Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Sunday

Vice President Cheney Accidentally Shoots Hunting Companion; Author Peter Benchley Dies; Church Fire has Alabama Residents on Edge; Four Inmates Still at Large; Videotape of British Soldiers Beating Iraqis Released; Cartoon Riots Continue

Aired February 12, 2006 - 18:59   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: It is one for the record books. Ahead in this hour, we are track a relentless nor'easter that's bringing everything in its path to a grinding halt.
And Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shoots a hunting partner. We'll have the latest, the very latest from the White House.

Plus, the face of the modern-day mafia. I'm going to talk with one man who went under cover with the mob for 20 years.

It is February 12th and you're watching CNN LIVE SUNDAY. I'm Carol Lin.

To our top story in just a moment, but first, these are the stories making news right now.

Dick Cheney's office says the vice president accidentally shot and injured a man during a hunting trip in Texas. We are live in Washington for the very latest on this developing story.

Peter Benchley, the author of "Jaws," is dead. Benchley terrified swimmers with his 1974 novel that later became a blockbuster movie. Benchley died from scarring of the lungs at the age of 65.

Socked in. A raging snowstorm paralyzes travel across the northeast. Ahead, we're going to take you to the cities hardest hit and let you know whether the snow will let up for the start of the work week.

And then there were 10. Another Baptist church goes up in flames in Alabama. Now investigators have an idea of who is responsible. We are live at the scene of the latest fire, ahead.

Under scrutiny. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is vowing to investigate a video purportedly showing British troops beating three Iraqis. The incident videotaped early in 2004.

More on this story coming up a little later.

Our top story now. Vice President Dick Cheney is spending some time at a hospital today, but it has nothing to do with his past health problems. Cheney is visiting a hunting companion whom he accidentally shot and wounded this weekend. CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash on that story. Dana, have you learned any more about what happened out there?

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we do have more details, Carol, about the incident that happened yesterday at about 5:30 Texas time on Saturday. It happened at a ranch called the Armstrong Ranch. The vice president, as you said, is an avid hunter, he has been there many times. He was quail hunting. And in the entourage was a man named Harry Whittington, a 78-year-old lawyer from Austin, Texas.

And apparently Mr. Whittington stayed behind looking for a bird that he had shot. Mr. Cheney and somebody else in the group went ahead. And Mr. Whittington didn't announce himself. So the vice president didn't know he was there, and from 30 yards away, he peppered him with a birdshot, did not realize what had happened until Mr. Whittington fell to the ground according to an eyewitness, Catherine Armstrong whose family owns the ranch.

Mr. Whittington fell to the ground but did not lose consciousness. Was bleeding from being peppered by the birdshot from his eye down to his shoulder to his chest. The vice president, as you know, Carol, travels with quite an entourage. His Secret Service detail, medical personnel all rushed to Mr. Whittington's side as did the vice president. And tried to aid him before the ambulance came.

Now, Mr. Whittington, we believe he is still in serious condition but stable at a hospital in Corpus Christi. And in fact, the vice president did visit him today and according to a spokeswoman found him in good spirits. Now this incident, as we've been talking about, happened yesterday. But we didn't find out about it until just a few hours ago, Carol.

LIN: It was a big surprise. Dana, thank you.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching CNN, your severe weather headquarters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love a nor'easter. Like it, nor'easters!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: That's the positive spin on the massive snowstorm pounding the Northeast right now. Many other people are not as thrilled. In fact, conditions are down right dangerous. The nor'easter disrupting lives from Washington to Boston. Up to two feet of snow have fallen in some places. Air travel is a mess with hundreds of flights canceled and tens of thousands of people have no power.

We will have full coverage of the storm. Our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is tracking the system from the CNN Weather Center. First Chris Huntington is in New York where the nor'easter has broken a record. Chris?

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, that's right. In Central Park, I'm in Prospect Park in Brooklyn but across the East River over in Central Park 26.9 inches measured right in Midtown Manhattan, an all time record for the Big Apple. Snowfall, that is.

Here in Brooklyn, easily two feet of snow on the ground. And earlier today, it was horizontal blowing, a serious blizzard making it very, very tricky, downright dangerous as you said for travel on the roads in the metro New York area. We saw the buses, taxis that were out skidding around, some of them getting pretty locked up and snarled up. Road crews doing their best.

But frankly, for most of the day, fighting a losing battle. Everything they would plow would just fall back in or blow back into the pathways they had cleared. Still, though, it is Sunday, and that means a lot of people had time to enjoy the snow. We caught up, in fact, with a crowd of people who had planned for quite some time apparently to have a 5 K running race. Of course, they got out here and there was two feet of snow on the ground. A couple of them had the race anyway. Including a marine on leave from Oahu who said it was just a terrific day for him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was great. I wish it was a 10 K. I mean, it's exciting. I mean, the snow doesn't bother me at all. It's a little bit slippery, but it's just like beach running.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTINGTON: Now he, of course, is not the only person out enjoying himself today. Here in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, hundreds of people sledding throughout the afternoon. It has stopped snowing now and there are still folks sledding by street lights in the park right now.

But Carol, as you mentioned, a travel nightmare in this area. The airports were locked up all day long. No flights coming in or out of Newark, LaGuardia or Kennedy. They've only just opened up in the last hour. But flights are backed up around the country, indeed, around the world. And we're hearing about cancellations for tomorrow. Mayor Bloomberg, mayor of New York City here, promises a normal commute for tomorrow and says the road crews will be out all night long doing what they can to clear the surface roads.

Metro North, the main northbound rail system should be running smoothly and same promise for the Long Island Railroad. So the mass transit systems promise to have pretty much a good day tomorrow to handle the bulk of the commute. But we'll have to see how that goes on. I've can tell you I've got some family members trying to fly in here. And they're going to have a hard time even just making it in tomorrow.

LIN: What are you going to tell them? Because I've got friends trying to get to New York tomorrow, too. If it's discretionary, do you think they should even try?

HUNTINGTON: I don't think it's a matter of safety in terms of the weather. Because it is clear. But simply just getting all that air traffic unsnarled, I mean, frankly for my family members trying to get here, they're playing planes, trains and automobiles. They're flying to airports that they can, getting rental cars, things like that. Don't count on a normally scheduled flight in and out of New York City anytime early tomorrow morning.

LIN: OK. Boy, your family must want to see you, Chris. Thanks very much.

Well, Cape Cod is feeling the wrath of this major winter blast. Our chief national correspondent John King is in Chatham, Massachusetts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Blizzard conditions and blizzard warnings till late in the night here in Chatham, Massachusetts and all along Cape Cod. Remarkably, though, we've checked with authorities here and up the cape all the way to Provincetown. They report no major damage, no major problems. At least so far late into the night. The snow is continuing to accumulate. A foot or so on the ground, again continuing to accumulate, one of the problems here is with the wind swirling all day. As you get drifts, a lot of drifts of this light powdery snow blowing around.

One of the concerns, of course, along the coastline is coastal flooding. We saw moderate flooding at high tide on the fish pier in Chatham, but those waters have receded. Across town, the threat of flooding perhaps to close Route 28, the main road through town. The police chief said the waters didn't reach the road there either.

Pretty hardy souls here in town. This is about 7,000 people live here in Chatham year round. It swells to about 30,000 when it is a summer resort, obviously, as Cape Cod is in the summertime. Those in town say they'll bear this out. It is spectacularly beautiful. Again, no major problems reported. The usual delays. Whiteout conditions throughout the day making the driving tough. But most who live here say it's a challenge, not a crisis. It's February. It's supposed to snow. John King, CNN in Chatham, Massachusetts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: It's supposed to snow. All right. Well, this much? Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras tracking the storm and she joins us live from the CNN Weather Center. Jacqui?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Carol.

Yeah, we have been so spoiled. And this is a little bit more typical of what winter should be like, how we do tend to get several nor'easters per year. And this is really just our first one. The good news is the brunt of the storm is over and done with for everybody, though we're still dealing with very nasty conditions, especially where John King is out on the cape here and also extending on up into Maine.

Right at the top of the hour, all of the warnings have been expired for Boston, down towards Providence and over into the Hartford area. So watch for improving conditions there as we progress through the rest of the evening.

New York, you have been done with the wet weather for quite a while now. The winds have calmed down significantly between about eight and 12 miles per hour. And you can expect those winds to continue to die down for tonight. We'll take you up here into New England. There you can see just a few snow showers continuing. Winds in Providence way down compared to where you were as well as into Boston, now 17 miles per hour. We are looking at 30-35 miles per hour earlier. Still pretty brutal out there in the Cape, Hyannis reporting 25-30 mile per hour winds still at this hour.

Couple flurries so you maybe have another half an hour or so to go with any type of accumulating snow and that's about it. Warnings are set to expire here into parts of Maine probably after the midnight hour.

How much snowfall did we get? Well, those numbers continue to come in. We just heard about that record from Chris out of New York City, 26.9, that's the heaviest all-time one snowstorm record. That's a lot of snow, two feet of that, believe it or not, just fell in the last 24 hours, just today, not to mention what we have yesterday. So you might be asking yourself, why did New York City get more than two feet of snow while almost everybody else saw snowfall amounts more like 10, 15 inches?

Well, there's something called thunder snow. Meteorologist Dave Hennen here to explain that for us. Dave?

DAVE HENNEN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Thanks, Jacqui. We're looking at some of the observations here earlier today. 5:00 this morning, LaGuardia reporting a temperature 21 degrees and thunder snow. What exactly is thunder snow? Just like it sounds, it's a thunderstorm with snow. So instead of rain coming out, it's snow coming out. And think of thunderstorm, it rains really hard. It's the same thing in thunder snow. It snows really hard. A thunderstorm with snow.

In these systems, in snowstorms, this is pretty rare. Less than one percent of the snow storms actually report thunder snow. But they are capable of producing very heavy snow amounts per hour. So in heavy snow we think of one inch an hour as being pretty significant snowfall. In thunder snow, we can see four or more inches an hour. So in the couple of hours today we saw the heaviest snowfall in New York City, we probably picked up eight to 10 inches snow in that couple of hours between 5:00 and 7:00 this morning, which is why we have this incredible total of snowfall. In fact, in Louisville in 1994, they actually picked up 24 inches of snow from thunder snow alone with a particular storm. So I just looked, Carol, by the way, on our Titan weather system. No lightning reported anywhere in the Northeast which, as Jacqui showed you, is a good sign that this storm is beginning to wind down.

LIN: Thunder snow. Sounds like the next Hollywood blockbuster.

HENNEN: Right. Exactly. LIN: Thanks, Dave.

HENNEN: OK.

LIN: Well, the storm means lots of flight cancellations and some airport closures. Rally Caparas from Travelocity Business is keeping track of them for you. He joins me on the phone. Rally, for folks trying to get out tonight, any hope?

RALLY CAPARAS, TRAVELOCITY BUSINESS (on phone): Well, Carol, I'd have to say at this point no, if they're not airborne then it's unlikely they'll get to their final destinations if they're headed to the Northeast.

The good news, however, is that all of the major airports in the Northeast are now open excluding New York's LaGuardia Airport. New York/LaGuardia will not be opening until 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. They do have a curfew they deal with. And it didn't seem reasonable to try to get the airport cleaned enough to allow just the few airplanes that could get in and out.

Places like Newark and JFK seeing four and five airplanes an hour. It's not going to help the catch-up situation. You can expect delays as Chris Huntington told you moments ago, you can expect major delays and possibly even cancellations to continue on into tomorrow. But by tomorrow evening, we should start to see things getting back to normal at those major metro hubs.

LIN: So it's going to be a full day before this thing washes out of the system?

CAPARAS: Yes, Carol. There were somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 flights canceled to those major airports in the Northeast today. And as a result, we have crews and equipment that are displaced. They are all over the place. They're in safer havens away from the snow and the storm. And now they have to get them back into place. However, because of the buildup of the snow and the shutdown of the runways and the snow removal that you see going on on the screen there, all day long, they've been unable to get those pieces and those people into the appropriate places to accommodate a full schedule. So you'll see that start to take place tomorrow afternoon.

LIN: Might be a lot of teleconferencing on Monday. Rally, thank you.

CAPARAS: Sure.

LIN: Tune in tonight at 10:00 Eastern. We are going to have the latest travel advisories. Because, of course, all of this can change. And "AMERICAN MORNING" will pick up coverage at 6:00 Eastern tomorrow morning.

Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien will bring you all the latest airport delays and any other traffic headaches caused by the storm.

Now, three jailbreaks in less than a year at the same place as the hunt for four escaped inmates goes on right now, an Illinois sheriff is facing some tough questions. We're going to have a live report in 30 minutes.

And one of America's most decorated skaters decides whether she is going to leave the Olympics. Hear what Michelle Kwan said today to reporters in Torino.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rusty Dornin in Beaverton, Alabama where investigators want the arsonists to give them a call. We'll tell you how they're trying to do that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Well, nothing drives home the big story other than the pictures. Look at this, the snow that fell in New York City. They got over two feet of snow, setting a record. We are going to keep you on top of this nor'easter. Because I know a lot of you will be traveling hopefully tonight but maybe even tomorrow morning. And we're going to have the latest for you throughout the evening.

In the meantime, another big story we've been tracking. These church fires in the South. It happened again. Another church has been burned in rural Alabama. This one late yesterday in the town of Beaverton. The tenth in less than two weeks.

Authorities say all of the fires were deliberately set. Our Rusty Dornin is following the investigation in Beaverton. Rusty, you got a chance to talk with some of the folks there.

DORNIN: Yeah, Carol, the main ATF agent here is saying look, in my gut, I feel like this fire is linked to these other nine, but they're stopping short of saying absolutely. Here at the Beaverton Free Will Baptist Church, pretty much entirely gutted. We just can show you the outside of one of the walls. The stuff you see hanging melted is the outside vinyl of the church. Now, all that was left really were the walls. The whole inside was completely gutted.

An alarm was set off, which meant firefighters got here very quickly, leaving enough evidence to give the investigators a pretty good idea of how it started.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CAVANAUGH, ATF SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: When people see these two guys, they're going to say you always see them together. They're Frick and Frack. Anytime you see one, there's the other. That's the way I think the neighbors or relatives would view them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORNIN: That was talking about the two suspects they do believe were involved in these fires, meantime, of course, the parishioners and the pastor did go to another church in the community to have services. The pastor here, Dwight Bailey, says this is going to be a very tough thing to get over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. DWIGHT BAILEY, BEAVERTON FREE WILL BAPTIST CHURCH: I was devastated. That's been part of my life for a little over 10 years. It's just to me, it was just like a death in the family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORNIN: I did walk through the church ruins with the pastor a short time ago. He found some coins that they were collecting for the kids to take on a trip. He's really heartbroken about this as are many of the folks here. Meantime, the investigators made an interesting plea asking the arsonists to call them, e-mail them, write them, just if they have a message, the investigators want to hear it. They even called out and said if you're stressed out, talk to us. Look, no one has been injured in these fires. If you're having problems, talk to us. So it will be interesting to see if that works or not. Carol?

LIN: Thanks, Rusty. Interesting indeed.

Keeping alert for anything suspicious, people in Alabama are trying to keep their churches safe. Aubrey Cash lives right across from the Tabernacle Methodist Church in Bibb County and joins us now by telephone. Mr. Cash?

AUBREY CASH, LIVES ACROSS FROM CHURCH (on phone): Yes, ma'am.

LIN: How are you feeling these days? I mean, just yesterday, another church fire they've determined is arson.

CASH: Just disgusted with the whole situation.

LIN: Does it make you nervous?

CASH: Yes, ma'am.

LIN: Here you are in the crosshair. I mean, you've got a church across the street, you're about a half mile away from one of the churches that burned in Bibb County.

CASH: Yes, ma'am.

LIN: So how does this affect people there? I mean, we've heard that some people are taking patrols to try to protect some churches?

CASH: Yon (ph) patrols. I sleep very lightly. Up all hours of the night, listen for my dogs to bark. If there is the least bit of barking, I jump up out of bed and check to see if there's anyone across the road at the church. Because you realize that you're dealing with people that are not in their right frame of mind or they would not be doing these things.

LIN: Mr. Cash, but you're talking about crazy people, but these crazy people could be your neighbors. These are people who know those back roads. CASH: Absolutely. Otherwise, they could not have achieved what they did because I've lived here all my life. And those roads are - they're not marked, they're not named. And if you don't know them by the bridges and the crooks and turns then you can't drive those roads at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning and go hurriedly from one place to the other.

LIN: So how has that affected people's relationships? Are people looking at one another suspiciously wondering if they're the arsonist or if they know someone who is?

CASH: No, you're just watching for usual things and people traveling at unusual hours.

LIN: Uh-huh. Aubrey Cash, I know these are trying times out there in Bibb County. We wish you the best and hope all your sanctuaries stay safe.

CASH: Thank you.

LIN: We're staying on top of this story as well.

Now, there is outrage over shocking new video out of Iraq. Have you seen this? British soldiers caught on tape beating three young Iraqi men. And a heartbreaking decision for skater Michelle Kwan. The details from Torino when CNN LIVE SUNDAY comes back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: One of Team USA's favorite athletes is out at the Olympics. A recurring injury forced Michelle Kwan to abandon her quest for gold today. CNN's Mark McKay has reaction from Torino.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK MCKAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A solemn Michelle Kwan announced that her Torino Olympic experience is now over. The five-time world champion picked up a new injury to her hip during her first training session on Saturday, prompting a late night decision to withdraw from the Winter Games.

MICHELLE KWAN, U.S. FIGURE SKATER: You know, after yesterday, going on the ice, feeling stiff, and doing a triple flip and pulling my groin again just -- I don't think that I can be 100 percent and I respect the Olympics too much to compete, and I don't feel that I can be at my best.

MCKAY: Kwan's emotional exit from these games now presents an opportunity for Emily Hughes, the younger sister of 2002 Olympic champion Sarah Hughes and the third-place finisher at the U.S. nationals arrives here later in the week. Mark McKay, CNN, Torino.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Team USA has grabbed its second gold. Snowboarding superstar Shaun White, okay everybody's yelling in here. Everybody OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

LIN: All right, superstar Shaun White AKA the flying tomato because of his hair. Can't see it there but it's red. He won in the men's half-pipe today. Danny Kass took silver locking a U.S. sweep for the top two spots.

Now, France's Antoine Deneriaz won gold in the men's downhill. American Bode Miller finished at disappointing fifth. Miller says he felt he lost his grip in the last three turns. He's such a wild skier. Who would know he lost his grip?

All right. Illinois inmates break out of jail. Up next, we are going to have a live report on the hunt for the four wanted men.

The son of one of America's most infamous mafia dons gets ready to stand trial. Is this latest Gotti prosecution further evidence of the mob's demise?

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And a different kind of trial. The trials of passengers trying to get from here to there after the big storm. This is Gary Nurenberg at National Airport in Washington. A live report coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Now in the news, Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a friend during a quail hunting trip. It happened yesterday at a ranch in South Texas. The ranch owner says Cheney was firing at a bird and accidentally sprayed his companion with pellets of birdshot, hitting him in the chest and head. Seventy-eight-year- old Harry Whittington is hospitalized in stable condition.

Author Peter Benchley has died. He is perhaps best known for his 1974 novel "Jaws" which inspired the blockbuster film of the same name. Benchley's family says the writer died at his New Jersey home from fatal lung disease. He was 65 years old.

The Northeast is trying to dig out from this weekend's crippling snowstorm. Some areas got more than two feet of snow. Almost 27 inches fell in New York City and that is a record. Tens of thousands of people are now without power.

And thousands of travelers are stranded, several airports closed today and many flights have been canceled or delayed. We're going to have a live report from one of the country's busiest airports straight ahead.

An effort is underway to stop the eviction of 12,000 hurricane evacuee families still living in federally funded hotels. FEMA has ordered the evacuees to move out by tomorrow but a legal motion filed today claims many of the evacuees didn't know about that deadline until recently. It requests the suspensions be suspended.

Now back to the winter storm pounding the Northeast. There is a good chance of no school tomorrow for many kids in the region. Snow is simply everywhere, and lots of it from New York to Boston to Philadelphia. Washington has also been walloped. CNN's Gary Nurenberg is there. Gary, what's the situation on the ground?

NURENBERG: Well, Carol, you talked about the airports in the United States that have been closed because of the storm here on the East Coast. Washington's Reagan National Airport was one of them. It closed at 7:00 this morning after a night where the storm dumped two inches of snow an hour on the runways here.

Local crews tried to keep up but couldn't. The airport was closed at about 7:00 for about four hours. All flights in and out canceled. Passengers scrambled to make other arrangements, gave up and went home or jumped in a cab to get to Union Station to try to get a train to where they were going. It wasn't just passengers, of course, who were put through the inconvenience. Listen to one family member talk about waiting for her sister.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She left Kansas at like 6:00 this morning to come visit me and our new baby. And she got stranded in Baltimore. They keep pushing the time back from where she's going to arrive here. And so we finally got a call saying she's in Baltimore. So we're going to drive up there and pick her up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NURENBERG: Go up there and pick her up. Shortly after 11:00, go up there and pick her up in the snow. Shortly after 11:00 the airport opened once again shortly after 11:00. And we've looked at recent arrival and departure boards here. More flights are getting in and out.

The storm moved up the East Coast and by early afternoon, it was clear and sunny in Washington as many Washingtonians came out to enjoy the rare site of iconic national monuments surrounded by the snow. It was after the snow hit hard for many simply a fun day. But that was not true for passengers here at the airport, Carol. Many of them still are not tonight where they want to be.

LIN: Yeah, so what are you predicting for morning rush hour, Gary?

NURENBERG: You know, it's hard to say. One good thing about the storm, road crews had a chance to clear many of the roads because it was a weekend and the roads weren't crowded. Many of the major thorough fares were clean by late afternoon. This rush hour tomorrow may not be nearly as bad as we suspected it would in the middle of the storm be during what would have been rush hour today.

LIN: Yeah. You bet. All right, Gary, thank you. And of course, CNN is going to track the nor'easter and keep you up-to-date all night long as your severe weather headquarters.

An all-out search is underway for four fugitives who broke out of a Chicago jail. The men, one of whom is charged with murder, apparently escaped by overpowering a guard. Following developments live in Chicago is Keith Oppenheim. CNN's Keith Oppenheim. Keith, how did this happen again?

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, I'll tell you that the Cook County sheriff, Michael Sheehan says he is taking full responsibility for security lapses at the jail. And he's facing a lot of pressure and questions, Carol, because this is the third escape attempt at the Cook County jail since June.

Let's go back to the pictures of the four escapees, Tyrone Everhart, Eric Bernard, Michael McIntosh, in the upper right-hand corner you can see Francis Romero, who was charged with murder. Police say the breakout happened around midnight in a maximum security area of the jail when an inmate named Patrel Doss (ph) throws hot soapy water on a jail guard in the shower area, holds him at bay with a knife, handcuffs the guard and opens the electronic jail cell doors to let six other inmates out. This guy, Doss, an inmate who started the whole thing, tries to escape but is caught. The six others set a small fire, overpower the guards, swipe some keys and according to the authorities then they get out into the street. Early this morning, two of the prisoners responded and captured because an alert police officer in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago, saw inmates Arnold Joyner and David Earnest. Office Don Carver described the arrest of Joyner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER DAWN CARVER, OAK PARK POLICE: Just quit running, told him to put his hands up. He put his hands up and he was completely compliant I guess.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he say anything else to you about what he had been doing.

CARVER: He didn't say anything. He didn't talk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did he look?

CARVER: Kind of disappointed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: And by the way, Carol, one of the escapees, Tyrone Everhart, this guy is still on the loose, he has a father who is a sheriff's office captain who works at the jail. But authorities say the father is in no way suspected of aiding in this escape. Carol?

LIN: It's crazy that the Cook County Jail is having all these problems. Thanks much, Keith.

Well, Gotti is one of the most notorious names in org organized crime. Tomorrow John Gotti Jr. returns to court to face charges again. In a near fatal attack on a radio talk show host. The man repeatedly criticized Gotti's late father on air. This retrial is once again shining the spotlight on what many say is the fading influence of the mafia. Our Chris Huntington reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMES GANDOLFINI, ACTOR: We are a family.

HUNTINGTON: Tony Soprano may look like the face of the modern- day mafia, but he's only a character on TV.

GANDOLFINI: So we've got to deal with this as a family.

HUNTINGTON: Real life mafia dons are harder to find. John Gotti, the last of the alleged big mob bosses died in prison in 2002. The U.S. government says after that, Gotti's son John Junior took over as head of the Gambino crime family. He may have the name but certainly not the fame his father did. Gotti Junior's lawyer says his client left organized crime years ago.

CHARLES CARNESI, JOHN GOTTI, JR.'S LAWYER: He's acknowledged that he was at one time a high ranking official within the Gambino crime family. He's also taken very genuine steps to walk away from that life.

HUNTINGTON: In 1999, Gotti Junior pleaded guilty to extortion and served six years in prison. But the government wasn't finished, and two years ago, charged him with ordering the 1992 beating and near fatal shooting of Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels and radio talk show host who regularly criticized John Gotti Sr.

CURTIS SLIWA, GUARDIAN ANGELS: He summons his son, who was running the family in his absence, and says you shot that guy up. So they tried it with the baseball bats, busted me up, didn't work. Then he summoned them because I ratcheted it up started talking more about the Gottis and Gambinos. He said look, you silence him. That's when they put the plot together in which I ended up in a cab getting shot multiple times and diving out.

HUNTINGTON: Gotti Junior's first trial ended with a hung jury. And he is still pleading not guilty.

CARNESI: Our position is that the allegations are in fact false.

HUNTINGTON: Sliwa says he can't wait to testify against Gotti Junior in the second trial.

SLIWA: I want to stare and glare at him as he sits there at the defense table and I want to see him squirm.

HUNTINGTON: Former New York City prosecutor John Moscow says Gotti Junior's retrial is another sign of the mafia's decline that accelerated when Sammy the Bull Gravano turned state's evidence against John Gotti Sr. more than a decade ago.

JOHN MOSCOW, FORMER NYC PROSECUTOR: Sammy the Bull testifying is the date following which no one could rely on the loyalty of their supposed friends. There was a time when the New York mafia was a major political force, a major economic force, and a constant presence in the lives of most of our citizens. They are now just organized groups of criminals without the same access that permitted them for so long to get away with so much.

HUNTINGTON: As for John Gotti Jr., he says he's connected to the mob in name only. A name he's trying to clear. Chris Huntington, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Now, we have the inside story, former FBI agent Joe Pistone knows organized crime well, he's the real life Donny Brasco who worked undercover, infiltrating the mob. He's in Chicago where his new play, "The Way of the Wiseguy" is opening and he joins us to talk more about the mob. Joe, good to have you.

JOE PISTONE, FORMER UNDERCOVER FBI AGENT: Good evening, nice to be here.

LIN: John Gotti Jr. All right. So his attorney says, oh, no, no, he's not the boss of his father's crime syndicate. He's left the life. Do you believe that story?

PISTONE: No, I don't. You don't leave the mob. The only way you leave the mob is if you die naturally or if they whack you out.

LIN: Yeah? So is he the boss of his father's organization now?

PISTONE: Well, I don't think he's the boss now. I'm sure that they've chosen a new boss since his father died and since he has his legal problems. I doubt very much if he's in charge of the family now.

LIN: What is the mob doing now? How influential, if anything, are they?

PISTONE: Well, they're not as influential as they were, say, 15, 20 years ago. They're still involved in -- heavily involved in drug importation, heavily involved in gambling. Different types of extortion scams, stocks and bond scams.

LIN: Uh-huh. But do they affect the rest of America or is it something that just happens within families now? I mean, crime is crime. But gosh, I just did an interview about a criminal gang syndicate that's in six -- 33 different states. Six different countries. How does the mob compare now?

PISTONE: Well, they still control some facets of interstate commerce in the U.S. You know, there's some facets of the construction industry that they still control, and which drives up the prices of certain commercial buildings if you're building a commercial building. They're still in some of the construction aspect of commerce.

LIN: What was the mob reaction when you left the life,? You were undercover for 20 years and they found out that you were an FBI agent.

PISTONE: Well, when they found out that I was an FBI agent and finally were convinced they put a $500,000 contract out on me. But so far, they haven't been able to collect it.

LIN: Well, it's not like you're hard to find, right? You're in Chicago, you're about to be in a play. You wrote a book.

PISTONE: Well, I'm not starring in the play. The play's "The Way of the Wiseguy" at the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts. And we're starting on St. Valentine's Day. Leo Rossi is the star. I'm behind the scene producer on it. And look, if they want to come after me, they come after me. What am I going to do?

LIN: Do you miss anything about the life?

PISTONE: Do I miss anything?

LIN: Yeah.

PISTONE: Not really. You know, it was my time. I was an undercover agent. I was good at it. And it's over, you know? Once it's over, it's over.

LIN: Yeah, but I wonder if it leaves you. There was a time where you actually beat a man with your bare fists.

PISTONE: Well, you have to do certain things to survive. It's either my life or somebody else's. And fortunately, it wasn't mine.

LIN: And I guess it hasn't changed much to this day. Joe Pistone, the mob alive and well - thanks very much -- and glad to see you alive and well, too. Good luck with the play.

PISTONE: Thank you, my pleasure.

LIN: Well, a crucial decision about Iraq's political leader is made. We've got the detail next when CNN LIVE SUNDAY goes global.

And they were one of the America's favorite television families in the '80s. What was it like for the cast of "Growing Pains" to bring the Seaver family to life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, CNN HOST: What was the most fun in doing it, Joanna?

JOANNA KERNS, "MAGGIE SEAVER": I think getting to know all of -- all of these guys.

KING: It was a happy cast.

KERNS: It was a very happy cast. And I think that tape nights and the rehearsal process were especially fun. All we did was laugh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: You can see the entire "Growing Pains cast reunion tonight on LARRY KING LIVE. That's at 9:00 Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: In Iraq, new allegations of abuse put British soldiers under scrutiny. Shanon Cook has that story and other international headlines. Shanon?

SHANON COOK, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Carol, thank you very much. British authorities are looking into a videotape released today by a London based tabloid. Now the video shows what appears to be eight British soldiers kicking and beating three Iraqi youths. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. You're going to get it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOK: Now, that voice you hear is reportedly a corporal filming the amateur video from a rooftop. The video is purportedly from 2004 and earlier scenes allegedly show the youths throwing stone at the troops. Now, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the military say they're taking the abuse allegations very seriously. And have promised a full investigation.

Now, on the political front in Iraq, it looks like Prime Minister Ibrahim al Jaafari, that's him on the left that you see, is set to stay on in his current post. Today the ruling Shi'a alliance voted to keep him in office to head the first full-term government since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Al Jaafari won by just one vote. His party secured the most parliament seats in December's elections.

The global fallout from cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed continues. Today about 30,000 people demonstrated in southeast Turkey. Overall, the rally was nonviolent.

And in Istanbul, protesters threw eggs at the French consulate. And you'll be able to hear them chanting in a second. They're saying "vengeance" and they also shouted "Down with America, Israel and Denmark." Denmark was the first to publish the caricatures.

Meanwhile, demonstrators in Tehran show no sign of ending protests against the controversial cartoons. They staged a rally outside the French embassy there and the Iranian government is rejecting charges it is encouraging violent protests like the ones that erupted last week.

And that's all from me, Carol, back to you.

LIN: All right. Thanks, Shanon. Well, how is the Danish government reacting to the global demonstration? Find out what the country's prime minister told CNN's Wolf Blitzer next.

And the Bush administration said Saddam Hussein's regime possessed weapons of mass destruction. Now, as we all know now, that assessment was dead wrong. At the top of the hour, CNN PRESENTS brings you an hour-long in-depth look at the intelligence mistakes leading up to the Iraq War. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: In case you missed it, here are the highlights from the Sunday morning talk shows. Denmark's prime minister appeared on CNN's LATE EDITION. He talked about the reaction to the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed and much of the anger directed at his country for allowing a newspaper to print them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN, DANISH PRIME MINISTER: Members of religious societies should realize that freedom of speech is the most precious civic right. Personally I regard freedom of speech a safeguard of all other freedoms. However, freedom should always be combined with responsibility, including respect for all faiths.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: On CBS's "Face the Nation", Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussed the Muslim cartoon controversy and what she said was Iran's role in fueling the unrest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: Burning embassies and killing innocent people is totally unacceptable. And there are leaders in the Muslim world who have spoken out against that like the Grand Ayatollah Sistani in Iraq. You got a different response in Iran where they said we'll just print anti-Holocaust - we'll print Holocaust cartoons that are offensive to Jewish people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Well, on NBC's "Meet the Press," the Senate Intelligence Committee's Republican Chairman Pat Roberts and former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle sparred over the Bush administration's domestic spying program.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. PAT ROBERTS, (R) KS: I think you go at it very, very carefully. That's been done by every president that I know of. And it's very important to point out for this president and the next one, because we have a different kind of war, a different kind of threat, a different kind of technology.

TOM DASCHLE, FORMER DEMOCRATIC SENATOR: I think it's a very valuable program, but again, as I said, it's a false choice, Tim, to say you can either stop the program or protect the rules of law. I think we've got to respect the rule of law and that's really what this is about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Remember every Sunday at 7:00 Eastern, CNN will bring you the best headlines from the Sunday talk show circuit. Well, investigating the intelligence mistakes leading up to the Iraq War. Up next, CNN PRESENTS: "Dead Wrong."

And then at 9:00 Eastern, it's a classic television reunion. Larry King sits down with the cast of "Growing Pains." At 10:00, I'll be back with the live coverage of the snowstorm burying the Northeast. A check of the day's top stories is next and then CNN PRESENTS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Good evening, I'm Carol Lin with a look what's happening right now in the news. Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a hunting companion during a weekend hunting trip. It happened yesterday in South Texas. Seventy-eight-year-old Harry Whittington was sprayed by shotgun pellets in the face and chest. He's in intensive care a hospital in Corpus Christi.

Peter Benchley, author of "Jaws," is dead. Benchley terrified swimmers with his 1974 novel that later became a blockbuster movie. Benchley died from scarring of the lungs at the age of 65.

And people in the Northeast are facing a brutal Monday morning commute. Parts of the region are under two feet of snow. New York's Central Park has a record 26.9 inches of snow.

So let's get the latest on the storm from meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. She is in the Weather Center. Jacqui?

JERAS: Well, Carol, still very brutal conditions across parts of Maine. Also out on the cape here but the brunt of the storm is over and done with for Boston, Providence, Hartford, extending down into New York City.

We still have some blustery winds although the blizzard warnings have expired for Boston, we're still going to have a few issues with visibility because some of that snow is going to be blowing around with the strong winds.

We'll show you what a few of the conditions are looking like. Providence looking at about 10, 11, 12 miles per hour, into the mid to upper teens for Boston and out in the cape we're still looking at winds around 20 plus miles per hour.

So still stay in tonight if you can, unless it's an absolute emergency you don't want to go out. Don't look for good travel up I- 95 as you head into Maine. Snowfall should be ending after the midnight hour. And by tomorrow morning, everybody is looking at a prettier picture here. But a lot of snow to clean up. New York City you mentioned, a record snowfall total there, Carol. Baltimore, 15 inches of snow. A foot in Philadelphia. And Washington, DC, coming in at nine inches of snow.

A very significant storm. Really, our first big, big nor'easter of the season, but it is February, probably see a couple more. Back to you.

LIN: All right. Thanks Jacqui.

Time now for CNN PRESENTS: "Dead Wrong, Inside an Intelligence Meltdown." A look at the faulty intelligence leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com