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10th out of 43 books
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15 voters
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Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion
by
Gary Webb
Dark Alliance is a book that should be fiction, whose characters seem to come straight out of central casting: the international drug lord, Norwin Meneses; the Contra cocaine broker with an MBA in marketing, Danilo Blandon; and the illiterate teenager from the inner city who rises to become the king of crack, "Freeway" Ricky Ross. But unfortunately, these charact...more
Paperback, 548 pages
Published
June 8th 1999
by Seven Stories Press
(first published 1998)
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Webb's basic assertion is that the CIA enabled Nicaraguan Contras to fund their organization by functioning as one of the top cocaine exporters to the Unites States. Exhaustively researched and documented, Webb's citations include numerous declassified government documents and interviews. He makes an unassailable case that the CIA was aware of Contra drug dealing, and gave them tacit legal protection from the DEA, FBI, narcs, etc., under the guise that they were valuable 'assets.' Webb was ef...more
Many people know the "story" of the Iran-Contra Scandal in some context. But, like myself, that knowledge is likely limited, distorted and highly incomplete. This book shows the depth to which the CIA will sink to fund what it deems in the "interests" (National Security) of the US. The scumbags that the US government will ally themselves with is astounding. The usual cast of pigs is here - Luis Posada Carilles, Felix Rodriguez and a host of other Miami-Cuban Terrorist Cri...more
On the 30th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution, which was the year before the Reagan revolution that unleashed the disaster we've been living ever since, I finally decided to read this book. It's already proving to be up there with Peter Mathiessen's In the Spirit of Crazy Horse (about the siege at Wounded Knee and the framing of Leonard Peltier) as a masterwork of investigative journalism, as political thriller and epic American tragedy. I'm glad to hear a movie called Kill the Messenger ...more
Excellent and informative book. Webb did his home work and did his noble deed as an American by exposing this. Unfortunately, this pretty much nailed the coffin in his career as a journalist. Some people still call him a wacko who didn't have enough evidence, these people are in denial. You take a look back to Iran/Contra, then you fast forward to today where we have US soldiers guarding poppy fields in Afghanistan. While poppy cultivation is up in Afghanistan, heroin availability is sky high in...more
I really liked this book. It covered plenty of detail and Webb made sure to back up the statements that he was making. It seems unbelievable, but it also seems as if the paper trail and the preponderance of the evidence point in the direction Webb was going.
The only criticism I had of the book was that it sometimes felt like I was wading through massive amounts of information, names, dates, etc., but I guess that is a necessary evil when discussing such topics. This is the only th...more
The only criticism I had of the book was that it sometimes felt like I was wading through massive amounts of information, names, dates, etc., but I guess that is a necessary evil when discussing such topics. This is the only th...more
What do I do with this information now? I don't know. Like reading up on any type of this kind of thing.........
I actually had to take notes while reading Dark Alliance. It is, as one could imagine, pretty dense. For me, it took a lot to stay on the map, but it was worth it. I wanted to read this after watching The American Drug War: The Great White Hope directed by Kevin Booth (and Bill Hick's childhood friend) where this was featured. The book is based off a series off articles wri...more
I actually had to take notes while reading Dark Alliance. It is, as one could imagine, pretty dense. For me, it took a lot to stay on the map, but it was worth it. I wanted to read this after watching The American Drug War: The Great White Hope directed by Kevin Booth (and Bill Hick's childhood friend) where this was featured. The book is based off a series off articles wri...more
Gary Webb proves that at the very least the US government at the highest levels knew about and protected Contra connected Nicaraguans who were smuggling MASSIVE amounts of cocaine into America and more or less created and caused the crack cocaine epidemic in the 1980's. These same Nicaraguans were in most cases working for the CIA.
Don't kid yourself, the global elite control the drug trade. The CIA is just a conduit for them to do it. From what I have read the illegal drug trade is ...more
Don't kid yourself, the global elite control the drug trade. The CIA is just a conduit for them to do it. From what I have read the illegal drug trade is ...more
ABSOLUTELY ASTOUNDING! Should be read by every American to truly understand the origins of the of the present day African American urban condition. Picture this: the Reagan Administration comes into office and immediately sets out to depose the Sandinistas through the Contras. In the beginning, they pass a minor act that says that the CIA no longer needs to report the criminal activities of its informants to the Dept. of Justice or the DEA. Then, Oliver North and co. hook up with dozens of k...more
I read this years ago, and then heard people talking about GW on late-night radio -- and had to go back and re-read this.
GW ended up "committing suicide" but I heard he had TWO bullets in him - nothing in this arena would surprise me.
If you feel all patriotic and honorable and wonder why people around the world have been less than enthralled with the US in the past few decades, read this one...enlightening, depressing, sad.
GW ended up "committing suicide" but I heard he had TWO bullets in him - nothing in this arena would surprise me.
If you feel all patriotic and honorable and wonder why people around the world have been less than enthralled with the US in the past few decades, read this one...enlightening, depressing, sad.
I was turned onto this by my conspiracy theorist brother, who has espoused such whacky theories as Don Tysson (chicken) flying in Yeyo on his G5 for distribution to the Little Rock market to GWB blowing up the twin towers to get a television moment. Needless to say I was skeptical...
But turns out some of his theories are correct! Gary Webb ruined his life to expose the duplicity of the US government. For the naive of us that believe people will do the right thing, this book paves th...more
But turns out some of his theories are correct! Gary Webb ruined his life to expose the duplicity of the US government. For the naive of us that believe people will do the right thing, this book paves th...more
extremely detailed account of connections between the Contra leadership, the CIA, Ollie North, the DEA, and coke distributors in LA and the Bay Area. Very well documented evidence presents a damning case showing how the CIA allowed the Contras to funnel coke into a nascent crack market in LA as a means of funding an illegal covert war during the Boland Amendment prohibitions against Contra funding.
The author was warned not to dig too deep, as his contemporaries have wound up dead. Four ...more
The author was warned not to dig too deep, as his contemporaries have wound up dead. Four ...more
This is an amazing book. I loved Gary Webb and I feel privileged to have had the chance to meet him. I was so sad when he killed himself. This book is so fascinating and such a page turner. It's very dense with footnotes but, of course, he was so attacked for purportedly making it all up that he was meticulous in his references.
Helped to get a clear understanding of cocaine and crack epidemic in the late 70's and early 80's.
Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion by Gary Webb (1999)
Gary Webb, as a journalist, documented the relationship between the CIA, the Contras and the cocaine trade, a relationship that the United States Inspector General and the CIA's own Inspector General eventually owned up to. Understandably, Webb eventually shot himself in the head. Twice. This is the account of his investigation, an investigation that would have, in a better world, led to a complete restructuring of the CIA and a lot of people in jail. Instead, it was mostly forgotten.
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Why read spy thrillers, when reality is so much worse?
Gary Webb tries to show that people on the payroll of the CIA were directly involved in funnelling Cocaine into South Central LA and creating the crack epidemic. you could argue whether he demostrated it - but you can't argue that the CIA and DEA did their best to cover up the dirty work of the people who did bring the drugs in.
Gary Webb tries to show that people on the payroll of the CIA were directly involved in funnelling Cocaine into South Central LA and creating the crack epidemic. you could argue whether he demostrated it - but you can't argue that the CIA and DEA did their best to cover up the dirty work of the people who did bring the drugs in.
Interesting, and incredibly (overwhelmingly) detailed and researched. I never finished it though - he kind of made the same point over and over. It's an issue that's worth understanding though, and I'm glad to have learned about it.
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Understanding how we went from a War on Poverty to international invasions of foreign soil requires one to pass through the War on Drugs - and nothing is quite as damning in that journey than Gary Webb's story.
Very excited to read the book but became really bogged down by the details. I would reccomend becoming aquainted with the "cocaine trafficker" legend in the back before getting too far into this book.
Dense and long, but really interesting. I thought the most engaging parts were the chapters about Freeway Ricky and how crack really came to L.A.
If you ever had a doubt that crack, guns and the CIA were at all involved in our modern day "hoods", please read this book...
This is no joke.
This is no joke.
Incredible/ disgusting. well documented and credible.
Freeway Ricky Ross! CIA collusion! I'm SO there.
THE most amazing piece of investigative journalism since Watergate. And to think that it all began at the San Jose Mercury News
Sarit Pandya
marked it as to-read
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