we're just trying to help more people have more mornings. industry-wide conspiracy, and i think it answers one of the biggest questions all of us are asking, which is why are prescription drugs so expensive? and i think we know why now. because the prices of generic drugs are fixed, and there's a widespread conspiracy to rig the market. >> whitaker: how many drugs are we talking about? >> tong: hundreds. hundreds of drugs. >> whitaker: what kinds of drugs? >> tong: every kind of drug that touches our everyday lives. ( ticking ) >> pelley: angel wendt lives in a town of 500. she's a teacher and a mother of four. nine years ago, her brother was killed by a drunk driver, and it changed her life in ways she never could have imagined. >> wendt: i was a monster.

it was terrible. i can honestly say that, now, looking back at that time in my life, i was a terrible mother. i was a terrible teacher. i was really just an uninspiring person, because i felt i-- i had the right to be. >> pelley: until she met her brother's killer. what happened? that's our story tonight. ( ticking ) >> cooper: mark bradford is widely considered one of the most important and influential artists in america today. his abstract canvases, which often deal with complex social and political issues, hang in major museums around the world. >> bradford: that's all right. that is all right. >> cooper: it's like an archeological dig. >> bradford: it is like an archeological dig. it's like history. i'm creating my own archaeological or psychological digs. sometimes, when i'm digging on my own painting, i'm asking myself, "well, exactly what are you digging for? where do you want to go, child?" ( ticking )

>> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm scott pelley. >> i'm anderson cooper. >> i'm bill whitaker. those stories, tonight, on "60 minutes." ( ticking ) all money managers might seem the same,

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it's geico easy. my name is taylor, and i'm a tv producer. this surface laptop is amazing. it's very powerful, and just speeds up your way this is the type of laptop that i've always needed. it feels weird to be on this side of the camera. [laughs] >> whitaker: it might be the biggest price-fixing scheme in u.s. history. on friday, connecticut and a coalition of more than 40 states filed a 500-page lawsuit accusing the biggest generic drug makers of a massive, systematic conspiracy to bilk consumers out of billions of dollars.

it's a more sweeping version of a similar lawsuit the states filed in 2016 that's still being litigated. the generic industry vehemently denies the allegations. congress established the current generic industry in 1984 to push prices down. the idea was that once patents on brand name drugs expired, generic makers would compete to make drugs more affordable. but 1,215 generics, many of them the most prescribed drugs, jumped on average more than 400% in a single year. connecticut has been examining the generic drug industry for almost five years. tonight, we'll take you inside its investigation and show you how two dogged attorneys built the cases the state attorney general calls the most egregious examples of corporate greed he has ever seen. >> william tong: it's an industry-wide conspiracy, and i

think it answers one of the biggest questions all of us are asking, which is why are prescription drugs so expensive? and i think we know why now. because the prices of generic drugs are fixed, and there's a widespread conspiracy to rig the market. >> whitaker: connecticut attorney general william tong says his office found evidence of price-fixing by dozens of generic drug industry sales directors, marketers, c.e.o.s, dating back to 2006. how many drugs are we talking about? >> tong: hundreds. hundreds of drugs. >> whitaker: what kinds of drugs? >> tong: every kind of drug that touches our everyday lives. i'll give you an example, bill. this is my bottle of it is mmon antibiotic at i take every day for a skin condition. and there is a conspiracy around doxycycline. and so, sitting here today as the attorney general of the state of connecticut, i'm one of the victims. >> whitaker: between 2013 and 2014, a bottle of doxycycline

shot up 8,281%, from $20 to more than $1,800. a bottle of asthma medication albuterol sulfate jumped more than 4,000% pravastatin, a cholesterol drug, up more than 500%. the sudden price spikes caught the attention of congress, which called a hearing; the department of justice, which launched an investigation, and the state of connecticut, which now has filed two lawsuits. >> tong: this is a phased approach, and we're focusing on all the major players. >> whitaker: so, is it your contention that these companies are putting americans' lives at risk? >> tong: yes. you know, it's $100 billion 're tag abthugs that america takes every day to live, and they're profiteering off of that in a highly illegal way. they're takinnt whitaker: the e of market forces and because of

drug shortages. these explanations don't wash with you? >> tong: no. i mean, they've said this to me to my face, and... >> whitaker: why don't you believe that? >> tong: because we have evidence, hard evidence in the form of text messages, emails, documents, witnesses, that demonstrate clearly that it wasn't about product shortages. it was about profit. it was about cold, hard greed. >> whitaker: how can he say that? because of what these two sleuth attorneys uncovered. mike cole heads the anti-trust division in the connecticut attorney general's office. joe nielsen is his lead prosecutor on this case. they've worked together for more than a decade, reaching multimillion-dollar settlements with big names like apple and bank of america. this, they say, is their biggest case yet. >> mike cole: this particular industry, the generic drug industry, touches everybody. >> joe nielsen: 90% of all

prescriptions filled in this country are filled with generic drugs. >> whitaker: in the summer of 2014, cole and nielsen spotted a newspaper article about a sharp rise in the price of a decades- old generic heart medication called digoxin. so, you read the article and something just didn't smell right? >> cole: i guess you could say you get a little bit of a sixth sense after you do this type of work for a long period of time, which we both have. so, we did a little bit more due diligence, and we sent out three subpoenas. >> whitaker: what did you think you would find? >> cole: we were looking for communications amongst competitors. when you do this kind of work, it's really not one hot document, as they say, that's going to prove a case. it's kind of like putting together a puzzle, a piece at a time. >> whitaker: the puzzle grew into a monster. three subpoenas turned into more than 300, to major generic drug companies, dozens of employees, and phone companies.

over the course of the investigation, the subpoenas generated almost 19 million internal documents and phone records. there were so many pieces, joe nielsen couldn't make out the big picture at first. for more than two years, he was the only one working the case. he spent days at his office desk, and many nights at his dining room table, looking for patterns. he eventually bought software used by law enforcement to investigate drug cartels, so he could analyze nearly 12 million phone logs. and this allowed you to do what? >> nielsen: well, this allows you within five minutes to look at someone's entire phone records and see the history of who when >> whitaker: nielsen saw a picture emerge of a cozy relationship among industry competitors, with lots of phone chatter right before they increased prices, apparently in lock-step. >> nielsen: you know, we can see

that "competitor a" is talking to "competitor b" five times on one day. and what that allows us to do is to go into our document database and look on that day at what they were saying. >> whitaker: it all snapped into sharp focus when he matched phone logs to thousands of text messages from heritage pharmaceuticals. nielsen says this exchange, with competitor citron pharma, showed collusion to increase the price of a diabetes medication. the text messages implicate two other companies: aurobindo and teva, the world's largest generic drug maker. the national accounts manager at heritage wrote:" we are raising the price right now. just letting you know, teva says they will follow."" aurobindo agrees, too." a corporate account representative from citron answered:" we are definitely in to raise pricing. are doing this immediately." the heritage executive responded:" we are raising our customers

200% over current market price." so, what's wrong with these companies talking to each other? >> nielsen: if they were talking about their families or, you know, a barbecue that they went to, there would be nothing wrong with it. but when they talk about raising prices and they agree to do that, then it's completely and totally illegal. >> whitaker: take the case of the anti-fungal drug nystatin. as you can see with this graph, the price held steady at $68 a bottle for years, but, in april 2013, sun pharmaceuticals almost doubled the price to $131. right after the increase, there was this flurry of phone calls between sun and competitors, heritage and teva. >> nielsen: so, you see a phone call between heritage and sun pharmaceuticals lasting over 45 minutes. >> whitaker: after dozens of

calls like this, first teva, then heritage followed sun's lead and jacked up the price of nystatin to $142 a bottle. joe nielsen also found messages that seemed to show companies, including pfizer, conspiring to divvy up the market for other drugs. the lawsuit filed friday states" pfizer, acting through its wholly-owned subsidiary and alter-ego, greenstone, entered into agreements with teva and other competitors to allocate and divide customers and markets, and to fix and raise prices." it refer tl nice in the sandbox, and we will let them have the customer." "play nice in the sandbox." what does that mean? >> nielsen: avoid competing with each other, take your fair share, and don't go after anything more than that. keep the prices as high as you can. >> whitaker: but i thought the

whole point of generic drugs was to have competition and keep the price down? >> nielsen: that's the point for us, but that's what the companies who are selling the generic drugs want to avoid. >> tong: i think what we've come upon is that the generic drug industry is the largest private sector corporate cartel in history. >> whitaker: what is the effect of that on you? me? average consumer? >> tong: it's devastating. it affects health insurance premiums and health insurance plans. it impacts medicare and medicaid. and it is a chain reaction that drives up the price of american healthcare to unnatural heights. >> whitaker: we reached out to the companies mentioned in our report for comment. pfizer, which advertises on this broadcast, denies any wrongdoing, and says it has cooperated with the connecticut attorney general. it says its subsidiary, greenstone, intends to vigorously fight the claims.

sun issued this statement:" sun pharma is committed to the highest level of ethics and integrity. we believe the allegations made in these lawsuits are without merit, and we will continue to vigorously defend against them." in court filings, sun and other drug makers have argued there's no proof of an overarching conspiracy. the industry trade group told us generic prices declined three straight years from 2016. >> tong: there has been some leveling off, but i don't think that means that the conspiracy has ended. they're still unnaturally high. what we haven't seen is, if they stopped colluding, you would expect prices to go down dramatically. you would expect competition to ensue and one competitor would go after another, and they'd start undercutting each other on price. that hasn't happened. >> whitaker: are you seeing patients today? >> dr. thomas pliura: i am. >> whitaker: dr. tom pliura is feeling the impact of rising generic drug prices.he runa clis

14,000 people in rural, southern illinois. this is a federally-designated" health care shortage area," which is a bureaucratic way of saying there aren't enough doctors around here. >> dr. pliura: ready? >> whitaker: three-quarters of the patients at his clinic are on medicare or medicaid. both government programs set limits on reimbursements for drugs. the rising generic prices have created a medical emergency for him. since the government won't cover the increased costs, his patients or his clinic must. >> dr. pliura: we've been able to-- to keep the doors open, but it's getting harder and harder. and with these tremendous spikes, it's a problem. >> whitaker: the impact of the rising prices is so great that it might put you out of business? >> dr. pliura: no question about it. we've had that discussion right here in this building. >> whitaker: he worries his patients will suffer. so, dr. pliura has joined unions, pharmacies, school

employees and other plaintiffs that have filed dozens of class action lawsuits in the wake of connecticut's investigation, all accusing generic drug makers of fixing prices. that's a big fight for a small clinic in rural illinois to pick. >> dr. pliura: i think somebody has to raise their hand. somebody has to say, "you know, it's wrong, what's going on." you can't put people in a position where they're forced to either pay their rent or buy food and forego their medication. and that's what's-- that's what's happening all over the united states. >> tong: as an attorney general, i look at that, and i say, "how can they do that?" and i think what we've concluded is, they know it's illegal. and, and it's not that they're too big to fail; it's that they're just too big to care. >> whitaker: that sounds harsh, "too big to care." >> tong: that's the only conclusion i think anyone can

draw, when they see this evidence. and so, then, you start wondering, why would they do this? because there's just too much money to be made. >> whitaker: connecticut attorney general tong told us he and the other state attorneys general are continuing to investigate the generic drug industry and plan to file more lawsuits. >> tong: this conspiracy has caused billions and billions of dollars in damages to the people of connecticut and states across the country. and we're going to take them on in court and hold them accountable, and they're going to pay for the money they stole from the american people. ( ticking ) >> cbs money watch. sponsored by capital 1. what is in your wallet? >> good evening. president trump is warning china act now or face a far worse deal as trade talks stall, north norh dakota will stew washington

state over a new law targeting oil shipped by rail and virgin galactic is moving operatings from california to -- 0 for future needs space. i am david begnaud, cbs news.

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>> pelley: when we heard about the restorative justice project, it was hard to believe, and we certainly didn't understand it. the program at the university of wisconsin law school introduces victims of violence to the convicts who committed the crime. our first reaction was "who would want to do that? and to what end?" it was only after we met these families and the convicts that we could see what a life- changing experience could come from the most unlikely of meetings.

>> angel wendt: i could not tell you another name of a person that i resented so much, and i felt like the only emotion that this man deserved was hate. >> pelley: angel wendt lives in a town of 500. she's a teacher and a mother of four. nine years ago, her brother, michael, was killed, and she focused her hate on drunk driver lee namtvedt. this wasn't the first time you'd been driving drunk. >> lee namtvedt: unfortunately, no, it wasn't. i had three prior o.w.i.s on my record. >> pelley: those were just the times you got caught? >> namtvedt: that's correct. >> pelley: namtvedt pleaded made ijob tomicide in 2011. present the judge with witnesses and all the incriminating evidence she could find to encourage the longest sentence.

namtvedt got ten years, but wendt had been sentenced to life-- a life of vengeance. >> wendt: i was a monster. it was terrible. i can honestly say that, now, looking back at that time in my life, i was a terrible mother. i was a terrible teacher. i was really just an uninspiring person, and that's not what i wanted to be. >> pelley: why were you all of those things? >> wendt: because i felt i-- i had the right to be. >> pelley: she decided she could save herself only by meeting the stranger who ruined her life. she reached the restorative justice project at the university of wisconsin law school. the project began 30 years ago to teach students about the needs of victims. the director, johnathan sharrer, told us they set up about one meeting a month. >> johnathan scharrer: we're really victim-focused, and we say, "how has this person been harmed?" and then, "what can be done to repair that harm?" >> pelley: the attempt to repair

the harm begins only with the victim's request. if the law school finds that the prisoner is willing, then the restorative justice project visits both parties. >> scharrer: to sort of see, "what are these individuals interested in talking about?" and so, we'll have enough of those individual meetings as are necessary before both sides are ready to actually sit down. and quite often, that can take several months, up to a year or sometimes longer, before we get to that space. >> pelley: part of that year is spent shuttling written questions and answers between the victim and the criminal. when lee namtvedt received the request from the law school, he had a question. >> namtvedt: how can i do this? you know, i just... it'd be just best not to do it, not to... you know, this happened. i'm doing my time. let's not ever talk. let's not ever talk about it. let's not ever meet. i can just move away. i can hide. and through a lot of counseling and help, i was able to... to go through with it. >> pelley: angel wendt waited five years after her brother,

michael, was killed, to come to the prison to meet lee namtvedt. >> wendt: we sat and talked for hours and hours, and i found myself crying. but it wasn't for me. it was for him. because what i came to know in that meeting is that he and i were both mourning the loss of the same amazing young man. but i have all the beautiful memories to fall back on when i'm feeling sad. he has nothing. >> namtvedt: he was a loving, kind, caring young man who was really involved in his church and quite an amazing person. >> pelley: and your response to all of that, to hearing what a terrific persoisu lled, wh? >> namtvedt: what a loss. what an unnecessary loss. >> wendt: i wanted to, at that point, apologize for all of the

things that i had done-- rounding up all of those people and finding every little scrap of evidence that he had this terrible character flaw. >> pelley: wait. you scheduled this meeting so that you could apologize to him? >> wendt: yep. i wanted to extend my personal forgiveness to him and also felt that if i was going to emotionally rectify the situation that i had built up for myself, that i needed to apologize to him. >> namtvedt: and i was just amazed at her kindness and caring and her compassion, and it's not easy. i can't imagine that's easy to do, coming to a prison and forgive the guy who killed your brother. >> pelley: that forgiveness becomes possible if the prisoner is seeking redemption. craig sussek was 16 back in 1995, when he shot jackie millar

as he and another teen were stealing her car. you made a decision to shoot her in the head. >> craig sussek: yes, unfortunately. >> pelley: why? why? >> sussek: and that's something that to this day that i can't... there's no answer that's going to be acceptable or sufficient. >> pelley: jackie millar survived the grievous brain injury. >> jackie millar: they may have tried to take my life, but i am jackie millar. i am here to stay. >> pelley: what were your injuries? >> millar: i am legally blind. i have short-term and long-term memory problems. >> pelley: tell me why you wanted to meet craig sussek. >> millar: the only thing i

wanted to find out was why, why he did it. >> pelley: two years after the shooting, sussek was 19 and faced the woman he shot, accompanied by a mediator from the restorative justice project. >> sussek: i was in a state of terror. >> pelley: what were you afraid of? >> sussek: i was ashamed of what i did, and, you know, i'm... i'm meeting the person that i did the act that made me feel shame. >> millar: tell me what it is that you did. >> sussek: i just grabbed the gun. i just... i pulled the trigger. >> millar: i am very proud that you told me.

>> sussek: i'm really sorry for everything i've done. >> pelley: the meeting went on for two hours as she described her suffering. but the woman who had lost so much had something left to give. >> millar: you're a good kid. i know deep down you are a good kid. >> sussek: jackie forgave me. without that, you know, i don't know where i'd be. >> pelley: please help me understand how that is possible. how can you forgive this man who did this to you? >> millar: i forgive him. i don't forget it. i know he tried to kill me.

>> sussek: morning, jackie. can i get a hug? >> millar: give me a hug. >> pelley: craig sussek is 40 now, and has invited jackie's visits, once a year, every year, for two decades. >> sussek: if i can continually give back to her, that's my lifelong mission. >> pelley: because of what you did all these years ago, her health is deteriorating. >> sussek: yeah. >> pelley: what do you think of that, as you see her year after year and see that she's not getting any better? >> sussek: it's not... it's not an easy thing. jackie's been in a prison for as long as i have been, and in a worse prison than what i've got, you know? because my memory isn't going. my health isn't slipping. and it's terrible because i know i did that. >> pelley: for prisoners, it seems the motive is always the same: to be forgiven.

but each victim brings unique desires. mary rezin's mother and brother were killed by a pair of gunmen in a robbery. >> mre my brother was in vietnam, and made it home. and then, he is shot down, you know, trying to get away from somebody. and they broke through three doors to get at my mom, and she's 85 years old. >> pelley: once these two men were sent to prison, was there a sense of relief in any way? >> rezin: no. no, i called it treading water because if i didn't keep trying, i was going to go under. >> pelley: mary rezin was seeking truth. she found that open questions leave no closure. >> scharrer: many people are hungry for information, so finding out what really happened helps them stop asking the questions that they may have asked themselves, you know, ten, 20, 30,000 times. >> pelley: jonathan sharrer contacted both killers.

only one, dan cerney, was well and willing. >> dan cerney: i knew this was something that i couldn't hide from. i've been hiding from it for 17 years. the truth was never told on what really happened. >> pelley: you lied in court about what happened? >> cerney: yes, i did. >> pelley: cerney had claimed that he didn't shoot mary rezin's brother until the other man had already killed him. >> pelley: tell me what happened? >> cerney: i had a .22 rifle in my hands, and i shot the man numerous times until he fell. >> pelley: cerney met mary rezin three years ago, 17 years after the murders. >> rezin: i did find out some things that i didn't know before, which to me was helpful. >> cerney: i decided to not be the same person that i was. i decided to tell the truth because i know i was wrong. >> pelley: do you have a release date? >> cerney: right now, i'm looking at life in prison for the rest of my life. >> pelley: do you deserve that? >> cerney: yes.

i accepted it, but won't matter where i'm at or what i'm doing, i am going to change my life for the better. >> pelley: he may never leave these walls, but he has been released-- released by the only person who ever held that power. angel wendt was locked in a prison of her own making until an inmate handed her the keys. imagine for me if this program did not exist and you had never met this man. how would you be different today? >> wendt: i can't imagine what life would even be like. and i look at those who still hold onto the situation and are still very bitter and unforgiving. it breaks my heart to think that they are letting this... this situation define who they are. there's so much more to me, and

there's so much more to them. and this program really allowed who i am to come back out. ( ticking ) >> cbs sports presented by progressive insurance, hello everyone at trinity forest golf club where sung kang won the a at&t byron nelson. in playoffs today boston captured the second win decisively against carolina 6-2 in the nba final. western conference portland upset denver in game 7, 196. for 24/7 news and highlights, visit cbs sports hq.com. >> your home and auto" part? r the "bundle -i like that, just not when it comes out of her mouth. -yeah, as a mother, i wouldn't want my kids to see that. -good mom. -to see -- wait. i'm sorry. what? -don't kids see enough violence as it is?

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( ticking ) >> cooper: mark bradford is widely considered one of the most important and influential artists in america today. his abstract canvases, which often deal with complex social and political issues, hang in major museums around the world and on the walls of big collectors and some small ones, like me. bradford's art may look like

paintings, but there's hardly any paint on them. they're made out of layers and layers of paper, which he tears, glues, power-washes and sands in a style all his own. when he began making art in his 30s, bradford couldn't afford expensive paint, so he started experimenting with endpapers, that are used for styling hair. he got the idea while working as a hair stylist in his mom's beauty shop in south los angeles. he was broke, struggling, and didn't sell his first painting until he was nearly 40. i heard a story that when you sold your first artwork in 2001, you called up your mom. do you remember what you said to her? >> bradford: i said, "girl, i think i found a way out of the beauty shop. ( laughs ) girl, i think i found a way out of the beauty shop." yeah. yeah, because i had no idea how i was going to stop being a hair stylist, because that's really the only thing that i knew. i didn't have a problem with being a hair stylist, but it's all i knew. >> cooper: it's incredible to think that 2001 is when you

first sold a work, and now... >> bradford: i still sell works. >> cooper: yeah, you sure do. ( laughs ) >> bradford: i sure do. this is the top. >> cooper: his first painting sold for $5,000. now, they can sell for more than $10 million. this new one was bought by the broad museum in los angeles. they have nine other bradfords in their collection. >> one, two, three. >> cooper: it's called "deep blue." it's 12 feet high, 50 feet long, and took a full day to install. >> that's all right. that is all right. >> cooper: none of those colors you see are paint. it's all paper layered on canvas. it's abstract, but not entirely. see those lines that form a grid? it's a street map of the watts neighborhood in los angeles. the colored balls show where properties were damaged in 1965 after six days of violent civil unrest, protests over police brutality and racial inequality.

we first saw the painting nearly a year ago, when bradford had just started working on it in his studio in south los angeles. he'd already made the map of watts out of bathroom caulking. the following month, when we stopped by again, he'd laid down 14 layers of colored paper and covered it all up with a layer of black. so, there's a map underneath here? >> bradford: yes. >> cooper: of watts? >> bradford: uh-huh. all these little points are what was looted, what was destroyed. so, i kind of start from a map, and then, on top of it, i think i lay art history and my imagination, all three. >> cooper: bradford uses household tools to make his paintings. he likes to buy everything at home depot. >> bradford: my motto was, "if home depot didn't have it, mark bradford didn't use it." and-- >> cooper: ( laughs ) that's-- that's your-- that's your motto? >> bradford: that's my motto. that was my motto. >> cooper: to this day, is that... ? >> bradford: to this-- to this day.

>> cooper: building up the layers of paper on the canvas is just the beginning of his process. he then starts to peel, cut and sand them down, which can take months. it's like an archeological dig. >> bradford: it is like an archeological dig. it's like history. i'm creating my own archaeological or psychol... psychological digs. sometimes, when i'm digging on my own painting, i'm asking myself, "well, exactly what are you digging for? where do you want to go, child?" oh, see, look. look at that. see? now, see, that i like. >> cooper: a lot of people look at a abstract painting and think, "it's squiggles, it's torn paper, i don't understand it." >> bradford: yeah, that's true. but for me, those squiggles and torn paper gives me a space to kind of unpack things, like the watts riots. i'm grappling with how i feel about that subject and that material. i do grapple with things. i grapple with things personally, and, you know, racially, and politically.

what does it mean to be me? >> cooper: mark bradford has been grappling with that question in his art for the last 18 years-- from making paintings out of street posters like those offering predatory loans in low income neighborhoods; to creating works that address h.i.v./aids, racism and the complexity of american history. he's 57 years old now, and, at six-foot-eight, stands out in a crowd. he still lives in south los angeles, where he grew up. when he was eight, he says he began to get bullied by neighborhood kids. >> bradford: that was the first time i felt different. that was the first time i was aware of my sensitivity. that's the first time someone said, "oh, you're... you... you... you're a sissy." i definitely knew that i had to learn to navigate in a more cautious way so that i could survive. i just never had a problem being me. >> cooper: so, even though people, they were calling you sissy, it didn't make you want to try to change yourself? >> bradford: not really, no. not really. i just didn't want to get my ass whooped. >> cooper: he was raised by his

mother, janice banks, who owned her own beauty salon. that's where bradford would head every day after school. >> bradford: i knew that i had to find a way to get across the schoolyard. i knew that my mother was always going to be there once i got across the schoolyard. and maybe, maybe i was in the hair salon every day, watching women get across the schoolyard. ( laughs ) i would hear their stories. i would watch them go through, and i just thought, "if they can do it, i most certainly can do it." >> cooper: mark bradford started working in the salon as a teenager, eventually becoming a hair stylist. it was a safe place, where he could be himself. but that feeling disappeared in 1981 when his friends began dying from aids. >> bradford: i knew a storm was coming. i knew that in the gut. i knew that. and people were just dying. that's what it felt like to me, at 18 years old. i just was thinking, "how are we going to make it through?" >> cooper: did you think you would make it through? >> bradford: no.

no. i didn't think i'd make it through. >> cooper: thinking he didn't have a future, he didn't plan for one. but when he was nearly 30, he took art classes at a junior college, and he says it clicked. >> bradford: it was the reading and learning about different scholars and feminism and deconstructing modernism and all. i just-- oh, man, this is-- i'm really into this. i'm not exactly sure what it is, but i'm-- it just... yeah. >> cooper: and you'd still work at the hair salon? >> bradford: oh, yeah. every day. >> cooper: and so, you'd be studying while at the hair salon? >> bradford: oh, absolutely. they-- i put the book in their lap and said, "girl, read that back to me." >> cooper: he won a scholarship to the california institute of the arts but struggled to make money as an artist. when he was 39, he finally had a breakthrough. >> bradford: i was working on a head. >> cooper: working on a head? >> bradford: working on a head, working on a... >> cooper: at the beauty salon. >> bradford: ....beauty salon, yeah. because i was still working the hair salon, anderson. i told you that. >> cooper: i just didn't know that terminology. >> bradford: i was hooking it up. right, late at night. i was tired as hell, too.

and just endpapers fell on the floor. and i looked down, i thought, "oh, they're translucent. oh. oh, i could use these." >> cooper: endpapers are small, rectangular tissues used to make permanent waves in hair. bradford began burning the papers' edges and lining them up into grids he glued onto bed sheets. >> bradford: i knew i was onto something. i knew this was bridging... this material came from a sight outside of the paint store. i think, early on, i was trying to weave these two sides of who i was together, the art world and the sights that i had come from, the life that i had led. i didn't want to leave any of it beh... i didn't want to edit out anything. >> cooper: private collectors began snapping up his endpaper paintings, and his career took off. ( applause ) he is now a celebrity in the art world. ( applause ) his gallery openings are star- studded events. >> how are you? >> cooper: at the latest one in los angeles, beyonce and jay-z, who own several bradfords,

stopped in. the ten paintings in this exhibition sold out before the gallery doors opened. >> bradford: look how nice this is. wow, it's gorgeous! >> cooper: bradford and his partner of more than 20 years, allan dicastro, are committed to using contemporary art and their own money to revitalize the neighborhood bradford grew up in. in 2014, they opened art + practice with eileen harris norton, the first collector to buy bradford's work. it's a non-profit complex of buildings that includes a gallery, lecture spaces, and his mother's old beauty salon. >> bradford: this is the last hair salon that my mom worked in, and then i took it over from her. it was in the '90s. it was called foxy hair. >> cooper: they turned foxy hair into a center for young adults transitioning out of foster care. >> bradford: i would run down the block in here and buy myself whatever i needed to put back on the hair. >> cooper: but we were surprised to learn that mark bradford still styles hair.

he does it for some of his former clients from the beauty shop who are also among his closest friends. when you look around, does his art make sense to you? >> cleo jackson: i... it does. it's like a map in outer space. ( laughs ) >> danielle wright: no. i mean, i look at it. it's beautiful, but i don't really... >> lynette powell: get it. >> female voices: get it. yeah. >> powell: he gave me something from his studio a long time ago, and i put it in my garage. ( laughs ) >> bradford: she did. >> cooper: wow. >> bradford: and i told her... >> powell: and i put it in my garage. >> bradford: i said, "girl..." >> powell: this is before he got, like... >> bradford: okay. >> powell: ...popular, i guess. and, yeah, and it's... and it's all torn up. and this guy was like, "you know, you have something like a 'mona lisa.'" i'm like, "for real?" ( laughs ) >> bradford: y'all wrong for that. >> powell: i don't see it. i'm... >> cooper: you don't see it? >> powell: i don't. but i like how you give a little insight of, like, what's going on in our community. i know that much about your art. so, that much i really like. >> cooper: bradford's latest work continues to focus on difficult and controversial issues. this painting, which is prominently displayed in the

los angeles county museum of art, is called "150 portrait tone," and was made in response to the 2016 fatal police shooting of philando castile during a traffic stop in minnesota. >> diamond reynolds: he was trying to get out his i.d. in his wallet out his pocket, and he let the officer know. >> cooper: castile's girlfriend, diamond reynolds, live-streamed the incident. bradford was so haunted by her words, he made them into this painting. >> diamond reynolds: "please don't tell me this, lord. please, jesus, don't tell me that he's gone." >> cooper: it's really the conversation that his girlfriend is having. >> bradford: with multiple people, which i was fascinated by. >> cooper: why were you fascinated by it? >> bradford: how composed she was. she was having a conversation with her daughter in the backseat, with philando, who was passing away, with god, with us, facebook, and with the policeman, all simultaneously. it was visual, and textual, and heartbreaking, and heroic, and

strong all at the same time. >> cooper: in another major new work, bradford turned his gaze to the civil war. it's called "pickett's charge," and it's a re-imagining of a pivotal union victory at the battle of gettysburg. it was commissioned by the smithsonian's hirschhorn museum in washington, d.c. bradford used as his starting point blown-up photos of a 19th- century panoramic painting of pickett's charge, a painting which offers a romanticized view of the confederacy. he then added layers of paper and cords over it, then carefully gouged, shredded and ripped it apart. >> bradford: they almost feel like lacerations. >> cooper: uh-huh. >> bradford: almost scarring. >> cooper: uh-huh. >> bradford: that's what those feel like. and a little bit like bullet wounds. like you're really.. >> cooper: uh-huh. yeah. >> bradford: ...punctured. >> cooper: it's a 360-degree painting that raises many questions in bradford's mind, particularly about how we look at history. it's looking at it through a different lens. >> bradford: yes. that's the feeling that i wanted you to have, that history was laying on top of it, that...

that... gouging into it, erasing it, bits of it showing. it's kind of me kind of revising it in a way. >> cooper: so, is this a more accurate representation of history? >> bradford: i don't really believe history's ever fully accurate. >> cooper: it's acknowledging that? >> bradford: it's acknowledging the gaps, the things we don't know. >> cooper: so many people have come to see "pickett's charge," the hirshhorn has extended the exhibition for three more years. bradford is already working on new paintings for shows in china, london, and new york. do you worry about the vagaries of the art world? what is popular today, 20 years from now? >> bradford: oh, no, no, no, no. i wouldn't have. no. i have never. >> cooper: i mean, art has value because people believe it has value. >> bradford: i... no, i think art has value because it has value. i'm not going to wait for somebody else to tell me my work has value. i certainly wasn't going to wait on people to tell me i had value. i'd probably still be waiting. i just... it has value because i

think it has value. and then, if other people get on the value... you know, mark bradford value train, great. ( ticking ) >> the mark bradford piece that hangs in anderson cooper's home and what the correspondents sees in it. go to 60minutesovertime.com. ♪ ) only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol®. tailored recommendations, tax-efficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor

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