The Narco News Bulletin

Dark Alliance: Day Two

Shadowy Origins of the Crack Epidemic

By Gary Webb
Back on the Internet by Popular Demand

June 28, 2005
This report appears on the internet at http://www.narconews.com/Issue38/article1366.html

Read the reports:

Shadowy origins of 'crack' epidemic

Drug agent thought she was onto something big

Drug expert: 'Crack' born in San Francisco Bay Area in '74

Managing Editor's Note: In the reports filed for the August 19 edition of the San Jose Mercury News, Gary Webb looks back to the origins of crack cocaine use in Los Angeles. Just as the invention of crack was bringing cocaine out of the parlors and clubs of the elite and into poor urban neighborhoods, a young Ricky Ross used his connections to the Crips organization in L.A. on the one hand, and to Nicaraguan suppliers with unbelievably low-priced cocaine on the other to become the king of the crack business. A former L.A. narcotics officer tells Webb of Ross that "...there's no telling how many tens of thousands of people he touched. He's responsible for a major cancer that still hasn't stopped spreading." Through Ross, the Contras and their North American allies were able to pour tons of cocaine into the streets of L.A. to fund their war.

More "Dark Alliance":

Dark Alliance Website

Introduction: Gary Webb's "Dark Alliance" Returns to the Internet

Short video of Gary Webb, included on the unreleased Dark Alliance CDROM (Quicktime format)

Introduction: Gary Webb's "Dark Alliance" Returns to the Internet

Day One: U.S. Crack Plague Has Roots in U.S.-Sponsored Nicaraguan War

Day Three: War on Drugs Has Unequal Impact on Blacks in U.S.