tv Dateline MSNBC July 16, 2023 2:00am-3:00am PDT
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model in my life, so i was never told what kind of man i should look for. i was never taught what kind of humans and people, and friends that i needed in my life. >> her hope is that by being part of that program, she can help teens and adults make better choices. >> something like this happens, it gives you purpose. and life has no meaning without purpose. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> i'm craig melvin, and this is dateline. but she was stunning, a millionaire's wife, raising a family in the wealth of palm beach. but >> she was outstanding mother, heavily involved in naked school. she was into her children. >> but soon she was in danger. someone wanted her killed. his job was to save her. an undercover agent on a mission. >> he is a master actor, and
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obviously must have nerves of steel. >> to protect your, he would have to infiltrate but they roll right out of miami vice, secret meetings, surreptitious drug runs. hidden tapes. >> nobody else knows about this, right? >> nobody knows nothing. >> could he lure this suspect from the shadows? this man, with murder on his mind? >> it must have taken a lot of bravery. >> could he take on the role of his life? >> here is a man who wants someone killed, he wants you killed as well? >> hello, and welcome to dateline. power, greed and jealousy. it can be a toxic combination. in the story you are about to hear, it led one sold on a dark path. setting off a dramatic undercover operation, and the bizarre twist at the core of it
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all? the woman whose life was at stake, who had no idea she was in danger. here is keith morrison with recipe for murder. >> it was the cake that should have told them something. the killer cake, the cake to die for. it was supposed to be the jewel on the crown of the gourmet deli, a daily with more than a few regular customers weren't rank up there at the top. >> the stormy? >> and just a two minute drive across from palm beach florida, with its five star hotels, it's perfect beaches, and insanely pricey houses. hungry billionaires, who wanted only the best. -- rich hardy managed the gourmet daily for four years. >> we were doing about $3 million a year and business 450 seat delhi, that is incredible. we would have waiting lines two hours long for people coming in. >> it used to be the three
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cheese deli, that's one its reputation was born. brothers andy and bruce -- had developed some other restaurants as, well and back in the mid 80s, they were feeling a little over extended. >> and then one day they met a 33-year-old entrepreneur named glen sandler, -- >> and on the golf course he just said he was looking to get into business. i said, why don't you buy to my restaurant? >> just like that. >> over lunch, i think over a tuna salad. >> what was he doing before? >> playing golf. he was retired. >> retired from what? >> he had a few different businesses. i think one was a no name, or no ad company that he had different products, and i think he sold ad. i think he did videos, or some other stuff. >> but he made a lot of money? >> he made a ton of money. he was basically a self made millionaire. >> so he bought the restaurant, the expectations were to put it mildly, low. >> at the time, i thought the guy is going to try and do it for a little, while maybe be
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bored, with it be done with it. >> but he surprised everyone. >> from the date he bought that restaurant, he was there every single day from -- open to close, he was passionate about learning how to be the best deli guy, or appetizing, or -- he worked alongside deli guys, he worked alongside the guys in the kitchen, who worked alongside the porters. he was determined to learn every aspect of his business. >> there was no doubt, he was a workaholic. >> he probably did not have to work so hard, he was raised in the boston suburbs with family money, his dad was a very successful businessman, but he, well after college in miami he proved he had some talent of his own for making money. he seemed to be lucky as well. business and in life. in 1981 he married a beautiful young miami woman named betty. >> pretty much looked like the old barbie in the playmate, she
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was outgoing, fun, she was a very pretty woman. very beautiful lady. >> and soon enough, a mother. he had two sons. >> i think she was a good, wife and an outstanding mother. i knew she was heavily involved with the pta, i think at school, she was just into her children. >> but after he bought the deli, the former owners got to know both of them, and he and his wife went on a cruise with them. >> we went down to the islands, we had a great time -- >> they got along? well >> we got along great. we had a house down in the keys we wrote down there with him and spent a few days on his boat fishing, not that i'm much of a fish, or he was not flashy or anything, just a real nice guy. >> so it was a charmed life apparently. this was his neighborhood. a place called the aero club. >> you get up from dinner, and you can jump in your plane and go flying.
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>> businessman john herring was one of his neighbors. >> bring your cars to the front of the garage, you take your airplane out the back of the garage. you taxi it down and you take off. >> and sandler was so proud of his four-seater, like an airborne sports car the neighbors say. >> he was very particular, and very detailed, and took great care of his airplane. >> the beautiful wife, a big house, an airplane in the garage, it suited glen sandler perfectly. >> glen loved flying, and betty was always with him. she always says, glenn was a good has been. >> but of course, nobody is perfect, everybody has flaws, every marriage as well. and even this neighbor found himself wondering if he was a little too determined to get
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his way. >> i think glenn is a control guy, and he wanted to control everything that happened. >> it was a competitive thing, he had to win, he just had to. -- sold their deli, -- >> he'd pay for golf by huge, to give you the shirt off his back. when it came to business, cutthroat. >> no option, -- >> he could not lose? >> he could not. lose >> anything? >> and anything. >> like for example, cake, not just any cake of course, but a chocolate cake. so good, so creamy, so tempting, it was known as the killer cake. >> people would actually come from all over to buy this killer cake. >> when he bought the deli, the recipe for the cake came with it, but -- >> this was one recipe that glenn, you know, just could not get right. he hired a baker to come in and read the recipe, and just could not get it right. >> he believed that was out to sabotage him right now giving the right recipe to the cake, and from that day our relationship went down.
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>> he felt that he lost, because he could not get the cake recipe right. >> and so, given the untimely falling out, the brothers did not see sandler or his wife but it very much anymore. that savvy businessman would not accept defeat, and it seemed it did not matter when it cost him. >> a lot of the times it was in his way or the highway. >> was that why the marriage ground down, why any new millennium life will became intolerable for betty? in 2004, after more than 20 years of marriage, but he had had enough, she asked for divorce. and sandler, felt blindsided, emotionally and financially. if any contest had to be won, then this was it. -- sadler's manager at the core mentally heard a running commentary on the bitter divorce battle from the boss. >> if he had it has way, she was not getting a penny.
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>> she kept wanting more? is that something? >> yeah, basically, feeling like she's just a greedy you know what. >> and he saw sandler change, first there was the nose job, then sandler started showing up with women, a few. >> was he bringing girls in? >> you have bringing girls, and tell me, look at this new girlfriend of mine. >> did he seem to change after that divorce happens? >> absolutely. >> personality a changed? >> absolutely. she wanted the divorce, he didn't, so he was unhappy. you can't leave me, if i want to leave, you i will leave, you but you are not leaving me. that would mean i lost. >> but glen sandler was a man who could not lose, now he took steps that would make a win absolutely certain. >> sandler approached him, asked if he knew anyone that could kill his wife. >> coming up. kill his wife? was glenn sandler serious, you
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bet he was. >> and when the fbi an undercover operation begins, when dateline continues. ntinues. got it. -yeah, let's focus on the rv. -rv? okay, everybody, look at the rv and smile. this is what you want for your family portrait? good point. we bundled the boat with our home and auto first. -hey, team, get on in here. -team? oh. fun. now everyone say "24/7 financial protection with progressive"! 24/7 financial protection with progressive! okay. let's get some singles of me on the bike. honey. yeah. [ leaf blower whirring ] with gold bond... you can age on your own terms. retinol overnight means... the smoothing benefits of retinol. are now for your whole body. plus, fast-working crepe corrector diminishes wrinkled skin in just two days. gold bond. champion your skin. trelegy for copd. ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ breeze driftin' on... ♪
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he did it so much -- demanding millions of his money. although he had no idea that the man who offered to the job was an undercover agent from the fbi, angling to get the contract on sandra's wife. the angry husband and the phony hit man hit off, with sander off venting about his troubles. was it hate? or just creed. >> probably both at some point. but he believed he was losing his home, his business, and he was concerned that the money was never gonna be enough that he was paying her. >> xander also told fred, the name of the undercover officer went by, that his wife could reveal some very compromising information. >> there was concern about her blackmail, that she had some kind of other illegal activities. >> illegal activities? >> yes sir. >> like what? >> i don't know the time.
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>> quickly, red became the only one who can know the depth of sanders desperation. >> i have private strips all over the country that i own. she's blackmailing the -- out of me. i can't -- deal with her at all. she wants so much money, money i don't even have. >> i think that fred really tapped into glenn sanders vulnerabilities there, because, as glenn sanders former employees will test, he did not have any friends. well here comes fred, who seems like a cool guy, calling him brother, and i think that glenn sandler felt that he had finally met someone who he could relate to. >> it was a precarious balancing act. fred quickly set up a plan, telling sandler he needed to do surveillance on him. sandler provide details of their aero club life, even maps showing his other activities.
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>> something to show what her daily patterns might be. where she shops, where she goes to the gym. i had to get some groundwork done. >> what sandler did not know is that freddy had helpers. fellow detectives like jason montoto. >> we used our tag team coup to conduct whatever information we could and provide to the undercover officers such so that he could go back to mr. sandler and he would make it seem like, she goes here, last week she was here, kind of thing. but >> there was a dog or two involved but. it seemed like a dog traveled through a lot, so i mentioned that. >> what did you say? >> the dog always with her. that was enough for him to understand that things were rolling in the direction he wanted to, he was excited about that. >> several weeks went by and fred knew sandler had come to trust he was the man for the job. >> he became very comfortable, i could tell he was -- he was very satisfied, and i could tell i was being hired.
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>> what about betty? surely she should know her husband was cooking up more than just pastrami sandwiches? >> did you also go up to her and tell her, i had to tell you, that's what your ex-husband wants to kill you and i'm a company will prevent that from happening? >> not at that time. >> why not? >> the detective and i sat, we talked about saying that we had no idea what they were involved, and what she will give me up testify to the police, we didn't know, and if it was something that would be bigger than what he was involved, and she would go back and tell him. >> so did you did not know for sure whether she was just a bystander here or whether she may be involved? >> correct. >> there was another reason to play along with sandler detectives had a hunch and wanted to see where it went. in one of their parking lot meetings, fred had schmoozed
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about the drug business, let sandler not only think he sold drugs, but transported them to buy airplane, what he did not expect to hear with sandler's reply. he volunteered to fly the drug themself, in his own plane, at this airport. >> this may be your past, but i'm your future. if you knew my history, you -- >> what's the capacity of your plane? >> my capacity? it's about 200 pounds. >> that's kilo plane. >> then, another surprise, sandler seemed to have done this before, he boasted about his smuggling back in those seductive miami vice days, only then a speedboat was his transport of choice. >> i'm in miami i've had a couple of customers, just to transport. okay? and i always had a minimum of 100. so i'd get 100 grand just to get out of bed. >> was it true?
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as if to establish his credibility as a criminal, he claimed he had once been charged with cocaine traffic, and then bought his way out of trouble. >> we wound up buying the judge, got away with it, got expunged, the whole nine yards. >> was sandler still in the game? was this an unknown drug ring? i had to improvise, not only play hitman, but drug smuggling. the case becoming more complex than anyone would imagine. >> i was there for one criminal activity, all of a sudden a second criminal activity really set up. all of a sudden, am i sitting with a major smuggler? >> now to keep his credibility -- and connection with the drug business, he would have to stage something that looked like a real drug run.
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>> he askedvfor crack cocaine-- i had to tell him, why it was not available, it was available before, i let him believe i received kilogram amounts from georgia, and i would meet him halfway and pick it up, and if they saw me arrive in this aircraft, they would give me a lot more. >> so he agreed to fly you in his airplane to a meeting place? >> yes. >> to get cocaine? >> yes. >> so the hit on betty was delayed, while fred organized a drug run from sebring to palm beach, the whole thing a sham, only sandler had no idea he was being played. what was real was the fact that in that little airplane, fred's life would be in the hands of pilot glenn sandler, a desperate man perhaps capable of anything. >> were you concerned about your own safety? here's a man who once somebody killed, maybe he wants you killed as well? >> i'm always concerned about my safety. >> coming up. fred climbs aboard, and the risks are sky-high. >> you have five kilograms of cocaine in your airplane, and the guy who you think is a bad
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new york with the hours top stories. nearly a third of all americans are under a stream he advisories right now as historic heat wave scorches the south and the west with no signs of it ending anytime soon. forecasters in las vegas are warning that the city's record could be broken this weekend. in phoenix, arizona, temperatures are topping 110 degrees every day this month. and in california, record heat is fueling several new brush fires in the south, forcing evacuations. the dangerous heat is only expected to get worse only the next few days. for, now let's go back to dateline. >> welcome back to dateline, i'm craig melvin. glenn sandler was the focus of
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an fbi murder for hire sting when he revealed he was also a drug smuggler. fred, the undercover agent, quickly set up a fake drug run to catch the amateur pilot an auction, now fred was about to board glenn's plane, entrusting his life to a potential killer. back to keith morrison with recipe for murder. >> who among the loyal patrons of the gourmet deli would have believed it? what resident of florida's exclusive aero club community could even imagine that one of their own had put out a contract with a hitman to kill his wife. and now was ready to use his own plane to run cocaine. >> it seems to me like he had just come out of a period of really stable, possibly boring stage of his life where he had been married to the same woman for years and years, doing the
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same business day to day for years and years, and maybe missed those miami vice type of days. >> and now he was getting to live them over again? >> yeah. >> assuming that the fbi man who called himself fred did not blow his cover. >> because your face reads what is going on in your soul, you have to be careful with it, what did he just say? >> partly because now the undercover team expanded along with the risk. >> the deal was set to happen in sebring florida, at the sebring airport, and agents let it work with locally are also went to sebring airport. >> so as he took off from the sebring airport, the undercover agent still posing as fred sat beside him. as the little plane soared into the air, sandler was enthusiastic, fred remained
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cautious. after all, he could not know if he had bought the act, or seen his way through it. after all, a plane ride would be just the place to shoot fred and have a spotty disappearance in the ocean. >> i flew up to sebring with him in his aircraft, i was by myself and of course concerned. >> once at sebring, they met the supplier, fred called him t bone, he was actually another federal agent. over coffee, fred put everyone at ease. then, on cue, t-bone excused himself, went to the bathroom. >> he left the back between sandler and i and we opened it to see how many, he looked over and saw the five kilos. he said good, that is five kilos. he said, i didn't care if it was 15. he made that statement to me. he was comfortable.
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>> the plan was to fly the goods back to north palm beach airport, he said he needed to accompany the cargo. to make things look real, fred told sandler he wanted to have a little fun with t-bone, who said he was afraid of small planes. [inaudible] >> in fact, his fear of flying was also a cover. he was himself a pilot. >> but sandler did not know that? >> no. >> as insurance, fred made sure t-bone sat up front. still in that little plane, sandler was the one in control, in control of several kilos of coke, and to undercover fbi agents. >> i studied the aircraft, i knew where the turn of key was, i know of course he was bigger than i was, so the second bigger person i could bring into handle himself, the aircraft -- >> and i suppose you have five kilograms of cocaine in the
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airplane, and a guy you think is a bad guy, in the plane with, you just have -- >> a lot of things could have been? >> but the aircraft landed safely in north palm beach. >> i let him think my guys were going to be there, and they got from georgia would be there -- >> then, fred proposed to sandler that he abandoned his plan to kill his wife, why? well, for one thing, he did not want some defense attorney later on claiming he had encouraged sandler to commit murder, and for another, it seemed to him that sandler still had real feelings for betty. >> she looks different in the picture. >> she was a honey. >> he also seemed to have something of a jealous streak. glenn had heard she was out at a bar in town -- >> and this drove him crazy? >> sort of advertising her newly single status. >> there's no doubt, she's the
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new play girl, you know, she's a party girl. >> so, fred suggested, why not used his beloved airplane to run enough drugs to allow him to pay off betty, instead of killing her? >> it's a shame, man, we could have made so much money. >> but sandler was not buying it. he wanted her dead. >> she's done. it's like somebody that blackmails you. once it starts, it never stops. they don't go away. >> what was sandler's big secret? the one he couldn't afford to have betty reveal? >> it was a tax issue from a business day on, together a cash business, and concerned she would they be able to testify to large amounts the weren't paying income tax on. >> was that a reason to kill? still, fred held off, giving sandler every possible chance to change his mind, or reveal some darker source for his murderous intent. >> i wanted to know for sure
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that was what he wanted to do, or was there a coconspirator somewhere to push him to do this, was there something on the outside, a girlfriend telling him he had to do this. >> coming up, glenn sandler gets the news he wants to hear. and his wife gets the truth. >> i told her her husband had hired someone to kill her. >> when dateline continues. to-severe asthma that's not for sudden breathing problems. dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. get help right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. ask your specialist about dupixent. with a majority of my patience with sensitivity, i see irritated gums and weak enamel. sensodyne sensitivity gum & enamel relieves sensitivity,
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>> how many times did you tell him that he didn't need to kill, her you can do something else that was less severe? >> several different times, putting her in a trunk of a car, driving around for several, days threatening her that more would come next time. that was not good enough. marrying her alive, pulling her out of the, whole threatening, her if this goes any further, this will get, finish that was not good enough. >> now, it was time.
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he told sandler he would use it cold to reveal that the murder had happened, that betty was dead, she was buried alive. >> we will say something like, the weather is good up north, that means she's already fertilizer and the problem is over. >> on the morning of november 8th, 2005, detective jason latoya follow betty's card a stoplight, pulled her over, and gave for the news. >> i told her her husband had hired someone to kill her, that fortunately it was an undercover police officer. >> how did she take it? >> she really was not surprised. >> you are kidding? she didn't break down in hysteria or something? >> no. and that is what really surprised me, but she acted really exasperated, and just kind of a what now sort of thing. just like she had grown tired of his shenanigans, so to speak, that this was just the latest
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in a series of behaviors. she was not surprised. >> betty sandler cooperated fully with detective latoya as he went for arranging her disappearance. >> we basically took her into custody, staged her death, and collecting some personal belongings of her in her car and parked it in a grocery store parking lot at a conspicuous location, so it looked like she was abducted during her normal daily routine. >> with betty safe, fred called sandler. the weather is good of north, he said. which meant, she is dead. the next day, fred arranged to meet sandler at this parking lot to collect the 15,000 he had agreed to pay the killer, and here, fred confided in his new friend, that even he, a hardened killer, found
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murdering suburban housewives disturbing. >> i said even though i have done this before, i -- he think that i just came back from burying her and i took a shower -- >> she's dead, she's done -- >> i need to go get out of here. >> he was a little uneasy as well, but he thought she was dead, he mentioned what was said to her. >> she was more concerned about her kids. >> they're going to grow up. >> i said her to her is this enough? >> she said i was only wanting one half was mine. >> i said whatever, yes you're not getting -- >> fred gave sandlerher cellphone and keys, and her own proof he said that she was
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dead. >> you want this? >> you have the phone. >> he wanted to look at herself on to see who she had been calling. >> he was jealous even then? >> apparently. >> he seemed to have no remorse at all? >> none. >> called? >> called, excited -- >> excited? >> yes, he was happy this was over. >> but of course, it was not over, glen sandler had been a man who wanted to control everything, but what he didn't know was that perhaps for the first time in his life, he would have no control over what would happen next. >> let me adjust my mirror. >> coming up, the swat team swarms in before glenn sadler can move, out busted at last. when dateline continues. check. when uc got in my way, i got lasting, steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check. and when my gastro saw damage, rinvoq helped visibly repair the colon lining. check. rapid symptom relief. lasting, steroid-free remission. and a chance to visibly repair the colon lining. check. check. and check.
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near palm beach florida, glen sandler chatted with the man he had hired to kill his wife. as life went on around them, the two discussed future drug deals, his airtight alibi for that day, and the need for secrecy. >> nobody knows nothing. that is why it has been killing me. to hold it in, because you want to talk about is so bad. >> and then, -- >> let me adjust my mirror. >> just at that moment, glen sandler discovered the truth,
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down came the swat team and the game was, up and he had understood he had been tricked, big time. how did he react to that? >> he became quiet. >> here is a guy who goes to wanting to have his wife, killed happy she is dead, to then discovering he has been hoodwinked by an undercover cop. what did he just, give up at that point? is he remorseful? is the story? what? >> he became quiet. >> he became quiet? >> he did. from reading his body language, his gestures, the way he cooperated, he said he was more upset that he was arrested. making any other statements besides being upset. >> he had been duped by a master, an agent who had been working undercover for 24 years. >> he is a master actor, a great improviser, and obviously must have nerves of steel to be able to get into a situation like this and just act on it on the fly.
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it must have taken a lot of bravery. >> around palm beach, people who knew the sandlers were quite understandably stunned. >> i just, it can't be. >> you did not believe? but it happened. >> i don't know where that would come from. >> the palm beach authorities carefully crafted their case with tapes recorded by undercover agent fred, and glenn sandler then briefly he considered an insanity defense, he ultimately pleaded guilty to solicitation to commit first degree murder, and trafficking cocaine. he got 15 years in prison. >> so what do you think about this guy? >> i don't know what to think of it because i do not know that glenn sandler. i know the glenn sandler that taught me a tremendous amount of things about business, cutting edge -- but i don't know that glenn sandler -- the killer glenn sandler. >> did anyone?
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his one-time colleagues are guarded to tell their stories about the man who would kill rather than lose. >> and knowing he's capable of that, makes him a very capable of remembering everything he knows after ten years, and wanting revenge. >> do you worry a bit about -- >> this, yes. >> why? >> why? i don't know. hopefully he comes out being a nice guy. >> but -- >> who can say? >> betty sandler sold the house at the arrow club and moved away, but tragedy would not let her go. neither betty nor her plan. >> glenn had two sons while he was in jail, one died in a motorcycle accident. his father died, and since he's been in, until his mother has died.
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>> and yet, the bitter financial fight spun out. he claimed he had lots of money from the irs, baseless. >> i believe the police seized his plane, and his motorcycle, because they were used in the course of running drugs, and that i presume she got the house, he got the restaurant, she got the golf cart. >> all that cash that seemed to floor from the deli -- >> when it all played out in divorce court, considering his assets have been seized, she was entitled to $100 a year. >> that was it? >> that was it. >> does she worry still? perhaps. but he has declined all interview requests, including ours. >> i know that when i tried to contact her, she did not want to speak because she was still frightened.
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>> as for the deli, it went to his brother, but last we checked, they had yet to perfect the recipe for the creamiest chocolate cake around, that cake to die for, that killer cake. >> that is all for this edition of dateline, i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. >> hello, everyone. i'm alicia menendez. as we begin a new hour. the extreme new peak injecting politics into the military. republicans infusing social grievances in the defense spending bill. but critics say it is only hurting our troops. also, tonight, with another possible indictment looming in georgia, donald trump is trying out a new tactic to squash the case altogether, and he is speaking tonight in florida. and in just a bit, you will hear from sag actors chief negotiator, the strike is now in effect, what actors and crews deserve, and what the fight means for your favorite shows. and a florida-based
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