webb wrote the 1996 "Dark Alliance" series for the San Jose. The character reporter Irene Abe is said by fans of the show to be a stand in character for the real life Gary Webb. GARY WEBB OBITUARY Gary Frank Webb Sept. 27, 1944 - Oct. 23, 2022 Gary passed away peacefully of complications following cardiovascular surgery. Gary Webb passed away on March 2, 2019. 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. [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".
'It's just good vibes': Cooper Webb, Eli Tomac in tight Supercross 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. He was a writer, known for Kill the Messenger (2014), Filming in Georgia (2015) and Crack in America (2015). "By the end of his life he was just in a lot of pain," said Webb's ex-wife, Susan Bell. Gary Webb's "Approach Split" in the atrium of 20 Triton Street London. ", In contrast, the series received support from Steve Weinberg, a former executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors. 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. The truth was that, in all those years, I hadn't written anything important enough to suppress. The CIA Inspector-General's report was issued in two volumes.
Jimmy Webb's battle with ex-wife Patsy Sullivan continues - New York Post Gary Stephen Webb (August 31, 1955 December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist. He was preceded in death by his wife, Melody Webb; parents and three brothers, Albert, Duane and Ronald. "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. Who Is Gary Webb's Wife? The three articles in the series were written by four reporters: Jesse Katz, Doyle McManus, John Mitchell and Sam Fulwood. A jury awarded the plaintiffs over 13 million dollars and the case was later settled. Because Blandn cooperated with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), he spent only 28 months in prison, became a paid government informant, and received permanent resident status. Views on Webb's journalism have been polarized. [7] After transferring to Northern Kentucky, he entered its journalism program and wrote for the school paper, The Northerner. And it ruined that reporter's career. Connie Webb (304) 778-2546: Status: Homeowner. Webb's ex-wife, Stokes, now remarried and still living in Sacramento, had heard it all before, too. Ceppos failed to reply to one phone message and six emails. margin-top: 10px; .
Webb 'Suicide' Looking More Like Murder - rense.com padding-bottom: 20px; LOS ANGELES, Dec. 12 - Gary Webb, a reporter who won national attention with a series of articles, later discredited, linking the Central Intelligence Agency to the spread of crack . Working in San Jose would have meant daily contact with what Bell describes as "people he did not want to be with". And when he got something in his head, he was determined to do it. GARY WEBB: His wife's office was burglarized. And "we really didn't do anything to advance his work or illuminate much to the story, and it was a really kind of tawdry exercise. He began his career working for newspapers in Kentucky and Ohio, winning numerous awards, and building a strong reputation for investigative writing. Webb's series was published on the Mercury News's fledgling website, but it wasn't exactly an instant sensation. ", As Webb would tell a friend, after he had been ostracised: "You have to look out, when the big dog gets off the porch.". On Dec. 9, 2004, the 49-year-old Webb typed out suicide notes to his ex-wife and his three children; laid out a certificate for his cremation; and taped a note on the door telling movers, who were . [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. The claim that the drug ring of Meneses-Blandn-Ross sparked the "crack explosion" has been perhaps the most criticized part of the series. "He walked in one day," Bell recalls, "and said, 'You are not going to believe what I just found out.' font-size: 34px; 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. [28] Maxine Waters, the representative for California's 35th district, which includes South-Central Los Angeles, was also outraged by the articles and became one of Webb's strongest supporters. [21] This artwork proved controversial, and The Mercury News later removed it. But ultimately, the responsibility was, and is, mine.". Gary's family found that old, storied, ("priceless to us," as his ex-wife, Susan Bell, described it to me) CDROM among his possessions. Gary Stephen Webb(August 31, 1955 - December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist. Gary Hays Webb, 78, passed away on Monday May 9, 2022, at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center, Neenah. [15], In 1988, Webb was recruited by the San Jose Mercury News, which was looking for an investigative reporter. After Webb's death, a collection of his stories from before and after the "Dark Alliance" series was published. During and immediately after the controversy over "Dark Alliance," Webb's earlier writing was examined closely. Webb resigned from The Mercury News in December 1997. Contemporary discussions of the series are discussed in the section on, Webb 2011, "Caltrans Ignored Elevated Freeway Safety. The complete lack of desire to ask the difficult questions makes me want to scream. "[55] In June 1997, The Mercury News told Webb it was transferring him from the paper's Sacramento bureau and offered him a choice between working at the main offices in San Jose under closer editorial supervision, or spot reporting in Cupertino; both locations were long commutes from his home in Sacramento. Gary Webb's family says his death was Suicide. A passing motorist - a heavily tattooed young man - gave him a lift home, then returned and stole the motorcycle, which police recovered from him three days after Webb's death. 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. It also examined "how CIA handled and responded to information regarding allegations of drug trafficking" by people involved in Contra activities or support.
Gary Webb's family says his death was Suicide. OR was he like Epstein It sounds like a Tom Clancy novel, right? Webb worked for several newspapers including The Kentucky Post and Cleveland Plain Dealer. I ask Bell. [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." He was born at Emmanuel Hospital in. As a result, some major US newspapers ignored its findings completely, while others relegated a brief summary to their inside pages. Webb came home and put his belongings in order, dropping his Kentucky Post poster in the bin. 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. 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. It also stated that the Contras may have acted with the knowledge and protection of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). [72] A New York Times profile of Webb in June 1997 noted that two of his series written for the Cleveland Plain Dealer had resulted in lawsuits that the paper had settled. 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. When I first heard the news, I tell Bell, I was inclined to believe the conspiracy theories that still proliferate on the internet, suggesting that Webb had been assassinated - either by one of the drug dealers he'd met while writing Dark Alliance, or by the intelligence services who were supposed to police them. 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.
The Warning in Gary Webb's Death - Consortium News Gary Webb Resigns from the San Jose Mercury News And he finallyyou know, they finally left the country. After introducing the three, the first article discussed primarily Blandn and Meneses, and their relationship with the Contras and the CIA. 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. 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. 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. According to Bell, Webb had been unhappy for some time over his inability to get a job at another major newspaper. As it turned out," she adds, "that was not their intent.". Save 50% with early-bird passes. Emma Lee Webb. It was published in 1998 as Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. His victory in the event last year gave him . A flood of inquiries about Gary Webb's shooting death prompts statement. Emma Lee Webb, age 75, of Crossett, AR passed away Monday February 27, 2023, in her home surrounded by her family. Webb was born in Corona, California. The article suggested this was in retribution for Ross' testimony in the corruption case. "But Gary thought that if something was true, it should be told. He was born August 27, 1968 in Saginaw, Michigan to Taylor Jr. and Loretta Webb. [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. She was a native of Minden, LA, but a resident of Crossett for 65 years. When they married, she was aged just 21. Webb, unlike Blum or Kerry, had to face his difficulties alone.
Chasing Corona - by George Webb When Webb wrote another story on the raid evidence in early October, it received wide attention in Los Angeles. 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. 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. 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.
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