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Reputed Mob Boss Trial Begins; Spy Notes: JFK, Bobby And Marilyn; "High Alert" Level For Midwest; Mandela "Responding To Treatment"; Carnival "Triumph" To Cruise Again; Child Of The Dump To Star Student

Aired June 12, 2013 - 14:30   ET

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

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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: The jury listened closely. The defendant didn't react as the prosecutor accounted crime after gruesome grime, showing pictures of 19 murder victims. And then his own attorney admitted his client was a loan shark, drug dealer and killer who paid corrupt feds for information, but he wasn't an informant. All of this on day one of the trial of James "Whitey" Bulger, the reputed South Boston mob boss who inspired Jack Nicholson's character in the movie, "The Departed."

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I was your age they would say we could become cops or criminals. Today what I'm saying to you is this. When you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?

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BALDWIN: Bulger was arrested in California just a couple years ago after more than 16 years running and hiding with long time girlfriend, Katherine Craig. And judging from today's opening, this trial will read like a script for a Martin Scorse movie. Vivid descriptions of murder by what Prosecutor Brian Kelly calls a quote/unquote, "hands on killer."

Check this out. Kelly says Bulger tried to strangle middleman, John McIntyre, with a rope, but the rope was too thick. Bulger allegedly asked, do you want one in the head? Yes, please, so the prosecutor says, Whitey Bulger shot him.

I'm about to talk to a man who knows Whitey Bulger. You have, in fact, met him on this program before in an interview I will never forget. Roll it.

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JOHN "RED" SHEA, FORMER MOBSTER: It's a dream of me seeing him in the streets of New York, just bumping into him, and grabbing a hold of him and pulling him into a building, and asking him why. Why did he -- why did he, you know, become an informant against basically myself and -- and betrayed the code of silence.

BALDWIN: What do you do in that dream?

SHEA: In that dream, I snap his neck.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I snap his neck. John "Red" Shea joining me now, he is author of the book "Rat Bastards: The Life and Times of South Boston's Most Honorable Irish Mobster." Red, good to see you. Welcome back. I'll never forget you telling me that. I just have to ask you, seeing pictures of Bulger, since his arrest, going in and out of court, do you still dream about snapping his neck?

SHEA: I just had this reoccurring dream 3-1/2 weeks ago. I did because of all the media stuff happening now of him going to trial. It has reoccurred again.

BALDWIN: Explain your anger toward this man.

SHEA: Well, you know, when you give your heart and your total loyalty to somebody in that life because that's what you do. You give a badge of honor in that life and when you're betrayed by your own boss and betrayed by the man that has taught you a lot, it just -- it can be heart wrenching, believe it or not.

BALDWIN: Take me back, Red, to that life many years ago. You were a teenager running cocaine for Bulger. What was your relationship like with him?

SHEA: Well, you know, at times he was such a father figure by speaking to me in a fatherly way, and reading and educating myself because at the time, I had left high school, school at the seventh grade. I went back later on to acquire my GED, but he always told me to read, to self-educate myself. And it would give me knowledge to understand a lot of things in life and how to deal with people and talk to people.

BALDWIN: So then what happened with him? What happened with your relationship?

SHEA: You know, and then there was that side of him, him guiding me through that criminal world, that criminal life and how to evade the police, and how to, you know, not get caught. And then during that time, after all that schooling that he was giving me, and preaching to me as a mentor and a fatherly figure, he found out about an investigation that was being conducted by the DEA.

And it was a drug investigation, and him and his partner, well, he found that out through Washington. It trickled down to him and he used me as his scapegoat to take the -- the hit for him. You know, Brooke, if he had just said to me, I understand this world. And if he had just said to me, because I was so loyal to him, if he had said to me, John, I need you to take this for me. I need you to take this hit for me --

BALDWIN: Would you have? SHEA: I would have. I would have, but to betray me like that? To betray somebody that was so loyal to you in that world? You know, what I did wasn't right, Brooke.

BALDWIN: You served time. We should say that. You served time. You went to jail. When it comes to getting caught, but not only that, I just remember from our conversation last time when we were talking about rats, what happens to rats in Southy, Red?

SHEA: Well, I mean, look at what he did to informants, allegedly, you know? He executed them because they were ratting on him, and here he is, the biggest rat of all, king rat. He says today, which is such hogwash, he says today that he wasn't an informant and that's the most hurting thing that he is experiencing right now. That he is a legitimate informant for over 30 years. This guy's been a fraud for 30 years. As an informant and being able to run and be -- run an organization, crime organization, and be the biggest Irish mob boss in the country ever.

BALDWIN: Let me quote something. This is from someone. A couple of people have written books on Whitey Bulger. This is from Dick Lair, former "Boston Globe" reporter talking about Bulger as this cold- blooded killer, went to great lengths to avoid detection.

Quote, "When they killed someone," this is pre-DNA, "they pulled the teeth out, cut the fingers off, tried to make it so the victims if they were discovered from their graves couldn't be identified. There is just no bottom. It doesn't get much uglier than someone like Whitey Bulger."

Just right now, Red, in Boston, in this community from which so many of you all come from, what in this case, what does justice look like to you?

SHEA: Well, justice for a lot of people in the city, you know, let me just start off saying that I've paid my dues for the wrongs I did. And, you know, I didn't -- I could have sank him and Steven, and other people. But I never did and never will, and, you know, I believe in accepting responsibility for my wrongs of what I did.

BALDWIN: But what about him?

SHEA: That was -- he's not. When I got indicted, when I got arrested, his manipulation towards everyone that he controlled, including me, who was giving him total loyalty, he said to me, it takes a strong person to reach inside themselves and say, I'm here because of me. You know what? He should look -- follow his own preaching today, right now, right at this trial right now, and reach inside himself and say, it was my fault. I did this.

I'm accepting full responsibility and I'm not going to try to hurt anybody else because let me tell you something. He's going to try to hurt anybody he can along the way and he's going to do what he did in the past. As a fraud, he's going to lie. He's going to make up stories to try to take anyone down with him. He's an angry man. This is his last hurrah and he's going to showcase it in federal court, and he's going to try to drag this on as long as he can, Brooke.

BALDWIN: John "Red" Shea, your book is "Rat Bastards." We'll be following the trial as I'm sure you will. Thank you so much for coming back. I so appreciate it.

SHEA: Thank you, Brooke. Good afternoon.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

Coming up next, the president, his brother, and a Hollywood sex symbol, boxes and boxes of private eye files on the secret life of JFK and Marilyn Monroe. Notes on audio tapes from top secret wiretaps, next.

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BALDWIN: Juicy revelations today about the long rumored love triangle involving legendary Hollywood bombshell, a president, and his brother. I'm talking about Marilyn Monroe, and John and Bobby Kennedy. A Hollywood gum shoe who spied on the trio dishes from beyond the grave in the secret files long locked away in a storage unit and recently given to the "Hollywood Reporter." I want you to watch this. This is from CNN's Erin McPike.

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ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are in intimate details of a reported relationship between a president, his brother and a Hollywood sex symbol. Eleven boxes of files Hollywood spy/private eye, Fred Otash sacked away in a storage unit in the San Fernando Valley were reviewed by "The Hollywood Reporter."

MATT BELLONI, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER": This was someone who had wiretaps all over town, was listening to some of the biggest stars and some of these revelations will be published in magazines.

MCPIKE: Matt Belloni is the executive editor for "The Hollywood Reporter."

BELLONI: Otash claims that he had recordings of JFK having sex with Marilyn Monroe. He spoke about this as if it was a common knowledge thing.

MCPIKE: Otash worked for members of the Hollywood elite to dig up on their enemies. A note he left behind before his death reviewed by "The Hollywood Reporter," Otash provides salacious details of the long rumored affairs between Marilyn Monroe and both President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert Kennedy.

He claims he listened to Marilyn Monroe having sex with John F. Kennedy and in the hours before her death, Otash says Monroe had a blow out fight with Bobby Kennedy over their relationship. He claims Monroe complained she was being passed around like a piece of meat. Otash claimed he heard Bobby Kennedy trying to quiet Monroe down with a pillow so the neighbors wouldn't hear her shouting. But the audiotapes his notes are based have since disappeared.

BELLONI: Some of these files that we reviewed contain elements that are not 100 percent verifiable. They are his recollections to his daughter. So what he said and what is actual truth is not necessarily the same.

MCPIKE: Otash was part of the LAPD until 1955 after a falling out with the police chief so he became gum shoe to the stars. Otash disguised the surveillance van as a TV repair truck. The real life gum shoe helped inspired the fictional detective Jack Nicholson portrayed in the film was classic "Chinatown."

JOHN BUNTIN, AUTHOR, "L.A. NOIR": He was someone who naturally moved in the gray zone between the police, the mob, the private investigators who made Hollywood in the 1950s such an interesting place.

MCPIKE: Erin McPike, CNN, Washington.

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BALDWIN: Coming up next, it is the infamous cruise from hell. You remember. Passengers stranded for days without power, without toilets. Now the Carnival "Triumph" making its return and passengers are flocking to it. Would you?

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BALDWIN: Now to some of the hottest stories in a flash. Rapid fire, roll it. First up here, the country's midsection is bracing for what could be the worst day of severe weather. For the first time this year the Storm Prediction Center is using its highest alert level. Translation, possible tornadoes, hail, flooding in parts of Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, Illinois, including Chicago. The same storm system may also be felt all the way to Maryland.

Former South African President Nelson Mandela is reported to be, quote/unquote, "responding better to treatment." South Africa's current, President Jacob Zuma, announced that good news today while speaking to parliament. Family members also visited Mandela today and expressed thanks for the worldwide outpouring of prayers and goodwill.

Carnival "Triumph" is sold out for a weekend cruise starting tomorrow. Right now the ship is docked in Galveston, Texas preparing for the cruise to Mexico. Keep in mind, this is "Triumph's" first voyage since it was towed back to port, remember, back in February with passengers who had been stranded on board for days.

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ANN BARLOW, STRANDED ON CARNIVAL "TRIUMPH" IN FEBRUARY (via telephone): The smells are -- I can't even describe them. There's sewage, raw sewage, pretty bad. You walk in the hallway. You have to cover your face. We don't have any masks for breathing.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: We remember hearing those stories, don't we? Apparently February's ordeal, though, did not sink other people's interest in this ship. Carnival says "Triumph's" first two cruises are sold out.

Coming up next, an orphan at 9 years of age forced to scavenge through a garbage dump to make money until she met someone who offered her an escape. Don't miss this story.

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BALDWIN: The CNN film "Girl Rising" challenged writers from all around the world to tell the stories of girls trying to get an education. In Cambodia, for example, many, many girls drop out of school early to work or to care for family. But today a writer and activist introduces us to a girl orphaned at 9 years of age who scavenged in a garbage dump just to make some money.

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LOUNG UNG, WRITER/ACTIVIST: I think Westerners know of Cambodia primarily through the movie "The Killing Fields." People don't understand this is 30 years later. We have really resilient, strong people that if given an opportunity will succeed. This is a new Cambodia.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, everybody. My name is Sokha.

UNG: Hi. I'm Luong Ung. I'm the writer of Sokha's story. Sokha, your story for me is a narrative of resiliency or toughness. If you're poor and the family needs you to work in the garbage dumps, you don't get to go to school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have no choice. I had to decide to work the dump. It is a bad place.

UNG: Sokha has been given an opportunity to go to school. For a lot of girls in Cambodia, the one way we can have a better future is through studies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My dream is to be a teacher and also run a school by myself to help other girls.

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BALDWIN: CNN film "Girl Rising" premieres this Sunday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. As we go to break, I just want to show you live pictures. As we promised, top of the hour, we are watching this Senate Appropriations hearing under way. Specifically you're looking at the director of National Security Agency, in which has really been in the midst of this mega, mega story we've been following.

As it has been leaked that they have been surveilling Americans, specifically Verizon phone calls in the U.S. and surveilling internet among foreigners overseas, we knew this would come up in this hearing. We have just heard, according to Dana Bash who's watching this very, very closely, that this General Alexander, the head of the NSA, has said that the phone surveillance specifically stopped dozens of terrorist attacks. We're going to get more from Capitol Hill on this very important hearing, coming up.

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