The Crime Book

171

San Jose Mercury News. His

articles revealed that Blandón

had long been working for the

government as an informant.

Webb’s “Dark Alliance” narrative

unlocked a whole new dimension to

the case – the claim that the drug

empire was connected to the CIA

and the Contra army, who were

fighting against the revolutionary

government in Nicaragua.

According to Webb, the money

Ross paid his Nicaraguan contacts

was being used to fund and arm

the Contras. The CIA, meanwhile,

turned a blind eye as to the source

of the funds.

Although major media outlets

discredited Webb’s findings, the

CIA later acknowledged that it

had worked with suspected drug

runners and used funds from Ross’s

empire to arm the Contras. In a

phone call from jail, Ross himself

ORGANIZED CRIME

bemoaned the actions of the CIA.

The government had exploited

him, he claimed – just as he had

exploited his own community.

Overturned conviction

Ross was determined not to live out

his life in jail. While serving time in

a federal prison, he taught himself

to read and write, and studied law

books in the prison library. He used

these books to fight his sentence,

which was based on the “three

strikes” law that calls for a life term

on conviction of a third felony. Ross

argued that his convictions in

Texas and Ohio related to the same

federal offence and therefore

counted as one crime, making

a total of two convictions.

Although his own lawyer

dismissed the claim, in 1998 the

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal

agreed with his reasoning. As

a result, Ross’s sentence was

reduced to 16½ years from 20. He

was released in 2009 after serving

14 years behind bars. ■

A heavily armed DEA agent takes

part in an early morning drug raid on a

suspected kingpin in Los Angeles. The

war on drugs became increasingly

militarized in the 1980s.

Good people do bad things

when there are no options.

“Freeway” Rick Ross

168-171_Freeway_Rick_Ross.indd 171 02/12/2016 14:43