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News Conference on Americans Arrested in Pakistan; Drugs on Demand; Reforming Financial Regulations

Aired December 11, 2009 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

IMAM MAHDI BRAY, MUSLIM AMERICAN SOCIETY FREEDOM FOUNDATION: Let me conclude by finally saying that from a much broader perspective within the American-Muslim community, this is indeed a wake-up call. It's a wake-up call involving our youth, all youth, be they Muslims, Christians, Jews, all youth.

Youth is a time of passions and great emotions. And certainly our youth, they see things that they feel great concerns about taking place in the Muslim world, injustices, and their emotions and passions are stirred by that. And it should be.

Every person should be -- have some emotions for injustices when they see wherever they may occur. But let me also say that we are determined not to let religious extremists exploit the vulnerability of our young people's emotions.

Let me repeat that again. We are determined not to let religious extremists exploit the vulnerability of the emotions of our children through slick, seductive and destructive propaganda on the Internet.

We are sending a message loud and clear that those days are over where we will not respond in kind on the Internet to vile propaganda that misrepresents the Islamic faith. We are determined that we are going to respond to it. Let me assure you that we will be active on the Internet saying that silence in cyberspace is not an option for us and that we will challenge the vile narrative that we find out on the Internet that continues to pull at our children for the sake of our children.

So, again, for us, silence in cyberspace not an option. We are going to be active, proactive, and we hope that people will join us -- some of you, especially with the national media -- will join us in Chicago on December the 26th, and 27th when we have our major youth summit which will address some of our campaigns that we are planning to put forth on the Internet in the very, very near future.

Thank you so much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Thank you.

OK, folks, this is just some ground rules. As I said, not everyone is going to be asking questions, so you're going to have to direct your questions toward me or Mahdi. Mahdi is capable of...

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A wake-up call among our youth, strong words of members of the mosque there in Virginia, the mosque where apparently one of these American men, American children -- or kids, youth -- were arrested in Pakistan this week amid suspicion that they were plotting terrorist attacks against Americans and American troops in Afghanistan.

You heard right there from the man who runs the youth program at that mosque saying that these kids never learned anything negative from that mosque, that those kids participated in sports, positive discussions about Islam, how to avoid alcohol. That they never talked politics, they never talked fighting, they never talked any type of negative language toward American troops or the various wars taking place overseas. Coming forward talking about that their mosque is about unity, togetherness, family, the righteous ways, and to pray for the families now involved with these Americans who have been arrested in Pakistan.

We'll continue, of course, to follow all the developments, but that really is the first time that we have heard the other side, individuals representing the mosque where apparently one of these Americans arrested in Pakistan hoping to train to fight American troops in Afghanistan was found. This was a mosque that he attended. We're hearing for the first time from members of that organization.

Well, stories that we are also pushing forward this hour.

How about we never see a financial meltdown like the one last year that nearly tanked the economy? Congress is working on it. Right now, there are some kinks to iron out. Less than an hour ago, the House shot down a proposal to add mortgage relief to a Wall Street regulation bill. That proposal would have let homeowners in trouble trim their payments in bankruptcy court.

And President Obama back home from Norway with his Nobel Peace Prize. He heads back to Europe next week for the Global Climate Summit.

We begin this hour though with the war next door. And if you think I mean Mexico, you would understand the reach, depth and scope of the drug cartel's operations in America.

If you live in Eugene, Oregon, or Sioux Falls, South Dakota, even Jackson, Mississippi, the war next door may be literally next door to you. Cartels do business everywhere because demand is everywhere. Americans love cocaine, heroin, meth and marijuana, and we pay for it with money and with guns, guns that kill innocent people, mostly in Mexico, every hour of every day, and that's because the cartels are at war with one another. Police and the military may be the least of their worries.

Now I take that back. Men, women, even children caught in the crossfire, they are the least of the drug smugglers' worries.

I have to warn you before we go any further this report that you're about to see is graphic. It's intense and it's sometimes pretty hard to watch.

CNN's Michael Ware actually spent a day and a night with police in the border city of Juarez, Mexico. And if you ever thought that drugs were a victimless crime, well, you're definitely not going to think that any longer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This footage is difficult to watch., these anguished cries impossible to forget. Relatives entering this building seeking the bodies of their loved ones executed by a Mexican drug cartel.

You're witnessing the pain of the Mexican border town of Juarez. The front line in the war on drugs, and this a crime scene I just had to see for myself.

(on camera): There's so much violence that occurs here in Juarez that the world just does not hear about.

And, now, it's disconcerting to see this fresh paint here on these walls as an old woman makes her home in this building, for, just two months ago, this literally was a corridor of blood.

This building had been a drug rehabilitation center. And one of the major cartels suspected that its rivals were recruiting foot soldiers from among the patients. So, they came in this door and down this corridor, moving from room to room to room, executing everyone they found.

While they're now trying to build a home, this is where 17 people died in yet another day of Juarez violence.

(voice-over): Within two days of this attack, the death toll rose even higher, when two survivors died in hospital.

And there is no discrimination to the slaughter. Under these clothes lies a 7-year-old American boy, his father the target, but the hit man chose not to let the child live.

On this day, we're in Juarez to see the horrors for ourselves. It's just before dusk as I approach a fresh crime scene.

(on camera): In Juarez, 1,600 people died from drug-related violence last year. This year, the total's already well over 2,000. And today's total is already at 12.

The man in that car was hit by cartel gunmen, riddled with eight bullets. His passenger tried to flee, but only made it that far.

(voice-over): This was yet another afternoon of killing in Juarez, with a night of murder yet to follow.

(on camera): It's only 9:00. We're now going and joining this police patrol. Since the killings this afternoon that we saw, there's already been another homicide, bringing today's total to 13.

(voice-over): Every night, joint patrols like this one between local and federal police and Mexican soldiers crisscross the city, trying desperately to stem the flow of blood. (on camera): Things were so bad that, earlier in the year, the Mexican president had to call in the military to help protect the city. For a short time, there was a lull in the violence, but it quickly returned. And now it's worse than it's ever been before.

(voice-over): By now, it's close to 10:00 p.m., and the reports of violence are streaming in over the police radio.

(on camera): The patrollers just received another call on the radio. there's some kind of incident. But those lights there, that's America. It's the U.S. border. This reminds you just how close this war on drugs is being fought to American soil.

(voice-over): But, before the night is over, there is even more carnage to come, all this in our one afternoon and evening visit to this deadly city.

(on camera): This time, it's almost too much to bear. It's just after 11:00. And where you see those policemen gathered at that door, there's just been four more slayings, this time all women.

The early reports are that a gunman walked in that door and executed all of them, one of them a 12-year-old girl, another one 14, and, in a gut-wrenching irony, all of this done with the American border crossing just here, 80 yards away.

There can be no more pertinent reminder of the Mexican blood that's being spilt in this war for the right to supply America's demand for illicit drugs.

Michael Ware, CNN, Juarez, Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: If any city ever needed a hero, it is Juarez. Well, we found one. She's a CNN Hero from 2009, a one-woman lifeline for people surrounded by death. Her story this hour.

Even heroes can only do so much. So, what's the solution for this ravenous, ruinous cycle of drugs and death?

Meet David Gaddis. He's deputy chief of operations for the DEA and a former regional director in Mexico City. He joins me this hour, live from Washington.

David, so glad you're with us.

DAVID GADDIS, DEPUTY CHIEF OF OPERATIONS, DEA: Good afternoon.

PHILLIPS: You know, time and time again, I hear from those within the DEA, other forms of law enforcement, that it's so hard to get ahead of these guys, to get ahead of these cartels.

What is the biggest challenge for you right now?

GADDIS: Well, clearly, one of the biggest challenges is containing the resources that these drug trafficking cartels are using. It's a $65 billion a year industry just from the United States to Mexico alone.

They use those billions of dollars to finance the acquisition of weapons, explosives, other munitions. They influence and infiltrate authorities anywhere in the United States or in Mexico in order to conduct their business.

PHILLIPS: You know, we talk about conducting business. Business feeding right here into the U.S. There is a tremendous demand for these drugs.

Has it reached the point where you just can't convince Americans not to use and abuse? Have you sort of given up on that and now totally and solely focusing on the supply, or is the demand part of your mission? And if so, how?

GADDIS: Well, there needs to be a balanced approach involving treatment, prevention, rehabilitation and, of course, enforcement, of which DEA state and local law enforcement and other federal agencies are a part of. That balanced, holistic approach is going to be the way to win this struggle.

PHILLIPS: Tell me, though. Give me some details. What do you mean by a balanced approach?

I mean, how do you find balance when these drug cartels are running drugs into the country daily? I mean, building tunnels, high-tech tunnels. I mean, we're seeing it all across -- I mean, it's not just coming into border towns, but these cartels are operating all across the United States, in places like Sioux Falls, which we would never expect.

GADDIS: That's correct, and I consider it to be our number one organized crime threat in the United States. Unfortunately, it's a national security threat for Mexico. And DEA is focusing on a four- pronged strategy.

Number one, targeting the command and control of these kingpin organizations, these five or six principal drug cartels.

Second, targeting the facilitator tier which are the transportation nodes or the money brokers, money launderers. Somehow, they need to get these illegal proceeds back into their system so that they can empower their organization.

And third, but certainly not least, is targeting those distribution cells, those surrogate cells that operate throughout the United States and elsewhere, which distribute this drug to the consumer, which is -- all of this connected to violence in both of our countries. So, we need to focus on all of those tiers at the same time.

PHILLIPS: David, final thought. And I don't want to get into a big debate about legalizing drugs, but I did have a chance to talk to a former smuggler, international drug smuggler, and his simple response was, you legalize drugs, you take away the desire, you take away the currency, and boom, you're done.

Take a listen to what he told me last hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN O'DEA, FORMER DRUG SMUGGLER: They did a very, very brave thing in Portugal. They legalized all drugs: heroin, coke, crack, all those awful drugs that are -- absolutely the worst thing to happen to somebody is to be hooked up on them. But they legalized all drugs there because the hammer of corrections doesn't work for something that's a disorder psychologically. And so, what they did was that they increased their approach, their educational and their willingness to help people heal from these addictions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: What do you think, David?

GADDIS: Whether legal or illegal, drugs destroy the mind, deteriorate the body, and contaminate the character of the abuser. I think our number one responsibility is to protect the citizens of our country. And in doing that, at the best of our ability to keep those drugs from the streets and from the hands of U.S. citizens, and that is what we are trying to do.

DEA is not a law-making agency; rather, a law enforcement agency. So we follow through with our commitment to do that.

PHILLIPS: DEA Deputy Chief of Operations in Mexico City, David Gaddis.

Appreciate your time, sir.

GADDIS: My pleasure.

PHILLIPS: No more meltdowns, please. Congress looking to make sure financial history doesn't repeat itself, trying to keep Wall Street and the road to ruin from intersecting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: With millions of Americans out of work, you wouldn't think this would happen, an explosion in pay for a lot of people who work for Uncle Sam.

"USA Today" analyzed data for federal workers. Those with salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14 percent to 19 percent of the workforce during the first part of the recession.

And get this -- there were fewer than 1,900 Defense Department civilian workers making $150,000 or more in 2007. The number ballooned to more than 10,000 last June.

The average annual pay for a federal worker, about $71,000. For workers in the private sector, about $40,000. On Capitol Hill, the House is close to wrapping up a bill aimed at preventing another big financial mess. It includes a sweeping set of changes in the way that banks and Wall Street are regulated.

CNN National Political Correspondent Jessica Yellin live from Washington now -- Jessica.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

First, I want to underscore, this vote is a big deal. For all this time, we have been focussed on health care reform, but this other legislation we're talking about now would address the very issues that took us to the brink of economic collapse. This financial reform legislation affects our entire economy, and there is no surprise that the debate on the House floor has been heated today, as the House nears a vote on this massive bill.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JEB HENSARLING (R), TEXAS: There is truth in advertising. The bill before us would be named the permanent Wall Street bailout and increase job losses through Credit Rationing Act of 2009.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM HIMES (D), CONNECTICUT: Never again will Wall Street take massive risks with the expectation that they will be bailed out when they fail. Never again will mortgage brokers sell mortgages that they know can't possibly be repaid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: So, the big headline is we're calling this a Wall Street reform bill, but let's take a closer look at what's actually in it.

It is an attempt to rein in some of the financial practices that took the nation to the brink, and business interests have been lobbying hard to limit its reach. So, some of the key elements, it would create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Its mission would be to protect regular folks from tricks and traps by credit card companies, banks, mortgage providers and the like.

It would give the government the power to unwind failing financial companies which we now call too big to fail, firms like AIG. So, instead of bailing them out in the future, the government could just dismantle them.

And then, finally, it would create new ways to regulate some of those high-risk investments that helped lead to the collapse.

Kyra, it's expected to be a party line vote, with Republicans uniformly voting no. But even some Democrats have been divided on aspects of this. We expect it to pass today, but then it still has a huge fight ahead in the Senate -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll track it. Thanks, Jessica.

Top stories now.

It's divorce court for South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. His wife Jenny is filing papers to end the marriage. She calls it a sad and painful process. He says he takes full responsibility for his "moral failure."

The Sanfords have lived apart since June, when the governor admitted having an affair with a woman in Argentina.

Casey Anthony sat in court and sobbed this morning as a prosecutor described how her daughter Caylee might have died. Anthony's lawyers are fighting the state of Florida's decision to seek the death penalty in her murder case. Today's hearing, a year to the day after the 2- year-old's remains were found hidden in some woods near the Anthony home.

Talking out of turn, a hearing in California today targets an attorney for Nancy Garrido, who is accused of helping her husband kidnap Jaycee Dugard and keeping her captive for 18 years. The lawyers are accused of talking about the case in public despite a gag order.

In the dark for five days. A couple hundred folks in California are still reeling this week's big storm. Now the other coast is getting a beating.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Well, Cullen Jones swam his way to a gold medal in the Beijing Olympics. Now he wants all kids to feel right at home in the water. Everybody in the pool.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Every war has its heroes, and in the war next door, Juarez, Mexico, Maria Ruiz is a hero. Where most of us see a killing field and just look the other way, Ruiz sees people in need and actually responds. CNN's Erica Hill has her story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just minutes across the U.S. border, Juarez, Mexico, the new murder capital of the world. This year, more than 2,400 people, more than 60 of them police officers, have been murdered in this city of 1.4 million. An influx of rival cartels are fighting to control the smuggling route between Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, the very same route 2008 "CNN Hero" Maria Ruiz has traveled almost 5,000 times.

MARIA RUIZ, CNN HERO 2008: Just because of the news, everybody is saying, Oh, don't go, don't go to Juarez. HILL: Ignoring those warnings, Ruiz goes into Juarez nearly seven times a week, sometimes twice a day.

RUIZ: The need in Juarez is great. You know, there's a lot of people that are unemployed. There's a lot of single moms. There's a lot of kids that go without food for days.

HILL: For 13 years, Maria Ruiz has been crossing the U.S. border into Juarez to bring food and clothing to poor Mexican children and their families.

RUIZ: The kids are the ones that keep me going. The violence and the drug war, it has just brought a lot of things down.

HILL: This week, there have been an average of 30 deaths a day in Juarez. Before every trip into Juarez, the Ruiz family prays for God's protection.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Help us to give us the strength and the wisdom...

RUIZ: I am aware of the violence and everything that's going on, but I know that I have been called, you know, to do something.

HILL: It's that calling that fuels her expanding outreach. And even as violence increases, Ruiz continues to bring a glimmer of hope to the residents of Juarez.

RUIZ: I feel blessed because when you give out, the one who's actually being blessed is you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, to read more about Maria Ruiz and her crusade to save the children of Juarez go to CNN.com/heroes. You can find her story under 2008.

They're growing fast, growing strong and growing more hopeful, Latino youths. A new study by the Pew Hips Center says two thirds of Latinos ages 16 to 25 are native-born Americans. In 1985, only half were born in the U.S. About 22 percent of Hispanic youths are unauthorized immigrants. Latinos make up about 18 percent of all youths in the U.S. And most are optimistic about their future -- 72 percent expect to be better off financially than their parents.

Well, race and the drowning rate. Turns out there's a huge disparity among different racial groups. Access to pools and swimming lessons thought to make the biggest difference. Well, one Olympian's trying to change that. More from a former swimmer herself, Stephanie Elam.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In one of the most exciting moments from the Beijing Olympics, Cullen Jones solidified his place in sports history. He was part of the gold-winning 4-by-100 freestyle relay with Michael Phelps, Jason Lezak (ph) and Garrett Weber Gale(ph). CULLEN JONES, U.S. OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: I've gotten around the Olympian part, but the gold medal part still is something that I'm still trying to live -- and get into my mind.

ELAM: Jones's story, however, almost didn't get its golden ending.

JONES: When I was 5 years old, I almost drowned and my mom got me into lessons instantly.

ELAM: His mother's reaction changed the course of his life.

JONES: I started loving the water, and she told me, you know, If you're going to start this, you have to finish it until the end. And I'm still going!

ELAM: Jones is now also the face of the USA Swimming Foundation's Make a Splash initiative highlighting drowning prevention.

JONES: There is a solution for drowning and it's swim lessons. Nearly 150,000 kids have been part of this, so it's been great. This isn't the last year.

ELAM: The statistics are alarming.

JONES: It's staggering that African-Americans and Hispanics are almost three times more likely to drown than Caucasian or any other race in America. Fifty-six percent of Hispanic kids don't know how to swim.

ELAM: At this Make a Splash event in Los Angeles, Jones talked about the importance of learning to swim. He made sure his message hit home.

JONES: In LA alone, 85 kids drown every year. And 90 percent of those kids -- 90 percent of them -- are actually being watched.

ELAM: After the assembly, he took to the pool with a few of the students. I asked the kids what it was like swimming with an Olympian.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was a good teacher and he actually listened to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My parents love it because most of them don't know how to swim and they're happy I got the chance to learn how.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was pretty good.

ELAM: Jones, who lost his dad when he was 16, says students' stories often resonate with him.

JONES: There is one of the kids that I just taught, his dad passed away three years ago. And he had never been in the water again. Today was probably the first time he actually swam (INAUDIBLE) again. I can definitely sympathize with that.

ELAM: Fellow Olympic medalists turned out to support Jones.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he puts a real face on it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This man is such a wonderful spokesman for the sport and for the initiative.

ELAM: As for the Olympics, Jones wants more hardware.

JONES: I expected to swim the 50 freestyle in 2008 and I didn't get that opportunity, so I'm really hungry to try to go back in 2012.

ELAM: Chances are, he'll have a new wave of fans cheering him on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And our resident swimmer, Stephanie Elam, joining us from New York. We'll get to that in just a second. But Steph, why is there such a disparity among the races when it comes to these drowning rates?

ELAM: There's a few reasons, Kyra. It's not just one reason in particular. But first, you have to deal with the legacy of racism in this country. There were segregated beaches in '50s and '60s. There were pools that would not allow black people. You had managers going so far as to throw bleach in the pools to keep black people out of them. So there's a fear behind that.

But then there's also the fear that gets passed from one generation to the next generation -- I never learned how to swim, so therefore I want my children just to stay away from the pool, never learn how to swim, never give them that access. And it's really clear that only 13 percent of children who do have parents that swam will then learn how to swim themselves. It's a big deal if they don't get that access.

And also, there's people who are -- just don't have access. If you grow up in a minority area, if you grow up in an urban area, chances are there's not a pool, and so that also leads into some issues there, as well, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So now I want you to tell our viewers, you know, you were led to the pool and you became an incredible swimmer and you swam in college at Howard. How did it happen for you?

ELAM: It was natural. Both my parents were swimmers. My parents are from Philadelphia. They are from the city. But both of them were swimmers. I grew up in the pool. There's pictures of me at, like, 6 months of age in the little innertube, just flapping around. I'd stay in the pool for hours and hours.

(LAUGHTER)

ELAM: And so for me, it was natural. I'm actually more comfortable in the water. My brother was an all-American water polo player, so we just -- he also swam, too, as well. So we just grew up around the water and swimming and going to the beach all the time. I am from Silicon Valley, California, so we spent a lot of time going to Santa Cruz and going out to the beach to swim there.

For me, it was normal. And then going to a historically black university, Howard University, I was surrounded by another group of black people who could swim. Everyone there on my team, obviously, swimmers. A lot of them actually came from that movie "Pride," you remember that, with Terrence Howard (ph)...

PHILLIPS: Oh, yes.

ELAM: ... that program in Philadelphia.

PHILLIPS: Yes.

ELAM: A ton of my best friends still to this day were part of that program growing up in Philadelphia, as well. So I've never -- I didn't realize -- that's why it was so shocking to me that 60 percent of black kids in this country cannot swim. And when my husband saw that, as well, who -- he's really -- like, I swam, but my husband was a really, really good swimmer...

PHILLIPS: All right, let's just pause for a moment...

ELAM: ... we had no idea.

PHILLIPS: We found the picture. We found the picture. This is Stephanie's husband, folks.

ELAM: I guess we did. Yes, he did -- who...

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Yes, he's the black guy. Where's that? Oh, yes, in the back by the one other black guy...

ELAM: There you go!

PHILLIPS: ... among all the white folks. But Jeff (ph) -- I want to brag for a minute -- had a full swimming scholarship. He qualified for the Olympic trials. He went to...

ELAM: Yes, that was...

(CROSSTALK)

ELAM: ... the Olympic trials in high school. Yes, he went to Boston University, but he -- my husband's from Missouri, and he and his older brother, Mark (ph), both swam for years and years and years and just were stellar athletes. Jeff just really excelled at it, and it's -- you know, the running joke, Kyra -- this is how much people think black people don't swim. Whenever -- when we first started dating, people are, like, Wow, you found another black swimmer to marry?

(LAUGHTER)

ELAM: Like, How is that possible? And we heard that joke over and over again from his friends, my friends.

So we just want to get the word out there and to show people that they really can make a difference because swimming, compared to other sports, is relatively cheap. All you need are some goggles and some swim trunks, as long as you have a pool.

So you can really make a difference if you go to Makeasplash.org, log on there to the USA Swimming Foundation. For just a hundred bucks, you can sponsor a whole lesson session -- like, full sessions for one student to learn how to swim and then save their lives potentially, too, because they won't be at risk of drowning if they know how to swim.

PHILLIPS: Great story, Steph. Thanks so much.

ELAM: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: We've got some...

ELAM: Thanks, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: ... breaking news now -- you bet. Breaking news now from Capitol Hill. The House has now passed sweeping overhaul in the financial rules that govern Wall Street. Here's the deal. It's going to revamp the power of the agencies that oversee the banking system. It's aimed at preventing last year's financial meltdown that almost tanked the economy -- story of the year for us. The bill gives Uncle Sam the right to break up big and risky companies now and also create a consumer agency to oversee lenders. The measure now moves on to the Senate, and of course, we'll follow it all the way through for you.

Top stories now. The biggest rip-off in history, one year later. It was on this date last year when Bernie Madoff was arrested on charges that he had carried out a multi-billion-dollar investment fraud. Charities, foundations, just regular folks lost millions of dollars, in some case hundreds of millions. Madoff, who's 71, is now serving a 150-year prison sentence.

He's accused of secretly making nude videos of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews. He's expected to plead guilty next week, and Andrews plans to be in the courtroom. Prosecutors say that 48-year-old Michael Barrett followed Andrews to three different cities so he could shoot videos through hotel room peepholes. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

A court hearing today for the Muslim cleric who's accused of lying to the FBI in an alleged plot to set off bombs on the New York City transit system. Ahmad Afzali is accused of tipping off the main suspect, letting him know federal agents were on his trail.

If the charges stick, if all this turns out to be true, at least one of the young Americans accused of trying to join terror groups will have tossed away a very bright future.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: And we're learning more about the five American guys busted and jailed in Pakistan. Police there say that the five tried to hook up with a couple terror groups, wanting to get some jihad training, and aimed to fight American troops in Afghanistan. Those alleged plans kind of hit a roadblock when the terrorists wouldn't even take them.

We just heard from the mosque just outside D.C. where these guys attended services. A youth director says the suspects were fun- loving, career-focused, and didn't talk about politics, extremism or fighting.

Now I want you to listen to what the head of the Muslim American Society Freedom Federation had to say right afterwards, powerful stuff about extremists are using the Internet to seduce and twist young minds.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IMAM MAHDI BRAY, MUSLIM AMERICAN SOCIETY FREEDOM FDN.: Every person should be -- - have some emotions for injustices when they see them, wherever they may occur. But let me also say that we are determined not to let religious extremists exploit the vulnerability of our young people's emotions. Let me repeat that again. We are determined not to let religious extremists exploit the vulnerability of the emotions of our children through slick, seductive and destructive propaganda on the Internet. We are sending a message loud and clear that those days are over where we will not respond in kind on the Internet to vile propaganda that misrepresents the Islamic faith.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And it's believed the suspects got in touch with militants via the Web. We heard the youth director at that Virginia mosque say that the five young men were career-focused. One of them was focused on a career as a dentist. He was actually student at Howard University. Here's CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ramy Zamzam, a dentistry student at Howard University, seen here on his FaceBook page, one of the five young men who went missing from the Washington area and was arrested in Pakistan. On the campus of Howard, he was known as a cheerful, engaging student who happily took part in Muslim community activities.

Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, the former Muslim chaplain at Howard, didn't have close connections with Zamzam, but gives new detail on what fellow students are saying.

(on camera): What did they tell you that Ramy Zamzam was risking by leaving for Pakistan at this time?

IMAM JOHARI ABDUL-MALIK, FORMER HOWARD UNIV. CHAPLAIN: Well, you know, this is the exam season at Howard University, and if Ramy is not here now to take the examinations in his senior year in dental school, it means that he's thrown away this academic year. And if he comes back, not only does he risk this year, but perhaps maybe he's thrown away his hopes of having the life, the American dream that his family sacrificed, for they are people of modest means.

TODD (voice-over): A Muslim student at another nearby college who knew Zamzam tells CNN he was devout, but they didn't talk politics. Imam Abdul-Malik says he's been told the five young men all worshiped at the Islamic Circle of North America in Alexandria, Virginia, and took part in youth activities.

ABDUL-MALIK: Feeding the homeless, we have the youth get-together from different universities and go to downtown Washington and distribute food to the needy. They were engaged in all of those types of activities.

TODD: Authorities say Ramy Zamzam was the one who left behind what's called a "farewell video" that drew the concern of Muslim leaders in the Washington area. Those leaders now pledge a new outreach effort to counter militant recruiting in the U.S. including on the Internet.

IMAM MAHDI BRAY, MUSLIM AMERICAN SOCIETY FREEDOM FDN.: We realize that the old traditional ways of just bringing them into the mosque and sitting them down in a circle and talking -- that's not happening now.

TODD: One terrorism expert says the stakes are high.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, TERRORISM ANALYST: At the moment, counterterrorism agencies in the United States believe that there are a number of Americans still at large in the tribal areas of Pakistan, al Qaeda safe havens, potentially receiving terrorist training over there. That's causing a lot of concern.

TODD (on camera): As for these young men, Imam Abdul-Malik and other Muslim leaders say they do not believe there were any recruiters physically sent to the United States to lure them to Pakistan. Abdul- Malik says he believes they were radicalized and inspired to make that trip via the Internet. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, police nabbing three suspects in a dramatic sting. Not prostitution, not drugs, but toys.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right, this story is so wrong on so many levels, some real lowlives allegedly getting a big head start on Christmas at the expense of our less fortunate kids. Take a look at this. These heartless grinches were busted in a pretty dramatic sting operation, accused of trying to scam tons of toys from the Toys for Tots program. And we thought that taking candy from a baby was pretty bad. Well, cops say they posed as health department officials requesting 166 toys for needy kids. What makes this even worse, Toys for Tots has been running low on toys this year. We hope you donate. A son asking forgiveness for the sins of his father, easier said than done when your dad was the most infamous drug lord the world has ever seen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, it's hard to atone for somebody else's sins, especially when we're talking about an infamous, merciless drug lord who made millions of dollars addiction and murder. The son of the late trafficker Pablo Escobar is actually actively trying to make amends. He talked to our senior Latin American affairs editor, Rafael Romo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN EDITOR (voice-over): The moment will be forever etched in his memory.

SEBASTIAN MARROQUIN, PABLO ESCOBAR'S SON (through translator): My role is to simply remember him as a father.

ROMO: A doting father, giving his son a popsicle. There were also the lavish gifts and expensive toys, the rides in airplanes and luxury cars. And was not until later the little boy learned that his father, Pablo Escobar, was the kingpin of a Colombian drug cartel and one of the most wanted men in the world for multiple assassinations, bombings and other acts of terror.

For the first time in two decades, Sebastian Marroquin is speaking publicly about his father in a documentary entitled "Sins of My Father."

NICOLAS ENTEL, DIRECTOR, "SINS OF MY FATHER": The idea started when I was approached about making a documentary on Pablo Escobar. Somehow, I'm not sure how, I decided that I would only get involved with such a project if we can do something new.

ROMO: While living in Argentina, Marroquin often thought about the sons of Luis Carlos Galan (ph), the Colombian presidential candidate who was assassinated while campaigning in 1989. His death at Escobar's order rattled Colombia and the world. Marroquin decided he couldn't live with himself until he could apologize for this and other atrocities his father had committed.

Marroquin wrote a letter not only to the sons of Galan but also to the son of Rodrigo Lara (ph), the Colombian minister of justice that Escobar ordered killed in 1984.

ENTEL: He showed us an act of humanity. He has to be pardoned for the crimes of his father that he never committed. And also, he wanted to show Colombians that the example of life (ph) of his father wasn't a good example to follow. So we felt that it was transparent, it was genuine, it was sincere, and we felt that it was a gesture, a courageous gesture that we have to respond in some way.

ROMO: Filmmaker Nicolas Entel captured the reconciliation process from the beginning, including this emotional moment between Marroquin and Lara.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RODRIGO LARA, FATHER ASSASSINATED: (SUBTITLES) Let's move forward.

MARROQUIN: (SUBTITLES) Thanks, man!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: This week, Entel sat down in Bogota, Colombia, with Marroquin and the sons of Escobar's most prominent victims for an interview with CNN.

MARROQUIN (through translator): My message is for all the youth who are trying to find in drug trafficking a quick fix for their economic problems and personal ambitions. I hope that my testimony and personal experience show them that it is the wrong way, a way to violence.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Wow. Rafael joining us now live. I mean, this is somebody who changed everything about him, went into hiding. Is he fearful at all about coming forward now?

ROMO: He was afraid for about 20 years of his life. He was in hiding. He didn't tell anybody who he was, who his father was. He was just living modestly in Buenos Aires, Argentina, just being an architect and just trying to live a life as normally as he could.

PHILLIPS: Any interesting tidbits you learned about him and his father and their relationship?

ROMO: They were very close, and he had a fantasy childhood, all kinds of expensive toys, all kinds of gifts. But then, once he learned who his father really was, that was the end of childhood for him. It was very hard, very difficult.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Now speaking out and telling kids, Hey, don't get involved.

ROMO: Exactly.

PHILLIPS: Rafael, thanks so much.

That does it for us. Hope you have a great weekend. Rick Sanchez picks it up from here.