tv 60 Minutes Me-TV January 3, 2016 6:30pm-7:30pm CST
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about all of the little things that a quarterback has to do. you said as well, since he's come in, the running attack by the broncos, has picked draup matically. >> jim: it's not about the passing stats, it's about the way the offense and its efficiency has operated under his direction. >> phil: yes. the snap count, did he keep the defense on edge. >> jim: ward breaks it up on herndon. >> phil: the thing about peyton manning, which i learned years ago from rich gannon when he was playing under jon gruden, never waste the snap, see the defense, keep reading it, check to the play, that gives you the best chance to have success. just don't run a play in there and let them tackle giet for no gain.
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drawing a crowd, to 6. chargers team, what has been such a rough season for them, winless in the division which they have not gone winless in the afc west. all the way back to 1984. they lost seven division gains in a row overall. at 11 games where they have been single score margins in the end, only 3-8 in those games losing a lot of tough ones at the end. rivers facing third and four, with four minutes. keeps the drive going, inman, in front of talib. >> phil: marshall, the linebacker, inside, just about got to rivers.
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throwing under pressure this year. the lack of running game. >> jim: down, nice piece of running, could have been early contact. side stepped it, waited, and then broke it free for a gain of 12. >> phil: brown, with that move. >> jim: right around antonio smith. move the football out to the 46. woodhead wide to the right. may have jumped.
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brown takes it to about the 48. >> referee: offside, defense, number 55, five-yard penalty from the previous spot, replay first down. >> jim: and in the nfc today, carolina wins the 1 seed. arizona don't know what happened down there today but steamrolled by seattle, will be the 2. with minnesota and washington playing tonight for the nfc north division title. first and five as the chargers take the snap from the denver side of the field. >> phil: ward against gates. >> jim: here comes pressure, to gates, and a flag is back in the offensive backfield.
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number 92, five-yard penalty, automatic first down. >> jim: holding call against sylvester williams. >> phil: trying to occupy a blocker. so somebody else can come free. but you do, antonio gates, outside, to give c.j. ward, philip rivers looked it off, trying to make a way to get a big play. all he talked about, get rid of it quick and you can't march the football against this defense. we need to find a way to get the big plays. >> jim: two straight penalties on the denver defense. number one defense on the league. all they're asked to do is stop san diego and tafk the division and the one seed. bobbled up picked up by woodhead, hammered down for a loss of about three. that one slipped through the hands of rivers into the hands of woodhead, and denver bounces on it quickly. 2 1/2 to go.
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the snap was just so hard to philip rivers, couldn't react to it. >> jim: j.d. walton, is at center now. he was denver's starting center for all games in 2010 and 11. second and 13, over the woodhead. does not fool him, they make the tackle as we approach the two-minute warning. the final countdown, that's what we have here. so much to decide in two minutes. back in 1965 subway's founders fred deluca and dr.peter buck teamed up with one simple mission... fresh sandwiches... i like it. fresh sandwiches... the idea seemed crazy in a time when artificial foods and gimmicks were all the rage. but roller-skates didn't make food any fresher... and mascots didn't make it any tastier. as it turned out, fred was right. sandwiches made with freshly baked bread, fresh veggies and delicious meats would stand the test of time. we were fresh before it was fresh to be fresh. the subway sandwic second and 13, over the
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>> jim: tonight on cbs, "60 minutes" and the discovery at the bottom of the bermuda triangle. new addition of "undercover boss" and back-to-back "limitless." third and 15 with two minutes to play. san diego snap coming from the denver 49. philip rivers, of course, two down. >> phil: looks like it could be a zone defense. trying to pick up a few yards to make the fourth down try easier.
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on rivers. chasing him, he gets it away to inman. one hurdle and smashed with the helmet coming off. a gain of nine. >> phil: that's one thing they have to do, they have to stop the jumping by running backs, and receivers. so dangerous. makes a highlights when you make it. >> jim: they just found that out. well, a lot of praise last week for an effort like that by todd gurley, got replayed over and over again like it was a great accomplishment. people never told the rest of the story. he fumbled off of the hurdle because they were so dazzled by the highlight. that helps promote it. you make these big eye-popping, eye-catching kind of plays and inman, shaken up on this one. >> phil: i'm not just saying it balls. play, you've heard it many times. >> jim: i've always heard you say it. >> phil: but it is channelled a
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the injury inside of two minutes, clock running. >> jim: chargers are charged with a time-out here inside the last two minutes. charged a time-out. peyton has a look that i remember back in that epic afc championship game when they stormed back from 18 down against new england to win it. he didn't want to watch when marlin jackson made the game ceiling ending interception. he couldn't watch. >> phil: yep, listen, a lot of things we were going to say about what would be going through peyton manning's mind, he's the backup quarterback, sitting over there, knowing there was nothing he could do. and he might not play the rest of the year.
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you said it, gary kubiak's words to tracy wolfson, that was a quick turnaround. putting him in this position right now. >> jim: again, big nod to gary kubiak who was decisive. you could say, well osweiler has had good performances, 4-2. he had averaged over 300 yards over the last three games. >> phil: right. >> jim: but kubiak says, you know what, after that fumble which had nothing to do with osweiler, it was anderson fumbling on the second play of the third quarter, he said we're going the make a change here. and has changed the culture of the offense. >> phil: that's exactly right. looks fresh, looks like he's rested. >> jim: mike mccoy is out there to check on his player. >> phil: he's walking off which is great. >> jim: let's get back to what they're going to face.
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san diego, with two time-outs. stevie johnson is inactive, malcolm floyd knocked out of the game, inman out for this play. all you have left are herndon, first year player, williams a rookie who caught an 80-yard touchdown for his first nfl catch. >> phil: well, what you have is antonio gates and danny wood head. the fact that denver is leading by seven points and not three, would change my thought. i would not be overly aggressive and give up a big play by trying to stop this fourth and six yard situation. >> jim: woodhead on the slot to the left. first one off the line. gates on the right side. here's the fourth and sixth play. rivers has the time, now, breaking down on him, and puts it in the middle of the field, incomplete. harris almost had the
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off on the turnover on downs. >> phil: williams was wide open. watching the rush, couldn't quite see but he's coming from the left side. williams comes across. look at him, nobody covering, they messed up the coverage because of the formation and the switch routes. philip rivers misses him. you see the switch, one goes out, one comes in, chris harris is too late. and rivers just under pressure, doesn't put on it target. >> jim: you're right about harris. he has had some -- a couple of times looks like he's in pain with that left arm, left shoulder area. had he made the diving pick the ball would have been back at the 18. instead on the turnover downs, will take the snap at the 40. the chargers can stop it twice. anderson, cuts back for a gain
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time-out is called by san diego. >> phil: that was, we saw with talib the huge mistake for the touchdown. that was another one. the routes confused them. when you're a team, jim, that plays like i got you and you got him, when you start playing zone it gets a little more complicated sometimes. we saw a mistake by denver. lucky to get away with it. >> jim: i'll get back to your point about inman hurdling and getting injured. he cost san diego a time-out. >> phil: right. >> jim: which they're going to really need here. with only one left. second and nine. anderson stays low for a couple. >> phil: you know, to think
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about the fact what we talked about, getting ready for the game, seeing them at practice, talking to the coaches, everything, and then you know, just sitting there, watching peyton manning on the side line, watching him warm up and thinking that, actually i was thinking there's no way he's going to play. you kind of expect deep down this game is going to really go well for the denver broncos. and the opportunities were there. many times. >> jim: on the first four drives? >> phil: they took the ball, mailed the plays, wow, this offense is on fire. but they made mistakes. >> jim: gary kubiak did the only thing he could do, shake the team up. with the quarterback, especially, especially when the quarterback is peyton manning. third and seven. and that's going to close it out. picks up the first down. and now you can pretty much lock
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the afc side. pittsburgh at cincinnati, kansas city at houston, while denver will be the 1, new england 29. those two will be 19 and the 2, 1-2 or 2-1. for the fourth straight year, new england and denver get byes. >> phil: the last thing, the running game, you said it, i said it, forget peyton manning's throwing which was very good today. the running game, what he did for that, part of the story. >> jim: the story, going into the playoffs, now, becomes all about this team. and number 18. >> phil: this is a super bowl caliber winning football team. when you look at denver. peyton manning, is healthy which he looked like he was. the defense, they can beat anybody.
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thought they'd never see him play again. now he will ride into the playoffs and got his team back. he has his team, now, going into the playoffs with home field advantage throughout. >> phil: yep. >> jim: what a story going into the postseason. there's no story bigger than that one. >> phil: the smile on his face. what a difference and the feeling it must be from him when he walked into the stadium today, and when he walks out. all those fights, mike mccoy, who said many times how much he's learned from peyton man. >> jim: he was his coordinator peyton's first year in denver. there's philip rivers. two gentlemen right here meeting at midfield. if that is it for the chargers representing san diego, they once again left it all here today, trying their best to
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the chance to have that home field advantage throughout, much less the division title. let's go down to tracy with a very happy guy, i'm sure. >> tracy: yes, he is happy. but peyton, unique situation coming into this game and you get the call early in that second half. what was it like stepping out on the field in a situation you were in for the first time since november? >> well, it was a very difficult week, a week like i've never been through as far as knowing i was going to have to suit up and be ready to play. but you don't get as many repetitions. i guess all the quarterbacks that have played behind me all these years, i understand how they feel not getting many reps. so probably 18 years in, i got a taste of that. but i studied, i prepared, and
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he said can you go, we need you. i said yeah, i can go. but the funny first half, brock got horrible breaks, tipped balls, and that fumble on the second half. just them decided to put me in there. but i felt like the offensive line blockled better when i was in there. running backs ran harder and they held on to the ball. that was probably the biggest difference. >> tracy: you can see on the side line with that first touchdown drive there that you led them to. physically how did you feel out here? >> well, i felt like i hadn't played in several weeks. which always, i've always felt that way about the nfl. it is not something you can just turn o it's a grind every week and you have to be in the grind. i had been grinding in a different way. i've been in the indoor facility, quarantined, going with jordan taylor, aka sunshine, remember that name next year. but i tried on get -- do what i
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i was funny game, and they put win. >> tracy: the number one seed and first round bye and home field. congratulations, we'll see you in the playoffs. >> thank you, tracy. >> jim: he doesn't get credit as the start irrelevant of course fork the official win, he has 187 all-time tied for the most with brett favre. look at the afc playoff picture one more time. this win has to be about as satisfying as anything he's ever had. he turns 40 on march 24. we never knew for sure if he would take the field again in his remarkable career. he goes from running the scout team in practice this week to now, he will be running this team into the playoffs as the number one seed in the afc trying to make a run, at this milestone super bowl 50. >> phil: gracious in his words. you can see his face, the contentment, the excitement, the
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like that, we were doing the game. that was in kansas city in week two when he made that incredible comeback against them. like i said, denver, they're a playoff, super bowl caliber team, they're tough to beat. >> jim: they will have a week off. they won't play until divisional week. wildcard weekend is coming up, next weekend. see you then. final score here the broncos 27, the chargers 20. tonight on cbs begins with "60 minutes," "undercover boss," back-to-back episodes of "limitless". for phil and tracy, lance barrow and the crew, jim nance saying so long from denver.
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worst maritime disaster for the united states in 35 years. these are the first pictures that the public has seen of the ship deeper than the "titanic" in the bermuda triangle. >> why was a ship 40 years old, why was it still being put in service? >> pelley: the families of 33 men and women lost at sea want answers. we went with the team that found the ship, and saw their startling discovery. >> whitaker: you probably think that the expensive italian extra virgin olive oil in your kitchen is worth every penny, but you may want to think again. we went to italy and found that the mafia is now in the fine food business, making cheap copies of wine, cheese, and olive oil. and tonight, we'll introduce you to the elliot ness of food fraud in europe... ( slurping ) and his tasting team that is trying to keep the phony stuff
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plate. >> cooper: for a jazz musician, there's no bigger stage than the newport jazz festival. most artists work a lifetime to get here, if they ever make it at all. it's joey alexander's first time playing newport, the youngest person ever invited to perform on this stage. he may only be 12 years old, but his sound and his soul seem a lot older than that. ( cheers and applause ) >> kroft: i'm steve kroft. >> stahl: i'm lesley stahl. >> cooper: i'm anderson cooper. >> whitaker: i'm bill whitaker. >> pelley: i'm scott pelley.
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what if one sit-up could prevent heart disease? one. wishful thinking, right? but there is one step you can take to help prevent another serious disease. pneumococcal pneumonia. if you are 50 or older, one dose of the prevnar 13 vaccine can help protect you from pneumococcal pneumonia, an illness that can cause coughing, chest pain, difficulty breathing, and may even put you in the hospital. even if you have already been vaccinated with another pneumonia vaccine, prevnar 13 may help provide additional protection. prevnar 13 is used in adults 50 and older to help prevent infections from 13 strains of the bacteria that cause pneumococcal pneumonia. you should not receive prevnar 13 if you have had a severe allergic reaction to the vaccine or its ingredients. if you have a weakened immune system, you may have a lower response to the vaccine. common side effects were pain, redness or swelling at the injection site, limited arm movement, fatigue, headache, muscle or joint pain, less appetite, chills, or rash. get this one done. ask your doctor or pharmacist
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>> pelley: this past october, hurricane joaquin became the deadliest atlantic storm since sandy. but joaquin didn't even brush the u.s. coast. the most powerful atlantic cyclone in five years found its victims at sea-- 33 men and women onboard an american ship called "el faro." she was lost in the bermuda triangle, carrying a mystery to a grave deeper than the "titanic's", the greatest loss of a u.s. ship in 35 years. the national transportation
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inside its investigation to show the enormous challenges. it intends to shine a light on what went wrong, for the families and for the future, true to "el faro's" name-- in english, "the lighthouse". the u.s. naval ship "apache" carved a calm atlantic off the bahamas on the search for "el faro". she carried sophisticated diving technology under the command of captain gregg baumann, the navy's supervisor of salvage and diving. >> gregg baumann: unfortunately, in a lot of the things that we do, it does involve a tragedy like this. and it's just absolutely gut- wrenching. but at the end of the day, what it is that you really want to do is bring... bring answers back, bring... help bring closure to the families. >> pelley: but answers were obscured by extreme depth and only a rough idea of where to look. >> tom roth-roffy: this is the most difficult and complex investigation i've ever worked on in my 17 years with the
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board. >> pelley: tom roth-roffy is the lead investigator. all he had was the ship's last position, an oil slick, and a little debris at the surface. what's your level of confidence that, at the end of all of this, you're going to know exactly why this ship sank? >> roth-roffy: we've experienced this sort of challenges before on other investigations, and we're hopeful that we'll be able to determine the cause of the sinking. >> pelley: this is "el faro", a typical medium-sized cargo ship, nearly 800 feet long. she was distinctive in a few ways-- she served the u.s. military in the iraq war; she was cut in half two decades ago and lengthened 90 feet; and she was 40 years old, an age when container ships are commonly sold for scrap. >> glen jackson: why was a ship 40 years old, why was it still being put in service?
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crew have many questions. glen jackson lost his brother jack. >> jackson: why was a ship that had been grandfathered in to not have the enclosed lifeboats being allowed to sail with just the open hull, like whaling lifeboats, and expecting people to survive in that? >> pelley: tinisha thomas lost her husband shawn. >> tinisha thomas: i asked the company a question-- why did they allow the ship to continue to go into the storm? >> pelley: they didn't have to go into the hurricane? >> thomas: they did not have to go into the hurricane. >> pelley: september 29, "el faro" left jacksonville, florida, for puerto rico. captain michael davidson, who had a long career, intended to steer 65 miles south of the storm's predicted path. even in a hurricane, the ship could likely survive by using its turbine engine to keep the bow pointed directly into the waves, a ship's most survivable
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but in 18 hours, joaquin spun into a category three and slid southwest toward "el faro". at 7:00 a.m., october 1, davidson made an emergency call to the ship's owner, tote maritime. what do we know from the captain's last report? >> roth-roffy: we know that they engineers were unable to restart the main engine. we know that the vessel was listing about 15 degrees, and that one of the hatches had >> pelley: he was taking on water? >> roth-roffy: correct. >> pelley: if the ship lost power, as the captain reported, you would expect her to turn sideways to the waves, and that is her most vulnerable position? >> roth-roffy: that's correct. >> pelley: the ship was approximately here, miles from the eye of the storm. the forecast predicted gusts of 150 miles an hour and seas of 30 feet. three weeks later, "apache"
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square miles. chief sonar operator charles kapicka towed a side-scan sonar for five days when he spotted something you don't see in nature-- a right angle. >> charles kapicka: very right angles, straight with a shadow. at this point i'm calling over, saying "i think this is something coming up you want to see." >> pelley: as the sonar scan slowly unfurled, the sound waves reflected the shape of a ship about 800 feet long. >> baumann: so, at that point, we talked with the ntsb and said, "we believe we have found it." but before we gave full confirmation, we then put our curv in the water, and then did a survey of the hull with moving and still photography. >> pelley: the cable-controlled underwater recovery vehicle can reach 20,000 feet. and these are the cameras? >> baumann: correct. so here's a pan and tilt camera. you got some lights right here. >> pelley: there is zero light at 15,000 feet.
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darkness. so any light you have, you have to bring with you. >> baumann: absolutely. >> pelley: "apache" dropped curv 15,500 feet, nearly three miles. in the abyss, the temperature is about 33 degrees. the pressure-- more than three tons per square inch. flurries of tiny marine life drift by, but fish are rare in the impenetrable darkness. this is where "el faro" came to rest-- upright, hull largely intact, her name mangled on the stern. her depth markings reported that this, the bow, had sunk 15 feet into the mud. her autopsy revealed a body that had been savagely beaten-- steel crushed, equipment collapsed. there was no sign of the 33 crewmembers. equipment and cargo litter the seabed. that's a microwave oven.
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printer. here is the top of a car with a sun roof, part of the cargo. what do we see there? >> rothroffy: that is a liquid storage container. and you can see that it's kind of compressed, kind of imploded by the pressure of the sea. >> pelley: of its 400 cargo containers, only two remain on deck. and toward the stern, in the structure called "the house," where the crew lived and worked, curv discovered the most chilling evidence of the power of an unforgiving sea. >> roth-roffy: now, at the top of that white line there is... is the most surprising part of our video surveys. there's nothing above there. >> pelley: what should be there? >> roth-roffy: there should be two decks above that, the lower navigation bridge deck and the bridge deck. >> pelley: the two top decks had sheared off, including the bridge, where captain davidson would have been fighting the storm.
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also missing, the voyage data recorder, like a so-called "black box" on an airplane. it had been bolted to the top of the bridge and was the one piece tom roth-roffy wanted most. >> roth-roffy: because it would have told us what the crew was experiencing at the time in... in the minutes before the vessel sank, what they observed-- you know, the extent of the flooding, how they were responding; essentially, the events leading up to the actual catastrophe. >> pelley: you know, i'm curious-- when you first saw the video of the ship, what did you think? >> roth-roffy: we were looking, of course, for the... for the bridge and the voyage data recorder. and we... we got up to that level, and to see just openness was... is extremely moving and difficult to... it was a very big surprise to us to see that. >> pelley: moving in what way?
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the violence of the sea and the winds that... that would have had to occur to cause that kind of... i'm sorry. ...to cause that kind of an event. >> pelley: because, certainly, there would have been people on the bridge... >> roth-roffy: yes. >> pelley: ...when that happened. >> roth-roffy: yes, quite certainly. and the shock and surprise to them as... as waves and whatnot... and they're just washed into the ocean. >> pelley: when you found out the news, how did you tell your son and daughter? >> tina riehm: how do you say anything to your kids? >> pelley: jeremie riehm left behind two children, 13 and 22, and his wife, tina. >> riehm: that was hard, because i guess i was in denial. i thought we had to tell my kids that it wasn't looking good for daddy's ship. and that was... that was
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it's, like, my chest collapsed, and we couldn't breathe. it was very... >> pelley: deb roberts lost her son, michael holland. deb, do you have an opinion on where responsibility lies in this? >> deb roberts: i'm not a professional. i'm not an engineer, i'm a business manager. i think it was a series of unfortunate events. and without any other information, i truly blame it on hurricane joaquin. >> pelley: glen, in... in your estimation, where does the responsibility for this lie? >> jackson: squarely on tote maritime. and you got to understand, commercial shipping, they got to keep that ship moving to make money. and it... that's the whole horror of this tragedy is that 33 people died so that frozen chickens could be delivered on time in puerto rico. that's it. >> pelley: the safety board told us that tote maritime, the owner, is cooperating fully.
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other than to say it created a fund for the families and that "el faro" was regularly maintained. the ship had passed two inspections in the months before the accident. a week after we left, "apache" located those two bridge decks about half a mile from the ship. the windows were blown out. the voyage data recorder was not there. but based on the captain's last message, investigator tom roth- roffy has a lead on the loss of propulsion. >> roth-roffy: i believe we have an understanding that it was actually the main turbine, the steam turbine that was lost. >> pelley: one theory is, in violent seas, the propeller might have been thrust out of the water, causing it to spin too fast and shut down the turbine. the captain sailed into this hurricane, we know that much, but what we don't know is why. >> roth-roffy: so we're looking
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direction and the advice provided by the operating company, tote, to see what information was available to him. certainly, also, we're looking at the weather forecast, the accuracy and the timeliness of the information when he made his decision to sail where he did. >> pelley: to your knowledge, was he receiving orders from the company to press on? >> roth-roffy: no. from what we've identified so far, in the information we've reviewed, there has been no direct guidance by the company to sail on the route he chose. >> pelley: the chairman of the ntsb, christopher hart, says it will take at least a year to answer the remaining questions. do you have confidence that you're going to learn the probable cause of this accident? >> christopher hart: i'm sure that it will be difficult, given the situation-- 15,000 feet of water, no voyage data recorder yet. we may still find it, but given that, we have a history of finding out what happened, even
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circumstances. and i'm comfortable to say that we will be able to do that again. >> pelley: the families believe some of the crew are entombed in the ship, where they would have been struggling to get the turbine running. richard pusatere, the chief engineer, was most likely leading that fight. frank pusatere is his father. you believe that your son was in the engine room? >> frank pusatere: oh, most definitely. and until someone could prove me wrong, which would be the black box or any other thing, or richard walking through that door... is that, when the ship listed and then capsized, i guarantee you they were injured. they were knocked out. and it... that was over. and they were all together. and that's... that's how i want to believe it. and until you can prove me wrong, scott, or anyone else, that's the way it's going to happen. and that's my report to the
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but last month, police in italy nabbed 7,000 tons of phony olive oil. much of it was bound for american stores. the oil was from north africa, deodorized with chemicals and rebranded as more expensive italian extra virgin. the scam was cooked up by organized crime. mafia copies of fine olive oil, wine, and cheese have fueled an explosion of food crime in italy. it's estimated to be a $16 billion-a-year enterprise. the italians call it "agro- mafia," and it's a scandal for a people whose cuisine is considered a national treasure. the image of gangsters in the kitchen was too delicious for us to ignore, so we went to italy, where we found elite food police hunting wiseguys, and signs agro-mafia specialties are reaching the united states.
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fight the mafia with good taste. ( slurping ) this panel certifies the authenticity of extra virgin olive oil, a favorite target of the agro-mafia. they can tell at first sip whether extra virgin has been diluted with cheap sunflower oil or canola. sergio, why do they make that sound, like they are sucking in air? >> sergio tirro: they need it to mist it on the back of their throats. >> whitaker: they have to suck it in the back of their throats. >> tirro: they have to suck it in. >> whitaker: major sergio tirro is considered one of the top investigators of food fraud in europe. think elliot ness in a uniform designed by giorgio armani. >> tirro: most of the fraud has been discovered with the expertise like this. >> whitaker: their skills are so respected, italian courts will accept taste results as
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tirro has 60 cops trained to do this, too... >> whitaker: ...and 1,100 more conducting inspections and fraud investigations. on the day we visited headquarters, officers were monitoring wiretaps and live video from hidden cameras placed in suspected warehouses around italy. this looks like the f.b.i. >> tirro: yes. we can call ourselves the f.b.i. of food. >> whitaker: in the last two years, they have seized 59,000 tons of food. the agro-mafia's ingredients are poor quality and sometimes contaminated with solvents or pesticides. when i tell somebody that i'm coming to italy to do a piece about food fraud, it almost seems unbelievable. >> tirro: it is a serious problem because it's not only a commercial fraud. if you adulterate an extra
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and those bottles reach consumers who are allergic to seed oil, you are sending them bombs. >> whitaker: bombs on your kitchen shelf. >> tirro: yes. >> whitaker: the agro-mafia has also tried to rip off italian shoppers with mozzarella whitened with detergent and rotten seafood deodorized with citric acid. my favorite, italian wines-- how are they adulterated? >> tirro: they generally use... to mix poor quality wine and brand it as famous wine. >> whitaker: so you take a cheap table wine and just put a famous stamp on it? >> tirro: yes. >> whitaker: and sell it? >> tirro: yes. >> whitaker: in tuscany, cops found 42,000 gallons of run-of- the-mill red that was going to be sold as top-notch brunello di montalcino. the score could have been $5 million. so this is everything-- olive oil, tomatoes... >> tom mueller: ...milk, butter,
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foods. >> whitaker: journalist tom mueller has lived in italy for 20 years and speaks routinely with investigators and food producers. so, where along the food chain does the mafia get involved? >> mueller: from harvesting-- they impose their own workers, they impose prices-- to the transportation. and there's mafia involvement in supermarkets as well. so certain areas, they have really infiltrated the entire food chain from the farm to the fork. >> whitaker: mueller first wrote about olive oil fraud in 2007 for the "new yorker" magazine. >> mueller: you, in many cases, are getting lower grade olive oil that has been blended with some good extra virgin olive oil. you're sometimes getting deodorized oil. they blend it with some oil that has some character to give it a little color, a little flavor, and they sell that as extra virgin. it's illegal; it happens all the time. >> whitaker: extra virgin must come from the first press of olives and be free of additives. it's fruity, aromatic, and has a
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the best can sell for $50 a gallon, but a fake costs just $7 to make. the profit margin can be three times better than cocaine. >> tirro: i would like to show you how easy is to make a genuine fake extra virgin... >> whitaker: ..."genuine fake extra virgin" olive oil? >> tirro: genuine fake extra virgin olive oil. you just need some seed oil. >> whitaker: what kind of seed oil? >> tirro: it is sunflower oil-- no smell at all. >> whitaker: none. >> tirro: then we just have to add a few drops of chlorophyll. >> whitaker: for color? >> tirro: for color. >> whitaker: and it becomes the color of olive oil. >> tirro: it becomes the color of olive oil. >> whitaker: 80% of italy's extra virgin comes from the southern part of the country. so we went to sicily, where the mafia remains part of daily life in the streets and in the fields. nicola clemenza's olive grove is
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palermo. we went to see him because clemenza is leading a farmer revolt against mafia control. his olives are hand-combed from the trees onto nets below and immediately sent to be pressed. nicola, what role does the mafia play in olive oil production here? ( clemenza speaking italian ) >> whitaker: clemenza told us the agro-mafia dilutes the oil and controls prices. he's defied the mob by organizing 200 farmers to skip the mafia middlemen and sell their oil directly to distributors. when you organized the farmers, the mafia retaliated against you? >> clemenza ( translated ): on the day i started the consortium, they burned my car, they burned down part of my home, and i was inside with my wife and my daughter. >> whitaker: they tried to kill
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>> clemenza: no, he said it was a message to stay quiet. >> whitaker: this is a police image of the man clemenza believes ordered the attack. he is matteo messina denaro, the boss of bosses for the cosa nostra. many believe he's hiding out in the town not far from clemenza's fields. denaro built a $41 million olive oil empire. >> mueller: it's very difficult to say in any given case with olive oil exactly how many drops in a given bottle actually have mafia blood on them, to sound dramatic. it is fairly straightforward to say, however, just how much fraudulent oil is in circulation. >> whitaker: how much? >> mueller: easily half of the bottles that are sold as extra virgin in supermarkets in italy do not meet the legal grades for extra virgin oil. >> whitaker: so half here in italy. what would it be in the u.s.? >> mueller: up around 75% to 80%, easily. >> whitaker: yes, you heard
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food imported into the united states is inspected by customs and border protection. its new jersey chemists told us they have detected phony oil imported from italy improperly labeled as extra virgin. >> buon giorno. >> whitaker: we were curious about what we'd find in a u.s. supermarket. so we shipped three brands of italian extra virgin we purchased in new york back to the mother country. all three, extra virgin. they were included in a blind taste test by those experts in rome. the process is as tightly orchestrated as a verdi opera. blue glass hides the oil's color. separate cubicles prevents cheating. the panel would not say they were adulterated, but they agreed two brands we purchased back home did not come within a sniff of extra virgin. they described one as "lampante," the lowest quality olive oil. that brand happens to be one of
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( slurping ) >> tirro: it's not that bad. >> whitaker: it's not that bad... >> tirro: not that bad. but maybe for... >> whitaker: but not that good, either. >> tirro: no, not for my salads. ( laughter ) i would never put this on my salad. >> whitaker: chances are that salad was picked by migrants controlled by the agro-mafia, too, and served in one of italy's 5,000 mob-owned restaurants. last spring, these two tourist spots in rome were temporarily closed for alleged mafia ties. and the food businesses not run by gangsters often pay them anyway. the extortion is called "pizzo". refuse, and you risk broken windows, or worse. what percentage of the merchants here are paying the pizzo, protection money to the mafia? >> ermes riccobono: actually, we cannot know for sure. we could say that a big part of this.
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>> riccobono: most of them, we could say, yes. >> whitaker: ermes riccobono took us around one of the oldest food markets in palermo. he works with a group called addiopizzo, which means "farewell, pizzo". it's enlisted 800 stores and restaurants to stop paying the mafia. >> riccobono: they've been doing this for so long, generation by generation, that it's normal for them. it's not even a problem. >> whitaker: how much would they be asking of these merchants? >> riccobono: might be, i don't know, 500 euros, $500 per month, or even $5 per week, according to the size of the shop. >> whitaker: add it up and extortion costs italy at least $6 billion a year. what makes you think that your young organization is going to stop this? >> riccobono: well, it's what we need to do. i mean, it's our moral obligation. we are a young generation and we need to fight. >> whitaker: we were told we
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taken root just a short drive from corleone, the town made famous by "the godfather". over the last decade, cops have taken 3,500 acres away from mafia owners and given them to the group libera terra, or "free land". these fields confiscated from the mob have created a booming business for farmers. >> pietro d'aleo: we have around 80 food and beverage products made with raw materials coming from this land. >> whitaker: 80? >> d'aleo: 80. >> whitaker: marketing manager pietro d'aleo gave us a taste of their success. smells good. >> d'aleo: yes. >> whitaker: a wine called centopassi that's drawn raves from critics. smells delicious. very well balanced. cheers. >> d'aleo: cheers. >> whitaker: thank you. >> d'aleo: you're welcome. >> whitaker: libera terra
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