The drug kingpin “Freeway Ricky Ross” became known as “The Wal-Mart of Crack” in Los Angeles during the 1980’s by becoming the largest supplier of drugs in the area, without his initially knowing that his source of drugs was a CIA operative connected to the Iran-Contra scandal associated with George Bush and Ronald Reagan.

This compilation of video clips from the documentary film “The American Drug War: The Last White Hope” details the circumstances of the connections between Ricky Ross and the CIA, showing how the connection was publicly exposed in the media and then largely forgotten by the public while CIA drug trafficking continues.


Following is a description of the information in this video:

[Note: May 30, 2021— The written description of this video has been updated.]

In the late 1980’s, many mainstream news outlets simultaneously started running stories along with broadcast Presidential addresses talking about an upcoming epidemic of cheap and highly addictive crack cocaine, which served to help generate much interest in the drug— essentially acting as a strategically engineered ad campaign for the drug.

”Freeway Ricky Ross” was a street level drug dealer who eventually built a massive crack distribution network in the Los Angeles area, employing over 40 people and owning many houses that were used in the production and distribution of the drugs.  Many people still blame Ricky Ross for crack’s easy availability, and in interviews from prison he speaks about the guilty feelings he has about supplying drugs to poor mothers who would then not have enough money to buy food for their children.  He explains that he got into the drug business to escape poverty, but it turns out that his activities helped to reinforce poverty in his community.

Former DEA agent Celerino Castillo fought in the international drug war and he documented some of the brutal crimes committed by the DEA and CIA in support of President Reagan and Oliver North with their activities in Nicaragua.  Castillo explains that he had an opportunity to briefly speak with H.W. Bush in Guatemala in 1986, and he explains that he personally told Bush that he had gathered intelligence that the U.S. is involved in drug trafficking in El Salvador.  He explains that Bush only smiled, shook his hand, and walked away from him.  Castillo then said: “It was then and there that I knew that my Government knew that these atrocities were occurring.”

In 1986 the people of America where continually being told by the media and politicians that the battle against the drug trade was being greatly increased, however it was the CIA that was most responsible for shipping drugs into the country.  DEA agent Celerino Castillo recalls refueling CIA cargo planes that were filled with cocaine that were headed into the United States.  Ricky Ross recalls that at the same time his operation was in its heyday, it was profiting 2 - 3 million dollars each week— sometimes making that much in a single day.

After Ricky Ross was arrested and imprisoned, an investigative journalist named Gary Web uncovered a link back to U.S. Government activities in Nicaragua, and he wrote about it in a book called “Dark Alliance.”  Ricky Ross talks about how it was fascinating for him to read in the book that he was connected with the CIA and high level politicians.  It is explained that Ricky Ross was essentially just lucky in happening to get sources that were connected to the CIA such as Danilo Blandon, who supplied Ricky Ross with a pipeline of cocaine on consignment.

In November of 1996, the director of the CIA John Deutch came to Locke High School in Watts, California to attempt to reassure people that the CIA was not involved in drug trafficking due to the controversy caused by Gary Webb’s book “Dark Alliance,” however in doing so much information actually came out about the CIA in fact engaging in such activity.  Former LAPD detective Mike Ruppert is shown stating from the audience, “I am a former a Los Angeles police narcotics detective and I worked South Central Los Angeles, and I will tell you direct that Deutch and the Agency has dealt drugs throughout this country for a long time.”  Ruppert then went on to mention specific agency operations that he has the documents for, as well as mentioning how the CIA had attempted to recruit him to protect agency drug operations in this country.  Six months after CIA Director John Deutch came to Locke High School, the CIA announced that it found itself innocent of all drug dealing charges.

Ricky Ross was imprisoned for selling crack cociane, while Oliver North who was involved with the same chain of cocaine smuggling was free and wealthy and attempting to run for a congressional seat in Virginia as a “hero” being supported by a right wing Christian Coalition.  Despite Oliver North’s crimes being exposed to the American Public in the famous 1986 Kerry Commissions, Oliver North is not only a free man today but he has his own show on the FOX Network.

Mike Ruppert explains that networks exist within the LAPD where “agencies who are doing a drug case don’t step on each other’s toes.”  It is explained how Ricky Ross used to get calls tipping him off when raids were about to happen, such as once when search warrants for 19 locations were raided in one night, but with Ross being warned beforehand and being able to clear the locations out beforehand.

During the same time of the heyday of Ricky Ross in South Central Los Angeles, home values in the area where tanking due to the extreme crime.  People couldn’t sell their houses, so they walked out on their mortgages, and tens of thousands of homes were sold for ten and twenty cents on the dollar as people abandoned their houses.  T Rodgers explains that there was a greater plan to put churches, liquor stores, gun shops, and drugs into the neighborhoods in order to drive prices down.  Chico Brown explains that many families were tempted to move far out of Los Angeles to neighborhoods that were 70 miles away, such as Moreno Valley where it was promised that corporations would move there to supply employment, however such corporations did not follow, and many people lost everything moving to such areas.  Investors then started buying up property in South Central Los Angeles for extremely cheap prices, and now property values in the area are extremely high.  Chico Brown explains, “You can’t even afford to live in Compton or Watts anymore without spending $300,000 for a home that my mother paid $9,000 for.”

The Author Gary Webb who wrote the book “Dark Alliance” died in 2004 of gunshot wounds, and the death was ruled a suicide.

In 1993, the head of the DEA Robert Bonner admitted that the CIA was involved with the importation of Cocaine from Nicaraqua on the television show 60 Minutes.

When Bush Sr. lost the election to Bill Clinton, people felt that “a new day was born in America” due to supposedly “peaceful liberals” ruling, however Clinton also had a corrupt Administration and a corrupt drug czar named Barry McCaffrey.  [Note— McCaffery was a General during the first Iraq war who was responsible for ordering the infamous “Massacre At Rumalia,” where a convoy of retreating Iraqi soldiers was continuously fired upon from the air and ground while a cease-fire was in effect, destroying over 2,000 military vehicles and killing untold numbers of soldiers in what is considered one of the most heinous war crimes in recent history.]

In the past years, Ricky Ross has continued to become more popular.  A platinum selling rapper named Ricky Ross tells stories that glorify Rick’s life as a drug dealer, and Rick also had an hour long BET Special.  In 2005, Ricky Ross was able to have his prison sentence greatly reduced.