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Webb, one of the boldest and most outstanding reporters of his generation, was the journalist who, in 1996, established the connection between the CIA and major drug dealers in Los Angeles, some of whose profits had been channelled to fund the Contra guerrilla movement in Nicaragua. Gary Webb passed away on March 2, 2019. 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. Look at the way the US press reports on Iraq. Webb had become, as somebody put it, "radioactive". The story offered no evidence to support such sweeping conclusions, a fatal error that would ultimately destroy Webb, if not his editors. Carey ultimately decided that there were problems with several parts of the story and wrote a draft article incorporating his findings. "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 . He was born June 18, 1943, in Appleton, son of the late Wilford and Helen (Hauskey) Webb. [6], Webb first began writing for the student newspaper at his college in Indianapolis. Gary Webb's "Approach Split" in the atrium of 20 Triton Street London. 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. "[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. [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. 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. 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 . The story was picked up by black talk-radio stations. But the tragedy had a deeper meaning. Gary Webb - Spartacus Educational They failed because the climate was more sceptical then. His career ended, his livelihood was destroyed and certain games were started to be . Occupation: Machine Operators, Assemblers, and Inspectors Occupations. Gary Webb's family says his death was Suicide. OR was he like Epstein Webb resigned from The Mercury News in December 1997. A 1985 series, "Doctoring the Truth," uncovered problems in the State Medical Board[12] and led to an Ohio House investigation which resulted in major revisions to the state Medical Practice Act. Sheriff: Fatal Blue Grass house fire rule 'undetermined, but accidental' It's . This is why Webb's "Dark Alliance" series is an essential source, a primary text that every journalism student should study. ", Many of these are in the series archive at. 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 . Call 911 for assistance. I remain astounded by the editorial decisions they made.". ", The report called several of its findings "troubling." Blandn and Meneses' high-volume supply of low-priced high-purity cocaine "allowed Ross to sew up the Los Angeles market and move on. 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. 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." Born in Corona, California, son of a conservatively minded Marine, he met Bell, whose father was a university lecturer, at high school in Indianapolis. "[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. By William Kennedy / Jan. 22, 2023 12:00 pm EST. [60], It found no information to support the claim that the agency interfered with law enforcement actions against Ross, Blandn or Meneses. "[38], Surprised by The Washington Post article, The Mercury News's executive editor Jerome Ceppos wrote to the Post defending the series. 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. By the autumn of 1997, on medication for clinical depression, he was given leave of absence from the paper. Emma Lee Webb, age 75, of Crossett, AR passed away Monday February 27, 2023, in her home surrounded by her family. and Drugs Has a Life of Its Own", "Pivotal Figures of Newspaper Series May Be Only Bit Players", "Tracking the Genesis of the Crack Trade", "Examining Charges of CIA Role in Crack Sales", "History Fuels Outrage Over Crack Allegations", "Ex-L.A. Times Writer Apologizes for "Tawdry" Attacks", "Mercury News Executive Editor Jerry Ceppos' Letter to the Washington Post", "Washington Post response to Mercury News Executive Editor Jerry Ceppos", "Despite critics, a good story Crack and the contras", "CIA-Contra-Crack Cocaine Controversy: Epilogue", "CIA-Contra-Crack Cocaine Controversy: Conclusions", United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, "Are You Sure You Want to Ruin Your Career? GARY WEBB: His wife's office was burglarized. He said: 'No. American Journalism Review - Archives His wife is Sue Webb (m. 1979-2000) Gary Webb Net Worth His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. "[82], Kill the Messenger (2014) is based on Webb's book Dark Alliance and Nick Schou's biography of Webb. The Tragic 2004 Death Of Investigative Journalist, Gary Webb The collection, The Killing Game: Selected Stories from the Author of Dark Alliance, was edited by Webb's son, Eric. [66] Gary Webb, friends say, was a far more combative character than either the Mercury News's executive editor Ceppos or page editor Garcia. "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.". } The article suggested this was in retribution for Ross' testimony in the corruption case. border-bottom: 1px solid #ddd; In city after city, local dealers either bought from Ross or got left behind."[24]. Tiffany L Gary-Webb | School of Public Health [40] Ceppos also asked reporter Pete Carey to write a critique of the series for publication in The Mercury News, and had the controversial website artwork changed. 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 . George Webb and Paul Cottrell have begun a weekly series on CoronaVirus now, Mondays at 5PM, EST on paul Cottrell's Rumble Channel. Webb may indeed be physically dead, but his research is more alive today than ever before, and continues to haunt the shadow government and snowball into a monster that will undoubtedly have its eventual revenge. He had also lost his house the week before his suicide. Meneses, an established smuggler and a Contra supporter as well, taught Blandn how to smuggle and provided him with cocaine. [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". GARY WEBB OBITUARY Gary Frank Webb Sept. 27, 1944 - Oct. 23, 2022 Gary passed away peacefully of complications following cardiovascular surgery. [60], It found nothing to support the claim that "the drug trafficking activities of Blandn and Meneses were motivated by any commitment to support the Contra cause or Contra activities undertaken by CIA." Critics view the series' claims as inaccurate or overstated, while supporters point to the results of a later CIA investigation as vindicating the series. The first shot went through his face, and exited at his left cheek. ", 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. Relationships with other women ended badly. Gary Webb Obituary (1944 - 2022) - Portland, OR - The Oregonian '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. Webb put in a call to Robert Parry. 3) The series oversimplified how the crack epidemic grew. 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". "They tried to make us look like crazies," says Blum. 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. In the final few months of his life, Bell says, Webb became increasingly withdrawn. When she got indignant," she adds, "he went to meet her.". Last edited on 10 February 2023, at 03:36, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion, CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking, "To readers of our 'Dark Alliance' series", "America's 'crack' plague has roots in Nicaragua war", "War on drugs has unequal impact on black Americans", "Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Inquiry Findings", "The CIA and Crack: Evidence Is Lacking Of Alleged Plot", "Though Evidence Is Thin, Tale of C.I.A. The story they printed was just awful. 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. To show this, the series focused on three men: Ricky Ross, Oscar Danilo Blandn, and Norwin Meneses. The CIA Inspector-General's report was issued in two volumes. Gary Webb - Biography - IMDb But as his ex-wife told the . [15], In 1988, Webb was recruited by the San Jose Mercury News, which was looking for an investigative reporter. He died by suicide on December 10, 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. He had sold his house the week before his death because he was unable to afford the mortgage.[71]. He was assigned to its Sacramento bureau, where he was allowed to choose most of his own stories. Then, on 10 December, he resigned. Webb's research took a year, in the course of which he received death threats. The passing of Gary ends more than 50 years with his best friend and loving wife, Marilyn J. 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. 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. Do something else with your life," the voice urges. "[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." Gary Webb was born on August 31, 1955 in Corona, California, USA. But the report was correct. . Despite some hyped phrasing, "Dark Alliance" appears to be praiseworthy investigative reporting."[47]. Dr. Gary A. Webb, MD | Marco Island, FL | Geriatrician | US News Doctors Gary Webb, (born August 31, 1955, Corona, California, U.S.died December 10, 2004, Carmichael, California), American investigative journalist who wrote a three-part series for the San Jose Mercury News in 1996 on connections between the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the U.S.-backed Contra army seeking to overthrow Nicaragua's leftist "Gary Webb was left to fend for himself. "He told the guys with him he was fine," she recalls, "got back on the bike, then passed out, half an hour later. His former wife, her voice lowered to a whisper, explains that Webb missed with the first shot (which exited through his left cheek). Webb joined the Mercury News in 1988, via the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He made that very clear. [61] According to the report, it used Webb's reporting and writing as "key resources in focusing and refining the investigation." The film broadened the debate which led to the decriminalisation of . 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. Walter Bogdanich, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who worked with Webb on The Plain Dealer, told American Journalism Review editor Susan Paterno "He was brilliant; he knew more about public records than anybody I've ever known. But ultimately, the responsibility was, and is, mine.". Save 50% with early-bird passes. [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." He was born at Emmanuel Hospital in. The series provoked outrage, particularly in the Los Angeles African-American community, and led to four major investigations of its charges. [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. "And to an extent, they succeeded.". Gary was preceded in death by his mother and father, Donna and James Webb of Carpentersville. After the series's publication, the Northern California branch of the national Society of Professional Journalists voted Webb "Journalist of the Year" for 1996. 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. 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. Webb was born in Corona, California. 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. Talking about his wife, Mariah Webb is a nurse who also educates about essential products . After Ceppos' column, The Mercury News spent the next several months conducting an internal review of the story. An investigative journalist, Webb became interested in the covert activities of the Central Intelligence Agency. His victory in the event last year gave him . [60], The House Intelligence Committee issued its report in February 2000. Webb strongly disagreed with Ceppos's column and, in interviews, was harshly critical of the paper's handling of the story. "He rang me up that day. 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. Gary Webb | Obituary | The Daily Item Gary Douglas Webb of Radnor, PA, passed away on October 19, 2021. "You sound very scared," Moreira remarks. 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. Gary Hays Webb, 78, passed away on Monday May 9, 2022, at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center, Neenah. His death was ruled a suicide by the Sacramento County coroner's office. I felt weak and distressed; the whole thing was so fresh. As it turned out," she adds, "that was not their intent.". 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. Gary Webb's Ex-Wife Set to Attend New York Premiere By Richard Horgan October 8, 2014 Cleveland Plain Dealer film critic Clint O'Connor had a solid feature the other day about Kill the. When his body was found, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was on the DVD machine, and his favourite CD, Ian Hunter's live album Welcome to the Club, was in the CD player. Emma Lee 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. When he told me, I said it sounded crazy. By the time Webb began researching Dark Alliance, Bell was 38 and they had three children. Family (1) *, 'Dark Alliance: The CIA, The Contras and the Crack Cocaine Explosion' is published in the UK by Seven Stories Press, priced 11.99, Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. [68], In August 2004, Webb joined the Sacramento News & Review, an alternative weekly newspaper, where he continued doing investigative writing. "[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." The third article discussed the social effects of the crack trade, noting that it had a disparate effect on African-Americans. "It sounds crazy," says Bell, "but having his motorbike stolen was the last straw. Nobody who heads a government agency can let such an allegation stand.". Who Is Gary Webb's Wife? Gary Webb - Lake Ridge Chapel & Memorial Designers It sounds like a Tom Clancy novel, right? 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 . Webb's then-wife Sue remembers coming home from the shops and finding her. Emma Lee Webb of Crossett, Arkansas | 1947 - 2023 | Obituary "He started having motorcycle crashes," Bell says. "If there was an eye to the storm," Katz wrote, "if there was a mastermind behind crack's decade-long reign, if there was one outlaw most responsible for flooding LA's streets with mass-marketed cocaine, his name was Freeway Rick. Webb's continuing reporting also triggered a fourth investigation. At the end of March, Ceppos told Webb that he was going to present the internal review findings in a column. Gary's documentation is awesome and his work ethic is unbelievable. We are in the living room of Bell's house just outside Sacramento, California. .article-native-ad { Webb established incontrovertible links * between Ricky Ross and Blandn who, two years later, would betray Ross to the authorities. The couple got married recently in November of 2020 after dating for some time. "[80], Not all writers agree that the Inspector-General's report supported the series's claims. [20] The website artwork showed the silhouette of a man smoking a crack pipe superimposed over the CIA seal. Webb chose the second option. Tomac is used to good feelings when it comes to Daytona. 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. I ask Bell. The series ran from October 2022, 1996, and was researched by a team of 17 reporters. "[25] It also found disparities in the treatment of Black and White traffickers in the justice system, contrasting the treatment of Blandn and Ross after their arrests for drug trafficking. . Gary Webb: Murdered For Exposing The Truth - A New Kind Of Human Gary Webb was born in Corona, California, in 1955. .article-native-ad svg { In August of 1996, investigative journalist Gary Webb broke the biggest story of his life. Am J Mens Health, 2018 Mar 1:1557988318758788. doi: 10.1177/1557988318758788. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? "To get back at his editors?". Gary Webb, 49, Journalist Who Wrote Disputed Articles, Is Dead "He was sleeping more, he hated to get up in the morning, he started having a lot of motorcycle. Can these things possibly be? Attorneys' Offices. Kill the Messenger True Story vs. Movie - Real Gary Webb 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 . Gary Webb (304) 778-2546: Jamie Webb (304) 778-2546: Status: Homeowner. font-size: 34px; And it ruined that reporter's career. The truth was that, in all those years, I hadn't written anything important enough to suppress. Webb disagreed with this conclusion.[1][2]. The Open Mic: A Few Words with Cinematographer Ian Webb The Man Who Exposed The Crips, Bloods & CIA Connection to - YouTube Sue remarried two years ago. But his central thesis - that the CIA, having participated in narcotics trafficking in central America, had, at best, turned a blind eye to the activities of drug dealers in LA - has never been in question. He is survived by his loving wife, Wendie, of Elgin; grandmother, Eileen Carrier of Elgin;. By: E&P Staff The death of investigative reporter Gary Webb has been confirmed as a suicide, according to a coroner's statement. He was the much-loved father of Lindsay (Stephen . "[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. [21] This artwork proved controversial, and The Mercury News later removed it. But Webb had one huge blind side: He was fundamentally a man of passion, not of fairness. [32], The New York Times published two articles on the series in mid-October, both written by reporter Tim Golden. Jimmy Webb's battle with ex-wife Patsy Sullivan continues - New York Post This did not happen in Webb's case. 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. "He was crying. One time he called me and he said: 'I have this plan that will benefit us both.' .article-native-ad p { But Ian Webbknows all too well the emotions that come with that experience. Gary Webb was at his desk in the Mercury News's Sacramento office, in July 1995, when he received a message to call Coral Baca, a Hispanic woman from the San Francisco Bay area, allegedly connected to a Colombian drug cartel. Gary Webb and 'Kill the Messenger': Reporter played by - cleveland Eli Tomac on track during Media Day at Daytona International Speedway, Friday, March 3, 2023. Video courtesy of documentary FREEWAY: CRACK IN THE SYSTEM premiering on Al Jazeera America in early 2015. When his medical insurance expired, he stopped taking his antidepressants. It found that "the allegations contained in the original Mercury News articles were exaggerations of the actual facts." Webb, Bell explains, had written four letters explaining what he was about to do - one to her, one to each of their three children - and mailed them immediately before he killed himself.
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