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Steven Webb . [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. "Allow Gary Webb to be there [in the CIA investigation]," a heckler shouts. Vivian Corrie, a part of his liver in a life-threatening operation. 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. Man Donates Liver To Ex-Wife - CBS News Hired by the San Jose Mercury News, Webb contributed to the paper's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. 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. I felt weak and distressed; the whole thing was so fresh. [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." GARY WEBB: His wife's office was burglarized. 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. Connie Webb (304) 778-2546: Status: Homeowner. When Gary originally broke this mind blowing story, the arrogant authority's assumed they could simply ignore him and hope he'd go away. 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. In city after city, local dealers either bought from Ross or got left behind."[24]. He crashed and shredded his clothes, face and body on a barbed-wire fence." Webb resigned from The Mercury News in December 1997. Gary Webb Resigns from the San Jose Mercury News ", Many of these are in the series archive at. One article, dealing mostly with the response of the Los Angeles Black community to the stories, described the series's evidence as "thin". The reports rejected the series's main claims but were critical of some CIA and law enforcement actions. It would have been our 25th wedding anniversary," Bell recalls. It sounds like a Tom Clancy novel, right? 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. Cooper and Mariah were engaged before they finally tied the knot. We were dismissed as a bunch of nuts." Ricky Ross (drug trafficker) - Wikipedia Actor Jeremy Renner portrays Webb.[83]. Gary Webb Obituary (1944 - 2022) - Portland, OR - The Oregonian And this is not a happy story - or," she adds, "a little one.". Occupation: Machine Operators, Assemblers, and Inspectors Occupations. The reports of the three federal investigations into the claims of "Dark Alliance" were not released until over a year after the series's publication. Part of what makes OConnors article so compelling are the candid thoughts of Webbs former wife Sue Stokes. } Gary Webb (304) 778-2546: Jamie Webb (304) 778-2546: Status: Homeowner. 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. Some editors regarded him as stubborn to the point of insolence. When he was engaged, he worked hard. His. Gary was preceded in death by his mother and father, Donna and James Webb of Carpentersville. [15], In 1988, Webb was recruited by the San Jose Mercury News, which was looking for an investigative reporter. By the autumn of 1997, on medication for clinical depression, he was given leave of absence from the paper. 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]. 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. If the antagonism of competing publications was predictable, what happened to Webb within his own newspaper was not. He wrote well. 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. The article discussed Webb's contacts with Ross's attorney and prosecution complaints of how Ross's defense had used Webb's series. 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. In 2004, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb was found dead from an apparent suicide, as Democracy Now! 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. Gary Webb was born on August 31, 1955 in Corona, California, USA. The CIA admits used the media to ruin his career. [32], The New York Times published two articles on the series in mid-October, both written by reporter Tim Golden. 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. "I had to warn Gary that what he was looking at was probably true, but that he would run very big risks," Parry recalls. 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. Gary Webb Obituary (2011) - Saginaw, MI - Saginaw News on MLive.com Webb was born in Corona, California. ". Gary Webb, 49, Journalist Who Wrote Disputed Articles, Is Dead Snowfall is an American crime drama television series set in Los Angeles in 1983. Webb is best known for his "Dark Alliance" series, which appeared in The Mercury News in 1996. "To get back at his editors?". The drugs went to South Central LA. When Webb's body was discovered last December, Bell says, this last item had been dumped in the trash. font-weight:500; "He definitely was depressed. He made that very clear. His erstwhile editors on the Mercury News, meanwhile, saw their careers thrive. On the last day Webb was alive, his motorbike broke down while he was moving to his mother's house. My wife has kept me grounded for . "[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. Unable to get work from any major US newspaper, he spent the four months before his death writing for * a free-sheet covering the Sacramento area. "I think Kerry learnt a lesson from all this," reporter Robert Parry says. "Because of Gary Webb's work," said Senator John Kerry, "the CIA launched an investigation that found dozens of connections to drug runners. Relationships with other women ended badly. But the report was correct. It was just more than he could take.". The Death of Gary Webb - Beyond Chron I remain astounded by the editorial decisions they made.". . He began his career working for newspapers in Kentucky and Ohio, winning numerous awards, and building a strong reputation for investigative writing. Webb took a modestly paid, low-profile job as an investigator with the California State Legislature. But the biggest loss he had was the writing. "Like enjoy it.". "I am scared," the voice replies. Gary Webb sums up the story in his last major interview just days before his death. He accepted Christ at an early age. Look at the way the US press reports on Iraq. 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. Gary Webb: More Pieces In The Suicided Puzzle - Pt 1 - Rense [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." Gary's documentation is awesome and his work ethic is unbelievable. When removal men arrived, on the morning of 10 December 2004, they found a sign on his front door, which read: ''Please do not enter. 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. "Do you think that a part of him did this out of revenge?" Webb's condition exacerbated his natural recklessness. He wrote that the series likely "oversimplified" the crack epidemic in America and the supposed "critical role" the dealers written about in the series played in it. How the Press and the CIA Killed Gary Webb's Career He also stated "the series presented dangerous ideas" by suggesting "crimes of state had been committed" (i.e. 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. 3) The series oversimplified how the crack epidemic grew. Gary Webb Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family Webb joined the Mercury News in 1988, via the Cleveland Plain Dealer. 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. E&P Staff. Few reporters I've known could match his nose for an investigative story. "[80], Not all writers agree that the Inspector-General's report supported the series's claims. His death was ruled a suicide by the Sacramento County coroner's office. "Gary didn't take her seriously," says Susan Bell, "because he was always getting calls alleging weird stuff about the CIA. In and out of work, he had a reputation for taking risks. Newsweek called Kerry a "randy conspiracy buff". "I believe that Americans, as a nation, are mainly concerned with living their happy little lives. 2) The series's estimate of the money involved was presented as fact instead of as an estimate. .article-native-ad svg { Gary Numan's superfan wife had 'body lift' and exploding breasts At the end of March, Ceppos told Webb that he was going to present the internal review findings in a column. It found that "the allegations contained in the original Mercury News articles were exaggerations of the actual facts." 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. While working at the legislature, Webb continued to do freelance investigative reporting, sometimes based on his investigative work. He was born Sept.10, 1957 in Willcox, Ariz. to RG Webb and Winnie Mae Shelton. 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 To Read the Full Story Become an Adweek+ Subscriber. 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. Should these editors subsequently deem the story to have been fatally flawed, they take the consequences. ", As Webb would tell a friend, after he had been ostracised: "You have to look out, when the big dog gets off the porch.". When he was engaged, he worked hard. Garcia responded by email but declined to speak on the record about the editing process of Webb's series. Every year since investigative journalist Gary Webb took his own life in 2004, I have marked the anniversary of that sad event by recalling the debt that American history owes to Webb for his. As it turned out," she adds, "that was not their intent.". A jury awarded the plaintiffs over 13 million dollars and the case was later settled. [69], Webb was found dead in his Carmichael home on December 10, 2004, with two gunshot wounds to the head. Webb chose the second option. Gary Webb's family says his death was Suicide. OR was he like Epstein "[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." 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. The couple got married recently in November of 2020 after dating for some time. But "Dark Alliance" was also posted on the Mercury News's website, with the image of a crack smoker superimposed on the CIA badge. An investigative journalist, Webb became interested in the covert activities of the Central Intelligence Agency. After the series's publication, the Northern California branch of the national Society of Professional Journalists voted Webb "Journalist of the Year" for 1996. Like the CIA and Justice Department reports, it also found that neither Blandn, Meneses, nor Ross were associated with the CIA. On Dec. 9, 2004, the 49-year-old Gary Stephen Webb, Pulitzer prize-winning US investigative journalist, typed out suicide notes to his ex-wife and his three children; he laid out a certificate for his cremation; he taped a note on the door telling movers - who were coming the next morning to move him out of his rental house near Sacramento - to It was accurate. That was just the way he was.". Nick Schou, a journalist who wrote a 2006 biography of Webb, has claimed that this was the most important error in the series. His death was especially traumatic to the family since - as the coroner said - it could not be established whether he died instantly, or bled to death. During and immediately after the controversy over "Dark Alliance," Webb's earlier writing was examined closely. Gary Webb - Wikispooks The CIA/MSM Contra-Cocaine Cover-up - Consortium News Webb undeniably made mistakes of detail and emphasis in the newspaper version of "Dark Alliance". 71K views 8 years ago Gary Webb's son Ian talks about the film in which Jeremy Renner plays his late journalist father. Am J Mens Health, 2018 Mar 1:1557988318758788. doi: 10.1177/1557988318758788. "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. 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. "Look at what happened to Gary Webb. He really did believe that," she says. 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. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department began its own investigation into the "Dark Alliance" claims.[30]. Gary Webb's Death Confirmed as Suicide | Editor and Publisher reports. It noted that Blandn and Meneses claimed to have donated money to Contra sympathizers in Los Angeles, but found no information to confirm that it was true or that the agency had heard of it. 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. [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". 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: Vindicated - Narco News On one road trip, in 2001, he came off the motorcycle and split his helmet open. [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. Gary Stephen Webb(August 31, 1955 - December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist. He said: 'No. 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. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, Extra 20% off selected fashion and sportswear at Very, Up to 20% off & extra perks with Booking.com Genius Membership, $6 off a $50+ order with this AliExpress discount code, 10% off selected orders over 100 - eBay discount code, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK March 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this March, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. But once the flak really started to fly, from the nation's grandest newspapers, Ceppos - having come under exactly what form of pressure it is difficult to know - printed a retraction which Webb dismissed as spineless. According to Bell, Webb had been unhappy for some time over his inability to get a job at another major newspaper. By 1997, Bell tells me, Webb - whose 30-year career had earned him more awards than there is room for in her study - had been reassigned to the Mercury News's office in Cupertino. 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 . Webb became a staff reporter for the San Jose Mercury News in 1988. Gary Webb's son on new movie "Kill the Messenger" - YouTube We are in the living room of Bell's house just outside Sacramento, California. The series revolves around the first crack epidemic and its impact on the culture of the city. 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. Webb's ex wife, Susan Bell told reporters that she believed Webb had died by suicide. What he found, he wrote later, "nearly knocked me off my chair". He was a former member of Bethlehem . "By the end of his life he was just in a lot of pain," said Webb's ex-wife, Susan Bell. The article suggested this was in retribution for Ross' testimony in the corruption case. The second volume, "The Contra Story," was issued in a classified version on April 27, 1998, and in an unclassified version on October 8, 1998. "He rang me up that day. Ceppos failed to reply to one phone message and six emails. Gary Webb's Ex-Wife Set to Attend New York Premiere - Adweek "Everyone got out and left the person who had made the noise - issued the report - alone. 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. Webb's continuing reporting also triggered a fourth investigation. 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. But Ian Webbknows all too well the emotions that come with that experience. He was previously married to Sue Bell. 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. Webb worked for several newspapers including The Kentucky Post and Cleveland Plain Dealer. 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 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. The first effect of the onslaught was to ease the pressure on the CIA. Call 911 for assistance. Dark Alliance: Gary Webb, Christian Rummel: 9781522694397: Amazon.com Begun 1996, the divorce and battle over cash of Grammy winner Jimmy Webb age 75, father of six, wed 22 years to Patsy, 64, daughter of late actor Barry Sullivan is getting longer. 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. The first one, "The California Story," was issued in a classified version on December 17, 1997, and in an unclassified version on January 29, 1998. Gary Webb's family says his death was Suicide. ", The report called several of its findings "troubling." } He then transferred to nearby Northern Kentucky University. Webb's ex-wife, Sue Bell, discounted theories Tuesday that her husband had been murdered, saying the 49-year-old Webb had been distraught for some time over his inability to get . [41], When the Los Angeles Times series appeared, Ceppos again wrote to defend the original series. The story had little immediate impact. His wife is Sue Webb (m. 1979-2000) Gary Webb Net Worth His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. "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". I ask Bell. "Do not quote me. 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. And it ruined that reporter's career. "[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." George Webb and Paul Cottrell have begun a weekly series on CoronaVirus now, Mondays at 5PM, EST on paul Cottrell's Rumble Channel. Ceppos initially defended Webb, and reportedly showed up at an in-house party wearing a military helmet. "They had him writing obituaries," she said. He was laid off in February 2004 when Assembly Member Fabian Nez was elected Speaker. One time he called me and he said: 'I have this plan that will benefit us both.' 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. OR was he like Epstein? I realise now he was thinking about suicide.". Gary Webb photos on Flickr | Flickr 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. "And to an extent, they succeeded.". Critics view the series' claims as inaccurate or overstated, while supporters point to the results of a later CIA investigation as vindicating the series. It also stated that the Contras may have acted with the knowledge and protection of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). 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. "[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. Emma Lee Webb, age 75, of Crossett, AR passed away Monday February 27, 2023, in her home surrounded by her family. How Kill the Messenger Will Vindicate Investigative Journalist Gary Webb The "Dark Alliance" series remains controversial. "Gary Webb was left to fend for himself. 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. 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. 1) It presented only one interpretation of conflicting evidence and in one case "did not include information that contradicted a central assertion of the series." Their explosive report, which appeared in 1989, was either ignored, or marginalised, by the American press. The collection, The Killing Game: Selected Stories from the Author of Dark Alliance, was edited by Webb's son, Eric. A revised version was published in 1999 that incorporated Webb's response to the CIA and Justice Department reports. 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. color: #ddd; Today, Narco News, with support from The Fund for Authentic Journalism, is pleased to announce that the Dark Alliance website has a new, and this time permanent, home at Narco News. "Ross," his report went on, dealt "on a scale never before conceived," with "a staggering turnover" of "50 to 100 kilos of cocaine a day".

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