1980s Cia Backed Crack Cocaine Scandal Comes To Light Once More

A new documentary entitled Freeway: Crack in the System has been made examining the role the CIA played in flooding American ghettos with crack cocaine to fund their gun running antics in Nicaragua. Accompanied by a series of interviews with the Huffington Post, the documentary has been released following the opening of Kill the Messanger, a feature film dramatising the story of Gary Webb, the journalist who first broke the scandal. In 1996 Webb published a story entitled Dark Alliances, alleging that during the 19080s there were serious links between notorious ghetto dealers such as "Freeway" Rick Ross, and the CIA. Webb went to to claim, with detailed evidence, that the CIA were using the money raised from drug sales to fund arms running to the Contras, the military group sent in to destablisise the Socialist government of Nicaragua.

The fallout from Webb's article was devastating for his career –  as the Huffington Post writes,

"It did not end well for Webb, however. Major media, led by The New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, worked to discredit his story. Under intense pressure, Webb's top editor abandoned him. Webb was drummed out of journalism. One LA Times reporter recently apologized for his leading role in the assault on Webb, but it came too late. Webb died in 2004 from an apparent suicide. Obituaries referred to his investigation as "discredited."

"The dual release of the feature film and the documentary, along with the willingness of long-hesitant sources to come forward, suggests that Webb may have the last word after all."

You can read more on the fascinating, sordid saga over here, and watch a trailer for Crack in the System below.