David Hall

David Hall was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in San Francisco who prosecuted Rafael Cornejo and warned Gary Webb that publishing the Dark Alliance story could endanger Danilo Blandón's life. Hall's role in the prosecution and his subsequent warning to Webb raised questions about the government's interest in protecting Blandón as a continuing asset.¹

The Cornejo Prosecution

Hall prosecuted Cornejo, a major cocaine trafficker in the San Francisco Bay Area and a distributor for the Blandón-Meneses network. During the grand jury proceedings, Hall questioned Blandón about whether his drug proceeds went to the Contra war, asking pointedly: "From the government?" Hall's aggressive questioning suggested awareness of the Contra connection, but the prosecution focused on Cornejo rather than the broader network. Federal judge Saundra Brown Armstrong referred Hall to the Justice Department for investigation, though the nature of the referral was not specified.²

Warning to Webb

In October 1995, Hall called Webb unsolicited and warned that "there is a distinct possibility that real harm, possibly death, would come to Mr. Blandón" if Webb published his story. The warning came from the same prosecutor who had used Blandón as a witness, suggesting the government's concern was less about Blandón's safety than about preventing the exposure of the Contra-cocaine connection.³