dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

Anonymous ID: 45cedc Sept. 21, 2018, 10:14 p.m. No.3134835 🗄️.is 🔗kun

Anonymous ID: 45cedc Sept. 21, 2018, 11:03 p.m. No.3135199 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5220

Gary Webb

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Webb#Death

Anonymous ID: 45cedc Sept. 21, 2018, 11:04 p.m. No.3135205 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>5241 >>5246

Gary Webb

Gary Webb In His Own Words 623.jpg

Webb in 2002

Born Gary Stephen Webb

August 31, 1955

Corona, California, U.S.

Died December 10, 2004 (aged 49)

Carmichael, California, U.S.

Cause of death Multiple gunshot suicide

Education Northern Kentucky University

Occupation Investigative journalist

Years active 1980–2004

Notable credit(s) Cleveland Plain Dealer

San Jose Mercury News

Spouse(s) Susan Bell (m. 1979)

Children 3

Gary Stephen Webb (August 31, 1955 – December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist.

He began his career working for newspapers in Kentucky and Ohio, winning numerous awards and building a strong reputation for investigative writing. Hired by the San Jose Mercury News, Webb contributed to the paper's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. Webb is best known for his "Dark Alliance" series, which appeared in The Mercury News in 1996. The series examined the origins of the crack cocaine trade in Los Angeles and claimed that members of the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua had played a major role in creating the trade, using cocaine profits to support their struggle. It also suggested that the Contras may have acted with the knowledge and protection of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The series provoked outrage, particularly in the Los Angeles African-American community, and led to four major investigations of its charges.

The Los Angeles Times and other major papers published articles suggesting the "Dark Alliance" claims were overstated. After an internal review, The Mercury News ultimately published a statement in May 1997 acknowledging shortcomings in the series' reporting and editing. Webb resigned from The Mercury News in December 1997. He became an investigator for the California State Legislature, publishing a book based on the "Dark Alliance" series in 1998, and doing freelance investigative reporting. Webb committed suicide on December 10, 2004.[1]

The "Dark Alliance" series remains controversial. Critics view the series' claims as inaccurate or overstated, while supporters point to the results of a later CIA investigation as vindicating the series. Criticism has also been directed at the follow up reporting in the Los Angeles Times and other papers for focusing on problems in the series rather than re-examining the earlier CIA-Contra claims.

Webb was found dead in his Carmichael home on December 10, 2004, with two gunshot wounds to the head. His death was ruled a suicide by the Sacramento County coroner's office.[68] After a local paper reported that he had died from multiple gunshots, the coroner's office received so many calls asking about Webb's death that Sacramento County Coroner Robert Lyons issued a statement confirming Webb had committed suicide.[69] When asked by local reporters about the possibility of two gunshots being a suicide, Lyons replied: "It's unusual in a suicide case to have two shots, but it has been done in the past, and it is in fact a distinct possibility." 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, but Webb's ex-wife Susan Bell told reporters that she believed Webb had committed suicide.[69] "The way he was acting it would be hard for me to believe it was anything but suicide," she said. According to Bell, Webb had been unhappy for some time over his inability to get a job at another major newspaper. He had sold his house the week before his death because he was unable to afford the mortgage.[69]

After Webb's death, a collection of his stories from before and after the "Dark Alliance" series were published. The collection, The Killing Game: Selected Stories from the Author of Dark Alliance, was edited by Webb's son, Eric.

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