WEBVTT - The Comfortable Scam 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:09.360 This is a production of Journalista Podcast LLC and iHeartRadio. 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:18.080 Play Bye Bye, Say. 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:23.480 Six fie O free. 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:26.439 Why here? 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:34.240 These are the stakes to make a world in which 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:38.320 all of God's children can live. Are to go into 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:44.560 the dark. We must either love each other or we 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:48.400 must dive. Vote for President Johnson on November third. 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:51.240 The stakes are too high for you to stay home. 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:58.840 Welcome back to the Journalista Podcast. I'm your host, Steve A. Step. 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:02.640 That was the campaign commercial that scared America into re 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:06.160 electing Lyndon Baines Johnson to the presidency. Back in nineteen 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.480 sixty four, A little girl is counting the pedals on 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:12.760 a daisy as the atom bomb explodes in the background. 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:16.840 The Cold War was real. The US and the Soviet 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:19.240 Union were on a collision course to destroy the world. 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:23.919 It was terrifying. It was also our normal. I remember 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:27.520 my elementary school running drills and practicing getting under our 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:30.440 desks in case San Diego is hit with a nuclear warhead. 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:32.880 I'm not sure it would have made much of a difference. 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:35.800 Of course, today our kids practice hiding from a lone 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:41.560 gunman with an AR fifteen. You told me once that 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:45.160 you might have saved the world from nuclear holocaust. 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:48.400 Well, maybe not the world and maybe not nuclear, but 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:52.680 for sure we averted what could have been a devastating 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:56.200 war for a poor country in Latin America. 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:57.240 Well, tell me about that. 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:01.400 First, we had gone on a junket, very memorable junket. 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:04.360 I remembered one Tomo from the Miami Herald was there, 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:07.680 another journalist myself, and we all got back to Monagua, 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:11.560 and we all got sick. And of course we always 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:15.959 attributed to dirty water, not the right food, and so 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:20.400 I was starting to get very sick, nauseous. Was it 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.839 feeling right? I think? The day after we got back, 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:28.799 there were some rumors about some possible Russian armament and 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:37.840 particular MiG aircraft that could quite possibly be headed to Nicaragua, 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:41.639 and of course that was a very dangerous premise. 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:44.600 The New York Times wrote this about the rumors. 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:49.359 US warned Soviets it won't tolerate MiGs in Nicaragua. The 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:52.360 United States, concerned that a Soviet freighter that has reached 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:56.400 Nicaragua might be carrying advanced fighter aircraft, warned Musco on 0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:59.639 Tuesday that it would not tolerate the delivery of such planes. 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:02.840 President Reagan said that if the Nicaraguans took delivery of 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.440 advanced aircraft, it would quote indicate that they are contemplating 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:09.560 being a threat to their neighbors here in the Americas. 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:13.280 It wasn't Defcon one, but this wasn't the first time 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:15.760 a Russian shipment threatened the balance of power in the 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:16.639 Western Hemisphere. 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:26.400 Good evening, my fellow citizens. This government has promised has 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:31.000 maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military build up 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:36.760 on the island of Cuba. Within the past week, unmistakable 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:40.880 evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:46.120 missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:50.200 The purpose of these bases can be none of us 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:55.520 than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere. 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.480 That was President John F. Kennedy. You may have heard 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:02.080 of the Cuban missile crisis. The United States put a 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:06.080 naval blockade around Cuba, stopping the Soviets from delivering nuclear 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:10.320 warheads to Fidel Castro. US military leaders were pushing for 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:14.240 a full on invasion of Cuba, a fucking terrible idea. 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:19.440 Kennedy opted for diplomacy, and after thirteen tenth days in October, 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:23.039 he and the Soviet leader Nikita Krushev agreed to back down. 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:25.760 It was the closest the world has ever come to 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:32.640 nuclear war that we know of. Scary shit in Nicaragua. 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:35.120 History seemed to be repeating itself. 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:38.560 So of course everybody wants to find out is the 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:41.760 rumor true? You know, how do you find out about that? 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:45.120 I mean you have to literally see the aircraft coming in. 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:47.880 At that point, I had already gone to see a doctor. 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:51.479 The doctor had told me your gallbladder has to come out. 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:53.720 We need to do surgery on you. And I'm like, 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:56.160 you know, I'm not comfortable with that. We're in a 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:59.719 war torn zone, We're in a third world country. I'm 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:02.919 just uncomfortable. And by the way, I'm working on this story, 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:06.320 as I'm getting sicker, the doctor says, well, we'll have 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:08.960 to treat you somehow, and he hooks me up to 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:12.280 an IV and the IV he's hooked up to a 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:15.920 wooden hat rack that I had gotten my driver to 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:19.280 put wheels on it so I could be wheeling myself 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:21.440 back and forth. And I'm thinking this is going to 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.280 make me feel better. Well, it didn't. I of course, 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:28.320 let New York know and Miami know this possibility of 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:33.520 Russian weaponry coming in. We don't know how, but the 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:38.000 State Department had called CBS. CBS obviously knew that I 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:42.400 had close contacts with the Sandinista government, the hierarchy, but 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.280 we still don't know how. The State Department knews. So 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:47.920 the State Department calls New York, tells New York and 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:50.440 you get in touch with Cookie, have her call or 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:54.360 take us people and see if we can avert this problem, 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:58.280 possibly a major problem. So CBS calls me, can you 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:00.600 get in touch? I s at sure, in touch with 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:05.480 Ortega's press guy, Manuel Spinoza, and I tell him, listen, 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:10.120 there's rumors about this big aircraft coming in. The State 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:13.760 Department of the US is not happy with this, and 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:16.720 I think that you should know that they're saying there 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:21.360 will be a problem if this weaponry makes it into Nicaragua. 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.880 And Manuel's like, well, let me talk to the president. 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:27.839 I'll get back to you. I'm talking to New York. 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:31.000 New York's talking to the State Department. And this went 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:32.480 on for hours. 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:36.040 If there are legitimate fears that the United States is 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:39.360 looking for a reason to invade Nicaragua, we attack the 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:42.560 island of Grenada. In nineteen eighty three, for far Less, 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:47.120 a Marxist newspaper called The Spartacist wrote that the invasion 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:47.760 was imminent. 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:53.440 As USSR seventy one blackbirds smash the sound barrier over Manawa, 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:56.640 Nicadawens have good reason to believe the bombing will begin 0:06:56.760 --> 0:07:00.839 in five minutes. The imperialist invasion plans are already worked 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:04.440 out in detail. Nicaraua leader Daniel Lortega said at the 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:08.360 UN in October, the winds now blowing over Central America 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:11.160 foretell of holocaust for our peoples. 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:15.440 The stakes are very high for Nicaragua, and some officials 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:18.280 in the US government fear this could lead to another Vietnam. 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:21.280 I'd been doing this the whole night, thinking I'm gonna 0:07:21.280 --> 0:07:23.840 get a nice exclusive here, I'm gonna get a great 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:29.000 little story here. Well, the MiGs never came in. I 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:32.880 like to think that I helped avert a bigger problem, 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.640 which would have been a war of sub sort. 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:37.480 Like a missiles in October type thing. 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:42.120 Yeah, like the Cuban missile crisis. Probably not as dangerous 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:44.320 as that was, but it could have been. We did 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:47.800 all of that, we averted it all, and I still 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:52.200 didn't get the story because we couldn't broadcast because the 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:56.760 State Department was involved, CBS was involved, where Tega's people 0:07:56.800 --> 0:07:59.240 are involved, and I'm in the middle of the whole thing. 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.560 But he wants that story to come out anyway except. 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:04.640 You I would have loved it. There was no way 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:07.080 that New York or Miami was ever going to allow 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:11.119 that because it would look like we were all accomplices. 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:12.360 Yeah, exactly. 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:16.120 You know, what's the State Department doing dealing with CBS 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:21.840 And what's CBS doing telling me to go talk to insiders? 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:24.640 So even though I did it to get the big story, 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:26.600 I never got the big story. 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:27.560 Did anybody get it? 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:30.600 No, because no one knew what happened? The problem had 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:31.200 been averted. 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:31.840 Wow. 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:32.880 Oh. 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:36.559 And then CBS, as good as they are to their journalists, 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:40.160 flew me to Miami. Ambulance waiting at the airport, wheeled 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:44.240 me in into Mount Sinai Hospital and the receptionist says 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:47.480 to me, girl, you sure look yellow. You must have 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:51.120 a bad case of hepatitis. And at that point I 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:54.400 realized I could have died because if I would have 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:58.200 allowed them to operate on me in Nicaragua, you cannot 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:01.920 perform surgery on a hypatha patient because they die. I 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:04.600 would have died, and no one would have been the wiser. 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:09.480 So is this one of those stories that everybody decides 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:10.920 to never talk about again. 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:12.240 It never happened. 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:15.040 So basically the story is there is no story. It 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:15.720 never happened. 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:16.560 It never happened. 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:19.080 That would have been huge, too, It would have been huge. 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:22.359 The Washington Post reported this about the confrontation. 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:26.040 US officials said yesterday that no Soviet fighter jets have 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:28.760 been unloaded from a Soviet ship now docked in a 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:31.439 Nicaraguan port, and that they now believe the ship may 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:34.680 not contain any of the MEG aircraft. At the same time, 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:37.760 officials at the Pentagon and State Department sought to quiet 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:41.360 rumors that the United States was preparing to invade Nicaragua. 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:44.760 While the United States would consider various options to quote 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:48.679 unquote neutralize any megs, a State Department official said, the 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:52.920 idea of a general offensive is quote unquote nonsense. 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:57.719 Years later, I realized the gravity of what could have 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:00.360 happened and what we averted day. 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:02.439 Did it ever cross your mind that some o the 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:05.640 State Department determined that you were someone they could talk to. 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:08.679 Yeah, Well, we always kind of wondered how they knew that. 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:13.000 But we know how our government works, and I'm sure 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:16.719 they were very well versed in my activities. You know 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:18.760 what I was up to at any given moment. 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:20.439 It's kind of scary in a way. 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:21.040 It was. 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:25.959 So the US State Department used Cookie to stave off 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:29.839 a major Cold War confrontation in Central America. Her power 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:32.760 and influence are at an all time high. The question 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:35.160 is what will she do with it. 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:41.040 I knew I was a powerful person, just personality wise, 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:45.080 even before all of this, through the drug days, through 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:48.920 the modeling days, through all of it. As far as 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:55.880 wielding power, yes, I started to realize that I could 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:59.000 get anything I wanted. I could get in and out 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:02.800 of anything I want wanted. If Dan Rather or Mike 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:06.920 Wallace or Don Hewett wanted something, they knew Cookie was 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:09.520 going to get it for them one way or another. 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:12.640 I could charm the shit out of anybody. 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:15.880 One person told me that you were like a mob 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:18.719 bus who was collecting favors. 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:24.440 Not intentionally, and I never really had to say, look, 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:26.199 I did this for you, you got to do this 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:29.079 for me. It was just sort of understood because it 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:34.040 wasn't just contacts, and it just wasn't powerful government people 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:37.800 on either side and in different countries. I also helped 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:42.560 my own crews and colleagues whatever had to be done, 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:48.280 whether it was carrying tripods, carrying equipment, helping them if 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:51.320 they had a hangover, bringing them to the airport, picking 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:55.439 them up from the making their lives just out and 0:11:55.559 --> 0:12:00.199 out comfortable. You know, happy wife, happy life. Well my 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:05.240 motto was happy cruise, happy journalists, happy Cookie, and happy 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:08.000 New York. And I will take that a step further. 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:12.439 Obviously the networks were all competitors. I wasn't like that. 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:15.200 Of course, I'm not going to give away my exclusives, 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:19.320 but I helped other crews in other networks. You could 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:22.320 always count on Cookie giving us a ride, or if 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:25.199 we don't have tapes, she can give us tapes. If 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:28.880 our machines went down, She'll let us choose her machines. 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:35.040 But then it also extended to outside the TV network circle. 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:40.679 Anybody that was in my life, friends, relatives, if I 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:44.000 needed them to work, I made sure they got work. 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:46.600 The drivers. I spread the wealth. 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:50.840 Meet Alejandro Belly, one of Cookie's best friends and her 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:54.959 assistant at the CBS office in Managua aka Chillin. 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:58.120 She would get quite a bit of money. It would 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:02.080 always come in cash in dollars. A driver would get 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:05.000 one hundred dollars a day when normally, you know, if 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:08.960 they were hired by a private family, he maybe would 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:11.640 be making twenty dollars a month. So it was this 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:16.319 huge gap. I was graduated from American University working in 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:19.080 the health ministry, I started making fourteen I ended up 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:22.280 making seventeen dollars a month, and I was making one 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:25.319 hundred dollars with Cookie in a day. In that same way, 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:28.360 she would have, I don't know, somebody takes care of Chicho, 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:33.040 somebody that does our nails and does you know, manicures 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:36.079 and petticures and come there at the office. You know, 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:38.920 you know she'll tip her well and she's very generous. 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:43.400 I had a cousin worked for me. I had close friends, 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:47.480 but I wasn't paying them to do nothing. They pulled 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:50.800 their own weight. Sure, I spread the wealth, but they 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:52.600 had to report for duty. 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:55.400 Yeah, Selene said that you had it figured out where 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:59.240 you could have three or four or sometimes five drivers 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:03.040 working consistently and they were getting paid one hundred dollars 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:03.520 a day for the. 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:06.439 Moment in dollars, which was like as if I was 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:07.959 paying them in goal bars. 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:10.800 The way he put it, though, it was almost calculated 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:13.480 how you could help as many people as possible. 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:17.000 Many people as possible, And people like Chilean people like 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:21.040 my cousin Hilda, people like my brother Jimmy. They all 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:24.720 worked for their money. But I just made sure that 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:28.960 that money was spread as far as I could. You're 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:33.200 in a war zone, people are hurting. Everybody could use money. 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:38.920 I made sure everyone, drivers and helpers and maids were 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:42.880 raising whole families. And that was my go to amount, 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:44.160 one hundred dollars a day. 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:47.360 She keeps her allies in a way, you know, she 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:50.880 was able to really reward them. She doesn't buy them, 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:52.600 but she rewards her loyalties. 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:56.640 That was just an extension of the way I've always 0:14:56.760 --> 0:15:00.520 been in my life. I think she called it comfortable scam. 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:02.760 A comfortable scam. I love that. 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:06.360 And of course my theme song was comfortably. 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:08.680 Numb for obvious reasons. 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:09.760 For obvious reasons. 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:13.200 In terms of what this meant for the drivers, it's 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:16.640 they were able to send kids to education and have 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:19.880 it changed schools, have a better car, have its in house, 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:21.840 keep another mistress. 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:28.120 You know, listen, Steve, everybody around me made money halfway 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:32.360 for altruistic reasons and halfway because these are people that 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:36.400 are helping me do my job. Their payback to me 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:41.080 was helping me get the best stories and the best 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:45.880 work coming out of CBS Latin America as possible. 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:48.600 We can talk about all the good things with journalism 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:50.360 and all the things like that that you you were 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:53.080 able to accomplish and help other people accomplish. And I 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:55.920 know you you had your reasons for paying people well 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:58.920 and that that's good business. But when you look back 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:01.840 at that and think about how many people you affected 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:03.520 in a positive way, how does that feel? 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:06.280 Let's put it to you this way. Two things I'm 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:09.240 going to say. They all hated seeing the war end, 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:14.720 because they all really made their lives because of war. 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:19.360 And number two, how did I feel? It felt good? Steve? 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:22.480 Just like it felt good before the war, Just like 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:25.760 it feels good even today. It makes you feel good. 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:29.520 So many lives were able to be touched in such 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:33.680 a positive way. I still hear from these people thirty 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:35.600 and forty years later. 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:38.960 If they all say, every one of them I've interviewed, 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:41.480 they all say, they still get a birthday card, they 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:43.440 still get a Christmas card, they still get a note, 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:45.880 they still get a thought sympathy card. I want to 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:48.640 go on record right now saying that if my cat 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:52.000 goes to the vet, I send you a card, sometimes 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:57.800 with a gift certificate. Cookie takes care of her people. 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:02.640 I know because I'm want to them. After the break, 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:06.640 she takes it to another level. We'll be right back, 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:28.919 welcome back. This story is fucking insane. There are several versions, 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:31.720 all of them dangerous, all of them hilarious. I'm going 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:34.800 to tell you the funniest version. Remember that time at 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:36.480 the airport when you forgot you at a joint in 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:40.120 your backpack and you're sweating bullets watching it go through 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:42.600 the TSA scanner and you just know you're going to 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:46.120 freaking jail. It's like that, except you're in a third 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:49.119 world country in the middle of a civil war. You 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:51.520 talk a lot about security going in and out of 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:53.919 these buildings and that type of thing. Do you ever 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:55.879 have any close calls? 0:17:56.720 --> 0:18:01.080 Yes, we had a great close call, I could say great. 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:05.520 Now we're being summoned with all the other journalists to 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:09.159 a press conference, not a big one, A dog and 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:12.000 Pony Show, which we used to call him. I'm sure 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:13.880 the San Denisas thought it was going to be a big, 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.440 important press conference. We knew it wasn't and it was 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:19.920 going to be held at the Ministry of Defense. And 0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:24.240 then after the press conference, I had been given the 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:29.080 okay for an exclusive interview with the Defense Minister, which 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:33.680 was President Ortega's brother, Umberto Ortego. And this guy didn't 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:37.800 give interviews. He, you know, was a very quiet guy, 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:41.520 secretive obviously because he's the head of defense and they're 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:42.040 at war. 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:45.040 Was there a purpose for the interview, No, we. 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:48.720 Were just wanted an interview with him. Whenever I thought 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:52.720 that I wanted something extra or exclusive, it didn't hurt 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:55.159 to ask because all they could do is say no. 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:58.520 But most of the time they said yes. It would 0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:01.720 always give CBS the per hand, so we knew we 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:04.440 were going to do that after So we're there, I'm 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:10.240 with my favorite Cuban American crew Manny and George Bosa. 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:12.119 I loved working with these guys. 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:14.760 It was one of those where it was the big 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:18.000 press conference. Everyone was invited, you know, and those were 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:20.720 very few and far between. So when they did that, 0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:24.000 everyone showed up. They would take us into a room 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:26.919 and they'd make us drop all year. And then they 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:29.600 had the dogs, the German shepherds and their you know, 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:32.040 secret police, and they would go through your stuff. 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:35.760 They searched the equipment, they searched the journalists, make sure 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:39.760 there are no bombs or weapons that you know, something 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:41.480 unexpected could. 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:43.760 Happen, so standard operating proceeds SOP. 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:47.800 So we all filed in and I had a journalists 0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:51.440 vest where I carried my tapes and my microphones and 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:54.760 some cables, my passport, cash and all that. 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:59.760 George wore this little vest that was a photographer vest. 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:02.640 I'm sure you've seen the one to have his little pockets. 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:06.240 He wore that thing every day. That thing, if you 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:08.280 were to set it down, it would have walked away 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:08.919 by itself. 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:12.440 So we had been up the night before, we'd been partying. 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:15.320 We just thought we'd just work all the way through 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:19.080 from partying, go straight to equipment check, which was we 0:20:19.160 --> 0:20:21.040 had to be there around six in the morning. They 0:20:21.080 --> 0:20:23.160 always keep you for hours. We knew we could take 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:24.760 a nap and sleep while we're waiting. 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:27.159 So you're saying that you were you guys were up 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:29.800 partying all night and went straight to their defense. 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:31.960 Mid yeah, because it was across the street from the hotel. 0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:34.439 Literally, you never slept that night. 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:37.800 We did sleep, which is not not normal. It was 0:20:37.880 --> 0:20:40.240 pretty you know, normal for us to do. 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:43.159 The night before, I had been with a friend of 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:47.240 mine that had gotten me some some weed. And to 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:50.040 get weed and monogua is not an easy thing to do, 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:53.040 you know. It's it's hard. It's not bad, but it's 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:55.520 not the greatest either, So it's rare, and it's he 0:20:55.640 --> 0:20:58.960 treated like like gold, you know, it's it's very u valuable. 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:03.040 I remember sitting up in his little bed, putting a 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:06.320 cigarette in his mouth, lighting that, and then rolling a 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:09.600 joint while he smoked that sick and it was kind 0:21:09.640 --> 0:21:12.520 of one of those one went where you go, oh shit, Sey, 0:21:12.600 --> 0:21:14.480 you know, I mean, I didn't take anything of it. 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:18.760 Whatever we had many hours before we had to do this. 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:22.720 We all filing and we walked into this giant room 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:25.560 and the cameramen put their cameras and tripods down. I 0:21:25.640 --> 0:21:28.280 put down my recorder. I put down my backpack with 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:30.440 all my batteries and stuff, and then I dropped my 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:33.000 best because the soldier said to me, we need to 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:35.080 see the best too, because you can put a lot 0:21:35.119 --> 0:21:37.240 of stuff in it. So I drop it and we 0:21:37.359 --> 0:21:39.440 all file out. And as soon as we file out, 0:21:39.800 --> 0:21:40.720 George comes up. 0:21:40.640 --> 0:21:43.399 To me and he's literally pale, like why does this 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:45.600 ghost man? And I said, what's up? Man? 0:21:45.680 --> 0:21:46.119 What you know? 0:21:46.600 --> 0:21:50.639 And he says, manny I forgot to take the weed 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:52.120 out of my little vest. 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:58.040 Boja looks at me with this look of fear, and 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:02.679 I was like, oak, hey, now you have to understand. 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:08.000 They were always scared because being Cuban Americans, they were 0:22:08.080 --> 0:22:11.959 fearful that the sandinisas if they ever got in trouble, 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:15.400 you know, would throw them in jail and throw away 0:22:15.440 --> 0:22:15.800 the key. 0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:19.280 The reason it was so scary for me is because 0:22:19.600 --> 0:22:22.760 my passport says born in Cuba. Okay, not born in 0:22:22.840 --> 0:22:25.200 the US. It's a US passport, but it says born 0:22:25.240 --> 0:22:27.600 in Havana. And the first time I landed there, the 0:22:27.640 --> 0:22:30.240 Sandinista soldier at the airport, when he took my seventy 0:22:30.280 --> 0:22:34.200 five bucks attacks to come in, he said, you left 0:22:34.280 --> 0:22:35.880 Cuba to laugh at the revolution. 0:22:36.560 --> 0:22:39.520 If they catch us with drugs, we're done. You know, 0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:43.359 I get to Miami, Cubans with drugs. You know that 0:22:43.400 --> 0:22:45.800 would have been headline news in Nicarago. 0:22:46.320 --> 0:22:48.480 Cookie's like, wow, let me see what I can do. 0:22:49.119 --> 0:22:52.359 So she disappears behind the door and then she cracks 0:22:52.440 --> 0:22:55.440 the door opened a bit and says, post get in 0:22:55.480 --> 0:22:57.480 here and get it really quick. So I slide in. 0:22:57.800 --> 0:22:59.480