Description:

In August 1996, the San Jose Mercury News published the "Dark Alliance" series of articles alleging, among other things, that cocaine was "virtually unobtainable in black neighborhoods before members of the CIA's army"--the Nicaraguan Contras--started bringing it into South Central Los Angeles in the 1980s. The articles stated that Danilo Blandon, identified as a former Contra leader and a supplier of cocaine to Los Angeles drug dealer Ricky Ross, had testified in court that his cocaine profits supported the Contras, and that Blandon's attorney had concluded that Blandon was selling cocaine for CIA.

A CIA Inspector General team reviewed 250,000 pages of documents and conducted over 365 interviews, most under oath, including current and former CIA employees, as well as private citizens, officials, and foreign nationals. The principal individuals discussed in the San Jose Mercury News articles, including Ross, Blandon, Meneses, Lister, Zavala, and Cabezas, were among those interviewed.