and ford-- built for the road ahead. >> stahl: when we showed up at the weekend gun show in richmond, virginia, the line to get in went around the building. how many guns will be sold at a show like this over a weekend like this? >> probably thousands. >> stahl: despite the recession, the business of selling guns and ammo is booming. and we were surprised to hear some of the reasons why. >> simon: we all grew up learning that the lion is the king of the jungle. and now that we're not little anymore, we know just how vulnerable they are. in fact, when exposed to man's devices, lions are extremely fragile. the latest weapon being used against them is poison. yes, poison. and that's one reason why conservationists say africa's lions are in trouble. are you suggesting that the lion in kenya could become extinct?

>> i'm suggesting that the lion in africa will become extinct. >> gentlemen and ladies, let the games begin. ( cheers and applause ) >> ♪ ... me a lady tonight >> rose: steve wynn is a man with the midas touch who added glamour to the gambling industry. >> if you're going to start a gambling joint, start a gambling joint. >> rose: he transformed las vegas into an international tourist spot. but the odds haven't changed. the only way to win in a casino.... >> is to own one. unless you're very lucky. >> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm bob simon. >> i'm morley safer. >> i'm charlie rose. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories, and andy rooney on the loss of his dear friend, the great walter cronkite, tonight on "60 minutes." - hi. - crowd: hi!

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>> stahl: in the national debate over the right to bear arms, the election of barack obama was seen as a victory for those who want stricter gun controls. but so far, things haven't worked out that way. the president recently signed a law allowing people to carry loaded guns in national parks. membership in the national rifle association, the n.r.a., has been rising, and, as we first reported in april, the financial crisis is having its own, rather surprising effect. in past downturns, people

stocked up on things like canned soups. but this time, it's guns. and even as the stock market has plummeted, shares in smith and wesson were going through the roof. when we showed up at the weekend gun show in richmond, virginia, the line to get in went around the building. how many guns will be sold at a show like this over a weekend like this? >> philip van cleave: probably thousands. >> stahl: philip van cleave, the president of virginia's largest gun rights group, took us on a& tour inside a world that's part arms bazaar, part "antiques roadshow." and while the memorabilia may not be to everyone's liking, when it came to firearms, there was a perfect gun here for every taste. these are pretty nice-looking. >> van cleave: yeah, some of them, they actually made guns in colors. a lot of women like pink guns. the good thing about a pink gun is a man will never steal it from you. ( laughs ) >> stahl: you could tell gun

sales are up, because all around us, dealers and customers were busy filling out the paperwork needed for f.b.i. background checks. since november, the number of background checks nationally has jumped over 30% compared to last year. with that kind of demand, are the prices going up? >> van cleave: yeah, the prices have gone up. in fact, a rifle like this, which is $700, probably a year ago, would have been about half of that. >> stahl: one reason, he says, people are willing to dole out the cash during this financial meltdown is the financial meltdown. >> van cleave: we're being told all the time that "oh, boy, the economy could just collapse and we could fall into chaos." well, chaos is a good reason to be able to protect yourself. >> stahl: and this is what are in people's minds and driving them into these shows and gun stores and... >> van cleave: it's a form of insurance policy. you could imagine if we truly had a collapse of the economy and it was hard to find food, those that did manage to hang on to food might be in... find themselves in a precarious position.

>> stahl: but the bigger reason for this gun rush is best summed up by this gun show commercial. >> buy! sell! trade up and cash in! celebrate the second amendment and get your guns while you still can! >> stahl: "while you still can" is code for "barack obama wants to take your guns away and reimpose the ban on assault weapons." >> van cleave: president obama, when he was a senator in illinois, pushed for every gun ban he could. >> stahl: i actually heard that those... ammo was going quickly because people are afraid he's going to increase taxes on ammunition. >> van cleave: that's another possibility. certainly, a gun wouldn't be any good without ammunition. >> stahl: people are stockpiling bullets-- three hours into the show, empty stock trays piled several feet high. fear of obama has actually created a national ammo shortage. is the gun lobby whipping up these fears? >> van cleave: i don't know. i don't think so. i think the elections took care of that themselves.

>> stahl: the number of f.b.i. background checks does not reflect all the gun sales because of something called "the loophole." in virginia and more than 30 other states, people who aren't gun dealers-- like this gentleman with the rifle slung over his shoulder-- can sell firearms at gun shows without conducting background checks. actually, these men can sell their guns anywhere: here, in private homes, or out of their cars. >> gerald massengill: you can see that you have cars from... you have a tag from maryland. >> stahl: we met gerald massengill, former police superintendent of virginia, in the parking lot. he showed us license plates from up and down the east coast. and they come here... >> massengill: and they come here because that's... that's where the guns are easier to buy. >> stahl: virginia is a main source of guns that end up in crimes in several northern states where gun controls are stricter. >> massengill: you probably can walk this parking lot and find people selling guns out of the trunk of their vehicles. >> stahl: and that's legal? >> massengill: and that's legal.

there is no... there are no restrictions in virginia against private sales, as far as background checks. and again, that amazes me that, in this day and time, we would not want to know, as sellers, whom we're selling to. >> stahl: but imposing any restrictions on gun sales in virginia is nearly impossible. consider what happened when a bill was introduced to close just the gun show loophole following the 2007 virginia tech massacre. with overwhelming public support, it was sure to pass, given the outrage over the worst shooting in modern u.s. history. 32 students and teachers were shot and killed by a mentally disturbed student, seung-hui cho. lily habtu, who was shot in the jaw and survived, says the loophole must be closed. >> lily habtu: convicted felons can walk into a gun show, the mentally ill can go into a gun show and purchase whatever they want.

>> stahl: without a background check. >> habtu: without a background check. >> stahl: why not make it uniform and have everybody go through the background check? >> van cleave: well, how about making it uniform and have nobody go through the background check? the second amendment doesn't say, "you can get a gun if you go through a background check." >> stahl: lily and several of the virginia tech family members lobbied to close the gun show loophole. they created facebook groups and youtube clips. >> no background checks, no guns, no excuses. >> stahl: omar samaha, whose 18- year-old sister reema was killed that day, testified before virginia lawmakers that he went to the richmond gun show one day and bought a dozen weapons in an hour, including an assault rifle and... >> omar samaha: a glock that was stronger than the one used to kill my sister. >> stahl: did you ever, ever have to show any identification? >> samaha: no. >> stahl: were you ever asked? >> samaha: i was asked but i refused. >> stahl: so what happened? >> samaha: they either sold me the gun still or they said, "pay me 15 more dollars and i'll...

i'll go without looking at your i.d." >> stahl: here's one of the big arguments-- cho didn't get the guns from a gun show, and he did show his i.d. there was a background check on him. >> samaha: but the next cho will go to a gun show because it's that simple. it's just like buying a candy bar. it really is. >> stahl: but if one side thinks the lesson of the virginia tech massacre is "we need more gun control," the other side-- the gun lobby-- says it proves we need less. philip van cleave says the ban on guns on college campuses should be lifted. >> van cleave: if just one student 21 or older had a permit and had been armed that day... i mean, the first time a police officer showed up, they didn't even fire a shot. he saw the police coming, he killed himself. it was over. the first time somebody would've been able to show him resistance, it would've stopped him. i'm convinced he would've killed himself and probably saved a whole bunch of lives at that point. >> stahl: arming all those young people... >> van cleave: wonder who's fighting in iraq for us right

now. >> stahl: but you know, you could have a lot of them be like cho. >> van cleave: if they do, there will be plenty of other 21, 22, 23 and older people there to make sure that he doesn't get very far. >> stahl: when the virginia senate voted in february on closing the gun show loophole, it was a real stunner. the bill lost by two votes. the gun rights forces prevailed. you had so much going for you. you had the emotion, you had parents, you had survivors speaking out. >> habtu: we had police chiefs. >> stahl: police chiefs. you had the governor of the state, and it still went down. why? >> habtu: i would have to say that the gun lobby must have a strong base in virginia. >> stahl: and so she and omar are looking to washington, now that the democrats are in control. and with so many fresh examples of gun violence-- from the mexican drug cartels along our southern border to a string of deadly domestic shootings where assault weapons were used, as in

alabama on march 10, a gunman crossed the state, killing ten; in oakland, california, on march 21, a man killed four police officers, two with an assault weapon; and in pittsburgh on april 4, three policemen were gunned down. the suspect's friends say that he had lost his job and that he was afraid president obama was about to reinstate the assault weapons ban that had passed under president clinton, but was allowed to expire under president bush. >> van cleave: so actually, this whole... right up there to that rifle he's handling, are all a.k.s. >> stahl: a.k.s and other firearms, once forbidden under the ban, now fill entire tables. is it an assault weapon? you can even buy them without a background check. >> senator dianne feinstein: these assault weapons are essentially designed and made to kill numbers of people in close combat. >> stahl: senator dianne feinstein of california was the

author and champion of the assault weapons ban in 1994. >> feinstein: they become the guns of choice of drug cartels, of gangs, of people who are mentally incompetent. our police on the streets are essentially outgunned. lesley, friday, i was at a funeral in oakland, california-- four police officers slain. >> stahl: senator feinstein wants to reinstate the assault weapons ban. but what are her chances? listen to the number two democrat in the senate, dick durbin of illinois. >> senator dick durbin: we don't debate guns around here much anymore. we used to. basically, we reached a point where there just aren't many people who will stick their political necks out to vote for sensible gun control; just too big a hassle. >> stahl: a hassle because of what happened in 1994. after the assault weapons ban was passed, the republicans won both houses of congress, and the national rifle association got a lot of the credit.

but now, the democrats are back in control. don't you think that there's been a big political shift in the country? >> van cleave: towards guns? yes. >> stahl: towards democrats. >> van cleave: democrats aren't all anti-gun. we saw some republicans get kicked out of the senate and replaced with some much better democrats. >> stahl: "much better," meaning? >> van cleave: for guns! >> stahl: he's right. and 65 democrats in the house who are "for guns" signed this letter opposing bringing back the ban. you have lots and lots of democrats who got support from the n.r.a. this time, and so they're... they agree with the n.r.a. they'll vote with the n.r.a. >> feinstein: i'm not going to disagree with that at all. >> stahl: she admits she's facing daunting opposition. >> feinstein: the national rifle association essentially has a stranglehold on the congress. >> stahl: has anybody, the democratic leadership in the senate or anybody from the administration, looked at you and said, "back off"? >> feinstein: no. nobody said a word to me. >> stahl: and what about

president obama, who n.r.a. supporters like to call the "great gun grabber"? his web site says he wants to make the "expired federal assault weapons ban permanent," but the white house doesn't seem to be interested in bringing it up any time soon. there's some sense that the president has so many crisis issues on his plate right now that the idea of bringing up guns, which is considered part of the culture wars, would be such a diversion. >> feinstein: i agree with you. i wouldn't bring it up now. >> stahl: so you're going to hold off? >> feinstein: that's correct. i'll pick the time and the place, no question about that. >> cbs money watch update 1307bsered by: >> good evening. the dow opens tomorrow at 89,093, its highest point of the

year. federal regulators shut down several banks this weekend, bringing the total to 64 this year. gas fell 7 cents in two weeks to an average of $2 opinion 49 a gallon, and "g-force" won the weekend box office. i'm russ mitchell, cbs news.

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>> simon: we all grew up learning that the lion is the king of the jungle. and now that we're not little anymore, we know just how vulnerable they are. in fact, when exposed to man's devices, lions are extremely fragile. the latest weapon being used against them is poison. yes, poison. as we first reported last march, african herders whose livestock and livelihood are threatened by lions are killing them in the most effective and economical way they can. and overwhelmingly, that is by using a cheap american chemical called furadan. it is marketed as a pesticide to

be used for protecting crops. but it's bought by many to kill animals. and that's one reason why, conservationists say africa's lions are in trouble. we took a journey through the bush in kenya to find out what's going on. we learned that, 20 years ago, there were some 200,000 lions in africa. today, there are 30,000, and the numbers are going down all the time. lions are being poisoned at a staggering rate. there's little chance that these cubs will make it to adulthood. are you suggesting that the lion in kenya could become extinct? >> dr. laurence frank: i'm suggesting that the lion in africa will become extinct. >> simon: that's the view of dr. laurence frank of the university of california berkeley. he's been following lions for the last 30 years, looking for ways to keep them alive. alayne cotterill, his colleague, needs to put a new collar on this lioness named mara.

she is about to dart her and put her to sleep. >> well done. >> simon: she's down and out. cotterill and frank have less than an hour to do their work before mara wakes up. a sleeping lion is a deceptively gentle creature. her coat, which looks exquisitely smooth, is actually quite rough to the touch. what a magnificent creature. and whiskers just like in the movies. seeing those claws sink into soft, padded paws, you understand why she is such an efficient killer. but actually, she may be more afraid of us than we are of her. >> alayne cotterill: they're very unlikely to attack us. there's been so many years of conflict with people in this area, it's almost hardwired into their systems to be terrified of people. >> simon: with good reason. over the millennia, people have speared, shot, trapped lions. today, the primary culprit

appears to be poison. >> frank: we know of 30-plus poisonings just in this area in the last five or six years. we have data on another 35 or 40 poisonings in our other study area, elsewhere in kenya. but that's got to be just the tiny tip of the iceberg. >> simon: let me ask you a more immediate question? what happens if mara wakes up while we're still here? >> frank: well, with any luck, she'll go that way and we'll go that way. ( laughter ) >> simon: mara is part of a& pride which lives on claus mortensen's ranch. five years ago, he found out just how devastating poison can be when he discovered that another of his prides had gone missing. >> claus mortensen: after a few days, vultures were seen circling on our northern boundary there. and we went out and we found first one lion, then another, and then another. >> simon: seven in all. the lions had been vomiting, and there were no bullet wounds. >> simon: so you were sure these lions had been poisoned. >> mortensen: that we were.

>> simon: mortensen suspects that furadan was responsible. it's one of the most toxic pesticides sold in kenya, widely available, and hard to detect because it dissipates quickly in poisoned animals. lab tests, he says, ruled out any other poison. so why would anyone want to poison these glorious creatures? the first thing you need to know is that 70% of the country's wildlife is found outside the protected game reserves, on kenya's vast plains, where wild animals and cattle mingle. lions are there, too, and that's where the trouble begins. the lions attack and eat the cattle. this area is inhabited by the masai people, who always had a way of dealing with that. the young men went out hunting lions with spears. it was a rite of passage. anthony kasanga was one of them. what does it mean for a masai

young man to kill a lion? >> antony kasanga: it makes you famous. you feel... you get the whole community to know you because you killed a lion. >> simon: you're famous when you kill a lion. >> kasanga: yeah, if you had one girlfriend, you get 20 more, or 21. >> simon: you get 20 girlfriends. ( laughs ) so there's a lot of reason to kill a lion. >> kasanga: yeah. >> simon: it's more than just having 20 girlfriends. killing lions protects cattle, the very foundation of the masai's existence. so, when a cow is killed by a lion, it's a disaster. >> kasanga: it's a disaster. >> simon: and anthony's job now is to avert that disaster, and save the lion at the same time. he is a leading member of the lion guardians, a group of reformed masai warriors who keep track of collared lions and warn herders when the lions get too close to their cattle. last year, they were too late in reaching an old herder whose cow had been killed. the herder laced the carcass

with poison, knowing the lions would return to finish their meal. that night, sengale and birdie, two collared lions the guardians knew well, feasted on it. if the carcass was poisoned with furadan, they wouldn't have suspected it, because furadan has no taste and no smell. it didn't take long before the lions were found dead. birdie was pregnant with five cubs. so in other words, seven lions died. >> kasanga: seven lions dead. >> simon: cows are a cash crop in kenya. they put food on the table, they send kids to school. mengistu seketet and his friends all lost cows to lions. that turned them into lion killers. how do you kill a lion? >> mengistu seketet: in very silent way. >> simon: what is the silent way? >> seketet: actually, using... we use the poison. >> simon: you use poison? >> seketet: yeah, poison. >> simon: and this works? this is effective? >> seketet: yeah. actually, it's very effective. >> simon: and this is how effective the poison is.

this lion could barely walk. its nervous system was shutting down, so it was put down by vets from the kenyan wildlife service, who conducted an autopsy. the official government chemist's analysis found furadan in the lion's stomach. a subsequent report by the agency that regulates pesticides in kenya did not mention that finding, and claimed that furadan was not connected. when we asked mengistu and his friends about furadan, they didn't recognize the name, but knew exactly what it looked like. oh, there you go. >> oh, wow, it's the one. >> simon: it's the one? >> yeah. ( laughter ) >> oh, really, this one. >> simon: it's bluish, huh? >> yeah, it's... it's bluish. >> simon: and that's the one you used? >> yeah. >> simon: mengistu and his friends wouldn't have any trouble finding furadan. it can be bought in towns and villages all over kenya, in stores called agrovets, which sell agricultural products, including pesticides. but when we tried buying furadan

with our cameras rolling, the shopkeepers told us they didn't have it in stock. so we decided to go undercover with a hidden camera. hello. do you speak english? good. do you have furadan? >> shopkeeper: furadan? yes, i have. >> simon: i'll take one bottle, please. there was actually plenty of furadan on the shelves, and we were surprised that the storekeeper didn't ask what we wanted it for. how much is it? >> shopkeeper: 120 shillings. >> simon: that's two dollars. that's pretty cheap? >> shopkeeper: yeah. >> simon: do many people buy furadan? >> shopkeeper: so many people buy furadan. >> simon: so many people buy furadan. what do they use it for? >> shopkeeper: ( laughs ) >> simon: it seemed clear from stores we visited that shopkeepers knew furadan was not only used on crops. in fact, some stores which stocked furadan were in areas where there wasn't a crop for miles. in its granular form, furadan is banned in europe and the united kingdom.

it is severely restricted in the united states. just a tiny amount from a $2 bottle like this one is enough to kill an entire pride of lions. furadan, even when used as directed, is estimated to have wiped out millions of birds in the united states. that's why the environmental protection agency is banning it. but in africa, furadan is perfectly legal as a pesticide. however, when the granules are sprinkled on carcasses, any animal that feeds on them will die. not just lions-- hyenas, leopards, jackals, vultures and other birds die in droves. >> dr. richard leakey: it's inexcusable to use furadan for killing animals. it wasn't designed for the purpose. it's grossly irresponsible to use it in that way. >> simon: dr. richard leakey is the doyen of conservationists in africa, who has spent years fighting for the preservation of kenya's wildlife. but you can understand why

cattle farmers do use it. >> leakey: i can understand why people rob banks. i mean, there are a lot of things i can understand. it's irresponsible to put on the market something that is so utterly dangerous to wildlife in a country where wildlife is so critical for our economic future. >> simon: wildlife is, in fact, crucial for kenya's economic future. hundreds of thousands of tourists bring hundreds of millions of dollars to the country. but most kenyans see very little of that, so there is little incentive to value the wildlife. >> tom hill: the amount of tourism that's here is not sufficient to offset the cost of these people living with wildlife. >> simon: tom hill is an american philanthropist who wanted to make wildlife worth something to the people. he and richard bonham, a kenyan naturalist, recognized that time was running out. so they began meeting masai to ask what it would take to stop killing lions. >> hill: the answer is... as they gave it to us, is-- if you

would pay us back for our lost livestock once it's been killed by predators, and we can replace it, then we would quit killing them. you know, we don't... >> simon: and that's what you're doing. >> hill: that's what we're doing. i mean, you know, they don't hate lions; they hate the economics of lions. >> simon: so hill and bonham set up a fund to compensate the masai for their livestock losses. teams of monitors crisscross the countryside to inspect dead cattle, and reimburse the owners if they don't poison the lions. the program has achieved some success, but covers only a small area. throughout the rest of kenya, the poisoning goes on. how do you stop farmers from doing it? >> leakey: you stop farmers by using unregulated chemicals by not having the chemical on the market. you ban the product. >> simon: but the kenyan government hasn't banned the product. the company that makes it, f.m.c., declined our request for an interview, but said in a written statement that furadan

is important to the sustainability of agriculture in kenya, that their labels clearly illustrate its proper use, and that they condemn the illegal use of their products to kill predatory wildlife. but does it have to be a choice between cubs and corporations? there are other ways to protect cattle without using lethal chemicals. but for these cubs to grow up to be the splendid creatures they can be, furadan cannot be part of their future. after our story aired, f.m.c. announced it would recall furadan from stores in kenya and stop all sales in the neighboring countries of uganda and tanzania. but a random survey last month found that while furadan was no longer on the shelves in kenya, it was still available in uganda and tanzania, where lions are also disappearing. capturing the beauty of nature.

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>> rose: if you look down at the earth at night, the astronauts say, the brightest spot on the planet is the las vegas strip. the man who turned up the wattage in las vegas is casino mogul steve wynn. he set off a building boom in the 1980s that turned a bunch of gambling joints into an international tourist spot. las vegas became the fastest- growing city in america, until the financial meltdown hit it hard. as we reported in april, the gambling industry is in desperate shape. revenues in steve's wynn's las vegas properties plummeted about 30% in the recession. but the economy didn't stop him from opening his most opulent casino resort yet, the encore.

i've known steve wynn both personally and professionally for about 15 years. he invited us to the encore's opening night. >> steve wynn: we've got frank sinatra cued. gentlemen and ladies, place your bets. let the games begin. ( cheers and applause ) >> frank sinatra: ♪ luck be a lady tonight...♪ >> rose: at 67, steve wynn is a legend in las vegas, the man with the midas touch who added glamour to the gambling industry. even in this recession, thousands came to try their luck at his new casino. encore cost nearly $2.3 billion, a risky bet in a bad economy. why, in this economic environment, would you open a hotel? >> wynn: well, i'll tell you

right now that if i had any idea this, i wouldn't if i had a choice. but this project was started four years ago. these things have a huge lead time. >> rose: the gambling industry has been battered by the recession and taken the city of las vegas down with it. some casinos stand half built. unemployment is over 10%. and while steve wynn has had to slash employees' pay and lower room prices, he plows ahead, doing whatever it takes to get customers to his new hotel. >> this is encore. >> rose: and yes, he really was sitting on top of the building. >> next time, we do this in the lobby. >> rose: the encore is connected to his other las vegas hotel, the wynn, and he has a third in macao, china. inside, his hotels are fantasy lands for well-heeled adults. he brought gourmet restaurants and high-end shopping to the strip. his hotels may be extravagant,

but his business strategy is conservative. his company is not highly leveraged, and has over $1 billion in cash to help ride out the recession. i want to understand a bit about the casino business. >> wynn: so do i. ( laughter ) >> rose: the only way to win in a casino... >> wynn: is to own one. >> rose: own one. >> wynn: unless you're very lucky. >> rose: and, he says, even when people are lucky, they usually gamble away their winnings. you have never known in your entire life a gambler who comes here and wins big and... >> wynn: and quits. >> rose: ...walks away. >> wynn: never. >> rose: you know nobody, hardly, that, over the stretch of time, is ahead? >> wynn: nope. >> rose: the customer's loss is steve wynn's gain. he's a billionaire. but he isn't all that interested in gambling. his passion is creating the resorts. >> wynn: are you satisfied?

>> rose: he works closely with his design team, and signs off on nearly every detail. >> wynn: i love this restaurant, roger. >> rose: why do you focus so much on how it looks? >> wynn: i can't help myself. it's a sickness. my doctor says if i take my medication, i'm no danger to anybody but myself. i can't help it. >> rose: and that brings you the greatest joy. >> wynn: yes. >> rose: the person who knows him best is his wife and business partner of 41 years, elaine wynn. and although the wynns have filed for divorce, they say she will remain part of the business and on the board of directors. what is it that he has? >> elaine wynn: he brings a businessman's intelligence and awareness of what it takes to make a property successful, and yet he can put that on a side shelf and go crazy making the most extraordinary environments. he understands innately what the

public will respond to. >> rose: and what the public will pay for. does the money matter a lot? >> elaine wynn: it enables him to have a kind of freedom. there's rich freedom and poor freedom, you know. you can be a ski bum and a beach bum... >> rose: that's poor freedom. >> elaine wynn: that's poor freedom. steve is... steve likes... >> both: rich freedom. >> rose: steve wynn collects beautiful, often extravagant, things, from great art to big yachts to the largest pear- shaped diamond in the world. in a cruel irony, this man who pursues beauty is losing his sight. he has a degenerative eye condition called retinitis pigmentosa. >> wynn: i was born with this recessive and rather rare condition that has diminished my vision since childhood-- night vision, when i was very young, and then peripheral vision as you get older. >> rose: because he's losing his peripheral vision, he often leans on people to guide him. he can see what's directly in front of him, but it's like looking through a tube, and the

circle keeps getting smaller. and you have an appetite for visual things. >> wynn: i do, indeed. and, you know, that's the kind of thing that can be a source of great anxiety. you say, "well, suppose i can't enjoy the things that i love seeing so much?" so there you are, that's it, you're face-to-face with the threat, the menace. i won't be able to see this at some point in the future, even though i can see it now. what this painting has is mood. >> rose: but he says he doesn't feel sorry for himself, and continues to enjoy his extraordinary art collection. >> rose: "le reve." >> wynn: "le reve." "the dream," by picasso. >> rose: in 2006, wynn had a contract to sell it for $139 million, a record price for a painting. he was showing it off to some friends when... >> wynn: in gesturing to the picture, i turned to the right and caught her right on the arm

and poked a hole in the picture the size of the end of my thumb. we stood there in shock. i can't believe i'd done it. "oh, no. oh, no." and then i said, "thank god it was me and not someone else." >> rose: and here is the photograph. >> wynn: i don't know if you can see the picture. there's the tear right there. >> rose: he had the picture restored, and it's no longer for sale. >> wynn: but the fact of the matter is, what stands historically is that the painting... the painting was damaged by its owner-- the clouseau of collectors-- wynn. but, look, people make mistakes. >> rose: steve wynn has made few mistakes in his business career. he grew up in the gambling business. his father, michael wynn, owned a string of bingo parlors. when steve was ten, his father took him to las vegas for the first time. it was 1952, and nevada was the only state in america where gambling was legal. >> rose: your father... >> wynn: yeah... >> rose: ...was a charming man. >> wynn: but a compulsive

gambler. >> rose: and you're in the gambling business. that's one of many ironies about you. >> wynn: it is, and it's accidental, but it is an irony. my father had a terrible problem with gambling. he was a guy that enjoyed that activity so much that he lost control of it. >> rose: michael wynn died during heart surgery at age 47, leaving the family with a gambling debt of $350,000. steve wynn took over the family business, made a success of it, and paid back the money his father owed. >> wynn: i would give anything for a half hour or 15 minutes with my father, to walk him through anything that good fortune has allowed to come my way these past 40 years. >> rose: and have him stand outside and look on the building and it says... >> wynn: ah, "wynn." he changed his name. when he was a kid, he was weinberg. >> rose: in fact, you were born weinberg. >> wynn: and then he changed it when i was about six months old. >> rose: steve and elaine wynn

moved to las vegas in 1967. his career took off when he invested in the golden nugget and added hotel rooms to the casino. >> wynn: hi, i'm steve wynn. this is one of the beautiful suites... >> rose: he became its president by the time he was 31, and convinced frank sinatra not only to sing, but to appear in a series of commercials. >> frank sinatra: you see i get enough towels. >> rose: the golden nugget became wynn's golden egg. las vegas was just a bunch of casinos in the 1980s when steve wynn built the mirage, the first luxury resort on the strip. outside, a volcano exploded every 15 minutes. inside, he hired siegfried and roy to perform. next door, he built another hotel, and brought cirque de soleil to las vegas for the first time. the strip wasn't just about gambling anymore, and steve wynn was hailed as a visionary.

>> wynn: i've gotten too much credit for that, really. if you look at las vegas in the 1980s, there hadn't been anything built since 1973 new. and so, the city was in a time warp. and, as has so often been the case, in the valley of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. >> rose: so you had an idea and you were king. >> wynn: yeah, all of a sudden, i look like i was a rocket scientist. >> rose: not a rocket scientist, but a showman. >> captain of the... ready, aim, fire! >> rose: when he imploded the old dunes hotel in 1993, the event became a steve wynn extravaganza, live on television. >> ♪ viva las vegas! >> rose: out of the ashes, he

built the bellagio-- at the time, the most expensive hotel in the world. he sold the bellagio and mirage resorts in 2000, and pocketed more than $600 million. by then, las vegas was calling itself the entertainment capital of the world. steve wynn is known for his charm, but he's also known for his explosive temper. >> wynn: i wish that i was a more considerate person. and to the extent that i demonstrate consideration for other people, at my age, i wish that i had gotten to that point earlier.& >> rose: he got to this state of self awareness with the help of a friend, the dalai lama. >> wynn: he says to me-- i'll do an imitation-- "when you get angry, when you lose your temper, when you think that you shout and react in a poor way to other people, it is a result of

a false sense of yourself, an inflated sense of yourself. that is worthless." i'm steve wynn. >> rose: and what keeps steve wynn on top while other casino moguls are tottering near bankruptcy is that he never gambles with his own bottom line, and he has always been driven by a single vision. >> wynn: to see if i could do... if i could make people go, "wow." to see if i could create a place that was a wonderland; that it was better than the outside world, where everything, like joel gray said in "cabaret"-- "inside, everything is beautiful. even the girls are beautiful, even the band is beautiful." that seemed like such a fun way to spend your life.

>> welcome to the cbs sports update presented by lipitor. jason dufner leads the open by one shot. heavy rain has suspended play which will conclude tomorrow. the tour de france wrapped up today as alberto contador of spain secured his second title. lance armstrong finished third. in nascar news, jimmie johnson won the allstate 400 at the brickyard. it was his third win of the season. for more sports news and scores, log on to cbs sports.com. when diet and exercise are not enough, adding lipitor may help. unlike some other cholesterol lowering medications, lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk... of heart attack, stroke, and certain kinds of heart surgeries... in patients with several common risk factors...

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>> pelley: the recent passing of walter cronkite is a personal loss for andy rooney. long before either man came to cbs, walter and andy flew into combat together as reporters in world war ii. and so began a friendship of 65 years. >> rooney: how many really good friends do you have? if you're lucky, you have two or maybe three. walter cronkite was a really good friend of mine, a best friend. i didn't just know walter well-- i didn't respect him, i didn't revere him; i just liked him a lot. we were often together, and it was easy. we didn't have to think of things to talk about; things to

talk about just came to us naturally. i was with walter recently, and we didn't talk much because neither of us had much to say. you can do that with good friends, too. walter and i met in london in 1945. >> walter cronkite: i'm just back from the biggest assignment that any american reporter could have so far in this war. >> rooney: and i suppose we've been together a thousand times from then until now. it's one of those numbers in your life that you can't count. i've been proud over the years to see walter become, not just one of the best known people on television, but one of the best known people in the whole world of people. he was proud of me, too, and there's no better feeling in life than that. i wouldn't trade walter cronkite liking me for just about anything i've ever had. >> pelley: i'm scott pelley. we'll be back next week with another edition of "60 minutes." captioning funded by cbs, and ford-- built for the road ahead. nto my

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captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> previously on big brother,