Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Bieber Busted; Lufthansa Heist Arrest; FaceBook's Sandberg Now a Billionaire
Aired January 23, 2014 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf Blitzer, thank you, as always.
Great to be with all of you. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
We begin with the man, this young man, 19 years of age, one of the biggest stars on the planet. This guy has got 49 million Twitter followers, hits, a movie, a famous ex-girlfriend and a teen following that would make Elvis jealous today. But as we speak here, the long arm of the law finally caught up with pop star Justin Bieber. He was arrested early this morning in Miami Beach, Florida. Take a look at the mug shot. The charges, DUO, resisting arrest, driving with an expired license from Georgia, and on top of all of that, police say the 19-year-old admitted to consuming more than just alcohol.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF RAYMOND MARTINEZ, MIAMI BEACH POLICE: He felt at that time that Mr. Bieber may have been impaired. He was brought to the Miami Beach Police Station where a DUI investigation was conducted. It was determined that he was impaired. During the investigation, Mr. Bieber made statements that he had consumed some alcohol and that he had been smoking marijuana and consumed some prescription medication.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Authorities say it all started this morning just after 4:00 a.m. Bieber and R&B singer Khalil Amir Sharieff were, according to police, racing around this residential neighborhood. Bieber in a Lamborghini, Khalil in a Ferrari. Police say they were going double the speed limit. The speed limit, by the way, 30 miles an hour. That's when police pulled them over. Bieber was given and failed a field sobriety test and he faced a judge moments ago and is behind bars so far on $2,500 bond.
We have Danny Donaduce standing by, who's going to join me in a moment, knows a thing or two about getting into a little trouble and the stardom of being so young. But first Ashleigh Banfield, to you I go, because let's talk legalities here. And I know we have a live picture outside this Miami-Dade jail. Who knows what we could see at any given moment. But when we talk about the charges, Ashleigh Banfield, you know the law well, there could be more.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, ANCHOR, CNN'S "LEGAL VIEW": There can always be more. At the beginning of an investigation, that sometimes is the tip of the iceberg and sometimes it's the end of the story too. But for Justin Bieber, what he was caught doing, Brooke, is effectively the ancillary aspects of drag racing. He's not charged with drag racing, but the police did say he was going double the speed limit, 4:00 in the morning. They allege that he had some block cars stop traffic so that they had a clear run. There was a Lamborghini and a Ferrari that were drag racing. And those were the words of the police officers who gave a news conference and said that they caught these two drag racing vehicles and arrested both of the drivers, alleging both of them are responsible for DUIs and they've both been charged with DUIs.
And then they went further with Bieber because they allege that he was making a very difficult time of his arrest. Not violent, but difficult. The he was dropping a lot of expletives. I've got the arrest warrant right here and, man, it was really dirty, the things that he was saying.
BALDWIN: I - yes.
BANFIELD: And that also he had an expired driver's license. So those are the three misdemeanors combined all together that gave him a higher bail than the other fellow, who was also an artist as well and a colleague of his.
BALDWIN: OK. So Justin Bieber's bail set at $2,500.
BANFIELD: Yes.
BALDWIN: I mean this guy's worth millions. Obviously he can post it.
BANFIELD: It won't be hard to get that money, scrounge it together quickly.
BALDWIN: Not difficult at all. So what do we think is happening? We know it's, you know, turning into this media circus outside of this jail -
BANFIELD: Yes.
BALDWIN: But what paperwork, red tape and then ultimately he's out today, yes?
BANFIELD: So there's potentially two things going on right now, there's the physicality of how to get Bieber back on the street, and it's not your garden variety, you know, jail release because there are helicopters everywhere. There are crazy people who have already shown up with signs that have been printed out saying "free Bieber" and a couple of other choice folks who are doing their thing in front of the cameras. There is a throng of media that showed up at the Miami-Dade jail to try to catch a glimpse of Bieber being released. So there's a safety issue.
Remember when Casey Anthony was released?
BALDWIN: Of course.
BANFIELD: That was troublesome too. There is a safety issue for the officers. There's a safety issue for Justin Bieber. And there's a safety issue for the public at large, including the media, who could get into a throng of trouble as well. So they're trying to establish the logistics there.
He's got to get his paperwork filed. He's got to establish the bond. He's got to pay that bond. Probably get his personal effects back. All this stuff that anybody else who's going through this process would have to do as well. But I wouldn't expect it to happen, you know, right after that appearance. It does take a little bit of work.
Now, on the other side, there's probably more investigation that's going on as we speak. There could be a request for an execution of a warrant on his hotel, because he said he was using -
BALDWIN: Search the hotel room, right.
BANFIELD: Right, he's temporarily in Miami and he admitted to taking prescription pain medication - or prescription medication. So they may be executing a warrant to find out if it's illegal medication. Medication without his name on it. Remember the Rush Limbaugh case.
Incidentally, Brooke, guess who he hired? He hired Rush Limbaugh's lawyer.
BALDWIN: Ha.
BANFIELD: A very, very prominent attorney named Ray Black. He also defended - Roy Black defended William Kennedy Smith in the very famous, infamous case in Florida, as well as Rush Limbaugh and Kelsey Grammar. So he's got a very high powered attorney, a famous attorney who knows how to deal with famous people, famous clients and it begins.
BALDWIN: And so it begins and so we watch.
BANFIELD: Yes.
BALDWIN: Ashleigh Banfield, thank you. Stand by for me.
BANFIELD: OK.
BALDWIN: But, you know, let's talk bigger picture here because Bieber is constantly making headlines a lot lately in a negative way. So this originally squeaky clean teen image is slowly disintegrating and he's not the first child star, of course, to endure this kind of negative spotlight. So joining me now, former child star actor Danny Bonaduce.
Danny Bonaduce, welcome back. Nice to see you, sir.
DANNY BONADUCE, FORMER CHILD ACTOR: Thank you much. Pleasure to be here.
BALDWIN: Hey, can we begin, guys, throw up the mug shot of Justin Bieber because, Danny, this is what I wanted to begin with. I don't know if you've seen this. Justin Bieber in a prison jump suit -
BONADUCE: I have indeed. BALDWIN: A prison jump suit and a smile. What do you think, Danny Bonaduce, when you -
BONADUCE: Oh, it looks like my favorite scene from "Something About Mary" with that crazy hair sticking up on top.
BALDWIN: I know the scene you're referring to.
BONADUCE: I mean the kids got nothing to -
BALDWIN: What do you think he's -
BONADUCE: Thank you. He's got -
BALDWIN: What do you think -
BONADUCE: Well, he knows - if he's smart, to be honest with you, this is -- I wrote a little article called "how to go to jail famous," and it said make a good mug shot. Don't cover up because we're always going to know it's Charlie Sheen. So he's smiling. He's looking good.
But in all seriousness -
BALDWIN: Yes.
BONADUCE: You know, you know what happens when you're a punk pop star, a teenager punk pop star who won't pay attention, you grow up to be David Cassidy. And he's waiting on his - going to be sentenced for his third DUI in Florida. It's a big mistake not to pat attention.
BALDWIN: Danny, you've been in this facility. We have all - we have this live picture of the -
BONADUCE: I've been in that jail, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Miami-Dade Jail. What's it like?
BONADUCE: I've been in that jail.
BALDWIN: Were you in - were you in isolation?
BONADUCE: I absolutely was in isolation. And I wasn't a star. I was dangerously close to hasben (ph) by that time. But I was - I was in isolation. They can't - look, they're responsible for your safety and welfare. They, you know, they can't let anything happen to me. Believe me, they can't let anything happen to the Bieber. They have to protect him. Like that young lady in - was saying about letting him go. Everybody's got to be safe because there's just a pandemonium outside that jail.
BALDWIN: What was it like though, Danny? Take me inside the jail for those of us who have not been, you know, arrested and landed inside this particular jail. Do you at all brush past any of the general population? What's the process like of how -- all the things you endured? BONADUCE: Well, in the time that it took me to get me to seclusion, I was in a cage, but it was that week that I was there, it's biker week and spring break. So it was just a nightmare. I don't know that it was unsafe, but spring break and biker week, I didn't want to be there. And nobody wants to be there, but when you're sitting there, the police were very nice to me, but a lot of news was breaking that I was in that jail. And I don't know if they were being mean or just being informative, but they were playing the news reports that I was in there and it's quite literally sobering. He's realizing at this point -- because I don't think this kid's an idiot, no matter what he's done.
He's got to understand what's happening to his career. Every minute there's another picture of him in an orange jump suit. I saw him at court, totally different attitude than in jail with the smiling mug shot. He was there. He was - you can tell he was getting bummed out, that he was getting an idea of what it's like to be there. And the press is going to be - I've already heard people, a fine young man, Paul Walker, from "Fast & Furious," in a car that looked very similar to his rented Lamborghini. He died playing this game. Nick Hogan, in Florida, took responsibility for killing a guy playing this game and they weren't drunk and they were on (INAUDIBLE). You really, at some point - you know it's a drag like, he's really talented, this guy. He's really talented.
BALDWIN: He's talented, but -
BONADUCE: And instead of people being sad, if and when - go ahead.
BALDWIN: This is incredibly serious because when you think about it, and I know this is after 4:00 in the morning, but when you think of someone -- two people actually according to this police affidavit -- going double the speed, he could have killed someone. He could have killed someone. And you look at -
BONADUCE: He absolutely could have.
BALDWIN: You look at the arch of his career, I think you were beginning -- you mentioned it, but he was squeaky clean. I was watching one of his original YouTube videos just to remind myself to take myself back. It was just a couple of years ago and the, poof, you know, superstardom. And I imagine, and you, Danny, take me back, because I imagine, you know, people in these positions are surrounded by folks who rarely say the word "no."
BONADUCE: Right. Well, I think one of the real tragedies so far -- and who knows what the real tragedy turns out to be - is that I -- this I've heard on the news, that some of his staff were blocking off residential streets so he could drag race. And you know who I've heard was involved in it? His dad. His father. His primary care giver was making it OK so he could race while drunk, while on prescription drugs in a residential area. If that's true, and I've heard it on respectable news channels, including this one, I think that there's a lot of shame to be spread around here. And I don't think it ends with Bieber. I think it ends with his dad, or at least it starts with his dad. Shame on you, man. BALDWIN: Yes. I haven't seen anything about the father, but, yes, to those two black SUVs. It's written up by this police officer in the arrest affidavit.
Danny Bonaduce, thank you so much for joining me.
BONADUCE: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Also breaking today, a huge bust involving real life "Goodfellas" and it involves one of America's biggest unsolved mysteries, a heist at the Lufthansa airport and the chilling moments a grandmother and a little boy are run over. You'll see how it ends, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Federal agents swooped in early today and raided a bunch of spots around New York City, arresting several alleged "Goodfellas." A federal racketeering indictment unsealed just a couple of hours ago reads like a laundry list of crimes right out of a movie. I'm talking about murder, attempted murder, extortion, armored truck heists, and what at the time was the largest robbery in U.S. history, the infamous and as yet unsolved 1978 Lufthansa heist at Kennedy Airport. Yes, the Lufthansa heist. The one in the movie "Goodfellas." Here's CNN's Jason Carroll.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And nobody knows for sure just how much was taken in the daring pre-dawn raid at the Lufthansa Cargo Terminal at Kennedy Airport. The FBI says $2 million. Port Authority Police say $4 million. The city cops say five.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Lufthansa heist, more than $5 million in cash, one million in jewels stolen from New York's JFK Airport in 1978. Immortalized in Martin Scorsese's mob classic "Goodfellas." Now, 36 years later, arrests in New York. Vincent Asaro, a 78-year-old reputed member of the Bonanno crime family, indicted for murder, racketeering and, yes, robbery in connection with the heist. The 26-page federal indictment doesn't read like a screen play, but it does paint a picture of Asaro's life of crime dating back to the late '60s, describing him as a captain, a soldier in the Bonanno crime family, naming him in "the robbery of approximately $5 million in United States currency and a quantity of jewelry having a value of approximately $1 million for one or more employees of Lufthansa Airlines." Four others reputed mobsters also named in the indictment. Their roles, if any in the heist, yet to be determined.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: This case is a legend in American criminal history. And the fact that the authorities believe it's not fully solved, even now, is just amazing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But Henry's going to be in the witness protection program. They're not going to be able to get to him.
CARROLL: Former federal prosecutor Edward McDonald played himself in the movie "Goodfellas."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on you don't know anything. Don't give me the babe in the woods routine, Karen.
CARROLL: In real life, McDonald investigated the heist and sought to bring those responsible to justice. Now the 67-year-old is an attorney at a private firm. When reached by phone, he told me all these years later, he still remembers the media frenzy surrounding the heist.
EDWARD MCDONALD, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR (voice-over): They were fascinated by it. And what was happening was that a lot of the people who were allegedly involved in the robbery in some form, in some way, were turning up dead. And so that just - it sort of incited the tabloid press even more. And, of course, "The Times" and then the national press began to follow it because of all the murders associated with it.
CARROLL: McDonald believes at least eight people connected to the heist were murdered before they could be brought to justice. In an unrelated case just last summer, investigators found human remains of a man in a basement in Queens. Authorities are now charging Asaro with that man's murder. The home, owned by the daughter of the late Jimmy "The Gent" Burke, portrayed by Robert De Niro in the film. It has been widely speculated Burke was also involved in the Lufthansa heist, but never proven. Burke arrested on unrelated charges and died in prison. Asaro is 78 and, if convicted, he too will be living his last days behind bars.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Jason Carroll joins me now.
And, Jason, you mentioned this guy, Asaro, Vincent Asaro. He wasn't in the movie "Goodfellas." He is in court today. Tell me about that.
CARROLL: Yes. That arraignment is happening right now as we speak in downtown Manhattan. The charges against Asaro and those other four men will be read in open court. They'll likely enter a plea, Brooke, which will, in all likelihood, be not guilty. And then a determination will be made in terms of what type of bail, if any, they will face.
But, you know, after reading through this indictment, the charges against Asaro are so specific, investigators are saying that he was supposed to have receive $750,000 for his role in the Lufthansa heist. As you know, much of that money, those millions of dollars, were never ever recovered.
What's also interesting to read, when you look at the indictment, is that Asaro, remember, 78 years old, but he was by no means a retiree. According to the indictment, investigators say that he was committing crimes all the way up until last year. Loretta Lynch (ph) -
BALDWIN: Huh.
CARROLL: Yes, the U.S. attorney in all this, choosing her words very carefully said, "these goodfellas thought that they had a license to steal, a license to kill and licenses to do whatever they wanted. However, today's arrests of the five members of the Bonanno crime family brings an end to their violent and their ruthless ways.
Brooke.
BALDWIN: How about that. Jason Carroll, thank you.
And he wanted to father a child, but not be a dad. Now a sperm donor in Kansas has to pay child support. Our Topeka affiliate, WIBW, reports a judge just came down with that ruling ordering a donor by the name of William Marotta to pay child support. You see, Marotta initially answered a Craigslist ad from this gay couple. They wanted a baby. The women separated. One went on public assistance and so that's when the state of Kansas stepped in. They sought out Marotta saying he should help provide for his biological daughter. Back in January of last year, Marotta talked to our own correspondent Victor Blackwell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: If you are found to have to, after this lawsuit -- or after this effort to get you to pay child support, you have to pay child support, will you then go after visitation rights and kind of fill out the role of a father?
WILLIAM MAROTTA: No, because I'm not her parent. That's Jennifer and Angie.
BLACKWELL: OK. Would you, knowing what you know now, do it again? Would you respond to the Craigslist ad?
MAROTTA: Probably not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin, our legal analyst, joining me on the case.
And so, you know, listen, this opens up a whole can because if you are a man, you want to donate your sperm, should you be worried that you could be at risk of paying child support?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, we know this is only -- this ruling at this point, Brooke, is only limited to Kansas and so people in Kansas certainly should be concerned if they want to participate this kind of arrangement. Kansas law is very, very clear and it is statutory that if you want to be a sperm donor, you have to be under the care of a physician. And we know why that would be, right, because you want to make sure that people are screened for venereal diseases and the like. And so, in Kansas, it's all statutory, very, very clear.
In other states, there are different laws. But in most states, Brooke, sperm donors are not considered the legal parent, but there are statutes that really, I think, outlined and designate what the procedure should be. And just like this gentlemen said, had he the opportunity -
BALDWIN: Known what he knew now. HOSTIN: To do it over again -
BALDWIN: Nope.
HOSTIN: He would not.
People are saying, though, that there could be this chilling effect because we know that at least in Kansas same-sex couples, it costs them about $3,000 to participate in this sort of regimen with a physician. And so that is why many couples choose this route, the Craigslist route, the sort of private contract route. And it just doesn't seem to work in many states, including Kansas.
BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin, thank you very much.
Coming up, the other famous executive at FaceBook is now a billionaire with a "b." We will tell you how Sheryl Sandberg got so rich and the other women in the billionaire's club. That's coming up.
Plus, a husband and wife hit machine is calling it quits.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Now to some the hottest stories in a flash. "Rapid Fire." Roll it.
We begin here with the NSA's practice of collecting data on nearly every U.S. phone call is not legal. That's the ruling by a privacy review board established by Congress. And how about this, the board also finding only one incident where the program actually helped authorities track down the terrorist. One time in seven years of phone tapping. Next hour we have a live report as NSA leaker Edward Snowden holds a live chat for the very first time. So stand by for that.
Also today, al Qaeda's leader is urging militants in Syria to stop fighting with one another and start working together. The purported message coming from Ayman al-Zawahri was posted on jihadi websites. On the face of this, the video seems to support the president of Syria. Bashar al Assad has insisted terrorists are behind the violence in Syria. The video's authenticity, though, cannot be independently verified by CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPTAIN & TINNILLE (singing): Look in my heart and that love will keep us together, whatever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The hit song that made Captain & Tennille famous sadly did not ring true for the husband and wife music sensation. The couple, whose real names are Daryl Dragon and Cathryn Antoinette Tennille, are divorcing after 39 years of marriage. The song you just heard, "Love Will Keep Us Together" was a smash hit in the '70s. Depresca (ph), Arizona, city courthouse told website Rumor Fix that Tennille filed for divorce a week ago. Captain told TMZ he doesn't know why she did it.
FaceBook's Sheryl Sandberg is adding a special new word to her long list of accomplishments, that being billionaire. Women who are self- made billionaires still are very rare, even in 2014. Our own Christine Romans takes a look at Sandberg's climb into the exclusive club of female billionaires.
Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, she's one of the youngest female billionaires ever. It's FaceBook's Sheryl Sandberg. She hit the billion dollar mark this week because FaceBook stock closed at a record high. The 44-year-old chief operating officer owns about $750 million in FaceBook shares. She's already sold some $300 million worth since the company's initial public offering back in 2012.
Sandberg joined FaceBook back in 2008 after working at Google. Before that, she was the chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. "Fortune" magazine ranked her as the fifth most powerful woman in business.
Female billionaires, they're still relatively rare. "Forbes" said last year there were only 138 female billionaires worldwide. There are a total of 1,400. Sandberg now joins the ranks of Oprah Winfrey, Meg Whitman, Tory Burch and Spanx's Sara Blakely. Only 1.7 percent of all billionaires are self-made women and only 17 percent of the women on the "Forbes" list got there without inheriting a big chunk of money. Self-made may be a good way to describe Sandberg. The high achiever isn't just busy these days as COO, but she also serves on the board of Walt Disney and wrote a bestselling book last year called "Lean In." Maybe you've heard of it.
Brooke.
BALDWIN: I think I have. Christine Romans, thank you very much.
You know his movie made $90 million at the box office and this guy is up for an Oscar for best supporting actor for "The Wolf of Wall Street." But Jonah Hill was paid in peanuts in Hollywood terms. You'll hear why.
And, look at this, a car plows into a woman and this little boy. Here it happened. Miraculously they both survive. WE have the details behind that video and other incredible videos of the day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)