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[narrator] new york city.

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[woman] happy new year!

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At the dawn of the 80s
it was exploding
with opportunity.

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[newsreader] boom times.
That's what the numbers
signal today,

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00:00:14,206 --> 00:00:17,016
An economy that's
on a roll in this country.

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00:00:17,092 --> 00:00:21,186
A place to seek money,
power, fame.

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Amid the glitz and greed,
five titans
seized their moment...

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00:00:27,677 --> 00:00:32,531
And by 1983,
some were crossings lines
that couldn't be uncrossed.

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A mysterious trader
had convinced the market

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He was a magician,
when in reality
he was just a cheater.

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[man 2] boesky
was blatantly violating
the law with insider trading.

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A poor girl from brooklyn
had become
the queen of hospitality

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But her fairy tale
would soon take
a very dark turn.

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[woman 2] she has become
fortuitously cruel.

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Leona helmsley forgot
the most important lesson,

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Which is you should keep
your friends close and you keep
your enemies closer.

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A real estate showman had won
his nasty battle with the city

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And was preparing to make
his biggest gamble yet.

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[donald trump] yes!

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[newsreader] donald trump
has also ventured into gambling.

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[charles bagli] wall street was
willing to give him

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Whatever he wanted.

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And as the new sheriff in town
plotted the move that
would launch him to stardom...

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Giuliani cast himself as the law
and order man of new york.

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[rudolph giuliani] this is
a great day for law enforcement

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But this is a bad day,
probably the worst,
for the mafia.

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A ruthless young capo
made a move of his own.

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One that would shake the mafia
to its core.

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[woman] her son, who was fresh
in the ground when she said
"I will destroy you."

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[barbara res] he couldn't
get out of his own way
when it came to being cheap.

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[woman] one more complaint...
I close you up.

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[woman] she was definitely
a bitch and I don't mean that
in a pejorative sense.

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These five titans would reshape
the city and the world
we live in today.

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And in 1983, nothing could stand
in their way.

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[newsreader] what a year
it's been for music.

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Top of the charts this week is
"every breath you take"
by the police.

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[newsreader] boom times.
That's what the numbers
signaled today,

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An economy that's on a roll
in this country.

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With the recent building boom,
new york city skyline
is ever changing,

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And today a topping out ceremony
was held at trump tower.

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By 1983, the country's
economic fortunes
had rebounded

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And for many the despair
of the late 70s was starting
to feel like a distant memory.

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It seemed that maybe reagan
had made america great again

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And new york city
was greatest of all.

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[andrew ross sorkin]
you had people like ivan boesky
all of a sudden

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Making millions of dollars,
going to lunch
for thousands of dollars.

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[leona helmsley] look
at the shape of his head.

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You ever seen a head shaped
that way in your whole life?

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[sorkin] parties
with helicopters landing
on boats.

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And this was new money.
This wasn't old money any more.

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America's next generation
of leaders, the "yuppies,"

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What some people call
the "y" word now, they're
young urban professionals...

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[newsreader] for yuppies.
It's all about business.
Capitalism is in.

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The yuppie likes to go home,
slap on his swatch,

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Put on his reeboks,
turn his socks inside out.

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Then you put on a little bit
fancy denim jean
because you know,

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You don't want to go out
with your basic levis.
How are you doing?

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[bryan burrough] you were young,
you were making money and were
utterly unashamed about it.

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We're going for the 80s.

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We're going for the six figure.
That's all we want.

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[man] new york had transformed
into a playground
built on money.

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It was a playground all right,
and not just
for well dressed wall streeters.

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In the shadows,
another enormous industry
was humming along.

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Sucking in cash
from almost every corner
of the city.

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[newsreader] when you
do something as simple as this,
the mob collects.

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They've got a cut
of the vending machine business.

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Construction, the life blood
of new york. It also gives
transfusions of money

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And power to organized crime
and it goes on and on.

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The garment industry, jewelry,
automobile dealerships,
that drink before dinner,

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The dinner
at a mob-controlled restaurant
or just a pizza after the movie.

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[michael chertoff] back
in the 80s, if you were
a new yorker you understood

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That the mob was a very,
very powerful force
in the life of new york city.

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Essentially, it was almost
as if the mafia was a separate
government that could tax

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The citizens of new york
for almost everything
they bought.

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[newsreader] builders,
far from trying to oust the mob,

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Depend on it
to cut costly delays
and red tape.

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And what does super developer,
donald trump believe?

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I really don't know anything
about it.

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[george gabriel] the mobs
are making good money.

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They're getting rich
with the building boom, but then
you have the normal rackets.

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The mob,
it's a multi-billion dollar
a year enterprise.

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Gambling, loan sharking,
racketeering.

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All tools of the trade
for the five organized crime
families.

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It was about making money
but it was also about power.

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[ed mcdonald] new york city
had five
organized crime families.

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The bosses of the five families
comprised what they called
the new york commission.

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With a group of the five leaders
of the five families.

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The bosses of the gambino,
genovese, bonanno, colombo,
and lucchese crime families.

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[randy mastro] those five
family heads would literally
meet on a regular basis

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And plot out their empire

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.As if they were businessmen,
only their business
was a criminal enterprise.

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They divided up the city
and divided up
the different industries.

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They were operating
as a company.

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Yet city officials
and prosecutors seemed to be
doing little or nothing about it

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The city was crying out
for someone
to take a leadership role.

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[newsreader] ruldoph giuliani
is a man
of many dimensions.

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He loves listening
to classical music
and he loves listening to opera.

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[giuliani] probably
it's genetic.
I think if you're italian

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There has to be an interest
in opera
just as in your chromosomes.

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Rudy giuliani was
a remarkable crusading
us attorney.

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With an organized crime epidemic
sweeping the city,

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1983 proved the perfect time
for a bold prosecutor
to re-enter new york

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And orchestrate
his meteoric ascent
sent to the top.

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He did it by enforcing the rules
although he didn't always
play by them.

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[jonathan mahler] rudy giuliani
came into office as us attorney

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For the southern district
in manhattan.

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He was ruthlessly ambitious

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And had higher office
on his mind
from an early age.

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When he came here he had
a lot of support
in washington behind him.

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He'd been a third ranking person
in the justice department.

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The number three job
in washington,
you're serving someone else.

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The number one job in new york
is much more high profile.

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[sean deveney] if you're coming
into new york city
in the early 80s,

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You've got to be a little bit
bold in terms of what you think
you can do to help the city.

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But you have to be even bolder
if you're looking at it and say,
"wait, what can this do for me?"

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A question you hear increasingly
now is, "who is rudolph
giuliani? And what does he
want?"

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[laughs] well, I'm the us
attorney and what I want
is to be as effective

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As I can be
as the united state's attorney.

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Rudy, really presented himself
as the answer to all
of the villains of new york city

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In the 1980s or you know,
name your mobster.

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Hopefully with an organization
like the mafia,
we will wear them down.

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According to rudy, his father's
hate for the mafia was why rudy
became such a mafia fighter.

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Growing up, rudy's father
had made it clear to him

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That the opportunities
for italian americans

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Had been limited in this country
because of their image.

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Italian americans had gotten
a bad rap and that this was
in large part because of the mob

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These are extremely
dangerous individuals.

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They are people who destroyed
the lives of other human beings.

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[kurt andersen] rudy giuliani
was this seemingly incorruptible
straight arrow,

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Boy scout, eagle scout.
He was trying be one
of the untouchables.

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He was a little bit of a nerd.

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[andrew kirtzman] he saw himself
as the enforcer of morality.

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That came from the upbringing
and a catholic household
and catholic schools.

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And at one point he wanted
to be a priest.

135
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And it wasn't until he was
a sophomore in college that he
gave up on that, decided,

136
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"maybe the celibacy thing
isn't for me."

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But he never really lost
that sense of moral crusade.

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I think he liked the mafia
in some ways.

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It was a great target 'cause
what can you say positive

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About the mafia?
And he was gonna save
the country from the mafia.

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00:09:07,030 --> 00:09:11,791
Rudy giuliani explained
to me his vision
of putting together a case

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Against the entire
mafia commission
as an enterprise.

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There was something on the books
called the rico statute.
Under the rico umbrella,

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You could convict
a whole family infrastructure

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Of conspiring together
as an organized crime family.

146
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And so rudy's idea was,

147
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"why don't we do that
against the commission as if
it is a distinct enterprise

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And conspiracy
that we can prosecute
under the racketeering law.

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It seemed like an audacious,
very interesting plan.
I was excited to work on it.

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The eastern district in new york
and brooklyn and rudy giuliani
were supposed to share this case

151
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But rudy went to washington
and he said,

152
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"I'm the guy who's really
equipped to do this.
I should be put in charge."

153
00:10:01,918 --> 00:10:04,894
His mentor in washington,
the attorney general,
made it happen.

154
00:10:06,923 --> 00:10:10,391
Rudy's agenda was rudy

155
00:10:10,468 --> 00:10:13,111
And what was driving him
was what rudy was doing
and his relentless climb.

156
00:10:16,691 --> 00:10:20,452
Rudy didn't care whose toes he's
stepping on, he wanted to be
at the top and he wanted fame.

157
00:10:21,938 --> 00:10:25,790
He would stop at nothing
to get what he wanted.

158
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The stage was set for an epic
new york show down. Having
eliminated his competition,

159
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The young prosecutor prepared
to take on the mob.

160
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He knew that the headlines
would be sensational.

161
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And that if he succeeded...
He wouldn't have to share them
with anyone.

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[newsreader] it took four years
and 300 million to build
and toda

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Can celebrate with the opening
of trump tower.

164
00:10:53,636 --> 00:10:55,228
[nikki haskell] as part
of the nikki haskell show,

165
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I filmed the opening
of the trump tower.

166
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It was an amazing place.
It was so opulent, so chic...

167
00:11:02,663 --> 00:11:05,446
...It was more than anybody
had seen in the city before.

168
00:11:05,523 --> 00:11:07,990
Everyone knows steve rebel,
a man that created night life
in new york.

169
00:11:08,001 --> 00:11:09,742
-[steve rebel] how are you?
-Hi honey.

170
00:11:09,819 --> 00:11:10,484
-Good. How are you?
-Welcome to the trump towers.

171
00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:11,086
Yeah. It's beautiful isn't it?

172
00:11:13,489 --> 00:11:17,083
[david cay johnson] you walk
into it. It has this huge
marble atrium.

173
00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:21,421
And it has this giant waterfall,
and it makes you sort of feel
in awe,

174
00:11:21,497 --> 00:11:23,348
The way cathedrals do in europe.

175
00:11:25,168 --> 00:11:28,469
And it's this monument
to glittering wealth.

176
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I think we're in for a hot time
if this is any indication
of the 80s.

177
00:11:31,692 --> 00:11:35,143
Trump tower was
the epitome right
at that moment in time

178
00:11:35,178 --> 00:11:36,194
Of what it meant to be wealthy
in the united states.

179
00:11:38,848 --> 00:11:42,784
[bagli] donald trump was able
to capture this moment
where he defined luxury.

180
00:11:44,187 --> 00:11:45,787
The trump tower
got so much publicity.

181
00:11:48,232 --> 00:11:49,124
[newsreader] trump tower
is a major draw for tourists,

182
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With apartments selling
for up to $10 million.

183
00:11:54,197 --> 00:11:58,207
And in the middle of it
was donald trump.

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Rewarded for his vision
and praised for his ambition,

185
00:12:01,537 --> 00:12:06,340
The new titan of real estate
had arrived
and image trumped all.

186
00:12:06,417 --> 00:12:09,144
The more he flaunted his wealth
and status, the more the city
revered him.

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00:12:10,897 --> 00:12:13,014
[newsreader] as long
as this building stands,

188
00:12:13,090 --> 00:12:15,349
There will probably be some
who will refer to trump tower

189
00:12:15,384 --> 00:12:17,977
As the house
that tax abatements built.

190
00:12:18,054 --> 00:12:19,279
But that's kind of
a ground floor look
at this building.

191
00:12:21,074 --> 00:12:24,525
If you look a little bit higher,
you'll see another story.

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A story of entrepreneurial
vision, huge capital investment
and sheer guts.

193
00:12:31,108 --> 00:12:36,704
He made his reputation on this.
Helping donald create
a mythology around himself.

194
00:12:36,781 --> 00:12:39,874
I always like going first class.
Trump tower is the ultimate
in first class

195
00:12:39,909 --> 00:12:43,094
And that's why
it's been successful.

196
00:12:43,171 --> 00:12:46,005
Everything was classy, this was
very high class and this one
has class and that one has class

197
00:12:46,082 --> 00:12:48,341
And you know,
this looks like class.

198
00:12:48,417 --> 00:12:51,052
It was a big deal to him.
He had class on the brain.

199
00:12:51,087 --> 00:12:54,722
But the finishes
in the apartments were...

200
00:12:54,799 --> 00:12:56,733
Really crap,
excuse the expression.

201
00:12:59,095 --> 00:13:00,111
He couldn't get out
of his own way
when it came to being cheap.

202
00:13:02,357 --> 00:13:04,949
[bagli] donald trump
created the aura
that he was a premier developer,

203
00:13:06,453 --> 00:13:07,744
The best deal maker,

204
00:13:09,772 --> 00:13:15,701
The best builder,
the best at anything
that he touched.

205
00:13:15,778 --> 00:13:17,537
[trump] people come up to me
and they say,
"oh, donald, you're so lucky.

206
00:13:17,613 --> 00:13:20,206
"everything just falls
into place for you."

207
00:13:20,283 --> 00:13:22,917
And it's not that way at all.
You have to make it
fall in place.

208
00:13:22,952 --> 00:13:25,211
The world now saw him
as a tycoon

209
00:13:25,288 --> 00:13:28,422
And that image would become
his biggest bargaining chip

210
00:13:28,499 --> 00:13:29,641
As he embarked
on his next great venture.

211
00:13:32,795 --> 00:13:35,221
[newsreader] in a flash
the glamorous world of casinos
have lined the boardwalk.

212
00:13:35,298 --> 00:13:35,563
It's las vegas east.

213
00:13:37,633 --> 00:13:40,142
[newsreader] the man who,
at the age of 39, is not content

214
00:13:40,153 --> 00:13:41,694
With being new york city's
latest real estate billionaire.

215
00:13:43,156 --> 00:13:46,107
Donald trump has also ventured
into gambling.

216
00:13:46,183 --> 00:13:49,277
[jack o'donnell] money.
I mean money is what appealed
to donald trump

217
00:13:49,353 --> 00:13:52,154
When it came
to the casino industry.

218
00:13:52,165 --> 00:13:54,499
I think he saw an opportunity
for vast amounts of cash
to be generated.

219
00:13:57,653 --> 00:14:00,922
Profits were just unbelievable
and donald trump took a look
at that and said, "I want in."

220
00:14:03,844 --> 00:14:06,386
[o'donnell] trump plaza became
really the most successful
property in atlantic city.

221
00:14:07,705 --> 00:14:08,555
[don king] here we are, trump.

222
00:14:10,684 --> 00:14:13,092
[bagli] donald was going
down there
on his helicopter.

223
00:14:13,169 --> 00:14:15,103
He would offer rides
to big spenders

224
00:14:16,523 --> 00:14:20,066
And then he turns around
and buys another casino.

225
00:14:22,678 --> 00:14:27,940
Donald trump got
his second casino,
trump castle, for $320,000,000.

226
00:14:28,017 --> 00:14:31,360
Donald trump did not set foot
in the castle
before he purchased it.

227
00:14:31,371 --> 00:14:32,620
It was a very quick transaction.

228
00:14:35,858 --> 00:14:38,042
The trump castle opened
with great fanfare
because it was donald trump.

229
00:14:41,047 --> 00:14:46,334
But everything that donald trump
did at these casinos
he financed through debt

230
00:14:46,410 --> 00:14:51,547
And all the debts
added up eventually
at the castle and at the plaza.

231
00:14:51,558 --> 00:14:56,636
However, the banks, you know,
had bought in,
but at that point, to trump...

232
00:14:56,712 --> 00:15:02,058
Despite the growing level
of debt, wall street was willing
to give him whatever he wanted.

233
00:15:02,068 --> 00:15:04,485
He would spend money
without consequence.

234
00:15:07,098 --> 00:15:11,525
[michael kruse] when banks
kept lending him money
there was nothing in his way.

235
00:15:11,602 --> 00:15:14,654
He was going to do exactly
what he wanted for as long
as he could get away with it.

236
00:15:14,730 --> 00:15:19,659
Yeah!! All right!

237
00:15:19,735 --> 00:15:23,204
Pretty soon donald trump
goes on this incredible
spending spree.

238
00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:25,206
He bought
the new jersey generals.

239
00:15:25,241 --> 00:15:26,299
Way to go fellas.

240
00:15:28,428 --> 00:15:33,547
He buys mar-a-lago in florida.
He also bought
a huge development site:

241
00:15:33,624 --> 00:15:35,350
The rail yards on the west side.

242
00:15:36,919 --> 00:15:39,720
This will be one
of the great jobs of all time.

243
00:15:39,755 --> 00:15:44,684
As he's developing this empire
he's borrowing
more and more money

244
00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:47,395
At higher and higher
interest rates.

245
00:15:47,430 --> 00:15:48,863
You're talking
about a huge amount of debt.

246
00:15:51,618 --> 00:15:56,570
[johnson] aiding him in this is
this whole cultural change
where we started judging people

247
00:15:56,647 --> 00:15:59,207
By the content of their wallet,
or in donald's case, the claimed
content of their wallet.

248
00:16:01,294 --> 00:16:05,246
In many respects, donald trump
was the poster boy
for the 1980s.

249
00:16:05,281 --> 00:16:08,124
A lot of people
just didn't look
below the surface.

250
00:16:08,134 --> 00:16:10,551
He was able to live
on that image
for a very long time.

251
00:16:12,621 --> 00:16:15,297
The minute something starts
to go wrong,

252
00:16:15,308 --> 00:16:18,059
The entire house of cards
was going to start to fall down.

253
00:16:26,635 --> 00:16:28,811
[newsreader] nbc news now
is able to project

254
00:16:28,822 --> 00:16:30,863
The re-election
of ronald wilson reagan.

255
00:16:33,735 --> 00:16:35,493
[gil troy] ronald reagan
in 1984 wins, and not just wins
but he wins in a landslide.

256
00:16:39,574 --> 00:16:42,041
[bethany mclean] the champagne
is flowing, the good times feel
like they can only continue.

257
00:16:43,986 --> 00:16:48,122
By 1984 the message was clear:

258
00:16:48,157 --> 00:16:49,799
America was back
and for that we could thank
the almighty dollar.

259
00:16:52,328 --> 00:16:55,805
[man] the president of the us,
accompanied by john j fallon
and donald t reagan.

260
00:16:56,832 --> 00:16:59,475
[cheering]

261
00:17:02,671 --> 00:17:05,523
[ronald reagan] the last time
I visited the new york
stock exchange was in 1980

262
00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:07,483
And the mood sure
was different then.

263
00:17:08,603 --> 00:17:11,145
But in the last five years

264
00:17:11,180 --> 00:17:16,534
We've moved from malaise
to hope, confidence,
and opportunity.

265
00:17:16,611 --> 00:17:18,944
New york becomes a symbol
of the great success,

266
00:17:19,021 --> 00:17:22,448
Of america's return
politically, culturally,

267
00:17:22,525 --> 00:17:24,492
But at the end of the day
it's america, economical.

268
00:17:24,527 --> 00:17:26,794
[bell ringing and cheering]

269
00:17:30,866 --> 00:17:34,761
Reagan felt that people
should be given the opportunity
to get as rich as they can get.

270
00:17:36,723 --> 00:17:37,738
[ken auletta] ronald reagan's
message was

271
00:17:39,467 --> 00:17:42,802
That giving tax breaks
to the wealthy is fine

272
00:17:42,878 --> 00:17:46,055
Because it trickles down.
We need to get regulations
out of the way.

273
00:17:46,066 --> 00:17:51,352
And donald trump
and leona helmsley
and ivan boesky

274
00:17:51,387 --> 00:17:54,897
And wall street
and a lot of very wealthy people
were beneficiaries.

275
00:17:54,908 --> 00:17:59,151
[bagli] but the rich get richer
and the poor even poorer.

276
00:17:59,228 --> 00:18:01,579
[newsreader] trump has gotten
rich by building
for the wealthy.

277
00:18:01,656 --> 00:18:02,455
His critics say,
at the expense of the poor.

278
00:18:04,992 --> 00:18:08,536
[troy] people feel exiled.
They've not only lost their
homes and their neighborhoods,

279
00:18:08,571 --> 00:18:09,128
They've lost their voice
and they've lost their power.

280
00:18:11,574 --> 00:18:16,260
As the public sector
was starved,
private profit was prioritized

281
00:18:16,337 --> 00:18:19,672
And so for every dollar

282
00:18:19,748 --> 00:18:23,092
That was going to donald trump
to build something
like trump tower,

283
00:18:23,103 --> 00:18:24,977
That was a dollar that was not
going to the south bronx.

284
00:18:27,590 --> 00:18:30,349
[darryl mcdaniels] they were
leaving us
and not caring about us.

285
00:18:30,426 --> 00:18:32,560
It was very desperate
in the 80s.

286
00:18:32,595 --> 00:18:35,613
People was trying to figure
a way to make it out of here.

287
00:18:35,690 --> 00:18:40,734
From a community of people
that nobody cared about,

288
00:18:40,769 --> 00:18:44,697
That nobody thought
there was any hope for,

289
00:18:44,773 --> 00:18:49,535
That nobody
had any expectations of,
they found their way out.

290
00:18:49,612 --> 00:18:52,580
They found their way out
through the arts.

291
00:18:52,656 --> 00:18:55,875
[rapping] broken glass
everywhere!
People pissing on the station.

292
00:18:55,951 --> 00:18:59,378
No, it just don't care.
I can't take the smell,
I can't take the noise.

293
00:18:59,455 --> 00:19:00,638
Got no money to move out
so I got no choice.

294
00:19:02,475 --> 00:19:04,592
[rapping] rats
in the front room,
roaches in the back,

295
00:19:04,627 --> 00:19:06,802
Junkies in the alley
with the baseball bat

296
00:19:06,813 --> 00:19:09,263
I tried to get away
but I couldn't get far

297
00:19:09,298 --> 00:19:11,765
'cause a man with a tow truck
repossessed my car.

298
00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:15,227
When the message came out
about grandmaster flash,

299
00:19:15,304 --> 00:19:16,821
Those words
was the vibe of everybody.

300
00:19:18,307 --> 00:19:21,233
That was the truth
of new york city was

301
00:19:21,310 --> 00:19:23,494
And it came
from the young black people
from the bronx!

302
00:19:27,167 --> 00:19:29,709
Through the block parties
and the park parties
on the streets of new york city,

303
00:19:31,654 --> 00:19:34,213
We was able to tell our stories
and our feelings
and our emotions.

304
00:19:36,492 --> 00:19:38,176
That's when all the resources
would have to come our way.

305
00:19:41,181 --> 00:19:45,349
[michael holman] artists living
on the lower east side,
hanging out in the east village.

306
00:19:45,426 --> 00:19:47,977
We were hearing
about this movement
that was going on uptown.

307
00:19:50,506 --> 00:19:54,275
Hip-hop was djs and mcs
and d-boys and graffiti
and break dancers

308
00:19:56,679 --> 00:19:58,696
And it was profound

309
00:19:58,773 --> 00:19:59,155
And we had to do something
about it.

310
00:20:01,183 --> 00:20:02,992
We put to together a party
called the canal zone party.

311
00:20:05,371 --> 00:20:07,747
If you're lost you can
find yourself, right here,
right now in the canal zone.

312
00:20:10,376 --> 00:20:15,546
Which was really the first time
that uptown hip-hop culture
would rub shoulders

313
00:20:15,623 --> 00:20:18,883
With the downtown
fine arts scene.

314
00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:20,009
[newsreader] dj jazzy-jay
has been heavily involved
in introducing hip-hop

315
00:20:22,079 --> 00:20:23,512
And rap culture
to downtown manhattan
and the rest of the world.

316
00:20:25,874 --> 00:20:29,802
Very quickly it was recognized
that we've got
something special here.

317
00:20:29,878 --> 00:20:30,911
And it was just, like,
off to the races after that.

318
00:20:33,215 --> 00:20:34,690
The sugar hill gang came out
with "rapper's delight."

319
00:20:36,903 --> 00:20:41,739
And no. 1 records
like blondie's rapture
and films made about hip-hop

320
00:20:41,816 --> 00:20:44,533
Allowed hip-hop
to have a national
and international stage.

321
00:20:47,229 --> 00:20:49,121
By the mid 80s, everywhere
you look everybody was writing
about kurtis blow,

322
00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:56,087
Grandmaster flash,
dj hollywood, whodini,
jimmy spicer.

323
00:20:57,072 --> 00:20:57,713
I'm jam master jay.

324
00:20:58,424 --> 00:21:00,082
Dj run.

325
00:21:00,093 --> 00:21:01,417
And my name is dmc.

326
00:21:01,427 --> 00:21:03,261
Say ho!

327
00:21:03,337 --> 00:21:04,336
[crowd] ho!

328
00:21:04,413 --> 00:21:06,931
Say, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho...

329
00:21:07,008 --> 00:21:10,175
We did a "b" side of a record
called sucker mcs.

330
00:21:10,252 --> 00:21:12,886
[rapping] ...And you sucker mcs
is who I please.

331
00:21:12,921 --> 00:21:15,055
So take that and move back
catch a heart attack.

332
00:21:15,090 --> 00:21:17,433
With the same attitude
that people rhyming

333
00:21:17,443 --> 00:21:19,443
About selling drugs
and doing stick-ups,

334
00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:22,280
I'm rhyming about going
to school.

335
00:21:22,356 --> 00:21:25,858
[rapping] I'm dmc,
in the place to be
I go to st. John's university

336
00:21:25,934 --> 00:21:28,360
And since kindergarten
I acquired the knowledge

337
00:21:28,437 --> 00:21:31,447
And after 12th grade
I went straight to college.

338
00:21:31,457 --> 00:21:36,535
My whole thing was, even in all
of this stress and strife,
there's some good there.

339
00:21:36,612 --> 00:21:38,129
People started gravitating
to the hope that was
in our records.

340
00:21:41,116 --> 00:21:47,087
Run-dmc became
the definitive representation
of 80's new york.

341
00:21:47,122 --> 00:21:51,884
Fashion, sound, style, look,
and attitude.

342
00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:53,436
The leather pants,
the godfather hats,

343
00:21:54,981 --> 00:21:55,896
That's how jay went to school
in 9th grade.

344
00:21:58,392 --> 00:22:02,320
Jay was run-dmc in 9th grade
before we even called him to dj
for us. Jay wore that hat.

345
00:22:03,823 --> 00:22:04,905
That's how those boys and girls
were dressing.

346
00:22:07,976 --> 00:22:09,285
And when everybody
outside of new york
started seeing run-dmc,

347
00:22:10,813 --> 00:22:11,829
Everybody else wanted
to dress like new york.

348
00:22:14,650 --> 00:22:17,409
Hip-hop had become so big,
by 1984

349
00:22:17,486 --> 00:22:22,081
The new york city breakers
are invited to perform

350
00:22:22,157 --> 00:22:25,384
At the kennedy center honors,
televised on cbs,
in front of ronald reagan.

351
00:22:26,995 --> 00:22:27,845
That golden age of hip-hop

352
00:22:29,849 --> 00:22:33,842
Showed that we can be part
of that affluent
commercialized world.

353
00:22:33,853 --> 00:22:34,477
We changed everything.

354
00:22:38,191 --> 00:22:44,144
We created a tidal wave
of people wanting
to come to new york

355
00:22:44,179 --> 00:22:46,947
To experience the clubs
and the lifestyle.

356
00:22:49,393 --> 00:22:55,614
It was the most creative,
artistic period in the history
of the world down there.

357
00:22:55,691 --> 00:23:00,127
Run-dmc, keith herron,
grandmaster flash, madonna.

358
00:23:01,714 --> 00:23:05,124
Wow! Everyone wanted
to be in new york.

359
00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:07,668
The 80s would become known
as the golden age of hip hop.

360
00:23:07,703 --> 00:23:10,388
From its birth place
in the bronx,

361
00:23:10,464 --> 00:23:14,466
This new genre would re-write
the rules of music for decades
to come.

362
00:23:14,543 --> 00:23:22,141
[tv presenter]
from downtown manhattan,
tv new york.

363
00:23:22,217 --> 00:23:26,145
Has yet been willing
to submit
an affidavit saying that,

364
00:23:26,221 --> 00:23:28,522
"you have tied up all
of my assets, therefore I can't
afford an attorney."

365
00:23:28,557 --> 00:23:31,733
'cause I think
that's a real phony issue.

366
00:23:31,744 --> 00:23:35,237
While the ambitious young
prosecutor was putting together
the final pieces of his case

367
00:23:35,248 --> 00:23:39,074
Against the mafia, another star
was rising
on the opposite side of the law.

368
00:23:39,085 --> 00:23:43,745
Inside the crime world's
most powerful family.

369
00:23:43,756 --> 00:23:46,507
The gambino family was the most
powerful, was the wealthiest.
Paul castellano was the boss.

370
00:23:48,577 --> 00:23:52,045
[newsreader] paul castellano,
the boss of the gambino family,

371
00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:54,590
Identified as the man
who presides
over commission meetings.

372
00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:56,842
The boss of all bosses.

373
00:23:56,919 --> 00:24:00,846
He had one rule, no drugs,
the penalty was death.

374
00:24:00,923 --> 00:24:02,848
You had to say paul castellano
was a business man.

375
00:24:02,925 --> 00:24:07,686
He was not a showy, flashy guy
with a pinky ring.

376
00:24:07,763 --> 00:24:11,690
Kept a low profile and it was
really about maximizing
his control

377
00:24:11,767 --> 00:24:12,324
Over legitimate businesses.

378
00:24:14,269 --> 00:24:16,862
[newsreader] next in line
were 20 capos, or captains,

379
00:24:16,939 --> 00:24:20,407
The skippers who ran
the crews of soldiers.

380
00:24:20,442 --> 00:24:22,034
[bruce mouw] when we
first started investigations
into the gambino family

381
00:24:22,110 --> 00:24:22,701
We identified all the players.

382
00:24:24,964 --> 00:24:26,338
We also identified a rising star

383
00:24:30,803 --> 00:24:31,886
A then-captain named john gotti.

384
00:24:35,624 --> 00:24:36,056
He may have been
just a street kid
from the bronx,

385
00:24:37,310 --> 00:24:41,136
But he had wild ambition
from the start.

386
00:24:41,147 --> 00:24:43,230
He would stop at nothing to get
what he wanted
and what he wanted was power,

387
00:24:45,559 --> 00:24:50,437
Even if that meant breaking
the cardinal rule
of his own clan. He didn't care.

388
00:24:50,472 --> 00:24:53,607
John gotti inspired
a lot of loyalty from his crew

389
00:24:53,642 --> 00:24:54,909
And because of that
he felt comfortable

390
00:24:57,646 --> 00:25:01,540
Getting involved in something
that was happening underneath
the noses of the big bosses.

391
00:25:04,486 --> 00:25:07,254
[george gabriel] gotti's crews
were getting very active
in the drug business.

392
00:25:08,824 --> 00:25:10,791
These guys were earning
tremendous money with it

393
00:25:10,867 --> 00:25:11,592
And they had to cover up
john at the time.

394
00:25:14,329 --> 00:25:16,680
[newsman] the man climbing out
of the buick is angelo ruggiaro,
he was on john gotti's crew

395
00:25:18,166 --> 00:25:21,176
Along with john gotti's
own brother, jean gotti.

396
00:25:21,187 --> 00:25:23,762
[jerry capeci] one of the rules
that mob has, in theory,

397
00:25:23,839 --> 00:25:24,396
Is you're not supposed
to deal with drugs.

398
00:25:26,025 --> 00:25:29,518
But the real rule is
don't get caught dealing drugs.

399
00:25:29,529 --> 00:25:34,189
The idea is if you get caught
dealing drugs, we can kill you
for violating the rules.

400
00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:37,609
[deveney] especially
the gambino family
with paul castellano as the boss

401
00:25:37,686 --> 00:25:40,696
He did not look kindly
on dealing drugs.

402
00:25:40,706 --> 00:25:43,249
He was somebody who wanted
the mafia to get more
into legitimate business.

403
00:25:45,378 --> 00:25:48,495
[chertoff] so john gotti
had violated the rules

404
00:25:48,572 --> 00:25:53,667
And if paul castellano
ever found out,
gotti would be killed.

405
00:25:53,702 --> 00:25:55,553
[george gabriel] I think john
was born to be a "wise guy."
it was as if it was in his blood

406
00:25:58,057 --> 00:26:00,465
[capeci]
in the east new york section
of brooklyn he joined a gang

407
00:26:00,542 --> 00:26:01,809
And decided that that was a way
to make his mark.

408
00:26:03,896 --> 00:26:06,722
[ed mcdonald] he started out
stealing money
from grocery stores

409
00:26:06,732 --> 00:26:08,315
And it advanced to the stage
where they were
hijacking trucks.

410
00:26:11,553 --> 00:26:11,735
[bruce mouw] they always called
him "good looking john"
or the "good looking guy."

411
00:26:14,056 --> 00:26:17,024
John loved all the compliments.
He just loved having
his butt kissed.

412
00:26:17,100 --> 00:26:19,735
So that's when
we get close to him.

413
00:26:19,745 --> 00:26:21,903
"hey, john, you look good today.
You working out?
Your arms look good."

414
00:26:21,914 --> 00:26:22,830
You know, "nice hair john."
he loved all the compliments.

415
00:26:25,585 --> 00:26:29,244
Some people felt that, you know,
he had enough charm and charisma
that if had an education

416
00:26:29,255 --> 00:26:32,039
He could have been
the chairman of ibm.

417
00:26:32,074 --> 00:26:34,207
But there were other people
who just thought he was
an ignorant thug.

418
00:26:34,242 --> 00:26:37,210
[newsreader] he has been called
everything from terrifying
to charismatic.

419
00:26:37,287 --> 00:26:40,380
Gotti had a good life.

420
00:26:40,415 --> 00:26:42,641
He ran hijacking
at kennedy airport, gambling
and loan sharking in queens.

421
00:26:44,937 --> 00:26:48,722
In order to become a capo
of the mafia you have to prove
your worth.

422
00:26:48,757 --> 00:26:50,090
You had to be feared, you had
to be respected.
Gotti was a blood-thirsty,

423
00:26:52,427 --> 00:26:55,562
Ruthless, violent criminal,
but he was gonna get
what he wanted.

424
00:26:55,639 --> 00:26:56,989
Part of your badge of honor
is to do time and do it well

425
00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:00,734
And not complain about it
and then come home

426
00:27:00,769 --> 00:27:03,362
And start committing crimes
again.

427
00:27:03,438 --> 00:27:05,039
These guys are psychopaths.
They're not like normal people.

428
00:27:07,627 --> 00:27:10,619
They have the ability to go out
and kill somebody, in cold blood
like put a gun to the head

429
00:27:10,630 --> 00:27:13,121
And blow their brains out;

430
00:27:13,132 --> 00:27:15,957
Go home, eat dinner
with the wife and kids
and go to sleep.

431
00:27:15,968 --> 00:27:20,379
[mcdonald] people recognized him
as a future power
within the gambino crime family.

432
00:27:20,455 --> 00:27:23,423
But I don't think there was
any doubt that that was
what his ambition was.

433
00:27:23,458 --> 00:27:24,183
Gotti wanted to move up
into the leadership position
of the family.

434
00:27:26,646 --> 00:27:29,304
[newsreader] he became
a made member of the family
by murdering a man

435
00:27:29,315 --> 00:27:30,397
Who had kidnapped
and killed gambino's nephew.

436
00:27:31,967 --> 00:27:34,768
John gotti made his bones
by taking part

437
00:27:34,803 --> 00:27:38,772
In the killing
of jimmy mcbratney
in staten island

438
00:27:38,807 --> 00:27:41,200
In the mid 1970s. Mcbratney
was an irish gangster
who had taken part

439
00:27:42,662 --> 00:27:45,612
In the kidnapping
of carlo gambino's nephew.

440
00:27:45,689 --> 00:27:47,414
When he got out of prison,
gotti pledges allegiance

441
00:27:49,484 --> 00:27:52,619
To the mob, agrees
that he will do whatever
the boss tells him to,

442
00:27:52,696 --> 00:27:53,587
Whenever he tells him to.

443
00:27:55,341 --> 00:27:56,090
But that was not john gotti.

444
00:27:58,493 --> 00:28:00,794
In new york
where the drug problem
is especially severe,

445
00:28:00,829 --> 00:28:01,679
Authorities have made
a major bust...

446
00:28:04,541 --> 00:28:07,259
[newsreader] one that involved
organized crime, a member
of the gambino family.

447
00:28:07,335 --> 00:28:10,512
Ruggiero was heard
on a wire-tap talking
about heroin deals

448
00:28:10,523 --> 00:28:12,106
With gotti's brother
and other crew members.

449
00:28:14,176 --> 00:28:19,479
In a six month period
they trafficked 50 kilos
of heroin,

450
00:28:19,556 --> 00:28:23,024
Which is a lot of dope back
in those days and they run
like $150,000 a kilo.

451
00:28:23,035 --> 00:28:26,194
[capeci] john gotti's crew
ended up being indicted...

452
00:28:26,205 --> 00:28:28,488
[newsreader] angelo ruggiero
and jean gotti

453
00:28:28,523 --> 00:28:29,957
Had both been indicted
for selling large amounts
of heroin,

454
00:28:31,526 --> 00:28:33,618
Breaking the rules
of the gambino family,

455
00:28:33,695 --> 00:28:34,878
Which could result
in a mob death sentence.

456
00:28:36,716 --> 00:28:39,541
When paul castellano,
the boss of the crime family

457
00:28:39,552 --> 00:28:45,297
Heard that john gotti
and his crew were dealing drugs,
he was livid.

458
00:28:45,373 --> 00:28:47,808
[mouw] gotti was terrified
of castellano because he knew
how ruthless he could be.

459
00:28:50,471 --> 00:28:54,848
Castellano was against narcotics
and if you got caught dealing
drugs, the penalty was death.

460
00:28:54,925 --> 00:28:55,149
He had a lot of good hit men
around him
and he would have him killed.

461
00:28:57,719 --> 00:28:59,653
[mcdonald] paul wanted
to make an example
of john gotti's guys.

462
00:29:01,431 --> 00:29:05,150
Since he was the capo,
gotti himself would be executed.

463
00:29:05,227 --> 00:29:09,079
It became a "kill or be killed"
situation for john gotti
and his crew.

464
00:29:17,164 --> 00:29:20,758
And the reason that we're here
is because all the top
celebrities are staying here.

465
00:29:20,834 --> 00:29:23,761
Ever desirable elizabeth taylor.
It's john forsythe,
star of dynasty...

466
00:29:26,507 --> 00:29:30,008
[taylor-gordon] in the 80s
there was no hotel that compared
to the helmsley palace.

467
00:29:30,085 --> 00:29:33,178
...It's the fonz, henry winkler.

468
00:29:33,255 --> 00:29:37,274
You went there to be seen
and mrs. Helmsley
was having breakfast there too.

469
00:29:37,351 --> 00:29:39,067
Leona helmsley was the queen
but not of a country.

470
00:29:40,762 --> 00:29:45,282
She was the queen of a hotel.
Of a real estate empire.

471
00:29:45,359 --> 00:29:50,070
She never felt that she was one
of the people she considered
the little people.

472
00:29:50,105 --> 00:29:54,783
That was where she came from
and it was very important
for her

473
00:29:54,794 --> 00:29:59,704
To be at the top of the game.

474
00:29:59,781 --> 00:30:05,794
The daughter of a hat maker
had married her king and now he
made her the ruler of his domain

475
00:30:05,805 --> 00:30:09,807
So she set about putting her
personal stamp on every aspect
of every property,

476
00:30:09,883 --> 00:30:12,017
No matter the cost
or the consequences.

477
00:30:16,816 --> 00:30:19,391
[tovah feldshuh] leona was
a brilliant balabusta,

478
00:30:19,467 --> 00:30:23,061
And that's the yiddish word
for the executive of a house.

479
00:30:23,138 --> 00:30:28,992
She made sure that her 27 hotels
operated at top drawer. She
worked on those hotels,

480
00:30:29,069 --> 00:30:30,869
As she said, 25 hours a day,
eight days a week.

481
00:30:32,981 --> 00:30:36,166
The palace was the jewel
in her crown. It was
her "hope diamond."

482
00:30:38,486 --> 00:30:42,789
To decorate
her helmsley palace, she ran
$2 million over budget

483
00:30:42,824 --> 00:30:45,467
But there were phones
in the bathroom and there
were no more skimpy towels.

484
00:30:47,329 --> 00:30:49,421
[bill dowling] she had
very expensive tastes,

485
00:30:49,497 --> 00:30:54,184
Not necessarily good taste,
sort of a garish taste actually.

486
00:30:54,261 --> 00:30:56,645
She wanted everything
to be gold. Who does that
sound like? [laughs]

487
00:30:58,932 --> 00:31:01,808
But she was never constrained
by budgets.

488
00:31:01,885 --> 00:31:04,570
Leona was probably over budget
on every single project
that she handled.

489
00:31:07,182 --> 00:31:10,191
I remember once I went
into harry's office
with a report that said

490
00:31:10,202 --> 00:31:11,827
That leona had run up
over $1 million cost overruns

491
00:31:13,355 --> 00:31:15,697
On a particular thing
she was involved with.

492
00:31:15,708 --> 00:31:18,450
He said, "thank you.
Let's just keep this between us.

493
00:31:18,526 --> 00:31:20,535
"it's only $1 million
and I can afford it

494
00:31:20,546 --> 00:31:21,044
"and she makes me happy."

495
00:31:24,366 --> 00:31:28,293
The thing he did not say
was that the limited partners
were paying

496
00:31:28,370 --> 00:31:31,221
A lot of these expenses
and they later sued him
for those cost overruns.

497
00:31:33,875 --> 00:31:39,804
It was the first serious blow
to harry's reputation
throughout his long career.

498
00:31:39,881 --> 00:31:42,849
Harry helmsley's
oldest associates
were quite concerned

499
00:31:42,884 --> 00:31:45,560
About the impact
that leona was having

500
00:31:45,571 --> 00:31:47,738
On harry
and on their relationship
with harry.

501
00:31:47,814 --> 00:31:48,780
Leona wanted to control harry
one hundred percent.

502
00:31:51,577 --> 00:31:54,235
I remember once leona tried
to get harry to make a decision
on something

503
00:31:54,246 --> 00:31:57,197
And when he wouldn't do it

504
00:31:57,232 --> 00:31:58,832
She told hims he was gonna stop
having sex with him,
and guess who won?

505
00:32:01,069 --> 00:32:02,794
She definitely controlled him,
absolutely.

506
00:32:06,741 --> 00:32:08,884
But then, leona wanted
to control everyone in her life.

507
00:32:12,122 --> 00:32:15,423
[feldshuh] she married
very early, leo panzirer,
a lawyer.

508
00:32:15,434 --> 00:32:19,094
They had a son, jay
and then they divorced.

509
00:32:19,104 --> 00:32:23,941
Leona helmsley's son
and leona had
a very complicated relationship.

510
00:32:24,017 --> 00:32:25,625
She tried to keep him hidden
so that no one would figure out
how old she was.

511
00:32:28,596 --> 00:32:32,532
[elaine silverstein] leona
treated him like a pet:
Stand up, sit down, walk around.

512
00:32:34,144 --> 00:32:36,244
She clearly managed
his life a lot.

513
00:32:39,032 --> 00:32:42,200
[glenn plaskin] she brought him
into the business
and she put him to work

514
00:32:42,277 --> 00:32:46,254
And I think she was
a tough taskmaster and she may
have been very strict with him.

515
00:32:48,283 --> 00:32:48,356
[dowling] probably
the worst thing for him

516
00:32:49,802 --> 00:32:51,343
Was that he had formed
a partnership with her

517
00:32:53,380 --> 00:32:56,965
Because then she was on him
just about every day
about something.

518
00:32:56,976 --> 00:33:01,520
I think the pressure of all that
just got to him, and I think
the stress got to him.

519
00:33:05,967 --> 00:33:07,734
[silverstein] jay had
a heart attack at age 42.

520
00:33:10,138 --> 00:33:11,738
[leona helmsley] if you've
ever experienced
losing a child...

521
00:33:14,660 --> 00:33:16,201
...It leaves a hole forever.

522
00:33:21,241 --> 00:33:23,959
[silverstein] leona was very sad
when jay died.

523
00:33:26,747 --> 00:33:31,666
[feldshuh] jay panzirer's wife
was mimi doyle.
When jay died an untimely death,

524
00:33:31,677 --> 00:33:35,762
Leona turned on mimi
and blamed mimi
for the death of her son.

525
00:33:38,666 --> 00:33:42,844
There were some accusations
or things that were printed
in the tabloids

526
00:33:42,855 --> 00:33:47,024
And also in the new york papers
that after your son died that
you became...

527
00:33:48,861 --> 00:33:52,353
...Very ruthless to his wife--

528
00:33:52,364 --> 00:33:55,866
What wife? She was married
to him for one year.
What is this?

529
00:33:57,685 --> 00:34:00,695
[silverstein] leona's answer
to any stress was anger.

530
00:34:00,706 --> 00:34:03,123
Leona needed to have someone
to blame.

531
00:34:04,785 --> 00:34:07,660
She certainly
wasn't gonna blame herself.

532
00:34:07,695 --> 00:34:09,713
It had to be someone fault,
so it was mimi's fault.

533
00:34:10,865 --> 00:34:13,541
Wasn't jay's fault, he was dead.

534
00:34:13,552 --> 00:34:15,502
You think she killed your son?

535
00:34:15,537 --> 00:34:21,508
Do I think so? Yes.

536
00:34:21,543 --> 00:34:26,471
I'm not god
but she didn't contribute
to his welfare, let me say.

537
00:34:26,548 --> 00:34:29,399
At the funeral, jay was fresh
in the ground when she turned
to mimi and said,

538
00:34:29,476 --> 00:34:30,233
"I will destroy you."

539
00:34:33,221 --> 00:34:36,731
She tried to repossess
the delorean she had given her.

540
00:34:36,742 --> 00:34:40,527
She charged mimi
for the transport of the casket
from florida.

541
00:34:40,562 --> 00:34:44,915
She sued for the possession
of a topaz ring
with 135 diamonds around it.

542
00:34:44,991 --> 00:34:51,830
She evicted mimi from her home.
She had become
gratuitously cruel.

543
00:34:51,906 --> 00:34:55,166
Leona helmsley definitely
deserves the moniker
the "queen of mean"

544
00:34:55,243 --> 00:34:56,843
Because she became vicious
with people.

545
00:34:59,264 --> 00:35:03,758
She was mean as a rattle snake,
especially to a number of people
who had worked with her.

546
00:35:03,769 --> 00:35:08,939
She enjoyed the reputation
of being mean.

547
00:35:09,015 --> 00:35:10,315
Only she wouldn't have said
it was mean, she would have said
it was tough.

548
00:35:12,594 --> 00:35:16,020
I asked for something.
I did not get it from you,
I want it.

549
00:35:16,097 --> 00:35:18,448
She didn't care about you.
She cared about herself
and getting ahead.

550
00:35:18,525 --> 00:35:18,698
She was a narcissist.

551
00:35:20,101 --> 00:35:20,951
The turnover of staff was high.

552
00:35:23,029 --> 00:35:26,957
I don't know
how many of 'em quit
and how many of 'em were fired.

553
00:35:27,033 --> 00:35:30,127
You know, we would hear
"another one bites the dust"
but we wouldn't know exactly why

554
00:35:32,614 --> 00:35:35,456
I was in her office one day
when she called in an engineer

555
00:35:35,467 --> 00:35:37,876
And she said
that someone's toilet was broken

556
00:35:37,952 --> 00:35:40,044
And they called
the front desk twice
and you didn't...You know.

557
00:35:40,121 --> 00:35:42,964
"mrs. Helmsley, I was off duty
that day."

558
00:35:42,975 --> 00:35:45,925
"I'm sorry, you're still fired."
"what do you mean
I'm still fired?"

559
00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:46,643
"I never go back
on my decisions.
You're fired."

560
00:35:49,723 --> 00:35:53,150
The waiter would come up
with this big tray with stuff
on it and it would be rattling.

561
00:35:55,970 --> 00:36:00,198
And she would turn to him
and say, "do I scare you?"
"no, mrs. Helmsley."

562
00:36:02,644 --> 00:36:06,404
She was definitely a bitch, ok?
And I don't mean that
in a pejorative sense.

563
00:36:06,481 --> 00:36:08,165
She was hard-nosed.

564
00:36:08,241 --> 00:36:11,451
She was outspoken.
She was feisty.

565
00:36:11,486 --> 00:36:14,287
She believed that as long
as they're talking about you

566
00:36:14,364 --> 00:36:16,214
It doesn't matter what they say.
So if she could get away with it
why shouldn't she?

567
00:36:18,418 --> 00:36:21,419
She was powerful.
No one stood up
to leona helmsley.

568
00:36:21,496 --> 00:36:25,757
[feldshuh] but leona helmsley
forgot the most important lesson

569
00:36:25,833 --> 00:36:32,472
Which is you keep your friends
close and you keep
your enemies closer.

570
00:36:34,601 --> 00:36:38,269
New york, 1985.

571
00:36:38,346 --> 00:36:43,608
The capo v. The don
wasn't the only street fight
about to go down.

572
00:36:43,685 --> 00:36:45,535
At that very moment
a young prosecutor
was taking aim

573
00:36:45,612 --> 00:36:50,031
At the entire new york mafia.

574
00:36:50,042 --> 00:36:52,125
A move that would rock
the criminal underworld
to its very core.

575
00:36:56,623 --> 00:36:57,464
The commission case
was underway.

576
00:36:59,459 --> 00:37:02,168
You're listening to tapes
and reading transcripts

577
00:37:02,245 --> 00:37:03,970
From all the various
electronic surveillances
we had going.

578
00:37:07,226 --> 00:37:11,344
We start learning that they're
having meetings in staten island
chaired by paul castellano.

579
00:37:11,421 --> 00:37:13,346
We decide, let's put a wire tap
on castellano's house

580
00:37:13,423 --> 00:37:13,855
'cause that's where
the conversations are.

581
00:37:16,735 --> 00:37:21,229
Sure enough, they start talking
about construction
and labor racketeering.

582
00:37:21,240 --> 00:37:25,692
[news] authorities say the tape
includes talk of approving
new members of the five families

583
00:37:25,768 --> 00:37:28,078
Divvying up control
of various industries
and splitting the profits.

584
00:37:30,749 --> 00:37:35,159
[chertoff] there were
photographs, there was physical
evidence and, ultimately,

585
00:37:35,236 --> 00:37:38,004
There were witnesses
that we talked to. It was
a climax of an awful lot of work

586
00:37:40,166 --> 00:37:43,543
The godfathers
of the new york mafia
are in big trouble.

587
00:37:43,619 --> 00:37:46,546
They're about to be indicted
on a wide variety of charges.

588
00:37:46,622 --> 00:37:48,589
[newsreader] led by
the reputed boss of all bosses,

589
00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:51,592
Paul castellano,
head of the gambino family,

590
00:37:51,603 --> 00:37:54,429
Four of new york's
five godfathers appeared
in federal court

591
00:37:54,439 --> 00:37:57,598
To face a wide range
of racketeering charges.

592
00:37:57,609 --> 00:38:00,360
This case charges more mafia
bosses in one indictment
than any ever before.

593
00:38:03,097 --> 00:38:08,776
[kirtzman] giuliani indicted
the heads of all the crime
families in one fell swoop.

594
00:38:08,787 --> 00:38:14,457
No one had ever tried anything
like that. There was no limit
to giuliani's audacity.

595
00:38:14,534 --> 00:38:20,288
This was not someone who was
in favor of incrementalism.
Giuliani went for the top.

596
00:38:20,299 --> 00:38:23,800
[michael winerip] rudy giuliani
should get his credit
because the commission case

597
00:38:23,877 --> 00:38:27,387
Was the first big shifting point
where the mafia was
in serious retreat.

598
00:38:30,833 --> 00:38:33,551
I was at the press conference
where they announced
the commission indictments.

599
00:38:33,628 --> 00:38:34,227
You know,
rudy was front and center.

600
00:38:38,466 --> 00:38:40,483
[mcdonald] there must have been
20 people up there and he
organized how we would be placed

601
00:38:42,512 --> 00:38:47,574
And it was set up so that I was
[laughs] behind a curtain.
[laughs]

602
00:38:49,143 --> 00:38:51,569
This is a great day
for law enforcement;

603
00:38:51,646 --> 00:38:54,998
But this is a bad day,
probably the worst,
for the mafia.

604
00:38:55,075 --> 00:38:57,751
After he had some success
and after he realized
he could exploit that success,

605
00:39:00,246 --> 00:39:03,089
He would sharp elbow people out
of the way so he would get
the credit by himself.

606
00:39:06,661 --> 00:39:11,297
[kirtzman] there was no question
when giuliani was boss
who called the shots

607
00:39:11,374 --> 00:39:13,933
And everyone else was just
kind of a supporting character
in the giuliani movie.

608
00:39:17,931 --> 00:39:20,857
Mission accomplished.
Fame and glory achieved.

609
00:39:20,934 --> 00:39:25,103
It was a major victory
for the kid from brooklyn.

610
00:39:25,179 --> 00:39:28,323
But not even he could have known
the unintended consequences
of his actions.

611
00:39:31,945 --> 00:39:36,114
[gabriel] when paul castellano's
indicted it's putting
the gambino family in flux.

612
00:39:36,190 --> 00:39:38,950
Probably weakens paul
a little bit,
makes 'em vulnerable.

613
00:39:39,026 --> 00:39:41,619
Little bit
of internal power discussions
going on.

614
00:39:41,696 --> 00:39:44,455
[newsreader] after posting
$2 million in bail,

615
00:39:44,532 --> 00:39:46,174
Paul castellano was ushered
out of a federal courthouse
in manhattan.

616
00:39:48,887 --> 00:39:50,804
[chertoff] when the commission
case was going on,
the mob was distracted.

617
00:39:52,298 --> 00:39:55,725
That helped john gotti
consolidate his power.

618
00:39:55,802 --> 00:40:01,898
With the gambino family reeling,
the opportunity to seize
supreme power emerged

619
00:40:01,975 --> 00:40:05,568
And this brazen capo
would pounce. The path
was clear. The time was now.

620
00:40:10,391 --> 00:40:13,526
[chertoff]
on December 16th, 1985,

621
00:40:13,603 --> 00:40:18,865
John gotti's crew were waiting
outside sparks steak house
in manhattan.

622
00:40:18,941 --> 00:40:20,708
[gabriel] they wear trench coats
and they wear
those russian babushka hats.

623
00:40:22,570 --> 00:40:24,704
[chertoff] john gotti
and sammy "bull" gravano

624
00:40:24,780 --> 00:40:27,373
Were parked diagonally
across the street

625
00:40:27,450 --> 00:40:30,176
Waiting for paul castellano
to arrive.

626
00:40:33,673 --> 00:40:35,348
[gabriel] they look over
to the right and they see
paul and tommy drive by.

627
00:40:39,795 --> 00:40:42,930
Sammy realized that the teams
were here.

628
00:40:42,941 --> 00:40:47,861
[chertoff] when paul castellano
and tommy bilotti stepped out,
gotti's crew acted quickly.

629
00:40:48,971 --> 00:40:50,613
[suspenseful music playing]

630
00:40:59,273 --> 00:41:02,750
Seconds later, john gotti drove
past the scene of the crime.

631
00:41:06,039 --> 00:41:08,548
Sammy sammy "bull" gravano
looked out the window, said,
"they're done."

632
00:41:10,376 --> 00:41:11,384
Paul castellano,
the man authorities say

633
00:41:12,879 --> 00:41:16,380
Was the most powerful mafia boss
in the nation

634
00:41:16,457 --> 00:41:20,259
Was shot and killed in front
of a new york city restaurant
tonight.

635
00:41:20,336 --> 00:41:24,472
Riddled with bullets on a public
street by rival gangsters,
who cursed him as he fell.

636
00:41:24,483 --> 00:41:27,442
A final insult, a bullet
in the forehead
as he lay dead or dying.

637
00:41:30,230 --> 00:41:33,314
[giuliani] what happened
in the last day or two kinda
brings you back to reality.

638
00:41:33,325 --> 00:41:36,075
But they're really at the core
all about essentially,
barbarians and murders.

639
00:41:38,145 --> 00:41:41,664
[winerip] the killing
of paul castellano
established john gotti

640
00:41:41,741 --> 00:41:46,336
As the celebrity gangster,
the boss
of the gambino crime family.

641
00:41:46,412 --> 00:41:51,341
[newsreader] gotti, then unknown
to all but mob experts,
attained overnight fame

642
00:41:51,417 --> 00:41:54,335
As the man said to be
the new godfather.

643
00:41:54,346 --> 00:41:57,514
[gotti] come on, you know
I don't know what the hell
you were talking about.

644
00:41:57,590 --> 00:42:00,508
Gotti's a megalomaniac,
he'd loved himself, he thought
he was the greatest thing ever

645
00:42:00,519 --> 00:42:00,591
And he wanted the world
to know it.

646
00:42:02,687 --> 00:42:06,856
It helped fuel his notoriety
and he became a folk hero,

647
00:42:06,933 --> 00:42:10,101
Even among the media
that was covering it.

648
00:42:10,177 --> 00:42:10,443
[chertoff] the 1980s is really
this perfect storm

649
00:42:11,938 --> 00:42:14,447
That makes super heroes
out of super villains.

650
00:42:16,851 --> 00:42:18,660
We've become culturally
more addicted to the stories
of these larger-than-life people

651
00:42:20,855 --> 00:42:27,451
Whether it's john gotti
leona helmsley, donald trump,
ivan boesky,

652
00:42:27,528 --> 00:42:31,464
Or rudy giuliani, one thing
that unites all of these people
is a kind of vanity.

653
00:42:32,884 --> 00:42:33,633
They want the public to see

654
00:42:35,628 --> 00:42:38,846
How successful they are,
how rich they are,
how powerful they are,

655
00:42:39,891 --> 00:42:43,393
Or how important they are.

656
00:42:43,469 --> 00:42:47,722
But they were all reaching
too far, they were all flying
far too close to the sun.

657
00:42:47,732 --> 00:42:50,182
There's no way
that that can continue.
You're asking for it.

658
00:42:50,259 --> 00:42:52,193
[dramatic music playing]