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Not just a drug dealer, but Freeway Ricky Ross, who arguably helped invent crack whose cocaine supplier was the Nicarguan Contras, the CIA-funded army of Iran-C

Not just a drug dealer, but Freeway Ricky Ross, who arguably helped invent crack whose cocaine supplier was the Nicarguan Contras, the CIA-funded army of Iran-Contra fame. I love Planet Money, but I wish they'd gone a little deeper into his involvement with the contras. If you want to know more look into Gary Webb's series, Dark Alliance. The restored site is here: http://www.narconews.com/darkalliance/drugs/start.htm http://www.narconews.com/darkalliance/drugs/start.htm

korch 15y ago
Also worth watching: The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis, by Bill Moyers http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3505348655137118430# http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3505348655137118430# It's worth noting that Ricky Ross was one of the few people to actually be convicted and incarcerated as a consequence of the Iran-Contra scandal. Colonel Oliver North, the top Navy Admiral, the secretary of Defense, the ambassador to Iraq, the later director of DARPA, the former director of the CIA, and dozens of other high level military & executive branch staff were all convicted or plead guilty to charges in the Iran-Contra scandal. Who actually went to jail? None of them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair#Convictions.2C_pardons_and_reinstatements http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair#Conv... But Ricky Ross went to jail. He unfortunately was the inadvertent pawn in a shocking scheme where our government gave transport planes to illegally ship weapons to guerrillas, and then turn a blind eye when those same guerrillas used the planes to ship cocaine to southern California, directly to Ricky Ross, all the while taking advantage of the cover of military diplomatic immunity. If you're one of the gov't guys on top, not only are you untouchable, but if you do fall in public, the very system itself will bend over backwards to rescue you. But if you're one of the guys on the bottom, like Ricky Ross, you'll be the fall guy who takes the full brunt of the heat. Isn't it funny how the American justice system appears to work entirely backwards?

korch 15y ago

Also worth watching: The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis, by Bill Moyers http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3505348655137118430# http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3505348655137118430# It's worth noting that Ricky Ross was one of the few people to actually be convicted and incarcerated as a consequence of the Iran-Contra scandal. Colonel Oliver North, the top Navy Admiral, the secretary of Defense, the ambassador to Iraq, the later director of DARPA, the former director of the CIA, and dozens of other high level military & executive branch staff were all convicted or plead guilty to charges in the Iran-Contra scandal. Who actually went to jail? None of them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair#Convictions.2C_pardons_and_reinstatements http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair#Conv... But Ricky Ross went to jail. He unfortunately was the inadvertent pawn in a shocking scheme where our government gave transport planes to illegally ship weapons to guerrillas, and then turn a blind eye when those same guerrillas used the planes to ship cocaine to southern California, directly to Ricky Ross, all the while taking advantage of the cover of military diplomatic immunity. If you're one of the gov't guys on top, not only are you untouchable, but if you do fall in public, the very system itself will bend over backwards to rescue you. But if you're one of the guys on the bottom, like Ricky Ross, you'll be the fall guy who takes the full brunt of the heat. Isn't it funny how the American justice system appears to work entirely backwards?