incredibly succinct. we appreciate sean's time thanks very much to all of you for joining us as our breaking news coverage of the waco story continues. anderson cooper 360 begins right now. good evening from texas tonight, i'm in el paso on assignment the story is further east. officials are warning another could be possible. the bulletin from texas authorities obtained just moments ago, warning that additional members of two biker gangs could be making their way into the state, they are considered armed, dangerous and after what happened yesterday, there's no reason to doubt that. already in waco law enforcement is busy because of those two gangs, upwards of 70 people have been arrested. nine if a tailties in the single

worst outbreak of violence since 20 years ago. dozens of knives firearms one crowded restaurant alcohol, a rivalry and a spark. >> reporter: this is the aftermath of a deadly battle involving at least five rival biker gangs and texas law enforcement enforcement. >> shortly after 12:15, a fight broke out in this building into the parking lot of twin peeks. as that fight progressed it progressed rapidly from hands and feet to weapons, chains a club was involved and knives were involved. >> as the bloodshed spilled into the park lot, police including s.w.a.t. officers moved in.

as we pulled up on scene, the shooting at individual bikers from bikers turned toward us. our officers took fire and responded appropriately, returning fire. >> when the shooting finally stopped, nine bikers were dead four of which according to a law enforcement source may have been killed by police. >> what's still unclear is exactly what led to the fight between these rival biker gangs. what is clear is that the bloodshed could have been worse. twin peaks is in the middle of a busy shopping district. on sunday this area teaming with innocent bystanders unaware that a fight was about to erupt. the restaurant itself is at least partly to blame that any violence broke out. >> management knew there were biker gangs, they continued to let those groups of people into their business. we feel like there may have been more that could have been done by a business to prevent this.

now we have nine individuals that are dead, and it wasn't necessary. >> beyond the nine bikers killed around 170 were rounded up and arrested. so many suspects they initially had to be bussed here to the waco convention center before being processed into the county jail. >> those individuals are being charged with engaging in organized crime in reference to the shooting at twin peaks, which is a capitol murder. it's a capital murder because of the number of victims that were killed in one episode here. >> and tonight, authorities fear reprisal attacks against the biker gangs. they could continue the bloodshed in waco. >> nick valencia joins us now from waco. more violence to be concerned as you mentioned, what is the latest on that? >> law enforcement officials here on heightened alert saying there may be a chance they will

be targeted by these biker gangs, saying a green light hit has been put on all officers. cnn retaining a statement from the local owner of the twin peaks in waco texas telling a different version of events than what police have been saying. to the best of our knowledge, law enforcement officials did not ask the waco restaurant operator with whom they spoke several times or the twin peaks franchiser to cancel the patio reservation that was made on sunday. we also believe the violence began outside in the area of the parking lot, and not inside our restaurant or our patio as has been widely reported. a much different version of events from the owner here. anderson? >> nick i appreciate the reporting. just to underscore how volatile this mixture was, all this went down despite as we mentioned a heavy police presence nearby it was a visible police presence.

here's patrick swanton. >> they could care less whether we were here or not, that's the violence we were dealing with yesterday. they knew we were seconds away and we're going to respond. it mattered not to them they were still killing individuals, and turned their gunfire at us when we got here. >> sergeant patrick swanson joins us now live. sergeant thank you very much for being with us. first of all, i want to ask you about this report about others coming to the waco area what are your concerns what do you believe may happen. >> we think that's a possibility. we saw very early on last night, that we had a contingent of bikers come into the area a larger amount than we would normally see here. when the threat was put out toward law enforcement officers caused us to really step up our game. obviously, it's something we're concerned about, we would

encourage biker groups to stand down there's been enough bloodshed, enough death here we don't need additional death in the waco area. obviously, we were still sorting through the scene behind us we'll process that evidence and continue the investigation through the coming days and weeks. >> >>. >> do you know what it was that actually began the fight? the franchise is just saying didn't happen inside the restaurant or in the bathroom they believe it happened in the parking lot, do you know what actually caused this? >> we know it started in the bathroom area initially, there was also a skirmish in the parking lot, i don't know how close those two were together. there was shooting inside the club i won't sit here and argue with an individual. but i can tell you that we believe the shooting occurred inside moved into the open bar area and came out into the parking lot as well.

nine individuals were killed in that parking lot, and we're in the process now of trying to determine exactly who all was involved and specifically what this started over. we believe it's gang related activity whether it's to determine some turf for one group or in the process of recruiting for another group. all of that goes hand in hand it may have been one gang trying to say, we're here in your area and we're going to be here because we want to. >> so i mean because these are gangs that do have a longstanding rivalry. so the fact that they were all in the same area is that unusual? >> that they're all in the same area at one time? it's a little bit unusual. when you get groups together that can't get along, we know there's a history between these two groups. we know there's a recent history of violence between these two groups that may have played a part in what occurred here sunday as well.

>> i want to ask you about something the local twin peaks franchise said today they said that law enforcement officials didn't ask the operator or the franchise to cancel the patio reservation. i know you had been critical of this particular franchise, is that in fact true? >> no, what they're saying is not true and we dispute that fact. >> and in terms -- are they being cooperative now in terms of cooperating with the investigation at this point? i know you had said before they had not been cooperating. >> i can tell you national is being cooperative at this point. we appreciate their efforts. we appreciate their news release that they have done indicating their willingness to work with us and we think that will go a long way in healing some issues here. we are very appreciative of their support that they have shown us and we're talking about the national. they have revoked the

individual's permit here today, we're pleased they did that and they appear to be cooperating, we want to thank them for doing that. >> i know you've recovered a huge number of different kinds of weapons, guns and other kinds of weapons, do you have a lot of video evidence that can help you make this case? because some of these charges may be hard in terms of assigning individual blame for activities. >> we have a lot of evidence. whether video evidence is part of that or not, i can't tell you, i don't know. >> okay. and just in terms of the sheer number of people have you in custody at this point. how difficult is that even to process? >> extremely difficult. the sheriff's department is doing quite a job in trying to get them all through there. you're talking about 170 individuals that need to be fingerprinted, booked in through paperwork, have mugshots taken.

last i checked about an hour ago, they were halfway through that. that will be a process as well for them to continue into the night. >> and your message to any gang members that may be thinking about coming to waco is what? >> obviously, there's a heavy law enforcement presence here. we've seen enough violence in our town over the past day, we would encourage them to just kind of stand down a little bit. there's no point in them coming here to try to get pay back whether it's on rival bike gangs or against us. we would ask them to take a cooling off period and let the healing process begin. >> i appreciate your time tonight. thank you. >> i want to talk more about the scale of this from a criminal justice point of view. it's breathtaking the prospect of making dozens and dozens of murder cases when all is said and done. joining us now is our senior

legal analyst jeffrey tube enoobin. how tough is this? you have 170 some, closer to 200, all in custody charged with capital murder. is there anyway they're going to be able to successfully prosecute that many people? >> there is a way, but i have certainly never heard of a case on this scale anywhere. big city medium sized city like waco waco small town i've never heard of it what they will have to do is figure out a way to isolate the evidence against each individual. whether they can do that i don't know. you asked a good question is there any video, certainly that is going to be the most valuable kind of evidence. remember most of the witnesses are going to be other gang members who to put it mildly may not be the most reliable witnesses. to say this is going to be a difficult prosecution is an understatement. >> i mean you assume they must have some sort of undercover

personnel inside with some of these gangs, because of some of the information, it seemed like the advanced information they have could prosecutors charge a conspiracy? and if so how would that play into these murder charges? how would they actually prove that individuals acted in a way to further conspiracy? >> certainly that is a possibility. even in the con sparscy case you have to isolate evidence against individuals, to prove a conspiracy have you to prove that an individual agreed with the other conspirators to participate in an illegal conspiracy and you also have to prove that they took an overt act, they did something. it doesn't have to be an illegal act. they have to have done something, given someone a weapon they have to have made a phone call have done something in furtherance in support of the conspiracy it folds back on to the original problem, which is isolating the evidence against

each person who may be prosecuted. and with a melee like this it's going to be very difficult. >> is it possible the owner of the franchise, whether the national owner or the local franchise, could end up facing some kind of charges here as well? police have been very vocal and critical not only disputing what they're saying about where this began, and the level of cooperation, they've been critical all along of saying they keep reaching out to this local franchise, asking them not to host these events. and they got rebuffed. >> certainly the owner could be liable for some sort of civil liability, under a theory of negligence carelessness i'm not sure i see a criminal case against the owner based on the evidence i've seen. there's simply an intent to bring a lot of people into his

or her restaurant and that created a disaster. i think criminal charges against the owner, at least based on what i know now seem pretty unlikely. >> jeff i appreciate the update thank you. quick reminder make sure you set your dvr, you can watch 360 any time coming up. the violent rules these outlaw bikers live and die by. you're going to hear from two men who infiltrated some of the country's most violent gangs. a murder mystery in a d.c. neighborhood the flames may have been meant to cover up police have a person they are looking for. we have late details on that.

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texas officials warning that more outlaw bikers armed and dangerous could come to the state. the fear, repriseals against

other gang members or law enforcement. there's no exaggerating what has already happened in waco. for a short time it amounted to close combat what in a military context would be several blah tunes or a small company. motorcycle gangs are not military units. many are not violent. even the groups involved in the may hem yesterday take part in other activities. that said the justice department says the group that's tangled in waco have been involved with law enforcement around the country. >> this man is in a position to know just how dangerous biker gangs can be. cloaked in darkness he agreed to speak with us. he spent five years infiltrating five different biker gangs in the dea. >> how would you describe how they operate? are they different in the way they operate?

>> they're very similar. very sophisticated, structured like the military a lot of members are ex-military. they're much different than your average street gang. >> when you talk about war, who are they warring with? gangs or society at large? >> society at large. and other motorcycle gangs. a lot of these guys -- when i get my goggles infiltration half my chapter was ex-marines so they -- they're highly skilled, highly trained killers. >> charles is an author and now consults for law enforcement on biker gangs, and says he was asked to go to waco because of growing tensions between two gangs, the banditos and the cosats. >> the banditos are the biggest

motorcycle gang in texas and they don't allow other motorcycle gangs to enter that state. >> reporter: this is the worst violence seen in years affiliate affiliated with biker gangs. this is the chaos shown in a nevada casino. >> shots are being fired in the hotel. >> rival gang members shoot it out, leaving the casino crowd dodging bullets, police forcing everyone to the ground as they try to sort suspects from victims. in 2011 shots fired at another casino this time in sparks nevada when it's all over a member of the hells angels is shot dead by a rival gang. the violence between gangs hasn't stayed just in the u.s. violence exploded between the mid 1990s. at one point the banditos accused of using a car bomb and a rocket propelled grenade against their rivals. there is a way to quell the violence keep known gang members from getting concealed weapons. >> the problem we're seeing now

is in states where you're allowed to conceal a weapons permit the biker gangs have been ordered by their leadership to get a concealed weapons permit if they're not felons. right now, in most of these states gang members can get concealed weapons. >> the blood bath in waco could have been avoided. if only the restaurant could have listened to law enforcement and mandated bikers could not wear their gang paraphernalia. >> the biker gangs won't show up, because they always have to wear their colors. >> sarah sidner cnn, los angeles. taking over for anderson as you see, we lost his signal in el paso texas, we heard sarah sidner's story. five societies with their own rules and codes of secrecy,

honor and violence. atf agent billy quinos that world firsthand having spent more than two years under cover, posing as a member of the mongels outlaw gain. the true story of the undercover agent who infiltrated america's most violent outlaw motorcycle gang. because he still has enemies out there, we're not disclosing his location but he spoke to anderson earlier. >> in your two years undercover with the atf. have you ever seen anything like this this scale? >> during my two years undercover i never saw anything like this we had run-ins with the hells angels nowhere near this scale. not at all. the biker gangs are confronting each other, and the violence occurs with them all the time just not to this magnitude. >> why would they be all together? >> if there is this tension between them? >> there was a coalition meeting

going on. that's the reason they were all there. it wasn't just the banditos there, there were a number of other clubs that were there in this coalition, and they got together to try to iron some things out. one of the things that they were going to try to iron out, from what i understand was this turf battle battle right to where the texas battle -- it all started over a parking space. but the banditos had been at each other for the past six months over the right to wear that texas rocker out there. >> they're fighting beyond just the parking space, it's about a patch on a jacket? >> yes. >> patch on the colors, yes. >> the right to wear that texas rocker. >> when you say texas rocker this is probably a stupid question what does that mean? a texas flag or?

>> no they'll have the colors on the back of the jackets, they'll have a set of colors. on the bottomside of those colors will be a territorial patch. and it will say texas, or california or it might say a specific area like dallas. that rocker on the bottom stands for that state that they're operating in. the banditos were running the block. >> it seems like the police they had tactical units on scene nearby. it seems like they were able to respond very quickly, and probably at least authorities believe helped save lives ultimately of any civilians who may have been injured. do you think this is going to continue? is this going to escalate or given the public nature of this are they going to try to cool things down? >> i think given the public nature they are going to try to

cool things down they do a lot of stupid things overall, they're not that stupid especially when it comes to law enforcement, they're going to let it cool down but not necessarily let it go anything might happen. the unfortunate thing, they're a small club compared to the banditos. they're one of the biggest if not the biggest outlaw gang in the world right now, outlaw motorcycle gang in the world. so they'll be really less than smart to try to take them on in a full-scale war. >> incredible glimpse into this world, a lot of people don't know a lot about it i appreciate you being with us. thank you. >> thank you anderson. anderson will be back in a second from el paso texas, in the meantime more breaking news ahead. new details about the isis commander killed over the weekend in that u.s. raid in syria. and reporting about the role he might have had in dealing with

an american hostage who was killed.

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the isis commander killed in

the u.s. raid in syria over the weekend. his wife as you know was capturedp p the army's delta force carried out the operation. barbara starr joins me now with more information. what do we know about what led up to the raid? >> we're learning the u.s. had this man abu saeed. they had him under surveillance since march in eastern syria, this mission had been planned for some time we were told they developed a pattern of life knew his movements. took off in their helicopters and made their way to that area that compound in eastern syria, where he was. they knew at that time he would be there when they got there. they had to blast a hole in one of the walls of the building in the middle of a firefight, go in. there was hand to hand combat. a lot of drama here they killed

him in that firefight. his wife undergoing interrogation, think about this little piece of information right in front of all of us the u.s. able to monday der someone inside syria where presumably we have no intelligence assets since march. anderson? >> i told you, american hostages who were being held or have been held in syria, is there any sense of whether this isis target was connected to them all the reports are that he was some sort of a financier. he was the so-called oil and gas guy of isis but in recent months we are told by our u.s. government sources, he had taken on an increasing role in military operations planning communications with top isis officials, and the u.s. believes at this point both he and his wife had been involved in hostage taking operations. one of the things they wanted to do is get his laptop his computers, cell phones everything they could out of that house.

and analyze it for any information about some of the hostages who have been killed. we now know that the white house after the raid called some of the american families of the deceased hostages to tell them the news to tell them that they hoped think could find some information on those laptops and cell 230e7bphones no word yet on anything they found. anderson? >> i appreciate the update. i want to bring in jennifer bryson director of the zepher institute. also colonel james reese. what kind of tactical planning goes into a raid like this the target inside syria, it's obviously incredibly dangerous even for delta force. >> it is. it's a high risk mission, we've been running these high risk missions since 2001 and it turns out to be like mowing the lann for these guys. it takes every part of this task force is looking at this

intelligence every single day, looking for the indicators to go. and once the giant special operations command feels that the interagency task force with their intelligence feels with actual intelligence they have the charter, especially the high value targets to launch. and the tough thing is we talked about this before the three elements of these types of raids, surprise speed, action. you go on an assault, you lose that surprise of action and it becomes a fist fight as soon as you get on the ground. >> in reality, is the mission to kill this person or is it to try to capture? obviously his wife has been captured i guess she will be interrogated. i think publicly the u.s. says the objective is to capture someone. >> it is the jsoc mission statement for both tier one forces which is the delta force

it will say capture or kill. we want to sit down and interview these people. once we kill them, we lose it and we hope they don't, but unfortunately, if they pick up a welcome and become a threat they killed just like uday and kusay did when delta got them in the early days of iraq. >> you think it's important that the u.s. has the wife of this leader in custody. why is that significant? do we know if she had an operational role or how much intelligence she may have had access too in. >> a degree with colonel reese's point that capturing is vitally important. you have access to the human information. even if i don't know exactly the nature of it human beings are an amazing source of information. and in addition to the why, we apparently also have a woman who

has been kept as a slave. and as an interrogator she's the first person i would want to talk to. >> why is that? because she had eyes on everything and listened to things? >> because she's most likely to be easy. she is likely to be the american -- to view the americans as heroes and rescuers and view isis as the enemy and most willing to help. the wife is more likely to have valuable information. >> obviously the u.s. has been putting a lot of focus on this raid given that you know, they have some intelligence they killed this operative, and they captured the wife not good news obviously inside iraq where ramadi is said to be in the hands of isis. isis has held positions, even closer to baghdad than this. but the fact that the iraqi military the -- and the militias that are aligned with them were not able to hold a city so close to baghdad, what do you make of that? >> anderson the pictures that

are coming out of ramadi right now, it's a tactical set back for the iraqi government and iraqi military security forces. the pictures coming out of rah mad by right now are from western and northern ramadi. i believe what we're going to see over the next week the iraqis decided they were having difficulty getting logistics pushed up to their front line troops they decided to pull back some and i think what you believe -- i believe we'll see here over the next week is a very stringent bombardment and air assault from the coalition air forces to come in there and start pinging off isis. the other thing is isis has al rakka, their head quarters, they have the entire euphrates river valley. i'm making that entire row out there, a targeted area of interest. anything moving in there is isis i'm killing that to allow the iraqis to get back in the

fight and seize the terrain again. >> colonel reese, i appreciate you being on. coming up at the top of the hour fareed zakaria digs deeper in blindsided. after a short break, a murder mystery in our nation's capitol capitol, a couple found dead along with their son and one of their housekeepers. the home set on fire.

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the investigation into a murder mystery in a rich section of washington, d.c., now includes a peculiar text message. a grainy video of a person of interest say authorities. there are a lot of questions that left a couple their son and one of their housekeepers dead. >> it was the middle of the day. fire breaks out in one of washington, d.c.,'s posh neighborhoods. blocks away from the vice president's residence.

four people are found dead inside tragic and as it turns out, very sinister. >> the fire appears to be intentionally set. >> before it was set, police also say three of the four victims had suffered blunt force trauma. it's been declared a quadruple homicide. the victims, a ceo of a company called american iron works, his 47-year-old wife amy, a washington philanthropist social i'll their 10-year-old son phillip, and a 57-year-old housekeeper. valecia was one of two family housekeepers. the other housekeeper said she was supposed to be at the house when this all happened but she wasn't because of a strange text message. >> i almost have heart attack. it's very hard to believe. about three hours before the fire broke out, she received this text from amy, it reads in

part i am making sure you do not come today. and the day before she received a voice mail telling her not to come the next day, because his wife was sick. >> sometime you never understand all the thing happen. but i'm lucky i'm still here. >> no evidence was found of forced entry into this home. was anything taken? was it ransacked? because of the fire damage authorities say they don't know. >> what is going on here. were the voice mail and text sent out under duress. and why are police not saying who suffered blunt force trauma and what that all means. gentlemen, are there any updates you can give us? >> i can't. >> the d.c. police have released this video of what they call a person of interest. it is literally and figuratively a shadowy image of someone walking behind the building

after taking the porsche from the crime scene. it was found ditched in a maryland parking lot, where it was torched. authorities have released pictures of the car. police are going through evidence literally going through the garbage p.m. they're looking at the other cars the family has here. a range rover, audi and a vehicle in the garage known as a mows letter. the sifting through the trash is meticulous. the odor of the smoke still sifting through the neighborhood obvious. as police continue working to solve what is a deadly mystery. >> gary tuchman reporting for us tonight. death of a man, who had cheated death so many times before and the remarkable life he led.

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the bodies of two base jumpers were found after an illegal jump that went horribly wrong. dean potter is his name he's very well known in the world for his climbing. tightrope walking and wing suit jumps. stephanie elam has more. >> from jumping off clips and wing suits to highlighting dean potter was an extreme sports legend and pioneer. leaping from fixed points base jumpers fly dangerously close to the surface as they drop

thousands of feet it's illegal, but that doesn't stop people from doing it. >> they're doing it because they love it they don't brag about it or talk about it much. >> shortly before sunset potter and graham hunt attempted a jump from yosemite. a cliff with a 135 foot drop from the valley floor. a helicopter spotted the bodies of the two men, they reportedly jumped together and found at different locations. neither man had deployed his parachute. sean rueter knew both men and said hunt was like a brother to him. >> graham and dean birth were two of the best wing suit jumpers in the world. while i think both of them never had a death wish they were honestly choosing to live life to the fullest, they were aware that what they were doing brought the chance of death. >> potter pushed those limits traveling around the world in

search of the next thrill like rock climbing without a rope or tether just a small emergency parachute on his back. potter recently posted this picture on instagram, first ever free base solo. he was known to take along a companion, his dog whisper, in 2014 potter talked to cnn about their adventures together. >> i like to bring my dog and my best friend with me. the idea came from not wanting to leave my dog in the house or car. i want to bring my best friend with me everywhere. potter took his final jump without whisper, she's now left missing her best friend. stephanie elam, cnn, los angeles. >> it's a very big loss in the world of extreme sports. alex is one of the best known adventure rock climbers in the world. watching him in action he climbs tall cliffs without a rope to protect him if he falls, alex joins me tonight. i know you were friends with

dean. can you start by talking about what dean was like? what drew him to these sports? >> you start with the hard questions? i don't know. dean was super passionate about what he called his arts you know. climbing and base jumping. he loved the magical places he got to go climbing in. i don't know exactly what motivated him. >> he viewed it as an art? >> yeah, he always did. it was like a spiritual practice for him to be in these beautiful places and be pushing himself that way. >> i understand you said he shaped the direction of climbing for this generation how so? >> well he certainly shaped the cutting edge you know he pushed the directions of the sport was going in and i mean he was very much responsible for

bringing base jumping into climbing. he pushed speed climbing and many of the different aspects of the sport. >> how conscious do you think dean was of the risks? i mean you know there's some people who say they don't feel fear. was he someone that felt fear and was able to do it anyway? >> dean definitely felt fear that's what made his climbing and base jumping so impressive. he was able to overcome that fear. there are a lot of quotes from dean that he would gravitate toward his fear. something's terrified him. he sort of overcame that by learning how to fly by learning how to base jump. and i don't know i mean that's what's so amazing about dean. a lot of the things he did were terrifying for him. he was drawn to them in an explicable way. >> does something like this --

you don't base jump does something like what happened does it make you rethink anything? as someone who climbs and climbs intensely, does it give you pause at all? >> yeah it certainly gives you pause, i spent most of the day yesterday reflecting on this i was just biking around by myself pondering, it's heavy questions for sheer. anyone who's doing these kinds of sports thinks about it you can't be willing to risk your life without constantly evaluating what is it worth to you, what's the appeal all those things i'm sure dean thought about it quite a bit, i do as well any time somebody near you dies i mean it definitely causes you to reflect on life a little bit, you know. >> the spot where this happened do you know it and if so

what's it like? >> it's one of the most beautiful points on earth. it's a beautiful overlook looking down on el capitan. it's a beautiful place. but, you know. >> alex i appreciate you talking to us. thank you. >> of course, thanks. >> coming up tonight, could a hacker get into a plane in flight's entertainment system and somehow change the course of the flight? one consultant says he did that and now the fbi's involved. details next. when you're not confident your company's data is secure the possibility of a breach can quickly become the only thing you think about.

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the cyber security consultant says he's only trying to improve aircraft security. the way he's gone about it has drawn the attention of the fbi. he's hacked into computer systems on planes up to 20 times, and overwrite a code for the plane to climb. this guy claims he was actually able to control the planes movements, is that what he's saying? >> this is according to an fbi affidavit, he's a cyber security consultant he told investigators he caused a passenger plane to move sideways after manipulating the plane's

engines on board. that's one of up to 20 times since 2011 roberts claims he took control of a commercial flight system. according to the fbi, roberts told investigators that all he does is reach under one of the passenger seats to the seat electronics box, plugs his lab top in and hacks into the plane's entertainment system. that allows him to connect to the flight and navigation systems on the plane. the fbi ceased his electronics in april after he tweeted about possibly activating the oxygen masks. before that roberts wedge the to the fbi himself to tell him about the vulnerabilities he found on these planes. >> that's amazing. i don't think anyone realized that's possible. does the fbi believe he was able to do this? >> i'll tell you, there's certainly some skepticism but the fbi is concerned enough about roberts claims that it

issued this affidavit for a search warrant of its electronics. and so that tells you right there that there was some concern, and in the affidavit, it says that it -- they believe it is possible for him to do something like this and that's why they want to search his electronics. anderson? >> pamela thanks very much. pamela brown. the special report blindsided how isis shook the world starts now. ♪ the questions haunt us -- each time we witness some new savagery. each time we meet the face of evil. >> we will continue to strike the next of your people we ask how, why, how could a band of butchers come out of nowhere?

take over vast lands, slaughter innocents and terrify the world. >> we will chop of o the heads of the americans, the french whoever 37. >> perhaps the most important question how could we not have known? the answer is we did. this is the story about what we knew about isis and when we knew it. it's a story that's not been told before not in its entirety. told by the people who have made the journey into the mind and heart of isis. >> we begin with an extraordinary chance to look into the islamic state. not a single reporter has dared to venture there. since the gruesome beheadings of journalists began last year. imagine seeing this. >> i'm john cantlie, the british citizen abandoned by my own government.

>> and this -- >> these could be my last hours in this world. >> and then heading straight into the heart of darkness. ♪ but that is precisely what this man did. >> during the months i was preparing the trip, every night i felt a knife on my foot. i felt it physically. >> todenhofer is a german journalist. last year he crossed the border into isis territory. >> i think you must know your enemy if you want to defeat him. >> he went to moos you will, an iraqi city about the size of philadelphia. population around 1.5 million. it's the biggest prize isis has captured.

this extraordinary video gives us a rare look into every day life under isis. it brings to mind the writer -- hannah wisconsin, the banality of evil. isis has its own license plates and traffic cops who give parking tickets. and there are friendly shop keepers. >> completely brainwashed. i've never in my life met people like this. >> this, of course is the mosul isis officials wanted todenhofer to see. they gave him written permission to come to the city, he believes they let him leave alive to make a point. >> they wanted to show me that they are a state, and that this state is working. it's not a perfect state, it's not like the united states.

it's a state. >> and it's getting bigger. todenhofer saw new recruits pouring in every day. >> we had every day, more than 50 new fighters. they can lose fighters, they don't care. >> the amazing thing is that they are completely enthusiastic. they think it's the time of their life. they think that they are part of an historical event. changing the whole middle east. >> among them were americans. >> i met many americans. i met many germans and french people and english people, but many americans. guys from new jersey. >> there were also american weapons. soldiers carry them like a badge of honor, even the children. >> how old are you?

>> this child soldier, 12 and 13 years old, now go to what isis call schools. >> they start a new school system, which i found is completely wrong, completely crazy. it's a system. >> isis officials trodded out a few prisoners for todenhofer to talk to. this man is one of a group of captured kurdish soldiers. >> when did they capture you? >> he told todenhofer he was afraid. >> shortly after, isis put kurdish prisoners in cages, dressed in orange jumpsuits they were paraded through the streets and isis made a propaganda video out of it. it's hard to believe, but according to todenhofer, there

are people in moos you will who say they are better off under the islamic state. almost all are sunni and they have suffered at the hands of iraq's shiite government. >> first of all, instead of anarchy, they now have law and order. i ask if they like the security? they take taxes. they take care of the poor. >> bizarrely, isis even reaches out to the disabled. this is a recruitment video for deaf jihadis who wish to join isis. >> todenhofers minders kept him away from one group. he was not permitted to speak to or even go near a single woman. >> and you think that you would win the war? >> perhaps the most astonishing

thing he heard from both isis soldiers and leaders is this. >> they want to provoke the united states to bring ground troops to the country. >> it's a clear target. they want the americans to bring their boots on the ground. they want to fight for americans. that's their dream, the ultimate fight against americans. that's what they want. that's what they hope. >> they do want to fight the americans on their own terms. in this regard, isis has a different dream than al qaeda. osama bin laden wanted to perpetrate large scale terror attacks against the west. isis may do this, but to further its aim of building a state, a califate. still, you cannot understand isis without going back to al qaeda and its signature moment. it's most spectacular attack.

♪ september 11th, 2001. 19 al qaeda operatives hijack four planes, knock down two skyscrapers, crash into the pentagon and kill almost 3,000 people. >> the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. >> at that moment with the american people terrorized the american government searched for a fitting response to this attack. at that moment, the seeds of isis were planted. it would take years, and untold numbers of dead before isis would supplant al qaeda, you can draw a line from the horrifying events of 9/11 and the american response to the creation of the islamic state.

that line begins 18 months after september 11th, the united states invades iraq. >> my fellow citizens, at this hour, american and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm iraq, to free its people, and to defend the world from grave danger. >> when the u.s. invaded, it hadn't thought about the day after. it was very much focused on overthrowing saddam. and what happened in the initial weeks was a total power vacuum. >> as the american occupation quickly devolved into chaos one man sees the moment. that man is abu al zarqawi.

the godfather of isis. in 2004 al zarqawi swore allegiance to osama bin laden and became the leader of al qaeda in iraq. >> the u.s. has described him as one of the world's most dangerous terrorists. >> his ultimate goal was to create an islamic state. and events in iraq were going to give him the chance to realize his dream. >> the old military needed to be formally disbanded. >> saddam's military was out on the street. and then saddam was captured himself. sunnis were out of favor and out of jobs but they had guns and organizational prowess. al zarqawi began recruiting them. >> he was a major celebrity in 2004, he became a rock star. >> some of the worst violence americans saw on their tv

screens during the iraq war came courtesy of al zarqawi. >> he was like a terrorist psychopath. >> sunni insurgents inspired by al zarqawi blew up a holy shiite shrine. >> the murders of innocent civilians, indiscriminate bombings, even beheadings, the focus not just on foreigners but on shiites. other muslims, seen as heretics, tactics that today sound hauntingly familiar. >> with a $25 million price on his head, there's no one the u.s. wants to capture or kill more than al zarqawi. >> the cia had been tracking his every move. in june of 2006 u.s. forces killed him with two 500 pound bombs. >> tonight the most wanted terrorist in iraq is captured in a massive air strike.

>> al zarqawi's death is a severe blow to al qaeda. >> but as it turned out, the movement zarqawi began would survive that blow. when we come back, the rise of the leader of isis. >> he wasn't considered from everything that we know now, a high level detainee. >> inside an american prison. constipated? .yea dulcolax tablets can cause cramps but not phillips. it has magnesium and works more naturally than stimulant laxatives. for gentle cramp free relief of occasional constipation that works! mmm mmm live the regular life. kid: hey dad, who was that man? dad: he's our broker. he helps looks after all our money. kid: do you pay him? dad: of course. kid: how much? dad: i don't know exactly. kid: what if you're not happy? does he have to pay you back?

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isis came to life in this desolate landscape, the windswept desert of southern iraq. this is camp bucca, an american prison. during the iraq war, the most dangerous jihadis were locked up here, up to 20,000 of the

country's angriest men. some americans who worked at camp bucca, called it simply camp hell. it wasn't just crowded, it was violent in 2005, riots broke out. detainees took over whole sections of the prison can't. american forces masks outside the fences firing into the crowds. at least four prisoners were killed. >> now, this is camp bucca. >> major general doug stone was brought in to fix camp bucca. even he was weary of the inmates. here he is giving nic robertson a tour in 2008. >> we have about 2000 identified al qaeda here in the theater.

internment facility. they are hard to break. >> you have shields up here to protect us. everyone is crowded around looking at us now. >> this is not a place that you want to hang around. we don't want to stand here that much longer. they will organize around us. >> there were beatings, unexplained prisoner deaths and several dangerous jihadis escaped. into this caldron a day in early 2004, a new man arrived. we know him now as abu baghdadi, the leader of isis. and yes, he was in american custody during the iraq war. he's shown his face publicly only once. last year when he gave a sermon to his followers. back when the u.s. had him under

lock and key, he was seen as believe it or not, a man who could be trusted. >> the americans seem to see him as someone who could keep the prison quiet. there are 24 caps within the sunni side of camp bucca, he was allowed open access to all of them. >> he wasn't considered from everything we know now, a high level detainee, and he was allowed to lead to prayers, he was allowed to give religious lessons. >> the future leader of isis was giving other inmates lessons on islam. those inmates were jihadists or former bathists, henchmen of saddam, or simply common criminals. >> it most assuredly was a jihadist university. unquestionably.

>> put them all together in the baking heat of southern iraq, without baghdadi, a man who dreamed of a new kind of terror, it was a recipe for isis. >> they were meeting, they were playing soccer together, they were strategizing together. >> one thing is clear, al baghdadi went through a transformation at camp bucca. >> matthew was an average person. he was just a sunni foot soldier when he was arrested by the americans. >> but by the time al baghdadi left, he was someone else. >> all we know is that baghdadi became an entirely different creature, in terms of radicalization, in terms of militarization, in terms of building a huge network of militants in the prison. >> at camp bucca, al baghdadi networked with hundreds of jihadis, at least some of whom would later join isis. and the day would come when he would also need military

expertise. enter saddam hussein's army. dismissed by the americans, many now at camp bucca. men with exactly the skill set al baghdadi could later make use of, and then he was set free. the future leader of isis was recommended for unconditional release by a military review board in december 2004. they did not consider him a threat. whether it turns out al baghdadi is the mastermind of isis or a figure head, the fact remains the united states has put a $10 million price tag on his head. when we come back, the dangerous way that isis is using us. television news. >> in iraq, they're fighting --

♪

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much of it is sickeningly violent, unbearable to watch. the violent beheadings, the fiery murders, all of it may add up to the single biggest reason for the success of isis. like so much of what the group does, this is a terror tactic we have not seen before. and it is frighteningly effective. >> 20 years ago, you could not find the three people in minnesota who would be attracted to the isis ideology, today you can, and they can find you. >> isis has used facebook, twitter, google and the world wide web as its command and control system. >> the violence in isis propaganda is enhanced by artful editing, special effects and powerful music. ♪ some videos really are like small films, done with real skill, ironically, it is the barbarism that makes these clips

go viral. no one has seen anything like it, most of us look at this and this and wonder how it could attract recruits. for some young men raised on violent video games and shoot 'em up movies, it's a powerful lure. >> actions speak louder than words. it's savagery, we look at it as a horrible evil. this is part of its strategy to convince young men and women on the fringe while eluded, who have no purpose in life, who suffer from torn identities come to us. >> all brothers and sisters come to jihad and feel the honor we are feeling. feel the happiness that we are feeling. >> they want killing machines, that's why you see them doing these videos and making kids watch these videos and commit crimes and kill.

they are trying to establish a new generation of killers. >> it's the gang mentality. >> the gang idea is important because isis uses it to manipulate kids. a lot of the propaganda mixes the violence with scenes of camaraderie, friendship, the people in isis videos seem to be saying, we did not belong where we were, but now we have found a home a powerful message to the millions of unemployed disconnected young muslims across the middle east. and even in countries like france and germany. >> i mean, by islam in syria, i originally come from canada. >> i'm thinking like i'm still dreaming, i'm feeling like i'm still dreaming, feeling like i'm in the dream world, you have to be here to understand what i'm saying. >> and, of course, isis also manipulates us, television news. they put their videos online, we put them on television and in a

bizarre twist, isis turns around and makes clever use of what it sees on tv. this video is called victory in kobani. it glorifies the isis capture of that syrian city, while mocking president obama. and other western leaders. >> first of all, there's no military solution to isil. i have a military only solution. >> the angry rhetoric of cable news fits right into their script. >> we've proven that we cannot defeat these people. we are solely competent in terms of conducting a foreign policy, in terms of conducting military operation. >> cnn makes an occasional appearance. >> enter that city of kobani. >> fox news is a favorite of isis with commentators that

demand boots on the grounds, playing into the dreams of a grand battle with america. >> the united states will look absolutely foolish for doing some strikes that had no effect on the outcome, and isis is going to come out more empowered than ever. isis will be the big winner and the united states will be the big loser. >> all of it is frighteningly effective. creating a 21st century machine designed perfectly for the young and built to recruit followers from across the world. >> they were raised on twitter, they were raised on youtube, they were raised on facebook. isis is cnn to somebody's home tv. these guys are very sophisticated they're a whole different generation. >> in just a moment, isis and the white house, the story of

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it is a moment americans will never forget. u.s. contractors brutally murdered. their bodies burned and hung from a bridge. >> four u.s. civilians butchered, dragged through the street. >> this was fallujah, iraq. the year was 2004. the atrocity aroused deep american anger and brought promises of retribution. >> we will hunt down the criminals, we will kill them or capture them. and we will pacify fallujah. >> and u.s. forces fought two long and bloody battles to retake the city. nearly 70 americans lost their lives liberating fallujah, and

hundreds more were left seriously wounded. ten years later, fallujah falls back into the hands of an enemy. this time it's isis. just a few days after fallujah fell, the president talked about the threat from the terror group in an interview with the new yorker magazine. he said the analogy we use around here sometimes. and i think is accurate, is if a jv team puts on lakers uniforms, that doesn't make them kobe bryant. >> i was disappointed. i was disappointed that he said that. i don't think he was well served. >> the need for intelligence surveillance. >> michael flynn had a front row

seat to the rise of isis. he led the defense intelligence agency until late last year. >> we failed to understand the enemy that we faced. >> flynn says intelligence officials had warned the administration that isis was growing more dangerous before the president made his infamous jv comment. the president has said the intelligence on isis was inadequate. here he is on "60 minutes." >> how did they end up where they are in control of so much territory. was that a complete surprise to you? >> well, i think our head of the intelligence community jim clapper has acknowledged that they underestimated what had been taking place in syria. >> you were dia at the time? >> yeah. do you think it was an intelligence failure? >> no, i don't. i really look at that and -- it's easy to.

i mean, i will take one for the team, you know, the president has to decide who he's going to listen to and what information he's going to use and i think that he was poorly advised to say that. >> the president makes no apologies for being measured and deliberate about committing u.s. military resources. >> benjamin rhodes is a close aide to president obama. >> do you think we should have been alerted to the threat that isis posed earlier? >> you know, it's always easy to look back and say, you could have been alerted to a specific threat at a specific time, the question is then, what action would that have triggered? part of what the president has brought, his approach to national security is some degree of restraint in saying that we're not going to chase every rabbit down every hole in the middle east. >> the white house did underestimate isis. and republicans seized on the issue, excoriating the

president, growing increasingly strident. >> our strategy will fail yet again. this president needs to rise to the occasion before we all get killed back here at home. >> even former top officials in the obama administration had tough words. >> it's more than an intelligence failure, it's a policy failure as well. >> the solution offered by most critics is the one thing isis wants the most. american boots on the ground. >> we frankly don't believe it's a matter of policy, the insertion of significant ground troops is the way to go. what we've learned from iraq and other experiences, there's more legitimacy on the ground if it's people fighting for their own country and their own feature. >> the biggest intelligence failure, the biggest policy failure, the biggest underestimation was not of the strength of the islamic state but the weakness of the iraqi state. in the middle of 2014, when isis started taking town after town in iraq, the iraqi army essentially laid down its arms and ran away. remember, this was an army that the united states had spent more than $25 billion building up, an army more than 200,000 strong. that's more than six times the

size of isis and maybe more. and it was all rendered useless against the isis assault. why? well, much of it can be pinned on one man. >> if you ask me, what's the most important factor in iraq, driver behind the resurgence of isis? i would say nouri al maliki. >> the iraqi prime minister whom the bush administration had helped put into power in 2006. >> i appreciate your commitment to representing the people of iraq. >> back then, maliki's appointment was tauted by the administration as a triumphant moment for the newly democratic iraq. >> i appreciate you recognizing the fact that the future of your

country is in your hands. >> to ensure the success of democracy, al maliki needed to heal the schism, but he never did. when asked to fight against isis, the sunni soldiers in the iraqi army simply said, no. >> for many sunnis, they looked at the iranian backed regime, baghdad, they looked at isis, and some of them made the disastrous calculation that isis was the lesser of two evils. >> the last american soldier left the country in 2011, after the u.s. could not reach agreement with al maliki to maintain a military presence. >> the question in a we asked today, when people look back at that decision, what would we have done with 10,000 u.s. troops, would they have enforced security? and frankly would we have wanted

them to be fighting in places like moos you will and fallujah against isil? >> republicans have criticized president obama for not leaving troops in iraq. some have said if american forces had stayed, there would be no isis. but one believes that was never in the cards. iraq's prime minister al maliki, had a new set of patrons, his fellow shiites in tehran, and they made him an offer he couldn't refuse. >> that was part of iran's deal with him, we'll give you a third term, but the conditions are, no american soldier. that was what tehran had demanded there was no way it would have gone through the parliament. >> one thing is clear, it was only iraq's army that could have stopped isis, instead the iraqi soldiers threw down their weapons and ran. [ phone ringing ] >> hello -- >> next on "blindsided."

what drives these people, what makes them tick. you'll go inside the mind of a radical. meet a man who was prepared to die for a fantasy. the idea of an islamic califate.

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the 328 horsepower q50 from infiniti. the 1990s were a crucial time for jihad. it's where islamic terrorist as we know it today was born, foreign fighters were constantly flowing in. but now incredibly, foreign fighters are flowing in even faster to iraq and syria an estimated 20,000 of them in total. what drives these people there what makes them leave home to go far away and fight for an idea, a fantasy. you're about to find out. in the days that followed 9/11,

just about everyone in the world seemed to be standing with the united states, even yasser arafat. >> i am offering my help to the americans, president bush. >> but not this man. >> i'm very, very sorry to your viewers for saying this. i lacked any empathy for the victims. >> he didn't start his life as a radical, he grew up here in essex, england. the beneficiary of a middle class upbringing. he didn't quite feel at home in britain. and yet had no other place to

call home. no community to call his own. he read for us what he wrote in his diary after seeing the towers fall. >> don't you think we've been crying too, like you are now for years? do you think we felt no pain as you raped and plundered our lands and cities. what lands, what cities you ask? your arrogance is only compounded by your ignorance. you chose your side and we have chosen ours. ♪ >> he had become convinced that the world of islam was under constant and brutal attack from the west. muslims had to fight back. his chosen army was a radical group, the day before 9/11, he had landed in egypt to recruit for the group, which in some ways was a forerunner to isis. >> it's the first organization

responsible for popularizing the notion of resurrecting the so-called islamic state, this califate is what he's been dreaming of since 1953. >> the trigger was a muslim slaughter he saw every night on tv. every morning in the papers, the again side in bosnia. >> it had a profound impact on me. up until that point, i didn't consider myself particularly muslim. but almost in a form of defiance, we became so much more muslim overnight. >> and it made him a perfect prospect for a local recruiter. wherever you look, muslims are being killed. there's a global war going on against islam and muslims. i whole heartedly bought that at

15 16 years old. i sub scribed to it and dedicated the rest of my life to it. in fact, i was prepared to die for it. >> in the months after 9/11, maajid nawaz was arrested. in an egyptian jail, with what he calls the cream of the crop of jihadists, he was thrilled at first about all he could learn from them, but then he had a jailhouse revelation. >> living so close with them for four years in prison. i came to the conclusion that if these guys, any of them, ever got to power, if they ever declared this so-called caliphate, it would be hell on earth, it would be a living nightmare. >> something had clicked, where once he felt no sympathy for the victims of 9/11, the 7/7 attacks in london he says, made him feel revulsion. recently his journey almost took him from prison to parliament. he ran for a seat in this year's

british elections. he's currently a chairman of a think tank he cofounded to study extremism and challenge it. >> people that join isil, they genuinely think about bringing about an end of day scenario, they genuinely believe they are working on behalf of god. >> his story sheds light on one crucial aspect of this picture. but what about the others? why are hundreds, thousands of people, streaming from four corners of the world to fight for isis? why do young men -- and they are almost all young men -- lust for jihad? thomas friedman has a simple explanation. >> none of them have ever held jobs, power, or a girl's hand. and when you put large numbers of young males together and you offer them a wife, you offer them a salary, and you offer

them the ability to lord it over somebody else, that is isis' value proposition. next on "blindsided," is isis a threat to the united states? to the homeland? i'll give you my thoughts when

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you've heard so much and seen so much about isis, it's easy to get anxious, it's trying to scare you and confuse you. just recently the group took credit for a planned attack in garland, texas. but so far, it appears that two perpetrators were inspired by isis not actually a part of it. with that caveat let me offer a few tentative thoughts about the group. isis is clearly about religion, about its version of radical islam. but it is also about power. there's increasing evidence that the military backbone of isis is made up not by a group of islamic zealots, but high ranking officers from saddam hussein's army, ba'athists, who the least ostensibly are secular. isis presents itself as a global organization but it has thrived

because of a local cause. the group has gained territory, cash and recruits primarily because of of the rage and rebellion of the sunnis of iraq and syria. that sunni cause is going to endure for some time. the united states has been successful in its tactical battles against isis, it's pushed the group back from many of its gains in iraq, the sunnis of the region will remain in rebellion, the sunni dominated areas will remain in turmoil, and isis will be able to capitalize on this chaos. now, in the long run, isis might find its greatest foes lie within its so called caliphate. the few reports that are emerging from areas controlled by isis, suggest that people do not like living under a brutal theocratic dictatorship. they live in fear, and even those who chose it as an alternative to shiite rule are growing disenchanted.

in this respect, isis is like other islamic groups such as the taliban. they have allure in the abstract. once they are actually governing in their barbarous manner -- the enchantment fades and with it ever increasing depression. no one has ever voted isis into power anywhere. they slaughter their way into victory. is isis a threat to the west? the group's leaders declare it is every day. but their ambitions appear to be mostly centered on their arab enemies, on building a caliphate in iraq and syria. they understand to be terror group number one, they must battle the country that is the world's number one power, america. they seek that confrontation, and hope that the united states would come to the middle east and fight them on their terms. on their terrain. now, to be clear, they are opportunists, and they ask and hope that their followers would act in america. but their main focus is not to

come here, they want americans to go there. no matter how one rates the level of the threat isis poses. the group has changed the nature of terror. the leaders of isis have recognized that above all, they are a messaging machine. which in turn becomes a recruitment machine. their gruesome videos would seem a repulsive turnoff, and are to most people, but they work on the web. the shock and awe they produce makes them go viral. and thus seen by tens of millions, that ensures that these videos attract those utterly alienated young men, a few thousand among the world's 1.6 billion muslims who seek revenge, glory and gore, and as long as those young muslim men scattered across the globe, are attracted to isis and stream to its cause, the group presents the world with a danger that is

impossible to fully assess. and a danger that grows by the month. this is cnn tonight, i'm don lemon. police say it's the most violent and gruesome thing they've ever seen. a brutal battle between rival bike gangs in brood daylight. nine people are dead 18 hospitalized 192 arrested. police were there but say they couldn't stop it from happening. i'll talk to a former gang member and the officer who brought him down. also tonight, are police outgunned? is it about to get worse? plus what we know about the deadly amtrak crash in philadelphia. investigators say only the engineer could have caused that train to speed up out of control. but what really happened? i want to begin with th