on our website. just log on to dateline.msnbc.com. that's all for now. i'm chris hanson. for all of us at nbc news, thanks for joining us. it was -- boom, boom, boom, boom. >> putting video and audio in a living and breathing drug house and handing the keys over to the gang when you wanted to turn them over, that had never been done before. >> look, big shots. i got 30 shots. >> it's 24 hours a day. and you actually see 24 hours a day of what these people are doing and how they live and how they operate their business in amongst their personal lives. >> he's gonna swallow all this. >> i asked my husband at least four or five times, "what did he

say? did he say 42 years? did he say 42 years?" >> bup, bup, bup, bup. [ gunshots ] between about 2001 up through 2005, there was a growing presence of hardened chicago gang members that were coming out to rockford and taking over the drug business.

word began to spread about this guy named duck and members of the titanic stones. >> we kept hearing this name, duck. that he was from chicago. that he was putting out a lot of dope here in rockford. he was just a young guy, but he had a real reputation. people were afraid of him, just a little guy. the talk in the street informant information was that this group run by duck, titanic stones, were trying to take over the drug trade in rockford. and they were moving real strong. >> when they arrived here in rockford, there was definitely a power struggle. chicago versus rockford. we'd have our robberies, our shootings. there had been murders here. >> every so often, somebody comes into power. it's just like anything else in life, you know. any business or any -- you know, something always rises to the top. >> it was an epidemic.

it's basically what it was. >> they were shooting a lot of people. >> random gunfire was taking place, a lot of it directed to housing developments in the city. we were having multiple shots fired during these shootings. there was one particular incident that took place on underwood street on a saturday afternoon. >> there was a running gun battle in the middle of the street. there were 60 rounds exchanged. there were 60 casings in the street. and it was a miracle that nobody was killed. i mean, there were children out playing. the rounds were flying. and everything went back to duck. >> now we're coming up on central. we're still on the west side of town here in rockford. we're going to go by the auburn street mcdonald's where julio allen, a member of an opposite gang here in rockford, was confronted by davis bradford dodson. >> bradford dodson, who had the nickname of hustler, played the

roll of enforcer. at duck's orders, at the mcdonald's restaurant at auburn and central, tried to carry out a hit in retaliation for a home invasion at one of the gang's drug houses. they found out julio allen was there. davis gave the order, and bradford dodson fired several rounds through a plate glass window. >> when you've got someone firing rounds inside a mcdonald's like that, that's unacceptable. that's when i said, "i want this duck. this guy has got to go down." we initiated a federal case. did an awful lot of surveillance, following people, watching people talking to informants. we started to see the pattern. the way they were selling the narcotics was the same. >> he was using different locations in the city, renting houses. normally he would have a lady rent the house in her name. nobody would live there. they would just use it strictly to sell drugs.

>> the rockford police department had executed search warrants at many of these houses and only gotten small quantities of crack cocaine or heroin. almost always heroin. and he was never there. he wasn't the one selling it. we were lucky enough to have a confidential informant who was providing us with a wealth of information. and told us that she had been approached and asked if she would be interested in renting a house on behalf of duck and the titanic stones. i was selling crack. i was selling dime bags, $20s, 8-balls. i mean, i was good at it. i'm not gonna sit there and say i wasn't good at it. i just slipped up one time 'cause i was drunk. i was messed up and forgot to take it out and went to jail, and they found it in the jailhouse. duck looks like the coolest person.

i'm talking about, like, the coolest person, he's the scariest person. if you get to know him and see how he really is, he's the most dangerous man, period, i've ever seen in my life. because he's really dangerous. he had more power than scar face. that man was big, big. they would have killed me if they had found out. they would kill me. it's a chance i had to take. clear, huh? my nutritional standards are high. i'm not juice or fancy water, i'm different. i've got nine grams of protein. twist my lid. that's three times more than me! twenty-one vitamins and minerals and zero fat! hmmm. you'll bring a lot to the party. [ all ] yay! [ female announcer ] new ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. twenty-one vitamins and minerals. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. refreshing nutrition in charge! that make kids happy.

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♪ summer's coming on now. >> yeah. going to get hot, going to get busy. >> don't have any time off because i have to bail all that hay. >> still have to protect the street too. >> beginning of the case, i was working in the narcotics unit and my brother was in the gang unit.

we were working both angles of it. barry came to me one day and said, i've got an idea. do you think this will work? he told me he had an informant and the house would be used for a drug house. they wanted to wire the house up with video and audio. i said yeah, i think we can make that happen. >> this is where the house was. the house was donated to us. it was scheduled for demolition. it was pretty much disgusting when we got it but they were kind enough to let us do whatever we wanted to do. we carried lots of carpeting and junk inside. >> we chose a location because at the time the targets that we are looking at were looking for an eastside spot. this is near the east side of town in rockford. they were looking for a spot that had alleys that was hidden

from the general traffic but could be accessible to somebody that would want to get in and get out. >> it was boarded up. every window, every door was boarded up. inside the carpet was rotten. the flooring was a mess. all the utilities were not functioning. we would come over in our undercover vehicles. we would paint, do electrical work, plumbing, totally redo the house but we added things to it. video and audio. >> talking to the technical people, we determined in order to do what we wanted to do we would have to hard wire the house to a listening post. by hard wire we needed a cable

run directly from that house to wherever we set up a command post/listening post. somebody told us we have got just the spot for you. went out and looked at it. it was perfect. >> it was an old model paint factory. we had a bird's eye view of the house looking north and the command center was set up so that there was a monitoring room where you would have three agents at three separate monitoring stations and a super visor in the room. and each of those stations monitored a particular room in the house at 1023 kishwaki. one for the kitchen, one for the

dining room, one for the living room. nobody could guarantee that the titanic stones wouldn't say that we're not interested any more or that they would think that something was up. there were tense days leading up to august 9. >> when i first went to show him the house, he loved it. he said call that landlord right now and tell him you want it. it's low key. it is easy for people to come in from the alley and nobody can see them. he wanted it. we didn't use the front door and he wanted it. i called and said duck wants it. he said he liked it? i said he loved it. >> within a very short period of

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>> it is really an underclass and subculture that most people really never see. >> i remember a phone call that i received from barry cunningham and his words were, "we're in the hornet's nest here." >> i was here from about 5:00 in the morning every morning until 2:00 every night.

it was miserable hot every day. everybody was complaining to me because i couldn't keep it cool enough. it was a learning experience for everybody there. this was the first time you actually saw what happened in a drug house. they were just living like regular people live. watching tv, playing video games, visiting with their friends. the normal life was interrupted by selling drugs, playing with guns and counting money. >> if there is not criminal activity going on then the court order says you have to turn off the recording devices. most often everything going on in that house was criminal in nature because there was almost always drugs around or a gun in the room or they were convicted felons. everything was criminal in nature.

>> it was a simple operation. whoever was in the house at this time, people would come to the door, they knew the majority of the people coming to the door because of the fact that they were dealing with them on a regular basis. they would lay around all day long on the couch waiting for somebody to knock on the door so they could sell dope to them.

>> this group was associated with so much violence. once the microphones were turned on and the cameras were turned on, there was relief that it was working, the tension didn't necessarily subside because it became very obvious to us that this game was for real. and the reputation that preceded them was one that was appropriate.

>> the last thing in the world we wanted to do was bring violence to a neighborhood. we set this house up. so, you know, god forbid we brought violence into the neighborhood and somebody got hurt. we were always concerned about that. that that was something that we had to keep in mind that we couldn't let it get out of control.

>> every evening, it would hit the fan. several times they would jump up and say let's go shoot so and so. we would be like okay, we got to stop this. usually they would smoke dope and forget about it. we never had to do anything but never the less it was every night. it got to be a laugh. we'd wait around for the 7:00 catastrophe every night.

>> he just hit my hand three times with a hammer. it don't take that much to break no hands with a hammer. i mean he could teach. he was there for us, even if we needed him in college. you could call him, you had his phone number. he was just focused on making sure we were gonna be successful.

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a vigil is planned for tonight at 8:00 for three boston university students who were killed in a van crash in new zealand. a fourth student is in critical condition. police in burbank, california, are searching for steven ivans, a missing fbi agent who is

described as despondent and possibly suicidal. he was assigned to the los angeles bureau. a handgun is missing from his home and police are concerned for his well-being. more news later. now back to "inside a crack house." >> putting video and audio in a living and breathing drug house and turning the keys over to the gang when you wanted to turn them over, that had never been done before. >> it's 24s a day. to see 24 hours a day how they live and how they operate their business in amongst their personal lives.

>> bradford was an enforcer, just a brooding hard case. the shooting at mcdonald's where he did shoot julio during the dinner time incident it was just brazen. >> from the beginning when i first joined the gang i was being somebody that i wasn't. i wasn't being bradford, dodson. i was being the hustler, the one they wanted me to be. they didn't like bradford dodson. they liked the hustler.

i wasn't being bradford dodson. >> my child did not have negligent parents. he wasn't hungry. didn't miss a day's meal. was not homeless. i wasn't a crack head. his dad wasn't a crack head. wasn't abusive. none of the things that society say the reason these children do what they do. they do it because they want to and they do it because someone has enticed them. the drug dealers come through and they see easy gullible young people and they offer them -- it's exciting. you know? the possibility? the rims, the car. i am angry at him for not -- i'm

actually angry at him for allow ing someone to sell him a dream of nothing. and i believe that's my fault. >> i met bradford when my daughter was picking me up from work and she introduced me to the guy in the car. this is my boyfriend. i didn't pay him any attention. first time i really, really other than seeing him in the car remember being around brad was i went over one day and one of their friends says martha, i think you need to know, jennifer's pregnant. after that day, brad and i became really close because i punched him. and after that i started taking him to church with me and i grew to love him and he was just my boy.

>> i first met duck in like '96, '97, when our gang was with their gang. their gang was like from 53rd and harper and we're from 52nd and drexler. duck comes down to drexler and he would shoot at us. it's like concrete jumping off the ground, the shells hitting the cars. because our two gangs was into it. that's the first time i even heard his name or knew about him. >> it didn't hurt so much for me

as i did for brandon. he has uncles and grandfathers and cousins and what not that could help raise him but it's nothing like a dad. >> and he was very young, and having -- you know, that's all he knows about his dad is in and out of jail. >> what's up? >> that you? >> yes. >> happy birthday, man. >> thank you. >> eight years old. you getting big. don't spend all your time sitting in the room playing in video games. go outside and play and go to school and just be good. >> okay. >> i wish i was outside right now playing, running around.

>> the severity of the situation never hit me until i get a call at the hospital from across town that he had been mugged. and i'm thinking, how did that happen? they said we're taking him to surgery. we'll call you when it's over. they called me that he was finally out of surgery and i talked to the doctor because i had worked at that hospital before. and he told me that somebody had mashed brad's hands. the worst case he had ever seen. it took him seven hours to get his hands back together. the hands were mashed flat. the fingers were split and the flesh was coming through. all the bones down to the wrist. just mashed. like hamburger. >> if you look at the video

footage, you see bandages on both of bradford dodson's hands throughout that time period. that is from daryl duck davis. what happened was they suspected -- duck suspected bradford of snitching on the game or of stealing money. something that went against duck and the organization. so duck gathered up the gang members. he had joel turner hold a gun to bradford dodson's head. bradford dodson was made to spread eagle on the floor, all of his clothes off and duck took a hammer and he broke both of bradford dodson's hands. >> he just hit my hands three times. it don't take that nouch break no hands with no hammer. he hit my hands three times. i told him i did steal the guns, though. i needed cash quick because i

wasn't trying to be around like that, man. i stayed around because he made me come around. when i got out the hospital he immediately came and got me from my baby mother's house. i'm going to tell the truth, i was scared. i didn't want to die. pounce. to understand why, we journeyed to africa, where their wild ancestor was born. there we discovered that cats, no matter where they are... are born to be cats. and shouldn't your cat be who he was born to be? discover your cat's true nature. purina one.

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>> duck in the video footage came across as somebody who is always in control. when he walked in, anybody who was in the house sort of looked up and duck was there for one reason, which was to deliver drugs, and to pick up the money, most importantly. >> duck was in charge. nobody else knew who duck knew. duck hae the contacts in chicago. when he made a transition in chicago, no one was allowed to be with him. they'd have to wait in the car. he kept that confidential. that was his ace in the hole with these guys because he knew one of them would go out and try to make a contact with them otherwise.

>> when he needed to re-up, or get more crack cocaine, he went into the city. duck never drove himself. most often his driver was ambrose jones, somebody in his tight inner circle, somebody he trusted. it was a car that was in somebody else's name. a big, black suv. we later found out had a hidden compartment. but he went in and picked it up, brought it back to rockford where he was away from where he

slept or did his business. any time one of drug house was out of drugs, whoever was working would use the nextel phones to inform him that he needed more product. >> and then you would see duck driven by ambrose over in the escalade to the chestnut street house, pick up a pack, go to drug house, drop it off, pick up the money and then take off.

>> it was interesting and disturbing at the same time what the customer base was. there were people from all walks of life. people who looked like they had just gotten off work at 5:00 and stopped off at the heroin house to get their drug fix. people on their way to becoming heroin addicts. young people, teenagers, people from all walks of life. >> you know, many times your victims are not the best citizens themselves.

but they're still a victim. they're taking their life in their hands to go to a neighborhood they know nothing about, to walk into a house they know nothing about. there's guys in here with guns. to purchase a little bag of powder. what went so wrong in their lives to put them to that point? and this is a small part of a huge picture. how big is this drug problem throughout the world? it's beyond explanation. it's huge. >> i had a easy life.

i had -- my parents did the best they could with what they had. i had -- i have wonderful loving parents. and although my home was semi dysfunctional, my parents did everything in they power to make sure i didn't use drugs. had i not used would he had not sold drugs? i can't say this. he had a huge influence from his father and he wanted to be just like daddy. and daddy was a dope dealer. he had no respect for me. i was addicted to cocaine. he had no respect for me. but his father, on the other hand, that's who he respected.

i thought i was going to die with that pipe in my hand. i really did. but i can sit here with confidence and say i will never use cocaine again in my life. cocaine is no longer part of who i am. hasn't been for a long time. i botched up motherhood. i botched it. look what my son is. i remember very clearly. i had been in my addiction maybe seven or eight years and daryl said to me, ma, i know what you doing. and if you do down, i'm going to go crashing down with you. i didn't hear him. he was crying out to me then. i didn't hear him.

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the investigation lasted approximately six weeks. to get six weeks out of it was more than we could have hoped for. duck and a number of members of the organization drove into chicago to obtain more heroin. they were under surveillance in the chicago area when they became targets of a drive-by shooting. suddenly out of nowhere, a second vehicle pulled up alongside doc, and an individual started shooting.

the agents in chicago had to immediately take action, which required them to pursue the vehicle that the shots had come out of. doc could see these cars suddenly come from nowhere, and he put it all together right then and there. he knew he was under surveillance, and he suspected other things might be wrong back in rockford. he then placed a call that we intercepted into the dope house in which he warned the individuals there that he thought he was being followed by federal investigators and that they should get out of the house immediately. >> they scrambled back to rockford that night, and doc, we later learned, in a taxi. that was when the jig was up, so to speak.

and it was time for us to start making arrests, which is what we did on september 14th. >> the leader of this conspiracy received a 42-year sentence. and that trickled down to the other members of the conspiracy.

bradford dodson receiving a 35-year sentence after trial. >> 42 years for davis is a life sentence. he is going to be an old man when he gets out. when a group like titanic stones get to the point where they're that organized and are terrorizing the streets, you're left with no choice. law enforcement is left with no choice but to take them off. he was simply too dangerous and ordered too many violent acts to leave out on the street. >> every day that the phone would ring or i would hear a siren, i thought, okay, that someone is going to tell me come identify your son. because that was definitely the path that he was going down. i could have been a better parent. i know i'm a better person. i've proven that i'm a better person than that. but unfortunately my son doesn't

know me in my present state, and that hurts me. come on. it's raining. oh, boy. my grandchildren -- oh, they're sweethearts. get the back. get in the back. little darrel is 6 and deshante is 7. wonderful, wonderful children. >> can you give us some because we don't have that much money? >> okay, i'll give you some money. >> they don't know the nature of what has happened. they just know that dad's in jail, and when is he getting out? >> darrell, go sit down. yes. i want to sit here. you sit over there, please. you want some french fries? okay. yeah, it's a joy having them. it's an absolute joy. i'm getting a second chance at this.

go to the front and say excuse me, could i please have some barbecue sauce. can you do that? i didn't ask you. i told her. you want another hamburger? hey! how you been? how was your trip in? good, good, good. granny missed you. okay. let's go. don't crack your knuckles. your daddy used to crack his, too. you see how big this part of his hand is. when you go visit him, when we go visit him this summer, look at this part of his hand, he got lumps sitting on his hand. and his hands been through a lot.

you hate getting off the phone like i do when your daddy calls? >> yeah. >> i hate getting off the phone with him. >> do he call you a lot? >> he do. he calls me at least three times a month. >> he don't call us a lot. he called granny's house. >> he called granny's house? >> yeah. >> i think we should write a letter to the prison and tell them we want more time. they'll say, we can't give him too much. we can't give him anymore time on the telephone. here. y'all just take him. wouldn't that be nice? that would be nice. >> yeah. he only got 30 years left. granny? >> maybe so.

>> i'm not mad at the judge and prosecutors. they got to do their jobs. the gavel was hit. you know? the signature was signed. the jury brought its verdict. it was over with. and he sentenced me according to the guidelines. he gave me what he gave me. and if 30 years is what it took for me to humble myself, then all is well. i'm not being a real good example to brandon, you know what i'm saying. because if he look up to me, i just hope that he don't make the same mistakes that i did, you know, and put himself in jeopardy from being away from his children. >> in my longest daydreams somehow or nother he get out of jail, like that. and nobody has grown old, you know, and it could be next year or next month, and we pick right up.

he don't want to know nothing about it. he just -- he's not interested in the lifestyle. and i'm not going to say he want to go somewhere and get him a cottage with a white picket fence, but he's not involved in this, you know. but that's in my longest daydreams. >> from our standpoint these are dangerous guys. we had to take them off the street. we wanted them to go away from the rest of their lives. from the family standpoint, they put aside what they did, it's still their loved one, their son or their brother. they loved them no matter what they did. i think sometimes it's not only tragic, but sometimes it's a relief for them, because they know what they're doing. their son or their brother, whoever it might be, they know they're in rockford dealing dope. there's two ways out of that. you're going to the penitentiary or you're going to end up dead.