CIA Inspector General Report Confirms Agency Knew of Contra-Crack Connection

The CIA Inspector General's 1998 report (declassified) confirmed that CIA-backed Contras were involved in cocaine trafficking and that the agency had failed to report this to the DOJ as required. Gary Webb's 1996 Dark Alliance investigative series in the San Jose Mercury News had documented Ricky Ross, a Los Angeles crack dealer, receiving cocaine from Contra-connected suppliers. The CIA-connected cocaine contributed to the crack epidemic that devastated Black urban communities in the 1980s-90s and resulted in mass incarceration through racially disparate sentencing (100:1 crack-to-powder cocaine disparity). The mainstream press attacked Webb; he died by apparent suicide in 2004.