Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Not Guilty Verdict in 'Goodfellas' Trial; Suicide Bombings in Beirut. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired November 12, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:28]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go. We continue on, top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

More breaking news, new information out of Beirut, Lebanon, and this apparent claim of responsibility from the suicide bombings specifically from ISIS. Here's what we know at this moment. At least 41 people are dead and more than 200 injured after a pair of suicide bombings in a part of Beirut here. This was right around 6:00 their time, so rush hour, residential area.

You see just glass, people wounded, pieces of clothing, pieces of storefronts littered throughout the streets here. The blasts rocked one of the largest and most well-known Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.

The first carried out on an explosive-laden motorcycle at a Shiite gathering, the second minutes later as crowds gathered around that initial explosion.

And just moments ago, in an apparent statement circulated online by ISIS supporters, the terror group has claimed responsibility for the blast, but let me be clear. Thus far, CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of the statement that is making its way around online.

I have Michael Weiss with me here in New York, CNN contributor and co- author of "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror," and CNN military analyst Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona is also standing by. And we will bring her in from the scene, Tamara Qiblawi, a reporter there at the scene in Beirut.

So, Michael, let me just turn to you first.

Based upon what we know, the time of day, maximum impact, rush hour, this part of Beirut near this Palestinian refugee camp, putting all of those pieces together, what does it appear like to you?

MICHAEL WEISS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. It's very clear they were targeting the Shia.

And so the speculation now is that this is essentially blowback for Hezbollah's deployment in Syria, where they have been helping the Assad regime and also backed by the Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran. This isn't the first time this has happened. In January, an Iranian cultural center in Beirut was blown up. Or I should say an explosion occurred outside of it, killing several people.

But it was true that these suicide attacks seemed to be trickling off in Lebanon. This is the problem. The Syria conflict, it is not containable. It bleeds out. If ISIS is responsible for this, then it represents a sort of very dire uptick in that level of hemorrhaging out beyond national borders.

The Lebanese have been fearful that ISIS was coming to start waging violence here and they would do it in a very sectarian manner. The stuff they're putting out on social media, and as you point out, this unconfirmed, but it's tentative, but let's just get it on the record.

BALDWIN: Right.

WEISS: They claim the identities, there were actually three suicide bombers. The third guy was stopped. Two of the bombers, they claim, were Palestinians and the third one was Lebanese.

It's also important to keep in mind, ISIS' predecessor al Qaeda in Iraq used to recruit in Palestinian refugee camps. Abu Musab al Zarqawi and his lieutenants used to go into Lebanon all the time and try to turn people into jihadis, yes.

(CROSSTALK)

WEISS: So the sectarian component, They are looking to exploit here, turning Sunni vs. Shia. And of course as ever, the Palestinians pay the worst price because they are the most easy to manipulate, given that they are a stateless people.

BALDWIN: I want to follow up with you in a second, just given also what's at play with regard to the plane, the Russian plane in Sinai Peninsula and of course what we have been reporting in Sinjar in Iraq.

But, Colonel Francona, to you. Your read on this as well.

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes. I go along with Michael.

I think this was aimed at the Shia. I think the fact that it was done right outside of a Palestinian refugee camp is more coincidental. I think that Hezbollah was the target. This area of southern Beirut is a stronghold of Hezbollah, probably the greatest concentration of Hezbollah supporters outside of the Bekaa Valley.

That makes perfect sense. And why would ISIS go after Hezbollah? Hezbollah has taken a real toll not only on ISIS, but on the anti- regime rebels in Syria. If it wasn't for Hezbollah in Iran, the Syrian government probably would have fell in 2012.

So there's a real desire (AUDIO GAP) after Hezbollah and marginalize them and get them out of the fight. If they can create some sort of significant emotional event inside Lebanon, then the Lebanese -- the Hezbollah families will say, why are we involved in the Syrian civil war?

I think Michael's read is right on.

BALDWIN: Colonel, thank you. Stay with me.

Also at play here, we were reporting at the top of last hour we know what's happening with the Peshmerga fighters trying to grab hold of this strategic stretch of highway right around Sinjar, where we saw ISIS come in months ago in between Mosul and Raqqa, right? That's what's happening there.

[15:05:13]

And then, number two, we have been reporting on the purported ISIS bomb on board that Russian airliner, and so all of this happening and then would this be potentially...

WEISS: It is usually -- it is characteristic of ISIS, whenever they sustain battlefield losses in the so-called call caliphate, that is Syria and Iraq, they like to change the subject.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: That quickly?

WEISS: Yes. Well, they plan these operations or weeks or months in advance, but they can always just sort of push the -- pull the trigger or push the button and say now is the time to do it.

It stands to reason that this is indeed what they are trying to do. The Sharm el-Sheikh bombing, they have claimed credit for, as they are being squeezed in Northern Syria. Now you have essentially this pincer move waged by the Kurds, backed by, I'm sure, U.S. and U.K. special forces on the ground, where, as you point out, essentially, ISIS's Route 66, if you like, between Syria and Iraq.

If they cut that off, then the traffic going back and forth between the two countries and their two main provinces in Northern Syria and Northern Iraq, it's not that they are completely -- the border is completely sort of resolidified, but it's going to interdict their traffic in an incredible way.

This is a perfect way to change the focus and change international attention. Look over here, don't look over here, because for them it's all about the propaganda and morale of their own jihadis. They want to continue recruitment efforts. And it's harder to do when they look like they are losing.

BALDWIN: Let's get some color on the ground.

I have now Tamara Qiblawi. She's a reporter there in this part of Beirut on the ground there.

Tamara, it tell me your time, what is it, just past around 9:00 now your time? Tell me what the scene looks like.

TAMARA QIBLAWI, REPORTER: Well, police have now cordoned off the area.

So, it's now quite empty. But (INAUDIBLE) women crying, lots of reports of injured, lots of (INAUDIBLE) stories that we're hearing. We heard one story about a baby who died in the arms of his mother at the moment of the bomb's blast, and another of a young man who (INAUDIBLE) second suicide bomber who (INAUDIBLE). This was according to eyewitnesses.

Yes, it's just a scene of horror.

BALDWIN: And was this a direct -- does it a appear to be a direct hit on this Palestinian refugee camp or was the camp nearby, so others in this area were hurt or killed as well?

QIBLAWI: No, no, the camp is nearby. The camp is nearby. It's a popular of Sunni, Shia and Palestinian neighborhoods that is on the outskirts of this major refugee -- Palestinian refugee camp in Southern Beirut.

BALDWIN: Again, the numbers we have, 41 people killed, 180 or so wounded.

We see the blood on the streets. We see the shattered glass. And, again, Tamara, this was rush hour in -- was it a fairly residential neighborhood?

QIBLAWI: Yes.

BALDWIN: OK.

(CROSSTALK)

QIBLAWI: It's a residential, popular, working-class neighborhood.

BALDWIN: Tamara Qiblawi, thank you all so much.

QIBLAWI: And it was rush hour.

BALDWIN: And it was rush hour, so to maximize the blast, successful in that way, I suppose. Thank you so much to Michael and to Francona and also to Tamara as well.

The breaking news in Beirut happening on a critical day in the fight against ISIS in Iraq, as we were just discussing here with Michael, a major battle to reclaim a key Iraqi city, cut off ISIS supply lines. Our senior correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, is live on the front lines to explore what's happening there next.

Also breaking right now, a verdict in the so-called "Goodfellas" heist trial stemming from the infamous robbery of the Lufthansa cargo building at JFK Airport in New York back in 1978. The robbery retold in that film "Goodfellas" -- we have the verdict when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:13:21] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BALDWIN: More breaking news this afternoon. This is coming out of New York here.

This federal jury has just reached a verdict in the "Goodfellas" trial of the accused gangster Vincent Asaro. The man, 80 years of age, has been on trial for a string of charges including the famed 1978 Lufthansa heist at JFK Airport that inspired the mobster movie more than a decade later.

Boris Sanchez is on this for us.

Boris, what's the verdict?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, he's been found not guilty on three charges of racketeering and two counts of extortion, some of the things you just mentioned. The Lufthansa heist and two potential counts of murder are all sub-parts of that extortion charge.

As you mentioned, he's 80 years old. This is a case that the government has been building for many years. The defense had argued that a lot of the witnesses that the prosecution put up were liars, these were ex-mobsters that had allegedly worked with Asaro for some time. And some of them even actually admitted to lying to the FBI previously.

Obviously, the jury felt that perhaps they weren't the most reliable sources for information. Also, there were extensive wiretaps on Asaro for quite some time. However, there wasn't a clear indication on the wiretaps anything that explicitly linked them to the crimes.

Many of them were kind of generic sentences that the prosecution used to allude to the fact that he may have been involved, but obviously the jury felt that it wasn't enough to prove that had he was guilty.

[15:15:00]

We can tell you that, as far as the -- his comportment in court goes, he was very feisty. At one point, he kind of laughed at some of the testimony against him, asking, what is this, Watergate? And he also had to meet with the judge and his attorney because he felt that his attorney wasn't cross-examining some of the prosecution's witnesses strongly enough.

I guess the strategy paid off for him. He's been found not guilty and he won't face any jail time.

BALDWIN: All right, there you go. Boris Sanchez, thank you so much with the verdict.

Let's get back to ISIS. This is a key conversation we were just alluding to a moment ago here in Iraq. We have just learned that U.S. troops are right now on the ground calling positions from the field in a major battle in the war on ISIS. U.S. coalition warplanes dropping bombs, helping Kurdish forces as they battle to retake the key Iraqi city of Sinjar, a strategic town. This is near the Syrian border.

Take a look at the map and you can see this is the red area we're referring to, Sinjar Mountain, recapturing that. That would effectively cut off the supply line between the ISIS stronghold of Mosul and the de facto ISIS capital in Syria that is Raqqa.

But just as important as dividing the caliphate is saving the thousands of religious minorities who live there. And it was Sinjar, you remember this. This is where CNN witnessed the desperate and terrified Yazidi people on the verge of slaughter.

They were trapped, their children, these families trapped on this mountaintop scrambling on to this military chopper in order to escape the incoming terrorists and likely death or a life sold into sex slavery.

Our senior international correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, is near the front lines of this battle and he joins me now.

Nick, talk to me a little bit about the resistance the Peshmerga are facing and about this strategic piece of highway.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What's important today is the measure of success the Peshmerga appear to have had.

We were with them as they moved round to the west of the city of Sinjar. That sits below the mountain, which they have held now for a number of weeks, but moving around to the west, they were aiming to hit that main route known as Route 47 that runs between, as you mentioned, Raqqa and Mosul.

It took a while to get through some of the villages, a lot of heavy coalition airpower being used in the night before, lighting up the dark night sky, but also hammering further to the west of Sinjar what must have been ISIS positions.

They kept using car bombs driven by suicide bombers to try and weaken the Peshmerga. The Peshmerga seemed to have had better weaponry, missiles they could use to stop those cars in their tracks and of course coalition airpower on their side. They seemed, we saw, to hit that road well, hold it and then move in towards the city center itself, but ISIS still inside that city center. We don't know how many.

Suggestion there could be as many as 600. They are increasingly surrounded by the Peshmerga, but the optimism we heard first thing in the morning, we can do this in hours, days, that melted away. The Peshmerga constantly finding booby traps, roadside bombs in their path. That slowed them down.

They hope to finish this in the days ahead. They have a lot of U.S. assistance in the skies and, as you mentioned, on the ground too helping the planes be accurate, but if it turns into a fight for a dense urban center, that could be very nasty, Brooke. BALDWIN: And again, just quickly, you mentioned this a second ago.

We were talking about the U.S. coalition warplanes, their role in all of this?

WALSH: Is simply to whenever they see an ISIS position or vehicle to hit it with a blast.

That means some roads, they can simply deny the ability to ISIS to move down it. That's important because often the Peshmerga can be light in terms of the amount of weaponry they bring with them. And that gives them extra defenses.

But the broader issue here too is reversing that symbolic moment you mentioned earlier about Sinjar with the Yazidis living in it falling to ISIS. There are very few civilians many think inside the city now. It's a hard question to answer. But it's really about returning that town to the Yazidis who live in the mountain now in freezing cold temps. Many of them simply want to go back to their old lives -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much. Excellent reporting for us in Iraq.

Still ahead on CNN, a Utah judge orders a 1-year-old child out of a foster home where she's lived for months and months. Why? Because her foster parents are gay. Details on this controversial case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:23:45]

BALDWIN: All right, you heard about this? I know you have heard of wrongful death lawsuits, but how about wrongful births?

This is what is being claimed in this lawsuit against Qualitest Pharmaceuticals for mislabeling its birth control pills. More than 100 women in close to 30 states say they followed the package directions, but because of mislabeling, the women were not protected from pregnancy.

One attorney talked "The Atlantic" in 2012 a year after the pills were recalled. Quoting the report here in part: "He described one client in the military who will have to give up her baby for adoption because she was getting ready to be deployed. He noted as well that there are 17-year-olds who became pregnant, other women had to drop out of law school and nursing school."

This is obviously a huge, huge deal.

So with me now is Dr. Devi...

DR. DEVI NAMPIAPARAMPIL, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, NYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Nampiaparampil.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Associate professor -- I promise I will get it eventually -- at NYU School of Medicine.

And attorney Janet Johnson.

Ladies, thank you so much for being with me.

Dr. Devi, first to you. We hit on it quickly, but how exactly did they screw this up so badly?

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Well, birth control pills are different than regular pills. You don't just get them in a bottle, and take each one each day. You actually have to follow a specific order.

[15:25:02]

So, typically, you take 21 days of active pills, which are hormones that interfere with your cycle in a way that the egg never gets released from the ovary. Then you give your body a break and take seven pills that really have no active in hormones in them. And that's when you usually menstruate, or get your period. And then you kind of keep repeating that cycle and by sticking to that routine, you prevent an egg from ever being released from the ovary.

If the egg never escapes, then the sperm can never get to it. And the's how you prevent the pregnancy.

BALDWIN: In this case, they screwed up because they sort of flip- flopped the packaging. And they were taking the placebos when they should have been taking the real pills.

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Exactly. Whenever there's any confusion in terms of that or same thing like if someone skips a pill, for example, then the body has a chance to get back to its normal hormonal cycle. If you get a surge of your regular hormones, then sometimes that can cause ovulation and cause that egg to be released.

BALDWIN: We got that part. All right. We all understand more or less how birth controls are supposed to work.

Janet, to you. This is a massive screw-up, yes. Here's the thing. But to seek millions of dollars in damages and in some cases here, they want the cost of raising a child as a result of these unplanned pregnancies.

Here's little a fun fact and I bet a lot of parents will say, Brooke, it costs me a lot more, but the last time CNN checked in 2013, it cost $245,000 to raise a kid until they are 18. Are they really going to get that?

JANET JOHNSON, ATTORNEY: No, in a word. They are not. There are two things that will be hurdles for this lawsuit.

One is they have to prove that it was that defect that caused these pregnancies. And the doctor can attest to the fact that the birth bill control is only 98 to 99 percent effective if used correctly.

They'd have to show they didn't make a mistake in user error, that they got one of the defective packages and that's going to be hard to tell. Most women throw out the packaging after they take the pills. The other issue is a judge isn't going to say and a jury as well that there was no joy in raising that child, that the child was just pure damages.

Judges don't want to say babies are damages. So what they will probably get is prenatal care, the cost of delivery, maybe some pain and suffering if there was an abortion, believe it or not, just the cost of the abortion, but they are not going to get all that money.

BALDWIN: I'm listening to you, but would the FDA, the voluntary recall, would that help their cases at all?

JOHNSON: That's a great point. Brooke, it actually doesn't because something that a company does to remedy a situation, it is not admissible in court.

So in a jury trial, they couldn't say, look, they fixed the situation so we know that they were guilty of something. What the country is saying is they only know of one case -- and we're talking about over 100 cases -- they only can identify one case where that happened. So there was a mess-up, but they are not admitting liability. I think that is still going to be a challenge.

BALDWIN: Sitting here talking to Dr. Devi. To your point, Janet, how the heck would they be able to prove that because of this specific thing and these pills was the result of my unplanned pregnancy? That's impossible.

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: I agree, especially because, as Janet pointed out, that a that a lot of women forget to take these pills every day. So that efficacy actually drops down to the 80 percent level usually. And so that's an issue.

But one thing just in their favor, I think it's hard to actually find just one package that's actually mislabeled. A lot of places what they will do is they will work with a factory or contract with a factory to package these pills. Right?

So if one had an actual mislabeling and they can prove that, then probably the rest of the pills that were in that batch maybe had an issue as well.

BALDWIN: Can I stay with you?

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Sure.

BALDWIN: Because I'm just channeling the women who are watching and thinking, oh, my gosh, that's even a thing that somebody could mislabel these pills? Is there anything like to the naked eye when you get your birth control pills that you can look at and say, OK, this is not right?

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: To some degree, if the colors don't match.

You should see, if this is the type of pill that you're actually working with, right, so the active pills are all the same color and the placebo bills are a different color.

BALDWIN: There you go.

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: You can look at that.

And if it changes month to month, then that's an issue. Right? But as long as you're taking 21 pills of the active pills and then go to the regular placebos, you should be OK. But hearing cases like this makes you wonder. These aren't things you normally think about. Right? It makes you wonder about what kind of medications you're actually getting.

BALDWIN: It does, indeed.

Dr. Devi, thank you so much. Janet Johnson, thank you. Ladies, I appreciate it. What a story.

Want to take you back, more on our breaking news, ISIS supporters apparently claiming responsibility for these suicide bombings in Beirut, Lebanon, dozens killed, hundreds injured. We will take a closer look at the possible motive, targets here -- more on our breaking news after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)