Last Updated on March 21, 2022 by Raider1
Who is Gary Webb?
Gary Webb was a Pulitzer Prize-winning, American journalist. He is best known for his work with The Mercury News of San Jose, CA.
It was there in the mid-90’s when he rose to fame for his Dark Alliance series that covered the CIA’s involvement in distributing crack cocaine into poor African-American communities especially in California.
This didn’t come without controversy, and it’s a controversy that persists nearly 20 years following Gary’s suicide (not one, but two gunshots to the head) in 2004.
The Controversy
The Truth community and conspiracy theorists have worked to keep Gary’s memory and legacy alive.
The implications of his story and the impact it’s had on not only our society, but the African-American community are dire.
The mainstream answers this with articles they claim set the record straight about a journalist who had no proof for his claims.
As with most “conspiracy theories”, if one ounce of it is true, it means We The People live under a much more sinister government than most people are willing to accept.
It’s easier to ignore a terrible truth than embrace it.
I’m not here to prove Gary was right. I’ll leave that up to you. This story has A LOT of moving parts.
The cool thing is that it’s available as it appeared in 1996 on the web via the Wayback Machine.
Dark Alliance was the first news piece to be simultaneously published in print and on the web.
Personally, I believe Gary did his due diligence. Based on things that have come to light about the CIA in the time since, I completely believe they are and were an organization capable of this and so many other sinister acts.
In 1993, 60 Minutes won a Peabody Award for it’s exploration into the CIA’s drug trafficking endeavors.
In a Crooked World, The Drug Trafficker Gets the Glory
In a Crooked World, The Drug Trafficker Gets the GloryRegardless of who was bringing the cocaine up from South America, there was one man responsible for it reaching the streets of Los Angeles. That man is “Freeway” Ricky Ross.
In a twisted rags to riches story, Ross turned to drug-dealing after his illiteracy prevented him from receiving a tennis scholarship for college.
As a result, he ended up associating with local street gangs and pretty soon, he was selling drugs.
When Ross made a connection with a community college teacher to sell cocaine, an empire was begun. He was so skilled at selling cocaine that he outgrew the amount the instructor was able to supply.
Eventually, his supplier became Nicaragua and Gary Webb says that hook-up was made via the CIA. With an endless supply of cocaine, Ross accrued a $900 million fortune as a drug trafficker. That’s certainly a record that still stands today.
Ross obviously had intelligence beyond literacy including a natural business acumen. After dominating L.A., he expanded his drug empire nationwide.
He had thousands of employees and they were well-equipped to evade law enforcement with scanners and scramblers even law enforcement themselves had no access to.
Eventually, Ross bought enough real estate that he could make an honest living without selling drugs. His nickname, “Freeway”, came from the number of properties he owned along Los Angeles’ Interstate 110.
Law enforcement did eventually catch up with Ross and he was sentenced to life in prison as a result of the 3 strikes law.
He served 20 years and was released through the court of appeals.
I’m not sure how to feel about this guy.
On one hand, he committed atrocities against his own people, but I’m sure if it wasn’t him, it would have been someone. I’m sure he has blood on his hands indirectly.
On the other hand, he was faced with an impossible situation. Would he have gone to college given the opportunity? I believe so. He learned to read at the age of 28 in prison.
Since his release, he’s been involved in a straight life. I believe Ross is inherently a good person who did what he had to do to survive. I also think that situation got deeper and darker than he would have wanted given a choice.
So, Was the CIA Involved or Not?
As with most conspiracy theories, the truth is complicated and difficult to corroborate or prove.
As one might imagine, the CIA has tremendous means to cover their tracks anytime they wish and they have the irrevocable and blanket reason of “national security” as the tool to do so.
For me, personally, two things point toward yes:
- Gary Webb’s thorough work on Dark Alliance
- The pilot whistleblowers as revealed in the Frontline report from PBS saying, “Yes. We flew drugs for the CIA.”
Links – This Rabbit Hole is DEEP
- http://whale.to/b/dark_alliance.html
- http://whale.to/b/webb_gary_h.html
- https://web.archive.org/web/19961220020436/http://www.sjmercury.com/drugs/stories.htm
- https://youtu.be/WUNohVdNuYk
- https://youtu.be/JKE2XL24FG4
- https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/special/cia.html
- https://www.ocweekly.com/gary-webb-pariah-no-more-6482081/
- https://ips-dc.org/the_cia_contras_gangs_and_crack/
- https://ticotimes.net/2013/12/10/27-years-later-cia-pilot-tells-of-using-secret-costa-rican-airstrip-to-traffic-guns-cocaine
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