From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Sun Dec 12 2004
Gary Webb Found Dead in Home
Webb was Journalist Who Exposed CIA/Crack Connection
12/12/2004: Gary Webb, an investigative journalist, author, and recent legislative staffer, was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head Friday in an "apparent suicide" in his suburban Sacramento home. He was 49 years old. He had been a staff writer for the San Jose Mercury News from 1989 to 1997, he exposed freeway retrofitting problems in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and also wrote stories about the Department of Motor Vehicles' computer software fiascos. He had also been a Guest Editor for NarcoNews.
Webb was perhaps best known for sparking a national controversy with a 1996 story that exposed how supporters of a CIA-backed guerrilla army in Nicaragua helped trigger America's crack-cocaine epidemic in the 1980s. The Dark Alliance series in the Mercury News came under fire by other news organizations, and the paper decided that the series did not meet its journalistic standards. (Analysis) Webb resigned a year and a half after the series appeared in the paper. He then published his book, ``Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras and the Crack Cocaine Explosion"
During the last several years, Webb had worked in the California Assembly Speaker's Office of Member Services and for the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. The committee investigated charges that Oracle received a no-bid contract from Gov. Gray Davis. Most recently, he worked for the weekly Sacramento News and Review. Recent Article by Webb about the US Army's favorite video game. He had also written for such publications as High Times. Reporters and activists worldwide feel that Gary Webb did the world a great service by breaking the Dark Alliance story. America's Debt to Journalist Gary Webb by Robert Parry.
12/13 Democracy Now Report | Revolutionary Worker Interview with Gary Webb | Civil Liberties Monitoring Project Interview | The Dark Alliance Series | The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations from the National Security Archive | Common Dreams Tribute
Webb was perhaps best known for sparking a national controversy with a 1996 story that exposed how supporters of a CIA-backed guerrilla army in Nicaragua helped trigger America's crack-cocaine epidemic in the 1980s. The Dark Alliance series in the Mercury News came under fire by other news organizations, and the paper decided that the series did not meet its journalistic standards. (Analysis) Webb resigned a year and a half after the series appeared in the paper. He then published his book, ``Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras and the Crack Cocaine Explosion"
During the last several years, Webb had worked in the California Assembly Speaker's Office of Member Services and for the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. The committee investigated charges that Oracle received a no-bid contract from Gov. Gray Davis. Most recently, he worked for the weekly Sacramento News and Review. Recent Article by Webb about the US Army's favorite video game. He had also written for such publications as High Times. Reporters and activists worldwide feel that Gary Webb did the world a great service by breaking the Dark Alliance story. America's Debt to Journalist Gary Webb by Robert Parry.
12/13 Democracy Now Report | Revolutionary Worker Interview with Gary Webb | Civil Liberties Monitoring Project Interview | The Dark Alliance Series | The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations from the National Security Archive | Common Dreams Tribute
2024-04-24
From Coast to Coast, Students Set Up Encampments in Solidarity with Palestinians
Anti-War
| Education & Student Activism
| East Bay
| North Coast
| California
| U.S.
| Palestine2024-04-09
Deal Described as One of the Most Significant Urban Land Back Victories in US History
Front Page
| Environment & Forest Defense
| Racial Justice
| East Bay2024-03-20
Victory! EFF Helps Indybay Resist San Francisco Police Warrant and Gag Order
Front Page
| Police State & Prisons
| Media Activism & Independent Media
| San Francisco2024-02-09
Catholic Anti-Choice Marchers Get an Earful from Abortion Rights Activists in San Francisco
Front Page
| Health, Housing & Public Services
| Womyn
| San Francisco
| South Bay
| U.S.2024-01-10
Wall of Shipping Containers Intended to Keep the Public Out of People's Park
Front Page
| Police State & Prisons
| Environment & Forest Defense
| Global Justice & Anti-Capitalism
| East Bay
| California2023-12-08
Largest Ever Pro-Palestine Marches in NorCal Demand End to US Aid for Israel's War on Gaza
Front Page
| Anti-War
| Central Valley
| San Francisco
| South Bay
| Peninsula
| U.S.
| International
| Palestine
| Santa Cruz Indymedia2023-10-31
Three Activists Detained at Climate Protest for Crossing Beale Air Force Base Gate
Front Page
| Environment & Forest Defense
| Anti-War
| Central Valley
| California
| U.S.2023-09-29
California Climate Justice Actions in Coordination with Massive New York City March
Front Page
| Environment & Forest Defense
| Central Valley
| California2023-08-19
Environmentalists Speak Out Against Airport Expansion as Climate Disasters Accelerate
Environment & Forest Defense
| East Bay2023-08-12
Starbucks Bus Tour Stops in San Francisco, Rallies with Allies to Support Unionization
Labor & Workers
| San Francisco
| Peninsula
| California
| U.S.2023-07-19
Halt to Fossil Fuel Funding Demanded as Wells Fargo Operations Shut Down
Environment & Forest Defense
| Global Justice & Anti-Capitalism
| San Francisco
| U.S.
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network