"The CIA, Crack Cocaine and the Black Community"

The Death of Gary Webb

On Monday, Dec. 12, I read in the obituary section an article regarding the death of Gary Webb, the reporter for the San Jose Mercury News and author of the book entitled “Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.” On Friday, Dec. 10, movers found the body of Gary Webb in his California home. As they entered the door, a note attached to it said, “Please do not enter. Call 911 and ask for an ambulance.” He was found with a gunshot wound to the head—which was later described as a suicide.

For those of you who may not remember this reporter, on August 18, 1996, Gary Webb wrote a series of articles for the San Jose Mercury News, bearing the same name as the book, to expose the fact that the CIA worked with a drug cartel group in Nicaragua, in particular, who brought in cocaine that was later converted to crack cocaine. This crack cocaine, which first hit the West Coast and then spread throughout America, was the new craze in the Black community.

Full Article : ncmonline.com