jim axelrod, cbs news, new york. >>> burt ross lost $5 million in bernie madoff's ponzi scheme. spoke in court movingly the day madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison. he joins us this morning. thanks for coming in. when you opened up the paper yesterday morning, you saw the headline, you read the article, you read the things that bernie madoff has said. what was your first reaction? >> well, he's back again to talking about in that article, and that was the lead article by diana henriques of "the new york times" about how years ago he had made money for people legitimately. and i still don't think he gets. i think he is so insecure that he's trying to say, and he said this at the trial also, that he really was a bright guy and could make money for people legitimately. but that's not bernie madoff's epitaph. the fact of the matter is, he couldn't make money for people without cheating. and that's what he is. he's a cheat. >> so in reading that article to you it said this guy still doesn't get it? >> no. and he never will. there was no expectation, i think, on any of our part

diana enrea kez of "the new york times" has talked to bernie madoff in prison and we'll talk about what heçó said with peter lattman of "the new york times" and brian ross of abc news. >> he had to know but his attitude is if you're doing something wrong, we don't want to know. >> charlie: and we continue with three italian reporters joining me to talk about the scandal involving italian prime minister silvio berlusconi. he'll tell us about the man and the charges. we conclude this evening with the great james taylor. ♪ i've seen fire and i've seen rain ♪ i've seen sunny days i thought they'd never end. >> charlie: an interview with bernie madoff, the possible captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. captioning sponsored by rose communications captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org trial of prime minister berlusconi of italy and james taylor and some tunes when we continue. if you've had a coke in the last 20 years, ( screams ) you've had a hand in giving college scholarships... and support to thousands of our

they closed down for other violations. >> disgraced fund manager bernie madoff says he couldn't have run his huge ponzi scheme align. madoff said banks and hedge funds fleeced victims out of savings but would not say which institutions were involved. a court-appointed trustee is suing madoff's primary bank in an attempt to get some money back for investors that lost billions of dollars. >> san francisco international airport is preparing for president obama's visit tomorrow. we told you he's coming here for a one-day trip for business and tech leaders talking about research and development, education and clean energy. mr. obama will land tomorrow evening and fly out of sfo friday morning so keep in mind the airport will be closed to other aircraft for tomorrow. san francisco state university is looking for ways to trim its budget. the san francisco chronicle reports after a year of study, officials claim reducing to 56, that would save $1 million and reduce the number of layoffs. the university would continue to have its four colleges, business, ethnic studies, health and human servic

government a giant ponzi scheme bernie madoff the man who ran the largest ponzi even in history says so in a new series of interviews with new york magazine steve fishman after calling fishman collect from prison where he's serving one hundred fifty years of sentencing it seems like made off on him to get a few things off his chest personally he says that he's a good person and he can't believe that nobody wants to hear about all the good things he did as a successful businessman despite the fact that he also is now known as the world's worst swindler when it comes to wall street at banks government regulations he likes to spread the blame again calling out the banks that he worked with saying if they had to know that there were problems saying that it's unbelievable that no one from goldman sachs has any criminal convictions after the financial crash at which point he also called the new regulatory reform of wall street a joke and called the entire government a ponzi scheme with a good person quote is a little bit questionable when it comes to wall street and the government is he ri

owners who said they were among the biggest losers in convicted fraudster bernie madoff's ponzi scheme>> you don't like to lose money that is just stolen from you. but the betrayal is something i'll never, ever forget. >> reporter: but now the trustee representing madoff victims is suing the mets owners, corporate name sterling equities, calling them one of the largest beneficiaries of madoff's fraud, reaping hundreds of millions in fictitious profits over a quarter century while they willfully turned a blind eye to every warning sign and red flag of fraud. in other words, that they did business with a crook and had to have known it. >> even if you don't know specifically, if there are signs that should have led you to know and you ignored them, then you are held liable. >> reporter: on day like today, the baseball season seems far away, but it is really only a month before pitchers and catchers report to spring training and the mets with one of the glamour franchises are already a tabloid mess. did the wilpon family benefit from the madoff fraud? will the owners have to pony up a bill

. >>> the jobs outlook and ben bernie madoff are back in the news. >> reporter: hong kong's hang seng was closed for the holiday while in japan, the nikkei gained more than 1%. wall street tries to finish out the week on a high note. retail sales helped push stocks higher, the nasdaq added four. wall street's focus today, the labor department's january jobs report. it's expected to show the economy add 145,000 jobs last month, but that is barely enough to keep up with the population growth. the unemployment rate is forecast to edge up to 9.5%. fed chair ben bernanke warns the job growth this year will not be strong enough to drive down unemployment quickly saying it could take several years before the labor department returns to pre- recession levels. bomb shell allegations that jp morganchase knew what ponzi king bernie madoff was up to and did nothing about it. emails show that executives knew of the fraud. and ford is expected to recall 280,000 trucks here in the united states to fix a door problem. the recall affects f-150 trucks from the 2009 and 2010 model years. the door handle

banks to finish in positive territory. >> susie: what do the new york mets, bernie madoff and the stockmarket have in common? tonight's "market monitor" connects the dots. he's eric schurenberg, editor in chief at cbs moneywatch. >> everybody knows that one of the biggest victims of the madoff scandal was sterling equities, the company that owns the new york mets. but according to a lawsuit filed last week by the madoff bankruptcy trustee, sterling should have seen it coming. the suit says sterling's own financial advisers repeatedly warned that madoff's returns were fishy, but were ignored. sterling partners fred wilpon and saul katz deny they could have know madoff was a crook, but there's nothing new about investors hearing only what they want to hear. behavioral economists call it "confirmation bias," seeing people making a lot of money outweighs even the most well reasoned warning. i thought of the mets owners when a financial planner told me that he can't get his clients to rebalance their portfolios today-- to sell some of their stock winners and shift to less risky investments.

bernie madoff is breaking his silence. interview with the "new york times," his first since his arrest two years ago, the former ponzi king takes a shot at wall street. he says banks and hedge funds, quote, had to know about his scheme long before it collapsed. he also insists he acted alone, that his friends, family and clients were completely in the dark. he is serving a 150-year sentence for bilking investors out of $65 billion. >>> so maybe it's happened to you a surprise charge you find on your phone bill. well it could be a case of cramming. on the consumerwatch, this morning, julie watts with some good news about those sneaky fees. >> reporter: every time dan franklin opens an at&t bill he gets a knot in his stomach. >> because i know there's going to be that charge on there. >> reporter: $4.95 from a company called usbi. it first popped up on his phone bill three years ago and now it shows up like clockwork. >> they say it's for a long distance service. >> reporter: a service he says he never ordered. so every mont

bernie madoff breaks his silence behind bars. >>> i was furious and hurt. i felt as if they were calling me a liar. >> the blame game. was it a wild swing or a faulty gaming product that shattered this tv? ,, rocket scientists! you gave us the space age... but your savings accounts are stuck in the stone age! earn more commodore with interestplus savings at capitalone.com. that's new school banking, baby! [ laughs ] instead of earning zilch, your savings will be earning three times the national average. three times more? roger that! go online and sign up at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet?! you to rush out and but a car this weekend. it's an unusual arrangement with the city's auto >>> concord wants you to rush out and buy a car this weekend. it's an unusual arrangement with the city's auto dealers. ann notarangelo with what is behind the kind of hard sell here. anne?? >> reporter: here's the offer. if you buy a car in concord through monday, then a portion of the sales will go to the mount diablo unified school district athletic and music program but

the dow lost 41 points, while the nasdaq gave back nearly 13. >>> bernie madoff is breaking his silence his first interview since his 2008 arrest, the former ponzi king told "the new york times" that wall street banks and hedge funds, quote, had to know about the scheme long before it collapsed. he also insisted his friends, family and clients never knew anything about his crimes. madoff is serving a 150-year sentence in a north carolina prison for bilking investors out of more than $65 billion. >>> americans continued getting their household finances in order last month. credit card companies posted the lowest rates of default and late payments in two years. that's a strong sign consumers had a better handle on paying their holiday bills. but, because the card companies aren't making as much from late charges, they are increasingly jacking up rates for everyone to get their money up front. >>> starbucks may soon be coming to a hotel near you. the coffee chain will provide disposable filter packs of single serve coffee for a half a million hotels. starbucks is looking for ways to increa

. >> charlie: bernie madoff has been in prison since 2009 for defrauding thousands of victims of billionsf dollars. during that period he's rarely spoken out. now in an interview with "the new york times" he claims that major banks and hedge funds were somehow complicit in this ponzi scheme. also says that his family knew nut big the fraud. joining me now brian ross chief investigationive correspondent for abc news, he reported on the story for world news tonight earlier this evening and here is what he said. >> among those accused by the bankruptcy trustee, the owners of the new york mets, the cats family. fred and madoff became close personal friends and had intertwined business interests. in the times interview madoff said willpon did not know of the scheme. in a lawsuit asking for a billion dollars the trustee has received e-mails from willpon's advisors warned him of madoff for years. quote notwithstanding our concerns, the willpon and cats family continued to invest with madoff's securities unquote the advisers wrote. at the spring training he said that the family denied the allegat

. >> plus, bernie madoff breaks his silence from behind bars. what he says the banks really knew about his ponzi schemes. >>> every time i go to get my phone bill, there's an additional charge from usbi. >> the hidden charge crammed onto phone bills and how you can stop it coming up. two agents were shot yes >>> u.s. and mexican officials are investigating a deadly attack on u.s. immigration officials. two agents shot yesterday when they were stopped at what appeared to be a military checkpoint in northern mexico. after the agents stopped someone opened fire on them. one u.s. immigration and customs enforcement agent was killed. agents are watching over his home now in texas. the other was wounded. >>> northern australia is being hit with a cyclone two weeks after a much stronger one struck there. cyclone carlos has knocked down trees and power lines causing flooding, as well. emergency services rescued several people from cars that stalled in floodwaters. schools, airports and the government buildings were all closed. >>> bernie madoff has give

bernie madoff breaks his silence.hy he says the banks had to know about his ponzi scheme before he was caught. >> and the winner is... how history was made at the world's biggest dog show. it's all coming up next. ,,,,,,,, ♪ i thought it was over here... ♪ [car horn honks] our outback always gets us there... ... sometimes it just takes us a little longer to get back. ♪ shouldn't be hard work or cost more money. now there's simple nutrition, only at safeway. green tags throughout the store call out what matters most to you. ♪ there are 22 different nutritional benefits highlighted. ♪ and with our low prices, now safeway makes bringing home the right choices easier than ever. that's simple nutrition. ♪ that's ingredients for life. safeway. first interview since his 2008 arrest. >>> good morning. here's a live look at chopper 5 over the bay bridge toll plaza where the metering lights were just turned on so traffic is just beginning to stack up. we are following several hot spots this morning including the closure of a ma

. >> bernie madoff interview. inside information he gave the "new york times" and the bay area attorney in on the secret. >> and when you donate to charity in a retailer who gets a write off? you or the store? 7 on your side is coming up. >> and final night of the ibm challenge. a comomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomom

i have to begin with the news from bernie madoff overnight. saying the banks had to know about his fraud. i know he had credibility problems. but it seems like the trustee is going down this road, as well. do you believe it? >> i don't know who knew what. what i do know is bernie did it. bernie destroyed an awful lot of human beings. his own family. it's tragic. no less tragic than other families. what he did broke the law. knowing he was going to do it. he knew in the end it had to end terribly for a lot of people. people trusted him. and they shouldn't have. i knew the guy casually 30 years ago, 20 years ago. the s.e.c. put together a study of the marketplace. i was at solomon brothers and goldman sachs was there. bernie was there. and then i hadn't heard about him. >> you didn't suspect anything back then? >> he was a nice guy back then. and i hadn't heard his name for 20 years. >> if you're getting those returns, you know something's going on, right? you're a sophisticated investor. >> anybody who thinks they can beat the market long-term,

hedge funds were also at fault for failing to look into inconsistencies in his business. >> if bernie madoff gives anybody any names or specific financial institutions that had concrete evidence that he was running a ponzi scheme, they will face civil and criminal exposure. >> reporter: madoff says he follows news reports about himself and seems surprised to learn in recent lawsuits that bankers claim they had doubts about him before his deception was revealed. i'm reading more about how suspicious they were than i ever realized at the time. while he is cooperated in the recovery of investor assets, madoff has refused to provide any criminal evidence related to his fraud. madoff also disputed claims that he refused to attend funeral services for his son mark who committed suicide in december. he said his attendance at the funeral would have been, quote, a media circus and cruel to my family. >> rebecca jarvis is with us again. he is talking about banks and hedge funds having known what is going on. let's say, in fact, we do find out that that is accurate. could those banks and funds face pro

. >> bernie madoff says she not the only one to blame for taking billions. pointing the finger at. >> oakland schools might send out hundreds of layoff notices. why it has no choice coming up in a live report. ♪ [ female announcer ] starbucks via is planted the same... ♪ ...harvested the same... ♪ ...and roasted the same as our other premium coffees. it only makes sense it would taste the same. so, try it for yourself. buy a pack of 100% natural starbucks via ready brew. we promise you'll love it or we'll send you a bag of starbucks coffee. it's the starbucks via taste promise. look for it where you buy groceries. >> mammoth picking up over three feet of snow overnight. more like two to three feet in places in tahoe and this is the live look overhead. this is san francisco. you're waking up in san jose or in the south bay you're probably think i thinking -- raining heavily in the south bay. what's happening is the front is pushing to the south so the heaviest rain is coming down over central california. and in our neck of the woods, starting to turn spotty.

disgraced fund street manager bernie madoff is talking for the first time since his conviction and onef the biggest ponzi schemes in history. some of the biggest banks and hedge funds were complicit in his scheme but would not say way institutions were involved. they are suing j. p. morgan chase in an attempt to get some money back from the investors he defrauded out of billions. the bank denies doing anything wrong. madoff is serving a life sentence. >> a teacher suspended for her profanity-laced blocking says she was telling the truth about students unwilling to work hard at school. natalie monroe who's eight months' pregnant was suspended with pay after students say she discovered a blog that show wrote like a diary to her friends. things like saying i hate your kid were tongue-in-cheek. >> i mean, it was not meant for everybody to see, but if it's gonna get out there, maybe it will start a conversation that needs to happen. >> do you want to continue teaching? >> yes. >> at that particular school? >> i have no plans for a career change so i will we'll see what happens. >> that was

coming up, a bomb shell allegation in the bernie madoff case, the major bank that allegedly knew about the schemes and did nothing about it. >>> and a fourth suspicious fire in 24 hours in the castro district. within the past hour, we will hear from the person who put it out herself. >>> and the last ditch effort to save the district schools. what parents are doing to save the schools in the face of big budget cuts. -- in the face of big budget cuts. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ♪ ♪ do do da do doom da do ba do [ female announcer ] last year, ethan thompson and three friends from missoula, montana, put a band together and won the first ever folgers jingle contest. [ kara ] that was great! let's do it again. ♪ the sun shinin' when i rise... ♪ [ kara ] so, we're doing it again. to find out how you could be the next folgers jingle contest winner go to bestpartofwakinup.com. ♪ the best part of wakin' up is folgers in your cup ♪ [ laughs ] february 4-th. i'm sydnie kohara. >>> good morning everyone. thank you for joining us. sit friday, february hath. -- february 4th. >>> four fires in satisfy's castro d

someone who just wants to be respected is just, you know, of course, is bernie madoff. bernie madoff wants to be respected but he doesn't care if he deserves the respect he's getting, right. an honorable person wants to be respected because they want to be respected because she's entitled to the respect. and i think that that means that when you care about something, when you have a value like scholarly -- like our respect for scholarly values and the respect we all have for create artistic achievement, one way you manifest your respect for that value is by honoring those who are -- who achieve beyond the norm in that domain. indeed, i wouldn't understand someone who said i respect the value of music but i don't respect the people who are good at it. what would that mean? so honoring great athletes, musicians, scholars, nurses who go above and beyond the call of duty in their work as nurseds and so on -- honoring soldiers, who do what they have to do and go way beyond what they have to do, honor is the ideal way of responding to these people. think about this. we ask so

disgraced fund street manager bernie madoff is talking for the first time since his conviction and oneof the biggest ponzi schemes in history. some of the biggest banks and hedge funds were complicit in his scheme but would not say way institutions were involved. they are suing j. p. morgan chase in an attempt to get some money back from the investors he defrauded out of billions. the bank denies doing anything wrong. madoff is serving a life sentence. >> a teacher suspended for her profanity-laced blocking says she was telling the truth about students unwilling to work hard at school. natalie monroe who's eight months' pregnant was suspended with pay after students say she discovered a blog that show wrote like a diary to her friends. things like saying i hate your kid were tongue-in-cheek. >> i mean, it was not meant for everybody to see, but if it's gonna get out there, maybe it will start a conversation that needs to happen. >> do you want to continue teaching? >> yes. >> at that particular school? >> i have no plans for a career change so i will we'll see what happens. >> that was

we have the latest on justin bieber, elizabeth taylor and bernie madoff.> first, let's go to tonight's top story. >> we want to turn now to that ugly attack in egypt. >> lara logan suffered a beating and sexual assault in cairo. >> pictures beamed a across the worl of egyptians celebrating, a barbaric attack was unfolding. >> all of us were shocked at the attack on lara. >> our thoughts and prayers are with lara logan, her family, her coworkers.

investors sold shares on word that the trustee for victims of bernie madoff's fraud has targeted citigroup. in a suit filed in december but unsealed this week, trustee irving picard claims citi ignored red flags on madoff's fraud. picard said, "armed with public and considerable non-public information about madoff, citi knew or should have known of possible fraud at madoff's investment advisory business". citi said it will vigorously defend itself against the trustee's claims. tom, as you know, citi's not the only big bank picard is targeting. he has also sued j.p. morgan chase and bank of america's merrill lynch unit. and both of those stocks were also down sharply today. >> there wasn't much that was not down sharply today. all of the 10 major s&p stock sectors were in negative territory by the closing bell. let's go ahead and get folks updated with tonight's "market focus." >> tom: stock investors were greeted with a stiff sell-off after the long president's day weekend. stock prices dropped, volatility jumped, and bond interest rates fell as prices rose. let's start with today's tradin

wikileaks cables show bernie madoff tried to get them to invest in his ponzi scheme. the libyans didn't bite. >> andrea mitchell in our d.c. newsroom with the rest of this story tonight. thanks. >>> we'll be watching oil prices here each night with all this ongoing turmoil in libya. for a brief while today oil hit $100 a barrel before falling back a bit. at the end of the day closing above $98 a barrel. highest it's been, by the way, since the oil price spike back in '08. >>> now we switch to the disaster zone in new zealand where it's already thursday and chances of finding survivors in the rubble of that devastating earthquake are fading by the hour. the death toll is now more than 70. it will almost certainly climb, sadly, given the number of those believed to be trapped. our own george lewis is with us live from the city of christchurch tonight. george, good evening. >> reporter: brian, it's a city of frayed nerves tonight. we've been feeling aftershocks all day long as the effort to rescue people trapped beneath the quake rubble continues around the clock. as the

the trustee overseeing the liquidation of bernie madoff's business claims j.p. morgan chase likely knew about the ponzi scheme for years, but did nothing about it. he's suing for over $6 billion, and says the bank collected billions in fees on madoff's accounts. the suit was filed in december but only unsealed today. chase had fought to keep it confidential. the bank denies the allegations. it says, "j.p. morgan did not know about or in any way become a party to the fraud orchestrated by bernard madoff" >> realistically, there is no other source to get this many people for that cost. >> tom: still ahead, why careerbuilder keeps spending millions of dollars to advertise during the super bowl, and what it gets in return. egypt's beleaguered president hosni mubarak says he's fed up and ready to step down, but he fears doing that would result in more chaos in his country. even as he spoke, the fight for egypt's future went on in the streets of cairo. violence between pro- and anti- mubarak demonstrators continued for a second day. meantime, a top western think tank

. >>> and we find ruth madoff in hiding, bernie madoff's wife, her new life. >>> then, world outrage over the brutal sexual assault on the "60 minutes" correspondent. >> i'm lara logan. >> the latest on her condition. >>> plus -- >> walk away. >> real-life super heroes. the nationwide phenomenon. >> this is my business. >>> now, "inside edition weekend." >> after speaking gibberish on air a reporter explains. >> wait until you see her reaction when she watches that report. i'm paul boyd. >> i'm diane mcinerney. we are finally hearing from the correspondent whose live grammy report went terribly awry. she had so much difficulty speaking there were concerns that she had a stroke live on the air. >> but in her first interview she has a different medical explanation, and she cringes as she watches the report for the first time. >> i was terrified. i was scared,

effectively did what it was supposed to do with with respect to bernie madoff. and when i hear my colleague, mr. miller, say, well, this is about holding the s.e.c. accountable for what they did not do, i don't know how you hold the s.e.c. accountable for what they did not do by increasing -- by decreasing their ability to regulate an industry and by decreasing their budget. those two things don't compute with me. i just -- i'm having a big problem internalizing this. you have an agency here that has a $1 billion annual budget. it has responsibility for policing and monitoring all of the things that mr. green talked about in his debate but on a gross level, $8.5 billion, billion shares of stock transferred every day. so $1 billion a year we're supposed to monitor and control $8.5 billion shares -- 8.5 billion shares a day transferred and transacted. and here we are talking about well, let's take authority from the s.e.c. and let's take money away from the s.e.c. to do what it's supposed to do. friends, that does not compute. and the american people know that it

. >>> meanwhile, the trustee overseeing bernie madoff's bankruptcy case is looking at jpmorgan. executives were given blunt warnings that madoff was running a ponzi scheme, but the bank stayed quiet concerned more about protecting its own investment in madoff's funds. they are looking for $6.4 million from jpmorgan chase. >>> the super bowl could be a big boom. despite the icy weather, the game could post records for sales of tickets and merchandise generating a bigger impact for north texas than any previous host. price water is predicting a 200,000 bunch of people to descend on the game to spend $202 million. scott, that tops $195 million spent in '07 in florida. >> fair enough. looking forward to it. thank you, nicole. >>> dog walkers, baby strollers and bicyclists, everyone has a story about some near miss accident on bay area walking trails. but is it time for the police to step in? "today in the east bay's" vicky nguyen looks at accidents on popular trails and what can be done about them. >> reporter: one minute she was on a leisurely stroll with her dog. >> i didn't see i

. >>> bernie madoff is talking again. in an interview with new york magazine, the convicted wall street swindler calls new financial reforms a joke and again blames big banks and hedge funds and even his own clients for failing to question his bogus returns. madoff also said keeping the billion-dollar scheme a secret was a nightmare and revealed his wife has not spoken to him since the suicide of their son in november. she is angry, he says, i destroyed our family. madoff is serving 150 years in a north carolina prison after being convicted of fraud charges in 2009. >>> and there is no end in sight to the runup in oil prices. the cost for crude oil topped $99 a barrel this morning in asia due to the ongoing turmoil. oil production in libya has been cut in half while other nations have pledged to increase output analysts are worried the unrest could spread. meantime, gas prices have jumped 18 cents in a week to a nationwide average of $3.35 a gallon. that is the highest ever for this time year. >>> that's your moneywatch.

>>> plus, on top of that, bernie madoff's life behind bars. does he take blame for losing billions of investors' money? his first interview is out this morning. >>> and we'll update the battle of the brains. two humans and one computer. is watson unbeatable? >>> it is time, now, for a check of market activities, starting overseas. tokyo's nikkei average rose 0.6% today. hong kong's hang seng climbed more than 1%. in london, the ftse opened higher. on wall street, the dow fell 41 points yesterday. the nasdaq dropped nearly 13 points. >>> well, the heart of wall street could soon be controlled by a german company. the owner of the new york stock exchange has agreed to be acquired by the owner of the frankfurt stock exchange, in a $10 billion deal. the merger will face a major regulatory review from a range of u.s. and european agencies. >>> fewer homeowners are late on their mortgage payments. new numbers show delinquencies fell below 6.5% between october it w and december. it was the fourth-straight decline. but experts do not expect the rate t

convicted ponzi schemer bernie madoff breaks his silence and drops a bombshell in his first interview since going to prison. why he says banks and hedge funds turned a a blind eye to h fraud and did he really refuse to attend his son's funeral? >>> grounded -- the united airlines takes its entire fleet of boeing 757s out of service and is expected to cause major delays at airports nationwide. >>> and it's a bird, a plane, it's supergranny. an exclusive live interview with the grandmother who fended off the thieves with her purse. she's brought her handbag with her today, february 16, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> and welcome to "today" on this wednesday morning. i'm meredith vieira. >> i'm ann curry. our crew is staying way back, i noticed. talking about -- >> she's actually a sweetheart, until you get on the wrong side of her. don't mess with her. >> don't do that. you talked about bernie madoff. big news. in "the new york times," he makes a strong assertion. he's contending that unidentified banks were somehow complicit in his elaborate fraud. >> that goes

. >>> bernie madoff is talking again. in an interview with new york magazine, the convicted wall street swindler calls new york financial reforms a joke, and again blames big banks and hedge funds, and even his own clients for failing to question his bogus returns. madoff also said keeping the billion dollar scheme a secret was a nightmare. and revealed his wife has not spoken to him since the suicide of heir than in november. she's angry, he says, i destroyed our family. madoff's serving 150 years in a north carolina prison. after being convicted of fraud charges in 2009. >>> well, no end in sight to the run-up in oil prices. the cost for crude topped $99 a barrel this morning in asia. due to the ongoing turmoil, oil production in libya has been cut in half. while other nations have pledged to increase output, analysts are worried the unrest could spread. meantime, gas prices have jumped 18 cents in a week to a national average of $3.29 a gallon. that is the highest ever for this time of year. >>> warren buffett is bulli

great reading and i'm sure that she's going to offer some very sound financial advice just like bernie madoff did. now if you continue to scan the pages of the magazine oh you're going to come across the centerfold this month's cover girl is going to be none other than a failed nevada senate candidate sharron angle get a look at her she ran one of the worst campaigns in history couldn't even win against the very very unpopular harry reid so now she's going to show off her sixty one year old body the tea party faithful and it's just weird she looking a little asian here anyway way to go share it and so there you have it that is a first issue of the tea party review now ok we made some of that up obviously the stuff in the middle but i think you get the point the tea party movement bless their hearts have thus far been a little lost a little hypocritical but provided a lot of entertainment so i've a feeling at this magazine it's going to providers with a lot of left. now last night we saw something that i dare say could give us a glimmer of hope when it comes to our lawmakers transcending parti

>>> in his first interview since the collapse of his ponzi scheme, bernie madoff insists his family didole thing. madoff tell's today's "new york times" that numerous banks and hedge funds were complicit in the scheme. he claims the attitude of those unnamed institutions was, quote, if you're doing something wrong, we don't want to know about it. >> the plot thickens. >>> overseas now where italy's leader is now facing a trial on sex charges in april. prosecutors say silvio berlusconi paid an underage girl for sex and then tried to cover it up. >> italians in general have been forgiving of berlusconi's behavior but now millions of italian women are putting the pressure on. t.j. winick with more details. t.j.? >> reporter: good morning, rob and vinita. it's not against the law in italy to hire a prostitute. but prosecutors in the predominantly catholic country now say the prime minister's behavior has finally crossed the line. even for a 74-year-old billionaire politician who has weathered several legal battles, this will be the toughest of berlusconi's career. italy's prime minister wil

executives at jp morgan chase denied that bernie madoff had financial dealings.ack in june of weave what appears to be a -- 2007 what appears to to be a high level of executives. ma madoff had a cloud over -- madoff had a cloud over his head. the bank said the documents are taken out of context. they deny any wrong doing. >>> a young man makes a passionate plea. why the son of lesbian parents is drawing national attention. >> it makes you start seeing stuff that is not there. it's weird but scary. >> talking about a new legal street drug. the long-term effects users suffer. >>> good morning, westbound highway 4 traffic looking pretty good. steve and i will be back with traffic and weather in a few minutes. >>> good morning, we have a little bit of fog. after that it will be sunny to mostly sunny. it's not going to stop temperatures from getting into the 60s. >>> the reward offer is increasing for the monterey county man accused of mutilating thousands of puppies. he's accused of cropping the ears of puppies. now they are nacritessing their reward for -- now they

entitlement that comes first for the honorable person is so they just want to be respected like bernie madoff he was to be respected he does not care if pete deserves the respect the honorable person was to be respected because she is entitled and i think that means when you care about something and have a value that shared respect the scholarly values were great achievements one way to manage that to is by honoring those who achieve beyond the norm in that demand and indeed i would not understand somebody who's at the respective value of the music but not the people who are good at it what does that mean? honoring great athletes are musicians are scholars nurses who go above and beyond the call of duty with their work and honoring those people and soldiers not just what they have to do but sit beyond but it is the ideal way and think about this we ask soldiers to do things you could not purred-- possibly require because offering your life is not something you can be required to do. but it is said good thing if they're willing to risk their lives we cannot punish them for not giving up their

this russell stover needs to be locked up with bernie madoff.ove is in the air all over the united states but especially in the state of new jersey. and even more especially between sammy and ronnie on "jersey shore." >> you. i [ bleep ] you. leave. >> take a break. >> i've had enough. >> come on. >> i've had enough of you. >> [ bleep ]. >> i'm going to [ bleep ] -- >> i've had enough of you. you hurt me. >> i hate you. [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: a sweetheart for you. you know, there's no question that it's a lot of fun watching people trying to kill each other on valentine's day but it's also nice to have some family entertainment too so tonight to satisfy both of those interests we took the audio from this week's edition of "jersey shore" and smashed it up from the charlie brown valentine's special and makes it a lot more huggable all the way around. >> i have never been so hurt in my entire life. >> i have enough respect and love for you to whether mr. admit what i did was [ bleep ] wrong and shameful and disrespectful. you're so [ ble

and this morning, bernie madoff breaks his silence, in his first jailhouse interview. big banks had to know about his massive ponzi scheme. and reveals his reason for not attending his son's funeral. >> attacked in egypt. cbs reporter, lara logan, beaten and sexually assaulted while covering the protests in cairo. we'll have the latest on her recovery. >>> teacher under fire. she calls her students lazy, rude, out of control. should her comments online keep her out of the classroom? she's here to respond. ♪ >>> and not any hounddog. she's america's top dog. a stunning upset at the country's most famous dog show. we'll introduce you to hickory. >>> good morning, everyone. and how about that scottish deerhound, crowned best in show last night? the first of her breed to ever win. and after you meet hickory, here

morgan to be in bernie madoff's massive fraud.uing the bank for $6 billion saying it claimed it still did business with madoff after having doubts about him. retail sales surprisingly strong last month despite snowstorms across. of the country. fashion designer kenneth cole with an upload online. he used cairo to promote his spring line. >> state air quality regulators have until tuesday to come up with a response to a court ruling on california's landmark 2006 climate law. in a tentative decision last month, a superior court judge said the resources board must do further analysis before it can implement the law. reducing gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. but it has a cap and trade provision to buy a state permit to have a specified amount of greenhouse gases in the air. >> united, continental and american all raised their fares by 4 to $10 ticket on many routes this week. other airlines have raise the prices on their routes as well. faircompare.com says it's the fifth fare hike this winter. >> big checking could be a thing of

and the owners of the new york mets are accused of making millions while turning a blind eye to bernie madoff's massive fraud. a trustee trying to recover money for victims, said the team's owners made money with investments with madoff, while ignoring warnings made by the investment firm. it says in a lawsuit brought by the trustee, the owners used much of the profits to run the mets and to enrich themselves and family trusts. >>> finally, one of the big bowl games this weekend is the annual wing bowl in philadelphia. thousands of fans, thousands watched john "super" squibb eat take home his third-straight title. eating a record of 255 wings in half an hour. he knocked off the five-time champ by one wing. and he consumed, we have here, imagine this. 45,000 calories, 2,500 grams of fat. this is in 30 minutes. >> wow. >> and if he survives, he gets to enjoy the first prize, which is $20,000 and a pickup truck. >> a pickup truck. are these boneless wings? it seems hard to eat that amount of wings. >> yeah. i would think so. even if they're boneless, a half an hour? 255? that's a consumer. >> ron

and they also wanted to know more about bernie madoff.first interview, the convicted felon raised questions about what the banks knew about his ponzi scheme and when. finally, all this searching online is apparently keeping a lot of us from getting enough shut-eye. a new yahoo! readers digest survey finds 78% of adults admit they stay up too late because they're busy online. i guess if they're already up, hopefully they'll stay up and watch you guys, too. and, by the way, vinita best of luck in your next endeavor. take care, guys. >> that was so sweet from her. she anchored the shows. she knows i'll be doing a lot of sleeping. >> you have earned it, that's for sure. >> coming back soon, i think. >> we are. >> i didn't know if there was another surprise here. >>> coming up later, the fun is just getting started. we have a very special "skinny" coming up. ♪ skinny so skinny ♪ >>> well, my dear, on your final day here on the show, "the skinny" is all about you. very special edition of "the skinny" for our departing "world news now" anchor, a

bernie madoff was just one man. imagine a world in which there are hundreds of bernie madoffs who play unchecked on investors. that's the world we will be in if the majority's cuts for the s.e.c. becomes law. mr. speaker and members, if we want to create jobs and spur investment in our economy, we must fully fund the s.e.c. i don't see how anyone can make a rational argument that the s.e.c. should be level funded or underfunded when we know that that's the only police on the beat to protect our investors and ensure that people who have invested in their retirement will have to go back to work at 65 and 7 -- won't have to go back to work at 65 and 0 and 5 years old. that's what happened when we had this meltdown. now we know what happened. we have good management overthere -- over there. we have people who understand what they need. they have come to people who have been elected and sent to congress to do a job. that job is to look out for the average person. the average american. all of our constituents are not inte