Movie About Gary Webb, 'Dark Alliance' Reporter Who Died, Planned

[Joanne98]

By Joe Strupp

Published: April 03, 2008 5:20 PM ET

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.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003785311

[Beam Me Up]

1. Yeah, with TWO gun shots to the head

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x974603

[UpInArms]

2. and let us not forget Steve Kangas

Who killed Steve Kangas?

Steve Kangas was found dead on the 39th floor of his enemy's doorstep at 11:30 PM on February 8 1999. In the bathroom of the offices of Richard Mellon Scaife, 2000 miles from home, -- in Pittsburgh PA. Shot (twice?) in the head. Due to obstructions of justice, local police investigating the wrong circumstances quickly ruled it a suicide. There are over 1000 heated Usenet posts on this topic, dated from eleven days after his death. How did he die?

It seems much too messy for a pre-meditated hit. And too quiet for a political suicide stunt. And his death was far outside the depressed and paralyzed suicidal person's profile -- on a long trip? -- it's just not done. Suicide is normally done in, or close to the rut of daily life. Suicide counselors often recommend; "Take a long trip, and now! Break out!" It fits just right for a scuffle or the flared temper of a cold and mean man who owns the town and a small private army of "security". Of course, anything is possible, suicide is too. But what fits best?. Where does logic and reason lead us if we toss aside the preconceptions that have been skillfully laid for us from the very first day? We shall explore one range of possibilities that one path takes us. I say "we" in part because this path is evolving quickly even now among the political newsgroups, in a huge battle between liberals and neo-conservatives. It is now mid May, 1999.

What is the entrance to this path we will follow?

1) It's based on the fact that Scaife and/or his employees had fouled the police investigation within hours to suggest a "closed case" random suicide by concealing or withholding critical information.

2) It's also based on the fact that Scaife's Tribune-Review tabloid attack articles were so unfactual, and such an obvious smear that ALL information from them has been rejected.

3) It's based on the assumption that there was a real reason for the Scaife tabloid's news black-out, the eventual risky lies, the Kangas smear, Scaife's nation-wide investigation, and the obstructions of justice. That is; we assume that these were not merely the frivolous ravings of a paranoid mean-spirited man, -- nor a mere haphazard coincidence -- as the police and mainstream press seems to have assumed as the only realistic premise. Even if Scaife is a paranoid mean-spirited man, this is hardly a rational defense.

If we establish those assumptions, only a few possibilities remain. I intend to establish them as reasonable and realistic assumptional foundations that no complete investigation should ignore.

...more...

[angstlessk]

3. ain't it funny when a journalist is killed in, say, Russia who is reporting against the elite

it is an orchestrated conspiracy involving the government, but in the good ole USofA when a journalist is killed who reports against the elite and found with two gun shots to his/her head it is simply suicide..forgedaboudit!!

[Deny and Shred]

4. 2004?!! Very upsetting. I've considered him among my only living heroes.

I don't know how this story escaped my notice.
I sincerely hope the myriad other ugly truths do come out, but it will take enormous amounts of TRUE courage to expose it, because those who perpetrated it command Black Ops personnel, Blackwater types, etc.
Gary Webb had that kind of courage.

[Voltaire99]

7. See these pieces along with the book mentioned below.

Trashed by the CIA's Claque
Gary Webb: a Great Reporter
http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn12132004.html

Why They Hated Gary Webb
http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn12182004.html

[truedelphi]

5. Danny Casolaro and others as well

This from archives written by Sherman Skolnick

Among those bumped off by "the squad" have been journalist Danny
Casolero, working on a book on what he called "the Octopus" --
interfacing October Surprise, Iran-contra, Inslaw, BCCI, Bank
Lavoro, bankruptcy court bribery, and other bloody deals.

Another victim was Chicago bankruptcy auctioneer Wallace
Lieberman(sp?). According to accusations in the court record, he
was "rubbed out" by FBI agent Peters.

"The squad" also bombed the airplane, killing Gary Caradori,
private eye investigating high-level pedophile and porno rings
implicating top government officials in Omaha, Chicago, and
Washington, D.C. .

White House aide Foster never lived to keep an appointment he
made with President Clinton -- to warn him that Clinton himself
was a possible assassination target *and* that Clinton should do
something about the murder squad or eventually face impeachment.

Knowledgeable investigators contend that Clinton's problem is he
does not know *that he does not know* about all this.

"The squad" murdered Foster and, on purpose, bungled up the scene
so as to try to "finger" Hillary and Bill for covering up the
murder of Hillary's lover and law partner.


####

I always felt that Foster was actually a suicide - but the police in Washington
so badly bungled the investigation that to quote Janet Reno (using her favorite
phrase): "We will never ever know."

[Voltaire99]

6. Excellent account of Webb's work in "Whiteout" by Cockburn and St. Clair

The salient point is that the courageous Webb was destroyed by his peers in the US media, the professionally gullible who report what power tells them to say.

See:

"Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press"
http://www.amazon.com/Whiteout-Drugs-Press-Alexander-Cockburn/dp/1859842585/