He is survived by : his wife Marilyn J. Webb (Strawser); his children, Mark N. Webb (Debra), Emily and Michele L. Treas (Chad); his grandchildren, Taylor, Wyatt and Bubba; and his siblings, Richard, Mark, Kevin of Danville and Virginia of Ohio. The movie was going to be made at one point by Universal. The reason I’d enjoyed such smooth sailing for so long hadn’t been, as I’d assumed, because I was careful and diligent and good at my job … The truth was that, in all those years, I hadn’t written anything important enough to suppress.”. If you are not willing to do that, you are NOT permitted to use my work. “’I talked to people, no one’s calling me back,’” Bell Stokes recalls Gary telling her. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. She says the newspapers attacking him went to great lengths to “criticize him, looking into his personal life.”. The Webb family says they all have been impressed with the effort the movie’s producers have put into making it as realistic and believable as possible, from the script, to the actors and down to the smallest details. Clearly, Gary was not going to be dismissed by Big Brother so easily. Webb was subsequently banished to a small Mercury News bureau in Cupertino, Calif., south of San Francisco — and some 125 miles from his home and family in Sacramento. He knew they probably would not let him write more stories, but he didn’t think that [letter] was going to happen. He was forced to write stories normally assigned to cub reporters. Ian recalls that his girlfriend got upset at him once because he was telling her something about a car, about the mechanics. Gary Webb, Into the Buzzsaw, CH 13, Prometheus Books. As the smear campaign orchestrated by the big mainstream newspapers against Gary and Dark Alliance continued, Gary’s editors at the Mercury News began to stonewall his efforts to pursue the story, ultimately pressuring him to resign. L to R: Gary’s daughter, Christine; his longtime companion and mother of his children, Sue Bell Stokes; and Ian, Gary’s oldest son. At the time Dark Alliance broke on the national scene, Ian says he was 12. “And we went into the screening room by ourselves, just the four of us [including Eric, 26, Gary’s other son], and I was so glad we were alone because it was so emotional,” Sue recalls. “It just feels right,” Ian says. . But such is the elusive nature of Truth; It does not pick its messengers based on the duplicity of external appearance, It picks them based on internal conviction and will power alone. They also ruined a good man. Sue recalls the day when Gary finally connected the dots that led to the Dark Alliance series. We’d like to believe that justice is an inbuilt Universal law, which requires no real effort on our part, rather than the sobering reality that it actually requires active participation from us as a collective citizenry, in order for it to be truly achieved. He never signed anything, but they just finally put the letter out there.”. Gary Eller and Gwen Neil have two children together Michelle Eller Webb and husband Steve Webb, and Gary Robert Eller and wife Mikki Eller. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. The series was pioneering in that the stories and all the documentation also were posted on the Internet, and quickly went viral without the help of the establishment media, creating a national sensation that threatened to buckle the CIA’s pretense. Cupertino is located some two-and-a-half hours by car from the California state capitol of Sacramento, where Gary was based as an investigative reporter for the newspaper. They also have five Grandchildren Meagan Elizabeth Myres, husband Trevor Myres, Brandon Eller Webb, wife Adrianna Webb, Marley Ann Eller, Carley Ann Eller, and Briley Ann Eller and one great grandchild Nash James Myres. Gary Webb, Into the Buzzsaw, CH 13, Prometheus Books. You can hear Gary discuss this in more depth below; “…After spending three years of my life looking into this, I am more convinced than ever that the U.S. government’s responsibility for the drug problems in South Central Los Angeles and other inner cities is greater than I ever wrote in the newspaper.” (Source). That’s when it really hit me. The 73-year-old Sunbury resident contracted COVID-19 in … ‘You need to be fair about everything,’ he said. Video courtesy of documentary FREEWAY: CRACK IN THE SYSTEM premiering on Al Jazeera America in early 2015. “All these awards [including a Pulitzer Prize].”. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. A month ago, Gary Webb, a retired U.S. Air Force veteran, was enjoying his family, fishing and preparing for the hunting season. “And then he thought the movie would never be made. Ian says his father “loved being a kid and never wanted to grow out of that stage, and he made sure we had fun with him while doing some of those activities.”. Privately, Webb was struggling. 3] The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America (2008), Hugh Wilford It didn’t make any sense to us, at that age especially. The Mercury News’ top editor, Jerry Ceppos, ultimately buckled, threw Webb to the wolves and penned a letter of apology to the readers for the Dark Alliance series. “I think there was more to it than [the other newspapers just being embarrassed],” Sue says, however. In addition to his wife, Gary is survived by his son, Mark N. Webb and his wife, Debra and their daughter Emily; his daughter, Michele L. Treas and her husband, Chad and their children, … Once this happened, and the story began to snowball and take on a life of its own, the mainstream media began to demonize Gary aggressively. Gary was “baffled about why the media attacked him,” Sue recalls. By Sam Stanton -- Bee Staff Writer Facing a barrage of calls from the media and the public, the Sacramento County Coroner's Office issued a statement Tuesday confirming that former investigative reporter Gary Webb committed suicide with two gunshots to the head. “It was so odd to me that Jerry Ceppos was so protective of Gary and stood behind him and was really angry about what everyone was writing, and then all of a sudden it started changing. “Gary was like, ‘I guess I better put on a jacket’ and everything, and he was dreading the meeting. “‘This is really important,’ he said, ‘because there’s a large unbelievability factor here, so we can put all this stuff online.’ And he was very proud of that too.”, “I remember when they took it off the Internet,” she adds. His final publication brilliantly unearthed the Military Industrial Complex’s strategic use of video games as a method of indoctrination and recruitment of teenage boys. He was at home surrounded by loved ones and, through I mean there were other actors that read the script.”, Ian says Tom Cruise was close, and Brad Pitt, “but it was just talk, too.”. “When he got really into a story, that’s all he did. “I don’t understand how he found so much time to have fun with us, when he was such a serious busy guy in this other life,” Ian adds. “The movie went into production about a year and half after he showed interest,” Sue says. It is with deep sadness that we announce Gary Webb passed to his heavenly home on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019, in Greensboro, N.C., at the age of 57. Sue recalls the day Gary went to San Jose to meet with the editors about Dark Alliance, after the media assault was in full swing. After gaining access to secret grand jury transcripts in 1996, and following the subsequent paper trail that followed therein, Gary Webb made the shocking discovery that government informant, Oscar Danilo Blandón, was covertly selling tons of cocaine for the Central Intelligence Agency in South Central Los Angeles, and other parts of the country. It was important to have that trust.”, “It was big to tell the truth,” Christine says. “He stuck with it. I remember that day so clearly,” Sue says, “because it made me nervous. I figured out where these drugs are going and being sold.’. Our board members are deeply committed to the organization’s belief that all children have value and only by helping them see their own value can we truly help them grow. Despite losing his job, having his reputation publicly smeared, and his marriage destroyed, Gary refused to back down, or recant his writings, and stood by his research to the end. “I think the LA Times was embarrassed, because [Dark Alliance] was right in their backyard. But that fire was no danger to us at the time. There not not working on them.’, “Then Jerry Ceppos started denying Gary even had stories, saying they were just notes he sent,” Sue adds. Always expect the best.”. Journalist Gary Webb, California 1996, started investigating CIA's role in the 1980s in getting crack cocaine to the black part of LA to get money and weapons to the Contras/freedom fighters in Nicaragua. Webb may indeed be physically dead, but his research is more alive today than ever before, and continues to haunt the shadow government and snowball into a monster that will undoubtedly have its eventual revenge. The major agenda-setting media — including the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times — were unrelenting in their assault, with the Los Angeles Times putting some 17 reporters on the assignment to destroy Webb, the messenger. Such is the power of Truth. When Gary originally broke this mind blowing story, the arrogant authority’s assumed they could simply ignore him and hope he’d go away. “And Gary’s like, “Those were not notes; they were stories I sent them.’ It was just weird stuff.”. Just two months later, however, Gary Webb was found dead with two bullet holes to the head — The authority’s ruled it a suicide and the investigation was closed. “We’re just so happy Gary’s going to be vindicated, and he is in the movie. It may seem of little consequence, but awareness is the key to change, and we can all help to spread the Truth. But in Webb’s case, his message did not die. With Jeremy Renner, Robert Patrick, Jena Sims, Robert Pralgo. Like in the movie, the real Gary Webb attempted to uncover the connection between L.A.'s biggest crack dealer, "Freeway" Ricky Ross, and two narcotics suppliers and Nicaraguan Contra sympathizers, Norwin Meneses and Danilo Blandon. “… But honestly, back at that point [when Gary was being attacked], I thought someone had gotten to them [Ceppos and the Mercury News], someone in the government, at the CIA. She says it was clear to her that Jeremy Renner also has put his heart into the project. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. “But those are the kind of stories Gary did. It just serves everyone a little bit of justice.”. “If we had met five years ago, you wouldn’t have found a more staunch defender of the newspaper industry than me … I was winning awards, getting raises, lecturing college classes, appearing on TV shows, and judging journalism contests… And then I wrote some stories that made me realize how sadly misplaced my bliss had been. No distinct feature that hints at the potential for greatness, or his ability to help inspire revolution. Gary Webb was one of us. 1] Webb, Gary (1998), Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion “I knew he liked it, and it was something he was excited about doing.”. “I think Gary would have liked it. Persistent, yes. Bem Vindos em Português! “I remember my dad told me about the school [the Narco News School of Authentic Journalism, held annually, which Gary Webb helped to launch in 2003], and he showed me a couple pictures when he returned [from the school in Mexico],” Ian says. “The house needed remodeling, and we had just gone on vacation, and Gary was off working on the story and doing interviews. And he was so excited about that because he found that connection. Yes. And Gary did work hard. “Then he finally signed it, on December 10, and that was the day he was found dead, on December 10, seven years later.”. And he said, “No one is ever going to hire me after Dark Alliance.’, “Yeah, his resume was incredible,” says Webb’s oldest son, Ian, now 30. Words to the wise. English. He can do anything. Sue says the road to that screening room to watch the initial cut of Kill the Messenger was long, with a lot of setbacks along the way, though. Also important to the family is the fact that the people involved in making the movie are invested in the project, and care about the events portrayed in the movie. Finally, once Renner signed on, everything began to click. 2000-2011 Al Giordano. “He said, ‘We’re going to make this movie someday,’ Sue adds. Gary was a man who loved his family with his whole heart and was intensely passionate about being Pa. Kill the Messenger may offer up some sweet vindication for Gary Webb, but the real story behind the movie is a tale of anguish for the family. What the establishment media did in their assault on Gary Webb, in its effect, went far beyond killing an important story. “And he got just more and more depressed. October 8, 2014 . But Gary went to great lengths to keep the turmoil he was experiencing away from this children. The fire set off by Gary Webb and his Dark Alliance series, though, is a different matter for those who sought to contain it. Opening Statement, April 18, 2000 It wasn’t just a money grab for them, the family says. “The music too, like the moment where there’s a Mott the Hoople song — it meant so much for me to hear that song.”. Christine adds: “They didn’t want to do any depressing movies, only happy movies.”, Sue stresses, though, that screenwriter Peter Landesman never gave up hope. Gary’s other son, Eric, is now 26. He was like, ‘You need something?’, “I understand that now. I said, ‘You can’t let them put that in the paper. He moved to Toronto, Canada, in 2006 and succeeded Dr. Gary Webb as Director of the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program. The Fund for Authentic Journalism, All contents, unless otherwise noted, © 2000-2011 Al Giordano, The trademarks "Narco News," "The Narco News It was just a chaotic time.”. Education- Gary holds a BA in Pastoral Studies from Oral Roberts University and has 32 years experience in youth and children’s ministry. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. He knew everything about everything.”, He was a huge Jeopardy fan. I felt so much better after that.”. It took him a long time to sign a resignation letter, and I don’t blame him,” recalls Sue Bell Stokes, Webb’s widow, ex-wife and enduring friend — since they began dating in high school. Gary Webb was born in Corona, California, in 1955. And I think maybe it came from above him [Ceppos]: ‘Maybe you guys need to back away from this story.’”. Of course Gary’s untimely death does not conform to our distorted perspective of how justice should work in the world. I n a scene from the new movie Kill the Messenger, investigative reporter Gary Webb (played by Jeremy Renner) says that he doesn’t believe in … As Webb later noted, some of these journalists were directly linked to the CIA. So yeah it’s been this realization ever since he passed away, and I’ve gotten a little older and started doing something I love, yeah, if someone told me I couldn’t do that ever again, it would kill me, it would ruin me. Jeremy Renner turns to him [the stand-in] and says, ‘Ian, why don’t you go back upstairs.’, “Jeremy even looked in my direction, and I actually thought he meant me, because we had just gone down stairs to watch this scene. Gary Webb’s Ex-Wife Set to Attend New York Premiere. In fact, a blockbuster film documenting Gary’s story was released in 2014 and, despite my cynical expectation that it would be a propaganda piece to cover up government wrongdoing and rewrite history, the film actually did an excellent job, which marks a special victory, because a film based on a controversial true story like this — to the best of my knowledge — has never been able to break mainstream Hollywood before. “… I mean this has been going on for years. Ian says there “was just a good vibe” to it all. He was passionate about his work. I just felt uncomfortable about it. Gary Webb goes on to explain how the isolation of the small Cabazon reservation, a tribe of thirty people, and its tax exempt status and lack of federal oversight were the advantages gained by using that location. Sue, however, admits to having a sense of dread. He was doing stories he did when he first started as a reporter, and he would not let them use his byline.”. He called me and told me.”. All my work is open source and I encourage it to be reproduced. “At that time, too, I just didn’t realize the … pride of your work,” Ian adds. “In that scene, my character walks downstairs and asks what’s going on. Apollo 15 Pilot Joins The Long List Of Astronauts To Tell The World About ‘Alien’ Visitation, Disclaimer The marriage was dissolved on April 12, 1990. When you plot the Nazca lines over the entire globe, this is what you get! He was married to Sue Bell. “On the same wall as the “Kill the Messenger” poster,” Christine chimes in. They had two daughters, Megan, born on April 21, 1988 and Sarah, born on March 11, 1989. I just didn’t realize how detail oriented he was with those kind of things.”. This page shows only the 20 most recent obituaries in Puyallup, Washington. “He knew it wasn’t going to be good, but he never expected them to write that letter [to readers apologizing for the series]. “Christine helped him send out all the resumes and clips,” Bell Stokes adds, referring to Webb’s daughter, now 24. His career was effectively destroyed, and he would never again get a job with a daily newspaper. But such is the elusive nature […] They don’t know what color bike he had or what poster I had in my room, or what he had on his desk,” Ian says. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. But not Gary, he pursued the story with such obsession and purpose, that one can only presume he was driven by deep rooted principle, rather than conventional reward. “He just threw himself into it and just wanted to get the story done. What followed was national outrage, particularly from the black population who were hit the hardest by the unparalleled flood of cocaine into their neighborhoods. It kind of comes in these waves of realism.”. Privacy Policy. Sue is particularly impressed with another aspect of Kill the Messenger: The fact that it gets the story right. The truth is there. And I said, “My dad.” And she said, “He doesn’t know everything, OK.”, And I said, “Well, so far he’s been pretty right on about everything.”, Christine adds that one of the last times she saw her father, “he offered to read [Dr. Seuss’] Green Eggs and Ham to me at the doctor’s office.”, “And I was like 13,” she adds. Gary’s story, however, is far from over and could never be killed by something as trivial as a material bullet. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Instagram. Ian says he doesn’t know how his dad made the time to do everything he did while chasing down huge investigative stories like Dark Alliance. As we now know today — thanks to Gary’s brilliant research — this is what most visibly sparked the crack epidemic that swept North America during the 1980’s and 90’s. “And he said, ‘No, it’s never going to happen.’ He thought it was crazy that I thought he one day would be vindicated, but I always did, that one day it would happen. It makes it sound like you agree there were problems with the story.’, “Then they were really upset with him because he would not go along with it. When you first take a look at Gary Webb, there’s nothing particularly intriguing about the guy. Narco News is supported by: “No one else would give a shit. No distinct feature that hints at the potential for greatness, or his ability to help inspire revolution. It is the only power that will stand the unforgiving test of time. But they underestimated the paradigm shifting power of the internet, and the intelligence of Webb, who not only listed the explosive story online — far beyond the reaches of the mainstream media — but he also listed the necessary documents and audio recordings one would need to verify his remarkable claims too. The pressure became so intense, that Webb’s marriage fell apart, his employer backed down from the story, and he ultimately had to leave the company. The letter to the readers went through five or six drafts, back and forth between Gary and the Mercury News editors, Sue says. For all I knew, my dad would be good at anything. “Out of all the movies they could put in there.”. ("Dark Allance" p.113) Webb continued " . Jeremy Renner wanted to make this movie so bad.”, Ian says as soon as Renner “attached to the movie, it was just day after day of stories. “Gary felt it was important to have his documentation out there so he went to them [the Mercury Center],” Sue says. He is also survived by his wife, children and grandchildren. Children traumatized by abuse during the pandemic will have the resources they need to recover. The core of the movie is right. “The whole reality of what was happening was so overwhelming to him. Gary Webb sums up the story in his last major interview just days before his death. He would just stay up and write and write, and get just a couple hours of sleep,” she recalls. “Gary was sure that people had forgotten about him, and a lot of people had,” Bell Stokes says. “He sent those stories [from Sacramento] to the editors [in San Jose] and he said, ‘I don’t know what they’re doing. The most important thing about the movie, for her, Sue Bell Stokes says, is that her children liked it. Gary WEBB, Director of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Ohio (CCHMC) | Read 227 publications | Contact Gary WEBB That’s great, because it’s nowhere else.”. Gary Webb was a US Pulitzer prize-winning reporter who broke the story of the CIA involvement in the importation of cocaine into the U.S. She says Gary worked with the newspaper’s Mercury Center to assure his story and documentation were made available online, a novel approach at the time. It was wildfire all of a sudden.”. I knew what he wrote was good, and it was right, and I just thought this is going to come out.”. And then he learned the hard way.”. Thank you for your courage Gary Webb, you continue to inspire millions of people around the world today brother. This is why Webb's "Dark Alliance" series is an essential source, a primary text that every journalism student should study. “When we were in Atlanta watching a scene, they had do pick-up shot. Gary Webb. “I remember seeing how big of an impact it was having and how many people had shown up.”. Gary wasn’t a heel in a suit, like so many of those who, out of jealousy or fear for career, chose to attack him. When Gary originally broke this mind blowing story, the arrogant authority’s assumed they could simply ignore him and hope he’d go away. Driven, yes. I think he would have really liked the movie, and been so excited about it,” Sue adds. He says Gary coached their hockey team, even taking the time to write a newsletter every week, called the Rebel Yell. You see, you can’t kill the truth, because it survives even death. He didn’t think about the consequences of it, what might happen. But even at that age, he says he knew it was a big deal. Gary and Karla James Webb married and blended their families on January 7, 1989 in O’Donnell, Texas. He was ecstatic. “It makes everybody who was bad look bad, and everyone who was good look good. There are no indications that this seemingly ordinary human being carries with him an extraordinary message. He died on December 10, 2004 in Carmichael, California. “We went down to South Central LA to a rally in a high school auditorium, the whole family,” Ian says. This story was so remarkable and intimidating, that a lesser man would’ve certainly turned away. “But when you’re looking at your dad, especially as a kid, he’s invincible. He was that kind of writer.”, “Yeah,” Ian adds, “looking over his shoulder while he was writing, forget about it. … He was a smartass, and he was a brat.”, Ian adds: “He trusted you. In fact, we have a serious responsibility and duty to do so. Webb worked for several newspapers including The Kentucky Post and Cleveland Plain Dealer. Webb was born in Corona, California. Susan Bell: a shameful secret history In 1996, the award-winning journalist Gary Webb uncovered CIA links to Los Angeles drug dealers. Sue stresses that he also was young at heart and “always liked to have fun” with his children. February 3, 2021. Webb profiled the relationship in his 1996 three-part article "Dark Alliance," where he showed that the Nicaraguans had CIA connections. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. A media smear campaign against Webb, seeded by the CIA, followed on the heels of that threat, a campaign that attacked Webb personally while sidestepping the facts he had uncovered. He was a family man, a loving father who instilled working-class values in his children, and who above all else strived to be fair and to tell the truth. How do you know this?’”. One of the deepest blows for Gary, Sue says, is when the Mercury News took Dark Alliance off the Internet. “Someone said we’re basically calling up actors and actresses on family vacation asking them if they want to come to hot, humid Atlanta for $8 to film a movie.”, “They’re not getting paid much,” Sue adds, “and Oliver Platt cancelled his vacation to do the part because he really wanted to play [Mercury News Executive Editor] Jerry Ceppos so much.”. When you first take a look at Gary Webb, there’s nothing particularly intriguing about the guy. Christine says her dad “always told us to stick up for ourselves, and he was extremely reasonable if I had any issues, and I was talking to him about it. He was really, really hurt by all of it, by the way they treated him.”, Sue adds that she appreciates greatly that Narco News has the Dark Alliance series on its website, and has “kept it alive for so many years. “Yeah, he hated people who were too serious about stuff,” Ian recalls. The funds were being raised to fund CIA trained terrorists in Nicaragua to overthrow the Sandinista government who had recently ousted the U.S. backed military dictatorship of the Somoza Dynasty. Contact: Gary Webb (623) 210-6274 Office: (602) 439-2171 gary@ocjkids.org. Ian says, “It just sucked. “Until you get a little older, and start doing something you like, you don’t get that. Gary Webb was born on August 31, 1955 in Corona, California, USA as Gary Stephen Webb. FOUNDERS Gary Webb Gary Webb, age 76, was born to Jim and Doris Webb on March 3, 1942 in Concord, CA. Facebook Gary Webb was born on March 21, 1959 to Wayne and Peggy Davie Webb in Lamesa, Texas. “There were a couple other times that there were movie options going on,” she says. If he thought it was a good story, he was going to write it. He said, ‘No one will ever do this movie.’ I said, ‘One day you’re going to be vindicated.’ I really believed that. Sue says he was doing a lot radio interviews in the house. In August 1996, Gary Webb published in the San Jose Mercury News a 20,000 word, three-part series entitled "Dark Alliance ".The articles detailed the nexus between a California coke kingpin, CIA officials and assets and the Nicaraguan Contra army, … He returned to the University of Hospital of Zurich in 1998 and restructured the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program. DR 2014 Bill Conroy “Always tell the truth.”, Narco News School of Authentic Journalism. He also continued to expose corruption as a freelance journalist. Sue says he would stay up late writing, a lot. Twitter “And he passed it out to all the parents every week,” Ian says. He thought if you told the truth, it doesn’t matter. When Webb's father retired from the Marines, the family settled in a suburb of Indianapolis, where Webb and his brother attended high school. Gary Stephen Webb was a Pulitzer prize winning American investigative reporter who exposed cocaine trafficking by the CIA.He wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, which initially backed his articles but later dropped him.Webb was put under pressure most certainly from the CIA under John Deutch for his reporting. And that means Webb’s legacy, and his Dark Alliance investigate series, are about to push back hard against the lies and petty self-interests that worked to destroy his life — though they could never vanquish his spirit. I just knew he loved to write. Gary Webb and Michele Key were married January 29, 1988. If you lay it out there, it really doesn’t matter. And he always told us not to put up with crap from our friends, people we were dating, ourselves. With the release of the movie “Kill the Messenger,” the messenger is about to be resurrected from the ashes, along with his message, and that truth won’t be extinguished easily — even by an army of first-responder propagandists from the CIA and national media. In other words, Gary was one of the original alternative media personalities to effectively challenge the information monopoly of the establishment press, and directly put the power of research and fact checking into the hands of the people.
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