Webb became a staff reporter for the San Jose Mercury News in 1988. "[77], Webb's reporting in "Dark Alliance" remains controversial. 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. Work with a bunch of drug dealers to run guns? At the commemorative service for Webb, held at the Doubletree Hotel in Sacramento, Bell read out the letter Webb had written to his son Eric, now 17. His father was a Marine sergeant, and the family moved frequently, as his career took him to new assignments. 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 . Talking about his wife, Mariah Webb is a nurse who also educates about essential products . But the report was correct. 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. According to Bell, Webb had been unhappy for some time over his inability to get a job at another major newspaper. The first detailed article on the series's claims appeared in The Washington Post in early October. 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). 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. This emotive last phrase refers to Webb's experience in the immediate aftermath of publication of his three lengthy articles, in the summer of 1996. [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. 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. The February 2000 report by the House Intelligence Committee in turn considered the book's claims as well as the series' claims. "Back then. There is a CIA connection and I can demonstrate it.'". Instead, he found work in 1978 as a reporter at the Kentucky Post, a local paper affiliated with the larger Cincinnati Post. 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. After Ceppos' column, The Mercury News spent the next several months conducting an internal review of the story. [66] Gary Douglas Webb of Radnor, PA, passed away on October 19, 2021. "I think the behaviour of the media in all of this has been amazing," says Bell. [65], After leaving The Mercury News, Webb worked as an investigator for the California State Legislature. The story they printed was just awful. Gary Webb passed away on March 2, 2019. In February last year he was laid off by the State Legislature. We are in the living room of Bell's house just outside Sacramento, California. In 1996, investigative journalist Gary Webb wrote a series of stories exposing the connection between the CIA and the crack cocaine that was being sold in So. "[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." So, this is not something you really make a career out of, nor would you want to. Am J Mens Health, 2018 Mar 1:1557988318758788. doi: 10.1177/1557988318758788. But, Ceppos wrote, the series "did not meet our standards" in four areas. 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. [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. padding-left: 10px!important; WEBB, Mr. Gary Lee, our beloved son, husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle went home with his heavenly Father Monday, August 29, 2011 at University of Michigan Hospital. [34], The Los Angeles Times devoted the most space to the story, publishing a three-part series called "The Cocaine Trail." The article suggested this was in retribution for Ross' testimony in the corruption case. "[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. [44], Ceppos' column drew editorial responses from both The New York Times and The Washington Post. But they underestimated the paradigm shifting power of the internet, and the intelligence of Webb, who not only listed the explosive story online . [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. His own paper, the Mercury News, criticized the series in 1997 without providing many specifics. "By the end of his life he was just in a lot of pain," said Webb's ex-wife, Susan Bell. The second article described Blandn's background and how he began smuggling cocaine to support the Contras. [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. [60], The House Intelligence Committee issued its report in February 2000. There were no offers. [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." The normal process is, or should be, that a reporter files a story and is robustly challenged by his paper's lawyers and editors - who, if satisfied that the report is accurate - publish, then defend the writer to the hilt. An editorial in the Times, while criticizing the series for making "unsubstantiated charges", conceded that it did find "drug-smuggling and dealing by Nicaraguans with at least tentative connections to the Contras" and called for further investigation. 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. 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. She was a native of Minden, LA, but a resident of Crossett for 65 years. In and out of work, he had a reputation for taking risks. A jury awarded the plaintiffs over 13 million dollars and the case was later settled. Snowfall is an American crime drama television series set in Los Angeles in 1983. I first heard about Webb eight years ago, I tell Bell, from the Paris-based journalist Paul Moreira. "Allow Gary Webb to be there [in the CIA investigation]," a heckler shouts. Blandn and Meneses were Nicaraguans who smuggled drugs into the U.S. and supplied dealers like Ross. I ask Bell. Gary's story, however, is far from over and could never be killed by something as trivial as a material bullet. color: #ddd; [41], When the Los Angeles Times series appeared, Ceppos again wrote to defend the original series. 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. It was accurate. Gary Webb, friends say, was a far more combative character than either the Mercury News's executive editor Ceppos or page editor Garcia. 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." As it turned out," she adds, "that was not their intent.". [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". He was found dead on Friday morning in what the police said was an apparent suicide. Their explosive report, which appeared in 1989, was either ignored, or marginalised, by the American press. "He had six in a short period of time." 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. That was just the way he was.". 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. Webb chose the second option. There was no coffin, casket or tombstone. "Gary was 18 and I was 16 when we first met and started dating in Indianapolis," said Sue Stokes. Gary Hays Webb, 78, passed away on Monday May 9, 2022, at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center, Neenah. It sounds like a Tom Clancy novel, right? He received his medical degree from American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine and has been in practice for more than. In an unprecedented move, the then CIA director John Deutch was dispatched to address community leaders in the Watts district of LA. He is survived by his loving wife, Wendie, of Elgin; grandmother, Eileen Carrier of Elgin;. Gary Webb famously died of two gun shot wounds to the head and - reddit Like the CIA and Justice Department reports, it also found that neither Blandn, Meneses, nor Ross were associated with the CIA. Look at the way the US press reports on Iraq. 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. It was just more than he could take.". He was a writer, known for Kill the Messenger (2014), Filming in Georgia (2015) and Crack in America (2015). It concluded, however, that these problems were "a far cry from the type of broad manipulation and corruption of the federal criminal justice system suggested by the original allegations.". "I think Kerry learnt a lesson from all this," reporter Robert Parry says. In 2004, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb was found dead from an apparent suicide, as Democracy Now! Depressed, he became increasingly unpredictable in his behaviour and embarked on a series of affairs; he was divorced from Bell in 2000, though he remained close to her throughout his life and lived in a house in nearby Carmichael. He died by suicide on December 10, 2004. "Like enjoy it.". 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. [63]Dark Alliance was a 1998 Pen/Newman's Own First Amendment Award Finalist, 1998 San Francisco Chronicle bestseller, 1999 Bay Area Book Reviewers Award Finalist, and 1999 Firecracker Alternative Booksellers Award Winner in the Politics category. In August of 1996, investigative journalist Gary Webb broke the biggest story of his life. Jimmy Webb's battle with ex-wife Patsy Sullivan continues - New York Post Webb is best known for his "Dark Alliance" series, which appeared in The Mercury News in 1996. "Because of Gary Webb's work," said Senator John Kerry, "the CIA launched an investigation that found dozens of connections to drug runners. Gary Stephen Webb (August 31, 1955 December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist. [61] According to the report, it used Webb's reporting and writing as "key resources in focusing and refining the investigation." The response from the American press took two months to arrive. A Celebration of Life will be . It was an amazing scoop - but one that would ruin his career and drive him to suicide. GARY WEBB: His wife's office was burglarized. Gary Webb, MD, FRCPC, FACC - The Donohue Funeral Homes Inc. Webb established incontrovertible links * between Ricky Ross and Blandn who, two years later, would betray Ross to the authorities. Shortly before his death, his motorcycle had been stolen (it was recovered by his family after his death). He placed his keys and ID cards on the kitchen table, together with a cremation certificate he had purchased for himself. Garcia is deputy director of the John S Knight Fellowships in Journalism at Stanford University. 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 is from United States. Emma Lee Webb, age 75, of Crossett, AR passed away Monday February 27, 2023, in her home surrounded by her family. The story had little immediate impact. Gary Webb | American journalist | Britannica He began his career working for newspapers in Kentucky and Ohio, winning numerous awards, and building a strong reputation for investigative writing. [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. [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." Poor Gary Webb. 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. Webb began to shift from cynicism to curiosity. According to the report's "Epilogue," the report was completed in December 1997 but was not released because the DEA was still attempting to use Danilo Blandn in an investigation of international drug dealers and was concerned that the report would affect the viability of the investigation. But as his ex-wife told the . The reports rejected the series's main claims but were critical of some CIA and law enforcement actions. I remain astounded by the editorial decisions they made.". In the final few months of his life, Bell says, Webb became increasingly withdrawn. Ricky Ross (drug trafficker) - Wikipedia Despite some hyped phrasing, "Dark Alliance" appears to be praiseworthy investigative reporting."[47].