gary webb - wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

8/13/2019 Gary Webb - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

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Gary Webb

Webb, probably 2002

Born Gary Stephen Webb

August 31, 1955

Corona, California

Died December 10, 2004 (aged 49)

Carmichael, California, USA

Cause of death Suicide

Education Northern Kentucky University

Occupation Journalist, investigative reporter

Years active 19802004

Notable credit(s) Pulitzer Prize

Cleveland Plain DealerSacramento News & Review

San Jose Mercury News

Religion Agnostic

Partner(s) Susan Webb (now Susan Stokes)

Children Ian S., Eric W., Christine L.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gary Stephen Webb(August 31, 1955 December 10, 2004) was an Americaninvestigative reporter best known for his 1996

"Dark Alliance" series of articles written for theSan Jose Mercury Newsand later published as abook. In the three-part series, Webb investigatedNicaraguans linked to the CIA-backed Contraswho had smuggled cocaine into the U.S. Theirsmuggled cocaine was distributed as crackcocaine in Los Angeles, with the profits funneledback to the Contras. Webb also alleged that thisinflux of Nicaraguan-supplied cocaine sparked,

and significantly fueled, the widespread crackcocaine epidemic that swept through many U.S.cities during the 1980s. According to Webb, theCIA was aware of the cocaine transactions andthe large shipments of drugs into the U.S. byContra personnel. Webb charged that the Reaganadministration shielded inner-city drug dealersfrom prosecution in order to raise money for theContras, especially after Congress passed theBoland Amendment, which prohibited direct

Contra funding.

Webb's reporting generated fierce controversy,and the San Jose Mercury Newsbacked awayfrom the story, effectively ending Webb's careeras a mainstream-media journalist. In 2004 hewas found dead from two gunshot wounds to thehead, which the coroner's office judged a suicide.Though he was criticized and outcast from the mainstream journalism community, his reportage

was eventually vindicated; since his death, for example, both theLos Angeles Timesand theChicago Tribunehave defended his "Dark Alliance" series.[citation needed]Esquirewrote that a

report from the CIA inspector general "subsequently confirmed the pillars of Webb's findings."[1]

Geneva Overholser, who served as the obbudsman for The Washington Post, wrote that majormedia outlets including the Washington Posthad "shown more passion for sniffing out the flaws in

the Mercury News's answer than for sniffing out a better answer themselves."[1]

Webb - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ga

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1 Biography1.1 Early life1.2 Dark Alliance

1.2.1 Series1.2.2 Book

1.3 Critics1.4 Supporters and Corroboration1.5 Investigation timeline1.6 Aftermath and death1.7 Posthumous recognition

2 Notable stories3 Awards

3.1 Reporting3.2 Literary3.3 College journalism

4 See also5 References

5.1 Notes5.2 Bibliography5.3 Further reading

6 External links

6.1 Commentaries6.2 Bibliography

Webb was born to a military family in Corona, California. At 15 he began writing editorials for his

suburban Indianapolis high school newspaper. At the height of the protests against the VietnamWar, he created his first controversy when he criticized the use of a female drill team to rallystudents for the war. Webb attended journalism school at Northern Kentucky University, where hewas on the staff of student newspaper The Northerner, but dropped out. He started his professionalcareer at the Kentucky Post, then worked as a statehouse correspondent for The Plain DealerofCleveland. Webb found a lifelong passion in investigating government and private sectorcorruption. In 1988, he joined the San Jose Mercury Newsas a staff writer. There he helped exposefreeway retrofitting problems in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and wrote stories about computer

software problems at the California DMV.[2]


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If we had met fiveyears ago, youwouldn't have founda more staunchdefender of thenewspaper industrythan me ... I waswinning awards,getting raises,lecturing collegeclasses, appearingon TV shows, and

judging journalismcontests. So how

Series

In August 1996 the San Jose Mercury Newspublished Webb's "Dark Alliance", a 20,000 word,three-part investigative series which alleged that Nicaraguan drug traffickers had sold and

distributed crack cocaine in Los Angeles during the 1980s, and that drug profits were used to fundthe CIA-supported Nicaraguan Contras. Webb never asserted that the CIA directly aided drugdealers to raise money for the Contras, but he did document that the CIA was aware of the cocaine

transactions and the large shipments of cocaine into the U.S. by the Contra personnel.[3]"DarkAlliance" received national attention. At the height of the interest, the version on the San Jose

Mercury Newswebsite received 1.3 million hits a day. According to the Columbia JournalismReview, the series became "the most talked-about piece of journalism in 1996 and arguably the

most famoussome would say infamousset of articles of the decade."[4]Webb reported thatmany African Americans who had never connected to the internet before began using the internet

to see the coverage of this story.[5]

Webb supported his story with documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act,subsequently including a 450-page declassified version of an October 1988 report by CIA InspectorGeneral Frederick Hitz. According to Webb and his supporters, the evidence demonstrates thatWhite House officials, including Oliver North, knew about and supported using money from drugtrafficking to fund the Contras, and they neglected to pass any information along to the DrugEnforcement Administration. The 1988 report by the Senate Subcommittee on Narcotics, Terrorismand International Operations of the Committee on Foreign Relations, led by Sen. John Kerry,commented that there were "serious questions as to whether or not US officials involved in Central

America failed to address the drug issue for fear of jeopardizing the war effort against

Nicaragua."[6]

Immediately, denials began to emerge refuting assertions in"Dark Alliance". Reports in the Washington Post(October 4,1996),Los Angeles Times, andNew York Times(October 21),tried to debunk the link between the Contras and the crackepidemic. Postombudsman Geneva Overholser agreed withcritics that her paper's response to Webb's series showed

"misdirected zeal" and "more passion for sniffing out the flawsin San Jose's answer than for sniffing out a better answer

themselves."[8]Years later, Richard Thieme argued in anopinion piece that the major news outlets focused on attackingWebb or less relevant parts of the story, leaving Webb's thesis

largely intact.[9]Overholser concluded there was "strongprevious evidence that the CIA at least chose to overlookContra involvement in the drug trade ... Would that we hadwelcomed the surge of public interest as an occasion to return


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could I possiblyagree with peoplelike Noam Chomskyand Ben Bagdikian,who were claimingthe system didn'twork, that it wassteered by powerfulspecial interests andcorporations, andexisted to protectthe power elite?And then I wrotesome stories thatmade me realizehow sadly

misplaced my blisshad been. Thereason I'd enjoyedsuch smooth sailingfor so long hadn't

been, as I'dassumed, because Iwas careful anddiligent and good at

my job ... The truthwas that, in all thoseyears, I hadn'twritten anythingimportant enough tosuppress ...

Gary Webb.[7]

to a subject the Post and the public had given short shrift. Alas,dismissing someone else's story as old news comes more

naturally."[10]Esquirewrote that Webb's stories had "copiouscitation of documents", while the articles from The New York

Timesused anonymous intelligence officials as sources.[11]

TheLos Angeles Timescriticized the notion that the CIA

intentionally tried to addict African-Americans on crackcocaine; the Webb articles did not make this assertion.[12]

Robert Parry, who in 1985 became the first reporter to accusethe Contras of involvement in drug trafficking,[3](http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/total_coverage/coke.html) wrote that the Post's denunciationof Webb was ironic, because the paper "had long pooh-poohedearlier allegations that the Contras were implicated in drugshipments" but now "the newspaper was finally accepting the

reality of Contra cocaine trafficking, albeit in a backhanded

way."[13]

In response to these attacks, Webb created a web site thatcontained primary documents, transcripts, and audiointerviews. By January 1997, Webb's editors no longercontacted him about his stories. In March, Webb was informedthat the paper was going to address the readers about hisseries. On May 11, 1997,Mercury Newsexecutive editor Jerry

Ceppos published an editorial describing the series as an"important work" and "solidly documented" but criticized it onfour grounds: reliance on one interpretation of complicated,sometimes-conflicting pieces of evidence; failing to estimatethe amount of money involved; oversimplifying the crackepidemic; and creating impressions that were open to

misinterpretation through imprecise language and graphics.[14]

Webb was reassigned to a suburban bureau 150 miles from hishome. Because of the long commute he quit the paper in

December 1997.

Webb alleged that the 1997 backlash was a form of media manipulation. "The government side ofthe story is coming through theLos Angeles Times, theNew York Times, the Washington Post", hestated. "They use the giant corporate press rather than saying anything directly. If you work throughfriendly reporters on major newspapers, it comes off as theNew York Timessaying it and not a

mouthpiece of the CIA."[14]In 2004, Webb wrote a long piece, "The Mighty Wurlitzer Plays On",describing the role the internet played in bringing the "Dark Alliance" story to internationalattention in 1996, and describing at length the backlash against the story, at first externally through


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the larger newspapers, later internally by the paper's editors:

[check quotation syntax]

"How do we know for sure that these drug dealers were the first big ring to start sellingcrack in South Central?" editor Jonathan Krim pressed me ... "Isn't it possible theremight have been others before them?"

"There might have been a lot of things, Jon, but we're only supposed to deal in what weknow", I replied. "The crack dealers I interviewed said they were the first. Cops is South

Central said they were the first.[check quotation syntax]and that they controlled the entiremarket. They wrote it in reports that we have. I haven't found anything saying otherwise,not one single name, and neither did the New York Times, the Washington Post or theL.A. Times. So what's the issue here?"

"But how can we say for sure they were the first?" Krim persisted. "Isn't it possible there

might have been someone else and they never got caught and no one ever knew aboutthem? In that case, your story would be wrong."

I had to take a deep breath to keep from shouting. "If you're asking me whether Iaccounted for people who might never have existed, the answer is no", I said. "I onlyconsidered people with names and faces. I didn't take phantom drug dealers into

account."[15]

James Aucoin, a communications professor who specializes in the history of investigativereporting, wrote: "In the case of Gary Webb's charges against the CIA and the Contras, the major

dailies came after him. Media institutions are now part of the establishment and they have a lotinvested in that establishment."[14]

Book

In 1999, Seven Stories Press publishedDark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the CrackCocaine Explosion, Webb's book complete with extensive source citations. It received mixedreviews.

The book includes an account of a meeting between a pilot (who was making drug/arms runsbetween San Francisco and Costa Rica) with two Contra leaders who were also partners with theSan Francisco-based Contra/drug smuggler Norwin Meneses. According to eyewitnesses, IvanGomez, identified by one of the Contras as a CIA agent, was allegedly present at the drugtransactions. The pilot told Hitz that Gomez said he was there to "ensure that the profits from thecocaine went to the Contras and not into someone's pocket."

According to Webb, Judd Iverson, a San Francisco defense attorney who represented former ContraJulio Zavala, discovered compelling evidence demonstrating that "agents of the U.S. government


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were intricately involved in sanctioning cocaine trafficking to raise funds for Contra revolutionary

activity."[16]Soon after, members of the Justice Department persuaded U.S. District Court JudgeRobert Peckham to seal the documents in the case.

Webb's reporting on the CIA's dealings with cocaine dealers was not without its critics. The Nationmagazine contributor David Corn, while crediting him that "it is only because of Webb that UScitizens have confirmation from the CIAthat it partnered up with suspected drug traffickers in thejust-say-no years and that the Reagan Administration, consumed with a desire to overthrow theSandinistas in Nicaragua, allied itself with drug thugs", also criticized Webb for overstating the

case and for not proving "his more cinematic allegations."[17]

Reasonmagazine's Glenn Garvin was critical of Webb's sources and of the evidence he presented.Garvin wrote that Webb's evidence that the Contra leadership was selling cocaine is almost entirelydrawn from the claims of a few Nicaraguan traffickers facing long jail terms, and argued that they

were using the CIA as a convenient scapegoat. Garvin also wrote that every guerilla group,including the Mujahideen, FARC and Shining Path, has used the narcotics trade as a way ofbolstering its funding efforts, and that far from the Contra-related drug trade being widespread itcame down to a small handful of Contra pilots and their associates who were involved in narcotics.He also argued that while these covert narcotic relationships were alleged to be most rampant, theContras had the least need for funds, as the United States was supplying them with millions of

dollars a year in support.[18]

According to historian Mark Fenster,[19]

[T]he common view among journalists and researchers who have reviewed Webb's stories andhave expertise on the Contras and the CIA's role in Nicaragua is that the stories sometimesoverstate and overplay the largely testimonial evidence Webb had gathered but werenevertheless neither false nor fantastic. This is true whether the commentators are sympatheticto or critical of Webb. The historical consensus -- to the extent that such a thing is possibleconcerning controversial covert operations -- indicate that the basic outlines of theMercury

Newsstories were largely correct.

In 2006 the LA Times published The Truth in `Dark Alliance,'in which L.A. Times ManagingEditor Leo Wolinsky is quoted saying "in some ways, Gary got too much blame ... He did exactlywhat you expect from a great investigative reporter." The article surveys mainstream reporting atthe time of Webb's pieces and states that while Webb had committed "hyperbole" and includedsome unproven allegations, articles by the New York Times "didn't include the success he achievedor the wrongs he righted and they were considerable" according to Walt Bogdanich, now a NewYork Times editor, who had known Webb earlier.


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The LA Times piece criticizes its own unfair portrayal of Webb -- "we dropped the ball"andnotes that "spurred on by Webb's story, the CIA conducted an internal investigation thatacknowledged in March 1998 that the agency had covered up Contra drug trafficking for more thana decade" and concludes that "History will tell if Webb receives the credit he's due for prodding theCIA to acknowledge its shameful collaboration with drug dealers. Meanwhile, the journalisticestablishment is only beginning to recognize that the controversy over 'Dark Alliance' had more to

do with poor editing than bad reporting [on Webb's part]".[20]

Writing in 2005 in the Chicago Tribune, about "the Dangers of Questioning Government Actions",Don Wycliff, the Tribune's public editor, wrote, "I still think Gary Webb had it mostly right. I thinkhe got the treatment that always comes to those who dare question aloud the bona fides of theestablishment: First he got misrepresented -- his suggestion that the CIA tolerated the Contras'cocaine trading became an allegation that the agency itself was involved in the drug trade. Then he

was ridiculed as a conspiracy-monger." [21]

Media Critic Norman Solomon's analysis, "The Establishment's Papers Do Damage Control for the

CIA", includes various corroborating evidence that a witch-hunt to discredit Webb was pursuedmore vigorously than the truth of some of Webb's allegations, including corroboration internal to

one such paper, the Washington Post. Notes Solomon:[22]

The Post's ombudsman, Geneva Overholser, was on target (11/10/96) when she re-raisedthe question of the U.S. government's relationship to drug smuggling and noted that thethree newspapers "showed more passion for sniffing out the flaws in San Jose's answerthan for sniffing out a better answer themselves."

Citing "strong previous evidence that the CIA at least chose to overlook contrainvolvement in the drug trade", Overholser found "misdirected zeal" in the Post'sresponse to the Mercury News series: "Would that we had welcomed the surge of publicinterest as an occasion to return to a subject the Post and the public had given shortshrift."

Facing increasing public scrutiny from the fallout after Webb's "Dark Alliance" series, the CIAconducted its own internal investigations. Investigative journalist Robert Parry credits Webb for

being responsible for the following government investigations into the Reagan-Bushadministration's conduct of the Contra war:

On December 10, 1996, Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block announced theconclusion of his investigation into the issue, publishing a summary of the investigation at a

press conference. He announced at the press conference, "We have found no evidence that thegovernment was involved in drug trafficking in South-Central." Nevertheless, the reportincluded information that supported some of the charges. Charles Rappleye reported in the

L.A. Weeklythat Block's "unequivocal statement is not backed up by the report itself, which


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raises many questions."[23]Much of the LAPD investigation centered on allegations made ina postscript article to the newspaper's "Dark Alliance" series.On January 29, 1998, Hitz published Volume One of his internal investigation. This was thefirst of two CIA reports that eventually substantiated many of Webb's claims about cocainesmugglers, the Nicaraguan Contra movement, and their ability to freely operate without the

threat of law enforcement.[24]

On March 16, 1998, Hitz admitted that the CIA had maintained relationships with companiesand individuals the CIA knew were involved in the drug business. Hitz told the HousePermanent Select Committee on Intelligence that "there are instances where CIA did not, inan expeditious or consistent fashion, cut off relationships with individuals supporting theContra program who were alleged to have engaged in drug-trafficking activity or take action

to resolve the allegations."[25]Senator Kerry reached similar conclusions a decade earlier in

1987. (See:[6])On May 7, 1998, Rep. Maxine Waters, revealed a memorandum of understanding - item 24(https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/cocaine/contra-story/intro.html)

between the CIA and the Justice Department from 1982, which was entered into theCongressional Record. This letter had freed the CIA from legally reporting drug smuggling byCIA assets, a provision that covered the Nicaraguan Contras and the Afghan rebels.[4](http://www.vcsun.org/%7Ebattias/cia/980507.cr.txt)On July 23, 1998, the Justice Department released a report by its Inspector General, MichaelR. Bromwich. The Bromwich report claimed that the Reagan-Bush administration was awareof cocaine traffickers in the Contra movement and did nothing to stop the criminal activity.The report also alleged a pattern of discarded leads and witnesses, sabotaged investigations,instances of the CIA working with drug traffickers, and the discouragement of DEA

investigations into Contra-cocaine shipments. The CIA's refusal to share information aboutContra drug trafficking with law-enforcement agencies was also documented. The Bromwichreport corroborated Webb's investigation into Norwin Meneses, a Nicaraguan drug

smuggler.[26]

On October 8, 1998, CIA I.G. Hitz published Volume Two of his internal investigation. Thereport described how the Reagan-Bush administration had protected more than 50 Contrasand other drug traffickers, and by so doing thwarted federal investigations into drug crimes.Hitz published evidence that drug trafficking and money laundering had made its way intoReagan's National Security Council where Oliver North oversaw the operations of the

Contras.[5] (http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/nsaebb2.htm) According tothe report, the Contra war took precedence over law enforcement. To that end, the internalinvestigation revealed that the CIA routinely withheld evidence of Contra crimes from theJustice Department, Congress and even the analytical division of the CIA itself. Further, thereport confirmed Webb's claims regarding the origins and the relationship of Contrafundraising and drug trafficking. The report also included information about CIA ties to otherdrug traffickers not discussed in the Webb series, including Moises Nunez (http://www.fas.org/irp/cia/product/cocaine2/south.html#20) and Ivan Gomez (http://www.fas.org/irp/cia/product/cocaine2/other.html#2). More importantly, the internal CIA report documented a cover-up of


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evidence which had led to false intelligence assessments.

After leaving San Jose Mercury NewsWebb went to work for the California Assembly Speaker'sOffice of Member Services and served as a consultant to the California State legislature Task Forceon Government Oversight. As a member of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, Webbinvestigated charges that the Oracle Corporation received a no-bid contract award of $95 million in2001 from former California Governor Gray Davis. Webb was hired by the Sacramento News and

Review, after being laid off in 2003 with the rest of the former Speaker's staff as part of a house-

cleaning when the new Speaker took over.[27]

On December 10, 2004, Gary Webb was found dead from two gunshot wounds to the head.[28]

Sacramento County coroner Robert Lyons ruled that it was suicide, noting that a suicide note was

found at the scene.[28]Webb's ex-wife, Sue Webb-now Sue Stokes- said that Webb had beendepressed for years over his inability to get a job at a daily newspaper: Webb continued to write,

but financially could not support his family.[28]

Each of his children received individualized notes, which Gary mailed to his brother, Kurt Webb, inSan Jose on December 9, 2004. He had also had his motorcycle stolen (it was recovered from thethief, a Sacramento local who specialized in grand theft, by his family after his death) and lost hishome (due to housing-market crash and his inability to get hired at a 'daily' newspaper) the weekprior to his suicide. However, theories have emerged purporting that Gary Webb was murdered to

keep him from exposing governmental corruption.[29][30]

In April 2011, a second book-length collection of his articles that span his entire career outside ofthe Dark Alliance series, entitled The Killing Game: Selected Stories from the Author of Dark

Alliance,by Gary Webb and his youngest son, Eric Webb, was released by Seven Stories Press.[31]

In 2013, it was announced that a movie would be produced called Kill the Messengerwith a PeterLandesman screenplay based on the Dark Alliance series and Nick Schou's book, Kill the

Messenger. The movie is to be directed by Michael Cuesta and will star Jeremy Renner as

Webb.[32]The news prompted Scott Herhold, Webbs first editor at theMercury-News, to write,"Gary Webb was a journalist of outsized talent. Few reporters I've known could match his nose foran investigative story. When he was engaged, he worked hard. He wrote well. But Webb had onehuge blind side: He was fundamentally a man of passion, not of fairness. When facts didn't fit histheory, he tended to shove them to the sidelines." Herhold concluded, "He was no villain ... He was

no hero either. Take it from someone who knew him well." [33]


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1980 "The Coal Connection" (with Thomas Scheffey), Kentucky Post(organized crime inthe Kentucky coal industry)1983 "I Create Life" (with Maria Riccardi), Cleveland Plain Dealer(early surrogate

parenting arrangements)1985 "Doctoring the Truth", Cleveland Plain Dealer(ongoing malpractice and collusionconcerns on the Ohio Medical Board1989 "Caltrans Ignored Elevated Freeway Safety" (with Peter Carey), San Jose Mercury

News(detailed CalTrans negligence in construction of the Cypress Structure in Oaklandwhich collapsed during the Loma Prieta Earthquake)1990 "Good Cop, Bad Cop", San Jose Mercury News(police brutality)1996 "Dark Alliance", San Jose Mercury News(CIA-crack cocaine-Contra connection)1999 "Driving While Black",Esquire(racial profiling in traffic stops)2001 "Sex and the Internet", Wired(investigation of the online sex industry)2004 "The Mighty Wurlitzer Plays On", fromInto the Buzzsaw(retrospective on the media'shandling of the "Dark Alliance" story)2004 "The Killing Game", Sacramento News & Review(military's use of first-person

shooter video games as recruitment tools) [6] (http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/killing-game/content?oid=31755)

1980 Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) Award, small newspaper division.1980 Laurel, Columbia Journalism Review.1980 Gerald M. White Memorial Prize for Investigative Reporting, Cincinnati SDX.1980 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award(IRE) (http://www.ire.org/contest/), forco-authoring a 17-part series at the Kentucky Postin Covington, KY with Tom Scheffey onorganized crime in the American coal industry. [7] (http://www.ire.org/contest/past/1980.html)1981 First place, investigative reporting, Kentucky Press Assn.1981 Second place, deadline news reporting, Cincinnati SDX.1981 Third place, investigative reporting, Cincinnati SDX.1982 Third place, investigative reporting, Kentucky Press Assn.

1983 First place, municipal reporting, Kentucky Municipal League.1983 Reporter of the Month, Scripps Howard Newspapers.1984 Second place, series, Ohio Associated Press Assn.1984 Third place, series, Ohio Associated Press Assn.1985 Laurel, Columbia Journalism Review.1985 First place, investigative reporting, Northeast Ohio SDX.1986 Honorable mention, enterprise reporting, Ohio Associated Press Assn.1986 Honorable mention, series, Ohio Associated Press Assn.1986 First place, investigative reporting, Northeast Ohio SDX.


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1986 Gold Medal, health reporting, American Chiropractic Assn.1987 First place, legal reporting, Ohio Bar Assn.1987 Second place, spot news, Central Ohio SDX.1987 Third place, projects, Central Ohio SDX.1987 Honorable mention, features, Central Ohio SDX.1987 Freedom of Information Award, Central Ohio SDX.1987 First place, investigative reporting, Ohio Associated Press Assn.1988 First place, investigative reporting, Ohio Associated Press Assn.1989 Honorable mention, features, Central Ohio SDX.1989 First place, series, Central Ohio SDX.1990 Pulitzer Prize for General News Reporting, awarded to the San Jose Mercury Newsstaff for its detailed coverage of the October 17, 1989, Bay Area earthquake and its aftermath.[34]

1993 Second place, series, Peninsula Press Club.1994 H.L. Mencken Award, by The Free Press Association for the series in the San Jose

Mercury Newson abuses in the state of California's drug asset forfeiture program.1995California Journalism Award, Center for California Studies, CSU.1995 Honorable mention, Gerald Loeb Award, UCLA School of Business.1995 First Place, local news reporting, Peninsula Press Club.1996 - James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, Hunter College, City Universityof New York.1996 Freedom Fighter Award, California NAACP.1996 Journalist of the Year, Bay Area Society of Professional Journalists.1997 Media Hero Award, from the 2nd Annual Media & Democracy Congress.

1998 Firecracker Alternative Book (FAB) Award, politics, Dark Alliance1998 Nominee, Best Nonfiction Book, Bay Area Book Reviewers Association, DarkAlliance.1998 Finalist, PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award, Dark Alliance.1999 Oakland PEN First Amendment Award, Dark Alliance.2002 25 Books to Remember, New York Public Library, Into the Buzzsaw (contributor)2003 Rouse Award for Press Criticism, National Press Club, Into the Buzzsaw

(contributor)

1975 First place, specialty column, Kentucky Intercollegiate Press Assn.1977 Third place, specialty column, Kentucky Intercollegiate Press Assn.1977 Third place, non-editorial cartooning, Kentucky Intercollegiate Press Assn.


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CIA and Contras cocaine trafficking in the USCIA drug traffickingAmerican Drug War: The Last White HopeIran-Contra Affair

Oscar Danilo BlandonWilliam J. CaseyDanny CasolaroMark LombardiJames HatfieldRicky Ross (drug trafficker)Video game controversies

^ ab"Gary Webb, 1955 - 2004."Esquire. p. 1 (http://web.archive.org/web/20041223182049/http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2004/041217_mfe_webb_1.html). (Archive (http://archive.is/220Pq)) Retrieved on December 15, 2013.

1.

^Portner, Jessica (December 12, 2004). "Gary Webb, 49, former MN reporter, author"(http://web.archive.org/web/20041215022704/http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/10399522.htm). San Jose Mercury News. p. 10B. Archived from the original(http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/10399522.htm) on December 15, 2004.

2.

^Webb's 1999 book,Dark Alliance, substantiated these allegations with copious references.3.^Kornbluh, Peter (January/February 1997). "The Storm over "Dark Alliance"" (http://archives.cjr.org/year/97/1/d-alliance.asp). Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2008-02-01.

4.

^Webb, Gary. "War on drugs has unequal impact on black Americans (http://web.archive.org/web/19970409184821/http://www2.sjmercury.com/drugs/day3main.htm)." (Archive(http://www.webcitation.org/6Ls6hD61i)) San Jose Mercury News. August 20, 1996. Retrieved onDecember 15, 2013.

5.

^ abU.S. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations. Drugs, Law Enforcement, and Foreign Policy. (S.Rpt.100-165). Washington: Government Printing Office, 1988. [1] (http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB113/north06.pdf)PDF (9.47 MiB)(9.5MB)

6.

^Borjesson, Kristina (Ed.) (2002).Into the Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a FreePress. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-972-7. Includes chapter 14 by Gary Webb.

7.

^Bowden, Charles (September 1, 1998). "The Pariah" (http://web.archive.org/web/20061208060422/http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2004/041217_mfe_webb_1.html). Esquire. Archived from theoriginal (http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2004/041217_mfe_webb_1.html) on 2006-12-08.Retrieved 2008-02-01.

8.

^Thieme, Richard (2004-12-14). "My Last Talk with Gary Webb" (http://www.counterpunch.org/thieme12142004.html). CounterPunch. Retrieved 2008-02-01.

9.


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^Solomon, Norman (Jan./Feb. 1997). "Snow Job (http://web.archive.org/web/20050211194420/http://www.datafilter.com/mc/c_fairContraCrackCiaDamageControl.html)".Extra!. Retrieved 2006-07-20from the Internet Archive.

10.

^"Gary Webb, 1955 - 2004."Esquire. p. 9 (http://web.archive.org/web/20060518074834/http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2004/041217_mfe_webb_9.html). (Archive (http://archive.is/220Pq)) Retrieved on December 15, 2013.

11.

^Schou, Nick. "Ex-L.A. Times Writer Apologizes for "Tawdry" Attacks."LA Weekly. Thursday May

30, 2013. p. 1 (http://www.laweekly.com/2013-05-30/news/gary-webb-jess-katz-crack/) (Archive(http://archive.is/wfdkO)). Retrieved on December 15, 2013.

12.

^Parry, Robert. (1996). "Contra-Crack Story Assailed (http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/crack2.html)". ConsortiumNews.com. Retrieved 2006-07-21.

13.

^ abcOsborn, Barbara Bliss. (Mar./Apr. 1998). "Are You Sure You Want to Ruin Your Career?"(http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2056). Extra!. Retrieved 2006-07-21.

14.

^"The Mighty Wurlitzer Plays On", reprinted in The Killing Game, Seven Stories Press, 2011.15.^Webb 1999, pp. 92-95.16.^Gary Webb Is Dead (http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?bid=3&pid=2066)17.^Hooked on Fantasies (http://www.unz.org/Pub/Reason-1999jan-00066) Glenn Garvin| Reason

Magazine|January 1999

18.

^Fenster, Mark (2008). Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture (revised edition)University of Minnesota Press. pp. 23. ISBN 0-8166-5494-8.

19.

^Schou, Nick (August 18, 2006). "The truth in 'Dark Alliance'" (http://articles.latimes.com/2006/aug/18/opinion/oe-schou18).Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-04-05.

20.

^Chicago Tribune - Dangers of Questioning Government Actions (http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0106-34.htm)

21.

^FAIR - Snow Job The Establishment's Papers Do Damage Control for the CIA (http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1374)

22.

^Rappleye, Charles (Decemgber 13, 1996). "Sherman's Contra-Diction (http://www.csun.edu/CommunicationStudies/ben/news/cia/961213.law.html)".LA Weekly. Retrieved copy of original article2006-07-21 from California State University Northridge.

23.

^s:CIA Inspector General Frederick P. Hitz24.^Pincus (March 17, 1998). The Washington Post.25.^Michael R. Bromwich, THE CIA-CONTRA-CRACK COCAINE CONTROVERSY: A REVIEW OFTHE JUSTICE DEPARTMENTS INVESTIGATIONS AND PROSECUTIONS, USDOJ/OIG SpecialReport, December, 1997, "[2] (http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/9712/)",

26.

^The Ultimate Gary Webb - American History Information Guide and Reference(http://www.historymania.com/american_history/Gary_Webb)

27.

^ abcStanton, Sam (December 15, 2004). "Reporter's suicide confirmed by coroner"(http://web.archive.org/web/20080507054818/http://dwb.sacbee.com/content/news/story/11772749p-12657577c.html). The Sacramento Bee. Archived from the original (http://dwb.sacbee.com/content/news/story/11772749p-12657577c.html) on May 7, 2008.

28.

^http://www.arcurrent.com/news/2013/04/24/tangled-webb-part-2/29.^ http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/december2004/141204webbmurdered.htm30.^Library Journalreview of The Killing Game. Retrieved April 21, 2011.(http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/reviewsxpress/888804-289/xpress_reviewsfirst_look_at_new.html.csp)

31.

^ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/berlin-jeremy-renners-gary-webb-42034232.


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^ http://www.mercurynews.com/scott-herhold/ci_22560549/herhold-jeremy-renner-gary-webb-movie-cia?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

33.

^"General News Reporting" (http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/General-News-Reporting). The PulitzerPrizes. Retrieved 2013-11-09.

34.

Borjesson, Kristina (Ed.) (2002).Into the Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a FreePress. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-972-7. Includes chapter 14 by Gary Webb.Celerino III Castillo & Dave Harmon (1994). Powderburns: Cocaine, Contras & the Drug War. SundialISBN 0-88962-578-6 (paperback) ISBN 0-8095-4855-0 (hardcover; Borgo Pr; 3rd ed.; 1995) Check| i sbn=value (help).Alexander Cockburn & Jeffrey St. Clair (1999). Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press. Verso(http://www.versobooks.com/). ISBN 1-85984-139-2 (cloth), ISBN 1-85984-258-5 (paperback) Check| i sbn=value (help). Cites 116 books.Frederick P. Hitz (1999). "Obscuring Propriety: The CIA and Drugs".International Journal ofIntelligence and Counterintelligence12(4): 448462. doi:10.1080/088506099304990 (http://dx.doi.org

/10.1080%2F088506099304990). Note: Hitz, then CIA Inspector General, was the person who firstmentioned the secret agreement between CIA and the Department of Justice, in March 1988, whentestifying before the House Intelligence Committee.Robert Parry (1999).Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & "Project Truth". Media Consortium.ISBN 1-893517-00-4.

Nick Schou (Charles Bowden, preface) (2006). Kill the Messenger: How the CIA's Crack CocaineControversy Destroyed Gary Webb. Nation Books. ISBN 1-56025-930-2.Peter Dale Scott & Jonathan Marshall (1991). Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in CentralAmerica. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-21449-8 (paperback, 1998 reprint), ISBN0-520-07312-6 (hardcover, 1991), ISBN 0-520-07781-4 (paperback, 1992 reprint) Check | i sbn=value

(help).Webb, Gary (1998).Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. SevenStories Press. ISBN 1-888363-68-1 (hardcover, 1998), ISBN 1-888363-93-2 (paperback, 1999) Check| i sbn=value (help).

Douglas, Theo. "Finding a Scapegoat (http://www.ocweekly.com/2006-11-09/culture/finding-a-scapegoat/)." OC Weekly. Thursday November 9, 2006. - About Kill the Messengerby Nick Schou

Herhold, Scott. "Herhold: Thinking back on journalist Gary Webb and the CIA(http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_22560549/herhold-jeremy-renner-gary-webb-movie-cia)." (Archive(http://www.webcitation.org/6LtaMeKjX)) San Jose Mercury News. February 10, 2013.Katz, Jesse. "Seeing the Gray in 'Dark Alliance' (http://www.lamag.com/thejump/2013/06/06/seeing-the-gray-in-dark-alliance)."Los Angeles Magazine. June 6, 2013.Kornbluh, Peter. "The Storm over "Dark Alliance" (http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/storm.htm)." (Archive (http://archive.is/vmNAQ), Archive #2 (http://www.webcitation.org/6LtbM0cCk)) Columbia Journalism Review, January/February 1997.Paterno, Susan. "The Sad Saga of Gary Webb (http://www.ajr.org/article.asp?id=3874)."AmericanJournalism Review. June/July 2005.


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Schou, Nick. "Ex-L.A. Times Writer Apologizes for "Tawdry" Attacks (http://www.laweekly.com/2013-05-30/news/gary-webb-jess-katz-crack/)."LA Weekly. Thursday May 30, 2013.Stanton, Sam. "Reporter's suicide confirmed by coroner (http://web.archive.org/web/20041217055052/http://sacbee.com/content/news/story/11772749p-12657577c.html)." (Archive(http://www.webcitation.org/6LtViUzRm)) Sacramento Bee. December 15, 2004."THE CIA-CONTRA-CRACK COCAINE CONTROVERSY: A REVIEW OF THE JUSTICEDEPARTMENTS INVESTIGATIONS AND PROSECUTIONS (http://www.justice.gov/oig/special

/9712/)." United States Department of Justice/Office of the Inspector General Special Report. December1997.

San Jose Mercury News"Dark Alliance" web page (http://web.archive.org/web/19970412135831/http://www1.sjmercury.com/drugs/postscriptstart.htm) archived1997-04-12 (Internet Archive)

"Dark Alliance" archive (http://www.mega.nu:8080/ampp/webb.html), San Jose MercuryNewsDark Alliance: Day One (http://www.narconews.com/Issue38/article1359.html), San Jose

Mercury News archive with multimediaThe CIA-Contra-Crack Connection, 10 Years Later (http://www.streetgangs.com/topics/2006/081806gwebb.html),Los Angeles Times, August 18, 2006"Online NewsHour Forum: Gary Webb - Crack and The Contras" (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/october96/crack_contra_11-1.html#index), PBS November 5, 1996

Allegations of Connections Between CIA and the Contras in Cocaine Trafficking to the United

States, Volume I: The California Story(https://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/cocaine/report/index.html), CIA

Allegations of Connections Between CIA and the Contras in Cocaine Trafficking to the United

States, Volume II: The Contra Story(https://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/cocaine/index.html),CIAThe Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations: Documentation of Official U.S. Knowledge of

Drug Trafficking and the Contras(http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/nsaebb2.htm), A collection of declassified documents at the National Security ArchiveOliver North declassified documents (http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB113/index.htm) at the National Security Archive

Snow Job: The Establishment's Papers Do Damage Control for the CIA (http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1374), By Norman Solomon, inExtra!, Fairness and Accuracy inReporting's magazine"The Crack-UP: What the CIA knew about the drug trade, in its own words"(http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/99/09/news-webb.php), by Gary Webb, Orange CountyWeekly, November 612, 1998"Bush Pardons 6 In Iran Affair" (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/aol/onthisday/991224onthisday_big.html), by David Johnston, The New York Times, December 24, 1992Department of Justice: The CIA-Contra-Crack cocaine controversy: A review of the Justice


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Department's investigations and prosecutions(December 1997)

Epilogue (http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/9712/epilogue.htm) (July 1998)Executive Summary (http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/9712/exec.htm)Table of contents (http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/9712/index.htm)

"Gary Webb: In His Own Words (2004)" (http://www.archive.org/details/Gary_Webb2), Video

of Interview with Gary Webb by Guerrilla News NetworkGary Webb Timeline (http://www.streetgangs.com/magazine/ciadrugconnection.html) -www.streetgangs.com"Interview between Gary Webb and Dominic Streatfeild. Source Material for Cocaine: AnUnauthorised Biography" (http://www.dominicstreatfeild.com/2010/11/05/interview-with-gary-webb/) (2000)

"Gary Webb: a Great Reporter" (http://www.CounterPunch.org/cockburn12132004.html),Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, CounterPunch"America's Debt to Journalist Gary Webb" (http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/121304.html), Robert Parry, Consortiumnews"Gary Webb: Do What He Did" (http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2004/12/15/184725/08), Al Giordano,Narco News"Gary Webb: In his own words" (http://www.gnn.tv/videos/video.php?id=30). video (length8:07min) - Webb discusses the media battle that erupted in the aftermath of his investigations.Produced at School of Authentic Journalism. Mirror site: Archive.org (http://www.archive.org

/details/Gary_Webb2)."Gary Webb is Dead" (http://www.thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?bid=3&pid=2066), David Corn, The Nation"Gary Webb's Death Confirmed as Suicide by two shots" (http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000737253), E&P Staff,Editor &PublisherDecember 15, 2004"Gary Webb's Final Days" (http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000771236), Joe Strupp,Editor & Publisher,January 25, 2005."Gary Webb, RIP: No thanks to the L.A. Times" (http://www.laweekly.com/ink/printme.php?eid=59321), Marc Cooper,LA Weekly, December 1723, 2004."Kill The Messenger Gary Webb, 1955-2004" (http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/05/15/news-schou.php), Nick Schou, Orange County Weekly, December 1723, 2004.Gary Webb, 1955-2004 (http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20041229204435/http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2004/041217_mfe_webb_1.html), ed.,Esquire. Obituarywith reprint of the article The Pariah, Charles Bowden, 1988."Gary Webb Speaks" (http://www.parascope.com/mx/articles/garywebb/garyWebbSpeaks.htm), by Charles Overbeck


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"R.I.P. Gary WebbUnembedded Reporter" (http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Dec2004/Cohen1213.htm), Jeff Cohen,Dissident Voice"R.I.P. Gary WebbUnembedded Reporter" (http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/12/14/3719/5652), Badtux (pseudonym), Kuro5hin"The day the writing died" (http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2004-12-23/news2.asp)Chrisanne Beckner, December 23, 2004, Sacramento News & Review"Why They Hated Gary Webb" (http://www.CounterPunch.com/cockburn12182004.html),Alexander Cockburn, CounterPunch, December 18/19, 2004"Written in pain" (http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/pen-l/2005w11/msg00076.htm), TinaDaunt, March 16, 2005,Los Angeles Times"'A NATURAL STORY': A Tribute to 'Dark Alliance' and Journalist Gary Webb" (three parts)(http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/12/10/18336493.php), Brian Covert, December 10,2006, San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center (http://www.indybay.org/)

Gary Webb (http://lccn.loc.gov/n90696662) at Library of Congress Authorities, with catalogrecords

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gary_Webb&oldid=587532072"

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