This week Marlon Brando's son is out of jail after serving time for killing his sister's lover.
An inside look at this Starcross family on a current affair extra right now.
It's a Hollywood drama, only the stage is real life.
Marlon Brando's son convicted of killing another man.
The messenger of misery has come to my house.
But now a new twist to this tragic saga, Christian Brando walks free.
It's a heating device with the potential to kill.
There are thousands of these out there right now, underneath homes all over America.
Today on a current affair extra investigation wired for destruction.
They are teen bandits swarming through department stores and taking expensive merchandise.
We're not talking about a couple of shirts, we're talking about carloads, vanloads.
In the movie Free Willy, Cake or the Whale captured our hearts.
But off screen his life was also a struggle to survive.
Now this gentle giant has finally lifted to freedom.
Also today, Latoya Jackson says she'll tell you the family secrets for a fee.
Julia Roberts and Matthew Perry, are they more than friends?
The Material Girls' most dangerous band learns his fate.
Plus, country singer Tracy Bird tells us why his songs are making him soar to the top.
They changed my life too and they definitely stop making friends.
Hello and welcome to a current affair extra, I'm Penny Daniels.
A hidden danger that might be in your home, plus amazing video of young crooks in action.
Those stories coming up.
But first, the latest on Marlon Brando and his tragedy ridden family.
Once again this very private actor is making headlines because of his kids.
This week Christian Brando was released from jail where he spent five years for killing his sister's lover.
Shepherd Smith has details.
Penny Christian Brando, the son of legendary actor Marlon Brando has now been released from prison.
For many this is the final chapter in an emotional saga which cost two people their lives and another his freedom.
It almost brought down the house of Brando.
For the past five years the son of one of America's greatest actors has been locked up behind these fences.
37 year old Christian Brando who could never quite measure up to his famous father is today a free man.
The real irony is that even in jail Christian could not escape the shadow, if you will, of his father.
Peter Manso is Marlon Brando's biographer.
He says even though Christian is being released early for good behavior, the eldest son of the Hollywood icon hasn't had it that easy behind bars, despite the fact that his father did try to help.
Christian was receiving all sorts of goodies from Marlon, i.e. lots of cigarettes, delicacies to eat.
There's always conflict between gangs in prison.
Christian got himself in somewhat of a jam because he was giving to both black fellow prisoners and Aryan Brotherhood prisoners.
And this, from my understanding, things got dicey in there for a while.
But Christian would eventually find allies in the prison's biker population, again because of his movie star father.
It was Marlon Brando, Christian's father, who did the wild one, who was the legendary motorcyclist and ultimately gave these guys, many of whom were ex-hells angels,
you know, their identity.
Marlon Brando had it all until that fateful night almost six years ago when his entire world came crashing down.
The messenger of misery has come to my house.
CXO-44.
Los Angeles police were summoned to the hilltop estate that Brando shared with his children. A shooting had been reported.
About 10, 1045 in the evening, a rather warm evening, 911 call was received.
That phone call was made by the shaken actor himself.
A request was made for paramedics, and so paramedics responded along with uniformed officers.
They were advised that Dag Drulé, a visitor at the Marlon Brando estate, had been shot.
During what police called a heated argument, Christian Brando had fired a single shot, one that killed Dag Drulé.
The handsome 26-year-old was the live-in lover of Cheyenne Brando, Christian's half-sister.
She was eight months pregnant with Drulé's child.
That night, Christian was arrested on murder charges and held on $10 million bond.
Christian has always maintained and will continue to maintain that this was an accident.
High-powered and now all-too-familiar defense attorney Robert Shapiro was immediately hired by Brando to defend his son.
Shapiro took Christian's case to the public, claiming Drulé had beaten the frail Cheyenne.
Christian confronted him with those allegations and told him that they must stop,
that he could not beat any woman, and especially a pregnant woman who was his little sister.
Drulé was buried in his native Tahiti.
His father Jacques Drulé, a well-known local politician, pleaded for justice in his son's death.
If Christian Brando is the murderer of my son, I would want him to be seated and executed on an electrical chair.
The arrest of the Hollywood legend's son stunned the world.
The normally reclusive Marlon Brando finally broke his silence and publicly took responsibility for his family's tragedy.
He even put his mansion up for collateral to have Christian released on bond.
He has the added burden of being the position of being punished because he simply happens to be my son.
Marlon, by his own admission, has been a very bad parent.
Peter Mansoe literally wrote the book on Marlon Brando.
Brando, a biography, has just hit the stands in paperback.
This was basically an accident waiting to happen.
The pattern was in the carpet from the get-go.
His relations with his kids have been sporadic at best.
Marlon, with Christian, was alternately terribly affectionate and giving.
And then the next day he would turn into Adolf Hitler.
Cheyenne spoke of his inattention in the most saddening, depressing way.
Cheyenne was considered the only material witness in the shooting.
She was quickly shuttled off to her birthplace of Tahiti so she could avoid testifying.
Six weeks after Jolay's death, she gave birth to his son, Tukey.
The baby was born addicted to drugs.
And a few months later, back in LA, his uncle Christian cut himself a deal with the prosecutor.
How do you plead?
Guilty.
Marlon Brando was not in court when his son copped a plea, and Christian was sentenced to 10 years in state prison.
Meanwhile, Cheyenne was shuttled from one psychiatric hospital to the next.
In this rare interview, the troubled young woman blamed the family's misery on her famous father.
I don't have a normal life. I think my father has a strong...
He has a strong power over me.
And it doesn't scare me, but I can't live with it, that's for sure.
Cheyenne fell into a deep depression.
She lost custody of her son. Her lover was dead, and her brother was in jail for killing him.
Cheyenne attempted suicide at least twice before actually hanging herself at her mother's home in Tahiti.
This interview was the last time the tortured young woman ever spoke out.
I used to love my father very much. I don't love him anymore.
He's the devil himself. I just want to know dad's...
She blames her father for being a control freak.
She would refer to him as the true life godfather, as the manipulator, as svegali.
Marlon Brando was reportedly devastated when his 25-year-old daughter took her own life, but he did not attend Cheyenne's funeral.
She was buried in her beloved Tahiti beside her fallen lover.
The entire island had churned out. There were literally thousands and thousands of people.
But one person, central to this whole drama, was missing.
The people of Tahiti were appalled.
Today, many Tahitians believe that Christian Brando is now truly paying for the sins of his father.
When the killing took place, the island divided right down the middle.
There were those who were on Marlon's side, those who were on Drolet's side.
Now I'm afraid there are very few people on Marlon's side.
Now a current affair has learned Christian Brando was spotted at his father's home on Wednesday, just after his release.
Spotted at the same house where the gunshot rang out, beginning a horrible saga, which tarnished the Brando name forever.
That's the latest from Hollywood. Penny, back to you.
Thanks, Shepard. Coming up as the current affair extra continues, Julia Roberts knows what friends are for.
Guess who's her latest Hollywood flame?
And next, a simple device hidden in millions of American homes. If you have one, you should know what it can do.
All he needs is a little touch of moisture, Senamor.
And if that comes in contact with the underneath side of your home, you will have a fire.
Lots of deadlines, lots of money, lots of screaming. It starts to burn a hole in your gut.
Antacids are more prevalent in the brokerage industry than coffee is in Columbia.
I take Tagum at HB. Tagum at HB works.
You don't have to chew it, you don't have to drink it.
You could take it and go on with the rest of your life.
I tried so many things in the shower that promised moisture, but I always needed body lotion.
Olay 2-in-1 Body Wash moisturizes better than any leading bar or body wash, guaranteed.
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Pure energy. Are you drinking enough?
Carrie Novak won't waste a minute battling her cold.
Pills take time to dissolve, so she'll rush relief with the effervescent power of Alka-Celtic Plus Cold Medicine.
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Or rush relief with new, great tasting orange flavored Alka-Celtic Plus.
In Philadelphia, there's still mourning the loss of two dozen zoo animals in a tragic fire last month.
And now, an current affair investigation reveals the product suspected of sparking that blaze may also be in millions of American homes.
You might not know it's there.
As investigative reporter Mike Sillort shows us, it could cause a deadly fire.
It's Christmas Eve, and Philadelphia firemen are cleaning up after the worst zoo disaster in American history.
A sudden fire in the middle of the night left 23 endangered primates dead.
To us it's a family loss. And it's very tough for them, tough for me.
And immediately fire inspectors were searching for the cause of the fire.
The investigation quickly pointed to a problem with what's known as heat tape.
So how common are fires involving heat tape?
The Consumer Product Safety Commission says there are about 1,400 every year in houses, mobile homes, boats, barns, and commercial buildings.
And in case you're wondering if you have heat tape yourself, it's not actually a piece of tape,
but an electric heating cable that's wrapped around your water pipes to keep them from freezing.
This is an appliance that's under your home. It's small. Nobody sees it. It's hidden.
Terry King spent 10 years as a fire inspector in Anderson, Indiana.
His town had more than 20 heat tape fires in just three years, many of them caused by heat tape that was incorrectly installed.
There's quite a complicated set of instructions to tell you how to put it together.
Some of them may read it well. Some of them may just sort of slap it together the best they can and try to engineer it themselves.
The instructions include a long list of don'ts.
Don't expose it to excessive heat. Avoid cuts and scratches on the tape. Even avoid moisture.
Any one of these can start a fire.
But how do you keep a water pipe outside of your home dry?
Moisture's going to be there. It's part of nature.
And yet they're telling the consumer, don't put this where nature exists.
But what happens if water gets in there? It's easy to demonstrate.
Fireman King showed us how easily a little water on some heat tapes can cause a fire.
Wow. So that does take off like a fuse.
It ignited on the very first try.
If that comes in contact with the underneath side of your home.
That's a danger that Chris Stegeman is all too aware of.
His father died of smoke inhalation when his home caught on fire in 1985.
He didn't have a chance. The policeman told me that the smoke was so heavy he could barely see the top of the building.
And it was just a horrible fire.
There were over 20 heat tapes in the place. Maybe more. I mean they were just everywhere.
Everywhere there was water lines there were heat tapes. I mean there was like an octopus of heat tapes in the place.
Chris sued Rapon and Smith Gates, two of the biggest heat tape manufacturers,
claiming, among other things, they didn't clearly explain the dangers of improperly installed heat tape.
They just said if you don't do it this way it might fail to operate. It might fail to keep your pipes warm.
Actually, if it failed it could keep your pipes very warm. It could boil the water.
Chris settled his case for $800,000, but he also wanted the companies to put additional safety features on heat tape.
In 1989 he petitioned the Consumer Product Safety Commission for mandatory safety standards.
But Chris couldn't believe what the companies did next.
They went and behind my back wrote to the commission urging them not to accept the petition. It should be rejected.
A week later the commission rejected Chris's petition and refused to issue safety standards,
even though its own research claimed that at least 20 people a year were dying in heat tape fires.
But Chris didn't give up. Gradually his crusade began paying off.
In the past few years, manufacturers have added new safety features and safety campaigns.
But the older heat tapes, like the one you saw burning earlier, are still in use.
There are thousands of these out there right now, underneath homes all over America, working constantly.
They're constantly being worked. And all they need is a little touch of moisture to set them off.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission suggests you replace any older heat tapes with the new kind.
But they have never recalled the old ones, and neither have the companies.
And according to a 1994 CPSC memo, major manufacturers have even refused to warn consumers to replace their older heat tapes.
We asked Rappon and Smithgate, now called Easy Heat, for interviews. But both declined.
Devastating fires like these show what can happen when older heat tapes are left unchecked for too long.
Chris Steggeman is worried that if the heat tapes are not recalled, other lives will be needlessly lost.
Why should they have a time bomb ticking underneath their house? Unsuspecting. It's just not fair. It's not right.
Safety experts say if you have old heat tapes, replace them. And even if yours are new, check to make sure they're not getting wet.
Still ahead on a current affair extra, teenagers swarming in packs, looting everything they see.
We'll show you a real-life crash-and-carry gang in action.
And next, Dial M for Michael, Latoya Jackson dishes the dirt on her famous family.
This is my opportunity to let them know the truth and tell it my way.
Wake up. Remember we decided to start our morning walk today?
Can't wait.
Wake up to naturally decaffeinated Folgers with the richness of mountain-grown beans and all the aroma and taste of regular Folgers.
In fact, if you didn't know Folgers decaffeinated was decaffeinated.
You know, with all these changes, I'm glad we didn't switch to decaffeinated. Nothing wakes me up like this.
I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Even decaffeinated.
Decaffeinated.
I know, honey.
Warning. Experts predict the worst cold and flu season in years.
Just in time. Theraflu. Hot liquid relief. When it's got to work, it's got to be Theraflu.
Do you take this woman to be your wife? I do. And do you take this man to be your husband? I do.
And do you realize what this will do to your tax return?
Changes in your life mean changes in your taxes. So come to H&R Block because it's your money.
Up next on A Current Affair Extra, Madonna no longer runs in fear of her life as her stalker goes to jail.
Gee, Crash, I heard you lost your head in that last one. Oh, I found it okay, but lost my insurance.
I had that problem until I called Vernfunk Insurance. They took me with all my tickets, accidents, at a great price, too.
They really took good care of me. Wow, that's excellent. How do I get their insurance?
Hey, man, just call them. Toll-free. 1-800-654-SR22.
Stop running all over town. Call Vernfunk Insurance. 1-800-654-SR22. Discounts and payment plans available.
Remember to honk when you drive by Vernfunk.
Monday. Brooke's jealousy of Allison is pushing her over the edge.
Why did you trash Allison's apartment? Stop it! No, you care about it. It's her. It's always about her, huh?
And Sydney will do anything to get rid of her sister. You can't just leave me here.
But how far is she willing to go? A brand-new Melrose Place.
Then, Ned's hot new girlfriend just can't get enough. She's bent me in directions that would make Gumby scream.
Wings Ferret Four guest stars on a brand-new Ned and Stacey, followed by Partners Monday.
When the change lanes reach Earth, my duty is to protect the Federation. That's what we're trying to do.
Suspicion is everywhere. With those troops in place, Admiral Layton controls Earth.
And war is imminent. But the real threat...
You think that one Starfleet ship is going to fire on another?...is closer to home.
They've been told everyone on the Defiant has been replaced by shape-shifters.
On an all-new episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Monday at 10 on Q13 Fox.
I can get all the way across town in less than 10 minutes.
People ask me what I do to keep from damaging the valuable goods I'm carrying.
I tell them I wear a helmet.
The show's called Friends, but there could be a feud on set.
Latoya Jackson's giving out her number, and Madonna Stalker has been convicted.
Those stories and much more from entertainment reporter Nancy O'Dell. Nancy.
Penny, the biggest news was Madonna.
Now the material girl can rest a little bit easier at her home in Hollywood these days.
And we'll tell you why she says her ordeal in court was a victory for other crime victims.
But first, a surprise announcement in New York has Jackson fans dialing up to dish.
This is my opportunity. Let them know the truth and tell it my way.
With the new 900 number, the estranged Jackson sister Latoya may once again be calling the shots.
First there was a book that trashed her family.
Well now Latoya is busy launching her 900 number that will give the latest gossip on Michael Janet and the rest of the clan.
You must remember to keep it a secret. It doesn't mean it's bad.
There are a lot of wonderful things about this line as well.
It took the jury just four and a half hours to find Robert Dewey Hoskins guilty of stalking and threatening to kill the material girl.
Madonna's attorney spoke to her minutes after the verdict.
She asked me to release the following statement.
Quote, I am very relieved that the defendant has been convicted in this case and justice has been served.
Penny Parker, a homemaker, was one of four female jurors who felt Madonna's fear.
Oh, I would be scared to death. Sure I would.
Hoskins will be sentenced next month. He could get 11 years.
Meanwhile, Madonna sees this as a huge coup for all stalking victims.
With Hoskins in jail, Madonna is no longer running and here for life.
I'm having fun.
Sexy Julia Roberts may be getting more than a little help from her friends.
The Pretty Woman is currently shooting an episode of the hit TV show Friends and has reportedly been spotted on dates with one of the stars, Matthew Perry.
That's nice.
Now Perry's character is pretty much dateless on the show.
This could say he's having much better luck in real life.
Then there's Friends co-star of Matt LeBlanc who does get scripts with some romance thrown in.
While taping the upcoming Super Bowl episode, beautiful Brooke Shields seductively sucked his fingers.
But Brooke's real life boyfriend, Tennessee's Andre Agassi, pulled a John McEnroe.
He reportedly stormed off the set and threw a tantrum in her dressing room.
Is Princess Diana cracking under the pressure from the Queen to divorce her Prince?
As you can see in this videotape, Diana was weeping as she left the home of her psychotherapist in London.
She's probably doing it for sympathy.
It's not working with me, but I can see how it would work with other people.
I think she's a rather balanced, intelligent person. She can look after herself.
But by the next day, she seemed to be in better spirits.
She took Princes William and Harry on a tour of a homeless shelter where they spent an hour talking to teenagers who live on the street.
It was a dose of life outside the palace walls.
This is Nixon's finish.
Some are saying the star of Nixon, Sir Anthony Hopkins, may be resigning from his marriage.
After months of rumors from impeachable sources, London papers reported this week that Hopkins is in love with Joyce Ingalls,
a married actress who starred on screen and reportedly off screen as well, with Sylvester Stallone in Paradise Alley.
Despite the fact that the celluloid Nixon wasn't caught confessing on tape and that Ingalls insists they're just good friends,
Hopkins reportedly professed his love for Joyce at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting on New Year's Eve,
a place where secrets are supposed to be kept, like say, in the Oval Office.
Well, speaking of marriages, there's a new wedding song out.
It's called Keeper of the Stars, and it's become as popular on the wedding circuit as We've Only Just Begun.
I took a trip to Beaumont, Texas to meet the keeper of that song as well as the song The Watermelon Crawls.
He's country singer Tracy Byrd.
He came out of Beaumont, Texas armed with only a strong voice, a cowboy hat, and a catchy song.
He said, we got a hundred gallons of sweet red wine made from the biggest watermelon, don't mind, help yourself or some, go obey the law, if you drink, don't drive, do the watermelon crawl.
I don't even sing the hook line of it anymore. I just turn the microphone in the crowd and they sing the hook.
You got it!
Do it on cue every time. I've never had a crowd that's missed a beat. So when people know the words like that, you know it's here.
Watermelon Crawl was such a smash that country diva Reba McIntyre chose Tracy Byrd, known as T-Bird to his friends, to open for her tour back in 1993.
I was still a brand new artist, and I credit being on Reba's tour with the great success we've had with an Ordinary Man album.
No Ordinary Man ended up selling nearly two million copies. But as I found out when I met up with Tracy on a scenic lakefront just north of Beaumont where he hopes to build his dream home, his success story seemed unlikely just a few years ago.
How did your parents react when you dropped out of college to pursue singing?
Yeah, my parents were disgusted with me. I mean, I think they didn't talk to me for about a year after I decided to drop out of college, and I always knew I could come back to college, but I knew that at this time, this passion that I had for music passed me by, I may never get it back.
Well, T-Bird has never looked back, and now he's giving back. On this day, he's hosting a charity event, the first annual Tracy Byrd Big Bass Splash, a bass tournament and sold out concert, all to benefit the March of Dimes.
Folks, $114,850.
It was the first time Tracy performed in his hometown since becoming a star. His fans packed the Beaumont Civic Center.
And T-Bird even got emotional during his biggest hit, Keeper of the Stars.
I can remember tearing up and getting choked up singing that song because songs like Keeper of the Stars not only changed a lot of people's lives, they changed my life too.
I'm singing them and I'm hearing them every night, and they definitely stop and make you think.
29-year-old Tracy knows the Keeper of his stars, his wife Michelle and their 15-month-old baby, Evie. But that doesn't mean that T-Bird knows everything there is to know about love.
Your latest album, Love Lessons, we want to know, are these lessons you've learned on your own?
Haven't we all learned them at one time or another? The hard way or the easy way. I think everybody learned and has some love lessons through their life.
I think we all take for granted sometimes our loved ones at different times in your life.
I can remember getting so tunnel visioned about this career, and that's great. I need that kind of passion towards my career. But when it's all said and done, all you've got left is family.
But until it's all said and done, Tracy's enjoying being a country star.
That has some of his fans wondering if he's no longer living, as one of his early hits called it, the lifestyle of the not-so-rich and famous.
They're going to put us on lifestyles of the not-so-rich and famous.
I still know where I came from, and I just feel real lucky to have what I've got today. No, I'm not living the lifestyles of the not-so-rich and famous, but I may live it again. Who knows? It's what goes up, comes down. So who knows?
I've got lifestyles of the not-so-rich and famous.
Well, Tracy certainly isn't coming down anytime soon. His new single, Love Lessons, is in the top ten on the country charts, and starting at the end of this month, he'll be touring with country superstars, Brooks and Dunn. Kenny?
Thanks, Nancy. We have lots more ahead as the current affair extra continues.
They're young outlaws on a wild rampage, smashing into store after store in a looting free-for-all. Now they're threatening lives. It's no longer just a rock and a window.
A Hollywood happy ending for the real-life whale from Free Willy as little kids help the giant escape.
Good luck, Gingko!
Oh, don't you know, that's the sound of a man working on a chain gang.
And prisoners working on the chain gang. Is it a deterrent to crime or cruel and unusual punishment?
A friend of mine told me, try America Online. I said, why? I've got a computer. He said, try it, you'll see.
It's easy. I called, they sent me a free America Online start-up kit and gave me ten free hours to look around.
I'll admit I was nervous, but it's all point and click. I can do that. It's simple. Every time you sign on, it tells you if you've got mail.
Want to send some email? Type the message, click here, and it's done. I like this.
With one click, I can browse all kinds of great features on America Online. Surf Link, Murder Mystery Online, Compton's Living Encyclopedia, whatever grabs my attention.
I've gotten help with my golf swing, planned my next vacation, even bought flowers for my mother. Online.
I love magazines, but I can't subscribe to them all. Or can I?
America Online has over 100 newspapers and magazines. Everything from Business Week Online to Weekly World News, Atlantic Monthly to Cycle World.
And I can browse them all. Keeping track of investments used to be tricky for me, but with America Online, it's a breeze.
I pick a stock here, add it to my portfolio, I even get stock price updates every 15 minutes.
Okay, I'll admit it. Sometimes my kids stump me with homework questions. But here's the answer.
We use the Teacher Pager. It has teachers online to answer questions. Let me tell you, it comes in handy late Sunday nights.
With America Online, you can point and click your way across the Internet. And their web browser makes it easy to explore the World Wide Web.
I'm always amazed by how many new features keep getting added. Just look. Of course, there's only one way to really experience it.
First hand, on your own, up close and personal. Call the toll-free number and you'll receive your free start-up kit and 10 free hours to look around.
It's worth a try. You'll see.
To try America Online free, call 1-800-218-1717. You'll receive your free America Online start-up kit and 10 free hours your first month.
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Coming up on a Kermit the Whale extra, Kago the Whale escaped in free willy. Now he's being rescued in real life.
Why compromise on your laxative? Part of you wants strong, part wants gentle. Get both. Look, Dolkalex.
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How many lotions have you tried? About a million lotions. Until I tried Juergens Ultra Healing Lotion.
Why Juergens? It works with your skin, not just on it. It works with your skin? It penetrates to heal dry skin from within.
And it helps my skin seem to retain its own natural moisture. This is great lotion. I love the way it makes my skin feel.
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Ultra Healing Lotion, another beautiful idea from today's Juergens.
You know, one 12-hour Taviste is so continuously effective on your congestion and sneezing that to get the same relief you'd need four of these, up to six of these, or six of these.
So you pay more for less relief. Taviste, relief you can count on.
Welcome back to A Current Affair Extra. I'm Penny Daniels.
There's a new plague out there and it's spreading, but it's not a sickness. It's a crime wave. Young crooks looting for merchants at will.
Louie Aguirre has the story.
The song is gangsta's paradise, and that's just what Miami has become to these hoodlums.
This is no movie. This is real. You're looking at hidden camera surveillance video of the latest crime wave to hit the nation, especially South Florida.
It's known as the smash and grab.
An army of young outlaws smashes its way into a closed retail store.
Then the looting rampage begins. The robbers work fast, clearing racks of merchandise in a matter of minutes before speeding off to a clean getaway.
Store owners are left coping with thousands of dollars in damages and lost goods.
We're not talking about a couple of shirts. We're talking about carloads, vanloads.
We're talking about 10 minutes or less. And they usually end up hitting the stores for 50 to 250 thousand dollars.
Metro-Dade police sergeant John Roper is on the front line in the war against the smash and grabbers.
The first attack happened at a department store three years ago. Since then, it's happened again and again and again.
Six hundred similar incidents across the state of Florida.
We've had weeks go by where they've hit two, three, four times.
South Florida cops say the smash and grab crime wave has gotten so bad that it's almost become an everyday occurrence here.
As a matter of fact, on the very same day we started shooting our story, this North Miami sports store was hit early that same morning.
Police say that's when eight robbers armed with a sledgehammer smashed their way inside through one of the store's front windows that you now see boarded up.
As it turns out, the sledgehammer wasn't the only thing they were armed with.
Police say the suspects were wielding semi-automatic guns and surprised a group of early morning employees who were preparing the store for opening.
It's definitely getting worse and it's getting more violent.
Now they're threatening lives. It's no longer just a rock in a window.
In fact, sometimes smash and grabbers even drive stolen cars straight into stores.
Special Agent Adi Mesa has seen it all.
In the past two months, she's helped coordinate two police raids that have nabbed a total of 15 accused smash and grabbers.
But the numbers go way beyond that.
Over 250 suspects. This is a list of everybody that we've identified as smash and grab individuals.
It just goes on and on.
Mesa says many of them are juveniles as young as 12 years old.
What's worse, according to police, is that many of the adults use aliases posing as juveniles, making it very easy to slip through the cracks of Florida's juvenile justice system.
A lot of them are adults and when they are arrested they have absolutely no identification on them.
They claim to be juveniles. They're arrested in the juvenile system.
They're released to parent, legal guardian, anyone over the age of 18, and they're out.
And then who's going to find them?
So you're arresting these people, putting them behind bars, but the system lets them out for you to commit this type of crime all over again?
Correct. I see the same names over and over and over.
That's why the war against the smash and grabbers has raged on for three years.
Retailers are livid.
Major frustration. There's no other way to put it. Matter than hell.
Peggy Hurst chairs a Florida retail association.
She lobbied the Florida governor, prompting the creation of the state's first juvenile justice department.
And she continues to fight for new, tougher laws.
There are some who know the community and there are some who know the judicial system.
But that's going to change.
Till then, law enforcement will continue to put the bite on the smash and grabbers, as their attacks become increasingly more and more dangerous.
Violence is definitely increasing. And the way we see it going is somebody's going to get killed.
The smash and grabs usually involve a double crime because the crooks almost always steal the cars they use, too.
Still ahead on A Current Affair Extra, the sound of the men working on the chain gang.
We'll tell you why some states think it's music to taxpayers' ears.
Welcome hard. Or eliminate them.
And when we come back, Keiko the Killer Whale escaped harm in the hit movie Free Willy.
Now he's being rescued in real life.
Makes me feel happy. Especially for him.
Willy's finally free.
Hi, I'm Mackenzie Phillips.
Thanks to the Malibu Psychic Star Network, you can now get your free personalized natal chart when you call our psychics.
You can use this natal chart for future calls with the Malibu Psychic Star Network.
Our psychics can talk to you about your love life, career, tarot cards, relationships, and guardian angels.
Call the Malibu Psychic Star Network today. You'll be glad you did.
I loved getting my free natal chart. It's amazing what I found out.
Every Tuesday, get the fake picture.
Fox announces a new era in motion pictures for television.
The only true power is love.
Featuring unforgettable world premiere movies.
Every time I became part of some kind of family, it just got taken away from me.
Including original productions from Hallmark.
You are not dragging your brother down with you.
No!
Plus world broadcast premieres of theatrical blockbusters.
Get the fake picture every week on the Fox Tuesday Night Movie.
St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner, and what better way to celebrate than with a run through the streets of downtown Seattle.
It's the 12th annual Weinhardt's Ale St. Patrick's Day Dash, co-sponsored by Q13 Fox.
Wear your green and take part in the Northwest's most enjoyable fun run.
Register by March 15th at any of these running stores in the Puget Sound area.
Call 800-683-8393 for information. There is no day of race registration.
Celebrate a Northwest Irish tradition with over 10,000 folks wearing the green.
It's Seattle's biggest fun run, the St. Patrick's Day Dash.
Daniela may be too young to name the colors of her toys.
But for her, like the thousands of babies born blind every year, colors will never be more than words.
No amount of money will ever restore her vision.
But with your support, the Blind Children's Fund can help to brighten her future.
Find out how you can help. Call the Blind Children's Fund.
The popular free willy movie centered around a captive whale and a boy who fights for his release.
Ironically, behind the scenes, the movie's star has faced a similar plight.
Now finally, after two years, Caker the Whale is getting a ticket to freedom.
It was one of Hollywood's greatest happy endings.
A killer whale freed from captivity by a child's love and compassion.
But now, the real life story of Free Willy, starring the real life whale, has a happy ending too.
Thanks to the love and compassion of some real life kids.
He's free now. He can be in a lot of room to swim and everything.
He gets to meet other people instead of just being by himself all the time.
Makes me feel happy, especially for him.
That movie struck a chord in kids that saw that and saw the whale and saw Willy as a symbol and as an actual animal that they wanted to see,
you know, treated fairly and if possible, you know, returned to the wild.
Look at the size of that one! That's cat spa!
In the film, a 12-year-old boy named Jesse takes pity on a performing whale named Willy and finally returns him to the sea.
But there was something fishy about this whale of a tale.
The creature who inspired the movie and actually starred in it, a 7,000-pound killer whale named Caco, wasn't set free.
He was still confined to a tiny amusement park pool in Mexico City where he'd been struggling to survive for more than 15 years.
He needs a larger tank, he needs cleaner water, he needs better food, and if he doesn't get those things, he's not going to survive.
To whom it may concern, I'm writing this letter to ask you to consider helping the killer whale Caco in Mexico.
The objective of this project is to get Caco out of Mexico and into a tank big enough for his size.
The first to come to his rescue were little children.
We would like everybody to donate a dollar and we'd get lots of money so we can try to help save this whale.
Soon, thanks to his friends, the kids, Caco had a growing army of freedom fighters behind him, circulating petitions and raising funds for a war chest.
If each one of us went out and talked to somebody else, got them interested, they'd go out and they'd talk to somebody else.
Well, you know, you've got a lot of people fighting.
It wasn't long before animal rights activists were on the front lines in Mexico City.
I see swords on his fins here. His dorsal fin is grouped over.
Kind of like he's depressed. Especially if you pick him up and carry him out of here.
Even Michael Jackson, who sang the title song for Free Willy, was standing up for Caco.
And Warner Brothers, who made the original movie as well as last year's sequel, wrote a two million dollar check to help free Caco.
To provide him a beautiful new home.
Finally, Caco's Mexico City keepers relented, and in a grand formal ceremony, they agreed to turn Caco over to his American friends.
We're going to miss him very much, right? But also very happy because he's going to be in a great place.
We are on the road to a happy ending, and I think the road will lead to the release of this animal to the wild.
Caco's big day came last weekend when he was packed up and shipped by UPS to his spacious new home in Newport, Oregon.
Thousands of Caco's fans waved goodbye to the 7,700 pound Hollywood heavyweight, and just about everyone there believed he waved back.
His new digs clearly made a big splash with the Free Willy star.
He was swimming and slapping his tail within minutes of being lowered into his new tank.
But before Caco can return to the ocean, he must be nursed back to health at this specially built 150 foot aquarium.
He's underweight by about a ton, so we'll treat him to a wide variety of foods here. He'll be treated for his medical conditions.
Meanwhile, marine scientists will be trying to locate Caco's family in the waters off Iceland, where he was captured at age two, 15 years ago.
Yeah!
And now it really is just like in the movies.
Let's go, Caco!
While Caco's new home is a big improvement over the old one, his rescuers still hold him back because without them he wouldn't survive.
Now, when we come back...
Oh, don't you know that's the sound of a man working on a chain, a chain!
Outlawed at the turn of the century, the chain gang is back. Is it American justice or southern injustice?
It's treating people like slaves.
It's the Gain Show and Smell Challenge. They have no idea we're coming.
Hi, I'm the game man.
I saw it!
What's your name?
I'm Louise Abram.
You've tried Gain, right?
Right.
What's your favorite thing about it?
Oh, the way it smells.
You have something that you've washed in Gain that not only looks great, but you can bring it, or we can come in and I can smell it with these very nose.
We'd love to come in.
These are my son's baseball uniform pants.
They sure look clean.
They smell great.
Oh, sure, that smells fresh. Congratulations, Louise, you've passed the Gain Show and Smell Challenge.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
It's the hottest thing on ice.
As the world's top figure skaters compete to a rock and roll beat, take a spin with gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi, Katarina Witt, Scott Hamilton, Oksana Bayul, four-time world champion Kurt Browning, and many more as they burn up the ice to the coolest music in rock.
Join hosts Dorothy Hamill and NFL's James Brown, plus special guest downtown Julie Brown for the 1996 Fox Rock and Roll Skating Championships Tuesday.
Will this person's laundry pass the Gain Show and Smell Challenge? Let's find out.
Hi, I'm the Gain man. What's your name?
Laura Whitehead.
You've tried Gain, right?
Yes.
What's your favorite thing about it?
Oh, the way it smells and how fresh it is. It reminds me of flowers.
We're inside Laura's house now. She's invited us in to smell some things.
Laura, how did your laundry look after you washed it in Gain?
Clean, fresh. It really, you can tell right here.
It sure looks clean.
Mmm, that smells fresh.
Well, that's not just plain clean, that's peek-a-boo clean.
Congratulations, Laura and Christopher, you guys have passed the Gain Show and Smell Challenge.
How's that feel?
Because wrinkles appear out of nowhere.
The Pond Institute introduces Prevent and Correct, the first complete age-defying system.
It's two moisturizers that twist apart.
Because you can't avoid the sun.
There's Prevent, with SPF to help prevent damage each day, year-round.
Because I baked baby oil.
There's Correct, with alpha hydroxies to help correct past damage each night.
Because I need both, both.
Now help Prevent and Correct the signs of aging.
Because looking good is every woman's right.
They were outlawed at the turn of the century, but now they're back.
Chain Gains, shackling inmates together and putting them to work outside prison.
Florida has just become the third state to reinstitute this old-fashioned punishment.
Will they help fight crime, or are they just barbaric?
Leslie Roberts went down to Alabama to find out.
Don't you know, that's the sound of the band, working on a chain.
Chain.
Like they need to earn or keep, you know, instead of just laying up watching cable television all the time.
A lot of the criminals that are in prisons have it too easy.
Work them hard, or eliminate them.
All day long, we work so hard.
Deep in the heart of Dixie, in Alabama, voters have sent their elected officials a very clear message.
Bring back hard labor. Bring back rock busting.
Alabama and Arizona have gone one step further than the few other states that have reintroduced Chain Gangs.
Their inmates are busting rocks.
We'll use those stones to mine driveways, roadways, repair roads, farm roads. So it's meaningful.
In Alabama, the fight for human rights took a back seat when politicians faced pressure to lower the cost of prisons.
How long have you been on the Chain Gang? Six to five days.
Well, you've got about 25 more to go, and you'll be in good shape.
The get tough policy came from this man, Alabama's prison commissioner, Ron Jones.
Critics say that what's going on out there is inhumane, that these prisoners are being treated very badly.
No, it's not. It's not against law.
Not everyone on the Chain Gang has been convicted of a violent crime. It's strictly for repeat offenders.
The prisoners are chained in groups of five and spend up to 10 hours a day on the Chain Gangs, often under grueling conditions.
The Alabama temperatures are known to reach 100 degrees.
They tell me that they're in constant pain, that the leg irons take their ankles, and there's never any question of being able to take them off, not even to use the toilet.
It's treating people like slaves.
The hard labor crackdown has outraged David Levin of the prisoners' legal services.
It's going to cause inmates to be hostile and angry because they're engaged in work which is not constructive whatsoever.
Commissioner Jones says he's heard it all before, and he's convinced the fear of ending up on the Chain Gang is a huge deterrent.
If you come back to our prison system more than once, then you automatically go to the Chain Gang if you're medically fit, automatically.
You've been on the Chain Gang how long now?
Approximately 67 days.
How's it going?
It's tough.
Inmate Stanley Lee was sentenced to prison for not paying a hotel bill, but then ended up on the Chain Gang for violating parole.
There are some guys here that all they need is to be able to tell that they're worth something.
Alabama's prison commissioner won't back down.
The rock busting is here to stay.
It'll get progressively tougher as we go on.
Here in life's own Alabama, we'll be proud for you.
Four Alabama inmates have filed suit charging that Chain Gangs are unconstitutional.
Up next, the storm of the century brings us amazing stories of pain and joy.
And let me forget our little blizzard babies.
What makes Luberderm feel so clean on your skin?
Well, you start with a formula that's unexpectedly water-based, then add to it pure ingredients.
And what you get is a heavy-duty moisturizer, recommended by dermatologists, without the greasy feeling of oil-based moisturizers.
Luberderm. See you later, alligator.
Why a kitchen made of glass? To clear up a point.
For tough messes like this, you need new, improved glass and surface Windex.
See, the leading all-purpose cleaner can leave a cloudy residue.
But glass and surface Windex cleans tough, greasy stains, leaving nothing behind but the shine.
Just because your kitchen's not really made of glass doesn't mean it can't shine like it.
Thanks to glass and surface Windex from S.C. Johnson-Wyck.
Hi, I'm your new assistant. I'm gonna get some coffee. You want some? Please.
When you're looking to make a great cup of coffee, look to Folger's Crystals.
Made with rich, mountain-grown beans, their eye-opening aroma and flavor are sure to make a good impression on anyone's morning.
Thanks. Mmm. Baker?
Yes? There's coffee. Yes? It's great. Thanks.
Warning. Experts predict the worst cold and flu season in years.
Just in time, maximum strength Theraflu non-drowsy caplets. When it's got to work, it's got to be Theraflu.
Why compromise on your laxative? On the one hand, you want strong, but on the other hand, you want gentle.
Get both with Docalax. So effective, doctors recommend it most, and it's gentle with comfort coating.
Get strong. Get gentle. Get Docalax.
This has been a lousy week for weather pretty much all over the country.
If you haven't heard of the storm of the century, you've either been overseas or living in a bottle.
Everyone up and down the East Coast has their war stories to tell.
Mary Garofalo braved the blizzard of 96 to bring us this report.
It wore a white hat and rode a pale horse, but it was the biggest, baddest villain that's ever ridden into the East.
They're calling this wind the blizzard of 96, the storm of the century, a brutal assault of wind and snow like few have ever seen before.
We have a storm here that's hit us with a magnitude of 20 to 25 inches plus in snow,
something that I haven't seen in my 19 years of police experience, and I'm sure a lot of you probably haven't seen what we've seen out here.
The blizzard wreaked unprecedented chaos along the eastern seaboard, even in places that are used to winter storms.
People were left stunned by the blizzard.
It dumped record amounts of snow in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and even West Virginia.
Governors from seven states declared states of emergency, and for the first time in its history, New York City was isolated.
With all its airports shut down, roads closed, and trains stopped in their tracks.
There's got to be a morning after.
The snow finally stopped falling.
The sun started shining again, and tales of survival and wonder began to emerge from the great blizzard of 96.
Let's keep on looking for the light.
And amid the destruction and tragedy of a storm that took at least 80 lives, the biggest miracles came in the smallest packages.
Now what are you celebrating, right?
We're celebrating life this morning, brand new life, delivered by Engine 294 and EMS together.
New York's bravest were among the happiest after coming to the rescue in their fire truck to help deliver an eight-pound baby boy.
Meanwhile in Boston, this woman was the toast of the town after giving birth to triplets at the height of the blizzard.
You'll never forget our little blizzard babies.
But the biggest baby of the storm was this guy.
We have three large predators who all have different personalities, and that's part of what we find so fascinating about them, what's kind of endearing about Gus.
He ends up lots of times doing not what you would expect.
You would have thought Gus the polar bear would have been in hog heaven with all that snow, but he crawled into his cave at New York's Central Park Zoo until the worst was over.
We found that Gus is a unique individual, and we kind of let him do whatever he wants.
So if Gus wants to be in during the blizzard, which quite frankly is a smart way to go, even if you have a fur coat, you know, we're more than happy to accommodate him.
Even he knows there has to be a morning after.
And now here's what's coming up Monday on A Current Affair.
It's powerful enough to make grown men cry and confess their sins to total strangers, all part of a former coach's game plan to recruit a male only team of disciples.
It's affecting hundreds of thousands of kinds, soon to be millions of kinds.
Who are the promise keepers and what keeps women watching from the sidelines?
Find out on the new A Current Affair.
That's Monday on A Current Affair. Thanks for joining us today on A Current Affair Extra.
We leave you with Tracy Bird singing his hit single, The Watermelon Crawl.
I'm Penny Daniels. I'll see you next week.
On Northwest Original, Q13 Fox.
The Covington Library presents a free program on attention deficit disorder in children.
To register, call 630-8761.
For thousands of years, psychics have been performing amazing feats using only their minds.
Stories of instant wealth, lucky numbers, and dream interpretations have helped untold millions throughout the world.
But now, for the very first time, incredible predictions of the past and future can be experienced by anyone.
Our staff of highly skilled psychics, medians, and spiritual counselors are available 24 hours a day to give you your very own live personal reading.
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Monday's dialing for dollars movie, Matlock faces harassment when he takes on a crime boss as a client in our Monday mystery movie.
Tune in for all the excitement Monday afternoon at 1 o'clock here on Q13.
You're watching Q13 Fox.