Gary Webb Quotes

Every government is run by liars and nothing they say should be believed. —I. F. STONE, 1907 – 1989

I was winning awards, getting raises, lecturing college classes, appearing on TV shows, and judging journalism contests. And then I wrote some stories that made me realize how sadly misplaced my bliss had been. The reason I'd enjoyed such smooth sailing for so long hadn't been, as I'd assumed, because I was careful and diligent and good at my job... The truth was that, in all those years, I hadn't written anything important enough to suppress.

Freelance investigative reporter Danny Casolaro was looking into the Cabazon/Wackenhut projects as part of a larger conspiracy investigation at the time he was found dead in a West Virginia motel room in 1991, allegedly a suicide victim. He had told friends he was convinced that "spies, arms merchants and others were using the reservation as a low-profile site on which to develop weapons for Third World armies, including the Nicaraguan Contras.

One of the questions I have been asked many times since this story broke is this: Now that the facts are out there, what can we do? My answer, depressing and cynical as it may be, is always the same. Not much. Not now. And certainly not until the American public and its Congressional representatives regain control of the CIA and shred the curtain of secrecy that keeps us from discovering these crimes of state until its too late. Perhaps when the government officials who presided over these outrages are safely in their crypts, and their apologists and cheerleaders are buried woth them, future historians can finally call these men to account for the miseries they caused. Even if that's all that ever happens, it will be fitting and just, because the favorable judgment of history is ultimately what they craved.

Authentic journalism is telling people something that the government doesn't want them to know.

Banks and other lending institutions—fearing loss of investor confidence—are notoriously loathe to admit they’ve been swindled. Therefore, they make excellent targets. Marvin

Gaus said; “I think Peter Crosby is a myth. I have never met the gentleman.” First

On May 17, Webb announced in court that the defense’s jurisdiction motions were “dismissed for reasons to be given later”—an unsurprising outcome but with a shocking absence of any stated rationale.[70]

This book was written for them, so that they may know upon what altars their communities were sacrificed. —G.W. Every government is run by liars and nothing they say should be believed. — I. F. STONE, 1907-1989

That was the Northern Ohio Bank, which US Organized Crime Strike Force investigators said had been taken over by the Mob. The bank collapsed in 1975, costing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. $30 million. Stansbury

After spending three years of my life looking into this, I am more convinced than ever that the U.S. government's responsibility for the drug problems in South Central Los Angeles and other inner cities is greater than I ever wrote in the newspaper.

If we had met five years ago, you wouldn't have found a more staunch defender of the newspaper industry than me ... I was winning awards, getting raises, lecturing college classes, appearing on TV shows, and judging journalism contests. So how could I possibly agree with people like Noam Chomsky and Ben Bagdikian, who were claiming the system didn't work, that it was steered by powerful special interests and corporations, and existed to protect the power elite? And then I wrote some stories that made me realize how sadly misplaced my bliss had been. The reason I'd enjoyed such smooth sailing for so long hadn't been, as I'd assumed, because I was careful and diligent and good at my job ... The truth was that, in all those years, I hadn't written anything important enough to suppress ...

God, [Freeway Rick] Ross firmly believed, had put him on earth to be the Cocaine Man. When he wasn't dealing, he was just like anybody else, maybe worse - an illiterate high-school dropout. A zero. But give him a pager and some dope, and he was a virtuoso.

But something very bad happened to the news media in the 1980s. Part of it was the 'public diplomacy' pressures from the outside. But part of it was the smug, snotty, sophomoric crowd that came to dominate the national media from the inside. These characters fell in love with their power to define reality, not their responsibility to uncover the facts. By the 1990s, the media had become the monster.

James Vincent Suarea, a small time Florida con man, said this of his more adept brethren: “These guys, they’ve got minds like corkscrews, and all they can figure is big rip-off. They’re not happy unless they’re screwing somebody.” Marvin

In 1975, con men looted five times as much money from banks as did armed robbers, but only 16 percent of the swindlers wound up in jail, serving an average of slightly less than one year. The

Some stories are just too true to tell" per "Fred Weir", Kerry Senate subcommittee chief investigator re Contra cocaine funding @ :40:45 in "Kill The Messenger" biopic of Gary Webb who died by "suicide" by means of TWO shots to the head. "Reality is classified" per federal prosecuter "Russell Dodson", deleted scene

You can't believe the government - on anything. And you especially can't believe them when they're talking about important stuff.