The involvement of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in cocaine trafficking in Central America during the Reagan Administration as part of the Contra war in Nicaragua has been the subject of several official and journalistic investigations since the mid-1980s.
In 1986, the Reagan Administration acknowledged that funds from cocaine smuggling helped fund the Contra rebels, but stated that it was not authorized by the US government or resistance leaders. The Kerry Committee found that Contra drug links included payments to known drug traffickers by the U.S. State Department to carry out humanitarian assistance to the Contras. A CIA internal investigation found that agents had worked with drug traffickers to support the Contra program, but found no evidence of any conspiracy by CIA or its employees to bring drugs into the United States.
Former DEA agent Celerino Castillo III alleged that during the 1980s, Ilopango Airport in El Salvador was used by Contras for drug smuggling flights with the knowledge and complicity of the CIA. These allegations were part of an investigation by the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General. Castillo also testified before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Between 1996 and 1998 the Central Intelligence Agency investigated and then published a report about its alleged involvement in cocaine sales in the US.
This was prompted by the journalist Gary Webb's report in the San Jose Mercury News alleging that the CIA was behind the 1980s crack epidemic. Gary Webb alleged through his Dark Alliance series that the government had been complicit in the trade of drugs in the inner city through the use of a kingpin named Freeway Ricky Ross. According to the Oakland Tribune, "In the course of his rise, prosecutors estimate that Ross exported several tons of cocaine to New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, and made more than $600 million in the process."
Webb began researching "Dark Alliance" in July 1995. The series was published in the Mercury News in three parts, from August 18-20, 1996, with one long article and one to two shorter articles appearing each day. It was also posted on the Mercury News website with additional information, including documents cited in the series and audio recordings of people quoted in the articles. The website logo showed the silhouette of a man smoking a crack pipe superimposed over the CIA seal.
Dark Alliance WEBSITE
http://www.narconews.com/darkalliance...
The series became even more controversial when the Los Angeles Times and other major papers published articles suggesting its claims were overstated. After an internal review, the Mercury News ultimately published a statement in May 1997 acknowledging shortcomings in the series' reporting and editing. Webb resigned from the Mercury News in December 1997. He became an investigator for the California State Legislature, publishing a book based on the "Dark Alliance" series in 1998, and doing free-lance investigative reporting.
Dark Alliance BOOK
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Alliance-C...
Gary Webb was "suicided" on December 10, 2004.
YouTube Videos Used:
Iran Contra Scandal
youtu.be/p7LEByr_QNE
CIA drug running
youtu.be/6zDyLwpH06w
Contra/CIA The Drug Connection
youtu.be/R9vTlMCuQGk
C.I.A The Drug Affair(Part 2)
youtu.be/3xOtGNTubtE
Gary Webb In his own words
youtu.be/muxyY6XKH3g
Drugs and the CIA
youtu.be/6r1KfHaIF_Y
"CIA are drug smugglers" - Head of DEA
youtu.be/5_UbAmRGSYw
Kill The Messenger: Mike Levine & Gary Webb
youtu.be/LG8XNFPBPUs
How Crack Funded a CIA War: Gary Webb Interview
youtu.be/WMbEhP2irDM
Stuff They Don't Want You to Know: CIA Drug Trafficking
youtu.be/7J7IHg9l9tM
More Proof of GovT Drug Running
youtu.be/2ijH9spX3Ok
Past to Present: CIA Drug Smuggling
youtu.be/zi3m-F1ZSRQ
CRACK THE CIA
youtu.be/LYOVQezWaCY