from the global resources of abc news, this is "nightline." good evening. i'm terry moran. we begin with breaking news tonight. the capture of a major u.s. fugitive. the legendary boston irish mobster, james "whitey" bulger. bulger, wanted in connection with 19 murders, racketeering, and other crimes, was on the fbi's ten most wanted list, which tonight declares him captured. he dominated the boston underworld, was the inspiration for the 2006 martin scorsese film "the departed" -- >> you got something you want to ask me? >> he's been on the lam since 1994. and just days ago the bureau released a new public service announcement in his case.

>> he has a violent temper and is charged with 19 murders. call the tip line at 1-800-call-fbi. >> bulger was captured tonight in, of all places, santa monica. abc news's pierre thomas covers tus. and he joins us now from washington. pierre, tell us how this went down. >> reporter: terry, what happened to whitey bulger had been one of the most perplexing questions for the fbi for nearly two decades. the alleged boston crime boss had simply disappeared. at one point the fbi even thought he might be in europe. it turns out he was right here in the u.s. tonight bulger was arrested along with his girlfriend in santa monica not far from the beach. apparently, the relationship with the girlfriend is what did bulger in. that psa the fbi launched earlier this week was in an effort to reignite interest in this long cold case. it did not take long to get a response. a tip came in pointing to santa monica as the location, and the fbi swooped in. bulger had been on the run since

1994, but no one in the fbi gave up. they say at the fbi the only way to get off that top ten list is to die or to get caught. terry? >> there will be much more on this story all night on abc and "good morning america" will have the latest details. well, now to president obama, who addressed the nation and announced his plans for troop withdrawals in afghanistan tonight. it's a huge moment in this long war and for this president. and abc's martha raddatz has our report. >> reporter: in the end it fell to the commander in chief to make the decision, and tonight barack obama told the nation he is ready to start pulling out of afghanistan. >> starting next month, we will be able to remove 10,000 of our troops from afghanistan by the end of this year. and we will bring home a total of 33,000 troops by next summer. >> reporter: he is taking a huge risk, and he knows it.

>> after this initial reduction our troops will continue coming home at a steady pace, as afghan security forces move into the lead. >> reporter: for nearly ten years the u.s. has been at war here. the american response to the attacks on 9/11 has cost more than $288 billion and 1,500 lives. the bodies of these young men arriving home just hours before the president's speech. >> of course, huge challenges remain. this is the beginning, but not the end of our effort to wind down this war. >> reporter: do you look at the president and say, he's a risk taker? >> he does things that are hard. >> reporter: bill burton was a deputy press secretary for president obama until earlier this year. he started working for obama when he was a candidate, calling for a greater focus on afghanistan. >> he does things that are

politically dangerous, folks feel at the time. but he does it all with as much fact as you can possibly have. so he mitigates that risk with information. >> reporter: but this decision also comes at a time when the president himself is under siege. an abc poll found that 73% of americans want a substantial withdrawal of troops from afghanistan this summer. weighing on the president had to be the enormous financial cost of the war, at a time when the nation's economic recovery continues to stall, if not falter. >> america, it is time to focus on nation-building here at home. >> reporter: but even in spite of the economic woes at home, those fighting the war, including obama's top general, think he may be wrong and wanted a slower drawdown. >> i know that general petraeus thought withdrawing them so quickly was higher risk than

leaving them in there longer. yet president obama says, we're doing it anyway. going against general david petraeus has to be hard to do. >> well, you know, the general is one of the best military commanders that the united states has seen in a long time. but the president is still the commander in chief and his boss. and as a result, he's the one who makes the calls and whether or not it's the right pace or the right thing to do. >> reporter: case in point, the president's decision to raid the compound where he believed osama bin laden to be hiding. >> the united states has conducted an operation that killed osama bin laden, the leader of al qaeda. >> reporter: president obama also comes off making a risky decision to go after osama bin laden, which proved enormously successful. so, does the president come into this tonight with more national security juice? >> as a result of the success that there's been on the ground, he's in a position where he can pull those troops out and feel

confident that the gains that we made are enough to feel like our nation is secure. >> reporter: it's a very different environment from 2009, when the new president, with little national security experience, took months to craft a new strategy and decide on how many additional troops to send into afghanistan as part of the surge. >> and as commander in chief i have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 u.s. troops to afghanistan. >> reporter: abc's diane sawyer asked bob woodward, author of "obama's wars" about the atmosphere at the time. the meetings. obama felt -- you're writing in a general way, too, but obama felt disrespected and trapped and at different times he felt that the military was maneuvering around him. did they think they could take a young president? >> some of them might have thought that. so the president, who is supposed to be the decider, who

is supposed to have choice, and you've got these blocks of granite out there saying, oh, no, you really don't have a choice, this is the way to do it. and he was not happy. >> reporter: do you think there has been a transformation of sorts with the president since that time? >> he's grown in the sense that, you know, the more you make these decisions, the more you deal with military commanders, the more you feel the weight of the oval office. you grow. as a result, he feels comfortable and confident that he's making the right decisions. >> reporter: while tonight's decision about troops may have been easier, the timing of it couldn't be more critical for obama. the full drawdown of 33,000 surge troops is expected to be completed by september of 2012, just in time for the presidential election obama hopes to win. >> tonight we take comfort in knowing that the tide of war is receding. fewer of our sons and daughters are serving in harm's way. >> reporter: but this war is not

over. nearly 70,000 troops will remain, even after next year. in fact, the u.s. is committed to stay in afghanistan for at least 3 1/2 more years. a war that despite tonight's speech will continue to weigh on the commander in chief. for "nightline," i'm martha raddatz in washington. >> president obama's drawdown in afghanistan. thanks to martha for that. just ahead, a verdict in the case of a self-help author accused of manslaughter in the deaths of three people in an arizona sweat lodge ceremony that was supposed to purify them. i was driving in northern california. my son was asleep. i really didn't see it coming. i didn't realize i was drifting into the other lane. [ kim ] i was literally falling asleep at the wheel. it got my attention, telling me that i wasn't paying attention. i had no idea the guy in front of me had stopped short. but my car did.

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with terry moran. when paramedics arrived on the scene, they thought it was a mass suicide. bodies everywhere outside a sweat lodge in arizona. 18 injured, three more dying or already dead. but it wasn't a suicide. it was a spiritual exercise led by a self-help guru who urged followers to break through their limitations. well, today a jury found him accountable in the deaths. here is dan harris, who has been

following the story from the start. >> reporter: in the end the power of positive thinking -- >> your wish is my command. >> reporter: the law of attraction, as they call it in that best-selling book and dvd "the secret" -- >> the law of attraction says like attracts -- like. and as you lock your attention upon that, then bang, you've got a mercedes. and that's how it works. >> reporter: in the end that message that james ray preached so loudly and so profitably for so many years was not enough to save him from the justice system. there he was in court today, the self-help guru, looking truly petrified as the clerk read out the verdict. on the more serious charge of manslaughter -- >> not guilty. >> reporter: a reprieve. but on the lesser charge of negligent homicide -- >> guilty. >> reporter: guilty on three counts. this case began in october 2009

in sedona, arizona, sometimes called the new age vatican, where ray held what he called the spiritual warrior retreat. participants paid nearly ten grand for five days of breathing exercises, journal entries and elaborate games where ray played the role of god. the culminating event was a sweat lodge ceremony inside this low-slung wooden hut. >> did you have a sense at all that it would be dangerous? >> yeah, for me, you know, he said, you know, you may feel like you're going to die, but you're not. that's just your body reacting. i trusted him 100%. >> reporter: more than 50 people were jammed inside. there were blazing hot rocks in the middle, and water was poured on top of them. when did you realize that something was going wrong in there? >> after the first round, when the door opened and people came out, i was shocked. i was shocked at the condition of the people that came out. >> reporter: in a story she

first told right here on "nightline," and then repeated on the stand at trial, former james ray staffer melinda martin, who was stationed right outside the lodge, says as the ceremony progressed the condition of the participants became quite dire. >> now i was dealing with people in trances and saying they were dying and they -- their arm skin was gone. i mean, this was right away. >> reporter: so this sounds like a horror show. >> it was. >> reporter: many of these current and former ray followers were inside. >> and then he dumped the water on. and you could hear it sizzling. you could see the pit turn red. and then i just remember almost seeing the steam just come roll, and it was just -- it was like inhaling fire. and it became instantly difficult to breathe. because i'm not used to breathing fire. >> people were coming out screaming, saying, you know, things like "i'm dying, i'm dying, please don't let me die." >> reporter: what was james saying to people who were trying to leave?

>> like it's been said before, "you're more than that. you can push through this." >> reporter: why did you stay? >> because i was okay. i was also -- >> reporter: but you might not have been okay five minutes into the future. >> that's five minutes into the future. i was okay right then. >> reporter: melinda martin says as she performed cpr on a dying woman her boss simply stared. >> and i look up, and he's standing right over my head, watching. he's watching from stand-up position. he didn't offer to help. he didn't say anything. nothing at all. >> reporter: did you see him do anything to help anybody? >> no. >> reporter: nothing? >> nothing. >> reporter: ray's attorneys have insisted all along that it was a tragic accident. >> this was a terrible, terrible accident. it wasn't a crime. >> reporter: tonight, after the verdict was announced -- >> guilty. >> reporter: -- family members of the dead said they were pleased. >> i spoke with my children on the phone a few minutes ago, and we're all very happy, very pleased with the outcome. >> reporter: throughout the

four-month trial ray, whose business as a celebrity swami was badly damaged by the sweat lodge deaths, kept on hocking his wears on the internet. "stay the course," he tweeted on june 1st, "be strong. obstacles are simply opportunities for growth and advancement." ray himself may have many opportunities for growth and advancement coming up. the sentencing phase of his trial starts next week, and he's looking at up to 11 years in prison. for "nightline" this is dan harris. multi-policy discount. geico, saving people money on ore than just car insurance. ♪ geico, saving people money on moe than just car insurance.

the popularity of riverdance, the traditional irish folk dance revival, showed that an old language of movement could be made to speak to modern audiences. well, now the riverdance phenomenon is speaking to even newer audiences, although this time with a whimsical twist. and for nick watt in our encore

presentation here, that is a "sign of the times." ♪ >> reporter: wait for it. wait for it. john cullinane from county cork, bust a move. irish dancing back in 1963. glum faces, arms limp, unused, it was all about the legs. oh, yeah. you know. then, along came flatley. michael flatley. turned this world on its head. mid '90s and riverdance was all we could talk about at my house. flatley cut loose and updated and ancient art form, shirt off, head band on, cheesy smile, check. a form that would last a thousand years. then, we noticed this on the internet.

sacrilege. their arms are moving. the glum faces are back, but they're sitting down. there's even irony, intentional kitsch. i promised myself i would never use the phrase "internet sensation" again. i just have. music, by the way, is yolanda be cool and d cup. the dirty dancers, retired riverdance stars. so you're not just doing this because your legs don't work so well anymore? >> we do dance with our legs as well. >> reporter: do you? >> absolutely, yeah. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: they call themselves up and over it. >> seven, eight. >> reporter: and through the medium of youtube and old-fashioned face-to-face encounters, they'll tell anyone who'll listen that irish dancing can be something else. >> reporter: so you're the second best irish dancer in the world for your age. >> yeah. >> reporter: congratulations. >> thanks. >> reporter: so, what does olivia make of hand dancing? >> i really enjoy it. >> reporter: you think it's

going to catch on? >> yeah. >> we're two ex-riverdancers that want to do something different with our form. >> reporter: it doesn't just have to be like this. flatley reincarnated as lord of the dance, feet of flames and celtic tiger. he's a multi-multimillionaire. so, what do peter and suzanne want to do with their new form? >> mix of kind of online stuff with some live shows would be perfect. >> reporter: the online stuff, i mean, you're not going to make your fortune doing the online stuff. >> it's not about the money. >> it's not about the money. >> we are artists. >> reporter: who want as many people to be inspired by their weirdness as possible. so they've stuck it for free on youtube. i'm nick watt for "nightline" in london. >> lord of the hands. that's our report for tonight. thank you for watching abc news. we hope you check in for "good morning america." tomorrow, they're going to have a live exclusive with a hero mom