The Darkness - Jason Pinter [106]
"What do you mean?"
"Have you ever heard of the name Gary Webb?"
"It rings a bell, but I'm not sure why."
"Okay, well, have you heard of the Dark Alliance?"
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"That's a little more familiar," I replied. "Something
about Nicaragua, right?"
"Something like that," Jack said. "In the eighties, Gary
Webb was a reporter for the San Jose Mercury News. "
"Now it rings a bell," I said.
"What does he have to do with this?" Amanda said.
"In nineteen ninety-six, Webb published a three-part
series of articles in the Mercury News called 'Dark Alliance.' See, in the eighties, President Reagan was embroiled
in the Iran-Contra affair where it was determined that the
U.S. government had supplied a group of Nicaraguan
Contras with financial aid through the sale of weapons to
Iran, in part thanks to our buddy Oliver North. Our government was supporting the Contras as part of the Reagan
doctrine, which supported organizations that opposed communistic and socialistic regimes. The Nicaraguan government in the eighties, let's just say, fit the bill.
"Webb claimed in his articles," Jack continued, "that
not only did we supply the Contras with funds through the
sale of weapons, but through the sale of drugs as well."
"That's ridiculous. We weren't selling drugs," Amanda
said.
"We weren't," Jack said. "But the Contras were reaping
millions of dollars through the sale of drugs within the
United States. Crack cocaine spread like wildfire through
urban areas in the eighties, and much of the money from
those sales went directly into funding the Contras. Webb
claimed that members of the NSC, or National Security
Council, were aware that money from drug sales in the
U.S. was being funneled to the Contras. Webb found out
that not only was our government aware of this, but
members of the NSC purposefully withheld that information from the Drug Enforcement Agency. They felt that
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by curtailing drug sales and cracking down on shipments,
we would effectively stem the flow of money to the
Contras and in turn hurt their efforts to overthrow Nicaragua's communist FSLN government."
"So in essence," I said, "they were selling drugs in our
cities, killing our citizens and choking the national crime
rates. And we turned a blind eye because we felt it pushed
our agenda in another country."
"Pretty much," Jack said. "When Webb published
these articles, he caused a firestorm unlike many seen in
journalism. It was without a doubt one of the most controversial articles of the past twenty-five years. So what
happened to Webb? Well, he was completely discredited
by the government which issued denials faster than meter
maids issue parking tickets. He was eventually pushed out
of the Mercury News, and after years in which he failed
to get another job at a major newspaper, Webb put a gun
to his head and pulled the trigger."
"Damn," Amanda said.
"Twice," Jack added.
"Twice? How does someone shoot themselves in the
head twice?"
"Don't get your panties in a bunch," Jack said. I glared
at him. "Apologies, Ms. Davies. Sometimes I forget that
I'm around a lady."
"This lady thinks she could kick your old ass," Amanda
said.
"Now that's my kind of lady," Jack said. "Hold on to
this firebrand, Henry. Anyway, common thought was that
Webb had been bumped off. But it turns out Webb was
genuinely depressed and had written despondent letters
to his family. And an autopsy and gun residue test proved
that the man really did shoot himself twice. It doesn't
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happen often, but it does happen if the suicidal person
happens to have lousy aim."
"So, what, you think the sale of drugs in New York
City is being funneled to, who, some shady overseas organization? Some anti-Taliban fighting squad?"
"Not at all," Jack said. "If what I'm thinking is correct
at all, and if this guy Reeves is connected the way I
suspect he is, then the sale of drugs in this city isn't going
abroad. It isn't being diverted to an anti-terrorism foreign
legion. What I'm saying is