[8] In 1979, Webb married Susan Bell; the couple eventually had three children. 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. Tiffany L Gary-Webb | School of Public Health .article-native-ad svg { An investigative journalist, Webb became interested in the covert activities of the Central Intelligence Agency. [5], After high school, Webb attended an Indianapolis community college on a scholarship until his family moved to Cincinnati. 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". [33] Golden also referred to the controversy over Webb's contacts with Ross's lawyer. Gary Webb sums up the story in his last major interview just days before his death. Newsweek called Kerry a "randy conspiracy buff". Gary Webb was a journalist of outsized talent. Shortly before his death, his motorcycle had been stolen (it was recovered by his family after his death). By: E&P Staff The death of investigative reporter Gary Webb has been confirmed as a suicide, according to a coroner's statement. Two years later, he was promoted to Vice President of Knight Ridder, the Mercury News's parent company; he retired from this position last month. 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. He was born Sept.10, 1957 in Willcox, Ariz. to RG Webb and Winnie Mae Shelton. Some editors regarded him as stubborn to the point of insolence. "[62] It also found no evidence to support Webb's suggestion that several other drug smugglers mentioned in the series were associated with the CIA, or that anyone associated with the CIA or other intelligence agencies was involved in supplying or selling drugs in Los Angeles.[62]. The story was picked up by black talk-radio stations. [55] Webb eventually chose Cupertino, but was unhappy with the routine stories he was reporting there and the long commute. 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. 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. Hired by the San Jose Mercury News, Webb contributed to the paper's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. Webb, a Pullitzer prize winning journalist, exposed CIA drug trafficking operations in a series of books and reports for the San Jose Mercury News. Gary Webb, Into the Buzzsaw, CH 13, Prometheus Books. To show this, the series focused on three men: Ricky Ross, Oscar Danilo Blandn, and Norwin Meneses. [9], Webb's first major investigative work appeared in 1980, when the Cincinnati Post published "The Coal Connection," a seventeen-part series by Webb and Post reporter Thomas Scheffey. When they married, she was aged just 21. She said the paper wanted to make up for what it had done in the past. Webb's ex-wife, Stokes, now remarried and still living in Sacramento, had heard it all before, too. Gary Webb, MD, FRCPC, FACC - The Donohue Funeral Homes Inc. "Gary didn't take her seriously," says Susan Bell, "because he was always getting calls alleging weird stuff about the CIA. [41], When the Los Angeles Times series appeared, Ceppos again wrote to defend the original series. To Read the Full Story Become an Adweek+ Subscriber. ", Many of these are in the series archive at. padding-left: 10px!important; line-height:1.5; In the final few months of his life, Bell says, Webb became increasingly withdrawn. 4) The series "created impressions that were open to misinterpretation" through "imprecise language and graphics. Even 10 years after his tragic death, the media refuse to let him rest. He was born at Emmanuel Hospital in. His wife is Sue Webb (m. 1979-2000) Gary Webb Net Worth His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. But "Dark Alliance" was also posted on the Mercury News's website, with the image of a crack smoker superimposed on the CIA badge. "He was crying. [42] The extent of the criticism, however, convinced Ceppos that The Mercury News had to acknowledge to its readers that the series had been subjected to strong criticism. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Why bring up old white people atrocities against black people now? [37], In 2013, Jesse Katz, a former Los Angeles Times reporter, said of the newspaper's coverage "As an L.A. Times reporter, we saw this series in the San Jose Mercury News and kind of wonder[ed] how legit it was and kind of put it under a microscope, and we did it in a way that most of us who were involved in it, I think, would look back on that and say it was overkill. 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. "[74] Mary Anne Sharkey, Webb's editor at The Plain Dealer, told writer Alicia Shepard in 1997 that Webb was known as 'the carpenter' "because he had everything nailed down. "Gary Webb was left to fend for himself. As it turned out," she adds, "that was not their intent.". He had sold his house the week before his death because he was unable to afford the mortgage.[71]. Gary Webb famously died of two gun shot wounds to the head and his death that was ruled a suicide, is the common sense notion that this was clearly assassination true? When it did, beginning with The Washington Post, it shocked Webb's critics as much as his many admirers. 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". A jury awarded the plaintiffs over 13 million dollars and the case was later settled. [16] As part of The Mercury News team that covered the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, Webb and his colleague Pete Carey wrote a story examining the causes of the collapse of the Cypress Street Viaduct. If he could have chosen his own epitaph, it might have been a line from the letter he posted to Bell, immediately before he killed himself: "I do not regret," Webb told her, "anything that I have written." Ross was a major drug dealer in Los Angeles. Few reporters I've known could match his nose for an investigative story. Gary Webb | American journalist | Britannica ", As Webb would tell a friend, after he had been ostracised: "You have to look out, when the big dog gets off the porch.". We are in the living room of Bell's house just outside Sacramento, California. 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. There were no offers. Gary Webb (304) 778-2546: Jamie Webb (304) 778-2546: Status: Homeowner. The CIA Inspector General's report, commissioned in response to the allegations in "Dark Alliance", was published in the autumn of 1998. Nick Schou, a journalist who wrote a 2006 biography of Webb, has claimed that this was the most important error in the series. But they underestimated the paradigm shifting power of the internet, and the intelligence of Webb, who not only listed the explosive story online . 'It's just good vibes': Cooper Webb, Eli Tomac in tight Supercross [21] This artwork proved controversial, and The Mercury News later removed it. "Back then. He was so depressed. Gary Webb's Death Confirmed as Suicide | Editor and Publisher American Journalism Review - Archives Regarding issues raised in the series's shorter sidebar stories, it found that some in the government were "not eager" to have DEA agent Celerino Castillo "openly probe" activities at Ilopango Airport in El Salvador, where covert operations in support of the Contras were undertaken, and that the CIA had indeed intervened in a case involving smuggler Julio Zavala. Webb 'Suicide' Looking More Like Murder - rense.com 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. "They had him writing obituaries," she said. He was the much-loved father of Lindsay (Stephen . WEBB, Mr. Gary Lee, our beloved son, husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle went home with his heavenly Father Monday, August 29, 2011 at University of Michigan Hospital. By Sam Stanton Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 am PST Wednesday, December 15, 2004. . "That's right," says Blum. Save 50% with early-bird passes. "They tried to make us look like crazies," says Blum. When Gary originally broke this mind blowing story, the arrogant authority's assumed they could simply ignore him and hope he'd go away. If the antagonism of competing publications was predictable, what happened to Webb within his own newspaper was not. They were outraged by the series's charges.[27]. What he found, he wrote later, "nearly knocked me off my chair". "[25] It also found disparities in the treatment of Black and White traffickers in the justice system, contrasting the treatment of Blandn and Ross after their arrests for drug trafficking. He was previously married to Sue Bell. A revised version was published in 1999 that incorporated Webb's response to the CIA and Justice Department reports. 2) The series's estimate of the money involved was presented as fact instead of as an estimate. Can these things possibly be? The passing of Gary ends more than 50 years with his best friend and loving wife, Marilyn J. He became an investigator for the California State Legislature, published a book based on the "Dark Alliance" series in 1998, and did freelance investigative reporting. In February last year he was laid off by the State Legislature. After the publication of "Dark Alliance," The Mercury News continued to pursue the story, publishing follow-ups to the original series for the next three months. With hindsight, Bell says, "the signs were there. 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. Because the gentile (european caucasian, lepers, fake jews) or white folks agenda has always been to destroy the black man, ever since pharaoh tried to murder Christ by murdering Hebrew babies, until now. Eli Tomac on track during Media Day at Daytona International Speedway, Friday, March 3, 2023. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. His own paper, the Mercury News, criticized the series in 1997 without providing many specifics. [59], The first volume of the report found no evidence that "any past or present employee of CIA, or anyone acting on behalf of CIA, had any direct or indirect dealing" with Ross, Blandn, or Meneses or that any of the other figures mentioned in "Dark Alliance" were ever employed by or associated with or contacted by the agency. Gary Webb Obituary (2009) - Elgin, IL - Elgin Courier News - Legacy.com Dark Alliance - Dark Alliance Gary Numan's superfan wife had 'body lift' and exploding breasts "He told me, not long before he died, that he didn't want to get up in the mornings," she says. Critics view the series' claims as inaccurate or overstated, while supporters point to the results of a later CIA investigation as vindicating the series. I'm glad that I didn't dissuade him, because it was important to get the truth out but for Gary Webb, there was a very high price to pay." Gary Webb's Ex-Wife Set to Attend New York Premiere - Adweek "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. I mean - please.". It was good that his story forced those reports to come out, but part of what made that happen was based on misleading information. [61] According to the report, it used Webb's reporting and writing as "key resources in focusing and refining the investigation." Gary's family found that old, storied, ("priceless to us," as his ex-wife, Susan Bell, described it to me) CDROM among his possessions. I realise now he was thinking about suicide.". When he was engaged, he worked hard. Webb's pieces were not dealing with nameless peasants slaughtered in some distant republic, but demonstrated a clear link between the CIA and the suppliers of the gangs delivering crack to the ghetto of Watts, in South Central Los Angeles. [14] In 1984, Webb wrote a story titled Driving Off With Profits which claimed that the promoters of a race in Cleveland paid themselves nearly a million dollars from funds that should have gone to the city of Cleveland. He had also lost his house the week before his suicide. Part of what makes OConnors article so compelling are the candid thoughts of Webbs former wife Sue Stokes. Taken during the London Open House 2014 event. 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. The normal process is, or should be, that a reporter files a story and is robustly challenged by his paper's lawyers and editors - who, if satisfied that the report is accurate - publish, then defend the writer to the hilt. GARY WEBB was an investigative reporter who focused on government and private sector corruption and who won more than thirty journalism awards. The link between drug-running and the Reagan regime's support for the right-wing terrorist group throughout the 1980s had been public knowledge for over a decade. Occupation: Machine Operators, Assemblers, and Inspectors Occupations. It was published in 1998 as Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Dr. Gary A. Webb is a geriatrician in Marco Island, Florida. 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. Few reporters I've known could match his nose for an investigative story. Gary Webb - Lake Ridge Chapel & Memorial Designers 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. The new movie Kill the Messenger, based in part on a 2006 book by a former student of mine, eulogizes Webb . So, how much is Gary Webb worth at the age of 49 years old? That wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been willing to stand up and risk it all.". Gary Webb was born in Corona, California, in 1955. He then transferred to nearby Northern Kentucky University. Meneses, an established smuggler and a Contra supporter as well, taught Blandn how to smuggle and provided him with cocaine. "[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." "But that," pointed out Blum, who is now a Washington attorney, "in no way - in no way - diminishes the wrongness of what these bastards did. } "And to an extent, they succeeded.". His. 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. Nobody who heads a government agency can let such an allegation stand.". [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. 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 concluded, "How did these shortcomings occur? 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." "You sound very scared," Moreira remarks. He was born August 27, 1968 in Saginaw, Michigan to Taylor Jr. and Loretta Webb. "Do not quote me. 71K views 8 years ago Gary Webb's son Ian talks about the film in which Jeremy Renner plays his late journalist father. Connie Webb (304) 778-2546: Status: Homeowner. [81], Peter Kornbluh, a researcher at George Washington University's National Security Archives, also does not agree that the report vindicated the series. "[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." Gary Webb - Biography - IMDb 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. Webb followed up Baca's leads at the California State Library, examining Congressional records and FBI reports. "Which was that, if he wanted a future within the political establishment of the United States, then he should concentrate on other aspects of life.". 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. The first effect of the onslaught was to ease the pressure on the CIA. Baca claimed that a drug dealer with close links to the CIA had framed her boyfriend, who was also in the cocaine business. [54] Editors at the paper, on the other hand, felt that Webb had failed to tell them about information that contradicted the series's claims and that he "responded to concerns not with reasoned argument, but with accusations of us selling him out.