CIA and the Crack Cocaine Explosion

https://www.editorandpublisher.com/ea..._id=1003785311

NEW YORK Universal Studios is planning to develop a feature film based on the true story of Gary Webb, The San Jose Mercury News reporter who committed suicide years after his bombshell series on CIA drug activities was questioned, Variety reported.

"Peter Landesman will write the screenplay, based on the two books the studio optioned: 'Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion,' by Webb, and Nick Schou's 'Kill the Messenger: How the CIA's Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb,'" Variety reported. "Scott Stuber will produce with Nick Wechsler; Naomi Despres and Landesman will be exec producers. Webb was vilified by major newspapers after his series was published."

Webb's 1996 three-part series "Dark Alliance" claimed that the CIA was involved in the crack cocaine trade and initially drew praise as a piece of investigative reporting. But, after critics began to pick apart some pieces of the series, Webb was accused of sloppy reporting and, later, demoted to a lesser beat at the Mercury News before leaving the paper.

"The film will posit that Webb was mostly right, and that the CIA sought to smear him to cover up a scandal," Variety reported

He died in 2004 from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head in his home.

"It's the story of a reporter killed for telling the truth, and it's poignant and relevant as the CIA and U.S. government continue to make nefarious deals with the devil for what they believe is the greater good," Landesman told the daily industry paper.

"Schou claims that the journo outlets that attacked Webb's reporting practically ignored a 1998 CIA admission that Schou said validated Webb's reportage," Variety stated.

Landesman, a former correspondent for The New York Times Magazine, has written articles on sex trafficking in the U.S. (which formed the basis for the film "Trade"), and an expose on Russian arms dealer Victor Bout, Variety said. He just finished a film about Watergate "Deep Throat" informant Mark Felt.

sounds like a good flick

cia owns the ****ing cocaine market... no way in hell when they sieze tons of cocaine.... they dont destroy that...goes right back on the street,

anyone see a connection with how adamant we were about being in vietnam while raising and reaping heroin in Laos and such and how adamant we are about staying on Afghanistan, another huge poppy growing region?

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Originally Posted by BigDawg

anyone see a connection with how adamant we were about being in vietnam while raising and reaping heroin in Laos and such and how adamant we are about staying on Afghanistan, another huge poppy growing region?

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Yes there are many ties with our gov't and "drug producing" countries such as Columbia, Vietnam, Mexico, Afghanistan, etc.

The CIA was supposedly connected in the most recent flick AMERICAN GANGSTER with Denzell Washington but there are many noted and reported cases where our gov't or people in our gov't have smuggled in TONS and TONS of illegal narcotics to fund wars or foreing gov'ts.

Funny how things are so tied together...

The allegations resurfaced in 1996 when journalist Gary Webb published reports in the San Jose Mercury News,[66] and later in his book Dark Alliance,[67] detailing how Contras had distributed crack cocaine into Los Angeles to fund weapons purchases. These reports were initially attacked by various other newspapers, which attempted to debunk the link, citing official reports that apparently cleared the CIA.
The Wall Street Journal reported on January 29, 1997[68] on activities at the Mena, Arkansas airport allegedly involved then-governor Bill Clinton in a coverup of illegal drug-trading activity. The Wall Street Journal article goes on to state:

At the center of the web of speculation spun around Mena are a few undisputed facts: One of the most successful drug informants in U.S. history, smuggler Barry Seal, based his air operation at Mena. At the height of his career he was importing as much as 1,000 pounds of cocaine per month, and had a personal fortune estimated at more than $50 million. After becoming an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration, he worked at least once with the CIA, in a Sandinista drug sting. He was gunned down by Colombian hit men in Baton Rouge, La., in 1986; eight months later, one of his planes—with an Arkansas pilot at the wheel and Eugene Hasenfus in the cargo bay—was shot down over Nicaragua with a load of Contra supplies.

In 1998, CIA Inspector General Frederick Hitz published a two-volume report[69] that substantiated many of Webb's claims, and described how 50 contras and contra-related entities involved in the drug trade had been protected from law enforcement activity by the Reagan-Bush administration, and documented a cover-up of evidence relating to these activities. The report also showed that Oliver North and the NSC were aware of these activities. A report later that same year by the United States Justice Department Inspector General Michael Bromwich also came to similar conclusions.
In 2004, Gary Webb was found dead from two gunshot wounds to the head, later determined to be self-inflicted.[70]

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In 2004, Gary Webb was found dead from two gunshot wounds to the head, later determined to be self-inflicted.[70]
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Hmmm. 2 gunshot wounds to the head and self inflicted????? 1st shot not so good?
People have attempted suicide and didn't hit the target so good and survived but they were ****ED UP!! Not sure any ever shot themselves, realized it wasn't going to be fatal and then had the balls and mental capacity to do it again.
sniff,sniff.... Whats that smell???... coverup???