---
category: Private Organization
location: San Francisco, California
start: 1865
summary: The San Francisco Chronicle was a Bay Area newspaper that reported on aspects
  of the Contra-connected drug trafficking operations centered in San Francisco.
tags:
- organization
- media
- contra-war
---

The San Francisco Chronicle was a Bay Area newspaper that reported on aspects of the Contra-connected drug trafficking operations centered in [San Francisco](/places/san-francisco/). The Chronicle covered elements of the story that included [Rafael Cornejo](/people/rafael-cornejo/)'s cocaine trafficking network and its connection to the broader Contra drug pipeline.[^1]

### Coverage of Contra-Connected Crime

The Chronicle reported on the sprawling drug trafficking operations in the Bay Area, including the remarkable details of Cornejo's conspiracy to escape from federal custody using C-4 plastic explosives and a helicopter. The newspaper also documented the group's consideration of killing a guard and lowering conspirators to a Panamanian cargo ship at sea. The Chronicle's reporting provided local context for the [Dark Alliance](/events/dark-alliance/) revelations, demonstrating that the Contra-connected drug trafficking in San Francisco was an open secret in Bay Area law enforcement and media circles long before Gary Webb's investigation.[^2]

[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 8.
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 8.