---
category: U.S. State
summary: Indiana was where Gary Webb was attending a party when the Dark Alliance
  series was published online on August 18, 1996.
tags:
- geography
- u.s.-state
- contra-war
---

Indiana was where [Gary Webb](/people/gary-webb/) was attending a party at his best friend's house in Indianapolis when the [Dark Alliance](/events/dark-alliance/) series was published online on August 18, 1996. Webb excused himself, went into a bedroom, plugged in his laptop, and dialed into the Mercury News Web site to watch the series go live.[^1]

### Publication Night

At 2:00 A.M. on August 18, 1996, Webb watched as a picture of a man smoking crack, superimposed upon the seal of the [Central Intelligence Agency](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/), drew itself on the screen. "After more than a year of work, 'Dark Alliance' was finally out." The Indianapolis location placed Webb far from the newsroom in [San Jose, California](/places/san-jose/) on the night his career-defining work went public, a distance that would prove symbolic as the story took on a life of its own through the Internet.[^2]

[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 27.
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 27.