Kill the Messenger Page #5

Anything you need.

Okay? But take a victory lap.

Hey, that graphic you guys used?

The crack pipe on the CIA emblem?

Are you out of your mind?

It's like the CIA is cooking

crack in their basement.

Gary. That was my idea,

so blame me, but come on.

We got their attention, didn't we?

We're just calling

to say thanks for doing this.

- There is a lot of pride here this morning.

- Congratulations, buddy.

Hey. Gary.

Yeah?

You did it.

This is the big one.

Enjoy yourself!

Let's focus on the Washington Post,

New York Times and the LA Times.

And get Richard

Zuckerman on the phone.

What interests me is who is gonna tell me

how we missed this goddamned story.

How'd the San Jose Mercury News,

a paper one-fifth the size

of the Los Angeles Times...

...and three hundred

miles away-scooped us...

...on one of the most

important stories in this city in,

in what? Twenty years?

How about you, Rich?

Didn't you cover Ricky Ross?

- Parts of it.

- Yeah, apparently the wrong parts.

We had Blandon in one of our stories.

- As what?

- A government source.

He's also apparently almost single-handedly

responsible for the crack epidemic.

Which, by the way, started right here...

...in Watts,

five f***ing miles from where we're sitting.

Look, I don't need to tell you this...

...but if this story stands,

some of your people are going to jail.

The idea that any one person

could have played a decisive

role in the crack epidemic...

- ...is absurd.

- What about Norwin Meneses?

We have no documentation...

...that this guy ever

did any business with us.

This Gary Webb, he's got nothing.

He's got drug dealers and

money launderers as sources.

Rich, you know this guy Webb.

What do you think?

It's thin.

Except that he posted all

his sources on the Merc website.

- So?

- So nobody's done that before.

I need every line of that story taken

apart and checked for inaccuracies.

Get Dominic Brady

back here from Washington.

- I want at least fifteen people on this thing.

- What if we're over reacting?

I mean, it's the San Jose Mercury News.

Is anyone even going to pay attention?

A reporter for the

San Jose Mercury News suggested...

...that the CIA might have played a role...

...in permitting Nicaraguan

drug dealers to distribute...

...crack cocaine in south central

Los Angeles during the 1980's.

That had enormous resonance within

the African-American community.

We have been faked out,

we have been tricked,

and we have been undermined.

If they had put that crack

in Beverly Hills,

it would be a presidential issue.

We love our children.

Just like you love yours.

I think it is enough information here...

...to say to the CIA,

you stand accused.

President Clinton will be back out

on the campaign trail next week -

I've got...

...requests for you from CNN, CNBC...

...Jerry Springer,

Geraldo Rivera and Montel Williams.

The London Times and Le Monde

are sending in to interview you...

...and Sixty Minutes

and Dateline both want you, but

only if you don't do the other one.

And I just got the call last night...

...the National Press

Association Journalist of the Year...

...is Mr. Gary Webb.

Congratulations. Gary.

On, baby!

Thank you.

Life's beautiful.

It's checking out Richard.

I spoke with the banker in Panama City.

His name is Hans Yorg Baier.

He met with Webb. He confirmed...

...he laundered drug money for the Contras.

Norwin Meneses was his client.

Are these sources reliable enough?

For the Post?

I mean, they're all drug dealers.

The banker isn't a drug dealer.

Also, there's this American ex-pat that had

a ranch in the jungle for thirty years.

And he let these two American pilots

land and take off from his airstrip.

And, he let them store

dope on his property.

You're talking to drug

dealers and money launderers.

I'm talking to Langley.

Well, I'm filing.

You guys do whatever you want with it.

So what's our point of view?

That Webb doesn't have any

legitimate sources...

That the CIA would never use these

low-lifes and in fact denies it,

in fact denies it unequivocally.

That basically, he's a

fraud and so is his story.

'll take that upstairs

and see if it'll fly.

Yeah, you're going to turn into a chip.

Hey, wait you guys, it's on.

Come here, it's on.

In tonight's Eye on America,

accusations...

...underscore the word

accusations that are nothing...

...short of explosive.

hat the CIA...

...knowingly and intentionally did what amounts

to pump crack cocaine into Los Angeles...

That's not what he said.

...to help fund rebels in Nicaragua.

You never said intentionally.

Whether or not these claims prove true,

they anger they...

A lot of people are saying...

...of course,

including people in Congress...

that the CIA intentionally addicted

African Americans to crack cocaine.

Right. Well, what you and others are

doing is putting words in my mouth.

We never made that claim.

What have you got to prove that

Americans working in the US government...

...collaborated in selling

crack cocaine into the

African American community of Los Angeles?

Well, first of all, we never

said that Americans working

in the government were doing this.

These were Nicaraguans

working for the CIA-run army.

Okay. It's not CIA-U.S. officials.

Not that we know so far.

Okay. It's not U.S. officials.

Okay. Go ahead.

What the CIA wanted to do was to fight

a war that Congress didn't want.

And the ripple effect of that

- what happened in south Los Angeles

and other American cities

- well that was a mistake.

This is a smoking cannon...

...that leads all the

way to the White House.

We have no evidence...

...of a conspiracy by the CIA...

...to engage in encouraging

drug traffickers in Nicaragua...

I am going to make somebody...

...pay for what they have done

to my community and to my people.

Don't give me the conspiracy bull -

There has never been

a conspiracy in this country.

Senior Baier...

Hello?

It's Fred Weil.

You haven't seen the east coast papers yet?

No.

It's 4 AM.

I was you once. Gary,

I started down this road.

Though nowhere near as far as you are.

When they saw...

...I wasn't gonna stop, they

'controversialized' me.

Do you have any idea

what I'm talking about?

They make you the story.

And you have a history of schizophrenia,

you're a liar, you're a homo...

...you beat your dog...

...you're a pedophile -

it doesn't matter if none of it's true.

The point is...

...no one remembers what you found.

They remember you...

...and you're nuts.

You cease to exist.

You there?

Yeah, I'm here.

Remember, you get the most flak...

...when you're right above the target.

That's when they empty

all their guns into you.

When you're about

to drop a bomb on the on the Kremlin...

Or in this case,

the Central Intelligence Agency.

Hang in there. Gary.

Morning.

You guys don't look so good.

Morning, Gary.

Good morning.

We just want to take your temperature,

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