with raul leon, alleged to be one of the leaders of the most powerful prison gang of all, the mexican mafiaow powerful is the mexican maul yeah here at bell can bay? >> i don't even touch on that right there. i don't -- i don't speak on it myself, you know? >> raul leon had such influence throughout the state by assigning individuals to represent him he would have people assaulted, he would have riots take place on his orders. >> serving a life sentence for murder, leon lives in what is widely regarded as the most restrictive environment in the state of california. pelican bay security housing unit or shoe. inmates are confined to their cells for all but 90 minutes better day, which they're allowed to spend in a nearby concrete exercise area. leon had been living here for 14 years when we met him. >> i always tell people, they didn't build a prison hard enough to break me. some of us are stronger than others. and i think that's what pelican bay is about. only the strongest are the ones that are going to make it. >> while leon refuses to disavow loyalty to his gang, the prison sees a slow bu

according to him some mexican mafia inmates want to take over the jail and they issued an order to attack black inmates. the fight starts with just a couple of people and then it gets incredibly rowdy. as the fight erupted, more and more people get involved. after a few minutes of the fight, guards did come in and try to take control. one of the inmates picked up a mop and tried to use the mop handle as a weapon. this is especially dangerous because the jail in downtown phoenix is a high risk, maximum security jail. after this fight happened, they actually forced a lockdown of the entire third floor and there is 750 inmates on the third floor. >> what's the injury report out of this? >> oddly, no severe injuries were reported from this brawl, but abc 15 spoke to a former inmate who was in the jail at the time that this happened. >> it was horrible. i mean they were basically taking inmates, locking them down for 24 to 72 hours, not letting anybody out. srt coming in doing cell searches for no reason and i was only there four days. >> the other terrifying thing about this report is guards

department of corrections recognizes seven different gangs as being prison games, northern structure, mexican mafia, bgs, texas syndicate, natural low riders. >> to prevent bloodshed, gang associations must be strictly monitored and documented by every correction all-officer in the constitution. >> there are certain factions within the different races and gangs do to the get along. northern and southern his pan, do not get along. if i put a northern and southern hispanic in a same cell, there's going to be a fight. it's business. >> they will fight each other at any opportunity yet they band together along ethnic line. >> there's skin heads, several different types of white people. >> i state with my race. pretty much whatever happens happens. >> the die nam ibs will change constantly. one week there's a rift between the black and whites, the next week a rift between the h hispanics and whites. >> february 25th looked like a regular day. one difference went unnoticed. while it's typical for some inmates to stay in their cell, every southern hispanic in the facility went to the yard that day. >> i w

. >> before getting locked up he was in a gang known for aligning themselves with the mexican mafia.it was kind of fun to me because back in the day, i loved violence when i was little. i never had a father, so that's probably where i didn't have enough discipline. i love fighting. that's just me. >> gangs weren't a problem for andrew huff. anger was. >> it's like when you're building up stress, it's like a bomb exploding. as soon as somebody gets you to a point, you explode.ç i fall down in tears and realize what you done was wrong. >> we don't ever want to send somebody back into the community that we don't feel can be successful. that's the ultimate goal. sometimes we're successful, and other times we just fail. >> andrew, are you ready? >> yeah. >> you're nervous? >> why don't you go ahead and talk to us about why you're in prison. >> i'm here for arson, breaking and entering, theft, and resisting arrest and probation violation. >> relax, okay? >> what we're doing here today is all about you. you said that you have anger issues that boil up inside of you. and that's what happene

used family connections with a foreign drug cartel to rise up the ranks of his prison gang, the mexican mafia. >> once i opened the door with the drugs, i got recognition. by getting that recognition, i get power. with the power, i get control of whatever yard i go to. once i control the yard i control the drug situation and the inmates. >> miguel perez was a big drug distributor in various prisons he had been in. i think the thing that so shocked me is that so much of the drugs coming into prison can never happen, unless there's a whole group of people out there willing to assist. >> even though the individuals locked up, they have a lot of access to individuals on the street. they have visitors that see them on a regular basis. they have mail, they can send mail out, receive mail. they're able to send coded messages out to other street gangs, or carry out their deeds. >> i would give people on the main line who didn't get visits, who didn't have no visitors coming in, i would set up my homegirls from the streets on the visiting list, and the girls that were coming to visit these guys were c

mafia. the mexican part, once you say mafia, everybody shivers. ooh. i don't give a [ bleep ].don't pay my bills. know what i'm saying? straight up. they don't do nothing for me. all they've ever done is hurt me. >> while martinez's denunciation of his gang might cast him as a loner, norma lopez has just joined a notorious sisterhood, she's the newest member of the atom 100 pod. a secluded housing unit for four of the most dangerous women in the entire maricopa county jail system. >> i may look all sweet and innocent and stuff, but when it comes down to it, i can be tough, if i have to be. >> lopez was placed in atom 100 after a violent assault on another inmate. >> i don't think i've ever really lost a fight, like lost, like where i can say oh, yeah, oh, she got me, you know? >> she's also considered a high-security risk to staff. because her alleged crime involved the shooting death of a phoenix police officer, attempting to arrest her and her boyfriend. >> it was a check cashing scheme gone bad. >> lopez is alleged to have distracted the officer, giving her boyfriend the opp

mafia, mexican cartels. any number of people would like to kill american presidents. they are well plugged into prostitutes. >> bob baer, doug brinkley. thank you very much. >>> now to turn to the other big story in washington. the raging controversy of working moms. ann romney. now a woman who knows about that. meredith vieira. >> why is it every time i'm on your show you're never here? why is that? >> you know what it is? i don't trust myself in your physical presence. >> that is such a bunch of bull. why is it? >> i'm serious. for people like me who have woken up to you for years and years and not having you in my bedroom every morning is agony. i don't trust myself. >> okay. whatever. >> should we move off this uncomfortable subject? >> yes. you're embarrassing me. >> let's move to working mothers. i reckon you have a good view of this. you've been somebody who's been a hard working mom and tv host. which is harder? >> i think probably raising your children is the hardest thing you can do and the most rewarding. obviously. because you're shaping lives. doing telev