Gary Hays (304) 778-7090: His death was ruled a suicide by the Sacramento County coroner's office. [51], The editors met with Webb several times in February to discuss the results of the paper's internal review and eventually decided to print neither Carey's draft article nor the articles Webb had filed. The Man Who Exposed The Crips, Bloods & CIA Connection to - YouTube There is a CIA connection and I can demonstrate it.'". "The first story he had to file was about a police horse which had died of constipation.". Gary was born Sept. 4, 1947, to Percy and Pauline (Haas) Webb. He received his medical degree from American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine and has been in practice for more than. The legendary civil-rights activist Dick Gregory was arrested while he protested outside the CIA's headquarters; Gregory began referring to the organisation as "Crack in America". Garcia responded by email but declined to speak on the record about the editing process of Webb's series. It would have been our 25th wedding anniversary," Bell recalls. [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. He was a writer, known for Kill the Messenger (2014), Filming in Georgia (2015) and Crack in America (2015). It reads: "There should be no fetters on reporters, nor must they tamper with the truth, but give light so the people will find their own way." Although he attended Northern Kentucky for four years, he did not finish his degree. 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. She acted opposite Dirk Bogarde in the groundbreaking film Victim (Basil Dearden, 1961), as the unsuspecting wife of a barrister who is a closet homosexual. Webb established incontrovertible links * between Ricky Ross and Blandn who, two years later, would betray Ross to the authorities. 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. Age 43 years. He was preceded in death by his wife, Melody Webb; parents and three brothers, Albert, Duane and Ronald. 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. Attorneys' Offices. 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. Connie Webb (304) 778-2546: Status: Homeowner. Tiffany L Gary-Webb | School of Public Health 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. 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. "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. "Which was that, if he wanted a future within the political establishment of the United States, then he should concentrate on other aspects of life.". Celebrezze eventually sued the Plain Dealer and won an undisclosed out of court settlement. A Celebration of Life will be . [61] According to the report, it used Webb's reporting and writing as "key resources in focusing and refining the investigation." We're well aware that they/it (the cia) did do it. How Gary Webb Linked The CIA To The Crack Epidemic - All That's Interesting Webb is best known for his "Dark Alliance" series, which appeared in The Mercury News in 1996. It's . At the end of March, Ceppos told Webb that he was going to present the internal review findings in a column. "[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." font-weight:500; 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. She was a homemaker and a member of Hunters Chapel Baptist Church. Taken during the London Open House 2014 event. 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 disagreed with this conclusion.[1][2]. Gary's documentation is awesome and his work ethic is unbelievable. "Do you think that a part of him did this out of revenge?" He had sold his house the week before his death because he was unable to afford the mortgage.[71]. Gary Webb - Wikispooks 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. Family (1) The series provoked outrage, particularly in the Los Angeles African-American community, and led to four major investigations of its charges. [60], It found no information to support the claim that the agency interfered with law enforcement actions against Ross, Blandn or Meneses. 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. By: E&P Staff The death of investigative reporter Gary Webb has been confirmed as a suicide, according to a coroner's statement. Webb became a staff reporter for the San Jose Mercury News in 1988. In the final few months of his life, Bell says, Webb became increasingly withdrawn. Emma Lee Webb of Crossett, Arkansas | 1947 - 2023 | Obituary He accepted Christ at an early age. 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. On one road trip, in 2001, he came off the motorcycle and split his helmet open. The first article, by Katz, developed a different picture of the origins of the crack trade than "Dark Alliance" had described, with more gangs and smugglers participating. GARY WEBB was an investigative reporter who focused on government and private sector corruption and who won more than thirty journalism awards. 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. Despite some hyped phrasing, "Dark Alliance" appears to be praiseworthy investigative reporting."[47]. "[58], It also concluded that "the claims that Blandn and Meneses were responsible for introducing crack cocaine into South Central Los Angeles and spreading the crack epidemic throughout the country were unsupported." Maxine Waters found a govt employee ran the South Central LA drug ring & The DOJ removed that section of the report : r/conspiracy 3 yr. ago Posted by shylock92008 "[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." When his medical insurance expired, he stopped taking his antidepressants. American Journalism Review - Archives Evidence Begins To Indicate Gary Webb Was Murdered - BSNEWS One of his last articles examined America's Army, a video game designed by the U.S. Voices: The Gary Webb saga still has lessons today Am J Mens Health, 2018 Mar 1:1557988318758788. doi: 10.1177/1557988318758788. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department began its own investigation into the "Dark Alliance" claims.[30]. } 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. } 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. 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." 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. Attend in Miami or virtually, Sept. 1114. Moreira - a senior news producer for Canal Plus - has established a reputation for courage and independence of mind in his own foreign reporting, and was recently described by Le Monde as "the Che Guevara of news media". Peter Kornbluh, senior analyst with the George Washington University's National Security Archive, was one of the first to suggest that Webb had overplayed his hand in the Mercury News version of "Dark Alliance". 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. How Kill the Messenger Will Vindicate Investigative Journalist Gary Webb Gary Webb, friends say, was a far more combative character than either the Mercury News's executive editor Ceppos or page editor Garcia. Gary Webb became, quite unfairly, the victim of one of the most extraordinary examples of piling on by the mainstream press, ever.". Contemporary discussions of the series are discussed in the section on, Webb 2011, "Caltrans Ignored Elevated Freeway Safety. But as Krim told Webb's biographer Nick Schou, "The zeal that helped make Gary a relentless reporter was coupled with an inability to question himself, to entertain the notion that he might have erred. For two years, Blum and Kerry supervised the interrogation of dozens of witnesses who described CIA-related drug deals in central America. "Looking back," she says, "I think Gary had been obsessed with suicide for some time. [81], Peter Kornbluh, a researcher at George Washington University's National Security Archives, also does not agree that the report vindicated the series. The Open Mic: A Few Words with Cinematographer Ian Webb I realise now he was thinking about suicide.". But Ian Webbknows all too well the emotions that come with that experience. "It says the CIA helped introduce poison into our children. 4) The series "created impressions that were open to misinterpretation" through "imprecise language and graphics. "By the end of his life he was just in a lot of pain," said Webb's ex-wife, Susan Bell. Gary Webb - Spartacus Educational After Ceppos' column, The Mercury News spent the next several months conducting an internal review of the story. "[80], Not all writers agree that the Inspector-General's report supported the series's claims. Why Journalist Gary Webb Died - LewRockwell 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. I felt weak and distressed; the whole thing was so fresh. [48] Despite the controversy that soon overtook the series, and the request of one board member to reconsider, the branch's board went ahead with the award in November. "I had to warn Gary that what he was looking at was probably true, but that he would run very big risks," Parry recalls. 2) The series's estimate of the money involved was presented as fact instead of as an estimate. I ask Bell. The series ran from October 2022, 1996, and was researched by a team of 17 reporters. Jack Blum, who was the lead investigator for Senator John Kerry's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, which produced a highly damning 1989 report on drug-smuggling in the guise of national security, is one of several commentators to have questioned aspects of Webb's original reporting. "He thought I was being cowardly. [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". Who Is Gary Webb's Wife? Webb put in a call to Robert Parry. The Mercury News reporter came under sustained attack from the weightier US newspapers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and, especially, the Los Angeles Times, infuriated at being scooped, on its own patch, by what it saw as a small-town paper. Call 911 for assistance. He was taken to hospital by air ambulance. [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." Osborn, Barbara Bliss (MarchApril 1998). Occupation: Machine Operators, Assemblers, and Inspectors Occupations. 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. 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). In an unprecedented move, the then CIA director John Deutch was dispatched to address community leaders in the Watts district of LA. Within weeks, the site was attracting up to 1.3m hits per day. By the autumn of 1997, on medication for clinical depression, he was given leave of absence from the paper. Eighteen Years Ago Today, Journalist Gary Webb Was Murdered After Start your Independent Premium subscription today. "[82], Kill the Messenger (2014) is based on Webb's book Dark Alliance and Nick Schou's biography of Webb. My wife has kept me grounded for . Gary Webb's income source is mostly from being a successful . Gary Webb famously died of two gun shot wounds to the head and - reddit . The claim that the drug ring of Meneses-Blandn-Ross sparked the "crack explosion" has been perhaps the most criticized part of the series. [17] The Mercury News's coverage of the earthquake won its staff the Pulitzer Prize for General News Reporting in 1990. The story they printed was just awful. 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." Do something else with your life," the voice urges. "Gary was given the choice of relocating either to San Jose," says Bell, "or to Cupertino". 71K views 8 years ago Gary Webb's son Ian talks about the film in which Jeremy Renner plays his late journalist father. Views on Webb's journalism have been polarized. 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. When Gary originally broke this mind blowing story, the arrogant authority's assumed they could simply ignore him and hope he'd go away. "Although Ross had become a millionaire by 1984," Katz now wrote, "the market was so huge by then that even a dealer of his stature could seem dwarfed How the crack epidemic reached that extreme, on some level," he continues, "had nothing to do with Ross". 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. 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. 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. He went into the bedroom, and picked up a .38 that had belonged to his father. Webb had become, as somebody put it, "radioactive". 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.". 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. Critics view the series' claims as inaccurate or overstated, while supporters point to the results of a later CIA investigation as vindicating the series. He kept saying that he would never get another job in journalism.". 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. [51] After discussions with Webb, the column was published on May 11, 1997.[53]. The passing of Gary ends more than 50 years with his best friend and loving wife, Marilyn J. * The agency's response was to try to prevent him from getting his doctorate, then block his advancement in the academic world. [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." [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. He died by suicide on December 10, 2004. 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 margin-bottom: 20px; But the biggest loss he had was the writing. This is why Webb's "Dark Alliance" series is an essential source, a primary text that every journalism student should study. Blandn and Meneses' high-volume supply of low-priced high-purity cocaine "allowed Ross to sew up the Los Angeles market and move on. Relationships with other women ended badly. When Webb wrote another story on the raid evidence in early October, it received wide attention in Los Angeles. 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. 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. Carey ultimately decided that there were problems with several parts of the story and wrote a draft article incorporating his findings. The couple got married recently in November of 2020 after dating for some time. Vivian Corrie, a part of his liver in a life-threatening operation. ", "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. Ceppos initially defended Webb, and reportedly showed up at an in-house party wearing a military helmet. If the antagonism of competing publications was predictable, what happened to Webb within his own newspaper was not. Both sides were left angry and disappointed. 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. 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 Webb Obituary (2011) - Saginaw, MI - Saginaw News on MLive.com Emma Lee Webb, age 75, of Crossett, AR passed away Monday February 27, 2023, in her home surrounded by her family. Gary Webb Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family He began his career working for newspapers in Kentucky and Ohio, winning numerous awards, and building a strong reputation for investigative writing. To pay off his mounting debts, Webb sold the Carmichael property, where he was living alone, and arranged to move in with his mother. He also defended the series in interviews with all three papers. Gary Webb: Vindicated - Narco News His former wife, her voice lowered to a whisper, explains that Webb missed with the first shot (which exited through his left cheek). Some might consider it an inappropriate assignment for a man with responsibilities. Nobody who heads a government agency can let such an allegation stand.". [56] He resigned from the paper in November 1997. Gary is survived by his loving wife of 41 years, Barbara; their son, Jeff; his nephew, Christopher (Stephanie) Webb; niece, Sara (Gary) Dugan; and . In February last year he was laid off by the State Legislature. He was so depressed. 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]. Gary Stephen Webb (August 31, 1955 December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist. This support "was not directed by anyone within the Contra movement who had an association with the CIA," and the Committee found "no evidence that the CIA or the Intelligence Community was aware of these individuals support. When she got indignant," she adds, "he went to meet her.". Ceppos failed to reply to one phone message and six emails. Even 10 years after his tragic death, the media refuse to let him rest. [52] Webb was allowed to keep working on the story and made one more trip to Nicaragua in March. There has been speculation that he may have met with foul play because he had received two gunshot wounds to the head, The Sacramento Bee reported Wednesday. Webb chose the second option. The series revolves around the first crack epidemic and its impact on the culture of the city. WRITTEN IN PAIN - Los Angeles Times Hired by the San Jose Mercury News, Webb contributed to the paper's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. Webb, Gary Gary T. Webb, age 67, of Hamilton, Michigan, passed away peacefully surrounded by his loving family Thursday, November 11, 2021. [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.
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