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Kids Rescued from Sex Trafficking; Deadly Wedding Party Crash; Diamond Heist; Cleveland Victims; Fast Food Protest
Aired July 29, 2013 - 13:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: It's a brazen crime right out of the movies, $130 million plus in jewelry stolen. And now the international search is on for this armed robber.
I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give it up for Amanda Berry!
BALDWIN (voice-over): Two victims kidnapped in Cleveland trying to get back to normal. Amanda Berry surprises crowds at a concert. And Gina DeJesus speaking publicly about a unique gift.
Plus, the pope candid and controversial.
POPE FRANCIS (through translator): If a person is gay and accepts the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to judge them?
BALDWIN (voice-over): His comments on gay priests and women in the clergy have people all around the world talking.
Plus, what's a million dollar plus payday worth? A professional athlete passes up the chance at winning the cash to witness the birth of his first baby.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
BALDWIN: Wolf Blitzer, thanks for the kind introduction. Good to see all of you on this Monday afternoon. Let's get going. Beginning this hour with this story.
We are -- it's a rapidly developing story happening in 76 cities all across the country. More than 100 kids, the youngest just 13 years of age, stolen, missing, forced into a life of sexual slavery, now found, rescued by FBI agents in what's the largest child sex trafficking sweep in U.S. history. More than 150 so-called pimps arrested so far.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONALD HOSKO, ASST. DIR., FBI CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE DIVISION: This operation targeted venues where girls and adults are operated for commercial sex. That includes street tracks, truck stops, motels, casinos, Internet sites, social media platforms, and the like. The children recovered in this operation ranged in age from 13 to 17. And at least 21 of them had been previously known to our partners at NICMIC (ph). All the child victims identified were removed from the dangerous environments and relocated to safe settings, according to our standards, state regulations and local regulations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: This is huge news today. Joe Johns, our crime and justice correspondent, is all over this for us from Washington this afternoon.
And, Joe, first, how did the FBI track these victims and their captors, their pimps, down?
JOE JOHNS, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, they have state and local partners in law enforcement. And those are the people who know where the prostitution activity is going on in all of these communities across the country. There's also Internet activity. So the FBI played a role in ferreting out what type of Internet activity looked like it might involve underage children.
So they put all of that together and the focus here is on the pimps treating the young girls as victims rather than participants in the crime. And, of course, you know, from years past, these individuals have been able to get off with local charges. But these days, because there's interstate activity of these young girls being moved from state to state to state, the feds can actually get involved. So that's how it went, Brooke.
BALDWIN: And as we're talking, Joe, and this was happening, you know, from coast to coast, do we know whether these underground sex trade rings were at all intertwined and who's behind it all?
JOHNS: It doesn't sound like so many of them were intertwined. But we do know there were some groups that -- of localized activity, if you will, that involved more than one individual. So that's what they're looking at. I don't believe by any stretch of the imagination we're talking about one huge individualized sex ring, if you will. Still, the authorities treat this as organized crime. And that's one of the big differences from how they treat it in, say, the '80s or the '90s.
BALDWIN: So with those changes, and again we're talking arrests, but if we see convictions and jail time, how much time could these pimps be looking at?
JOHNS: Well, frankly, this is an operation, it's called Operation Cross Country, that has been going on for the better part of the last half decade.
BALDWIN: Wow.
JOHNS: And over that period of time, there have been at least 10 individuals, I'm told, who actually got life sentences. So this is a very serious situation for some of those individuals who were arrested and charged, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Joe Johns for us in Washington.
Joe, thank you.
To Bristol, Connecticut. I want to show you some pictures here as we've been watching this. Police dive teams searching this lake for an item that may be involved with the Aaron Hernandez murder case. What you're looking at, this is Pine Lake, just about a mile from the home of Hernandez's uncle. That home has been searched many, many times as part of the investigation into the murder of Odin Lloyd in June. Just to remind you here, the murder weapon, a .45 caliber gun, has yet to be recovered. Law enforcement sources declined to say if that weapon is what they're searching for right there at the lake. Obviously, we'll keep you posted.
And at least eight people, including one child, are headed to the hospital after a massive building collapse this morning in Philadelphia. Witnesses say they heard an explosion. Afterwards, smelled gas. At least three other homes were damaged. And I want you to listen to one witness describe how a firefighter saved a baby from all of this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE MCGRAW JR., WITNESS: The baby out the window because the girl was on fire and the fireman had to catch the baby and all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Fireman caught the baby. Folks, this is the second time this summer a tragedy similar to this has hit Philadelphia. Remember last month, six people were killed after another building collapse.
They were supposed to be planning a wedding, but instead two families are making funeral arrangements this week. And investigators in New York are trying to piece together a boating accident on the Hudson River that killed the bride-to-be and the best man. Alina Cho takes a look at what went so terribly wrong.
Alina.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was meant to be a celebratory cruise on the water. A bride, a groom and their friends just two weeks before their wedding. But something went terribly wrong Friday night. And this boat ride quickly turned fatal.
CHO (voice-over): The investigation into Friday's horrific boat accident that killed a bride-to-be and best man will now focus on a time line. What happened and when?
SHERIFF LOUIS FALCO, ROCKLAND COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: What we're going to do is we're going to bring in an accident reconstruction team.
CHO: Authorities say the driver of the boat, also a friend of the couple, was intoxicated, charged with vehicular manslaughter and vehicular assault. Investigators are also looking into claims the barge that the boat hit did not have proper lighting.
ANTHONY FOWLER, PIERMONT, NEW YORK, RESIDENT: You put an immovable object that's dark in the path of recreational boaters, you have a recipe for disaster.
CHO: Lindsay Stewart and Brian Bond were planning to marry on August 10th. They decided to take a boat ride Friday night up the Hudson River. The small power boat carrying six people hit a construction barge near a bridge. Thirty-year-old Stewart and best man Mark Lennon were killed.
RAYMOND LENNON, VICTIM'S BROTHER: I'm the big brother, but his heart was a lot bigger than mine. He's -- he's -- he was my rock.
CHO: Bond, the groom, and four others, including the boat's driver, suffered serious injuries.
FOWLER: They seemed very smitten with one another and very much in love.
CHO: At the home they shared, a makeshift memorial. Lindsay Stewart's family told CNN, "pray for our loss."
CAROL STEWART-KOSIK, VICTIM'S MOTHER: She's supposed to be married two weeks from today. It just can't end like this.
CHO: A tragic ending to what was supposed to be a great night on the eve of a wedding.
FOWLER: Rather than have the joyful wedding, there will be wakes.
CHO (on camera): Today we're told the groom is still in the hospital with various head injuries. But imagine dealing with the physical recovery, while also dealing with the emotional pain of losing your bride-to-be and the best man in your wedding. That is exactly what Brian Bond is dealing with right now, losing much of what is dear to him in a split second.
Alina Cho, CNN, Piermont, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Awful. Absolutely awful. Alina Cho.
What began as a spiritual journey ended in tragedy in southern Italy when a bus crashed into a guard rail, went off a bridge, then plummeted into a ravine there. At least 38 people were killed, including the driver. Police say the bus rammed into at least 11 other cars before it even went over the barrier. Investigators are now looking into possible brake failure. The passengers were returning from a visit to a catholic shrine. The accident happened on a treacherous stretch of highway known for multi-car accidents.
And a memorial service is underway in northwestern Spain for the victims of a horrific train accident that killed nearly 80 people, including an American woman. Watch. It is taking place at a cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, not far from where last week's crash happened. The driver is facing reckless homicide charges and has his license been suspended. Dozens of people remain in critical condition. This was the crash as it rounded this bend here. That happened last Wednesday. Careened around the curve, as you saw, derailing. Even though the driver has been charged and the investigation is still in the early stages.
And you would think pulling off one of the biggest diamond heists in history would require a lot of planning, a team of operatives like we see in the movies. Nope. It apparently was a lot easier than that. In Cannes, France, it only took a handgun, a lot of jewelry, and unarmed security at this hotel. Adding insult to injury, Sunday's robbery at the famous Carlton Hotel was the third time since May that jewel thieves had targeted the posh city on the beautiful French Riviera.
And that is where we find CNN's Erin McLaughlin, in Cannes.
And when -- first of all, I'm trying to wrap my head around, you know, what $136 million plus in jewelry looks like. And I can't do it. I mean how does someone, Erin, walk into a hotel and walk out with all those jewels?
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is no doubt the very question authorities are asking themselves right now, Brooke. We know that this happened at 11:30 a.m. yesterday here in Cannes at the Carlton Hotel. People had gathered to take a look at a temporary exhibition put on by a well-known diamond house when all of the sudden a man with his face covered in a scarf, his head in a cap, walked into the exhibition brandishing what prosecutors now say was a semiautomatic pistol, threatened to shoot both the exhibitors and the guests before leaving, walking out of the hotel with over $100 million in diamond jewelry, or jewelry, rather. We're not sure if it's diamonds or not. But it was a diamond exhibition. People here really upset and shocked that this could have happened. Apparently, the guards were present but unarmed, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Why were they not armed if there was this kind of jewelry at this posh hotel?
MCLAUGHLIN: Another very good question. Brooke, police currently are scouring hours of CCTV footage trying to piece together this puzzle. So far they're saying that they think this man operated alone, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Do they have any idea -- just quickly, we've heard of all these different heists. You think of the Pink Panther gang. Might this be connected? Do they have any idea that this could be connected to something else?
MCLAUGHLIN: Well, not at the moment. They're not -- and if they do, they're certainly not saying. There was a jailbreak on Friday in Switzerland near the French border. One of the men who broke out of jail was part of this notorious Pink Panther jewel heist gang. But again, authorities here not saying if there's any connection whatsoever, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Erin McLaughlin on the French Riviera for us covering this jewelry heist. Erin, thank you.
And a simple concert turned into a massive celebration over the weekend. One of the Cleveland kidnapping victims, there she -- here she was. She was there. Amanda Berry. See her with the purple sweater over her shoulder? She was even called to the stage, received a huge round of applause. We also got a glimpse of Gina DeJesus in her Cleveland home. So coming up next, we will take a closer look at how these young women are trying to return to a new normal.
Plus, when the pope speaks, millions around the world listen. And today the pope's comments on gay priests, as he was heading back to Italy, really have a lot of people buzzing. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: They endured the unthinkable. After a decade of captivity, torture, sex slavery, we are getting a glimpse of two of Ariel Castro's three kidnaps victims as they readjust to life outside of that Cleveland home. Gina DeJesus wants to keep the prying eyes of the public out. A tall fence here donated to Gina now surrounds her family home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GINA DEJESUS, KIDNAPPING SURVIVOR: I really wanted it. It meant a lot to me.
NANCY RUIZ, GINA'S MOTHER: The difference is the privacy. Of her being able to come out, walk out and do what she wants.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And Amanda Berry opted instead for the limelight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give it up for Amanda Berry!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Very public show of strength. Look at the crowd just applauding her. Amanda there on the left hand side in the sunglasses, right arm up. She's taken the stage. This is a Nelly concert in Cleveland over the weekend. The appearance just one day after the man who kidnapped her agreed to 1,000 years-plus prison sentence.
Just to talk about all of this and these young women as they move forward with their lives, David Swanson, clinical psychologist, live with us in Los Angeles.
And, David, except for that YouTube video posted just a little while back of all the three girls, you know, thanks the public, we haven't seen Michelle Knight. She was the third woman who was held hostage for a decade. But Gina DeJesus, she has this privacy fence. You have Amanda Berry on stage. What does the varying public exposure really tell you about each woman's recovery? DAVID SWANSON, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, I don't think that this is very surprising at all. We're all different. You think about this, they spent 10 years in captivity. And now they have to adjust. You know, we're going to start to see some of them might want to become more reclusive. Others, you know, we hope that this doesn't happen, but very oftentimes you could see people engage in very self- destructive behavior, like drugs and alcohol. And this, you know, the idea of Amanda Berry going up on stage, this is truly a hero for all of us in the sense that you'd like to think that the human spirit cannot be broken. And by her going on stage and smiling like that, it truly shows the best that all of us can provide.
BALDWIN: I love that. She -- there -- just accepting the love, surrounded by friends. And then you have relationships, David. I want to just play this sound from Gina and her mom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY RUIZ, GINA DEJESUS' MOTHER: Awesome. I keep saying the word "awesome." You know what --
GINA DEJESUS, KIDNAPPING SURVIVOR: It's amazing.
RUIZ: It is.
DEJESUS: Yes.
RUIZ: It is very amazing. It is. At first I had -- for the first week I kept pinching myself. After that week, it was like, you know, try to give her space. And then it's like, I kept on hearing this word, "mom," and I'm like, that doesn't sound right. And then she would go, mom, and I would like turn around and there was Gina and I'm like, yes, another one. Another voice. A voice that I've been missing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Just to forget, you know, she's the mom. She needs to turn around, you know, when Gina's talking to her. And then you have, David, you have Amanda Berry, who, you know, you see her on stage with a man she appears to be affectionate with. After long term trauma like that, what are relationships like? There have to be so many challenges.
SWANSON: You know, the reason that this touches a chord in all of us is because we've all been through trauma and it affects us all differently. So when you start to think about --
BALDWIN: Not this kind of trauma.
SWANSON: No, definitely not this kind of trauma. But I think, you know, we can all relate, we hope for the best.
Look, they're all going to react differently. And getting back in touch with your family, there's going to be great moments of joy. But, Brooke, keep in mind that there's also going to be triggers that will reactivate the trauma. So, many of us think that, you know, for -- if we went through something like this, that it would be hard to move on. But I think what we could expect is that life will start to get back in many ways to normal for these girls. But there will always be triggers.
You know, think about Amanda Berry with her child now and what she's been through. And the idea of letting your child simply go play at a park. How do you let that child out of your sight? That would be a trigger that would be a great example of how we might be reactivated after something like this. So life is --
BALDWIN: But then just --
SWANSON: Go ahead.
BALDWIN: But on the flipside, I remember being in Cleveland when the whole story broke and we were talking about this at the time, because I'm also fascinated at the relationship, too, between the captor and these victims, because we now know, you know, he's going away forever, really for life, you know, in prison. But you develop a relationship. As screwed up as it may seem, right, you have this relationship with your captor?
SWANSON: Yes. Well, you do. And I think a lot of us would imagine that if we're in a situation like this, we just want to survive. And to go against that captor in any way could certainly put your life in danger. So you learn to please. And you learn a way to rationalize, to make the best of it, just to get by day by day. That's what you saw there. I don't think you saw true affection. I don't think that any of us would ever have a true affection for a captor like that.
BALDWIN: Right. David Swanson, thank you so much, clinical psychologist. We wish each of those young women and that little girl all the best as they move forward.
SWANSON: Definitely.
BALDWIN: Thank you.
Fast food workers from several major cities across the country coming together this week in a show of solidarity. Today, workers from some New York restaurants walking off the job. This is just the first protest across the country this week. Coming up, a closer look at what they want and why they want your help.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Apple is in a little bit of trouble again over its labor practices in China. This time because of a supplier named Pegatron. The non-profit China Labor Watch accuses Pegatron's factories of lowballing workers on wages, leading to workers clocking as many as 69 hours per week. An Apple spokesperson says the company, quote, "is committed to providing safe and fair working conditions throughout our supply chain," end quote. The company is sending three teams to investigate.
And some fast food in New York City is slowing down today. And here's why. Dozens of workers at several major fast food chains are walking off the job to protest for higher pay. The streets in front of a couple McDonald's and Wendy's restaurants were blocked with workers like who you see here who walked out.
And let me be clear, this isn't just New York City. Workers marched out of the St. Louis McDonald's today, holding signs and chanting, "can't survive on 7.35." That's the local minimum wage. These protests are all part of an effort organized by community and religious groups to help fast food workers get higher wages and the right to unionize. More walk offs and protests are planned in a couple other major cities this week.
And let's go to Zain Asher with more on this.
I know, Zain, you just got back from one of these protest sites. What did people tell you?
ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean these guys are more than willing to put up a fight. I went to a protest in downtown Manhattan. I saw about 50 workers hit the streets. They were angry, you know, Brooke. They want $15 an hour and they are more than willing to walk out on their shifts in the middle of the afternoon in order to get it.
Now, one of the guys I spoke to said that he thinks that fast food chains view their workers as completely disposable, in his words, in his words, almost like robots. Right now fast food workers in New York are paid roughly $7.25 an hour. New York, by the way, is actually one of the states where the minimum wage is actually equal to the federal minimum wage.
And these guys pretty much want to double their wages. Obviously most of them know that is pretty much a long shot, but they do want to be heard.
Now, if you could just come back to me for one second, I'm just going to show you one of the signs that was held up. It is in Spanish. Let me translate it for you. It stays "strike for a higher wage in order to survive in New York City." And that's, you know, really the bottom line. These workers don't feel like they can survive on $7.25 an hour, especially when you consider that $11 an hour is what you need to be above the poverty line and that living expenses in New York do, in their words, warrant a higher wage. Here's what one guy had to tell me -- had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKLIN LAPAZ, STRIKING WORKER: And I have a second job, you know, and try to like catch up on bills and this is -- living in New York City is so expensive. You know, like you have to think about transportation, high taxes, food. Everything's just so like expensive here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: And, Brooke, McDonald's and Burger King both told CNN that many of their restaurants are franchises so they don't always have direct control over what employees are paid. McDonald's also says that they believe that their wages are actually competitive and that if workers do want to move on and move up the ladder and make higher wages, they do have the opportunity of moving up the ranks.
But, lastly, I do want to say that one piece of good news is that these workers, for these workers is that the minimum wage in New York will increase to $9 an hour by January 2016.
Brooke.
BALDWIN: OK. Zain Asher, thank you so much.
And, Pope Francis. Big news out of the pope today. Not just being down in Brazil, but did you hear what he said on the plane back to Italy, speaking out on gay priests, so much more. You may be surprised by all these sort of taboo topics he discussed.
And a rally today supporting Anthony Weiner. We catch up with the New York mayoral candidate during today's event. Plus an e-mail he sent to supporters with a clear message to everyone following this election, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We are just getting word into us here at CNN of another train accident in Europe. This time it is in Switzerland where two commuter trains have collided head on. So Swiss press is reporting at least 33 injuries. A number of them, we're told, quite serious. Investigators say they do not know what caused the crash. Service on the line has been shut down. Of course, all of this happening in the wake of the fatal train accident in Spain just from last week. As soon as we get more information on this accident in Switzerland, we will pass that along to you live here on
