His wife is Sue Webb (m. 1979-2000) Gary Webb Net Worth His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. [50] By January, Webb filed drafts of four more articles based on his trip, but his editors concluded that the new articles would not help shore up the original series's claims. 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. 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. Gary's ex-wife Susan Bell states: "The way he was acting it would be hard for me to believe it was anything but suicide." An interesting OPINION, but she supplies no convincing evidence to illustrate what she means by this. Gary Webb | Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune [33] Golden also referred to the controversy over Webb's contacts with Ross's lawyer. Gary Webb: Vindicated - Narco News To pay off his mounting debts, Webb sold the Carmichael property, where he was living alone, and arranged to move in with his mother. The complete lack of desire to ask the difficult questions makes me want to scream. But they underestimated the paradigm shifting power of the internet, and the intelligence of Webb, who not only listed the explosive story online . In 1997 Ceppos was awarded the US Society of Professional Journalists' National Ethics Award. [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. Watkins and Debbie (John) Foutch; grandchildren, Makenzie and Ashlynn Fogg. [68], In August 2004, Webb joined the Sacramento News & Review, an alternative weekly newspaper, where he continued doing investigative writing. Gary Webb photos on Flickr | Flickr This is why Webb's "Dark Alliance" series is an essential source, a primary text that every journalism student should study. 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 His. The drugs went to South Central LA. 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." 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. 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. When he told me, I said it sounded crazy. "[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. Webb moved his wife and two young children to a suburb and continued a tradition he had started in Cleveland, restoring their small house with the help of how-to books, installing wainscoting and custom tile, new cabinets and gardens, while putting in overtime at the paper. Attend in Miami or virtually, Sept. 1114. Chasing Corona - by George Webb "I told Gary not to go near this story," his source replies, in an emotional voice. "To get back at his editors?". Webb had become, as somebody put it, "radioactive". 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. 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. 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. Sue remarried two years ago. When he was engaged, he worked hard. "[2], Ceppos noted that Webb did not agree with these conclusions. "Do you think that a part of him did this out of revenge?" 'It's just good vibes': Cooper Webb, Eli Tomac in tight Supercross Man Donates Liver To Ex-Wife - CBS News . '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's experience came as no surprise to Jack Blum, senior prosecutor for the Kerry Committee. Do not quote me on anything.". [39] Carey's critique appeared in mid-October and went through several of the Post's criticisms of the series, including the importance of Blandn's drug ring in spreading crack, questions about Blandn's testimony in court, and how specific series allegations about CIA involvement had been, giving Webb's responses. The three articles in the series were written by four reporters: Jesse Katz, Doyle McManus, John Mitchell and Sam Fulwood. The truth was that, in all those years, I hadn't written anything important enough to suppress. 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. 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. [81], Peter Kornbluh, a researcher at George Washington University's National Security Archives, also does not agree that the report vindicated the series. When Webb's body was discovered last December, Bell says, this last item had been dumped in the trash. Much of the article highlighted the failure of law enforcement agencies to successfully prosecute them and stated that this was largely due to their Contra and CIA connections. * The agency's response was to try to prevent him from getting his doctorate, then block his advancement in the academic world. But the tragedy had a deeper meaning. Ricky Donnell "Freeway Rick" Ross (born January 26, 1960) is an American author and convicted drug trafficker best known for the drug empire he established in Los Angeles, California, in the early to mid 1980s. Critics view the series' claims as inaccurate or overstated, while supporters point to the results of a later CIA investigation as vindicating the series. 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. "As a PhD student, McCoy went to Vietnam and built an absolutely damning case about the CIA's involvement with trafficking heroin. For instance, he published an article on racial profiling in traffic stops in Esquire magazine, in April 1999. Gary Webb Was Right | HuffPost Latest News "He definitely was depressed. "The cause of death was determined to be self . He was found dead on Friday morning in what the police said was an apparent suicide. in Central America", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gary_Webb&oldid=1138520387, This page was last edited on 10 February 2023, at 03:36. "People told me that," she says. At the end of March, Ceppos told Webb that he was going to present the internal review findings in a column. Unfortunately, the railroading of Gary Webb had begun and he was run over. Views on Webb's journalism have been polarized. 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 strongly disagreed with Ceppos's column and, in interviews, was harshly critical of the paper's handling of the story. [60], The House Intelligence Committee issued its report in February 2000. Born in Corona, California, son of a conservatively minded Marine, he met Bell, whose father was a university lecturer, at high school in Indianapolis. "Because of Gary Webb's work," said Senator John Kerry, "the CIA launched an investigation that found dozens of connections to drug runners. A revised version was published in 1999 that incorporated Webb's response to the CIA and Justice Department reports. 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. And this is not a happy story - or," she adds, "a little one.". The new movie Kill the Messenger, based in part on a 2006 book by a former student of mine, eulogizes Webb . He died on December 10, 2004 in Carmichael, California, USA. 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. His assignments included investigating racial profiling by the California Highway Patrol and charges that the Oracle Corporation had received a no-bid contract award of $95 million in 2001. 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". 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. [69], Webb was found dead in his Carmichael home on December 10, 2004, with two gunshot wounds to the head. Writing on the Los Angeles Times opinion page, Schou said, "Webb asserted, improbably, that the Blandn-Meneses-Ross drug ring opened 'the first pipeline between Colombia's cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles,' helping to 'spark a crack explosion in urban America.' He stayed home, playing computer games, and began smoking cannabis heavily. The Open Mic: A Few Words with Cinematographer Ian Webb 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." "Report on Alleged Involvement: Findings" 43. "It sounds crazy," says Bell, "but having his motorbike stolen was the last straw. Return of the messenger: How Jeremy Renner's new film Kill The He also stated "the series presented dangerous ideas" by suggesting "crimes of state had been committed" (i.e. The coroner's staff concluded that the second shot hit an artery.[70]. "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.". George Webb and Paul Cottrell have begun a weekly series on CoronaVirus now, Mondays at 5PM, EST on paul Cottrell's Rumble Channel. 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. The CIA/MSM Contra-Cocaine Cover-up - Consortium News 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. Webb took a modestly paid, low-profile job as an investigator with the California State Legislature. [19] The series was published in The Mercury News in three parts, from Sunday, 18 August 1996 to 20 August 1996, with a first long article and one or two shorter articles appearing each day. Obituary | GARY HAYS WEBB of Neenah, Wisconsin | WESTGOR FUNERAL HOMES 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. . After Webb's death, a collection of his stories from before and after the "Dark Alliance" series was published. Garcia responded by email but declined to speak on the record about the editing process of Webb's series. According to Bell, Webb had been unhappy for some time over his inability to get a job at another major newspaper. Ceppos and Garcia have long since lost any taste for public discussion of "Dark Alliance". "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". He really did believe that," she says. There is a CIA connection and I can demonstrate it.'". "He told the guys with him he was fine," she recalls, "got back on the bike, then passed out, half an hour later. font-weight:500; Taken during the London Open House 2014 event. GARY WEBB OBITUARY Gary Frank Webb Sept. 27, 1944 - Oct. 23, 2022 Gary passed away peacefully of complications following cardiovascular surgery. Leen, who covered the cocaine trade for the Miami Herald in the 1980s, rejects the claim that "because the report uncovered an agency mindset of indifference to drug-smuggling allegations", it vindicated Webb's reporting. Gary Webb Obituary (1954 - 2021) - Dorr, MI - Grand Rapids Press 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. I believe that we fell short at every step of our process: in the writing, editing and production of our work. "[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."
How Long Do Pickled Mussels Last, Herricks High School Assistant Principal, Why Are Nurses In The Uk Called Sisters, Cpoms School Staff Login, Articles G