The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 23

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Transcript

0:00 Good afternoon, Colonel. Good afternoon, my bitch. How are you? Good. How are you doing? Awesome. Cool. I can't wait for tonight's Alpha Warrior show. It's going to be crazy. It always is. You guys just go well together, you know? Yep. Like I said yesterday, the information that's out there, I mean, it's there.

0:32 And once you know the organizations to start researching, it's a lot easier to find it. But again, you can't find it on regular Internet searches because they do not show you the amount of information that's out there. Kind of like they're hiding it from us. Right. Yeah, it's available only if you know who and where and want, you know, to look. And even then.

1:04 You have to use Yandex. That's what I was earlier when I was stumbling across a bunch of little odds and ends. Because even using AI, I really almost think AI is now to the point of restricting any information you get. Because you can ask it questions now that are very specific, tailored.

1:32 And it will come back with, nope, there's nothing. Nothing. Don't look any further. Nothing. Nothing to see. And I'm like, no, I know this is here. I just can't remember the name of it. Yeah. Nope. Nothing here. Yeah. And what I have started doing is taking the Yandex searches and pasting them in AI and just asking it to organize the information. Because then, number one, it has the information.

2:03 if you go there to find the information initially, you're absolutely right. It doesn't matter what AI you use. They will tell you it's not there. And I like doing that initially so I can come back and call it stupid and say, how about this information, this information, and this information? How about if you chronologically organize all of the information in here for me?

2:32 the response is, oh, yes, let me get all that information organized for you. It's crazy. Right. You know, and that's the funny thing. It is helpful to some extent for certain things in certain tailored ways. You already know the answer. Right, right. But it's not going to enlighten you to any new information or very rarely anymore since a lot of these updates. Correct.

3:03 And it just seems like with each update, it gets worse and worse and worse, you know? I agree. All right. So let's dig in here because today's going to be an early day because it's Wednesday. Okay. So in short, chapter 24 of Dark Alliance, I am not going to go through it as meticulously as we have the rest of the book. And I'll tell you why. The bottom line to chapter 24.

3:32 is that Ricky Ross gets out of jail. Remember, he had gotten caught in Cincinnati, gotten caught in Texas. And he decides, as he did the last time, that he's going to go straight. He's going to go back and rebuild South Central LA with the little bit of money that he has. He's going to do a whole bunch of fundraising with local celebrities. Everybody wanted him on their talk shows.

4:02 He was like a minor celebrity, basically just telling a story. And a lot of very famous people got involved with him setting up a community center with recording studios in it and all kinds of things. Along comes one of his friends who owes a Colombian $30,000. And he basically gets talked into doing drugs again, dealing drugs again, not doing them.

4:32 And he gets caught and he gets basically life without parole. That's in a nutshell, chapter 24. And that is where Gary Webb, we get back to the beginning of the book in the story in part two of chapter 25.

4:56 with the story that led to all of this research that we've gone over over the last few weeks. And it says that Gary Webb was swept into Ross's decade-long relationship with Daniela Blanton in late September 1995, two months into his investigation, which again started in Chapter 1, and six months after Ross's arrest.

5:25 Quite unexpectedly, my tipster, which was that lady whose boyfriend had been in jail forever with no charges, allegations that the CIA and the Contras and cocaine had led me to the Metropolitan Correction Center in downtown San Diego, a bleak windowless skyscraper with.

5:52 where the former crack king was being held without bail until his trial. Ross exuded an air of self-assurance and confidence. He appeared unfazed by his arrest. But by the time the interview was over, he had dropped the pretense. Blanton's betrayal had clearly left him hurt and bewildered. Quote, I can't believe he done me like this. Unquote. Ross commented.

6:23 that as Gary Webb was packing up all of his stuff. And Ross went on to say, why did he do it? You figure that out yet? Gary replied that after he had looked over all of the court files about Blanton's arrest in May of 1992, how he had faced a mandatory life sentence and the prospect of having his wife behind bars as well, leaving their two young daughters orphaned,

6:56 It was hard to blame someone for trying to squirm out of a gym like that. Ross nodded. So how much dope did they catch him with, he asked. None, I said. But they had him on tape talking to informants about cocaine deals, bragging about how many thousands of kilos he had sold. Ross's reaction brought me up short. That's it, Ross said. They didn't find no dope on him?

7:26 Then what would he roll over for? Think about it. You ain't going to pull a live sentence just for talking to somebody about selling dope. That's bullshit. Nobody's ain't. Somebody is not telling you something. The LAPD narcotics detective.

7:47 Ron Hodges, who had investigated Blanton in conjunction with the DEA in 91 and 92, made a similar observation when I interviewed him a few weeks later. What's hard to understand is when we actually did the investigation on him and it came to a conclusion, I think he was charged with what they considered no dope conspiracy, which is like nothing. It's minimal.

8:15 It's like doing something when there is nothing there. Blanton's lawyer, Brad Brunson, pointed out that his client had no criminal record and the DEA had nothing more than some loose talk about criminal informants. There was no evidence of actual drug dealing, the lawyer said. It made no sense. Why then had Blanton so readily agreed to become a government informant? And why had the Justice Department, according...

8:44 accorded him to a high degree of trust and faith. Blanton was an international criminal, a man who had blazingly sold drugs and weapons to gang members for more than a decade. Yet here he was jetting in and out of the country at government's expense with no law enforcement supervision whatsoever, free to do whatever he wanted. Maybe Ricky Ross's suspicions were right. Perhaps Blanton had worked for the U.S. government before, just as Norwin Menendez had.

9:13 If he had a track record, it would certainly explain his extraordinary treatment. I quickly got a taste of just how protective the Justice Department was of Blanton. In October 1995, I received an unsolicited phone call from a big blonde man I'd met in the bathroom of the San Francisco courthouse a few weeks earlier. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Hall.

9:46 which is the guy, that's the guy that's in jail, that's been in jail for years, whose girlfriend came to Gary Webb, started this whole book off. There are, there were some people who talked, who wanted to talk to me, Hall said. My activity, quote, has a number of people extremely worried because of an ongoing narcotics investigation that Blanton is working on for the government, unquote.

10:17 Before I printed anything, I needed to know the situation. If I wasn't careful, there is a distinct possibility that real harm, possibly death, could come to Mr. Blanton and that an investigation we had been working on for a couple of years could be compromised. This is the threat every time someone got close to the truth they used to get them to shut up.

10:43 That's why they put sealed indictments in the file, so they can say they're working on something when they're not. The DEA wanted to know if some kind of accommodation could be reached. Like what, I ask? Well, Paul said, it had been proposed that if I held off on the story a couple of months, they might be able to arrange an exclusive interview with Blanton. I told him I didn't think my editors would agree to a delay.

11:12 But if lives were in danger, I'd certainly be willing to hear them out. On October 19, 1995, I walked into a room full of DEA agents in National City's regional office in San Diego. Two of the agents I recognized from court and reading their names in court files, Blanton's handler, the immaculately dressed Chuck Jones, and his worried-looking sidekick, Judy Gustafson.

11:41 Those are the people that were in on one of the drug deals. The other four, I didn't know. The agent behind the desk, a tall man, got up and shook my hand. He introduced himself as Craig Creighton. This is a little awkward for us, he said. We knew generally the story I was working on, he said. But unfortunately, I was getting into some rather sensitive areas.

12:13 There was an undercover operation, more than four of them, that I was in danger of exposing, putting agents and families at risk. They couldn't give me any details, of course, but I needed to appreciate the seriousness of it. What's your angle, Creighton said. Is it that the DEA sometimes hires scumbags to go after people? Gary Webb said, no, it's about Bland and Norwin Menendez and the Contras.

12:42 and their dealings with Ricky Ross. The agents looked at each other quickly out of the corner of their eyes, but said nothing. That whole Central America thing, Creighton said, I was down there. You heard all sorts of things. There were never any proof that the Contras were dealing drugs. If you're going to get involved in that, you'll never get the truth. No one ever will. Gary responds, I think.

13:08 That's pretty well been established. Your informant was one of the men who was doing it. Creighton gave Jones a side look and said, I can tell you that I have never, ever heard anything about Blanton being involved in that. Not once. His only involvement with the Contras was that his father was a general or something down there. He went on. And these two have practically lived with the man for two years now.

13:39 Creighton said, referring to the other two DEA agents. If it had happened, they would know about it. I could not quite believe what I was hearing. What kind of scam was this? Have you ever asked him about it? I asked Jones. I've already said more than I should, the guy responded. Did you ever ask him about doing it with Norwin Menendez? You'd better go check your sources again, Jones snapped. My source is Blanton.

14:09 He testified to it under oath before a grand jury. You're telling me that you don't know that? Jones threw up his hands. Oh, listen, he understands English pretty well, but sometimes he gets confused. And if you ask him a question the wrong way, he'll say something that's not true. Gary Webb just shook his head. I've got the transcripts. These weren't yes or no questions. He was very detailed.

14:37 Jones' face and forehead was red. His voice started to get louder. You're telling me that he testified that he sold cocaine for the Contras in the country? He sold it in this country? Gary Webb says, that's exactly what I'm telling you. You want to see the transcript? I've got them right here. I cannot believe those two U.S. attorneys up there, if they had him saying that before a grand jury, that they would ever, ever, ever.

15:07 Put him on a witness stand, Jones yelled. You'd have to be insane. They'd have to be total idiots. They didn't put him on the witness stand, I reminded him. They yanked him at the last minute. That's because the judge ordered them to turn over all the unredacted material, Jones blurted out. We're not going to, he looked quickly at Creighton and clammed up. Just as I suspected. They all knew everything.

15:38 The DEA had nixed Blanton's appearance because Rafael Correo's attorney had discovered the Contra connection and the government had been ordered to turn over the files. Creighton told me that it would be best for all concerned if I simply left out the fact that Blanton was now working for the DEA. Your story can go up to a certain point and stop, can it? Is it really necessary to mention his current relationship with us?

16:07 If it comes out that he is in any way connected to the DEA, it would seriously compromise our investigations. I said I thought it was important to the story, which prompted another outburst from Jones. Quote, even after we just told you, you'd still go ahead and put it in the papers? Why? Why would you put a story in the paper that would stop us from keeping drugs out of this country? I don't know if you've got kids or not.

16:37 Gary Webb interrupted him. I've got three kids and I don't know how that has anything to do with this. So you screw up an investigation we've been working on for a long time just so you could have a story. Is that it? Jones demanded. You think that this story is more important than what we're doing for this country. How is that more important? Gary Webb replied, I don't buy it. You have to put Blanton on the witness stand at Ross's trial.

17:05 So in five months, everyone in the world is going to know he's a DEA informant. Hell, if they want to know now, all they have to do is go down to the courthouse and look it up, like I did. So that's one problem I'm having with all of this. The other thing is, I think the American public has been lied to for the last 10 years. And I think telling them the truth is a whole lot more important than any investigation of yours. Jones and Webb just glared at each other.

17:35 Creighton finally said, I think we're going off topic here. Please understand, we're not telling you not to do your story, but your interest in Menendez primarily and his association with the U.S. government and the Contras, correct? Gary Webb said that was one of his interests. Well, I think we can help him there, can't we? Creighton asked, glancing around the room. Maybe.

18:01 If we got you that information, you could focus your story on him and less on Blanton, and maybe you wouldn't have to mention some other things. That all depends, Gary Webb said, on what that other information is. Creighton smiled and stood up. Okay, then. We're going to have to talk about some things among ourselves. I'm not even sure what we have in mind is legal, but we'd at least like to explore it.

18:26 Could we ask you to please not print anything until we've talked again? Can you give me a week? I told him I'd wait for his call. When Gary returned to Sacramento, he phoned a former DEA agent, Castillo, the guy that was down in El Salvador, out Ilopango, who knew everything. I asked him if he had ever heard of Craig Creighton. Yeah, sure, Castillo said. I know him.

19:01 He's one of the people in the DEA sent to Guatemala to do the internal investigation of me. He said Creighton and another DEA official had ordered him to put the word alleged in his reports to Washington about the Contra drug shipments from Ilopango. They said, you cannot actually come out and say this shit is going on. And I told them, I'm watching the fucking things fly out of here with my own eyes. Why do I have to say alleged?

19:31 I told him of Creighton's remarks that there was no proof the Contras was involved in drugs. He laughed. Oh, that's bullshit. Of all people, he knows perfectly well what was going on. He was reading every one of my reports. He was reading them, giving him feedback on grammatical errors. After two weeks, I heard nothing back. So I called the San Diego office and asked for Creighton.

19:57 Gary was told he no longer works in the office. I was told that he was transferred to Washington, D.C. He was now head of the International Division. He was working there under Robert Neves, Norwin Menendez's old control officer, who had unexpectedly resigned eight days after my meeting with Creighton.

20:32 Creighton was going to be his replacement. So they knew Neves was going to be outed by Gary Webb. So he, all of a sudden, after having told Creighton what he knew, resigned. And Creighton is now going to take his job. I never spoke to Creighton again, Gary Webb said. I suspected that the meeting in San Diego had been set up to find out what I knew and where.

21:03 I was heading. My suspicions on that were confirmed in early 1998 with the release of a CIA inspector general's report, which referenced three CIA cables about Gary Webb. They were titled possible attempts to link CIA to narco traffickers written within weeks of my meeting in San Diego with the DEA. In November, 1995, we were informed. This is what it says.

21:33 We were informed by DEA that a reporter had been inquiring about activities in Central America and any links to the Contras. The cable from Langley stated, quote, DEA has been alerted that Menendez will undoubtedly claim he was trafficking narcotics on behalf of the CIA to generate money for the Contras. Query whether station can clarify or amplify on the above information to better identify

22:03 Menendez or confirm or refute these claims. Headquarters trace Menendez reveal extensive entries, unquote. These extensive entries were not revealed in the declassified version of the CIA's IG report because they were damning. The DEA's public affairs office in Washington later attempted to work out a deal with me to set up an interview with Menendez.

22:32 If I would leave Blanton's DEA ties out of the story. But unfortunately, my colleague in Nicaragua, George Hodel, beat them to the punch. He had found the massive files of Menendez's 1992 court case in the Nicaraguan Supreme Court and had tracked the drug lord down in prison in Managua.

22:58 The clerk says I am the first journalist ever to ask to see the files. Can you imagine that, Hodel said? All of the stories written about this case and not one reporter has ever looked at these files. I have one of my journalist students going through them and making an index of all the pages. There's some very particular things in there, I can tell you. Gary Webb's tipster had told me the truth about Blanton and Menendez, George reported.

23:28 He checked it with former Contra commander Eden Pastora. Pastora is the guy who refused to use drug money to fund his efforts in support of the Contras. And they got rid of him. He says that they were friends and business partners and that their families were very close with Somoza. They were considered to have.

23:59 been among the founders of the Contras. And he said Menendez's chief aide, Enrique Miranda, had admitted at trial that Menendez sold cocaine for the Contras, flying it out of the airbase in El Salvador into military airfields in Texas. In some of the newspaper stories I'm sending you, you will see that Menendez makes the same claims.

24:28 It was part of his defense that the Sandinistas persecuted him because of his work for the Contras. I told him my conversation with the DEA and suggested that we might want to get Menendez quickly before someone else did. He agreed and told me that another person we needed to talk to as well was Menendez's chief accuser, Enrique Miranda. According to the files, Miranda also was still in jail.

24:58 having been moved to a prison in the city of Granada after Menendez hired someone to kill him. He had already had put in a request at the Nicaraguan Ministry of Interior to arrange an interview, George said. I think we can speak to both of them. How quickly can you come down? As soon as I clear it with my editors, Gary Webb said. I'm not sure if they even know about this story yet. Don, which is one of his editors.

25:27 Had been running interference for Gary with the other editors until I got somewhat nailed down all of this information. But it seems pretty solid. We need to get to Menendez before the DEA does. So if you want to go ahead and set up interviews, do it. I'll start the ball rolling here. But George ran into roadblock after roadblock. The normally cooperative prison officials in Managua began dodging his calls, offering one excuse after another.

25:57 He waited a week, then hopped in his car and drove to the prison where Miranda was being held. A nervous prison official informed him that Miranda was not available. Why not, George asked. Well, the official stammered out, unfortunately, he had escaped. He'd been out on a weekend furlough and he'd never come back. It was extremely out of character. George was assured.

26:26 Because Miranda had been a model inmate and was almost at the end of his sentence. So does anybody believe he escaped with a death warrant on his head? Astounded, George drove to the police station to see how the manhunt for the notorious trafficker was coming along. The police looked at him blankly. Someone had escaped from prison? Who? When? Miranda had been gone for over a week and the police had never been notified.

26:57 George's discovery was front page news in all of Managua's papers. An official investigation was launched. He supposedly escaped the same day I made the interview request, George said. My sources tell me he's in Miami and they say the DEA is the one that got him out of the country. Do you suppose they don't want us talking to him?

27:19 George's sources would later prove to have been well informed. Miranda was captured a little over a year later in December 1996 in Miami, where he was living with his wife. It emerged that he had gained entry with the help of a visa from the U.S. Embassy in Managua. That's how he, quote unquote, escaped.

27:45 Though Miranda had been in the State Department's computer as a convicted drug trafficker in 1992 and was ineligible for any visa, the State Department claimed two simultaneous computer failures that day resulted in him quote-unquote erroneously being given a visa. The DA also denied any involvement but admitted that Miranda

28:12 put on the DEA's payroll as an informant soon after he got to Miami and was sent to Central and South America to do casework for the DEA. The DEA never bothered to inform the Nicaraguan authorities that it was harboring their fugitive. But George had some good news.

28:35 Menendez was willing to talk. George had cleared it through the drug kingpins, wives, and attorneys and urged me to come to Nicaragua as soon as possible. We needed to move quickly and carefully, he warned, because there was something about the story that was beginning to give him the creeps. I can't say what it is, he said, but things are moving all around us. In December, I gathered up all my notes and files, wrote a four-page project memorandum for my editors outlining the story as I saw it.

29:04 I proposed to tell the tale of how the infant's L.A. crack market had been fueled with tons of cocaine from the Contra drug ring that helped spread the deadly drug all over the United States. This series will show that a dumping of cocaine on Los Angeles street gangs was the back end of a covert effort to arm and equip the CIA's army of Contras.

29:34 While there has long been solid but ignored evidence of a CIA contra cocaine connection, no one has ever asked the question, where did all the cocaine come from? Now we know. He met with his editor, Don, and managing editor, David Yarnold, Y-A-R-N-O-L-D, in San Jose.

30:02 and we spent an hour discussing the progress of the investigation and the series. Yarnold reread the project memo, shook his head, and grinned. This is one hell of a story. How soon do you think you can have it finished? I told him I needed to go to Miami and Nicaragua to do some interviews with Menendez, some of the former Contras, and Nicaraguan police. If that came off, we might be able to have the series ready in March of 96, in time for the Ross's trial.

30:31 which would give it hard news. But I said I wanted to get some assurances right up front from both of them because the story had what I called high unbelievable factor. I wanted to use Mercury's website, Mercury Center, to document the series. I wanted us to put all of our evidence on the internet so readers could do their own research, look at real documents and reports, read the grand jury.

31:01 transcripts, listen to undercover DEA tapes, check our sources, and make up their own minds. After seeing the government's reaction to the Contra cocaine stories in the 1980s, I didn't want to be caught in the old official there's no evidence trap. The technology now exists for journalists to share the evidence to the world. And if we were to ever have a story that needed that solid backup, it was this one. Not only would it help

31:31 put the story out there, it would hopefully raise the standards of investigative reporting by forcing the press to show and tell rather than hiding behind faceless sources. The editors agreed it would be a good way to showcase the Mercury's Cutting Edge website, they said, and it was good timing. Management directives were coming out to incorporate the web into our print stories whenever possible.

31:59 We were, after all, the newspaper of Silicon Valley. This would be a chance to use the internet the way it had never been used before. The second point I made was something I was sure they were tired of hearing. We're going to need space to tell the story. A lot more space than the paper normally devotes to investigative projects. After writing for other newspapers, he knew exactly how precious the print,

32:29 medium was. No one reads long stories, I was told. Our focus group had shown that readers wanted their stories to be shorter than they already were. Readers didn't like having to turn pages to follow the story. If you couldn't tell the daily story in 12 inches or less, it may be too complicated, people were telling them.

33:01 We've got to lay out everything we know, he told his editors, because people are going to come after us on this. And I don't ever want to be in a position where I have to say, oh, yeah, we knew that, but we didn't have space to put it in the paper. And I don't think you want to be in that position either. He was promised he would have as much space as he needed. That's going to come back.

33:30 A few days before Ricky Ross's trial was scheduled to begin in March of 96, Jesse Katz of the LA Times called me at home, where I had holed up to get the first draft of the series out. Though we worked for competing newspapers, Katz had been a helper and encouraging source during the months I'd spent researching the crack story. That day, however, he prefaced our conversations with a warning.

33:57 He was calling me as a reporter, not a source. He was doing a story about Ross's upcoming trial, and he knew I was investigating Blanton's connections to the CIA and the Contras. He wanted to ask me about that. I was thunderstruck. I never told Katz anything about it. One of the most devious ways to avoid being scooped was to do a story on the other guy's story first, though you normally...

34:24 got only a fraction of the tale, it took some of the sting out of the story. You must think I'm stupid, Jesse. I'm not telling you anything. Well, I already know it, and I'm going to put it in the paper. I'm just offering you a chance to comment, he said. Look at it this way. As long as I'm going to write about it anyway, it's in your interest to make sure that what goes out is accurate. Gary Webb laughed at him.

34:53 I haven't heard that line in a long time. I said, forget it. You've got your information printed. You don't need me to comment. Look, Alan Finster filed a motion asking that the case be dismissed because the prosecutors were illegally withholding information from the defense. He filed an affidavit from a private investigator who he said had spoken to you. And it says you had information on Blanton and him being involved in Iran-Contra.

35:22 So what I'm asking, is that true? Gary Webb knew immediately he had been double-crossed. A private eye hired by Ross's lawyer had come to his house looking for information on Blanton. But I told him very little. He then pulled out a copy of the DEA report Finster had gotten through Discovery, which showed that Blanton clearly knew the cocaine he was selling to Ross was turning into crack with the Crips and Bloods.

35:52 It was an important bit of documentation for my story. He would give me this, he said, if I would simply show him something about Blanton that the government hadn't turned over. So the defense could honestly say there was information being withheld from them. I wouldn't be identified. He didn't need a copy. They just needed to know that the document existed. From covering the case, I knew the federal attorneys had been withholding.

36:21 reams of evidence about Blanton's background and his association with the Contras. If Finster could catch them at it, I thought maybe the court would order the Justice Department to make all the documents public, which would give me access to the records I wanted. So let me stop here. The LA Times is Mockingbird Media. They are trying to undercut Gary Webb's expose. They...

36:53 got someone to come to Gary Webb posing as an investigator and then use the information to undercut his story. That's basically what we're saying here. Gary Webb agreed to show the investigator one of the FBI's reports that he had gotten through the Iran Contra files at the National Archives. The next thing I knew, Fenster had named me.

37:20 and exposed the Mercury's investigation in his motion. And now the LA Times was onto it because it was all a setup. I should have known better.

37:30 For weeks, Ross and Finster had been badgering me to publish the series before the trial started, figuring that publicity might give the Justice Department second thoughts about pursuing the case. But after sitting down and repping out the outline, I knew there was too much I didn't know, too many unanswered questions. Don and I agreed that if Blanton, who was ignoring our interview request, was going to testify, the story would benefit from waiting. Several days earlier, I told Ross that we were holding the story. It would not run before his trial.

38:00 Angry and desperate, he had called and basically tried to get his attorney to get Gary Webb to publish the story. Right after Gary Webb hung up, Alan Finster called. The Justice Department, he said, had just filed a motion to prevent him from questioning Blanton about the CIA. Why? Have you gotten some information about that? No, but apparently they think I have.

38:31 You should read this thing. It's amazing. The motion written by Assistant Attorney, U.S. Attorney I.J. O'Neill, again, was as bizarre as Finster claimed. This is what it said. The U.S. believes that at least one defendant will attempt to assert to the effect that the informant

38:57 in this case, sold cocaine to raise money for the Nicaraguan Contras, and that he did so in conjunction with or for the CIA, unquote. O'Neill said the government was sure the information was false, but the motion made it clear that he wasn't sure at all. This matter, if true, would be classified, O'Neill had written. If false, it should not be allowed.

39:24 The only purpose for asking questions in this regard would be to attempt to bully the U.S. into foregoing prosecution. If the CIA was involved in drug sales, it would be classified? That was a good one. The whole legal basis for O'Neill's motion was tangential. Finster hadn't filed the required notice.

39:51 to alert the government that he might reveal classified information at trial. Therefore, O'Neill wanted a court order prohibiting any defendant from making any reference in the case about the CIA or any alleged activity of the CIA. Fenster said there was a hearing on the government's motion scheduled for the next day. I jumped on a plane to San Diego.

40:13 I couldn't wait to hear the Justice Department stand up in court and say information about the CIA's involvement in drug trafficking was classified. When I got there, I noticed that I was the only spectator in the courtroom. So I took a seat in the front row. Shortly before the hearing began, I heard the courtroom door open behind me. It was Jesse Katz. With a big smile on his face, the LA Times had flown him in from their office in Houston to be there.

40:45 There was the ballgame. All the connections between Blanton, the Contras, and the CIA and Ricky Ross were going to come out in public. And the LA Times was going to beat me to my own story. Nine months worth of work down the crapper. I wanted to tear my hair out. Now, again, Katz had no way of knowing that was happening unless he's read in by the CIA. From a side door, prosecutor L.J. O'Neill strutted in.

41:16 carrying a box load of records, followed by a DEA agent, Jones and Gustafson. O'Neill looked at me and looked at Jesse Katz, and then he blanched. When federal judge Marilyn Huff called the courtroom to order, O'Neill immediately asked to approach the bench. He and Finster huddled with the judge, whispering. Occasionally, O'Neill would gesture to Katz and me. The huddle broke up and Finster walked back to the defense table.

41:46 I have reviewed the government's request that the court seal certain portions, Huff announced. You may be heard at sidebar, Mr. O'Neill, and defense counsel. The lawyers again walked up to the bench and began animated, whispered conversation. Kat strained to catch bits and pieces. I heard the CIA several times. Murders in Mexico. Money from the U.S. government. Contras.

42:15 O'Neill looked at us and turned back to the huddle. He warned the defense attorney, Juanita Brooks, to lower her voice. The reporters that Mr. Finster had brought to court today are listening very carefully, he said. As with most federal court proceedings, the conversation was recorded, and I later obtained a copy of the tape. Brooks, in a low voice, whispered,

42:38 told the judge that she was very disturbed O'Neill had hidden from the defense the fact that Blanton was a member of an organization responsible for numerous murders in Mexico. O'Neill denied it. While he admitted that Blanton had gotten into drug business by selling cocaine for the Contras, he said there was absolutely no connection between Blanton and the CIA. He was never authorized to do that by the CIA, Huff whispered. Well, look, O'Neill said.

43:08 That's something I'm not even sure I can say yes or no to because that comes within the realm of, look, I have no reason to believe he had any contact with the CIA and I would defy counsel to come up with any kind of credible information that he had a connection to the CIA. Finster, struggling to keep his voice low, said the reason he didn't have any information was because the government had refused to turn over every record they had.

43:40 10 minutes into a 20-minute conversation, and it dawned on us the entire motion was going to be heard in whispers at the judge's bench. I had never heard, seen anything like this, and I had covered many trials. They can't do this, he insisted. How can they do this? Just because we're here? I told him I didn't know.

44:10 Inside, Gary Webb was tickled because Katz wasn't going to get any of the information he already had about the CIA's involvement. The next morning, I ran down to the hotel lobby and grabbed a copy of the Times. Katz's story had ran, focusing on the relationship with Ross and Blanton. Blanton, Kratz wrote, had taught Ross the trade and oversaw his rise through the ranks of L.A.'s underworld.

44:38 becoming the first crack dealer millionaire in South Central. The story hinted at new and surprising dimensions involving Blanton and some alleged ties to U.S. intelligence sources, but never said what they were. There was no mention of the Contras at all. When the trial got underway that day, once again, I was the only reporter in the courtroom. Katz had apparently gone back to Houston, and no one from the Times was assigned to cover the trial.

45:08 And this is like literally the trial of the century. Once again, Finster demanded that the government turn over its records about Blanton, arguing that it prejudiced Ross's chance to cross-examine his chief accuser. O'Neill calmly assured Finster that he had gotten everything the government felt he was entitled to. His prior arrest record and the fact that he had been paid $40,000 for setting Ross up. What else could he want?

45:38 I don't think my client's life should be up to the government to determine what he's allowed to see and to know about Blanton's credibility, Fenster told the judge. The system we've set up has the government review all information in the files to decide whether it complies with the law. Mr. O'Neill, in good faith, has made that review. Again, complete bullshit.

46:05 So we're supposed to trust the government to tell us if the CIA was involved, Finster said. They said that there was nothing that exists. I don't know if they really know that. I mean, I don't know if they checked with the CIA to determine if that is true. To my surprise, O'Neill admitted he had never asked the CIA if they had any information about the trial. Zero.

46:37 Even though he had personally assured the court several times that the government had no grounds to believe Blanton had CIA ties, he had never asked the CIA. He kept saying there was no need. One hopes that whatever the CIA does is in the best interest of the country, that it has concealed from view. And one hopes that if they do something that is in the worst interest or in violation of laws,

47:07 it would come to light. But no, I haven't checked with the CIA. I don't have a reason to. Huff ignored O'Neill's stunning admission and told Finster that he should trust her to do the right thing. The judge. Why, just that morning, she reminded him, she had ordered prosecutors to turn over two pages from Sergeant Tom Gordon's long-missing search warrant application for the 1986 raid on Blanton's house. The rest of it, she decided,

47:38 wasn't relevant. Huff denied Fenster's motions. There was one other matter the U.S. wanted to take up if the court would be so kind, O'Neill said. Reaching into his briefcase, O'Neill yanked out a copy of the Morning LA Times and waved it over his head. It had come to his attention, he announced dramatically, that the defense attorneys was leaking confidential information to the press.

48:05 Huff appeared shocked and looked angrily at the defense table. O'Neill noted that Katz's story contained a phrase from a Justice Department memo that explained Daniello Blanton's deal with the government. I submit to the court that our reasonable belief is that the document was obtained from one of these four, pointing to the defense table. And there is no other explanation.

48:32 It's not a filed document. It's not a public recorded document. But somehow, somewhere, it was given to the journalist. Huff gave the defense lawyers a hard stare. I'm not saying that there's any criminal wrongdoing here, O'Neill said. I'm saying that we have to be very careful in this case about pretrial publicity. Not only am I concerned about a fair trial, which he is not.

48:59 I am also concerned with the safety of the witness and the witness family. There is a real safety issue here. We have heard through reliable sources that there are death threats. O'Neill stroked his beard and looked reproachful at the defense attorneys. Without ascribing any wrongdoing to any counsel present, it is my opinion, and I state this only as an opinion,

49:24 that Mr. Ross personally is attempting to manipulate the media and may be attempting to affect the outcome of the trial through the media. As I say, I think this happened by Mr. Ross personally, and I'm not sure that he is under any obligation as our attorneys. However, I do again point out that this document comes, there are four copies sent out, and here it is in the paper. It has to come from one.

49:53 of the four copies. The defense attorneys shaking their heads, chuckling. One of them was federal public defender Maria Ford. She got to her feet. Mrs. Ford, I find it personally offensive that Mr. O'Neill would take the position that someone had to leak that document. I think this is a, I think with a little review.

50:20 he would have been able to remember that this document became a part of a public record when it was filed as Exhibit A of Mr. Fenster's motion to dismiss because of egregious Bradley violations. It's a document of public record. Oh, the judge said, I see. She looked at O'Neill and began babbling. I'm sorry in that case, Ms. Ford. I will say Ms. Ford is correct. And there may be...

50:50 that I had forgotten that that exhibit, insofar as anyone took personal or otherwise offense, I do apologize. Before he sat down, though, I leaned over the rail and tapped Blanton on the shoulder. I've been calling all over for you.

51:13 Gary Webb said, I'm sure your mother-in-law is tired of hearing my voice. He smiled. I apologized. I told him I needed to talk to him and he shook his head. I can't because of all of this. Okay, then how about after the trial? No, personally, if it was up to me, I would say yes, but they won't let me talk to you. The prosecutors won't let you talk to me. And he shook his head and he said, no, the DEA won't. So you won't talk to me ever. Is that it?

51:42 He shrugged and said, sorry, what can I do? O'Neill called Blanton up to the stand and led him carefully through his testimony. He touched on the Contras, admitting that Menendez had recruited him to sell cocaine for them. He said he'd stopped selling Contra cocaine when he split from Menendez in 1983 and started keeping the money for himself. That was odd, I thought, flipping through my notebook, when I interviewed O'Neill in November.

52:12 The prosecutor had said that occurred in 86. The day before the trial, I noticed O'Neill had said in court that it happened in 84. By the end of the day, though, Blanton would be insisting he actually quit in 82, long before he met Ross. He said, O'Neill kept going over and over that point. Then it dawned on me. They were trying to open a window, hoping to put some interval.

52:38 of time between Blanton selling dope and the CIA's army selling dope to Los Angeles gang members. They were trying to break the chain linking the Contra cocaine to the Crips and Bloods. There was one big problem with the tactic. It didn't jibe with all the other facts. Ross said he'd been dealing with Blanton and his minions since 81. Second, there were government documents

53:03 out there strongly suggesting that Blanton's testimony was false. Records that said he was selling cocaine for Menendez and the Contras all the way through 86. Of course, Finster didn't have those records since the government had refused to turn them over. Additional records surfaced after the trial was over and Blanton eventually admitted to the Senate Intelligence Committee and the CIA Inspector General that his Contra contributions had contributed

53:32 continued through 1985. During the noon break, Fenster approached me in the hallway outside the courtroom. Can we have lunch, he asked. We walked to a restaurant near the courthouse. Fenster sipped his iced tea and asked me what I thought about Blanton's testimony. You got the highlights for children's version of his cocaine dealing with the Contras, Gary Webb told him. That's what I thought. How am I supposed to cross-examine this guy? I don't even know what to ask.

54:00 Isn't this just crazy? I mean, here I am defending a man against a life sentence, and I've got to ask a reporter if the prosecution's testimony is accurate. That's justice for you. Not as much as I'd like, unfortunately, and Gary said, as far as the questions go, that they weren't providing the information. But then he had an idea. What law said I needed to do my interview directly?

54:31 The solution was right here in front of me. Blanton was up there on a witness stand, under oath, in front of a federal judge. He was a sitting duck. I'd never have a better question, a better chance at questioning him than through the attorney. I tell you what, I need to make sure this is okay first, but what would you think about me giving you the questions to ask him? You read my mind, Finster said.

54:56 Setting a notepad out of his briefcase, I excused myself and went to a payphone. Miraculously, Dawn was at her desk, and I asked her if there was any problem with that. She said, no, I think that's a great idea. I wish you could do all your interviews under oath. When Finster began his cross-examination the next day, he came right at Blanton, grilling him about his family connections to the Somoza dictatorship.

55:23 There were certain families in Nicaragua that were part of the ruling cartel in Nicaragua. Is that correct? He asked him. O'Neill turned and glared at me and then jumped to his feet. Excuse me. I have an objection. What is the relevance? It's inflammatory language. What is the relevance? He was overruled and fenced her push on. Boring in on Blanton's unbelievable claim that he quit dealing cocaine for the Contras when the CIA came through with.

55:53 19 million dollars in aid 19 billion dollars isn't a drop in the bucket when you're running an operation isn't that correct i didn't i didn't know we received 19 million blanton said i can't tell you is it your testimony that you decided to keep profits from drug dealing because the contra organization had enough money to fund their own war is that your testimony no sir let me explain one thing when we meet when we raise money for the contra revolution we receive orders from the

56:23 Oh, he looked at O'Neill and O'Neill was staring at him from other people because the order prohibiting CIA testimony, Finster was unable to pursue the line of inquiry. He quizzed Blanton about his meeting in Honduras with CIA agent Enrique Bermudez, the Contra organization in Miami and his connections to the Menez family. The Nicaraguan looked helplessly at O'Neill.

56:51 And several times the prosecutor leaped up to object to Fenster's questions. Most of the time he was overruled. Blanton was like a deer caught in headlights. Every so often the DEA agent Jones would turn and give me an evil eye. He knew where the shit was coming from. So did O'Neill, who actually complained about it to the judge. They had done their best to keep it bottled up and it was spilling out everywhere.

57:19 I walked back to my hotel room that night, 10 feet off the ground. It was all out in the open now. The Contra FDN had sold drugs to American citizens, mainly Blacks, and the CIA was on the hook for it. A CIA agent had given the GD order. I thought back to all of the lies that had been told about the Contra's innocence.

57:41 All of the bullshit that had been piled on reporters, cops, congressional investigators who tried to do an honest job and bring light to dark in these covert operations and criminal collusions. There was no denying it anymore. Now I was ready to write my story. And we'll stop there. So, I happened to bridge it. Oh, she got knocked out. Okay, we're going to do quick comments and questions and then I got to run.

58:28 Anybody got anything? I made it three quarters of the way through before I got thrown out. Got anything? Afternoon, Colonel. I'm just trying to keep up with everything that's going on here. And I was trying to find not only the transcripts of the trial, but whether or not there was any video recordings of it. And I'm still trying to hunt that down to see what we can come up with. I can only imagine what the courtroom looked like at that point in time.

59:02 It just blows my mind. Because it was federal, there probably is no video. But there's definitely transcripts. Yeah. Anybody else got anything? Yeah. Go ahead. Sorry. I was just going to say thank God for Gary Webb and so many of these authors who have literally put their life on the line to get us this information. Yeah. He quite literally put his life on the line.

59:42 And the rest of the book, let's see. We've just got a little bit left. We're going to find out exactly. Yeah, we'll probably finish it in the next day or two. Just how literally he put his life on the line. The whole thing with the newspaper that he was writing for, we're going to learn a little bit more about that.

1:00:13 and how they basically reneged on everything. And, you know, but at least we have the book. We have all of his notes. All of the documents were out on the web. A lot of them I checked. You can find on archive.org because they were actually posted. So, yeah, go ahead all along.

1:00:46 These examples of media, actual journalism that are extinguished are critically important to, you know, get out there and try to spread. That's why they're the most difficult things to spread because, you know, our media system is like has antigens against the spread of stories that are detrimental.

1:01:16 to, you know, corporate media cartel media that, you know, just keeps us all prisoners. And with that in mind, I just thought I'd briefly, you know, mention another example that you could really compare to, you know, Gary Webb style, you know, extremely unique reporting on an absolutely critical case. You know, the MLK.

1:01:42 conspiracy trial in Memphis was something that Coretta Scott King practically begged everyone to spread information about that trial. Of course, the corporate media completely censored it, but what's even more notable for me is that our purported left media censors it just as religiously.

1:02:11 as the corporate media. And this is Coretta Scott King, you know, talking about the MLK assassination, which, as you know, was connected to the RFK assassination and the Walter Reuther assassination. Last turning point in U.S. history, completely censored, not just by the big media, but by the, quote, alternative media, which pretends to critique the big media, but actually protects it. And, you know, this is something where, like,

1:02:37 There was literally more European media at the Memphis MLK conspiracy trial than U.S. media. Are you talking about the civil trial that they had later? Yeah, correct. I'm talking about the 1999-2001. And it's like there was a journalist from Lisbon, Spain, and she's like, OK, everything in the U.S. is the trial of the century. You know, the Clinton trial, the O.J. trial. This really is the trial of the century.

1:03:07 And look who's here. Yeah. Because they basically awarded the family and came to the determination that there was a conspiracy. It was not a lone gunman. And there was just crickets everywhere. Correct. And it's like, you're just going to ignore that and let the elections continue. And then you're going to be surprised when like 20 years later, Kamala Windex is endorsed by Dick Cheney.

1:03:37 It's like systemic cancer. And so these stories that, you know, reflect national media censorship, triple-moded censorship involving the cooperation of big media and fake alternative media, because that's what we have. We have fake alternative media. You know, you cannot spread that enough because it reveals the systemic nature of our media prison, because that's what we're in. We're in a media.

1:04:06 prison. Yep. Yep. Agree. Hopefully some of those dams are breaking more recently. With all of the social media, it's a lot easier to get information out, but they do have it stacked even on social media where you have these big influencers when you're digging up very relevant, timely information.

1:04:38 And you can get zero traction on any of it. I mean, Colonel, on that point, sorry for interrupting, but, you know, compare your algorithm to some other, you know, big algorithm folks who do talk about CIA, but, you know, in a very limited way. It's all rigged. Yes, it is all rigged. I will. I will. I am a living example of that. SR, go ahead.

1:05:09 Thank you, Colonel. And in response to what all along is talking about, one of the things you did when you made that post concerning the person that the drug trafficker that was killed in the in the boat explosion that recently saying who he was, he wasn't a family man and this, that and the other that everybody was claiming he was.

1:05:37 And you pulled up that article from El Columbia. Yeah. That explained exactly who he was. I decided right then and there, and maybe this might help in some instances, I don't know, to go ahead and repost that tweet, identifying all of the newspaper outlets with that very information.

1:06:03 At ABC, at NBC, at MSNBC, at CNN. That's a great idea. Hit their Twitter calls and get them to understand we're not listening to you. That's a great idea. Bridget and I will work on that probably tomorrow morning. That's an excellent idea. But let me tell you guys.

1:06:30 All of you people here, I know. I look at these names. I see you guys commenting on my threads. You are the answer. I will do all of the work. You guys have to repost my stuff and tag other people in it. That's what you have to do. If you want to break those algorithms, you have to do your part.

1:06:58 I will put in along with Bridget the hours of research necessary. But you have to go find Alpha's show and the show that I do with him. You have to repost that. You have to repost our shows. You are the answer. I can't be any more blunt than that. You are the only thing between my information and the rest of the world. I cannot do it.

1:07:28 Even with the 50,000 people that we have following us, God knows how many of those are bots. I look at all of the people that follow me and I'm telling you, some of them are like, I have no idea. They're just total weird accounts that you never hear from again. So I don't know how all of that works, but you truly are the key.

1:07:55 that unlocks the information by getting out there and sharing it. So we all have our place in this. Any of you guys that produce material, I know a lot of you do, and you will DM me a post. I will repost that if I see it. If you want me to repost it and I haven't,

1:08:25 We are getting a lot more traffic in the responses. So sometimes, especially when I'm on my phone, I'm going through it. And then if I actually respond to somebody's comments, it takes me all the way back up to the top and I can't ever find where I left off at.

1:08:46 I will be the first to admit, I don't see every single one of your responses. I try to look for every single one of them. And it's a lot easier to do on my laptop because it doesn't do that. But it is much more difficult to do that when I'm doing it on my phone, which of course you guys know I'm on the road a lot and I do a lot of stuff on my phone. So just be aware of that.

1:09:11 Don't be afraid to DM me if it's something that you think adds to one of my posts so that I can highlight it. Because you guys are excellent researchers as well. Okay. Anyway, that's it for today. Thank you all for being here. Ma'am, Sunshine has her hand up. Sunshine, go ahead. Then I got to run. Okay. It's just a quick comment anyhow. I just wanted to let you know I was Googling.

1:09:39 Operation Gladio for a reason to show people something. And guess whose name popped up first with the first Operation Gladio thing in Google? That's hard to believe. Yeah, you popped right up. That's real. So you're getting reach. I have not. I cannot even tell you the last time that I opened a Google search engine.

1:10:10 Right. Google. And I've been in Google of all things. And yeah, you popped right up there. First thing. OK, well, that's a great note to close today with because that that's actually shocking to me. People are going to have those glasses taken off real soon, whether they like it or not. Thank you, Colonel Sunshine. I'm going to go check. I'm so excited. Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome.

1:10:38 I doubt that anybody in the history of the Internet has typed in Operation Gladio more than I have. So that's that's definitely good news. All right, guys. Thank you all for being here. We'll get this book finished up this week. And don't forget, next week is going to be a crazy week, too, because of that conference that I'm going to in Washington, D.C. Thanks to all of you.

1:11:08 Um, again, um, I, I was just telling that I had lunch with one of my dear girlfriends, um, who was my deputy at CENTCOM. She also retired as a Colonel. And, um, we were just like shaking our heads, like what in the world is going on? Um,

1:11:26 But I was telling her about getting that invite. And that's all thanks to you guys for you reposting my information and supporting us in doing this. So thanks again, everybody, for being here and being part of this journey of exposure. I really, really appreciate it. Oh, OK. Colonel Towner.

1:11:53 Could you maybe talk to Warhamster about doing a space on what's going on with the silver market and the push and the Chinese and India and how London is saying they don't have enough and other parts of the world? It's actually going up in that whole thing. I'm sure that he's probably just dancing in the streets, too, because the paper and the future of options and all the BS stuff is getting really exposed.

1:12:19 I will definitely do that. I know that Warhamster is up to his eyeballs in a whole bunch of stuff, but I will definitely text him when we get off the phone and ask him if he would do that, because I would love to do that with him and be the person that doesn't know.

1:12:39 all of the stuff that he does because he's brilliant when it comes to that kind of stuff. So yeah, I'm going to bombard your email. I'm going to bombard your DMS with the papers and all this other stuff. So it'll get you a little bit up to par. And then with him, you're going to be like, Holy fuck. No, I know all of this. Okay. Sorry. Yeah, no, I, I'm just saying that I'm the perfect person to play kind of the, um, the novice here. Um, I've done, I own a,

1:13:11 I own a lot of silver. I'll just say that. I know all about the shorts and how all of that stuff worked out. I mean, I started buying it like five years ago once I did the research into it. I have precious metal mutual funds. I'm into all of that. As a matter of fact, I had an entire conversation with my cousin who had bought a little bit when we were up in Indiana for that family event.

1:13:40 was that last weekend? I don't know. My dates are all confused. Whenever I was in Indiana. But I do think that having that conversation for everybody is, but I will tell you, he is a actual licensed. So there are some things he can say and some things he can't say because he's a licensed investor. So I don't know if we'll be able to do that, but I will lobby for it to happen.

1:14:09 Go ahead, Stella. Maybe Alpha could do it with you then, because I'm sure that between you and him, you could probably help educate and bring a lot of people up to par with what's going on in the financial system. Yeah, you have to be very calm.

1:14:21 The other thing was the $1.5 trillion in the Cayman Islands account that holds the most treasuries at this point. Does he know anything about that or if he's not allowed to say anything understandable? Just wondering if those are seized assets. I don't know, but I haven't been able to find who actually has it. It's under a name of something, but there's really no other information on it.

1:14:49 Okay, well, send me what you saw mentioned about that and I will ask him about it. I just wanted to let you guys know. I know he's had to not go on people's shows that are sponsored by particular investments for that reason. So I just wanted to let everybody know that. Anyway, okay. In case it doesn't happen, that would be the reason why. All right.

1:15:18 Take care, everybody. I'm going to run to dinner. Appreciate everybody being here. Bye.

Entities here

Daniel Blanton50 L.I.J. O'Neill25 Gary Webb25 Contras25 Alan Finster24 CIA22 Floyd "Freeway" Rick Ross20 Ricky Ross Trial16 Norwin Menendez15 Craig Creighton13 George Hodel12 Enrique Miranda Jamie10 U.S. Department of Justice9 Jesse Katz9 Chuck Jones9 Los Angeles Times8 Nicaragua6 San Diego5 Marilyn Huff5 Miami5 Managua5 Don Yaeger4 United States3 Washington, D.C.3 Carlos Castillo Armas3 Los Angeles3 Menendez Family3 Memphis Conspiracy Trial3 Robert Neves2 Iran-Contra affair2 San Salvador2 Operation Gladio2 Maria Ford2 Juanita Brooks2 Ilopango2 San Jose Mercury News2 Crips2 Bloods2 U.S. State Department2 Coretta Scott King2

Claims made here

Gary Webb exposed Daniel Blanton book_quoted ▶ 4:56

“with the story that led to all of this research that we've gone over over the last few weeks. And it says that Gary Webb was swept into Ross's decade-long relationship with Daniela Blanton in late Sep…”

Floyd "Freeway" Rick Ross recruited Daniel Blanton book_quoted ▶ 4:56

Craig Creighton succeeded Robert Neves book_quoted ▶ 20:32

“Creighton was going to be his replacement. So they knew Neves was going to be outed by Gary Webb. So he, all of a sudden, after having told Creighton what he knew, resigned. And Creighton is now going…”

Gary Webb exposed Norwin Menendez book_quoted ▶ 22:03

“Menendez or confirm or refute these claims. Headquarters trace Menendez reveal extensive entries, unquote. These extensive entries were not revealed in the declassified version of the CIA's IG report …”

Eden Pastora member_of Contras book_quoted ▶ 23:28

“He checked it with former Contra commander Eden Pastora. Pastora is the guy who refused to use drug money to fund his efforts in support of the Contras. And they got rid of him. He says that they were…”

Enrique Miranda Jamie member_of Contras book_quoted ▶ 23:59

“been among the founders of the Contras. And he said Menendez's chief aide, Enrique Miranda, had admitted at trial that Menendez sold cocaine for the Contras, flying it out of the airbase in El Salvado…”

Enrique Miranda Jamie ordered_assassination_of Norwin Menendez book_quoted ▶ 24:58

“having been moved to a prison in the city of Granada after Menendez hired someone to kill him. He had already had put in a request at the Nicaraguan Ministry of Interior to arrange an interview, Georg…”

U.S. State Department covered_up Enrique Miranda Jamie book_quoted ▶ 27:45

“Though Miranda had been in the State Department's computer as a convicted drug trafficker in 1992 and was ineligible for any visa, the State Department claimed two simultaneous computer failures that …”

CIA funded Contras book_quoted ▶ 29:04

“I proposed to tell the tale of how the infant's L.A. crack market had been fueled with tons of cocaine from the Contra drug ring that helped spread the deadly drug all over the United States. This ser…”

Daniel Blanton trafficked Crips documented ▶ 35:22

“So what I'm asking, is that true? Gary Webb knew immediately he had been double-crossed. A private eye hired by Ross's lawyer had come to his house looking for information on Blanton. But I told him v…”

Daniel Blanton trafficked Bloods documented ▶ 35:22

Alan Finster exposed Gary Webb book_quoted ▶ 37:20

“and exposed the Mercury's investigation in his motion. And now the LA Times was onto it because it was all a setup. I should have known better.…”

Jesse Katz spied_on Gary Webb speculative ▶ 40:45

“There was the ballgame. All the connections between Blanton, the Contras, and the CIA and Ricky Ross were going to come out in public. And the LA Times was going to beat me to my own story. Nine month…”

L.I.J. O'Neill covered_up Daniel Blanton book_quoted ▶ 42:38

“told the judge that she was very disturbed O'Neill had hidden from the defense the fact that Blanton was a member of an organization responsible for numerous murders in Mexico. O'Neill denied it. Whil…”

Daniel Blanton trafficked Contras documented ▶ 42:38

U.S. Department of Justice covered_up Daniel Blanton book_quoted ▶ 43:08

“That's something I'm not even sure I can say yes or no to because that comes within the realm of, look, I have no reason to believe he had any contact with the CIA and I would defy counsel to come up …”

Daniel Blanton recruited Floyd "Freeway" Rick Ross book_quoted ▶ 44:10

“Inside, Gary Webb was tickled because Katz wasn't going to get any of the information he already had about the CIA's involvement. The next morning, I ran down to the hotel lobby and grabbed a copy of …”

Daniel Blanton member_of Somoza family book_quoted ▶ 54:56

“Setting a notepad out of his briefcase, I excused myself and went to a payphone. Miraculously, Dawn was at her desk, and I asked her if there was any problem with that. She said, no, I think that's a …”

CIA funded Contras book_quoted ▶ 55:53

“19 million dollars in aid 19 billion dollars isn't a drop in the bucket when you're running an operation isn't that correct i didn't i didn't know we received 19 million blanton said i can't tell you …”

Daniel Blanton member_of Menendez Family book_quoted ▶ 56:23

“Oh, he looked at O'Neill and O'Neill was staring at him from other people because the order prohibiting CIA testimony, Finster was unable to pursue the line of inquiry. He quizzed Blanton about his me…”

Enrique Bermudez member_of CIA documented ▶ 56:23

Contras trafficked United States book_quoted ▶ 57:19

“I walked back to my hotel room that night, 10 feet off the ground. It was all out in the open now. The Contra FDN had sold drugs to American citizens, mainly Blacks, and the CIA was on the hook for it…”