

- #Freeway crack in the system documentary part 2 movie#
- #Freeway crack in the system documentary part 2 full#

This is the ground covered in our film Freeway: Crack In the System, which is now nominated for an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Investigative Journalism, Long Form. A through line that takes us from my hometown of Los Angeles, California, out of the country to Managua, Nicaragua, and all the way to the top of the political ladder in Washington, D.C. Yet, I still did not know that at some point I would have a chance to play a part in making the documentary that would tell the definitive version of how it all went down. At age 16 I still remember the hearings in South Central Los Angeles, and the pamphlets passed around by local activist groups telling the community what had happened. So when the “Dark Alliance” story written by Gary Webb was published in 1996 implicating that this all might have come with some level of government involvement, put simply it was unbelievable. I grew up in a city of Los Angeles that had been ravaged by gangs, riots and none other than crack cocaine. As one of the producers I looked to my life and its arch as a guide in helping frame the story’s narrative. A tale bigger than life of drug kingpins, government scandal and devastation of the black community, was one that was personal to me as a filmmaker and African American. Shot by Alexis Garcia and William Neff.It is a rare instance where art and life truly run parallel, our recently Emmy nominated film “Freeway: Crack in the System” that was presented by Al Jazeera was one of those moments. And subscribe to Reason TV's YouTube channel for daily content like this.
#Freeway crack in the system documentary part 2 full#
Our prison industry has boomed."įor the full interview, watch the video above. 600,000 black men are in prison right now for nonviolent crimes. What wound up happening is it flooded the ghettos of America. When asked if he thinks the CIA was actively involved, he says, "It doesn't matter if they purposely planned on doing that. Ross was a source for Webb, who alleged that the CIA had a role in the introduction of crack to the U.S.
#Freeway crack in the system documentary part 2 movie#
Williams in the new movie Kill the Messenger, which tells the story of the late journalist Gary Webb. Ross has a new autobiography out, will be featured in the upcoming documentary Freeway: Crack in the System, and is portrayed by Michael K. When asked what was so attractive about selling cocaine, Ross answers quickly: "The money."

In the interview, Ross tells of how he managed to build a cocaine empire by shrewdly saving and investing his profits, pioneering new business models, and switching from powder cocaine to crack cocaine. "There's more drugs on the street of America than ever before." "The drug war that we're fighting right now is a total failure," Ross says. Ross recently sat down with Reason TV's Zach Weissmueller to talk about his rise to-and fall from-power, the impact of crack on Los Angeles and the rest of the country, as well as his views on the effectiveness of the war on drugs. "Without this artificial price that we put on cocaine, I wouldn't have been selling cocaine," explains "Freeway" Rick Ross, the notorious drug dealer from the 1980s who is widely credited with introducing crack cocaine in Los Angeles and, eventually, nationwide.
