New Film Is Redemption for Gary Webb, Journalist Who Exposed CIA Ties to the Crack Trade
October 9, 2014 |
The new Hollywood film "Kill the Messenger" tells the story of Gary Webb, one of the most maligned figures in investigative journalism. Webb’s explosive 1996 investigative series "Dark Alliance" for the San Jose Mercury News revealed ties between the CIA, Nicaraguan contras and the crack cocaine trade ravaging African-American communities. The exposé provoked protests and congressional hearings, as well as a fierce reaction from the media establishment, which went to great lengths to discredit Webb’s reporting. We revisit Webb’s story with an extended clip from the documentary "Shadows of Liberty," and speak with Robert Parry, a veteran investigative journalist who advised Webb before he published the series.
Below is an interview with Parry, followed by a transcript.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: A new film out in theaters this week tells the story of one of the most maligned figures in investigative journalism: Gary Webb. In 1996, Webb published an explosive series in the San Jose Mercury News titled "Dark Alliance." It began, quote, "For the better part of a decade, a San Francisco Bay Area drug ring sold tons of cocaine to the Crips and Bloods street gangs of Los Angeles and funneled millions in drug profits to a Latin American guerrilla army run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency."
AMY GOODMAN: The series revealed ties between the CIA, the Nicaraguan contras, the crack cocaine trade ravaging African-American communities here in the U.S. This is a trailer for the new film Kill the Messenger, starring Jeremy Renner as Gary Webb.
GARY WEBB: [played by Jeremy Renner] Gary Webb, San Jose Mercury News.
RONALD QUAIL: [played by Robert Patrick] Do you believe in conspiracy theories, Gary?
GARY WEBB: No, I don’t believe in conspiracy theories. Conspiracies, yes. If I believe it, there’s nothing theory about it.
ALAN FENSTER: [played by Tim Blake Nelson] Was the government aware that you were smuggling tons of cocaine into the United States?
DANILO BLANDÓN: [played by Yul Vázquez] Yes, the government knew.
RUSSELL DODSON: [played by Barry Pepper] This leads to very sensitive national security matters.
GARY WEBB: Natural security and crack cocaine in the same sentence, does that not sound strange to you?
NORWIN MENESES: [played by Andy García] I’m going to tell you the whole truth. I’m going to introduce you to people you should talk to. And then you will be faced with the most important decision of your life.
GARY WEBB: Oh, yeah? What’s that?
NORWIN MENESES: Deciding whether to share it or not.
GARY WEBB: One of the DEA’s most wanted brought in thousands of kilos of cocaine to the U.S. every day for them.
JERRY CEPPOS: [played by Oliver Platt] For who?
GARY WEBB: The U.S. government. Or with them. Or at least while they were looking the other way.
JERRY CEPPOS: Jesus.
"FREEWAY" RICKY ROSS: [played by Michael Kenneth Williams] L.A., New York, Atlanta. I couldn’t sell it fast enough to keep up with supply.
FRED WEIL: [played by Michael Sheen] Fancy information you have there. Dangerous.
JOHN CULLEN: [played by Ray Liotta] What you found here, Gary, is a monster.
FRED WEIL: You have no idea what you’re getting into.
GARY WEBB: You really telling me that I should just walk away from this?
FRED WEIL: You’d be an idiot not to.
ANNA SIMONS: [played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead] This story scares people.
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