Return to Transcripts main page

Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Brothers of Ariel Castro Speak Out; Justice Department Under Fire

Aired May 13, 2013 - 22:00   ET

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

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone.

Breaking news tonight, outrage at the Obama administration's Justice Department. Today, we learned they had secretly collected telephone records of reporters and editors at the Associated Press, two months' worth of records. The AP calls it an unprecedented intrusion. The question is, what was the government looking for and can they do that? What about the First Amendment? This on top of the revelation that the IRS has been targeting conservative groups. We will cover both stories tonight.

Also, a gunman opened fire at a Mother's Day parade, wounding 19 people, three of them critically., the shootings caught on tape, the gunman or the gunmen still at large. Just ahead, we will talk to an eyewitness who believes a gunman was standing right next to him during that parade.

We begin, though, in West Cleveland, where exactly one week ago tonight, a nightmare ended for three missing women. And tonight, we have video showing part of the dramatic rescue. The cell phone video shows police rushing into the house at 2207 Seymour Avenue just minutes after Amanda Berry was freed by neighbors who heard her screams.

Police found two other missing women, as you know, Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus. You can see Amanda Berry is in the street briefly holding her 6-year-old daughter, born during Berry's captivity.

Now, over the weekend, the women issued a statement through their lawyer asking for privacy so they can continue to heal and reconnect with their families. Ariel Castro, their accused kidnapper, is being held on an $8 million bond.

Today, police were back at his house. Investigators from the medical examiner's office went inside again. Tonight, Castro's brothers are speaking out in an exclusive interview with CNN. They were arrested last week, as you know, and then cleared. Tonight, they are in hiding, they say, for their own safety. You will hear from, but first a look, exclusive look inside Castro's backyard.

Dozens of photographs obtained by 360 show what he was allegedly trying to hide from the outside world.

Randi Kaye joins me now from Cleveland. RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Anderson, these photos were taken over the weekend by a neighbor who asked not to be identified.

Now, in all, more than 70 photos are there. We have had a look at all of them, but let me show you some of the most interesting ones that we think there are. First of all, take a look at this wide shot. This is a wide shot of the backyard, Ariel Castro's home. It's a mess. You can see, it really looks like a junkyard.

You can see there's a car off to the right that maybe a child would ride in. Also, to the left, you can see a kids' basketball net there. And that's the garage of course in the distance, but quite a mess.

This next photo is really telling. There were spools and spools of barbed wire all over the yard, thick rolls of it like you see in these photos. We know, of course, the three women were held for years against their will, so this may have been used to keep his captives inside in case they made a run for it, perhaps, and very likely to keep anyone on the outside from trying to get in.

That stuff as you know can do some real damage to someone. Also, we want to show you this next picture of a chain. Now, it's around a tree. You can see it there. And Castro of course did have puppies, but our guy, who took these photos, says that hundreds of chains, not just a couple of little yard chairs, were found, but hundreds of very thick, heavy chains were there in the yard.

And, remember, the police report said that he had kept the girls chained up in the basement originally, then chained them up elsewhere in the home. Also, you can see in this one photo there's a pulley there in the grass, so he did have some type of pulley system, Anderson, but it's unclear as to why.

COOPER: And we know there was a 6-year-old girl living there, Amanda Berry's child, which we know is also Ariel Castro's child. Any evidence of the little girl in the backyard?

KAYE: It seems so, at least.

If you look we found some bicycles in the backyards in the photos. There are a couple of red bikes that are leaning against the house. Clearly, these are bicycles that children would use. Castro did have grandkids as we know, so these bikes may belong to them.

But I want you to look at this other bike that certainly caught our attention. It's a Barbie bike. It's pink. And as you can see there it's clearly made for a little girl. We know of course, as you said, the daughter Amanda Berry had with Ariel Castro lived in that house, so maybe it was her for to use.

We don't know for sure, but certainly this is a picture of innocence there in the backyard behind what many are calling a house of horrors. So, it's incredibly creepy to see it there. And, also, one other thing, speaking of creepy. Look at this photo. There is a mirror hanging up at Castro's back door which is now boarded up. Police have boarded that up.

But this is critical because it also -- it allowed him to stand at his back door and see whoever was coming up his driveway, even though the driveway was completely out of view for him. Possibly, this was used to prevent any surprise visitors. In fact, one neighbor told the guy who actually took this photo that when he would go visit Castro at his home before he could even get halfway up the driveway, Castro would pop out his front doors if he was expecting him or knew he was coming.

And clearly now we know why. Also, we want to show you the back of the house. This photo shows how far Ariel Castro went to shield himself and his victims from others.

You can take a look at the gray wood that is in the windows. The guy who took these photos says that Castro removed his windows and actually we saw them scattered them in the yard in some other photos.

He then replaced them with this wood paneling all over the house. This is from the backyard, as I said. Nobody then could see what or who was in that house. And finally, another way to shield himself, take a look at this last photo. That's the garage, but to the left you can see this blue tarp. Apparently, Ariel Castro had tarped over the whole backyard.

He used blue tarp and green tarp and some gray tarp according to our photographer. But tons of piping was also found in the yard and some other rolls of tarp on the ground. Certainly it wasn't in short supply. Maybe he was planning to do more tarp work, but he certainly wanted to make sure nobody could see what was going on in the yard or anywhere around that house, Anderson.

COOPER: Did the guy who took these photos say why he took them?

KAYE: Well, he said that he wants people to know what's there and what happened there.

He said it's horrible. He's a neighbor in this community. He can't believe that this all happened in his neighborhood, and he can't believe that nobody knew it. And he certainly doesn't want it to happen again.

COOPER: Randi, thanks.

What allegedly happened inside 2207 Seymour Avenue has understandably stunned neighbors, rocked the community, as Randi said.

I spoke to Cleveland Councilman Brian Cummins about this earlier tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Councilman, it's good to have you on again.

You were actually given access to Castro's backyard. What struck you about it? BRIAN CUMMINS, CLEVELAND CITY COUNCIL: Well, you know, Anderson, I went in through the backyard really working to confirm what was going on with the fencing that they basically put up for the perimeter to protect the property for evidence.

So, to be honest, I noticed debris probably similar to what was in the pictures, obviously, but I frankly didn't really focus on that. My focus was to just inspect and see what was doing -- going on relative to the fencing. So I'm sorry, I don't really have much to comment about it, other than to say that if these were taken after the women were saved, that it's quite possible that what you're seeing in those photos is material that was taken out of the house.

COOPER: Right.

CUMMINS: And, frankly, it's a little disturbing. It's frankly why the fence is up to protect that evidence. And that's all the comment I really could have.

COOPER: What is the latest that you have heard on the investigation? Because we have talked to you over the last week or so, and you have had a lot of insights about the investigation. Are you pleased with the way it's going?

CUMMINS: I think so.

I think in some ways, we had a lot of speculation in midweek and, you know, obviously the police report with the charges made, that police report is public record. I know the mayor asked for a cease and desist and we understand why. We want to try to give the survivors their privacy. But I think, you know, like this gentleman that took the pictures, it was probably wrong for him to do that. I can sympathize in people wanting to know what occurred, but I do -- all I know today is -- really just doing my job in the street, dealing with neighbors, et cetera, I do know that the prosecutors were there today and some other agencies.

So I think what you're seeing is, you know, a perimeter fence and then agencies still gaining access relative to questions pertaining to the case itself. And that's pretty much what I have heard today.

COOPER: You're spearheading a fund-raising effort for the four victims in this case. Tell us more about this, because this is important.

CUMMINS: Well, the primary importance is that, on Sunday, the world received news from legal representatives of the survivors, and we were thrilled because at the end of that news conference, they mentioned the Cleveland Courage Fund that we created on Wednesday, just two days after they were freed.

They have thanked us for that and they have pointed out that it is -- they encourage people to give to the Cleveland Courage Fund, and we are in communications with the attorneys that represent the survivors and we will have more news shortly, in the next few days, but -- so we're very pleased that we're in communication with the attorneys.

The women's safety, mental, physical well-being, we know as the mayor called for to stop the speculation, and we are having the utmost respect for their privacy in what they're doing. So we are only working with their legal representatives. They know we're all working on behalf of those survivors. We're really here to serve them in the fund that we establish and we're looking forward to figuring out with their attorneys and their legal representatives the utilization of those funds.

COOPER: Right.

We're going to have the information linked on our Web site as well. Councilman, I appreciate your time tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Coming up later this hour, CNN's exclusive interview with Ariel Castro's brothers, who are in hiding tonight, they say for their own safety.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What is your brother to you now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Monster, hateful. I hope he rots in that jail. I don't even want them to take his life like that. I want him to suffer in that jail to the last extent. I don't care if they even feed him, what he has done to my life and my family's.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel the same way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Martin Savidge will join us with his exclusive interview ahead.

Let you know what you think. You can follow me on Twitter @AndersonCooper. I'm tweeting throughout the hour.

Next up, our breaking news. The Associated Press is reporting the Justice Department secretly collected the phone records of some of its reporters and editors. The AP just going public with what it calls a massive and unprecedented intrusion. What could be behind this and is this legal? We will take a closer look.

Also ahead, the verdict in the trial of a Philadelphia abortion doctor accused of first-degree murder.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Or breaking news tonight, the Associated Press says the Department of Justice secretly collected two months of phone records of several of its reporters and editors. It says the records included calls from several AP Bureaus and even personal lines of several staffers. In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, the AP's president calls the subpoenas a massive and unprecedented intrusion into its reporting. The question is what is the government looking for and can they do this? Did this violate the First Amendment right to freedom of the press?

Want to bring in our chief congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, also our senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin. There's this and also the IRS targeting of conservative groups that we want to talk about.

Dana, this is extraordinary action by the government. Let's talk about the Department of Justice first. Members of Congress already weighing in. What's the reaction been?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, just a few minutes ago, the House speaker released a really blistering statement saying the First Amendment is first for a reason. If the Obama administration is going after reporters' phone records, they better have a damned good explanation.

It doesn't get more terse than that. As you can see, Republicans are unhappy. Democrats are not happy as well from the most liberal to the most conservative. What the president of the Associated Press is saying, that over a two-month period, 20 phone lines in New York, Connecticut, Washington, even the press room here in the Capitol, in the House of Representatives, they seized records from all of those areas.

And it was done without telling the AP journalists beforehand. Apparently, some had their home phones and cell phone records taken, seized by the Justice Department. Now, what the AP's president is saying is that what they took provides what he called a road map to the AP's news gathering operations, a road map and information that the government simply has absolutely no business having.

Now, you might, of course, be wondering, well, what's the Justice Department's explanation? All they are saying is that they only did this because they exhausted every reasonable effort to obtain this information through alternative means.

As for the White House just a few minutes ago, they, too, issued a statement saying that they don't know anything about this, that this is being done independently at the Department of Justice and it's an ongoing criminal investigation.

But back to sort of a reaction here on Capitol Hill, the Democratic judiciary chairman, Anderson, Patrick Leahy, says that in this kind of case, it is the burden of the Justice Department to prove that they really need to take this extreme measure with the press, and he said that he -- on the face of it, he's concerned that the government may not have met that burden. And over in the House, as you heard from the speaker and others, they're adding this to a long list of investigations.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Jeff, aren't there very strict rules on how they're supposed to do this? Like, first of all, Eric Holder, the head of the Justice Department, has to know about it and approve it. Do we know if that happened?

And, also, don't they have to be very limited in what they're going for? It seems like a pretty broad seizing of records.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, let's just put this in perspective for starters.

This administration has been incredibly aggressive in pursuing leaks in general. They have criminally prosecuted...

COOPER: More than all other administrations combined.

TOOBIN: More than other administrations combined.

Now, a lot of people think the First Amendment protects journalists from having to disclose this -- sorts of information. Not true. Especially under federal law, there is no privilege to protect this kind of information. However, administrations throughout the past decade, since the Nixon administration, have exercised restraint. They have said, look, we will do whatever we can to avoid having to subpoena journalists.

I have never heard of a subpoena this broad. It's legal, as far as I can tell. The administration is not violating the First Amendment. But they are certainly doing more than has ever been done before in pursuing the private information of journalists. And we will see if there's any political check on them, because there doesn't appear to be any legal check on what they're doing.

COOPER: Is it -- Jeff, does it pass the smell test that the Obama White House itself would not be informed about this, just from a potential P.R. standpoint?

TOOBIN: It certainly actually does pass the smell test that the White House would not be involved. Attorney General Holder had to know. There is no question that a decision like this goes all the way to the attorney general.

Now, just to put this in a little perspective, the AP has suggested that this is part of an investigation of a leak regarding a possible terrorist attack in Yemen. And the administration will surely say, look, you know, it's all well and good that journalists want to protect their sources, but this is a matter of life and death. If this stuff gets leaked, people will die, so we are willing to take that extreme step.

I think that's the kind of balance you're going to see on this story.

COOPER: Well, we will see what the Department of Justice says about it. Now, Dana, the other controversy which is huge in Washington is the news the IRS intentionally red-flagged conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. They would look for keywords like Tea Party or patriot to actually target applications which were then delayed or returned.

I mean, the House Ways and Means Committee, I know they are going to hold a -- they are going to hold hearings on this on Friday. Today, President Obama weighed in. I want to play for our viewers, what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If in fact IRS personnel engaged in the kind of practices that have been reported on and were intentionally targeting conservative groups, then that's outrageous and there's no place for it.

And they have to be held fully accountable, because the IRS as an independent agency requires absolute integrity and people have to have confidence that they're applying in a nonpartisan way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Is it known, Dana, at this point who came up with this ludicrous idea for the IRS to actually go after groups based on their politics?

BASH: Who came up with it? No, not yet, but we probably will find out more about that later this week when the IRS actually unveils its inspector general report.

But, look, the IRS has two big problems here. Number one, of course, is just the concept of targeting groups when they're looking into the tax-exempt status, or any status, frankly, based on their political beliefs. That is simply a no-no and it's something that the IRS has admitted to. They deny that it was for political reasons, but they admit that it was inappropriate to do.

But the second big problem that the IRS has is Congress itself. The Congress feels duped and misled because Congress has been looking into this for a couple years, since 2010, when they first actually started this at the IRS, and repeatedly were not told that this was actually going on, even when we now know that a senior IRS official actually was informed almost two years ago, Anderson, and denied and declined to tell the House of Representatives what she knew.

COOPER: So a senior IRS official knew about this two years ago. Meanwhile, the IRS is testifying that there's no way they're targeting, they're doing exactly what a senior official knew they were doing.

BASH: What the senior official says is that they were trying to get information on Tea Party groups because the law is that these groups should not get tax-exempt status if they are primarily -- that they exist for political reasons. So that is something that they were actually encouraged to do by some members of Congress, especially Democrats, not just Tea Party, but other groups.

What they are denying is that they were actually doing this for political reasons, going after them because they are Tea Party groups. But it is very, very hard for them to explain this.

COOPER: Yes.

Jeff Toobin, what do you think?

TOOBIN: Well, I think we need to take a deep breath on this one. You know, the idea that -- everybody is throwing around a lot of accusations here. There are a lot of career people in the IRS who I think try to do a good job.

And this is about politics. The decision that the IRS had to make was, were these groups primarily political, attempting to elect candidates, or were they educational? You have to look at politics to answer that question. So I think it's important to reserve judgment.

This is all based on a report that has not even been made public yet. So let's take a deep breath and see what -- what the facts are and then we can be totally outraged.

COOPER: But if they weren't -- if the only groups they are looking at are groups with the words Tea Party or patriot and not progressive or liberal, that certainly would raise a lot of questions.

TOOBIN: It would, but we need to know, how many -- were there any groups there with progressive or liberal in their titles? Were they all Tea Party groups?

I just think the facts matter here, and it's important to know what they are before we condemn people.

COOPER: Well, we will have hearings this week. We will see. Jeff Toobin, Dana Bash, thanks.

Up next: an abortion doctor found guilty of murder, killing babies that were born alive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWS BREAK)

COOPER: Up next: CNN's exclusive interview with kidnapping suspect Ariel Castro's two brothers, who say their brother is a monster who should rot in jail and that they had no idea what was allegedly going on in his house for all those years.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Another CNN exclusive. Tonight, Ariel Castro's brothers, Pedro and Onil Castro are speaking out, calling him a monster and saying, "I hope he rots in that jail."

Both men were arrested last Monday along with their brother. Their mug shots were shown repeatedly on television and newspapers. Days later they were cleared by police. Authorities say the brothers had no connection to the crimes Ariel Castro is accused of committing.

That hasn't stopped the death threats. A lot of people find it hard to believe that Castro's own family never suspected anything was wrong over all those years. Tonight, Pedro and Onil Castro are hiding in an undisclosed location. Here's their exclusive interview with CNN's Martin Savidge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You all went to your mom's for dinner.

ONIL CASTRO, BROTHER OF ARIEL CASTRO: Yes. We went to Mom's for dinner.

SAVIDGE: The first sign of trouble for you when you were riding back in the car with Ariel. The first indication of a problem was what?

O. CASTRO: When he -- when he pulled in McDonald's, around the corner, not very far from Mommy's house. He pulled in McDonald's, and I'm wondering, "Why are you pulling" -- in my mind, I'm wondering, "Why are you pulling in? We're just -- we're late. You have to go to the bathroom?"

"No," he says. "They're pulling me over. Look behind." I didn't know, because it was bright and sunny. I didn't see no flashing lights. I didn't hear no sirens.

SAVIDGE: The police were behind you.

O. CASTRO: Yes, sir. And he said that the cops were back there, pulling us over. I said, "What did you do, run a stop sign or a red light or something?"

He says, "No. No. I don't know." And by that time, the officer was on this side, asking for his I.D. And they took his I.D., and there was an officer next to me there.

And he hadn't asked me for my I.D. yet, but I figured he's there, so I go like this. And I go, "Do you want my I.D., too?" And he went for his weapon.

And I said, "I'm getting my I.D." And I said, "What's going on? I haven't done anything, sir. What's going on here?"

He says, "All I can tell you is that you're in some serious allegations."

SAVIDGE: What was the first sign of trouble for you that day?

PEDRO CASTRO, BROTHER OF ARIEL CASTRO: I was -- I was -- I was sleeping. And I don't -- I don't remember the police in my room. And I -- I -- I was thinking, because I had an open container, so I didn't -- I didn't know what -- I thought they was taking me in because of that.

SAVIDGE: Let me walk you through a bit of this so that everyone clearly understands. When you were arrested on Monday and brought in, were you told why you were under arrest?

O. CASTRO: Absolutely not.

P. CASTRO: No.

SAVIDGE: You had no idea?

P. CASTRO: No.

O. CASTRO: No. Not for 48, maybe 36 to 48 hours later.

SAVIDGE: Pedro, when did you become aware?

P. CASTRO: Well, there was an inmate that didn't speak English, so I translated for her. So, then I asked her, "Now that I help you, can you help me?"

SAVIDGE: This is to the officer?

P. CASTRO: Yes. And she said, "Sure. What you want to know?"

"I want to know what -- what am I being charged for."

So she said, "OK, I'll go see." So, she comes back, and she -- she's got a piece of paper written down whatever I was in for.

And because I didn't have my reading glasses, I looked and I said, "Oh, open container."

She said, "No, read it again."

And I said, "Kidnapping? What's this, kidnapping?"

SAVIDGE: Could you talk? Were the two of you able to talk to one another while in jail?

P. CASTRO: No.

SAVIDGE: Couldn't communicate?

O. CASTRO: No.

SAVIDGE: You were in separate cells?

O. CASTRO: They told us not to, so I didn't.

SAVIDGE: Where was Ariel?

O. CASTRO: Ariel was in the front, more towards the front on suicide watch.

P. CASTRO: He was in a cell, what they call the bull pen. How do I know this? Because I seen it. I seen them when they took me to get my medication.

SAVIDGE: Did he ever go past you? Did you ever see him?

P. CASTRO: I did. Because where he was at, there's no toilet, so across from my cell there was one open, so he came there, used it. That's when I seen him. And when he came out, he said "peace" to me.

O. CASTRO: So evidently, that happened with him over there. And when he walked past me, he goes, "Onil, you're never going to see me again. I love you, bro," and that was it.

SAVIDGE: When did you become aware of what he did?

O. CASTRO: Well, shortly after that when the detective took me into the room and started asking me questions and showing me pictures of the girls. And when he showed me pictures of the girls, asked me, "Do you know these girls," he showed me first -- I can't even tell you -- I can't even tell you which one he showed me first, but he said, "Have you ever seen this girl?"

And I said, "No, I've never seen that girl."

And then he showed me the other one: "Have you ever seen this girl?"

And I said, "No, I've never seen that girl."

And then he says, "That's Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry." And my heart fell. I just dropped. Not physically, but I -- I just hit the ground. And after he said, "That's Amanda Berry, and they were in your brother's house."

SAVIDGE: You knew who these girls were?

O. CASTRO: From the picture I couldn't recognize them. "Oh," I told him, "they don't look like the girls that have been pinned up and posted up."

He said, "Yes, that's how malnourished they are."

SAVIDGE: So you're in this interrogation room, and suddenly, the police officer is showing you these photos and said that they are in your brother's home and you were expressing how you felt. It was just a physical feeling?

O. CASTRO: It was just heart dropping. It was just terrible when they -- when they said that, when he said that: "It's Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, and they were in your brother's house." I just couldn't believe it, because, you know, there was no signs of anything like that. I seen no signs.

SAVIDGE: You had been to the house. You would go to the house.

P. CASTRO: Yes.

SAVIDGE: I mean, how often? P. CASTRO: No, no. Not how often. I didn't go to his house very much, but when I did, he would let me no past the kitchen. I would sit down, and the reason why we go in the kitchen, because he had alcohol. He would take me in the kitchen, give me a shot.

SAVIDGE: He was -- when you'd go in the house, he would be specific, then, to stay in the kitchen, or it just seemed that you stayed in the kitchen?

P. CASTRO: Yes, I wasn't -- I wasn't allowed past the kitchen.

SAVIDGE: Could you see anything beyond the kitchen?

P. CASTRO: No. Because there's curtains.

SAVIDGE: He had the house blocked off with curtains? Did he say why?

P. CASTRO: He told me that -- I think it was wintertime, and he said he wanted to keep the heat in the kitchen, because the gas bill.

SAVIDGE: What about could you hear anything in the home?

P. CASTRO: No, the radio was playing all the time.

SAVIDGE: He would play music all the time?

P. CASTRO: Yes. If not the radio, the TV. Something had to be on at all times in the kitchen. So I couldn't hear nothing else but the radio or the TV.

SAVIDGE: Didn't any of that strike you as unusual or strange?

P. CASTRO: No, because Ariel was, to me, he was a strange dude. I mean, it didn't faze me nothing.

And another thing: I seen Ariel with a little girl at McDonald's. And I asked him, "Who's that?"

And he said, "This is a girlfriend's of mine."

SAVIDGE: The daughter belonged to a girlfriend of his?

P. CASTRO: Yes. And then I said, "Well, where's she at?"

"She's at Mitchell's. She's taking care of something at Mitchell."

OK, so I left it at that. And I left. Because he's with this little girl, and they're going to have breakfast.

Then about three weeks later, I seen them -- I seen his truck at Burger King, and then again he's with this little girl. And then I question him, "Where's the mother?"

"Oh, she had to do something." So I just let it go.

SAVIDGE: You believed him?

P. CASTRO: I believed it. But I had no idea that that little girl was his or Amanda's.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Up next, part two of our exclusive interview. They answer accusations that they knew something about their brother's alleged crimes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

P. CASTRO: I couldn't never think of doing anything like that. If I knew that my brother was doing this, I would not be -- I would not -- in a minute, I would call the cops.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Ariel Castro's brothers, Pedro and Onil Castro, say they've washed their hands of the accused kidnapper. They no longer consider him family, and they say they hope he rots in prison. Before the break, you heard Onil and Pedro Castro describe what happened last Monday when they were arrested. They were later cleared. Here's more of their exclusive interview with CNN's Martin Savidge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Did you in any way know, help, assist your brother in the horrible things he's accused of doing?

O. CASTRO: Absolutely not. No idea that this horrific crime was going on.

SAVIDGE: Pedro?

P. CASTRO: No.

SAVIDGE: You know there are people who will say you had to know. How's it possible for so long in that home, your brother, you couldn't know?

P. CASTRO: For those people out there, I'm going to tell you something. I had nothing to do with this, and I don't know how -- how my brother got away with it for so many years, because that would never cross my mind.

SAVIDGE: He fooled you.

P. CASTRO: He fooled me, because I used to go there more than he did to work on cars, clean the yard, you know, help him out and stuff, but never go beyond the kitchen. SAVIDGE: Onil, there was nothing?

O. CASTRO: Absolutely nothing that I could see that was unusual in that backyard. I can't say in the house, because I haven't been in the house in years.

SAVIDGE: Do you worry now that people will always suspect that you actually did have a role?

O. CASTRO: Absolutely.

P. CASTRO: Yes.

O. CASTRO: And the people out there that know me, they know that Onil Castro is not that person. Has nothing to do with that.

P. CASTRO: Same. I couldn't never think of doing anything like that. If I knew that my brother was doing this, I would not be -- I would not -- in a minute, I would call the cops. Because that ain't right.

But yes, it's going to haunt me down, because people going to think, yes, Pedro got something to do with this. Pedro don't have nothing to do with this. If I knew, I would have reported it, brother or no brother.

SAVIDGE: What is your brother to you now?

O. CASTRO: Monster, a hateful, I hope he rots in that jail. I don't even want them to take his life like that. I want him to suffer in that jail. To the last extent. I don't care if they even feed him, what he has done to my life and my family's.

P. CASTRO: I feel the same way.

SAVIDGE: To the both of you now, he no longer exists?

P. CASTRO: Right.

O. CASTRO: Yes.

SAVIDGE: He's gone?

P. CASTRO: He's goner.

SAVIDGE: Almost as if he were dead?

O. CASTRO: The monster's a goner. I'm glad that he left the door unlocked or whatever he did, whether he did it on purpose. Maybe he wanted to get caught. Maybe time was up. Maybe he was inside too much, he wanted to get caught. But if he did it that way, he shouldn't have went to Mama's house and put me in the car if he knew that was going to happen.

SAVIDGE: If you could talk to Gina, if you could talk to Michelle, if you could talk to Amanda -- and in a way you are, I guess -- what would you say?

P. CASTRO: I would tell her -- I would tell her that I'm sorry that you had to go through this, that I was always thinking about these girls being missing, and I'm just grateful that they're home and, you know, out of that horrible house.

And I'd just -- I'd just tell them that I'm sorry for what -- for what Ariel done. Because see, I -- not much -- it's -- Felix, I know him for a long time, and when I find out that -- that Ariel had Gina, I just -- I just broke. I just broke down. Because it's shocking. Ariel, we know this guy for a long time, Felix, and you got his...

SAVIDGE: This is Gina's father?

P. CASTRO: Yes, Felix, Felix DeJesus. And you've got his daughter. And you go -- you go around like it's nothing. You even went to the vigils; you had posters. You give his mom a hug, and you got his daughter captive and do what you was -- what people are saying? The police or whatever.

SAVIDGE: Who does that?

P. CASTRO: Yes. Yes, who does that?

O. CASTRO: Monsters.

P. CASTRO: People that have no -- no heart. They feel with no heart. No feelings. Dead.

SAVIDGE: Onil, the same thing?

O. CASTRO: For me the same thing. I just want also the families, get -- to want justice for the -- to the fullest extent. And I don't want ever, ever to see anything like that happen to anybody in the world. I know that it's happening, and we have no control over it. But if I can do something about it, I will and just start something like that. I would never let anything like that happen, go on to my worst enemy.

This has torn my heart apart. This has killed me. I'm a walking corpse right now. And there's God up there that knows. God's up there that knows that me and Pedro are innocent on this. We didn't have the slightest idea what's going on.

SAVIDGE: Why are you talking to me?

P. CASTRO: I want -- I want the world to know that I did nothing such. I am innocent. Like I said, if I'd known anything, I would not keep my mouth shut. I would have done something. Because I can't believe that Ariel was committing such a hateful crime for this long amount of time, acting like nothing happened in this, you know, no worries.

I want the world to know that Onil and Pedro -- me, Pedro -- had nothing to do with this. It was a shock to me to learn that my brother, Ariel, was doing this. SAVIDGE: Onil, I can see that this is sort of stressing you. I can see that this is something you're physically enduring.

O. CASTRO: Yes. It hurts. It hurts a lot. Like I said earlier, I woke up out of a nightmare last night. I want to wake up out of this one and I just can't.

SAVIDGE: No.

O. CASTRO: I didn't want to see today.

SAVIDGE: I want to thank you both for talking to us, for sharing with us and opening up to us. Thank you.

O. CASTRO: Thank you.

P. CASTRO: Thank you. And I hope the world listen to us and...

O. CASTRO: We want our lives back. We want -- we want back to normal. I want -- I don't want -- I want this erased out of my mind like it never happened. And I don't want to know this. I don't want this to be true. Like I said earlier, I want to wake up out of this nightmare.

P. CASTRO: I want to -- I want to say that I don't want to be hunted down like a dog for a crime that I did not commit. I don't want to be locked up in my house because somebody out there is going to do harm to me. I want to be free like I was.

Now I feel trapped for what somebody else did. And it's a family member. That shouldn't -- they should not take it out on the family. Threats of burning up the houses, killing Pedro, that's not right. You already got your -- your monster. Please give us our freedom. I want the world to know this.

SAVIDGE: Thank you. Thank you both.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Martin Savidge joins me now live from Cleveland. Martin, what did you think of them?

SAVIDGE: You know, it was a fascinating interview, Anderson. And I was surprised they did it, actually. You could tell that they really -- they were stressed. They were full of emotion, but most of all, they wanted to be sure that the family of those girls knew that they were so grateful, so very grateful they were out. And to let the rest of the world know they had nothing to do with them being kidnapped. Their pictures have been, of course, plastered everywhere, their name associated with their brother. And they feel that the world had to know.

COOPER: Marty, thanks, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, that does it for this edition of 360. Thanks for watching. "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: "OUTFRONT" next, the latest in the investigation in Cleveland. The FBI has run Ariel Castro's DNA across the national database, and we're going to tell you what they found.

Plus, what we're just learning about the suspect himself from the men who grew up around him. More of our exclusive interview with Ariel Castro's brothers is "OUTFRONT."