When Gary Webb published 'Dark Alliance' in 1996 linking CIA-backed Contras to crack cocaine flooding US cities, the Washington Post, New York Times, and LA Times devoted massive resources to discrediting his reporting rather than investigating his claims. The CIA's own internal communications (declassified in 2014 via The Intercept) revealed the agency actively managed the media campaign against Webb, tracking coverage and cultivating relationships with reporters writing critical pieces. In 1998, CIA Inspector General Frederick Hitz confirmed CIA ties to drug traffickers. Webb was found dead in 2004 from two gunshot wounds to the head, ruled a suicide.