life, has died. he was in rome when he suffered what is believed to be a heart attack. gandolfini, just 51, went from character actor to superstar. david chase had this to say. he was a genius. anyone that saw him knows that. he is one of the greatest actors of this or any time. a great deal of that genius resided in those sad eyes. we'll be talking tonight to the people who knew him, who admired his work and watched him become a folk hero in the garden state and around the world. let's begin with larry king, who joins us by phone, and dr. sanjay gupta. dr. gupta, i want to begin with you. we need to be careful. we're just get thing information in, but 51 years old, three months short of 52 years old, indications are a heart attack or stroke. what would your questions be? >> well, clearly this is young to have a heart attack, even

when you look at pre-existing conditions. average age of someone having a first heart attack is usually in the mid 60s. john, as you're suggesting, it's very important here, this very limited information that we know, and so the medical personnel, people trying to figure this out on the ground there are going to want to know are there any other potential risk factors here? if this was in fact heart disease, heart attacks typically cause what's known as cardiac arrest. heart attack is caused by not enough blood flow to the heart. but what can cause death is when the heart goes into abnormal rhythms. but other things can cause abnormal rhythms. did he have a preexisting condition that he didn't know about? were there medications or drugs in his system at the time of this? you're also hearing this notion, was there a stroke involved? could that have been because of poor blood flow to the brain?

so there's a lot of things that we still, as you're suggesting again, john, we need to figure out. but this is young for really a first-time heart attack, certainly a first-time stroke and a lot of questions to be answered. >> dr. gupta, please stay with us. larry king joins us now on the telephone. larry, 51 years old, a man who had many, many roles but became a superstar with tony sparano. you sat across the table from him many times, a man who loved what he did and appeared very much to love life. >> he sure was, john. he was a great guy. i'm in vegas, and the last time i saw mr. gandolfini was in vegas. we were at a dinner together honoring muhammad ali. we were at the same table. he was a great fan of muhammad ali. as i told erin burnett, a man next to a table had bid on a cruise of like $250,000 and invited james to go with him,

and he said, of course i'll go. he was exuberant, lively, very, very sad to hear. i had my heart attack when i was 53, so i've outlived that for a long time. heart attacks do occur in your 50s. he did, sanjay, he loved his food, and he was not -- he didn't push back from the table. >> larry, when he went from being a very good, don't get me wrong character actor to a superstar as tony sparano, what did that mean to him? >> well, he was very appreciative of it, but he always remained, john, a character actor. he did a successful broadway play a couple years ago. he re-created the role in hollywood, a four-character play, a comedy play, he loved comedies. he was the classic character actor, who was thrown into stardom in a role that was

unbelievable that he -- he was so tony soprano. when you see someone embrace a role like that, he was tony sparano. he totally enveloped a role and it's rare a character actor becomes a major star. it happened to him. he handled it so well. if you would have known him, you would have liked him so well. if he was on the show with you tonight, he would have gone and had a pizza with you after the show. >> he was the mayor of new york city in "pellham one, two, three." he was in "zero dark thirty." did you talk to him about that, when you're a character actor, you've done broadway, television, then you become famous for one role, that's a great blessing. is it also sometimes a frustration? >> i asked him the other day, do you think there's roles you didn't get because of tony sparano? he said, probably true.

sometimes when you stamp a role, it might affect you with other roles. but he was a broadway actor first, and i think he liked that the best. i think he preferred theater, and there's always room in the theaters for the good actors. he was certainly that. i'm really shocked, aren't you? >> i am shocked. it's sad news. tonight as we try to digest it, helping us is krista smith. you met mr. gandolfini early in his career. give us some reflections. >> i did. i remember when he used to come to l.a. and he would -- we had a mutual friend and he would stay at my apartment when he was auditioning for pilots. when he starred in "a streetcar named desire," i remembered that very well with my friend, that

version with alec baldwin. he loved theater, he was a brilliant actor. after course, he got "the sopranos," which hit the cultural sweet spot with everybody for over a decade. that character is legendary, and "vanity fair" certainly covered it. tony sparano is its own -- you know, i don't think you can think of a more iconic character than he created than that one. >> you recall him staying at your apartment early on. do you recall any health issues that we didn't know about but he did? >> i never did. he was a really smart guy. he was fun. he had a certain kind of natural sex appeal for a guy that wasn't a traditional leading man and, no, not at all. later in life, obviously he was heavier. i don't know if that played a part into it. it's just so, so sad. and he's a father. it's terrible.

>> matthew is with us. he directed james. matthew, just tell us what he was like to work with from beginning to end of a big project? >> oh, well, i have to say he's one of my favorite actors to spend time with. he was terrified about the idea of coming back to broadway in a play like that, and would say he wasn't going to be as good as the other people in the cast and he was going to let them down. you know, the irony, of course, he was perfect in that role. had an extreme sensitivity and very high standards of himself. he was so brutal on himself that that's what made him such an outstanding actor. one of our great actors. i was thinking just the other day of more work that i would

like to do with him, direct him. but he really did appreciate, i think, being part of that broadway scene again. i remember him coming in one day after we opened the show and he was a big success in it and really started to enjoy it, having traveled from sheer panic and terror to beginning to enjoy it. he said i was at a restaurant last night and someone said hey, jim, he said, that's the first time in years anyone has called me by my name, they usually call me tony. i really feel like broadway has given me that whole side of myself back again. he was proud to be part of the acting community, i think. >> for viewers who might only know him as tony sparano, tell us about the role in "god of carnage." >> well, very suited to his bear-like personality. he was kind of a, you know, we

would say a [ inaudible ] character. somebody who is married to a deep-thinking, socially aware wife. it's a story about family and friends of theirs, their son getting into a fight and how the parents try to resolve it in an adult way. over the course of the play, they would all generate into children squabbling and fighting. it was great to see this huge man breaking down, you know, in the role, sobbing, shouting, yelling. as all the characters in that play do. a fireworks display. he was just so good at the emotions. very passionate man and very, very tender man. we went through -- i think we

went on a journey together, he and i, and the rest of the cast doing that play. and i really loved him and admired him a great deal. it's a real shock today. >> did he talk at all -- you mentioned the sensitivity required in this role. he was a very gruff and cut throat killer as tony sparano. did he think at all maybe the audience won't find me credible, the audience will have difficulty digesting me in a different kind of role? >> well, i think he came in with expectations of playing in a certain way that wasn't too far away from tony sparano, and maybe that had become his comfort zone, possibly. i indicated to him that there was another area, more out of

control, more vulnerable, more child like and what have you, he would chuckle and say, you really want me to do that? he had a great comic instinct. but he realized the audience would get a kick, i think, out of seeing him do these other things and showing that other side. but he didn't find it easy to get there. so it was a real act of courage. i can't emphasize that enough. he pleaded with me on one occasion to be allowed to leave the show, when we were still in rehearsals. he thought he wouldn't be able to just live up to the rest of the company. i hope he wouldn't mind me sharing that. it was a very private thing. but it was a good indication of the courage that he showed. all of these things, the sensitivity, passion, the courage, the brutal self-criticism.

all great ingredients for being the great actor that he was. >> that speaks volumes to his dedication to his craft. matthew, let me ask you this. then please stay with us as we continue the conversation. the stamina required for the theater is quite demanding, it's quite the haul, from the preproduction to the production. any indication to you that he had any health issues at all? >> you know, there was talk that he had health issues in the past, and i think that was just common knowledge. he was as clean as a whistle for us, and incredibly dedicated, rigorous, scrupulous. yeah, as was required, he behaved and lived like an athlete when he was doing the show on broadway. it was a long run and he continued to do it.

he came back for a second run on broadway, then a third run over in l.a. and he was in good shape. you're right, it was a particularly strenuous show. no, i would say he was clearly a big guy, but when he was doing "god of carnage," he was a healthy guy. >> we'll talk about some of those issues with dr. sanjay gupta. more next on the death and incredibly creative life of james gandolfini. >> excuse me. yeah. >> you're not going to believe this. your sister is here. >> barbara? >> no, janice. >> you're [ bleep ]ing me. >> nope. >> i wonder what the scam is this time?

i don't know i come here. >> do you think it would help if you went someplace so you could rest up a while? >> you mean like vegas? >> no, not vegas. someplace where you could be looked after. >> you mean like a hospital with

the padded rooms and the straight jacket? >> no, no straitjackets. a residential treatment center. >> do you got any idea what my life would be worth if certain people found out i checked into a laughing academy? >> breaking news tonight, actor james gandolfini has died in las vegas apparently of a heart attack. james gandolfini, a fine man. he was a lovely man and a huge talent. rest in peace. we're back now with dr. sanjay gupta. krista smith and the director of "vanity fair." dr. gupta, i want to srt with you. we are in the early stages so we need to be careful. 51 years old, three months short of a 52nd birthday. he was, you could tell by looking, overweight, perhaps

meeting the definition of obese. what are your questions when you hear of a heart attack? >> you want to know about any existing health conditions he had. you're hearing from the people that knew him best. also his family history. i mentioned earlier, we were talking with larry king, the average age for someone having a first heart attack is typically in the mid 60s and some of these risk factors we're talking about, whether it's his weight alone, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, was he a smoker, had he used drugs, even currently or in the past, could put that rate of first heart attack earlier in life. so about 10% of people who have first heart attacks are having them before age 45. while the vast majority do occur in the 60s, there are risk factors that can move that up. in the united states, if someone

dies unexpectedly, unusually, in many cases, the medical examiner may be involved to try and get a better answer as to what exactly happened here by doing an examination. i don't know what happens in italy specifically, but that's something else i would want to know and the medical personnel on the ground are trying to figure that out as we speak, john. >> matthew, i know we're going to lose you soon. as you worked with him in the theater, we were talking about some concerns. what was your take on his physical health and physical stamina? >> i have nothing to say other than to say he did a very, very strenuous job, rigorously, scrupulously, and with great self-control. during the months that he was involved with us, other than, you know, other than just the -- the anxiety that he was

battling, when we were -- before we opened the show, which is something that consumed him and i was -- that's not uncommon. i was happy to walk with him through that process. no, he was -- he was -- he did a -- he did really well and seemed to be healthy. you know, this is a big guy and a very strenuous production with lots of running and leaping around and fights and falling over furniture. so at that stage, there were no alarm bells i would say at all. >> you become a family in a production like that. tell us something about jim gandolfini that perhaps the public never gets to see about the man, the person. >> just to say that, you know, he was extremely gentle, tender, soft hearted, vulnerable, kind.

yes, he was -- he was very funny, and you know, sharp tongued sometimes and explosive. this is not -- this is not a negative for me. i love passionate people. i love people with very high standards. you know, we would be rehearsing away, and rehearsals are just a time when everybody gets everything wrong over and over again and you work out together how you're going to get it right. he would sometimes beat the table just because sometimes he got a line wrong and this is what we're here for and i loved that. people said to him, you're going to be great and a big personality.

he was -- he was a big personality but he was a humble and a gentle, tender man with high standards and a great, great talent. i mean, i hope you can hear, i had such genuine fondness for him as a person. everything about him. he had his own struggles with -- well, whatever they were, demons in his life that had to do with his high standards and anxiety and a person who needed to get things right. all of that stuff. that's normal for a performer, a performer of his caliber and profile. he dealt with it, with high standards, dignity. yeah, i loved him. >> matthew, we appreciate those reflections on the life and work.

this is sad and shocking news tonight. when you think of james gandolfini and the full variety of his work, not just tony sparano, what runs through your mind on this sad eving? >> well, that's the thing. tony sparano will always be his legacy, but he had a diverse career. he had a good touch with comedy, as well as the ability to inhabit different dramatic roles. i saw him in "god of carnage" in los angeles, so he really was an actor of many talents. >> one of the things that perhaps many people don't know is his love of the american military and the veteran. you produced a documentary about the difficulties of troops coming home from iraq and a documentary on troops dealing with earlier wars dealing with ptsd. is that something that anyone had any idea how he came to that

infinity, affection in his desire to help support their cause? >> i think that was just something that he was passionate about for a long time. so be clear, he was not tony sparano in real life. he was a very -- person very interested in the world. i think that was just a cause that was near and dear to him. >> krista smith, you say you knew james gandolfini early in his career. how did he change as his career became more successful and then superstar? >> well, i think that the experience that i knew with him, he's a very, very loyal guy. he had the same amount of friends that he had with him when he wasn't famous and when he was famous. he didn't change and move on to a different statosphere. he kept the same kind of family around him that he had when he wasn't famous. he really is the -- i have to say the one thing he is was definitely an actor's actor.

every time i'm interviewing actors, he was always mentioned. people had a tremendous amount of respect for him, for his sheer talent. also his big personality, but his gentleness and humor. he was very well liked. >> malena, what surprised you? you can look at the body of work and go to broadway, look at the television shows, watch all "the sopranos" you want. what did you think after your interviews, that was a surprise? >> he was quite funny and very dry. he didn't mind talking about his work, but he didn't want to do it in the hollywood frou frou fashion that sometimes people are used to. he just wanted to have a conversation. he was interested in your honest opinion about things. you could face giving him your honest opinion, he would listen to it. >> some people in the business like to be treated as if they're extra special. others have a little bit of

disdain for that. how about jim? >> he didn't strike me as somebody who wanted a lot of extra attention. he told me he didn't think about playing tony sparano. he didn't think about him as a character, even though that's what he was known for. he did his best to disappear into his roles, and he chose roles that you wouldn't necessarily expect for somebody with his past and career and his physical attributes. he really went for softies sometimes. >> what was he worried, i don't know if that's the right was, was he worried that he would be overdefined by tony soprano? >> i think he liked giving people a different take on him. he did a lot of movies, he did broadway. he told me he loved dumb comedies. that's what he called them, stupid comedies that you might catch on cable. that's what he watched. he wasn't out there worrying about being typecast, no.

>> and he was the defense secretary in "zero dark thirty," an interesting role for somebody known as a mobster. >> he had a lot of interaction with the military. he went abroad. he did stuff with the troops and he did a lot of documentaries for hbo about people in combat. that was something he was really proud of. >> do you know where that passion came from? a lot of people go on one or two trips with the uso or a few public relations appearances, but this was something he viewed as a cause that he would stick with. >> yeah, he learned about the troops abroad, having a real connection to "the sopranos" and that's what turned him on it to, as well as some of his castmates having been in the military themselves. that's when he started going over. then hbo came to him with ideas about doing documentaries. he started doing them. even when he played in "zero dark thirty," he interacted with

some of those guys and i remember at one of the many awards shows we attended together, he made a joke about how he apologized to panetta for not doing him right. he said he had a bad wig in the movie. >> common theme from everyone we spoke to about this sad news is how hard he worked. how dedicated he was to his craft. any indication when you did this profile in 2010 of any health issues? >> no, i wouldn't say so. everybody who knew him, you could see what he was, he was a big guy. he didn't hide that. there's no way you could hide that. i think we had lunch and he had a salad. he was not somebody that gave indication that he was concerned about his health, no. >> where did he see his career going? we have talked its sometimes frustrating for an actor who wants to be on the big screen. likes to do funny films, stupid

comedies. you know, the mass appeal, the mass of the audience out there thinks of him as tony sparano. where did he see himself going? >> i didn't have any sense that he was dissatisfied with the roles he was getting. he was well beyond the moment when he had to read for anything. he was getting sent scripts. you would imagine he had some choices and he was choosing roles that were smaller, that he played a softer character or doing eight shows a week on broadway not an easy thing. so he was still interested in being a performer. his co-stars and colleagues that worked with him had nothing but praise for his work ethic. >> any sense of who he admired in the business? >> you know, when i talked to him, he was -- he had just done a movie with chris stewart. he said he was interested in working with her, not because of "twilight" but because he had seen her in an earlier movie

"into the wild." he was looking at those kind of things. and he had this dedication, he was interested in the movie because it was made by jake scott, who was a nephew of tony scott, who gave him his first role. he was dedicated to that relationship. he wanted to pursue that. so i'm sure he had no shortage of opportunity. >> elena, appreciate your insight. dr. sanjay gupta, everyone else, thank you for helping us understand the gravity of this moment. sorry it had to be under these circumstances tonight. actor james gandolfini, just 51 years old, dying on vacation in italy. ♪ just a small town girl ♪ living in a lonely world

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there are striking new claims tonight about a plane crash that really hit the country hard. a 747, or the safest airliner on earth, blown out of the sky. one minute, everything aboard flight 800 was normal. the next, the plane falling into pieces off the coast of long island, new york, killing everyone on board. and prompting perhaps the most thorough investigation. investigators literally reassembled the aircraft to determine how it came apart. it still exists in a hangar in virginia. now the producers of a new documentary and some retired investigators say the official theory about blaming an explosion on the fuel tank is wrong. they claim in the words of the film's own material that the investigation was systematically undermined. today, they petitioned to reopen the investigation. in a moment, one of those retired investigators as well as

the assistant fbi director. first, the background from gary tuchman. >> reporter: it was a hot summer night in 1996. >> we just saw an explosion out here. and it just went down. in the water. >> there was no saving anyone. >> it just blew up in the air. and we just saw two fireballs. >> reporter: family members, witnesses in utter shock. twa flight 800 had just taken off minutes earlier from jfk airport on its way to paris and crashed into the atlantic off the coast of new york's eastern long island. all 230 people aboard, dead. the investigation as to why the plane went down ribbed at the nation. the two main theories, mechanical failure or terrorism. this disaster happened only three years after the first terrorist attack on the world trade center. jim was in charge of the

investigation. jim was the head of the new york city field office of the fbi. >> we talked about the possibility of a missile taking down the airplane. first time we've ever said that in law enforcement in the united states. >> it originated and was sustained by many eyewitnesses. >> it looked like a little red dot that went up. it didn't leave a tail behind. >> reporter: she even drew a sketch for the fbi then drew it to me. >> the red dot went up like this, came to a point where little fireworks were going to come down or fade, and then like big, big -- these would be thick streams of fire coming down. >> reporter: another witness was mike wire, who said he saw a flare-like object head up into the sky and strike the plane. >> i think it was a missile that went up. >> reporter: a twa pilot who had on occasion flown the actual 747 that had been in the accident also believed the missile theory.

a pilot was one of the people in the investigation. >> the fbi and ntsb are political animals. they'll do whatever it takes to cover their political rear ends. >> reporter: but there's never been any substantiation of evidence of an external explosion. and 16 months after the most thorough and extensive air crash investigation in u.s. history, the fbi announced no evidence had been found of a criminal act. the probable cause, an explosion of flammable fuel and vapors in the center fuel tank. as far as the eyewitnesses who thought they saw a missile, investigators explained that after the explosion, the front of the plane plunged into the water, but before that, the back after continued climbing, which could have appeared to look like a missile in the night sky. the man who led the investigation at the time was robert francis. >> a missile doesn't hit an airplane and you recover 98% of the airplane and still not see a single scratch or indication on the airplane that a missile hit

it. >> reporter: but a new documentary will try to convince viewers otherwise. the documentary's conclusion, it wasn't a mechanical malfunction, but instead, you guessed it, an external explosion, suggesting a missile. not only that, it says information was suppressed and some investigators were essentially coerced into supporting the mechanical failure explanation. former accident investigator hank hughes is one of the people in it. >> what would your analysis have been? >> the primary conclusion was the explosive forces came from outside the airplane, not the center fuel tank. >> reporter: the fbi and ntsb stand by their findings. but today, as the wreckage still sits in a hangar, authorities promise they are open to a new investigation if new evidence is presented. gary tuchman, cnn, atlanta.

>> the new documentary features six former investigators, including hank hughes, who joins us tonight. hank, this is a weighty allegation made here. you say there's solid evidence that the original finding was untrue. what is that evidence and what are you and your colleagues now saying happened to that plane? >> witnesses say a missile or missiles shot down flight 800. the physical evidence supports that. but in terms of penetration, nitrate deposits found on the aircraft, when we reconstructed the interior of the airplane, which is a job that i supervised, we found that there was absolutely no correlation between the victims, the interior, and for that matter the explosion, which suggested a high degree of separation of parts or high ordnance explosion. in addition to that, after pain stakingly filing requests and suing the fbi, the cia and

trying to get factual information that should have been made available to the public, we were able to analyze the radar data. at the time of the explosion, there were particles of debris and matter traveling at mach 4. >> you're saying that the fbi, with the help of the cia and your bosses at the ntsb manipulated evidence, doctored evidence, lied to the american people and covered up a crime or something caused by the united states military? >> i never said that. what i'm saying is the facts and circumstances of the accident were not as portrayed by the ntsb's final report. i will say from my own personal experience, i saw people lie. i saw information exfoliated. i testified before a senate oversight committee hearing in may of 1997, along with two

other safety board investigators, and talked about the irregularities and mismanagement by the ntsb and problems with the fbi. and our concerns fell on deaf ears. i know apparently mr. calstrum is upset about it, but he needs to look more closely at what went on, because she's blowing a lot of smoke. >> you say he's blowing smoke. you're making serious accusations. who told people to lie? >> i have no idea. i have no idea. the first and only time in my career where anything like that has ever happened. >> and you allege and this documentary allege there were some shenanigans. fbi and investigators going into the hangar at weird hours of the night. >> that's not an accusation, that's a fact. >> what were they doing? >> i don't know. i want in the hangar one morning to get it ready for the team to

do work on the interior. i found that some of the parts had been disturbed. it was fairly evident to the folks that were with me. we reported it to the fbi security chief, who came over, viewed what we showed him and concurred yes, someone had been there and disturbed it. they put some surveillance cameras in our hangar and two or three nights later, in the wee hours of the morning, three fbi agents from another office were caught in the hangar by the fbi security people and then, of course, later when we said who are they, what were they doing there, we got no answer. there's no motive in this other than we want to get it straight. it's a matter of personal integrity for us. we're volunteers. we have nothing to gain financially or other wise. and to be honest with you, a lot of us are sticking our necks out because of something we believe in, and it's all as a result of

being able to look at evidence that not everybody has been able to see before. >> hank hughes, appreciate your time. >> yes, sir. >> the allegations reopen a lot of old wounds. to some, they also raise new questions. others, including jaime calstrum believe the big questions were asked and answered years ago. you just heard the allegations made my hank hughes. he said not only did the fbi blow it, it was 16 months of your life, 7,000 interviews and he said there was a cover up. what do you say to that? >> i think it's preposterous. if he had that kind of trouble speaking with his own ntsb hierarchy, i was there just about every day, he could have came over to me and said hey, i think they are leading you down a oneway street the wrong way. any of those fellows could have

done that. i don't question their motive. i just wish if someone felt that strongly about something like that, they could have brought it to someone's attention commensurate with the investigation and not wait 17 years till they get their pensions in their pockets and then come out with it. >> you mentioned pensions in their pockets. he said this is about personal integrity. he says he has no financial stake in this. it's about personal integrity. what do you think it's about? >> i don't know what it's about, and i don't challenge him on that. but why didn't he do that 16 1/2 years ago? i have no knowledge of any of these things he speaks about. first off, it's clear to understand one thing, the fbi and the ntsb are two separate agencies. the fbi has criminal jurisdiction under title 18 of crime aboard aircraft or destroying american flagged

aircraft. the ntsb is the investigative agency for crashes and things like that, mechanical failure, pilot error, things like that. we both have our own jurisdiction and our rules. we operate under the rules of federal procedure. we operate under the rules of evidence collection and chain of custody. so it's not unusual to have fbi agents in the hangar. look at bringing things down to our laboratory back and forth. >> so when he says video surveillance sees three fbi agents in the hangar at weird hours of the night, you would say what? >> if my people were out there, they were there are 24/7, thought there was some hanky pan ky going on, i would have known about it. i have no knowledge of that, and i don't believe if that took place it had good reason. we had a whole team of lab technicians there that worked around the clock looking at evidence. at the peak, john, i had a

thousand agents on this investigation. we took the missile theory, the possibility of missile brought down the plane very, very seriously. you know, at that time in '96, we were at a very high state of alert here in the united states. 747s don't blow up in fireballs seen for 40 miles. >> the missile theory is not new. back at the time, a journalist said he had evidence that it was friendly fire from the navy gunners. what do you make of that? >> peter sallinger spent some time in the u.s. senate. over in france, apparently three sheets to the wind, waving a piece of paper saying this is a report from french intelligence that says the "uss normandy" shot down this plane, which was absolute total bunk. it was the rantings of some nut on the internet and it was debunked. >> the technology has changed a lot since then. do you think it would make sense for the ntsd, the fbi to bring together a team and at least run

the same tests using the new technology to see if they see anything different? >> i don't see anything wrong with that. the day i had my closing press conference for an hour and a half, i talked about the fact that we could find no evidence weekend we were 99% sure that this was not a terrorist. however, we'll put the case pending inactive. that plane sits in a hangar in virginia. if somebody can come up with some other idea how that happened, god bless them. but it's been 17 years and that hasn't happened. i wouldn't be opposed to that. i'm just a little bit upset because we're very close with the families. we really bonded with the families and spent a lot of time with them. we showed them things and talked about it. we tried to dissuade them of all the chatter of all the crazy stuff that was out there, and here this is 17 years later. i don't say it because i'm defensive about our investigation.

that's open to the world that. plane is sitting there. it's not been buried or melted down. it's right there. so, i would love to see what this definitive science is that somebody who has a degree in physics and sits in an armchair and watches this on television could bring that the most prestigious metallugist in the world couldn't bring. >> let me ask you one last week. people were coerced and lied. at any point in this administration, you're lead investigation at any point did you face any political pressure at all, any pressure at all from anywhere to make this not be a crime or make this not be an accident involving the military? >> absolutely not. you know, i'm not the most bashful person, john, in the word. you know me and i know you. you know, that just would not have ever carried the day. >> appreciate your time, sir. >> my pleasure. thank you. >> a lot more happening tonight,

including breaking news in that ohio captive case, including video of the woman who says she and her daughter were held captive in this house. [ lane ] are you growing old waiting for your wrinkle cream to work? neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair has the fastest retinol formula. to visibly reduce fine lines and wrinkles in just one week. neutrogena®.

breaking news tonight on a story, a mentally disabled woman anher young daughter held

captive for more than a year, forced to eat dog food and menaced by a pit bull, a python. those are the allegations. in addition to the two men and one woman in custody, a fourth person has turned herself in. her name is dezra silsby. she's scheduled to appear in court tomorrow. and video has surfaced of the home where the woman says she was held. pamela brown is covering the story. as this was starting to break last night, it sounds horrific. what more have you learned today? >> reporter: it's horrific, confusing and complex. we have learned some new details today. prosecutors are standing by what they said yesterday that the suspects in this case forced this 29-year-old woman and her little girl into captivity in the home here behind me. that they threatened her and used her daughter against her to keep her in line as their personal slave. so horrifying details here.

when the victim was caught shoplifting last october, she told police about her alleged captors. this is where it gets murky. when cops confronted the suspects, they gave them this very disturbing cell phone video. let's take a look here. as you can see there, it shows what appears to be the alleged victim beating her child a year earlier, smacking her on the face repeatedly. then there's more video. there's video of her spanking her child repeatedly over and over again. prosecutors are saying that the mother claims she was forced into this so that the -- so that her captors could use it as blackmail so she wouldn't believe. january?

>> this is very confusing. if the woman -- the mother was free to leave the house, why didn't she go to authorities sooner? john. what we're told by authorities is that her little girl was forced to stay inside the home when the mother would run an errand so the mother would return back to her little girl. i've covered several human trafficking cases, and it's not that clear cut. oftentimes victims fear powerless. they're fearful and scared to cry out for help because they're afraid the captors will come after them and hurt them and their family. it's very complex when it comes to that. we did look at police reports, though, and found out that police over the last couple of years did have interaction with the suspects in this case, but also with the alleged victim. in fact, in one of the cases, the alleged victim called police about a stolen food stamps. so the question remains, john,

if the mother and her child were living in subhuman conditions as the u.s. attorney alleges, why didn't anyone intervene sooner? >> has anyone else tied her up or just you? just you? >> yeah. >> has anyone else taped her or just you? >> just me. >> explain first, pam, the significance of that video. >> reporter: yes. this is video that was actually taped by police. this is the day after the victim was caught for shoplifting. she was giving police a tour of the home here behind me. and in this video, she says she actually admits that she tied up her little girl, and that she taped the little girl, as we heard her say there in that video. we spoke to one of the suspect's attorneys and he says the video there is proof that her accusations aren't credible. however, the u.s. attorney in

this case is standing by what he's said. he says that there are several witnesses that corroborate the mother's story and he continues to put the blame squarely on the accusers. >> pamela brown on the scene for us. trying to sort through this conflicting information. thanks so much. a lot more happening tonight. isha sesay joins us with a "360" bulletin. isha? >> the fbi revealed today it has used drones inside the united states. the unmanned surveillance aircraft were used in barricade situations where law enforcement personnel could be at serious risk. the agency did not say how many drones it has or how off they're used. we have a "360" follow to a story from monday. three mid shipman at the naval academy were charged with sexual assault. a female classmate claims she was raped by the men off campus last year. and the american medical association reclassified obesity as a disease.

the change diagnoses with nearly one third of americans with the disease. the group has no official say in what qualifies as a disease. john? >> isha, thanks. before we go, we've been looking at the tributes to james gandolfini, who sadly died tonight at the age of 51. "the new york times" obituary quoting him of getting what would be the role of a lifetime. before telling you what he said, we would be remiss to not paying tribute. >> i'm going to live a nice, long, happy life, which is more than i can say for you. >> that's enough. >> keep her moving. keep moving. he doesn't understand you. >> look at her face. she's smiling. look at her face. she's got a smile on her face. look at her face. [ bleep ] she's got a smile on her face. >> james gandolfini, as we said, was modest about snagging that magnificent part. quote, i thought it was a wonderful script. i thought i could do this, but i

thought they would hire someone more appealing to the eye. james gandolfini, dead tonight at the age of 51. he'll be deeply missed. that does it for this edition of "360." thanks for watching. "early start begins right now. >> such a brilliant actor, television icon. james gan dodolfini dying on a father/son trip. president obama revealing new information about the secret surveillance program. so much devastation. homes crashing down and the death toll rising from a monsoon flood and the danger not over. >> dramatic pictures. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm john berman. >> we begin