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Meet Gary Webb, the Pulitzer-winning investigative journalist who committed suicide in the wake of the public tar-and-feathering (and financial impoverishment)

Meet Gary Webb, the Pulitzer-winning investigative journalist who committed suicide in the wake of the public tar-and-feathering (and financial impoverishment) he endured as his reward for bringing Ross and his exploits to the attention of our great nation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Webb

derwiki 13y ago
Damn, ".. Webb was found dead from two gunshot wounds to the head, which the coroner's office judged a suicide." Two self inflicted shots to the head sounds intense.
- Sessions 13y ago
  That made me double-take. That people accept it at face-value as a suicide seems a little bizarre to me, given the subject. "Oh, well, the coroner's office said so."
- taternuts 13y ago
  I kind of glossed over that when I read it...but two gunshots to the head? What are the chances that from that range he missed so badly that he was able to pull the trigger again?
  - agumonkey 13y ago
    I thought I was reading a bad mafia joke... (am not trying to be funny here)
  - anigbrowl 13y ago
    You would be surprised - many people try to shoot themselves in the head and fail. Talk to a homicide cop or forensics investigator sometime - they often get called to scene like this because it looks like there was a shootout, except that when they analyse the blood spatter etc., it turns out the person shot themselves, then lurched around trying to pick up the gun they dropped to finish it off. I'm not making light of this - some of the stories I've heard about this phenomenon are quite horrific.
    - taternuts 13y ago
      Wow, what a terrible way to go - I would think adrenaline would play a part in that, and what part of the brain the bullet went through.... unlucky
- wavesounds 13y ago
  It was probably the CIA
ericd 13y ago
Wow, it sounds like he got railed by the Reagan administration because he uncovered and reported that the govt. was shielding inner city drug dealers as a way to protect funding for Nicaraguan contras after Congress outlawed direct funding of the contras. That's pretty crazy.
- jebblue 13y ago
  I read, "Webb investigated Nicaraguans linked to the CIA-backed Contras who had smuggled cocaine into the U.S. Their smuggled cocaine was distributed as crack cocaine in Los Angeles, with the profits funneled back to the Contras.". So I guess there wasn't enough cocaine being flooded into this country from Columbia; we needed a complex plot involving the CIA, the Contras, the Nicaraguans, Los Angeles and a supremely risky money laundering scheme operating in reverse.
  - ericd 13y ago
    Did you bother to read the wikipedia link I was commenting on? I've pasted the relevant part below. According to Webb, the CIA was aware of the cocaine transactions and the large shipments of drugs into the U.S. by Contra personnel. Webb charged that the Reagan administration shielded inner-city drug dealers from prosecution in order to raise money for the Contras, especially after Congress passed the Boland Amendment, which prohibited direct Contra funding. Webb's reporting generated fierce controversy, and the San Jose Mercury News backed away from the story, effectively ending Webb's career as a mainstream media journalist. In 2004, Webb was found dead from two gunshot wounds to the head, which the coroner's office judged a suicide. Though he was criticized and outcast from the mainstream journalism community, his reportage was eventually vindicated as many of his findings have since been validated: since Webb's death, both the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune have defended his "Dark Alliance" series. Journalist George Sanchez states that "the CIA's internal investigation by Inspector General Frederick Hitz vindicated much of Gary's reporting and observes that despite the campaign against Webb, "the government eventually admitted to more than Gary had initially reported" over the years.[1][better source needed]
    - 13y ago
Alex3917 13y ago
And because he made it to web 2.0 before dying, you can even read the comments on his obituaries, e.g.: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/12/14/3719/5652 http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/12/14/3719/5652

derwiki 13y ago

Damn, ".. Webb was found dead from two gunshot wounds to the head, which the coroner's office judged a suicide." Two self inflicted shots to the head sounds intense.

Sessions 13y ago
That made me double-take. That people accept it at face-value as a suicide seems a little bizarre to me, given the subject. "Oh, well, the coroner's office said so."
taternuts 13y ago
I kind of glossed over that when I read it...but two gunshots to the head? What are the chances that from that range he missed so badly that he was able to pull the trigger again?
- agumonkey 13y ago
  I thought I was reading a bad mafia joke... (am not trying to be funny here)
- anigbrowl 13y ago
  You would be surprised - many people try to shoot themselves in the head and fail. Talk to a homicide cop or forensics investigator sometime - they often get called to scene like this because it looks like there was a shootout, except that when they analyse the blood spatter etc., it turns out the person shot themselves, then lurched around trying to pick up the gun they dropped to finish it off. I'm not making light of this - some of the stories I've heard about this phenomenon are quite horrific.
  - taternuts 13y ago
    Wow, what a terrible way to go - I would think adrenaline would play a part in that, and what part of the brain the bullet went through.... unlucky
wavesounds 13y ago
It was probably the CIA

ericd 13y ago

Wow, it sounds like he got railed by the Reagan administration because he uncovered and reported that the govt. was shielding inner city drug dealers as a way to protect funding for Nicaraguan contras after Congress outlawed direct funding of the contras. That's pretty crazy.

jebblue 13y ago
I read, "Webb investigated Nicaraguans linked to the CIA-backed Contras who had smuggled cocaine into the U.S. Their smuggled cocaine was distributed as crack cocaine in Los Angeles, with the profits funneled back to the Contras.". So I guess there wasn't enough cocaine being flooded into this country from Columbia; we needed a complex plot involving the CIA, the Contras, the Nicaraguans, Los Angeles and a supremely risky money laundering scheme operating in reverse.
- ericd 13y ago
  Did you bother to read the wikipedia link I was commenting on? I've pasted the relevant part below. According to Webb, the CIA was aware of the cocaine transactions and the large shipments of drugs into the U.S. by Contra personnel. Webb charged that the Reagan administration shielded inner-city drug dealers from prosecution in order to raise money for the Contras, especially after Congress passed the Boland Amendment, which prohibited direct Contra funding. Webb's reporting generated fierce controversy, and the San Jose Mercury News backed away from the story, effectively ending Webb's career as a mainstream media journalist. In 2004, Webb was found dead from two gunshot wounds to the head, which the coroner's office judged a suicide. Though he was criticized and outcast from the mainstream journalism community, his reportage was eventually vindicated as many of his findings have since been validated: since Webb's death, both the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune have defended his "Dark Alliance" series. Journalist George Sanchez states that "the CIA's internal investigation by Inspector General Frederick Hitz vindicated much of Gary's reporting and observes that despite the campaign against Webb, "the government eventually admitted to more than Gary had initially reported" over the years.[1][better source needed]
  - 13y ago

Alex3917 13y ago

And because he made it to web 2.0 before dying, you can even read the comments on his obituaries, e.g.: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/12/14/3719/5652 http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/12/14/3719/5652