it has been nearly a year since gross became the lynchpin for the diplomatic breakthrough. but why was he there? and what were his years in prison like? this is the first interview with the last prisoner of the cold war. >> alan gross: they threatened to hang me. they threatened to pull out my fingernails. they said i'd never see the light of day. i had to do three things in order to survive, three things every day. i thought about my family that survived the holocaust. i exercised religiously every day. and i found something every day to laugh at. >> pelley: did you think, in those early days, "boy, the u.s. government's going to get me out of here in the next week or so"? >> gross: oh, i absolutely did for the first two weeks. and then i said to myself, "where the hell are they? where are they?" i figured... i didn't have any idea i'd be there for five years. i knew i was in trouble. i knew i was in trouble. >> pelley: alan gross was attracted to trouble. he's 66, a native of maryland, an electronics specialist who spent 20 years making the rounds of war and disaster, set

. >> pelley: it has been nearly a year since alan gross became the lynchpin for the diplomatic breakthrough with cuba. but why was he a prisoner there, and what were those years like? >> i wasn't a spy. >> pelley: this is the first interview with the last prisoner from the cold war. >> this is absolutely ridiculous. "cuba, you want to put your finger into the u.s. government's eye, go ahead but leave me out of it." >> whitaker: five years ago, when arizona needed drugs to execute an inmate named jeffrey landrigan, it purchased them illegally from a supplier

he was 29 years old and he is described as the mastermind, the lynchpin, whatever word you use, he is the man that french authorities believe was behind the attack in paris, the massacre that killed 129 people. yesterday they raided that third-floor apartment and two people were killed and a woman and a man. they were not able to identify the man because his body was so badly damaged by the fire fight so they had to use fingerprint identification to establish that it is, they believe, abaaoud. it is a very, very important development, not least because the french believe that that terror cell was planning another attack in paris and at the same time they will be stunned that he had managed to make his way here to the center of europe. prior to that intelligence services believe that he was with isis in syria and that he perhaps planned this plot from there. instead, it now appeared that he had managed to make his way right to the capital city of france and himself orchestrate those attacks. abdel mohamed abaaoud they believe was killed in those raids and another attack on paris foiled

my staff being lynchpins of the service. and my colleagues for honoring me with their trust by electing me their speaker. together we banned earmarks, cut spending by more than $2 trillion, made the first entitlement reforms in nearly two decades and made possible for kids in washington, dc's toughest enableds to go to great schools. put another way, we did the right things for the right reasons and good things happen. hate been an honor to serve. signed, sincere rye, john away boehner. >> the chair announces to the house that in light of the resignation from the gentleman from ohio, mr. boehner, the whole number of the house is 434. >> that was just a look at speaker paul ryan gaveling the house into session for in the first time this morning. the house gaveled in earlier today to work on a number of bills, including several on homeland security. we'll see vote on some of those at 6:30 p.m. eastern today. some the senate returns tomorrow to begin debate on a water quality protection bill, with a vote to advance that measure

he is described as the mastermind and the lynchpin, whatever word you use, he is the man that french authorities believe was behind the attack in paris. the massacre that killed 129 people. yesterday they raided that third-floor apartment. two people were killed. a woman and a man. they were not able to identify the man because his body was so badly damaged by the fire fight so they had to use fingerprint identification to establish that it is, they believe, abaaoud. it is a very, very important development. not least because the french believe that that terror cell was planning another attack in paris and at the same time they will be stunned that he had managed to make his way here to the center of europe, prior to that, intelligence services believe that he was with isis in syria and that he perhaps planned that from there and it now appears that he had managed to make his way right to this capital city of france and himself orchestrate those attacks. abdulmohamed abaaoud killed in those raids and another attack in paris foiled. back to you. >> we are now hearing some of the drama

he was 29 years old and he is described as the mastermind, the lynchpin, whatever word you use, he is man that french authorities believe was behind the attack in paris, the massacre that killed 129 people. yesterday they raided that third-floor apartment and two people were killed and a woman and a man. they were not able to identify the man because his body was so badly damaged by the fire fight so they had to use fingerprint identification to establish that it is, they believe, abaaoud. it is a very, very important development, not least because the french believe that that terror cell was

reporter: so one person that remains so pivotal to all of this is the person they consider to be this lynchpin, abdelhamid abaaoud. there are unidentified bodies but we want to make sure they have not identified him, no. they are also working on the identity of seven men and one woman that they have in custody. but the biggest takeaway so far is those two people that they want so badly, salah abdeslam and abdelhamid abaaoud. >> reporter: and there could be information to lead to other things in the works. is that cell in the planning stages for something else? so you can bet that they have these special teams that they formed back in the '80s and '90s are doing heavy interrogating right now. >> reporter: our colleague brian williams is back in new york with more. >> yes, thomas, we are reviewing everything we all wrote down and recorded from that news conference. and an arsenal of war weapons was a quote from what the prosecutor said. this group, this cell was able to rent a total of three apartments, rent a total of three cars. they talked about the guns they recovered that were and were not

. >> pelley: it has been nearly a year since alan gross became the lynchpin for the diplomatic breakthrough with cuba. but why was he a prisoner there, and what were those years like? >> i wasn't a spy. >> pelley: this is the first interview with theast prisoner from the cold war. >> this is absolutely ridiculous. "cuba, you want to put your government's eye, go ahead but leave me out of it." >> whitaker: five years ago, when arizona needed drugs to execute an inmate named jeffrey landrigan, it purchased them illelelly from a supplier operating out of this driving school in london.. >> it's my understanding that there was a paperwork issue. the proper forms weren't filled out. >> whitaker: was it used in the execution of mr. landrigan? >> yes.