Gary Webb and the Dark Alliance Controversy: The Reporter Who Took on the CIA and Paid the Price
In 1996, investigative reporter Gary Webb set off one of the most explosive media firestorms of the decade. Writing for the San Jose Mercury News, Webb published a three-part investigative series titled "Dark Alliance" that alleged a disturbing connection between America’s crack cocaine epidemic and U.S. foreign policy in Central America.
According to Webb, cocaine supplied by Nicaraguan traffickers allied with U.S.-backed Contra forces was sold in bulk to Los Angeles dealer “Freeway” Ricky Ross, who in turn distributed it through the city’s Crips and Bloods gangs. The profits from these sales, Webb reported, helped fund the Contras’ war against Nicaragua’s socialist Sandinista government — and the CIA, he suggested, turned a blind eye to the drug trafficking because it served U.S. geopol...




















