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105 Children Rescued from Exploitation; Bulger Might Take the Stand; Memorial in Spain for Victims of Train Crash; Continuing Coverage of the Whitey Bulger Case; Indiana Pastor and Wife Killed in Accident; Jewel Heist in Cannes; Professor Accused of Murder

Aired July 29, 2013 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello there, everyone. I'm John Berman in for Ashleigh Banfield.

And we do have some breaking news at this hour. The FBI just announced that it broke up a major child sex trafficking ring rescuing more than 100 children, arresting more than dozens and dozens of pimps.

Joe Johns joins us live now from Washington. Joe -- what are some of the details of what sounds like a very, very big operation?

JOE JOHNS, CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Hi John, that's true. This is something called "Operation Cross Country". It's done by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in cooperation with a number of state and local law enforcement authorities. We're told it's the largest child exploitation and child prostitution sweep of its kind ever. About 105 children nationwide rescued, according to law enforcement officials.

We're told something like more than 50 pimps have been arrested, dozens of searches across the country. They looked into activities going on at racetracks, truck stops, social media sites.

The ages of the children involved, we're told, range from between 13 and 17. The victims, of course, have been removed and relocated, we're told.

This all went on over the weekend, and we're looking for more information now, a news conference going on at the FBI here in Washington, D.C., as we speak, John.

BERMAN: Joe, you say nationwide. Any sense of the geography here and any sense if all these separate arrests were somehow connected into one big ring?

JOHNS: No, we do not have all of those details.

Bits and pieces of this, obviously, have trickled out over the morning, a press release, for example, issued by the attorney general in the state of Nevada indicating that one of the arrests in cooperation with local authorities occurred in their area, but we just don't know the scope.

We do know a number of cities, a number of localities involved, a lot of children and a lot of suspects taken into custody, we're told, John.

BERMAN: All right, Joe Johns, we know it was big, 105 kids, as you say, more than 50 pimps arrested here, the scope here, nationwide.

Joe Johns in Washington for us, we'll await that news conference for more details a little bit later.

Meanwhile, we could find out this week if alleged mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger will take the stand in his own defense.

His attorneys have stayed tight-lipped so far, but there is speculation that Bulger will want to testify.

He is facing a slew of charges, including 19 counts of murder. If he's found guilty of even some, at age 83, he'll likely spend the rest of his days in prison.

His team started presented its case this morning. Their first witness, former FBI agent, Robert Fitzpatrick, wrote a book about trying to stop Bulger.

This trial has been full of fireworks, all the way through the prosecution's case. Deborah Feyerick has been in the courtroom for some of these fireworks.

Deb, bring us up to speed on this case.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, here's what we can tell you.

"Whitey" Bulger's lawyers have now asked that the jury be sequestered during deliberations. Prosecutors are really against it and so the judge is going to have to decide that.

It's still not clear whether, in fact, Bulger is going to testify. His defense is now down to 14 witnesses. They're going to testify over the period of two days. Key among them was a woman by the Marion Hussey. Her daughter was killed both by Bulger and her ex-boyfriend, Steve "The Rifleman" Flemmi.

She was going to be called in order to testify that, in fact, her daughter was being sexually molested by one of the man and, therefore, the man, Steve Flemmi, had a greater motive to kill her.

Now also on this list of witnesses is a crime associate who is likely to take the Fifth. The reason is because during this trial he was actually implicated in one of the murders, and so he is likely to keep his mouth closed when it comes to where he was the night of that murder.

Now, Bulger's team is really trying hard to refute the notion that, in fact, he was an FBI informant. The book that you showed there, John, the cover of that book, that man is on the stand.

He's testifying today and he was brought in basically to shut "Whitey" Bulger down, to say that he wasn't providing significant information.

He said he got a lot of pushback from FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., and that's why they kept Bulger open because the folks out of headquarters felt that, in fact, he was providing valid information against the mafia and the mafia at the time was the key priority.

Will "Whitey" Bulger take the stand? Well, a lot of people say he's still worried about one thing and one thing only and that his reputation not as a killer, but as an informant, so we'll see.

John?

BERMAN: That's right. Whether or not he takes the stand may not have to do whether he's trying to prove his innocence. It's just to say, in his mind, that he's not a rat. In this way, this courtroom is something of a stage for him, Deborah.

FEYERICK: Yeah, you know, it really is. And that's the one thing that they have been pushing.

You know, I've been sitting in that court, and the one thing that I've realized is that they really -- the defense lawyers have not argued about whether, in fact, "Whitey" Bulger was involved in any of the killings.

In fact, they never asked any real substantial questions on cross- examination except to a few of the witnesses, but a lot of them -- they sort of let the murders sort of hang there in the air.

It's really about, was "Whitey" Bulger an informant, what kind of information did he provide and was that information valid? And that's what "Whitey" Bulger really seems to care about.

As a matter of fact, John, at one point, the judge basically said, what does this have to do? He's not even being charged with being an informant.

So that's very much what his defense team has focused on.

John?

BERMAN: It could be a dramatic week with even more fireworks.

Deborah Feyerick who has been in the courtroom for so much of it, thank you so much for being with us. Appreciate it.

Overseas now, there will be a memorial tonight for the 79 victims of last week's deadly train crash in Spain.

Meanwhile, a judge has let the train driver go, but not until after charging him with 79 counts of homicide by what's called "professional recklessness." CNN's Karl Penhaul joins us now live from the site of the accident in Spain. Karl, what other charges does this driver face, and why was he released if he faces so many charges?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, well, in addition to those 79 charges of reckless homicide, as you point out, an indeterminate number of charges of causing injury by recklessness as well.

Indeterminate because, essentially, very few of those 218 passengers who were on board that train walked away unscathed, so the judge is still counting up how many charges he really has to put.

But, yes, under Spanish law, there has to be probably some idea that this train driver represented a flight risk to keep him in jail while investigations are continuing.

And what the judge did was order his passport to be withdrawn so that he can't travel outside of Spain. Also told him to report to the judge once a week so they can keep track on exactly where he is.

And, unsurprisingly, of course, they've suspended his train driver's license while these investigations go on, John.

BERMAN: Karl, such a tragedy, so many lives lost, what can you tell us about tonight's memorial?

PENHAUL: Well, really, you know, we're outside of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral right now and this is journey's end for thousands of pilgrims who come to worship here, and tonight this cathedral will be also be a symbolic journey's end for Train 151.

It is here that the prime minister, members of the family and also, possibly, some of the injured who are now out of hospital will come for this memorial mass to honor the 79 dead.

We are expecting quite a lot of crowds here and it certainly will be an emotional scene, John.

BERMAN: All right, Karl Penhaul for us in Spain, thank you so much, Karl.

I want to go back now to that trial in Boston of mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger. He is on trial for murder, racketeering and a slew of other charges.

His defense starts presenting its case today. The big question is, will he testify?

So let's bring in our legal panel, Judge Glenda Hatchett and criminal defense attorney Carrie Hackett.

Glenda, I want to start with you here. As we said, the two big questions here are, will Bulger testify and should he testify?

GLENDA HATCHETT, TV JUDGE/AUTHOR: Well, I'll tell you, the golden rule typically is that you don't put a defendant on the stand unless there is something that you're going to gain out of it.

But as we've been talking about throughout this case, he may have some things that he wants to tell, but typically you don't see defendants, particularly in this kind of case, take the stand.

And I would -- it will be very interesting if he does.

BERMAN: Carrie, you know, typically. defense attorneys often don't want their client to take the stand, but you just heard Glenda say it.

If "Whitey" Bulger wants to talk, don't you have to let him, and what do you do to try to handle it somehow or direct it, if you're the defense attorney?

CARRIE HACKETT, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You absolutely do have to let the client take the stand, if you choose to.

An attorney can advise their client very strongly and repeatedly not to take the stand, but if they choose to take the stand, they are going to take the stand.

As far as controlling what your client says, you can limit the types of questions that you ask your client and can control them more on cross-examination. but if they want to take the stand, if they want to tell their story, that's their absolute right.

And I think that this is a case where he very well may want to tell his story and may do that.

I think also because of his age he may be a little more sympathetic than he would have been at a trial, say, 30 years ago.

BERMAN: Level with me here. How nervous are you if you are the defense attorney about "Whitey" Bulger taking the stand?

HACKETT: You don't want it to happen. I would be extremely nervous if my client, "Whitey" Bulger, took the stand.

BERMAN: All right, there's something else interesting here that's happening, Glenda, that's interesting.

Last night the defense filed a motion to have the jury sequestered during deliberations. The judge said she would take it under advisement.

What does the defense hope to achieve with this?

HATCHETT: I think that, given the high publicity and so much interest in the trial, that under the rules of court, they really do have the right to file this motion, but it's always in the discretion of the court.

She probably will rule and grant the motion largely because you don't want there to be any argument on appeal that somehow the process was tainted and the jury should have been sequestered. But the question for me, quite frankly, is this too little, too late given the publicity surrounding this trial? I mean, I really question the timing of this.

BERMAN: Exactly, Carrie, if they haven't been sequestered so far, why will it make a difference once they go to the jury room?

HACKETT: I completely agree with Judge Hatchett. I'm surprised that this motion didn't come sooner.

Maybe the defense team was expecting less publicity associated with this trial, but as we all know, it's been in the media and the jurors certainly could have seen some of that.

I do think, though, definitely better late than never, and if the jury is sequestered, the defense team has less to lose here and the judge has less to lose because certainly the defense would want to preserve the record for appeal.

BERMAN: All right, guys. Sit tight. Judge Hatchett, Carrie Hackett, thanks so much for being with us. We'll come back with you in a second.

Meanwhile, it has happened not once, not twice, but three times. The city of Cannes is becoming a target for jewel thieves.

The latest heist, we'll tell you all about it, coming up.

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BERMAN: Other stories we're following this hour, an Indiana church community is grieving after a youth pastor and his pregnant wife were killed in a bus crash. The couple's two-year-old son survived. A third woman, who was a church member and a mother of five, also died.

The bus was full of teenagers, chaperones. It was coming back from a summer camp on Saturday. The driver told witnesses that the brakes failed as he made a turn.

In Italy, a similar scene to show you right now. At least 38 people heading home from a Catholic shrine were killed when their bus went off a bridge, plummeting some 100 feet. Ten people survived.

Police believe the bus may have had brake problems since it hit more than 10 cars before going off the bridge there.

Moving to Egypt now where dozens were killed in clashes over the weekend. Military helicopters have been dropping leaflets on anti- government protesters, telling them to end these protests.

Those demonstrators are supporters of overthrown President Mohamed Morsy. They're bracing for possible crackdowns by the military.

A flicker of hope for peace in another part of the Middle East, Israelis and Palestinians are set to hold their first peace talks in three years tonight in Washington. The talks come the day after Israel agreed to the release of more than 100 Palestinian prisoners.

The meeting tonight aims to lay the groundwork for more negotiations in the months ahead.

And moments ago, Secretary of State John Kerry named former U.S. ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, as a special envoy for these negotiations. He will lead these talks.

Iraq has been rocked today by a series of more than 20 bombings. At least 43 people are dead and another 200 wounded. Most of the car and roadside bomb attacks have been centered in the Shiite areas in and around Baghdad.

Five people including a child have been killed in a Pennsylvania helicopter crash. The chopper was en route from the Greater Binghamton Airport in New York to Layton went down on Saturday. Wreckage was found yesterday in a wooded area in Wyoming County. Officials are not sure what caused the crash there.

And this, well, this is a recipe for disaster. A jewelry exhibition at a hotel in Cannes, France, a lavish city on the French Rivieria and most recently a city prone to diamond thefts. An armed robber, who stole millions of dollars in jewelry yesterday, is still on the loose today and the value estimated at $136 million. That is a lot of jewelry and it's not the first time lately that this city has had to deal with this.

Erin McLaughlin is live from the Carlton Hotel, the famous and lush, lavish, Carlton Hotel in Cannes. Erin, what it security like today and has it changed?

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi John. Let me just tell you first of all we got off the phone with the prosecutor's office in Nice and they did confirm to CNN that new $136 million figure, the amount in jewels that were stolen, they say, from the Carlton Hotel in broad daylight yesterday. They tell us that they do not believe that there was an accomplice involved in this heist.

It happened around 11:30 in the morning yesterday when a man, prosecutors believe was acting alone, walked into the Carlton Hotel with a semiautomatic pistol. He entered a temporary exhibit by the Leviev Diamond House, which was featuring "extraordinary", in their words, diamonds. He brandished his gun and threatened to shoot both the guests and the exhibitors before making away with what we now -- prosecutors say they believe to be $136 million in jewels.

It's raised a lot of eyebrows here in France and it's not the only jewelry heist to happen in the last three months. In May, during the Cannes Film Festival, there were two separate heists. One, Shepard jewelry, about $1 million worth was taken from a Novatel hotel room. Following that incident, a $2.6 million diamond necklace was taken from a hotel party.

So plenty of people here are raising questions as to how this could have happen and why there was not more security in place, especially given the staggering figure, $136 million, John. BERMAN: That is, in fact, staggering. And the question, as you say, Erin, is not just how did it happen but how did it happen again? You would think the officials there would have ramped up security.

MCLAUGHLIN: Well, absolutely. And that's kind of the interesting thing, John. I walked through the Carlton Hotel lobby earlier today and you would never know anything happened. People are walking around. It's very much business as usual. There are even some jewels on showcase in the lobby, including sapphires and emeralds and diamonds and low-key security.

Now the Leviev exhibition, which is a temporary, as I mentioned, exhibition -- that, of course, closed today, John.

BERMAN: Maybe you want to take good care of those jewels. Erin McLaughlin in Cannes. Thank you so much, Erin. Appreciate it.

Coming up here, we'll give you the latest on Tropical Storm Flossie. It is getting weaker but it is still a very strong and very real threat to Hawaii. Stay with us.

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BERMAN: All right, welcome back, everyone. Communities across the country are cleaning up after a weekend of deadly storms. You're looking at live pictures right now of Hickory, North Carolina. There was some flooding there, the third highest water level there since 1940. A state of emergency was declared in Catawba County Saturday. Floodwaters there swept a woman and a child to their deaths.

North Carolina definitely got the worst of the severe rain. We want to show you some pictures now of a road damaged in Newton, washing it away, leaving a six-foot crater.

Now to Philadelphia, you're seeing the side effects there of nearly eight inches of rain that fell yesterday. It flooded streets and knocked out power to the airport. Eight inches in one day.

And in Mojave County, Arizona, floodwater carried a tour bus with it before flipping it on its side. The bus tried to cross rushing water six feet deep, probably not a good idea.

And in Albuquerque, New Mexico, they are still cleaning up from heavy rain and storm damage.

What a weekend. Chad Myers joins us now from the CNN severe weather center in Atlanta. Chad, what is the latest in all of this flooding across the country?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: When you have storms in the summer, like we have, and just the mugginess -- you felt it in New York City -- when you don't have a jet stream over those storms, those storms can't move. And when they don't move, they sit there and they rain for hours and it floods.

Now, another place that's going to see flooding, too, out here in the West, in the Pacific possibly, for Flossie. This is the tropical storm history over many, many years. Not a lot of weather has hit Hawaii. You think it's out there in the middle of the Pacific waiting to get slammed by a hurricane. And yes, there have been a couple. Aniki (ph) been the most memorable one; I watched the damage of that back in Kauai.

This storm, though, we're going to see here, Flossie, going to be a 40 mile per hour storm and it will make some flooding, especially when you see those areas. You see those islands on the pictures. There's a straight ramp up to the peak. All that water has to run down.

Let's go back to some of these pictures now we also have. We have some pictures from Arizona and also pictures from North Carolina. I think they're the most telling. What people get in trouble for, you just don't even understand how quickly this water can come up. Water can wash away all the way through the ditches and the overpasses in 10 to 15 minutes.

Look at this raging water coming out of Arizona and the tour bus that got pushed off. This is called a debris flow, not just a flash flood. The debris is the sticks and the twigs and the trees that can push down with this water. This normally is a very dry river basin. They call it a dry wash. There's never water in it, until it until it rains like it did in Arizona over the weekend. And all that stuff, trees, all come down at one time. The water goes from literally zero inches to a couple of feet in just a couple of minutes.

And then the torrential rain in North Carolina, we had showers like this, some of them, into the Carolinas, South Carolina, and also into Georgia over the weekend -- but not the damage that you're seeing right here across the coastal Carolinas. And it was a mess in the Carolina coastal sections and even into piedmont, all weekend long, John, as storms just would not stop. It rained for hours and hours and hours and then the water just started moving.

BERMAN: Called a mucky, muddy mess. Chad Myers, thanks so much. Appreciate it, my friend.

MYERS: You're welcome.

BERMAN: A professor accused of killing his wife by poisoning her with cyanide. Witnesses say his behavior at the hospital was so bizarre; he talked about his wife in the past tense before she was even dead. Stay with us.

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BERMAN: Welcome back, everyone. A research professor at the University of Pittsburgh is accused of killing his wife by poisoning her with a lethal dose of cyanide back in April. Robert Ferrante has an extradition hearing in West Virginia today and, at least for today, he's not expected to put up a fight.

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BERMAN (voice-over): Dr. Robert Ferrante is expected to waive extradition and be transported back to Pennsylvania where he faces criminal homicide charges, his arrest in West Virginia on Thursday ending a nationwide manhunt.

ST. WILLIAM TUPPER, WEST VA. STATE POLICE: He was relatively quiet. He knew there were warrants for him. Said he was en route back to Pittsburgh.

WILLIAM DIFENDERFER, FERRANTE'S DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He's anxious to defend himself, have his day in court, and prove his innocence.

BERMAN: Ferrante, a medical researcher and professor at the University of Pittsburgh, is accused of poisoning his wife, Dr. Autumn Klein, with cyanide in April. Dr. Klein, seen here in an interview on the Discovery Channel, was the chief of women's neurology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Police investigators scoured the couple's home collecting evidence there and at the university lab where Ferrante worked. A three-month investigation led to this criminal complaint against 64-year-old Ferrante, documenting alleged text conversation with his wife urging her to go on a creatine regiment to help with fertility, the substance investigators believe he laced with cynaide.

The complaint also documents Ferrante placing an order for an "overnight delivery of cyanide" two days before his wife collapsed.

DR. KARL WILLIAMS, MEDICAL EXAMINER: The amazing of subpoenas and investigation that went into determining, in fact, that it was a homicide, that's what took so long.

BERMAN: Klein leaves behind their 6-year-old daughter, her death sending shockwaves throughout the community.

BLITHE RUNSDORF, NEIGHBOR: We were stunned. I mean, she was young, she was vibrant. She has a young daughter. We were just stunned.

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