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Conspiracy Theories, Cults, & Crimes
CONSPIRACY THEORY: Gary Webb, the Reporter who Knew Too Much
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Hi everyone, it's Vanessa. Big news. Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes is now on YouTube. Every Saturday, I'll be dropping a full video episode going deep on the real people and dark truths behind the world's most infamous conspiracies. Same show, same depth, same commitment to the dark truth. Now you can watch it. Subscribe to Conspiracy Theories, Cults and crimes on YouTube to catch a new video episode every Saturday. This is crime house. On March 16, 1998, Frederick Hitz arrived on Capitol Hill to testify before Congress. As the Inspector General of the CIA. Hitz was there to address claims made by Gary Webb and and investigative journalist for the San Jose Mercury News. Two years earlier, Gary had written a three part series called Dark Alliance. He alleged that the CIA was linked to drug traffickers in Southern California and a revolutionary group called the Contras in Nicaragua. Hits didn't beat around the bush, he said, quote, Before I go any further, I want to make clear that we found absolutely no evidence to indicate that the CIA as an organization or its employees were involved in any conspiracy to bring drugs. Drugs into the United States. Gary Webb clearly disagreed. But his efforts to expose the CIA, whether misguided or not, led him down a dark path. And six years after Hitz's testimony, Gary would find himself at a crossroads. One that ended with two bullet holes in his head. From UFO cults and mass suicides to secret CIA experiments, presidential assassinations and murderous doctors, these aren't just theories. They're real stories that blur the line between fact and fiction. I'm Vanessa Richardson and this is Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes. A Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I'll explore the real people at the center of the world's most shocking events and nefarious organizations. And remember, remember, those Monday episodes will also be on YouTube with full video. You can find them every Saturday. Just search for conspiracy theories, cults and crimes and be sure to like and subscribe. These cases are wild and I want to hear what you think at the end of each episode. Please leave a comment wherever you listen. Be sure to rate, review and follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults and crimes to continue building this community together. And for ad free access to all three episodes, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. Today we're diving into a conspiracy theory that rocked the United States in the late 1990s. In a series of bombshell articles, an investigative journalist named Gary Webb claimed that the CIA was lying to the public. According to Gary, the agency was working with and protecting drug Traffickers. Not only that, but the CIA was using that drug money to fund a revolutionary group in Nicaragua against Congress's orders. Gary's claims were explosive and many people think the US government wanted to silence him. Because just a few years after publishing those articles, Gary was found dead. And more than two decades later, we're still wondering, was Gary a victim of the conspiracy? He unraveled. All that and more coming up. Later in his life. Gary Webb became known for standing up to the US Government. But his story began on their property. He was born at a military hospital in Corona, California on August 31, 1955. His father was stationed there as a Marine Corps sergeant. But the family didn't stay at one base for long. Gary's childhood was characterized by change. After Corona, his father was stationed in Orange County, California. Then Florida, North Carolina, Orange county again, and finally Hawaii. Because of the constant moving, Gary was isolated from other kids. But he wasn't too concerned about it. By elementary school, he'd found his passion researching complex topics like the stock market. And that was in elementary school. When Gary was in the seventh grade, his father retired from the military and the family settled in the quiet suburbs of Indianapolis, Indiana. With some stability in his life, Gary started to excel. And he found a new passion. Journalism. As a reporter for the school paper, Gary took aim at all kinds of targets. The school administration, the government, even the cheerleading squad. His articles ruffled a lot of feathers, which was just how Gary liked it. After high school, Gary kept living at home and enrolled at a local community college. He worked for their paper too, but he also made some time for romance. That's where he fell head over heels for a beautiful girl named Sue Bell. They started dating and stayed together even after Gary and his family moved from Indianapolis to Cincinnati, Ohio. He transferred to nearby Northern Kentucky University and graduated in 1977, ready to take on the world. Gary didn't have to wait long. He knew about a local newspaper that would hire anyone with the drive to succeed and. And he had that in spades. On a cold morning in 1978, 23 year old Gary walked right into the offices of the Kentucky Post. He had samples of his work under his arm and asked if he could speak with Vance Trimble. Trimble was a legendary reporter who'd won a Pulitzer for national reporting in 1960. In his 15 years running the Kentucky Post, an offshoot of the Cincinnati Post, he turned the paper into a man major news source. He loved to spot upand cominging talent. And when Gary Webb walked into his office, he knew he had a real reporter on his hands. Trimble asked Gary to write him a few sample articles, then two more and two more, and suddenly Gary was writing for the paper full time. Soon after, Gary asked his girlfriend sue to marry him. They moved in together in Cincinnati. But not everything in Gary's world was going so well. His parents divorced after a quarter century of marriage and Gary was heartbroken. Thankfully, though, his work at the paper couldn't have been going better. After two years of slogging through small stories, Gary finally got to something juicy. In 1980, Gary and a fellow reporter collaborated on the Coal Connection for the Cincinnati Post. It was a 17 article series that unraveled the murder of a coal company president who had close ties to the mob. The coal connection put Gary on the map, earning him an award for investigative journalism. And as his profile grew, so did his job prospects. In 1983, 28 year old Gary left the Kentucky Post. This was right around the time he and sue had their first baby. He moved his young family to Cleveland and joined the staff of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. By then, Gary didn't have to fight to get good stories. He was officially a full time investigative reporter. He quickly made the most of his new position to sniff out cases of government corruption. He did this by following leads, chasing clues, searching in places that other people overlooked. But sometimes his work got him and the paper into trouble. In 1984, Gary wrote an article titled Driving off with Profits. It alleged that the organizers of a motor race had stolen money that was meant for Cleveland's city government. Then in 1986, Gary connected an Ohio Supreme Court judge to local organized crime in an article called Mob Linked Groups Donate to Chief Justice. In both cases, Gary and the Plain Dealer were sued by the subjects of his articles and and the paper had to settle out of court. Both times, Gary's reporting had been solid, but the framing of the stories, especially their headlines, were deemed defamatory. Even with those issues on his record, Gary was still respected at the paper. But he didn't necessarily feel the same about everybody he worked with. In 1988, when he was 33, he was passed over for an editor job in favor of someone he thought was an imbecile. So Gary started looking for new opportunities. One day he got a call from a recruiter in California. The San Jose Mercury News, one of the largest papers in the state, was looking for a good investigative reporter. It was a great opportunity, but Gary's wife wasn't sure about moving their young family, now with three kids, to California. But Gary had a feeling something was waiting for him out West. He took the job, and they left the Midwest behind. When Gary agreed to join the staff of the Mercury News, he told them he couldn't afford to live in San Jose full time, but he could make it work if they let him report out of Sacramento, California's capital. This move was a practical decision, but also a matter of independence. In Sacramento, Gary was allowed to pursue whatever stories he thought were worth telling without needing approval from his bosses. A year into his tenure, on October 19, a massive 6.9 magnitude earthquake occurred near Santa Cruz, California. It famously disrupted a World Series game between the two Bay Area teams, the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants. The earthquake did massive damage and caused the collapse of a major Oakland freeway, the Cypress street viaduct, killing 42 people. Gary and a fellow reporter, Pete Cary, began investigating the structural failure of the freeway. They found that Caltrans, the state Department of Transportation, had failed to update the freeway's infrastructure due to bureaucratic delays. It was yet another case of the government taking advantage of the public. The article generated headlines across the country, and in 1989, Gary and Pete received the Pulitzer Prize for general news reporting. Gary was incredibly proud of the work he was doing at the Mercury News. But he was also still hoping to find the big one, the case that would define his entire career. It took a couple of years, but in July 1995, Gary got a call that would change his entire Life. By 1995, the crack epidemic had gripped California for more than 15 years. Government measures like the Anti Drug abuse Act of 1986 and the 1994 crime bills fought back against the wave of drugs in urban centers. But they also led to mass incarceration and militarized police, especially in black neighborhoods. Working out of California's state capitol, Gary had been paying close attention to the government's efforts to stop the flow of drugs. But as usual, he also kept a close eye on how the government was abusing its powers. In July 1995, Gary wrote an article about the government's asset forfeiture program. Basically, the government would arrest traffickers and seize any money and property they believed had been purchased with drug money. The program had been criticized as double punishment for the same crime. Going to jail and losing your money. A few days after the story was published, Gary got a call from Coral Baca, a woman living in the East Bay. The she said her boyfriend, a Nicaraguan drug dealer named Rafael Cornejo, was dealing with a similar issue. He'd gotten his money taken away, even though his case hadn't been brought to trial. Gary listened patiently as Corll explained the problem. It didn't seem all that interesting of a story until Corll mentioned a key detail. According to her, the government star witness in Raphael's case had worked with the CIA selling drugs on their behalf. And Corl said she had proof. Gary wasn't sure whether to trust her. He'd gotten a lot of crazy tips about CIA conspiracies over the years, all of which led nowhere. But something in his gut told him to follow this lead. Gary ended up meeting Corll at the San Francisco courthouse during Raphael's trial. It turned out her boyfriend was one of the most notorious drug kingpins on the West Coast. And during a break in the hearing, Gary reviewed the documents she brought him. Federal grand jury transcripts showing the testimony of a man named Oscar Danilo Blandon. Blandon was a major cocaine trafficker. But he wasn't at the courthouse as a defendant. He wasn't even under investigation. He was the government's key witness. Something about that didn't sit right with Gary. Gary started looking into Blandon's past and discovered that he was connected to the Contras in Nicaragua, an anti communist militia that had been controversially backed by the CIA. In 1979, Blandon and his family left Nicaragua and were granted asylum in the US they settled down in Los Angeles. Since then, Blandon had flooded the streets of California with hundreds of tons of cocaine. But he only served four years in prison. Now he was a free man without parole. For Gary, this meant he must have had a relationship with the government. Gary was looking forward to hearing Blandon's testimony in Rafael's case. But when the prosecution discovered the jury transcripts had been leaked to Gary, they pulled Blandon as a witness. Gary thought he'd lost his chance to find out more. But then he learned Blandon was set to appear in another trial. He would be testifying against his former partner, Freeway Rick Ross, the kingpin of Southern California, who we're covering in an upcoming episode. Gary set up an interview with Rick in prison, hoping to learn more about Blandon. Rick was understandably bitter that Blandon had turned on him. But he didn't know who Blandon had been working for until Gary showed him the documents he'd collected. Rick shook his head in disbelief. He said, he's been working for the government the whole damn time. Foreign. 1995. 39 year old Gary Webb had stumbled onto the big one. The story that would define his entire career. But he wanted to make sure he got his facts straight, his investigation started with Freeway Rick Ross who explained how he became acquainted with Oscar Danilo Blandon back in the early 1980s. Together they expanded their operations from six South Central LA to urban centers in 12 US states. Gary worked backward from there, spending a year gathering more details about Blandon's drug smuggling operations. Sure enough, he discovered clear links between Blandon and the Contras along with suspicious instances where Blandon got out of federal drug charges despite major evidence against him. Then Gary found found what he considered to be his smoking gun. An LAPD Police report from 1986 where a known associate of Blandones claimed to be working with the CIA. To Gary the ties were clear as day. Blandon was exiled from Nicaragua because he opposed the communist government. Once he was in the US he wanted to help the Contras who were fighting for a new capitalist regiment. So he used Freeway Rick to distribute their product as widely as possible. Then Blandon sent those profits to the Contras. Blandon and Freeway Rick were able to escape prosecution for a decade because the CIA also backed the contras. But by 1995, the CIA decided they didn't need Rick anymore. And that's when Gary learned about the whole story. In August 1996, Gary felt like he had enough information to start writing his articles. A three part series he called Dark Alliance. A lot of other journalists warned him against writing the story. Especially since his evidence was built on the testimony of known criminals like Blandon and Freeway Rick. If his account was really true, the CIA would do everything it could to discredit him. But Gary wouldn't be swayed. And he wasn't the only one on the staff of the San Jose Mercury News who was eager to tell this story. The paper had always lived in the shadow of the Los Angeles Times. Jerry Sepes, the Mercury News executive editor, had high hopes that Gary's Dark alliance series would raise the paper's profile. He and his fellow editors thought it could win another Pulitzer. Because of that, they were eager to send it to print without going through the normal fact checking process. Between August 18th and 20th, 1996, the Dark alliance series hit the press. Featuring an image of a man smoking crack in front of the CIA seal. The story was backed up online with an archive of documents, court testimony and interview transcripts. Gary knew that a storm was coming his way, but he was glad to have gotten this story out into the world. Momentum was slow, but soon the story began circulating around South Central Los Angeles. The very place where Frank Freeway Rick had started his career. The uproar in the black community was massive because so many drugs had been smuggled into the country undetected. Many people already suspected that the government was involved in the crack epidemic. Gary's story gave them proof that they were right all along. Before long, several politicians got involved too. California senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein wrote letters to the CIA demanding answers about Gary's accusations. Maxine Waters, the congresswoman who represented South Central, started crusading against the agency as well. Gary was feeling vindicated. Maybe, just maybe, there would be consequences for what the government had done. And it was all because of him. Within a month of the article's publication, Gary's work had sparked a massive reckoning within the United States government. Three separate federal investigations were launched. The CIA was put under review by Frederick Hitz, the agency's inspector general, as well as by the House Intelligence Committee, the DEA and FBI, which Gary alleged had avoided building cases against Freeway Rick and Blandon were investigated by the Justice Department's inspector general as well. But that wasn't all. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department had already been rocked by scandal when members of its Freeway Rick task force were convicted on federal corruption charges in 1984. 1991. Gary's article put forward new evidence that the task force discovered Blandon's CIA ties as far back as 1986. Gary alleged that they chose to cover up the agency's involvement and allow Blandon to continue selling drugs. After Dark alliance was published, the department started an additional internal investigation. The editors of the San Jose Mercury News couldn't have been happier about all the publicity. In 1996, the use of the Internet for news was still relatively new and the Mercury News website didn't usually get much traffic. But once Gary's Dark alliance files went live, they were getting half a million readers every single day. Gary wasn't just sitting around while his work made an impact, though. For weeks he continued publishing follow up articles about the government's investigations and the evidence he had collected. On the surface, everything seemed to be going well for Gary. His story was changing things for the better. People all over the world were reading it. It felt like the firestorm that people warned him about wasn't going to come his way. But it was actually much closer than it seemed. It took months before major newspapers started to pick up Gary's story. But they didn't back up his claims or even just report on them. Instead, they viciously attacked his work. On October 4, 1996, just a month after Dark alliance was published, the Washington Post ran an article with the title the CIA and Crack Evidence is Missing of alleged Plot. The writers claimed that Gary had made several errors in his reporting. Most importantly that he had overblown the connection between Oscar Danilo Blandon and the CIA. They wrote, quote, the available information does not support the conclusions that the CIA backed Contras or Nicaraguans in general played a major role in the emergence of crack as a narcotic in widespread use across the United States. Gary had expected some negative coverage about his story, but not his own credibility. The Post criticized Gary's relationship with Freeway Rick's attorneys as sources and and insinuated that they had used Gary to help influence the jury in his trial. If the Post was the only paper to speak out against Gary, it would have been okay. But his problems were just beginning. Later in October, the New York Times ran two articles questioning Gary's evidence. Then came the Los Angeles Times which published its own three part series criticizing Gary's reporting. Gary's reputation was collapsing by the minute. He knew he'd done his job well. But if he wanted to keep it, he was going to have to fight. After all the negative press about Dark Alliance, Gary's editor Jerry Seppes vowed to stand by him. On October 18th he wrote an editorial criticizing the Post and backing up Gary's claims. Jerry's article triggered a back and forth with the other newspapers. They remained harshly critical of Gary. But they admitted that there was troubling evidence that that the CIA was aware of cocaine smuggling operations while Jerry was defending Gary publicly. Internally, the Mercury News was in disarray as the paper's credibility was called into question. Alongside Gary's other reporters demanded a review of the article's evidence. Gary remained steadfast that he could prove his claims. With the paper's permission, he traveled to San Diego, Nicaragua and Costa Rica to interview people connected with Oscar Danilo Blandon. He even received testimony that a DEA agent had helped Blandon escape charges. Gary felt like he had more than enough to tie the US government to Blandon. Even if he didn't have concrete documentation from the CIA. He believed the evidence he had was clear as day. But unbeknownst to him, the Mercury News was starting to side with the critics. While Gary was gone, his editor Jerry SES ordered the artwork of the man smoking crack in front of the CIA seal to be taken down. And the paper's internal investigation found some discrepancies with his reporting, especially Blandon's witness statements. When Gary returned from his trip In March of 1997, they told him they were going to run an article about the internal review without publishing his updates to the story. Gary's own paper was about to disavow his writing and there was nothing he could do about it. On May 11, 1997, the San Jose Mercury News ran the article that undid all of Gary's hard work. While Jerry Sepes acknowledged that much of Gary's reporting was solid, he said that the paper had failed to address several gaps in his work. Jerry went on to say that Gary had ignored some contradictory evidence and was being one sided. He also argued that Gary had oversimplified Blandon's role in expanding the crack epidemic in the 80s. Gary was furious that his editors had left him out to dry. And it only got worse when the major newspapers that had attacked him piled on. All three ran front page articles celebrating the retraction in. In the following weeks, the papers did everything they could to torch any semblance of Gary's credibility. They dragged up different issues in Gary's past, including the two lawsuits against him while he wrote for the Cleveland plane dealer, which they used as evidence of his poor judgment. Gary's editors at the Mercury News hadn't known about the lawsuits when he was hired. They were strongly reconsidering his role at the paper. In June of 1997, they called him into the main offices in San Jose. Jerry Seppis told him that they were stripping him of his editorial freedom and moving him closer to the office, which was a long way from his home in Sacramento. Gary felt there was a concerted effort to silence his work. He knew he was a good reporter and that he had done his job right. The only thing he could do to save his integrity was step down. In November 1997, Gary resigned from the San Jose Mercury News. He thought his fight was just beginning, but it was really just the beginning of the end. A mother is on trial for allegedly luring her own son in law to his death. And her search history may have given away everything. This is Vanessa, the host of Crime House 24 7. Right now in a Utah courtroom, 60 year old Tracy Grist is standing trial for murder. Accused of masterminding a family plot to kill her son in law, Matthew Rastelli. Prosecutors say Matthew was lured from California under the pretense of picking up his wife and kids. What he didn't know, he was walking into a trap. Within seconds, he was shot seven times, three of them in the back. And months before the killing, investigators say Tracy sent a text to one of her daughters that read Quote, matt made it so I want to kill him. He straight up lied, I'm gonna kill him. End quote. Hear the rest of that story and never miss another on crime house 24 7, where we cover breaking true crime news daily. Follow Crime House 247 wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss a story as it breaks. I'm criminal psychologist Dr. Michelle Ward and on season nine of Mind of a Monster, we're bringing you the case of serial killer Michael Garjean. He either charms him because he needs him to do something or he stalks him because he's gonna kill him. The repairman with Hollywood good looks who stalked and attacked his female neighbors in their own homes. The jury was shown the photos from her apartment and it was just covered in blood. Listen to Mind of a Monster, the Hollywood Ripper, wherever you get your podcasts. In November 1997, 42 year old Gary Webb stepped down from his position at the San Jose Merc. But he didn't sit around wallowing. Gary immediately got to work on a book version of Dark Alliance. He was able to go in depth into his investigation process, talking through the evidence he had collected and how the mainstream newspapers had teamed up to take him down. Gary prided himself on being a fast, diligent writer, but working on the Dark alliance book was something else. He was fueled by his desire to get the truth out and and to protect his own reputation. In just a few months, the book was ready to go to print. It was published in May of 1998, just eight months after Gary left the Mercury News. Maxine Waters, the representative of South Central, had always been a champion of Gary's efforts and celebrated him. In the book's introduction she wrote, quote, this book is the final chapter on this sordid tale and brings to light one of the worst official abuses in our nation's history. We all owe Gary Webb a debt of gratitude for his brave work. End quote. The book did receive a lot of attention, both positive and negative. But Representative Waters was wrong. It was far from the final chapter of the CIA Contra story. In December of 1997, the Department of Justice completed their internal investigation investigation into Gary's claims of FBI and DEA misconduct. Gary had been waiting anxiously for their report, hoping it would vindicate his reporting. But the Justice Department didn't release it until July 23, 1998 after his book was published. When the report finally did go public, it showed that Gary had exaggerated his claims that Oscar Danilo Blandon and other traffickers were were connected to the government. The biggest Blow to Gary's Reporting was the DOJ's assertion that while Blandon was a major drug trafficker, he hadn't played a major role in the rise of crack in Los Angeles or across the us. Gary was completely taken aback by this. He was far from the first writer to make the case that Blandon and Freeway Rick had been the cocaine kingpins of la. But somehow he was taking the fall fall for it. A few weeks later, the CIA's own report was released. Unsurprisingly, it absolved the agency of any wrongdoing, claiming they had no knowledge of any cocaine trafficking by Blandon, Freeway Rick or their associates. This flew in the face of documents that were later declassified which proved otherwise. Those same documents would also explain why the DOJ had waited to release their report. Report? It turned out they were still working with Oscar Danilo Blandon. They didn't want to jeopardize his involvement with any upcoming drug trafficking trials. Of course, Frederick Hits, the CIA Inspector General, didn't say that under oath in front of the House Intelligence Committee. But he did admit that the CIA had worked with several drug traffickers within the us. The reason there was no evidence was that the Justice Department had agreed to look the other way. Gary noticed that this admission wasn't reported in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, or even the San Jose Mercury News. All the papers that had vilified him were silent on the issue. In the aftermath of the government's reports, Gary was out in the cold. His book had been successful, but not successful enough to change the public perception of his work. In. In interviews, Gary criticized the newspapers that had spoken out about him, alleging that they were being used as a mouthpiece for the CIA. For all his anger at the media, Gary still wanted to work. Though the issue was, after he'd resigned from the Mercury News, no newspaper was interested in hiring him. It felt like his life was falling apart, especially when his wife, sue discovered that he was having an affair with one of his sources from the Dark alliance series. In couples counseling, Gary revealed that the fling wasn't his first. He'd also had a brief relationship with a woman while he worked at the Cleveland plane dealer. When the woman called him at home, he'd panicked and accepted the job at the Mercury News. Moving his family across the country was driven by his infidelity, an admission that shocked sue to her core. Sue and Gary tried to work through their marital problems, but they proved too much to overcome. Their divorce was finalized in September 2000. After that Gary's behavior became self destructive. He was involved in multiple motorcycle crashes, one so bad that he had to be airlifted to a hospital. Gary, now 45 years old, was doing everything he could to keep himself together. But the fallout from the Dark alliance series had taken everything away from him. In 2001, Gary managed to get a job with the California State legislature investigating corruption and racial profiling within government departments like the California Highway Patrol. Gary was deeply unsatisfied with the work, but he didn't have many other options. Then in February 2004, he was laid off. When a new administration came in that August, Gary got a job reporting for the Sacramento News and Review, a local left wing newspaper. Almost seven years after leaving the San Jose Mercury News, he finally got to be a journalist full time again. But it wasn't enough to curb the depression he'd been feeling for years. Things got worse in December when he was forced to sell his home in Sacramento because he couldn't afford his mortgage payments. 49 year old Gary packed up all his belongings, including his various journalism awards, and called a moving company. On December 10, 2004, movers arrived at Gary's house ready to help him vacate the premises. But when they walked up to the door, they found a note that read, please do not enter. Call 911 for assistance. Thank you. It turned out that wasn't the only message he'd left. Gary had also mailed long suicide letters to his ex wife and his children. Immediately after seeing the note on the door, the movers called the police. First responders discovered Gary's body on the floor of his home. He was holding a.38 revolver in his hand and had two gunshot wounds to the head. Considering the subject matter of Dark alliance and the way Gary died, many people around the world have speculated that he'd been silenced by the US Government. Right after Gary's death was announced, the Sacramento County Coroner's office was flooded with calls from people who believed Gary had been murdered. But the coroner officially ruled that Gary had died by suicide. He believed that Gary's first shot, fired near his right ear, had gone through his face and exited his left cheek. He then fired again. In his report, the Corner coroner wrote, quote, 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. End quote. Additionally, Gary's ex wife and his eldest son both spoke out against the conspiracy that Gary wasn't responsible for his death. They said he was extremely depressed. In the weeks leading up to December 9, mainly because of his inability to find work at another paper. Still, the conspiracy that the CIA was behind Gary's death persists. Many people believe that even if they hadn't pulled the trigger, they had spurred the mainstream media to suppress Gary's reporting. Then they allegedly blackballed him from finding work at other newspapers. There isn't much direct evidence for this, but as more newspapers and TV networks have been purchased by corporations, the line between journalistic integrity and corporate interests is blurrier than ever. Especially because the same newspapers that attacked Gary have often aligned themselves with the government side of the story only for the truth to become clear several years later. And in many ways, this was the case with Gary Webb. Gary's critics accused him of poor journalistic practices and of making extraordinary claims he couldn't fully back up. But even they admitted that the evidence Gary did have was troubling. It indicated that the CIA had looked the other way while its associates spread drugs around poor black neighborhoods. Congressional testimony as far back as 1989 confirms these reports, even as the CIA continues to deny its involvement. And since his release in 2009, Freeway Rick Ross has repeatedly said that he believes everything Gary wrote in his series Foreign. But I'd love to get your take. Do you agree with Freeway Rick? Was Gary Webb onto something or did he get lost in his own reporting? Did the CIA lie to the public and did they have something to do with Gary's death? What do you think? Let us know in the comments. Whatever you believe, there's no doubt that the the mainstream papers did everything they could to ruin Gary's reputation. They didn't look at any of the good reporting he'd done that had made a real impact. Clearly he'd done something right over the years for him to have the career he had, but they were only interested in tearing him down. Jesse Katz, who worked at the LA Times when Dark alliance came out, spoke about Gary in 2017. She said, quote, most of us who were involved in it would look back and see, say it was overkill. We kind of piled on to one lone muckraker up in Northern California, and it ruined that reporter's career. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Vanessa Richardson and this is Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes. Come back next time. We'll decode the episode together and hear another story about the real people at the center of the world's most notorious cults, conspiracies and criminal acts. Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes is a Crime House original Powered by Pave Studios. Here at Crime House. We want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media, Rimehouse on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review and and follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes Wherever you get your podcasts, your feedback truly makes a difference. And to enhance your Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes listening experience, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode ad free. We'll be back on Wednesday. Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes is hosted by me, Vanessa Richardson and is a Crime House original. Powered by Paves Studios, this episode was brought to life by the Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benidon, Natalie Pertovsky, Lori Marinelli, Sarah Camp, Jake Natureman, Leah Roche, Alyssa Fox, Kaylee Pine, Lucas Fackler and Michael Langsner. Thank you for listening. When it's time to scale your business. It's time for Shopify. Get everything you need to grow the way you want. Like all the way. Stack more sales with the best converting checkout on the planet. Track your cha chings from every channel right in one spot and turn real time reporting into big time opportunities. Take your business to a whole new level. Switch to Shopify. Start your free trial today. Thanks for listening to today's episode. Not sure what to listen to next? Check out America's Most Infamous Crimes hosted by Katie Ring. From serial killers to unsolved mysteries and game changing investigations, each week Katie takes on a notorious criminal case in American history. Listen to and follow America's Most Infamous Crimes now. Wherever you listen to podcasts.