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CNN Live At Daybreak

Worlds's Most Wanted: Hunting the Terrorists

Aired October 18, 2001 - 08:48   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: As you probably remember, the FBI has unveiled a list of what it says are international terrorists. It's willing to pay as much as $5,000,000 for every terrorist turned in. Some of the terrorists may be living this country. Others may be overseas. Tracking a terrorist, as you may imagine, is very tough work. We have two guests with firsthand experience. One is veteran bounty hunter Bob Burton. Burton's book inspired the Robert De Niro movie "Midnight Run." He has also consulted on cases, including the hunt for accused abortion clinic bomber Eric Rudolph. Our another guest this morning is a bounty hunter we will call "Anthony." We obviously have him in silhouette today for the obvious reasons. We would want to do nothing to compromise his anonymity. They join us from Tucson, Arizona.

Welcome, gentlemen. Thank you for being with us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

ZAHN: Bob, I would like to start would you this morning. First of all, how many bounty hunters are assigned that are under your direct management to find terrorists in this country?

BOB BURTON, NATL. INST. OF BAIL ENFORCEMENT: We have roughly 2,400 agents, of which maybe 20, 25 or 30 are qualified to penetrate this group. They are Arab-Americans. They primarily live in the Northeast. They have a full to a partial command of the languages of that area, including Farse (ph) see and Arabic, of course, and many of them are working the case actively as we speak. Bear in mind that this is a very tough ethnic group to penetrate.

ZAHN: All right, and given the fact that the FBI hasn't been able to get to these guys, what are the chances that your bounty hunters will have any success?

BURTON: Ironically, we have a very good chance, for many reasons. One, the people that live in these communities have fled from police states in many cases. They have a longtime resentment, fear of police agencies, ours included. Many times they will share their feelings with a fellow Arab, albeit a bounty hunter, but they'll share their feelings with a citizen more so than a uniformed officer. Also, there is the incentive of the reward, and they feel they have a better chance of getting a piece of the reward going to a private individual.

ZAHN: Anthony what is your goal?

"ANTHONY," BOUNTY HUNTER: My goal basically is the same. I am doing my job as I do always. It's just in this kind of situation, keeping the national security of this country is my main concern, obviously because I live here, and I believe that myself and several other people that I am working with have the ability to capture these people just because of I know and certain other people know how they think, how they talk, what they do, from the background experience I have as a native Egyptian.

ZAHN: All right, so, Anthony, help us better understand this morning how you penetrate these communities. Do you take on a different identity? Do you change the way you look in any way?

"ANTHONY": Right. We do everything we can, under the law, and remember the laws of -- the rules to engage in bounty hunting is different from law enforcement. There are certain things that law enforcement cannot do unfortunately we have the ability to do. What do I do exactly to catch these people, I'm not going to divulge on national television, because I don't want to jeopardize what we are doing, but I can assure you that what we are doing is going will be undetected, unnoticed and surprising.

ZAHN: And do you have the support of the FBI, or police agencies, Anthony, in this work that are you trying to do?

"ANTHONY": Absolutely, we get the support all the time. I mean, we get the support regardless of the job we do. We help them, they help us, and when it comes down to bail enforcement or fugitive recovery, it is a team effort, but obviously, in this case, there is going to be much more support than anybody imagined, because everybody wants to make sure they get caught.

ZAHN: And, Bob, obviously we are not going to put you in the position where we divulge exactly what these guys are going to do to track down these terrorists, but before we leave you this morning, just give us a much better sense -- you talked about how many of these bounty hunters speak the language. They are able to blend in, in these communities, but give us some more insights as to how they do their work?

BOB BURTON, NATL. INST. OF BAIL ENFORCEMENT: Well, many times, there is no necessity to penetrate the communities. The communities are open. They are willing to talk to a fellow Arab-American. Many times these Arab communities have spent -- the inhabitants have spent thousands of dollars and dozen of years building up there American legacy. They do not want to have it torn down by these Arab terrorists. They will approach our agents. Our agents may approach them, and they will share information as simple as, you know, there was someone that looked like that photo in that motel two weeks ago. That little tidbit of information will eventually lead to a trail. It will help law enforcement. It might help us, but it's simply a gathering of data put together in a package that might create a bonified trail.

ZAHN: And, Anthony, I can hear in your voice just how committed you are to what you are doing. How much was the lure was the $5,000,000 for each terrorist turned in?

"ANTHONY": To tell you the truth, it wasn't a lure at all. In this situation itself, I am not looking at the money at all, because we are talking about national security, we are talking about a nation that is jeopardized, and since I live in this nation, and I want nothing to happen to anybody close to me or any other fellow citizens, I am doing this without the money in my mind. The first and foremost thing for me is security. The money we can talk about later.

ZAHN: Well, we wish both of you tremendous luck. Anthony and Bob Burton, thank you for joining us this morning. It's absolutely fascinating.

BURTON: Thank you.

"ANTHONY": Thank you.

ZAHN: Thank you for joining us.

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