gary webb wife

This did not happen in Webb's case. n 1996, journalist Gary Webb wrote a series of articles under the title "Dark Alliance" for the suggesting a CIA connection between anti-government contras in Nicaragua and monies raised from. Occupation: Machine Operators, Assemblers, and Inspectors Occupations. Sue remarried two years ago. He is survived by his loving wife, Wendie, of Elgin; grandmother, Eileen Carrier of Elgin;. [17] The Mercury News's coverage of the earthquake won its staff the Pulitzer Prize for General News Reporting in 1990. "[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." Gary Stephen Webb(August 31, 1955 - December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist. 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. 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. Although he attended Northern Kentucky for four years, he did not finish his degree. GARY WEBB OBITUARY Gary Frank Webb Sept. 27, 1944 - Oct. 23, 2022 Gary passed away peacefully of complications following cardiovascular surgery. "He told the guys with him he was fine," she recalls, "got back on the bike, then passed out, half an hour later. [13] Webb then moved to the paper's statehouse bureau, where he covered statewide issues and won numerous regional journalism awards. Army. Part of what makes OConnors article so compelling are the candid thoughts of Webbs former wife Sue Stokes. Ceppos and Garcia have long since lost any taste for public discussion of "Dark Alliance". He leaves behind the love of his life and adoring wife of 41 years, Anne Michelle Phillips. 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. The drugs went to South Central LA. Unfortunately, the railroading of Gary Webb had begun and he was run over. [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. Video courtesy of documentary FREEWAY: CRACK IN THE SYSTEM premiering on Al Jazeera America in early 2015. [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. 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. The "Dark Alliance" series remains controversial. } 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. "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. His former wife, her voice lowered to a whisper, explains that Webb missed with the first shot (which exited through his left cheek). Webb is best known for his "Dark Alliance" series, which appeared in The Mercury News in 1996. font-size: 34px; Gary Webb was a journalist of outsized talent. 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". During and immediately after the controversy over "Dark Alliance," Webb's earlier writing was examined closely. When he was engaged, he worked hard. Webb resigned from The Mercury News in December 1997. "[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. It sounds like a Tom Clancy novel, right? So he blew her off. [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." Emma Lee Webb. Attorneys' Offices. He was a writer, known for Kill the Messenger (2014), Filming in Georgia (2015) and Crack in America (2015). [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. "I had to warn Gary that what he was looking at was probably true, but that he would run very big risks," Parry recalls. "[72] California Representative Maxine Waters, who was Webb's strongest supporter in Congress after the "Dark Alliance" controversy broke, issued a statement after Webb's death calling him "one of the finest investigative journalists that our country has ever seen. Gary was born Sept. 4, 1947, to Percy and Pauline (Haas) Webb. "Like enjoy it.". The story had little immediate impact. LOS ANGELES, Dec. 12 - Gary Webb, a reporter who won national attention with a series of articles, later discredited, linking the Central Intelligence Agency to the spread of crack . [35] The second article, by McManus, was the longest of the series and dealt with the role of the Contras in the drug trade and CIA knowledge of drug activities by the Contras. Celebrezze eventually sued the Plain Dealer and won an undisclosed out of court settlement. In August of 1996, investigative journalist Gary Webb broke the biggest story of his life. 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. "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". The first article in "Dark Alliance" that discussed the failure of law enforcement agencies to prosecute Blandn and Meneses had mentioned several cases. 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. Webb took a modestly paid, low-profile job as an investigator with the California State Legislature. Newsweek called Kerry a "randy conspiracy buff". . That was just the way he was.". One of his last articles examined America's Army, a video game designed by the U.S. Some might consider it an inappropriate assignment for a man with responsibilities. In interviews after leaving The Mercury News, Webb described the 1997 controversy as media manipulation. 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. It was written by Jesse Katz, the same reporter who, less than two years earlier, had described Ross's conglomerate as "the Wal-Mart of crack dealing". Talking about his wife, Mariah Webb is a nurse who also educates about essential products . "[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. "This is an appalling charge," says a tense-looking Deutch. Webb, unlike Blum or Kerry, had to face his difficulties alone. Steven Webb . California senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein also took note and wrote to CIA director John Deutch and Attorney General Janet Reno, asking for investigations into the articles' allegations. His death was ruled a suicide by the Sacramento County coroner's office. The Los Angeles Times and other major papers published articles suggesting the "Dark Alliance" claims were overstated and, in November 1996, Jerome Ceppos, the executive editor at Mercury News, wrote about being "in the eye of the storm". For two years, Blum and Kerry supervised the interrogation of dozens of witnesses who described CIA-related drug deals in central America. Occupation: Machine Operators, Assemblers, and Inspectors Occupations. Gary Stephen Webb (August 31, 1955 December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist. The film broadened the debate which led to the decriminalisation of . Webb disagreed with this conclusion.[1][2]. Gary Webb, friends say, was a far more combative character than either the Mercury News's executive editor Ceppos or page editor Garcia. [33] Golden also referred to the controversy over Webb's contacts with Ross's lawyer. padding:0!important; Both sides were left angry and disappointed. But "Dark Alliance" was also posted on the Mercury News's website, with the image of a crack smoker superimposed on the CIA badge. "If I had one dream for you," he wrote, "it was that you would go into journalism and carry on the kind of work I did - fighting, with all your might, the oppression and bigotry and stupidity and greed that surrounds us. E&P Staff. 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. Gary's documentation is awesome and his work ethic is unbelievable. Do not quote me on anything.". With hindsight, Bell says, "the signs were there. He was previously married to Sue Bell. The second article described Blandn's background and how he began smuggling cocaine to support the Contras. Gary Webb passed away on March 2, 2019. 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". [55] Webb eventually chose Cupertino, but was unhappy with the routine stories he was reporting there and the long commute. Can these things possibly be? [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. The CIA Inspector General's report, commissioned in response to the allegations in "Dark Alliance", was published in the autumn of 1998. After Ceppos' column, The Mercury News spent the next several months conducting an internal review of the story. To pay off his mounting debts, Webb sold the Carmichael property, where he was living alone, and arranged to move in with his mother. They failed because the climate was more sceptical then. When facts didn't fit his theory, he tended to shove them to the sidelines. And it ruined that reporter's career. 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. Family and friends will gather to celebrate his life of 59 years at 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 7, 2019, at Lamesa Continue Reading Leave a Message, Share a Memory He then transferred to nearby Northern Kentucky University. 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. His wife is Sue Webb (m. 1979-2000) Gary Webb Net Worth His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. Film of this encounter survives. His corpse was discovered on the seventh anniversary of his resignation from the Mercury News. "Looking back," she says, "I think Gary had been obsessed with suicide for some time. He was born Sept.10, 1957 in Willcox, Ariz. to RG Webb and Winnie Mae Shelton. And this is not a happy story - or," she adds, "a little one.". "He walked in one day," Bell recalls, "and said, 'You are not going to believe what I just found out.' [69], Webb was found dead in his Carmichael home on December 10, 2004, with two gunshot wounds to the head. He was a former member of Bethlehem . margin-top: 10px; He had also lost his house the week before his suicide. ", The significant legacy of the Webb case, "the reason this whole affair remains so significant today," Blum says, "is this: the knowledge that, if one individual dares raise such serious issues, they risk confronting a tremendous apparatus that is prepared to whack them hard, and there is very little they can expect by way of support. They were outraged by the series's charges.[27]. Tara Becker-Gray Lee News Network Jan 17, 2019 0 1 of 2 C. Webb The body found at a house fire at 13308 95th Ave. in rural Blue Grass on Thursday night has been identified as Cynthia Webb, 59.. He stayed home, playing computer games, and began smoking cannabis heavily. Gary Douglas Webb of Radnor, PA, passed away on October 19, 2021. Jeff Leen, assistant managing editor for investigative reporting at The Washington Post, wrote in a 2014 opinion page article that "the report found no CIA relationship with the drug ring Webb had written about." His own paper, the Mercury News, criticized the series in 1997 without providing many specifics. As a result, some major US newspapers ignored its findings completely, while others relegated a brief summary to their inside pages. "And to an extent, they succeeded.". There were no offers. 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. "He definitely was depressed. Webb, according to Bell, was a man who, more than most, found that his mood and self-esteem fluctuated in accordance with his professional fortunes. But the tragedy had a deeper meaning. We had been here before." The new movie Kill the Messenger, based in part on a 2006 book by a former student of mine, eulogizes Webb . 2) The series's estimate of the money involved was presented as fact instead of as an estimate. Noting that most of the activities discussed in the report had nothing to do with the people Webb reported on, Kornbluh told Schou, "I can't say it's a vindication. 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). He received his medical degree from American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine and has been in practice for more than. Webb's continuing reporting also triggered a fourth investigation. Like Schou, Corn cites the inspector general's report, which he says "acknowledged that the CIA had indeed worked with suspected drugrunners (sic) while supporting the contras. The February 2000 report by the House Intelligence Committee in turn considered the book's claims as well as the series' claims. In 2004, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb was found dead from an apparent suicide, as Democracy Now! "They tried to make us look like crazies," says Blum. She was a homemaker and a member of Hunters Chapel Baptist Church. Last edited on 10 February 2023, at 03:36, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion, CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking, "To readers of our 'Dark Alliance' series", "America's 'crack' plague has roots in Nicaragua war", "War on drugs has unequal impact on black Americans", "Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Inquiry Findings", "The CIA and Crack: Evidence Is Lacking Of Alleged Plot", "Though Evidence Is Thin, Tale of C.I.A. The CIA Inspector-General's report was issued in two volumes. Asking why crack became so prevalent in the Black community of Los Angeles, the article credited Blandn, referring to him as "the Johnny Appleseed of crack in California. [6], Webb first began writing for the student newspaper at his college in Indianapolis. Webb became a staff reporter for the San Jose Mercury News in 1988. But ultimately, the responsibility was, and is, mine.". Snowfall is an American crime drama television series set in Los Angeles in 1983. ", Webb had already been cremated and his ashes scattered in the bay off Santa Cruz two weeks before. 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. 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. Born January 3rd, 1943 in Montreal, Quebec, he was the son of the late John Douglas Webb and the late Jeannie (Penny) Hardie Penman. He was assigned to its Sacramento bureau, where he was allowed to choose most of his own stories. color:rgb(46,179,178); [73], On the other hand, many of the writers and editors who worked with him have had high praise for him. Webb joined the Mercury News in 1988, via the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Webb worked for several newspapers including The Kentucky Post and Cleveland Plain Dealer. "You sound very scared," Moreira remarks. On Dec. 9, 2004, the 49-year-old Webb typed out suicide notes to his ex-wife and his three children; laid out a certificate for his cremation; and taped a note on the door telling movers, who were .

Do Late Bloomers Have Bigger, Kelly Reilly Peaky Blinders, Dupage County Arrests This Week, Trousdale Turner Correctional Center Stabbing, M1 Garand Sight Height Above Bore, Articles G