what are the stakes between the u.s. and china right now?

there are a few places better than the western pacific onboard the aircraft carrier "uss nimitz" to find out. >> is the u.s. navy ready? >> we are ready, yes. i'll never admit to being ready enough. >> tonight, the commander of the united states pacific fleet talks about the state of the u.s. navy, china's growing fleet and new long-range missile systems, and what our top gun pilots are seeing in the sky. >> how aggressive has china become in the air? >> aggressive. >> is it your hope that the power of the u.s. navy, the force posture of the u.s. navy, will deter a chinese invasion of taiwan? >> it's not my hope. it's my duty. rocco commisso doesn't suffer fools. but like most italian soccer fans, he does suffer.

four years ago he bought the team in florence, where game day is filled with more agony and ecstasy than a puccini opera. when commisso bought fc fiorentina, it ticked two boxes. first, it was a bargain for a european club and second, it met the demand of his wife, that if he was to buy a team it had to be some place nice. >> i'm leslie stahl. >> i'm bill whitaker. >> i'm sharon alfonsi. >> i'm norah o'donnell. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories tonight on "60 minutes." despspite treatmtment it disrurupts my skikin with it. it disisrupts my s skin with r . bubut now, i c can disruptpt ea with rinvovoq. rinvoqoq is not a a steroid, topipical, or ininjection. it's onene pill, oncnce a.

many takining rinvoq saw w clear oror almost-clclear skin while someme saw up toto 100% c clear skin.n. and, they y felt dramamatic and fastst itch relilief some a as early asas 2 days. thatat's rinvoq q relief. rinvoq c can lower y your abiy to fight i infections,s, inclcluding tb.. serious s infectionsns anand blood clclots, some e f, cancers s including g lyma and skinin cancer, death, heart t attack, ststroke, and tearars in the s stomach or intestitines occurrrred. peoplele 50 and ololder with t leasast one hearart diseasee risksk factor hahave higher r r. don'n't take if f allergic to r rinvoq, as s serious reaeactions can ococcur. tell y your doctoror if you ae or m may become e pregnant.. disrupt ththe itch and rarash of eczezema. tatalk to yourur doctor abouout rinvoq.. learn how w abbvie can hehelp you savave. ththe right agage for neutrorogena® r retinol? that's's whenever you wantnt it to be.e. it has d derm-provenen rel that targegets vital cellll turnover,r, evenens skin tonone, and smsmooths s fine linese. withth visible r results in jusust one weekek. neneutrogena®® retinol.. ♪ it's the m most wondererful time of ththe ye ♪

itit's spring!g! non-drdrowsy clariritin-d knocks o out yourur worst allergy sysymptoms includuding nasal l congesti, wiwithout knococking you o . feelel the claririty anand make tododay the most w wonderful time o of the yearar. claritin-d-d. if youou don't stain your r d, it's likike the prevevious or is stitill hangingng aroun. so today l let's stainin, wiwith behr, the #1 r rated stainin. and d make your r deck, you. behr.. exclclusively atat the home e. okay eveveryone, ourur missions compmplete balananced nutriti. together w we provide e nutries to supupport immunune, muscscle, bone,, and heheart healthth. everyoyone: woo hohoo! ensusure with 2525 vitamimins anand mineralsls. enteter the $10,0,000 noururishing momoments giveae. these hahands used t to hold e as a l little girlrl. woululd comfort t me. but now, they've e become aggggressiv. this mouthth used to sing g me lullabibies. now, i it's unrecocognizable. if youour loved onone with alzheimemer's dementntia has becomeme agitated,d, it's n not their f fault.

they c could have e agitation inin alzheimerer's dementit, which h can cause e behavior beyond t their contrtrol. help youour loved onone. learn n more at agitatioioninalz.comom. what's the next chapter? that's the real question. with fidelity income planning, a dedicated advisor can help you grow and protect your wealth, even when you're not working. they'll look at your full financial picture and help you create a flexible strategy designed to balance growth potential and guaranteed income. so you can stop worrying about the future and enjoy the life you've created. that's the planning effect. from fidelity.

the united states navy helped secure victory in two world wars and the cold war. today, the navy remains a formidable fighting force, but even officers within the service have questioned its readiness. while the u.s. spent 20 years fighting land wars in iraq and afghanistan, the pentagon watched china, its greatest geo-political rival of the 21st century, build the largest navy in the world. china has threatened to use that navy to invade taiwan, an important american ally. as tensions with china continue to rise, we wanted to know more about the current state of the u.s. navy, how it's trying to deter china and, as we first reported in march, preparing for

the possibility of war. >> the navy's always on alert. one-third of the navy is always deployed and operating at all times. the navy's mustering right now about 300 ships, and there are about 100 ships at sea right now all around the globe. >> admiral samuel paparo commands the u.s. pacific fleet, whose 200 ships and 150,000 sailors and civilians make up 60% of the entire u.s. navy. we met him in february on the aircraft carrier "uss nimitz," deployed near the u.s. territory of guam southeast of taiwan and the people's republic of china, or prc. >> you've been operating as a naval officer for 40 years. how has operating in the western pacific changed? >> in the early 2000s, the prc navy mustered about 37 vessels. today they're mustering 350 vessels. >> in march, china's new foreign

minister, qin gang delivered a stern warning to the u.s. he said that if washington does not change course in its stance towards china, conflict and confrontation is inevitable. this past august, when then speaker of the house nancy pelosi became the most senior u.s. political figure to visit taiwan in 25 years, china called it a blatant provocation. the people's liberation army fired ballistic missiles into the sea around taiwan and encircled the island with aircraft and war ships. >> are chinese war ships now operating closer to taiwan after nancy pelosi's visit? >> yes. >> the best guess anyone has about china's ultimate intentions for taiwan comes from the cia. according to its intelligence assessment, china's president, xi jin-ping, has ordered the people's liberation army to be prepared to take back the island

by force by 2027. >> if china invades taiwan, what will the u.s. navy do? >> it's the decision of the president of the united states and the decision of the congress. it's our duty to be ready for that, but the bulk of the united states navy will be deployed rapidly to the western pacific to come to the aid of taiwan if the order comes to aid taiwan in thwarting that invasion. >> is the u.s. navy ready? >> we are ready, yes. i'll never admit to being ready enough. >> president biden has declared four times, including on "60 minutes," that the u.s. military would defend taiwan, which is a democracy and the world's leading producer of advanced microchips. >> 604. >> to reach the "uss nimitz," we first traveled to america's westernmost territory, the island of guam in the middle of the pacific. guam was taken by imperial japan two days after the attack on pearl harbor in 1941.

u.s. marines recaptured it two and a half years later, and the island, about the size of chicago, became an indispensable strategic foothold in the western pacific, as it remains today. from guam we boarded the navy c-2 greyhound. a transport plane takes people and supplies back and forth from land to the carrier. >> it was a short flight to the ship and an even shorter landing. >> incredible. >> first time landing? >> yes. >> very nice. >> before admiral paparo rose to lead the pacific fleet, he flew jets and graduated from the school known as top gun. > when you talk about ships, what's the most powerful in the u.s. navy? >> it's an aircraft carrier, and its air wing is capable of 150

strike, or air-to-air sorties, per day with added surge levels, the ability to deliver 900 precision-guided munitions every day and re-loadable every night. >> even though china now has the largest navy in the world, they don't have anything like this in terms of aircraft carriers? >> they do not, but they're working towards it. and they have two operational aircraft carriers right now. >> that's china's two diesel-fueled carriers to the u.s.'s 11 nuclear powered ones that can carry a total of about a thousand attack aircraft, more than the navies of every other nation on earth combined. >> i'll tell you this, we are here to stay, right, in the south china sea and in this part of the world. and that's the message we really want to convey to not only china, but the entire world. we will sail wherever international law allows. >> lieutenant commander david ash flies an fa-18. >> do you get briefed on china's

growing military threat and the progress that their navy is making? >> absolutely, yeah. absolutely, we do. and they're making great progress in a lot of key areas. >> the chinese? >> the chinese are, from the military standpoint. >> this video from weapons systems officer lieutenant commander matthew carlton shows his fa-18 ground targets with a machine gun on a u.s. weapons range near guam. >> the pilots on the nimitz also conduct air-to-air combat, or dogfighting drills, daily. >> how aggressive has china become in the air? >> aggressive. and just some examples include unsafe, unprofessional intercepts, where they move within single digits of feet of other aircraft, flashing the weapons they have on board to the air crew of the aircraft, operating in international

airspace, maneuvering their aircraft in such a way that denies the ability to turn in one direction. if they're safe and professional then there's no problem. everybody has the right to fly and sail wherever international law dictates. >> but the chinese are pushing that. >> they are pushing it. >> china's increasingly aggressive moves in the western pacific, encroaching on territory, illegal fishing, and building bases in the middle of the south china sea have pushed nations like japan and the philippines to forge closer military ties to the u.s. and earlier this year britain, the u.s., and australia signed a landmark deal to jointly develop nuclear-powered attack submarines to patrol the pacific. >> this is how china and taiwan appear on most maps. this is how the chinese communist party sees the western pacific, including the south and east china seas from beijing. taiwan is the fulcrum in what china's leaders call the first

island chain, a constellation of u.s. allies that stretches across its entire coast. control of taiwan is the strategic key to unlocking direct access to the pacific and the sea lanes where about 50% of the world's commerce gets transported. >> china has accused the united states of trying to contain them. what do you say to china? >> i would say, do you need to be contained? are you expanding? are you an expansionist power? to a very great extent, the united states was the champion for china's rise. and in no way are we seeking to contain china, but we are seeking for them to play by the rules. >> china's navy, a branch of the people's liberation army, is now the world's largest.

china is also using its 9,000-mile coastline to re-write the rules of fighting at sea, as these images from chinese state media show. its military has invested heavily in long-range, precision-guided weapons like the df-21 and df-26 that can be used to target ships. >> china's people's liberation army rocket force calls them carrier killers and has practiced shooting them at mock-ups of american ships in the desert that look a lot like the nimitz. >> since the united states has been operating in the western pacific, china's backyard, they've been developing missiles to attack our assets, haven't they? specific missiles. >> absolutely, yes. >> first, i'll say, the united states is also a western pacific nation. >> guam. >> so, it's not china's backyard. it's, you know -- it is a free and open indo-pacific that

encompasses numerous partners and treaty allies. and yes, we have seen them greatly enhance their power projection capability. >> how much do you worry the pla rocket force? >> i worry about the l.a. rocket force and of course i work every single day to have the procedures to counter it and to continue to develop the systems that can also defend from that. >> how far are we from china? >> 1,500 nautical miles. >> they can hit us. >> yes, they can. if they've got the targeting in place, they can hit this aircraft carrier. if i don't want to be hit, there's something i can do about it. >> u.s. navy planners aren't just plotting how to evade china's rocket force but also how they can effectively fight back. from the vicinity of guam, none of the aircraft on this ship has the range to approach taiwan without refueling in the air.

ships, like the u.s. destroyer wayne e. meyer, part of the nimitz strike group, would need to sail much closer towards china to fire their missiles at any force invading taiwan. one naval scholar we spoke to likened it to a boxing match in which a fighter, in this case, china, has much longer arms than their potential opponent, the u.s. >> i'll give you a lot of examples where a shorter fighter was able to prevail over a long armed fighter by being on their toes, by maneuvering. and we can also stick and move while we're developing those longer-range weapons. >> there is another area of modern naval warfare where the u.s. had a head start and retains a deep advantage over china. >> i just noticed out of the corner of my eye. >> this is a 688 class, a los

angeles class, attack submarine. this is the most capable submarine on the planet and with the exception of the virginia class, our newer class of submarines. >> the exact number is classified, but our best estimate is there are about a dozen fast-attack submarines patrolling the pacific in real time. they are difficult to detect, something china is trying to solve. >> how much more advanced is u.s. submarine technology than chinese capability? >> a generation. >> a generation. >> and by a generation, think ten or 20 years, but broadly, i don't really talk in-depth about submarine capabilities. it's the silent service. >> since nancy pelosi's visit to taiwan, china's military leaders have themselves been mostly silent and ignored efforts by the u.s. military to keep the lines of communication open, even when a chinese spy balloon reached american airspace and was shot down by the u.s. >> if the u.s. and chinese militaries can't communicate over a chinese spy balloon, then what's going to happen when

there's a real crisis in the south china sea or with taiwan? >> we'll hope that they'll answer the phone. else, we'll do our very best assessment based on the things that they say in open source, based on their behavior to divine their intentions, and we'll act accordingly. >> doesn't that make the situation even more dangerous if u.s. and chinese militaries are not talking? >> yes. >> several sources within the pentagon tells "60 minutes" that if china invaded taiwan, it could very well kick off in outer space, with both sides targeting the outer satellites that enable precision-guided weaponry. cyber attacks on american cities and the sabotage of ports on the west coast of the u.s. mainland could follow. one recent non-classified war

game had the u.s. prevailing but losing 20 ships, including two carriers. does that sound about right? >> that is a plausible outcome. i can imagine a more pessimistic outcome, and i can imagine a more optimistic outcome. we should be clear-eyed about the costs that we're potentially incurring. >> there are about 5,000 americans onboard the nimitz. the ship is nearly half a century old. given the navy's current need in the pacific and because there's fuel left in its nuclear reactors, the carrier's life at sea is going to be extended. >> is it your hope that the power of the u.s. navy, the forced posture of the u.s. navy, will deter a chinese invasion of taiwan? >> it's not my hope. it's my duty in conjunction with allies and partners to deliver intolerable costs to anybody that would upend the order in violation of the nation's security or in violation of the nation's interests.

the saying which is [ speaking in a global language ] which is, if you want peace, prepare for war. >> since our story first aired in march, china has intensified its aggressive military tactics in the western pacific. in june, a chinese warship nearly collided with a u.s. destroyer in the taiwan strait. when we return, critical questions about the state of the u.s. navy and its readiness. my late father-in-law lit up a room, but his vivision didimmed with h age. he had a amd. i didn't k know it thehen, but it canan progress s t, an advanceced form of the disisease. his s struggle w with vision l loss from a amd made me e want to hehelp you see warnining signs ofof ga. likeke straight t lines that seseem wavy, b blurry, or misissing visuaual spots tt make it hahard to see e fs like this s one, oror trouble w with low lilit that makakes drivingng at nt a a real challllenge.

if youou've been d diagnosed wh amd and d notice visision cha, don'n't wait. ga is s irreversibible. it's impoportant to c catch it eae. talk t to your eyeye doctor abouout ga and learn n more at gawowontwait.comom [shaking]] ♪♪ ♪watch meme do my thihing♪ ♪i sasaid watch m me do my shake shshake♪ ♪wowooo... watch me do o my shakake shake♪ ♪ hey, i it's me...y.your skin. some cleanansers get u us clen - but takeke my moistuture. cecerave cleanansers help pe mainintain my momoisture balae with hyaluluronic acidid, plusus 3 essentitial ceramids to help rerestore my naturalal barrier.. so we'e're cerave e clean. ceraveve hydratingng cleanse.

"60 minutes" spent months talking to current and former naval officers, military strategists and politicians about the state of the u.s. navy. one common thread in our reporting is unease, both about the size of the u.s. fleet and its readiness to fight. the navy ships are being retired

faster than they're getting replaced. while the navy of the people's republic of china, or prc, grows larger and more lethal by the year. we first asked the commander of the u.s. pacific fleet admiral samuel paparo about this on our visit earlier this year to the "uss nimitz," the oldest aircraft carrier in the navy. >> we call it the decade of concern. we've seen a tenfold increase in the size of the prc navy. >> technically speaking, the chinese now have the largest navy in the world in terms of number of ships, correct? >> yes. >> do the numbers matter? >> yes. as the saying goes, quantity has a quality all its own. >> at some point, are they going to reach numbers that we can't prevail over? >> i'm not comfortable with the trajectory. >> if you look at a map of the indo-pacific, one thing becomes

clear. there's a lot of water on that map so ours has to be a maritime strategy. >> republican mike gallagher and democrat elaine luria serve together on the house armed services committee in the last congress. >> what is it about the u.s. navy that has allowed you to share common cause? >> i think we see the urgency of the moment. we see increased threats from china in particular in the indo-pacific. we feel we're not moving fast enough to build a bigger navy. >> congressman gallagher is a marine veteran who represents green bay, wisconsin. he chairs the new house committee on china. he's concerned that under the navy's current plan, the fleet will shrink to about 280 ships by 2027, the same year the cia says china has set for having the capability to take taiwan by force. >> so, we will be weakest when our enemy is potentially strongest. >> china's increased rhetoric and potential aggression against

taiwan, we have to be ready to respond today with the forces we have today. >> former congresswoman elaine luria represented virginia beach until this past january. an annapolis graduate, luria had a 20-year naval career before being elected to congress. >> what would you say the state of the u.s. navy is today? >> i think the navy has not received the attention and resources that it needs on decades. i served on six ships. every single one of those ships was built during or a product of the fleet that was built during the cold war. >> both mike gallagher and elaine luria have lobbied for government money for the shipyards in or near their districts, but they say this is national security. >> if we don't get this right, all of these other things we're doing in congress ultimately might not matter. >> if you consider what a coherent grand power china might be and the navy would be the most important component of your high-power investments. >> over the last two decades,

the navy spent $55 billion on two investments that did not pan out. the first was a class of destroyers known as the zoom walt. the futuristic fighting ships were supposed to revolutionize naval warfare. 32 were ordedered, but o only t were e ever launchched. the cost of each ship by one estimate was upwards of $8 billion, making them the three most expensive destroyers ever put to sea. another example is the litoro combat ship, or lcs, designed an all-purpose war ship for shallow waters. $30 billion later the program ran aground after structural defects and engine trouble. within the navy, the lcs earned the unfortunate nickname little crappy ship. >> the navy's last few decades have been described as a lost generation of shipbuilding. is that overly dramatic? >> i don't think so.

we're still struggling to build ships on time, on budget, and that's something we absolutely need to fix going forward. >> this past march we spoke with admiral mike gilday at the pentagon. he is the chief of naval operations and is responsible for building, maintaining, and equipping the entire u.s. navy. >> is the navy in crisis? >> no. the navy is not in crisis. the navy is out on point every single day. >> is it being outpaced by china? >> no. our navy is still in a position to prevail, but that's not blind confidence. we are concerned with the trajectory that china is on with china's behavior, but we are in a good position right now if we did ever get into a fight against them. >> how would you describe what china has been able to do militarily over the last 20 years? >> the most alarming thing is the growth of not only their conventional forces, but also

the strategic nuclear forces, their cyber capability, their space capabilities, and how they're using that to force other nations, navies out of certain areas in the south china sea. instead of recognizing international law, they want to control here those goods flow and how. >> what lessons did the u.s. navy learn from some of the shipbuilding mistakes of the last 20 years? >> i think one of the things that we learned was that we need to have the design well in place before we begin bending metal. and so we're going back to the past to what we did in the '80s and the '90s. the navy has the lead. >> there is a tendency among the great powers to look at each others' naval buildups with deep suspicion. >> toshi yoshihara of the center for strategic of budgetary assessments may know more than any scholar in the west about china's navy. >> china will have about 440 ships by 2030, and that's according to the pentagon. >> why is china able to build

more warships more quickly than the u.s.? >> china has clearly invested in this defense industrial infrastructure to produce these ships, which allows them to produce multiple ships simultaneously, essentially outbuilding many of the western navies combined. >> china's navy piggybacks on a booming commercial shipbuilding industry kept a float by generous state subsidy, inexpensive materials, and cheap labor. in the united states, it's a different story. after the cold war ended, the shipbuilding industry consolidated, and many of the yards where ships were both built and maintained closed down. >> what do you see when you see china's shipbuilding program? >> it's very robust. >> do we have enough shipyards? >> no. i wish we had more commercial shipyards. and we're now to seven that we rely upon on a day to day to build ships.

>> one of those yards is run by huntington ingal's industries, which built the state of the art aircraft carrier. after a controlled explosions in 2021 to prove it could withstand combat, the ford got closer to deployment, six years late and billions of dollars over budget. the navy's not just struggling to build new ships on time. according to the government accountability office, or gao, there's a multi-year backlog repairing the ships in the fleet. >> our maintenance backlog is one of the primary things that i'm working on to correct. so just three years ago we had 7,700 delay days, that is extra days in a shipyard by ships when they weren't operational. we have cut that down to 3,000. we are not satisfied. >> maintenance delays mean sailors can't come home because the ship that's supposed to replace them is not ready.

it means longer deployments. it means away from your family more. that's a big strain on the workforce. >> the more ships that we can have available to send at sea alleviates many of those problems that you pointed out. sailors join the navy to see the world. and so it's my job to make sure those maintenance delay goes to zero and we can get those ships to sea as quickly as possible. >> in the last year alone, at least ten sailors assigned to ships undergoing maintenance or working at maintenance facilities have died by suicide. >> it is a problem that we're taking very, very seriously. and down to every leader in our navy, everybody has a responsibility to look out for each other, take care of each other. there is no wrong door to knock on when you need help. >> admiriral gilday y says the navy's's main advavantage overea is ameririca's sailolors. his goal is to modernize the u.s. fleet and have those sailors serving alongside

hundreds of unmanned vessels by 2045. >> i think unmanned is the future, and so i think that some 40% of our fleet in the future, i believe, is going to be unmanned. >> are these, like, underwater drones? >> some of them are. highly capable, capable of delivering mines and perhaps other types of weapons. >> admiral gilday is talking about the orca, an extra large, unmanned undersea vehicle. >> can you say what it will do, or is that classified? >> at a minimum, it will have a clandestine lane ability. so, it will be done in a way that's secretive, but very effective. >> the gao reports that it's already a quarter of a billion over budget and three years behind schedule. that particular platform is behind schedule. it's the first of a kind when it delivers ica, very high return on investment from that

particular platform. >> because? >> because it is the most lethal and stealthy platforms in the arsenal of the u.s. military. >> the navy's total budget request for fiscal year 2024 is over a quarter of a trillion dollars, an $11 billion increase from last year. the focus is on china. >> the u.s. defense posture is viewed as aggressive by the chinese. the foreign minister just said, look, stop the containment. this may lead to conflict. >> perhaps the chinese minister doesn't like the fact that the u.s. navy is operating in collaboration with dozens of navies around the world to ensure that the maritime commons remains free and open for all nations. the chinese want to dictate those terms, and so they don't like our presence, but our presence is not intended to be provocative. it's intended to assure and to reassure allies and partners around the world that those sea lanes do remain open. the global economy literally floats on seawater.

here from detroit, where there was a thrilling conclusion to the rocket mortgage classic. rickie fowler prevailing in a playoff on the first playoff hole over adam hadwin and collin morikawa. for fowler, it's his sixth career win and first since 2019. for 2424/7 news anand higighlig visit cbcbssportshq.q.com. whatat is this p place? the e other sidede of the reres. bundleles as far as t the eye canan see. if y you're lookoking for a fifirst mate, , i know a g. me. . i'm the guguy. is t this oak? [ snsniffs ] four typypes of jerkrky. this is where e i live nowo. you could save a a ton with progressive by bundling your boat or r rv withth your homeme and auto.

hey, guys!s! free bagsg! theyey're just g giving themem! narratoror: the man n with ththe troublesesome hemorrrrd enteters the roooom. phphil: exexcuse me? hihillary: ththat wasn't t me. narratator: said h hillary, whs ononly taken 3 347 steps t to. hillary: i cycleded here. nanarrator: spspeaking of f cy, mary's p period isis due to ststart in thrhree. mary: hohow do they y know soso much abouout us? narrator:: your a all sharingng health da withthout realizizing it. that's howow i know about kekevin's rashsh. who's nextxt? wawait... whatat's that inin r hand? nono, no, stopop! ohoh you're nono fun. [locock clicks s shut]

i i suffer witith psoriatitc arthriritis and pspsoriasis. i was s on a journrney for r a really l long time to find sosome relief.f. cocosentyx wororks for me.. cocosentyx helelps real people g get real rerelief f from the sysymptoms of f psoc arthrititis or psoririasis. seserious allelergic reactcts and anan increaseded risk of infecections or l lowered ability toto fight them mayay occur. tell your r doctor if f you he an infnfection or r symptoms, had a vaccccine or plalan to or if ibibd symptomsms devevelop or wororsen. i momove so muchch better because e of cosentytyx. ask yourur rheumatolologist about cosesentyx.

♪ cycyberattacksks on pupublic infrastructuree threreaten the i institutions we allll rely on.. majojor enterpririses araround the w world, healththcare compapanies, energy comompanies, smalall businesssses, gogovernments.s. -whehen these ororganizations run n on google e cloud, they'r're defendeded by the se ai-p-powered sececurity thatat protects s all of gooo. - - a 24 hour,r, 7-day-a-w-weeke against whwhatever it t is thatat we're facacing. -there arere a lot off peoplele on the ininternet ththat are tryrying toto do bad ththings.

it's our j job to stopop the. ♪ welclcome friendnds, to t the middle e of everytht! friends s that bike e togethe. hike t together! with goats. can't wawait to seee what t tomorrow brbrings, hehere in the e middle off everytything! >> tonight, we're going to tell you one of those only in america stories, but this one begins and ends on the other side of the atlantic. rocco commisso was 12 years old when his family moved to the united states from southern italy. with the hustle he learned on the streets of the bronx and exceptional timing, commisso built a cable tv empire and a net worth of $8 billion.

so, what did he do with his made in the usa fortune? rocco commisso returned to the land of his birth. and as we reported in march, he bought a pro soccer team. >> you've described yourself as a hustler. what does that mean? >> well, always in the good sense of a hustler because it could have a terrible sense, right? a hustler will never -- you know, try to find a way to achieve a certain objection. hustle, hustle. don't give up. don't take no for an answer. >> i've heard that you have no tolerance for people you call spinners. >> right. >> what's a spinner? >> a spinner is a [ bleep ] artist. i know plenty of those guys. i have a pretty good idea who the hell i'm dealing with. >> did you learn that in the bronx? >> no, my mother gave it to me when i was born. [ laughter ] >> rocco commisso doesn't suffer fools. [ crowd chanting ]

>> but like most italian soccer fans -- >> oh! >> -- he does suffer. four years ago, he bought the team in florence, where game day is filled with more agony and ecstasy than a puccini opera. [ cheers and applause ] >> we watched as the city's die hard fans called tifosi endured a collective 90-minute long breakdown. >> i don't speak italian, but i think i know what they're saying. >> commisso, who is 73, knows the tifosi, follow his reactions. so, he tries to keep a poker face as he chews wads of nicotine gum. >> how many of these do you go through a game? >> 15, 20. >> 15, 20. depends on the game, right? >> right.

>> when commisso bought fiorentina, it ticked two boxes. first, the $170 million price was a bargain for a european club. second, it met the demand by his wife that if he insisted on buying a team, it had to be some place nice. >> when i landed in florence outside the airport, there were a mass of people there. and the first words that i used [ speaking in a global language ] you don't have to call me mister, just call me rocco and today they call me rocco. >> fiorentina, nicknamed la viola, or the purple, has not won a championship since 1969. the tifosi got sick of waiting and ran the previous owner out of time. >> the tifo, the fans, first, they're everything, but they could be nasty if you don't win. >> the highs are high and the

lows are low, it seems like. >> right. but they can't kick rocco out of here. they think they're going to criticize me and kick me out, that can't happen. rocco's a little different. >> how is that different? >> first, there's not been anybody here that put in money that i did in a period of time. and i go back to the medici from 500 years ago. if i lose 100 million i'm not going to wash dishes again. so, watch out what you do because you don't know what will come up next. >> rocco commisso's journey to the owner's box began here by the subway in the bronx. his father, a carpenter, and his older brother came to the u.s. in the '50s to escape poverty. a few years later, they sent for rocco, his mother, and two sisters. >> when we came here in '63, my

brother bought the house, god bless him, and this was like a luxury to us. and we lived upstairs on the second floor. >> commisso's english was terrible, but he played a mean accordion. so, at age 13 he cut his first deal. rocco agreed to perform for free at a bronx theater if the manager helped get him into the catholic all-boys high school, mt. saint michael academy. it is still a launching pad for young men from immigrant families. >> even though i had not taken the test to get in, i asked the manager to please send a recommendation letter. >> did you have to play the accordion. >> just on your accordion skills alone you were given entrance? >> i got lucky, or hustled, whichever way you want to call it. >> he kept hustling. every day before and after school he worked at his family's luncheonette near the subway station to his high school tuition.

>> i used to get paid $1 an hour and i paid the four years of mt. saint michael schooling. now, it didn't cost a lot of money then, but it was still something. >> commisso wanted to be an engineer, but a there are an hour wasn't going to pay for college and he hunted down sport he always loved, soccer. never mind that his high school didn't have a team and he hadn't played much since coming to america. >> somehow you end up with a soccer scholarship to columbia. how does that happen? >> hustle. i needed money to go to school, so i asked the gym teacher to go and call the nyu coach. the nyu coach put me in the american czechoslovakia team and the german american league and sees me play six games and said

yeah, i like the kid and let me help him get into nyu, which he did. and they gave me a 60% scholarship, but that was not enough. and i told the gym teacher call the coach at columbia now. in the space of three to four weeks they gave me admissions to columbia and a full scholarship. >> had they seen you play? >> no. i aske that question after they admitted me. but let me ask you, you give me all this money and you don't see me play? if you're good enough for nyu, you're good enough for columbia. >> commisso became team captain and led columbia to its first ncaa tournament and after the mba he made his way to wall street. at night, though, he was helping his brother run a disco. rival clubs played the bee gees, but not commisso. he chose to play pop music from italy. >> i was really into italian music and came up with this idea by specializing in something as opposed to being just like everybody else, we could do

well. and nobody could touch us in terms of the competition because nobody had it. >> commisso became an executive in the cable tv industry just as it exploded. then in 1995, he decided it was time to start a business he named mediacom. like the disco, he designed a plan to seize an opportunity others had missed. >> it was an eight-page paper that talked about what i foresee in terms of the cable business. >> what did you foresee? >> what i foresaw is the fact that sooner or later we will get deregulated, and there is a great opportunity to do well in the smaller markets of the u.s., the rural markets, largely because nobody wanted them. >> rocco commisso believed those small markets hid buried treasure, 600,000 miles of cable used to carry computer data through places such as the corn belt and the deep south. he risked his life savings to buy up the small systems. again, timing and luck were on his side.

today, mediacom provides broadband in 22 states, and rocco commisso's net worth is $8 billion. it's a private company. catherine commisso, rocco's wife of 47 years works there. so does his sister, italia, and his son joe on the left. upstate there's a bocce court, inside espresso flows. commisso told us he had a streak of 25 years of profits and has never laid off workers. >> i have heard so many people say it's not personal, it's business. >> that's crap. you know, i think the personal, frankly, has a lot to do with why companies fail or succeed unfortunately or fortunately, there's no one like me in our business. and i'm talking about the media, newspapers. but i hate to destroy people's

lives because i have to go in and make an extra million dollars. >> commisso made a point to us that he does not own a yacht, a mansion on the beach or a private jet. of course, we had to point out he did buy an italian soccer team. >> when i came here i used three things. fast, fast, fast and it would be okay, and within my means. and control, control, control. i control or no money from rocco. that's the way it works. >> what's harder? running a company like mediacom or running a soccer team? >> this is significantly more difficult. i get more criticism here than in 1,500 communities in the u.s. >> forza grande fiorentina. >> the owner is under relentless scrutiny by fiorentina fans who demand he shell out whatever it takes to bring in stars and end the championship drought. then there's been times when he's lost it with the unforgiving italian press.

[ speaking non-english ] >> have you ever thought what have i done? what did i get myself into? >> no. >> it's a lot of aggravation. >> that's not me, no. i made the decision and i'll stick with the decision. >> true to rocco's way, he's playing the long game by spending $100 million on this. it's called viola park. the commissos showed us around what will be one of the largest soccer facilities in europe for developing young male and female players. but this is italy. >> you see that opening there where you have the two "vs" right in the middle? yes. >> we had to break the building apart because there was a roman wall there, blocks. >> stop it. you hit a roman wall? >> yeah, we had to uncover it, cover it up, and we could not

build over the roman wall. >> rocco commisso still seems to love this business. he's become one of the most famous americans in italy. and adores his players. some who look like michelangelo himself may have carved them out of marble. >> my job is to hug them, kiss them and put my arms around them and hope they do better the next time. >> they get the message indirectly, you know, that things got to change here. >> how do they get the message? >> you know, they get the message. never mind. [ laughter ] >> and if you're wondering if commisso still plays a mean accordion, here's your answer. ♪ >> our visit to florence ended with dinner and a serenade by the billionaire from the bronx. ♪ >> do you think if you had stayed in italy you'd have been able to achieve the success that

you have today? >> no, no way. this is truly the land of opportunity. it gave this poor soul, okay -- yeah, the opportunity to become something, somebody. and that's the beauty about america. >> you still believe in the american dream? >> absolutely, yeah. it's the last hope in the world. my mom provided me a phenomenal education. >> rocco commisso has given millions to his alma maters and has contributed to scholarships to 3,000 children across the u.s., including many first-generation immigrants like him. >> i just want to be known as the guy that nothing, success never changed him. >> just rocco. >> just rocco. >> more on tonight's stories including -- >> how similar is the movie to actual top gun?

>> top gun graduates compare the movie toto the real thing at 60miminutesovertrtime.com. wayfair's got justst what youou need... performamance fabricics, staiains don't stand a a chan. no chance!e! -woo!! dodog friendlyly and wallet fririendly... pug-g-proved. get nicece things wiwith nice p prices at w wayfair. ♪ wayfair, , you've gotot justst what i neneed ♪ ♪ ain''t nothinin' gonnana break k my stride.e. ♪ ♪ n nobody's s gonna slslow me downwn. ♪ ♪ oh h no, i got t to keepep on movingng. ♪ ♪ ain't nothin'' gonna break mymy stride. ♪ whwherever youou are. be thehere with ststarbucks ready toto drink cofoffee. ♪ it's the m most wondererful time of ththe ye ♪ whwitit's spring!g!e. non-drdrowsy clariritin knocks outut symptomss from ovever 200 allelergens without knknocking youou ou. feel thehe clarity and mamake today ththe most wononderful time of f the year..

lilive clarititin clear. i want my y daughter r riley to know w about her r ancs and hohow importanant it is to k know who yoyou are and d to know wherere you cameme from. we'r're discoverering togethth. it's been n an amazingng . withth moderate e to severe plaque psosoriasis, my skin n was no lononger mi. my actctive psoriaiatic arthris jojoint symptotoms held meme . don'n't let sympmptoms definin. emergege as you. with t tremfya®,, most peoeople saw 9090% clearr skinin at 4 montnths... ...and t the majoritity ststayed cleararer, at 5 y ye. trtremfya® i is proven t to sisignificantltly reduce joinint pain, ststiffness and swswelling it's j just 6 doseses a year, after r 2 starter r doses. seririous allergrgic rereactions mamay occur. tremfyaa® may incncrease your risisk of infecections and lower r your abilility to f fight them.m. tetell your dodoctor if yoyoue an infecection or sysymptoms or if you u had a a vaccine oror plan to.. emererge as you.u. emergege tremfyantnt®. ask you u doctor a about tremf.

i'm sharon alfonsi. we'll be back next week with another edition of "60 minutes." imaginine you're d doing sosomething yoyou love. rsv v could cut t it short.. ♪ rsv is a a contagiouous virus t usuaually causeses mild sympms but can cacause more severe i infectionss thatat may lead d to hospspitalizatioions... ...in adulults 60 and d older. ...a.and adults s with certan undederlying cononditions, likeke copd, aststhma, oror congestivive heart fafai. talk to yoyour doctor r and vit cutshortrtrsv.com. ancestry's's helped meme y undederstand my y family's immigratioion experienence

and whatat life mustst have been l like for ththem. and as i p pass it onn to my y daughter,, it's an n important t part of undererstanding w who we. they'll l be here inin 5, wewe ready? - - there's uhuh... - - oh. leftft. left. i don'n't have it.t. i don't t have it. - kekeep going.. - we s should've u used behr. yeah.. totoday let's paint. right now,w, get ameririca's most truststed paint b brand at a new l low price startiting at $28.98. behr. only at the home depot.

>> i'm a very curious person. i wake up every morning asking what's happening in the world, and how do we answer that question? why did you want to share this story? >> water up this high. >> where are these coming from? >> that's the million dollar question. >> how are you doing? >> hanging in there. >> i believe in the power of story telling to change lives. >> you'll have to tell him hen he gets older, when you were two ---- >> y you were onon the news.s. phil keoghan: these are the fittest, -(grunts) -strongest, most skilled workers to ever compete for the tough as nails title. -pay attention! -i got it. twelve seasoned professionals, fueled by pride and honor,