1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:07,166 --> 00:00:08,667 SISTER ALICE: Mr. Mason, it's hard to believe 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 4 00:00:08,750 --> 00:00:10,208 that you're the right person for the job. 5 00:00:10,500 --> 00:00:12,333 PERRY MASON: I'm the only person for this job. 6 00:00:12,417 --> 00:00:13,625 ♪ ("SOLID GROUND" BY MICHAEL KIWANUKA PLAYS) ♪ 7 00:00:13,709 --> 00:00:15,000 It's a complicated case. 8 00:00:15,083 --> 00:00:16,792 This one's really got its hooks in me. 9 00:00:16,875 --> 00:00:19,250 ♪ (MUSIC INTENSIFIES, CONCLUDES) ♪ 10 00:00:40,667 --> 00:00:44,667 This is my grandfather, Julius Rosenberg. 11 00:00:44,917 --> 00:00:46,458 And this is 12 00:00:46,542 --> 00:00:49,583 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg together. 13 00:00:50,041 --> 00:00:53,458 My father and my uncle were... 14 00:00:54,625 --> 00:00:58,750 around ten and six... 15 00:00:59,750 --> 00:01:03,792 um, when they were electrocuted. 16 00:01:05,458 --> 00:01:09,166 They were accused of stealing the atom bomb secret. 17 00:01:10,667 --> 00:01:13,083 I wanna ask my dad 18 00:01:13,166 --> 00:01:15,959 how people started thinking about 19 00:01:16,291 --> 00:01:19,667 why Ethel and Julius stole the atom bomb secret. 20 00:01:19,750 --> 00:01:21,208 Why he accused them. 21 00:01:21,291 --> 00:01:23,041 What happened was that 22 00:01:23,125 --> 00:01:25,834 the government of the United States wanted to... 23 00:01:26,208 --> 00:01:29,208 make your grandma and grandpa... 24 00:01:29,834 --> 00:01:32,959 make up some lies about a lot of people, 25 00:01:33,041 --> 00:01:34,375 so that these people, 26 00:01:34,458 --> 00:01:36,500 who the government of the United States didn't like, 27 00:01:36,583 --> 00:01:38,083 would all get put in jail. 28 00:01:38,625 --> 00:01:41,917 But they refused to tell those lies because if they did, 29 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,917 then other people would be killed. 30 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,417 What I wanna do is I wanna say 31 00:01:48,500 --> 00:01:50,375 to the people who killed my parents, 32 00:01:50,458 --> 00:01:52,583 25 years ago, you killed two people, 33 00:01:52,667 --> 00:01:54,667 but you did not crush our struggle. 34 00:01:54,750 --> 00:01:58,000 We are still here, and we are still struggling, 35 00:01:58,083 --> 00:02:00,583 and we are united in the statement 36 00:02:00,667 --> 00:02:02,709 that it will never happen again. 37 00:02:02,792 --> 00:02:07,083 ♪ ♪ 38 00:02:07,166 --> 00:02:10,709 Barry Farber: Roy Cohn, when he was virtually just a teenager, 39 00:02:10,792 --> 00:02:15,709 sent Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to the electric chair. 40 00:02:17,542 --> 00:02:19,333 You've had 30 years, 41 00:02:19,417 --> 00:02:22,000 30 years since the Rosenbergs were executed. 42 00:02:22,959 --> 00:02:24,959 Have you spent one of those nights 43 00:02:25,041 --> 00:02:27,750 sleepless for sending this couple to the chair? 44 00:02:27,834 --> 00:02:31,792 Of course not, Barry. This couple was convicted by a jury, 45 00:02:31,875 --> 00:02:34,375 and if ever the death penalty were appropriate, 46 00:02:34,458 --> 00:02:35,834 it was in that case. 47 00:02:37,542 --> 00:02:40,083 ♪ ♪ 48 00:02:41,875 --> 00:02:43,333 Is there a police officer? 49 00:02:43,417 --> 00:02:46,083 (indistinct dialogue) 50 00:02:47,875 --> 00:02:49,250 Roy Cohn: What can I say? 51 00:02:49,333 --> 00:02:50,917 That I haven't been discreet? 52 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:52,291 I never claimed to be discreet. 53 00:02:52,375 --> 00:02:54,250 (indistinct chatter) 54 00:02:54,333 --> 00:02:55,875 Hey, Ernie. Come on. 55 00:02:57,083 --> 00:02:59,750 I claim to be upfront and totally candid. 56 00:02:59,834 --> 00:03:01,750 And I claim not to be a hypocrite. 57 00:03:01,834 --> 00:03:04,500 We believe that the free world is gonna win the Cold War, 58 00:03:04,583 --> 00:03:07,083 and win this fight by one thing: the truth. 59 00:03:08,417 --> 00:03:11,083 I'm a guy who's taken tough positions, 60 00:03:11,166 --> 00:03:12,709 starting with the Rosenberg case, 61 00:03:12,792 --> 00:03:14,250 starting with the McCarthy period. 62 00:03:14,333 --> 00:03:15,458 I don't see the difference 63 00:03:15,542 --> 00:03:18,083 between Nazism and Hitler on the one hand, 64 00:03:18,166 --> 00:03:20,417 and Communism on the other hand. 65 00:03:22,083 --> 00:03:25,500 What I do, I do on the basis of moral judgments 66 00:03:25,583 --> 00:03:28,125 as I make them, as only I must make them, 67 00:03:28,208 --> 00:03:31,333 according to my own conscience. 68 00:03:31,417 --> 00:03:33,750 I reserve that right, the right to make judgments 69 00:03:33,834 --> 00:03:35,667 about myself and other people, 70 00:03:35,750 --> 00:03:38,959 and have other people make them about me. 71 00:03:39,041 --> 00:03:40,959 Someone wants to be my detractor, 72 00:03:41,041 --> 00:03:42,542 that is that person's privilege. 73 00:03:42,625 --> 00:03:44,041 I just don't care. 74 00:03:44,125 --> 00:03:46,542 Pat Buchanan: "I'll show them what the national interest is. 75 00:03:46,625 --> 00:03:48,542 I'll hold up the army to ridicule." 76 00:03:48,625 --> 00:03:49,959 I said that? 77 00:03:50,041 --> 00:03:52,709 -According to a book I read. -Well, read another book. 78 00:03:52,792 --> 00:03:54,709 (indistinct dialogue) 79 00:03:54,792 --> 00:03:56,875 Cohn: I found out one thing in life. 80 00:03:56,959 --> 00:04:00,125 Don't ever threaten unless you intend to follow through. 81 00:04:08,750 --> 00:04:11,875 ♪ ♪ 82 00:04:13,166 --> 00:04:15,208 Cohn: Everything I do has to be true. 83 00:04:15,291 --> 00:04:18,959 I will not say anything that I cannot repeat under oath. 84 00:04:20,125 --> 00:04:23,500 ♪ ♪ 85 00:04:35,166 --> 00:04:39,166 Peter Manso: In 1980, I went to "Playboy Magazine," 86 00:04:39,250 --> 00:04:41,291 and I said I'd like to do an interview 87 00:04:41,375 --> 00:04:43,709 of Roy Cohn for the magazine. 88 00:04:43,792 --> 00:04:46,417 Manso (on tape): Testing, testing. 89 00:04:46,500 --> 00:04:48,542 Roy Cohn, Peter Manso. 90 00:04:48,625 --> 00:04:50,917 Actually, why don't we do this? Why don't we just break here? 91 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:52,750 Cohn (on tape): Okay. Have we covered a lot of... 92 00:04:52,834 --> 00:04:54,417 Manso (on tape): We're getting there, we're getting there. 93 00:04:54,500 --> 00:04:57,125 Manso: I simply called Roy at his law firm, 94 00:04:57,208 --> 00:04:59,792 Saxe, Bacon, & Bolan in New York, 95 00:04:59,875 --> 00:05:02,291 uh, left a message, and five minutes later, 96 00:05:02,375 --> 00:05:05,667 the phone rang, and it was Roy at the other end of the phone. 97 00:05:05,750 --> 00:05:07,291 "Sounds interesting. When do you wanna 98 00:05:07,375 --> 00:05:08,875 get together to talk about it?" 99 00:05:08,959 --> 00:05:12,625 ♪ ♪ 100 00:05:12,709 --> 00:05:15,792 We started taping at his place in North Greenwich, 101 00:05:15,875 --> 00:05:18,542 an hour or so north of New York. 102 00:05:19,917 --> 00:05:21,208 Cohn: Okay, go ahead. 103 00:05:21,291 --> 00:05:22,792 Manso: Uh, so, presumably, your clients, 104 00:05:22,875 --> 00:05:24,709 the wealthy, social register types, da da da, 105 00:05:24,792 --> 00:05:26,959 have come to you over the years because you gained a reputation 106 00:05:27,041 --> 00:05:28,750 for getting things done. For winning. 107 00:05:28,834 --> 00:05:31,166 Does all this go back to what you learned from McCarthy? 108 00:05:31,250 --> 00:05:33,291 The so-called "Achilles heel" technique? 109 00:05:33,375 --> 00:05:35,000 Cohn: Uh, I wouldn't say 110 00:05:35,083 --> 00:05:36,875 it's what I learned from McCarthy. 111 00:05:36,959 --> 00:05:40,000 I think it's what I started learning during the Rosenberg trial, 112 00:05:40,083 --> 00:05:42,709 what I learned at the US district attorney's office, 113 00:05:42,792 --> 00:05:45,667 when I made up my mind that law is an adversary profession. 114 00:05:45,750 --> 00:05:47,792 One side wins, one side loses. 115 00:05:47,875 --> 00:05:49,208 And I don't-- I don't like to lose. 116 00:05:49,291 --> 00:05:50,709 -I hate to lose. -Manso: Mm-hmm. 117 00:05:50,792 --> 00:05:52,542 Cohn: So, I just made up my mind I was gonna do 118 00:05:52,625 --> 00:05:54,959 everything I could in the way of careful preparation... 119 00:05:55,041 --> 00:05:57,333 -Manso: Mm-hmm. -Cohn: ...in the way of tough fighting 120 00:05:57,417 --> 00:05:59,041 to be a winner. 121 00:06:00,750 --> 00:06:03,375 Manso: It became clear to me right away 122 00:06:03,458 --> 00:06:07,291 that my stereotyping of Roy was inadequate. 123 00:06:07,917 --> 00:06:10,875 To call him evil, it's true, 124 00:06:11,709 --> 00:06:16,542 but it doesn't explain 100 other things about Roy Cohn. 125 00:06:16,625 --> 00:06:19,375 He was bright, he was contentious, 126 00:06:19,458 --> 00:06:22,959 but I think what appealed to me most about Roy is 127 00:06:23,041 --> 00:06:25,709 that he was a lawless madman. 128 00:06:25,792 --> 00:06:29,041 Cohn: I would say I'm probably more of a maverick. 129 00:06:29,125 --> 00:06:31,542 I do have a crazy list of clients. 130 00:06:31,625 --> 00:06:35,542 The usual reaction isn't "Ah, Roy Cohn represents the mob." 131 00:06:35,625 --> 00:06:37,917 It's "Roy Cohn and Studio 54. 132 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:39,375 "Roy Cohn and anti-Communism. 133 00:06:39,458 --> 00:06:40,917 "Roy Cohn and the archdiocese. 134 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:42,917 "Roy Cohn, the friend of... 135 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:45,208 "the lawyer for Donald Trump. 136 00:06:45,291 --> 00:06:47,375 "Roy Cohn, good friend of George Steinbrenner 137 00:06:47,458 --> 00:06:48,709 "who owns the New York Yankees. 138 00:06:48,792 --> 00:06:50,709 "Roy Cohn, the friend of congressmen, 139 00:06:50,792 --> 00:06:52,583 senators, judges." 140 00:06:52,667 --> 00:06:55,875 ♪ ♪ 141 00:06:55,959 --> 00:06:57,583 (explosion) 142 00:07:00,834 --> 00:07:04,000 Narrator: Someone had passed America's atomic bomb secrets to Russia. 143 00:07:04,083 --> 00:07:06,750 This was an undisputed fact that the whole world knew. 144 00:07:06,834 --> 00:07:09,041 The federal government had laid the crime at the doorstep 145 00:07:09,125 --> 00:07:12,750 of two native New Yorkers, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. 146 00:07:12,834 --> 00:07:16,333 ♪ ♪ 147 00:07:19,500 --> 00:07:22,333 Michael Meeropol: My parents grew up during the Great Depression. 148 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:26,083 The Communists were the ones who were fighting 149 00:07:26,166 --> 00:07:28,792 for the rights of tenants and workers, 150 00:07:28,875 --> 00:07:31,500 and so, they were naturally drawn to it. 151 00:07:31,583 --> 00:07:34,458 In World War II, given the wartime alliance 152 00:07:34,542 --> 00:07:35,875 with the Soviet Union, 153 00:07:35,959 --> 00:07:40,667 Communism was allied with Americanism. 154 00:07:41,500 --> 00:07:43,542 It became a natural thing 155 00:07:43,625 --> 00:07:45,542 to politically support 156 00:07:45,625 --> 00:07:47,667 the survival of the Soviet Union. 157 00:07:51,291 --> 00:07:53,917 My father made a big deal at the trial 158 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:55,625 that he liked the Soviet Union 159 00:07:55,709 --> 00:07:59,125 because it had torn the guts out of the Hitler beast 160 00:07:59,208 --> 00:08:02,291 that killed six million of my fellow Jews. 161 00:08:02,375 --> 00:08:05,041 ♪ ♪ 162 00:08:05,125 --> 00:08:07,000 When my children were young, 163 00:08:07,083 --> 00:08:08,792 they learned that Judge Kaufman 164 00:08:08,875 --> 00:08:10,875 sentenced their grandparents to death. 165 00:08:12,041 --> 00:08:14,875 David Greenglass, my mother's brother, 166 00:08:14,959 --> 00:08:16,792 who was a machinist at Los Alamos, 167 00:08:16,875 --> 00:08:19,250 claimed that Julius and Ethel Rosenberg 168 00:08:19,333 --> 00:08:23,208 recruited him to be a spy for the Soviet Union. 169 00:08:23,291 --> 00:08:25,875 And that's where Roy Cohn enters the scene. 170 00:08:25,959 --> 00:08:29,458 He coached David Greenglass to develop his testimony, 171 00:08:29,542 --> 00:08:32,250 examined David Greenglass at the trial. 172 00:08:33,458 --> 00:08:35,500 The two of them together were the reason 173 00:08:35,583 --> 00:08:37,417 my parents were convicted, 174 00:08:38,417 --> 00:08:40,583 and the reason they were executed. 175 00:08:48,458 --> 00:08:51,083 (birds chirping) 176 00:08:52,792 --> 00:08:55,625 Ivy Meeropol: Think back when you were a kid. 177 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:58,041 -Did you-- Were you aware of Roy Cohn? -No. 178 00:08:58,125 --> 00:08:59,792 In 1955, I read 179 00:08:59,875 --> 00:09:02,667 "The Judgment of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg" by John Wexley. 180 00:09:02,750 --> 00:09:05,208 And there was the reference to Roy Cohn, 181 00:09:05,291 --> 00:09:07,834 and I'd already heard about him because of McCarthy. 182 00:09:07,917 --> 00:09:10,542 -And how old were you? -1955, I was 12. 183 00:09:11,125 --> 00:09:13,667 -Wow. That's quite a book to read when you're 12. -Yeah, 184 00:09:13,750 --> 00:09:15,709 well, 'cause I didn't understand it much, but it certainly-- 185 00:09:15,792 --> 00:09:17,208 the name Roy Cohn stuck in my mind 186 00:09:17,291 --> 00:09:20,583 'cause I had seen the stuff on TV about McCarthy. 187 00:09:20,667 --> 00:09:23,417 And I knew that McCarthy was a "bad man," 188 00:09:23,500 --> 00:09:25,458 not that I knew any of the details. 189 00:09:25,542 --> 00:09:27,458 ♪ ♪ 190 00:09:27,542 --> 00:09:29,750 Cohn: I had graduated from college and law school, 191 00:09:29,834 --> 00:09:34,500 and gotten both degrees in three years and four months. 192 00:09:34,583 --> 00:09:36,583 I went to the US attorney's office. 193 00:09:36,667 --> 00:09:40,041 I was a kid. I was not yet 20. 194 00:09:40,125 --> 00:09:42,875 I had prosecuted internal security cases, counterfeiting, 195 00:09:42,959 --> 00:09:47,458 narcotics, and I had a minor name because of that. 196 00:09:47,542 --> 00:09:49,667 I examined David Greenglass. 197 00:09:49,750 --> 00:09:51,125 I was then... 198 00:09:51,208 --> 00:09:53,125 a big, fat 23 years old 199 00:09:53,208 --> 00:09:55,542 and I sort of put the case together. 200 00:09:57,125 --> 00:09:58,542 I think that the death sentence 201 00:09:58,625 --> 00:10:00,667 imposed by Judge Irving R. Kaufman 202 00:10:00,750 --> 00:10:03,667 in the Atom Spy Trial had a very strong deterrent effect. 203 00:10:03,750 --> 00:10:05,875 I think it's been a very good year 204 00:10:05,959 --> 00:10:08,667 on the anti-Communist front in this country. 205 00:10:09,875 --> 00:10:11,583 Alan Dershowitz: He was known as the guy 206 00:10:11,667 --> 00:10:14,542 who got the conviction and execution of the Rosenbergs. 207 00:10:14,834 --> 00:10:18,458 And I think he saw this as a stepping stone to glory, 208 00:10:18,542 --> 00:10:19,792 and it worked. 209 00:10:19,875 --> 00:10:22,834 ♪ ♪ 210 00:10:25,458 --> 00:10:27,083 Cohn: I became Chief Counsel 211 00:10:27,166 --> 00:10:29,458 for the Senate Investigating Committee 212 00:10:29,542 --> 00:10:32,208 when Senator McCarthy became chairman. 213 00:10:34,500 --> 00:10:38,792 Government agencies had covered up security risks 214 00:10:38,875 --> 00:10:42,291 and had left people in sensitive positions. 215 00:10:42,375 --> 00:10:45,333 Our job was to show cover-ups. 216 00:10:45,417 --> 00:10:47,291 David Lloyd Marcus: He had to always be the tough guy in the room. 217 00:10:47,375 --> 00:10:50,000 He had to be the one who was the most macho. 218 00:10:50,083 --> 00:10:53,375 Now, how to do it in the '50s? Well, you went after Communists. 219 00:10:53,834 --> 00:10:55,208 I don't think you understood the question. 220 00:10:55,291 --> 00:10:56,792 The question was, do you know this man? 221 00:10:56,875 --> 00:10:59,000 Can you look at the picture and tell us whether you know him? 222 00:10:59,083 --> 00:11:00,375 I would assume the answer is yes or no. 223 00:11:00,458 --> 00:11:01,792 Senator Joseph McCarthy: Can you answer 224 00:11:01,875 --> 00:11:03,625 the simple question of whether he's a Communist? 225 00:11:03,709 --> 00:11:05,083 -(indistinct) -Abraham Unger: Your statements-- 226 00:11:05,166 --> 00:11:06,417 Your statements about him 227 00:11:06,500 --> 00:11:09,667 -have made it difficult for me-- -(banging) 228 00:11:09,750 --> 00:11:12,333 -I want it put on the record-- -McCarthy: Officer, will you remove the man? 229 00:11:12,417 --> 00:11:14,625 -Will you remove him? -I want-- 230 00:11:18,291 --> 00:11:20,917 David Lloyd Marcus: McCarthy didn't know anything about Communists, really, 231 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:22,166 but Roy found 232 00:11:22,250 --> 00:11:23,834 by being on his shoulder, 233 00:11:23,917 --> 00:11:25,333 by pushing, pushing, pushing him, 234 00:11:25,417 --> 00:11:27,208 he was a mover and shaker. 235 00:11:27,291 --> 00:11:30,375 He didn't wanna be in McCarthy's seat being the Senator, 236 00:11:30,458 --> 00:11:33,792 but he wanted to be the guy behind the power brokers. 237 00:11:33,875 --> 00:11:35,959 Cohn: The last way to be politically ambitious 238 00:11:36,041 --> 00:11:39,041 as a Jewish New York Democrat, which I was and am, 239 00:11:39,125 --> 00:11:41,375 is by becoming counsel for Senator McCarthy, 240 00:11:41,458 --> 00:11:43,500 so I was hardly down there for any... 241 00:11:43,583 --> 00:11:46,166 political ambition. 242 00:11:46,250 --> 00:11:48,709 I was down there to do more in this type of work, 243 00:11:48,792 --> 00:11:52,750 in which I believed then, and which I believe now. 244 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:56,625 Taki Theodoracopulos: Roy was a hero to many... 245 00:11:56,709 --> 00:11:57,792 (applause) 246 00:11:57,875 --> 00:12:00,041 who had seen Communism up close, 247 00:12:00,125 --> 00:12:03,000 as was the case of myself. 248 00:12:03,083 --> 00:12:04,709 For me, Communism was far worse 249 00:12:04,792 --> 00:12:06,583 than any-- anything I'd ever seen. 250 00:12:07,083 --> 00:12:09,291 I could imagine the worst thing you could be was a Communist 251 00:12:09,375 --> 00:12:10,709 because you were a danger to-- 252 00:12:10,792 --> 00:12:12,750 To our way of life, to our way of thinking, 253 00:12:12,834 --> 00:12:16,583 and Roy was brought up in that climate. 254 00:12:17,625 --> 00:12:19,625 Tony Kushner: I imagine this guy 255 00:12:19,709 --> 00:12:22,041 coming of age during World War II, 256 00:12:22,125 --> 00:12:23,917 and the terror 257 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:26,166 of what would we happen when we ceased to be 258 00:12:26,250 --> 00:12:29,208 the only country in the world that had nuclear weapons. 259 00:12:29,291 --> 00:12:32,542 The Communist Party is not a political party. 260 00:12:32,625 --> 00:12:34,959 It's a criminal conspiracy. 261 00:12:35,041 --> 00:12:38,375 Its object is the overthrow of the government of the United States 262 00:12:38,458 --> 00:12:40,250 by force and violence 263 00:12:40,333 --> 00:12:41,917 as soon as the right time arrives. 264 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:43,583 Yes, they're traitors to America. 265 00:12:43,667 --> 00:12:45,875 Woman: Why don't we do something about it? 266 00:12:45,959 --> 00:12:48,917 They are enemies! They are not Americans! 267 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:51,208 (indistinct shouting) 268 00:12:51,291 --> 00:12:54,166 They are homosexuals! They're Communists! 269 00:12:54,250 --> 00:12:56,041 -(yelling) -They're Communists! 270 00:12:56,125 --> 00:13:00,291 Kushner: The two groups that were initially tagged 271 00:13:00,375 --> 00:13:02,208 with the red taint 272 00:13:02,291 --> 00:13:04,709 more than any other groups in this country 273 00:13:04,792 --> 00:13:08,500 were homosexuals and Jews. 274 00:13:08,583 --> 00:13:11,625 -(gavel banging) -McCarthy: There's another group... 275 00:13:11,709 --> 00:13:14,458 about which I hesitate to... 276 00:13:14,542 --> 00:13:18,750 talk, but I think the picture isn't complete unless we do. 277 00:13:18,834 --> 00:13:21,250 Some of them have that unusual affliction 278 00:13:21,333 --> 00:13:23,583 because of no fault of their own. 279 00:13:23,667 --> 00:13:26,542 Most, of course, because they're morally weak. 280 00:13:26,625 --> 00:13:28,959 ♪ ♪ 281 00:13:29,041 --> 00:13:32,458 The pervert is easy prey to the blackmailer. 282 00:13:32,542 --> 00:13:36,458 It follows that if blackmailers can exhort money from these individuals, 283 00:13:36,542 --> 00:13:40,417 espionage agents can use the same type of pressure. 284 00:13:41,417 --> 00:13:44,083 They're dangerous to this country. 285 00:13:49,083 --> 00:13:52,792 We know that Communists writing about the United States 286 00:13:52,875 --> 00:13:54,917 are not giving the true picture. 287 00:13:56,250 --> 00:13:58,083 And that is why we don't believe 288 00:13:58,166 --> 00:14:01,959 that Amerika Haus, which is supposed to give a true picture 289 00:14:02,041 --> 00:14:03,333 of life in the United States, 290 00:14:03,417 --> 00:14:06,083 should contain books written by Communists, 291 00:14:06,166 --> 00:14:08,500 who are dedicated to wiping the United States 292 00:14:08,583 --> 00:14:10,083 off the face of the Earth 293 00:14:10,166 --> 00:14:12,875 and substituting the freedom we have in America 294 00:14:12,959 --> 00:14:15,500 for the spiritual and mental enslavement 295 00:14:15,583 --> 00:14:18,166 you have in the Soviet Union. 296 00:14:18,250 --> 00:14:20,250 Announcer: The McCarthy Committee was now charging that 297 00:14:20,333 --> 00:14:22,083 State Department libraries overseas 298 00:14:22,166 --> 00:14:24,542 contained subversive volumes. 299 00:14:24,625 --> 00:14:26,500 Cohn and his friend, G. David Schine, 300 00:14:26,583 --> 00:14:27,834 the young Harvard graduate 301 00:14:27,917 --> 00:14:29,583 and heir to the Schine Hotel fortune, 302 00:14:29,667 --> 00:14:33,417 were dispatched on a tour of our libraries overseas. 303 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:36,625 ♪ ♪ 304 00:14:38,041 --> 00:14:41,333 We suddenly became the enemy 305 00:14:41,417 --> 00:14:45,041 of McCarthy and his cohorts. 306 00:14:45,125 --> 00:14:48,667 They said, "Do you have "The Maltese Falcon"?" 307 00:14:48,750 --> 00:14:51,834 I said "Yes, they're right over here in the library." 308 00:14:51,917 --> 00:14:53,542 And Cohn turned and says, 309 00:14:53,625 --> 00:14:56,208 "You see? Nothing but Communist books 310 00:14:56,291 --> 00:14:57,959 here in the library." 311 00:14:59,083 --> 00:15:01,834 They didn't really succeed very much 312 00:15:01,917 --> 00:15:04,375 on this particular junket. 313 00:15:04,458 --> 00:15:06,709 But they became notorious. 314 00:15:06,792 --> 00:15:10,625 (upbeat rock music playing) 315 00:15:14,041 --> 00:15:15,542 Lois Romano: They were two kids 316 00:15:15,625 --> 00:15:18,542 that were encouraged by McCarthy and others 317 00:15:18,625 --> 00:15:20,959 to go make this global trip. 318 00:15:22,291 --> 00:15:24,125 And people who encouraged them were adults 319 00:15:24,208 --> 00:15:27,458 who didn't realize how bad it was gonna look. 320 00:15:27,542 --> 00:15:29,917 Kushner: There were stories that I had heard 321 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:32,125 of them sort of chasing each other through 322 00:15:32,208 --> 00:15:35,000 the Ritz in Paris in their towels. 323 00:15:39,583 --> 00:15:42,792 Theodoracopulos: After Cohn and Schine came back from Europe, 324 00:15:42,875 --> 00:15:45,083 Schine got drafted. 325 00:15:45,166 --> 00:15:47,959 He was just a GI, just a buck private. 326 00:15:49,917 --> 00:15:52,709 Roy used his position with McCarthy, 327 00:15:52,792 --> 00:15:54,709 and tried to get the army 328 00:15:54,792 --> 00:15:57,667 to give Schine favorite treatment. 329 00:16:00,417 --> 00:16:02,375 (inaudible) 330 00:16:04,542 --> 00:16:06,083 Senator McCarthy said, 331 00:16:06,166 --> 00:16:09,291 "Roy thinks that Dave 332 00:16:09,375 --> 00:16:11,625 "ought to be a General 333 00:16:11,709 --> 00:16:14,166 "and operate from a penthouse 334 00:16:14,250 --> 00:16:17,083 on the Waldorf Astoria," or words to that effect. 335 00:16:17,166 --> 00:16:18,500 (chuckling) 336 00:16:18,583 --> 00:16:21,250 I asked him what would happen if Schine got overseas duty. 337 00:16:21,333 --> 00:16:24,125 He responded with vigor and force, 338 00:16:24,208 --> 00:16:26,041 "We'll wreck the army." 339 00:16:26,125 --> 00:16:28,583 I never knew what hung on Schine's walls-- 340 00:16:28,667 --> 00:16:30,625 Joseph Welch: You did know what hung on Schine's wall 341 00:16:30,709 --> 00:16:32,291 when that was handed to you, sir. 342 00:16:32,375 --> 00:16:34,834 Did you think this came from a pixie? 343 00:16:35,500 --> 00:16:37,667 (laughter) 344 00:16:37,750 --> 00:16:40,250 Counsel, to my benefit, define-- 345 00:16:40,333 --> 00:16:42,375 -I think he might be an expert on that... -Welch: Yeah. 346 00:16:42,458 --> 00:16:44,917 -...on what a pixie is. -Welch: Yes, I should say... 347 00:16:45,166 --> 00:16:48,083 I should say, Mr. Senator, that a pixie 348 00:16:48,166 --> 00:16:50,667 is a close relative of a fairy. 349 00:16:50,750 --> 00:16:54,291 (loud laughter) 350 00:16:54,375 --> 00:16:55,709 Trying to find out why... 351 00:16:55,792 --> 00:16:57,875 Kushner: Roy Cohn risked being exposed 352 00:16:57,959 --> 00:17:00,417 on national television as a pixie, 353 00:17:00,500 --> 00:17:02,583 the close relationship to a fairy. 354 00:17:02,667 --> 00:17:06,333 He went after the US Armed Forces 355 00:17:06,417 --> 00:17:08,625 because he wanted his boyfriend back. 356 00:17:08,709 --> 00:17:10,792 And he dragged poor, drunk, 357 00:17:10,875 --> 00:17:13,417 stupid McCarthy along with him, 358 00:17:13,750 --> 00:17:16,917 into this debacle for the two of them. 359 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,417 ♪ ♪ 360 00:17:31,083 --> 00:17:34,250 Romano: Everybody thought he was finished after that. 361 00:17:34,333 --> 00:17:38,000 This little snot-nosed 26-year-old who was grilling people. 362 00:17:38,083 --> 00:17:39,709 They thought he was just gonna be some has-been, 363 00:17:39,792 --> 00:17:41,667 and everybody was gonna dance on his grave. 364 00:17:41,750 --> 00:17:44,166 And, you know, from the ashes, he rose. 365 00:17:44,250 --> 00:17:47,417 (big band music playing) 366 00:17:52,625 --> 00:17:54,542 Manso: By the time you returned to New York, 367 00:17:54,625 --> 00:17:56,500 after leaving McCarthy in '54, 368 00:17:56,583 --> 00:17:58,834 there was quite a lucrative law practice waiting. 369 00:17:58,917 --> 00:18:01,208 Cohn: Oh, I suppose through 370 00:18:01,291 --> 00:18:04,333 my derivative friendship with my father's friends, 371 00:18:04,417 --> 00:18:05,709 who had known him in the course of 372 00:18:05,792 --> 00:18:08,333 his quarter of a century on the bench. 373 00:18:08,417 --> 00:18:09,709 That brought me together 374 00:18:09,792 --> 00:18:12,709 with the top Democratic leadership in New York. 375 00:18:14,041 --> 00:18:17,208 And from there on, I steadily worked my way up. 376 00:18:17,291 --> 00:18:20,250 ♪ ♪ 377 00:18:20,333 --> 00:18:22,959 (party chatter) 378 00:18:26,792 --> 00:18:28,917 Reporter: There's always that one event, that one party 379 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:32,125 where some people want to be, and they wanna be seen there. 380 00:18:32,208 --> 00:18:34,000 Bob O'Brien: The limousines came to the back door 381 00:18:34,083 --> 00:18:35,542 of Studio 54 tonight. 382 00:18:35,625 --> 00:18:38,208 Roy was celebrating his birthday at a black tie affair 383 00:18:38,291 --> 00:18:40,166 for over 200 of his close friends, 384 00:18:40,250 --> 00:18:42,458 thrown by close friend Steve Rubell. 385 00:18:42,542 --> 00:18:44,917 Some of Cohn's friends included former Mayor Abe Beame 386 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:46,625 Deputy Mayor Herman Badillo, 387 00:18:46,709 --> 00:18:48,959 and Brooklyn Democratic leader Meade Esposito. 388 00:18:49,041 --> 00:18:51,625 I was here for his last year's birthday party, 389 00:18:51,709 --> 00:18:53,750 and it was really fun, so I had to come again. 390 00:18:53,834 --> 00:18:56,875 O'Brien: Why does Joey Adams come to say happy birthday to Roy Cohn? 391 00:18:56,959 --> 00:18:58,083 I wanna tell you something. 392 00:18:58,166 --> 00:18:59,458 Roy has been my buddy for a long time, 393 00:18:59,542 --> 00:19:01,875 and I don't need him. I'm not getting a divorce. 394 00:19:01,959 --> 00:19:04,625 I'm not a member of the mafia. I don't sniff coke. 395 00:19:04,709 --> 00:19:07,000 I don't need him, and yet he's my friend. 396 00:19:07,333 --> 00:19:08,959 They know I'll be there, 397 00:19:09,041 --> 00:19:11,458 and I always know that they'll be there, so it's... 398 00:19:11,542 --> 00:19:13,500 The people here tonight really aren't a question of 399 00:19:13,583 --> 00:19:15,291 who did what for whom. 400 00:19:15,375 --> 00:19:16,792 It's just a question of 401 00:19:16,875 --> 00:19:19,875 who's meant what to whom over a long period of time. 402 00:19:20,709 --> 00:19:22,500 David Lloyd Marcus: That's him at his Greenwich house. 403 00:19:22,583 --> 00:19:25,792 -Oh... -Being his usual notorious, pernicious self. 404 00:19:25,875 --> 00:19:29,083 -Alice Marcus: Yes, indeed. David Lloyd Marcus: I think a lot of people have 405 00:19:29,166 --> 00:19:30,709 family members they don't wanna talk about. 406 00:19:30,792 --> 00:19:33,875 Family members who were-- have some evil, but he was... 407 00:19:33,959 --> 00:19:36,041 he was a personification of evil. 408 00:19:36,125 --> 00:19:37,834 -Absolutely. -Yep. 409 00:19:37,917 --> 00:19:40,709 -Every family has its Roy Cohn. -Alice: Oh, I hope not. 410 00:19:40,792 --> 00:19:45,000 The world would be a terrible place if that happened. 411 00:19:45,083 --> 00:19:47,375 David Lloyd Marcus: I grew up in a family where our family activity 412 00:19:47,458 --> 00:19:49,625 was to march against the Vietnam War, so 413 00:19:49,709 --> 00:19:52,333 I was very conscious of the fact that my parents, you know, 414 00:19:52,417 --> 00:19:55,166 were very upset about the Rosenbergs, about McCarthy, 415 00:19:55,250 --> 00:19:57,000 about all these things that Roy was-- 416 00:19:57,083 --> 00:19:59,917 was intricately involved in. 417 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:01,542 But I was a budding journalist, 418 00:20:01,625 --> 00:20:03,125 and I paid attention to him. 419 00:20:03,208 --> 00:20:05,417 ♪ ♪ 420 00:20:08,083 --> 00:20:09,542 Roy was the outer borough kid, 421 00:20:09,625 --> 00:20:12,959 an only child who grew up in the Bronx. 422 00:20:13,041 --> 00:20:15,166 Roy's mother was Dora Marcus, 423 00:20:15,250 --> 00:20:18,166 who married Al Cohn, who became a judge. 424 00:20:18,250 --> 00:20:21,208 His dad was a very powerful Democrat in the Bronx, 425 00:20:21,291 --> 00:20:23,792 who mingled with Democrats all the time. 426 00:20:23,875 --> 00:20:27,917 And yet, Roy somehow morphed into a Republican. 427 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:30,583 Somehow morphed into arch-conservative. 428 00:20:31,625 --> 00:20:33,250 I think Roy grew up with this notion 429 00:20:33,333 --> 00:20:35,375 he had to do better than his father. 430 00:20:35,458 --> 00:20:37,333 He had to be more important, 431 00:20:37,417 --> 00:20:39,500 more impressive, more in the news. 432 00:20:39,583 --> 00:20:41,208 ♪ ♪ 433 00:20:41,291 --> 00:20:43,458 And then he lived with this specter 434 00:20:43,542 --> 00:20:45,041 of his Uncle Bernie, 435 00:20:45,125 --> 00:20:48,083 who was involved in a savings and loan problem, 436 00:20:48,166 --> 00:20:49,917 going to Sing Sing. 437 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:53,917 He always talked about going to see Uncle Bernie in Sing Sing, 438 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:57,125 and that was a scarring, scary memory for him. 439 00:20:57,959 --> 00:21:00,375 Ivy Meeropol: I mean, I can't help thinking about he then sent 440 00:21:00,458 --> 00:21:01,792 my grandparents to Sing Sing. 441 00:21:01,875 --> 00:21:04,208 He sent your grandparents-- I'm sitting here, 442 00:21:04,291 --> 00:21:06,417 talking to you about my cousin, 443 00:21:06,500 --> 00:21:08,000 who sent your grandparents to Sing Sing, 444 00:21:08,083 --> 00:21:10,417 after watching my grandfather 445 00:21:10,500 --> 00:21:13,000 go to Sing Sing and be ruined. 446 00:21:13,083 --> 00:21:16,709 Roy's lesson was, "That's never gonna happen to me. 447 00:21:16,792 --> 00:21:18,792 I'm never gonna be the victim." 448 00:21:18,875 --> 00:21:22,000 ♪ ♪ 449 00:21:25,250 --> 00:21:27,208 Ivy Meeropol: Do you remember when we went to DC 450 00:21:27,291 --> 00:21:30,542 -and went to see the AIDS quilt? -Michael Meeropol: Yes. 451 00:21:30,625 --> 00:21:34,000 We walk in from a particular location, 452 00:21:34,083 --> 00:21:35,625 and right in front of us, 453 00:21:35,709 --> 00:21:38,875 the first quilt we see is Roy Cohn. 454 00:21:43,375 --> 00:21:45,583 -Ivy Meeropol: It was crazy. -Michael Meeropol: It really was. 455 00:21:45,667 --> 00:21:48,083 Thousands of panels and... 456 00:21:48,166 --> 00:21:51,291 probably, you know, I mean, any number of ways 457 00:21:51,375 --> 00:21:53,125 -we could've come onto the mall. -Absolutely. 458 00:21:53,208 --> 00:21:54,375 -We couldn't believe it. -And it-- 459 00:21:54,458 --> 00:21:56,583 It did feel like a-- some strange message. 460 00:21:56,667 --> 00:21:59,542 And what's interesting about that is, of course, 461 00:21:59,625 --> 00:22:01,875 if we had come someways else, we might not have even 462 00:22:01,959 --> 00:22:04,208 -known he had a panel. -Right. 463 00:22:04,291 --> 00:22:05,792 ♪ ♪ 464 00:22:05,875 --> 00:22:09,375 Michael Meeropol: It was like a holy shit moment. 465 00:22:09,458 --> 00:22:13,000 It's almost like God wanted us to find 466 00:22:13,083 --> 00:22:16,375 Roy Cohn's panel to remind us 467 00:22:16,458 --> 00:22:18,041 that we were still in the middle 468 00:22:18,125 --> 00:22:20,709 of this unbelievable battle. 469 00:22:30,959 --> 00:22:34,583 I see the universe, Joe, 470 00:22:35,417 --> 00:22:38,667 as a kind of sandstorm in outer space, 471 00:22:38,750 --> 00:22:42,041 with winds of mega hurricane velocity. 472 00:22:42,875 --> 00:22:45,041 But instead of grains of sand, 473 00:22:45,125 --> 00:22:48,333 it's shards and splinters of glass. 474 00:22:48,417 --> 00:22:51,083 Kushner: I think that the character of Roy Cohn 475 00:22:51,166 --> 00:22:52,333 jumped out at me 476 00:22:52,417 --> 00:22:55,667 because he was not only Jewish 477 00:22:55,750 --> 00:22:58,625 but-- like me, but also gay like me. 478 00:22:58,709 --> 00:23:00,959 -I have... -Kushner: And he also seemed to be 479 00:23:01,041 --> 00:23:03,500 one of the worst human beings that ever lived. 480 00:23:03,583 --> 00:23:06,208 Listen, Ailene, you think I'm the only goddamn lawyer 481 00:23:06,291 --> 00:23:09,333 in history ever missed a court date?! 482 00:23:10,041 --> 00:23:12,709 Don't make such a big fucking-- Hold. 483 00:23:12,792 --> 00:23:14,417 -(beep) -You hag! 484 00:23:14,500 --> 00:23:17,000 Nathan Lane: Most people, when they think of Roy Cohn, 485 00:23:17,083 --> 00:23:19,709 think of the character in the play. 486 00:23:19,792 --> 00:23:22,667 And it's only now that people 487 00:23:22,750 --> 00:23:25,458 really are more aware of the real... 488 00:23:25,542 --> 00:23:27,208 person Roy Cohn. 489 00:23:27,291 --> 00:23:30,417 I think Mr. Vidal has lapsed into an uncharacteristic modesty 490 00:23:30,500 --> 00:23:33,375 and I don't think he should. He's very articulate... 491 00:23:33,458 --> 00:23:34,500 Lane: On talk shows, 492 00:23:34,583 --> 00:23:36,417 he's nerdy and creepy, 493 00:23:36,500 --> 00:23:39,166 but very sort of lawyerly, polite, 494 00:23:39,250 --> 00:23:41,583 everyone is Mister and Missus. 495 00:23:41,667 --> 00:23:45,333 But, in private, I think he was very different. 496 00:23:46,291 --> 00:23:49,458 (jazzy music playing) 497 00:23:51,625 --> 00:23:53,375 Theodoracopulos: I first met Roy, 498 00:23:53,458 --> 00:23:56,542 as everybody did in those days, in El Morocco 499 00:23:56,625 --> 00:23:58,166 in '56. 500 00:23:58,834 --> 00:24:01,208 And he, of course, was famous by then. 501 00:24:02,250 --> 00:24:04,250 El Morocco was the chicest 502 00:24:04,333 --> 00:24:07,125 and most exclusive nightclub of the time. 503 00:24:07,208 --> 00:24:11,917 It was the kind of place where only very high society went, 504 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,208 plus some loose characters 505 00:24:15,291 --> 00:24:17,625 who were welcome because it gave 506 00:24:17,709 --> 00:24:20,333 sort of some spice to the place. 507 00:24:20,417 --> 00:24:23,959 That's where Roy made all his contacts. 508 00:24:24,041 --> 00:24:27,542 He would come in with those hooded lids, looking so ominous. 509 00:24:27,625 --> 00:24:32,458 (laughs) He was like Dracula coming out of his box at midnight. 510 00:24:32,542 --> 00:24:34,458 (inaudible) 511 00:24:34,542 --> 00:24:37,625 Cohn: What came out of the McCarthy period, even its disasters, 512 00:24:37,709 --> 00:24:41,125 was the feeling that I was different from most other lawyers. 513 00:24:41,208 --> 00:24:43,291 People didn't perceive me as a typical 514 00:24:43,375 --> 00:24:46,125 bill-by-the-hour, do-nothing shyster, 515 00:24:46,208 --> 00:24:48,458 but as someone who can be trusted. 516 00:24:48,542 --> 00:24:51,792 When people call Roy Cohn to solicit his services, 517 00:24:51,875 --> 00:24:53,375 what are they looking for? What are they buying? 518 00:24:53,458 --> 00:24:56,291 I think a principal thing they're buying is scare value. 519 00:24:56,375 --> 00:24:58,250 It was not in his briefcase. 520 00:24:58,333 --> 00:25:00,875 They do not allege it was in his briefcase. 521 00:25:00,959 --> 00:25:03,000 I've read the complaint, and I was in court, 522 00:25:03,083 --> 00:25:04,250 and you weren't. 523 00:25:04,333 --> 00:25:05,959 Manso: People hired Roy 524 00:25:06,041 --> 00:25:08,083 because Roy was without conscience, 525 00:25:08,166 --> 00:25:10,417 and Roy would get them a victory 526 00:25:10,500 --> 00:25:12,250 because he knew no rules. 527 00:25:12,333 --> 00:25:14,542 He would do whatever he needed to, to win. 528 00:25:14,625 --> 00:25:17,500 ♪ ♪ 529 00:25:17,583 --> 00:25:18,875 Manso (on tape): It has been mentioned 530 00:25:18,959 --> 00:25:21,417 in the media that you have represented, 531 00:25:21,500 --> 00:25:23,041 or continue to represent, 532 00:25:23,125 --> 00:25:25,583 -the world's richest men. -Cohn: Okay. 533 00:25:25,667 --> 00:25:28,125 Now, there's a prominent New York real estate tycoon, 534 00:25:28,208 --> 00:25:29,959 a very, very young man 535 00:25:30,041 --> 00:25:31,458 who's, uh, who's made it. 536 00:25:31,542 --> 00:25:33,417 I mean, he started off with a few million dollars, 537 00:25:33,500 --> 00:25:35,083 I suppose, that his father had made. 538 00:25:35,166 --> 00:25:37,041 Maybe 10 million, 20 million... 539 00:25:37,125 --> 00:25:38,750 -Manso: Can we identify him? -Cohn: Donald-- Donald Trump. 540 00:25:38,834 --> 00:25:40,250 Manso: I think that's fairly transparent. 541 00:25:40,333 --> 00:25:41,333 Everyone knows who it is. 542 00:25:41,417 --> 00:25:44,083 Cohn: Donald-- Donald Trump. 543 00:25:44,166 --> 00:25:45,834 Manso: Is it fair to say at this point that he's the most 544 00:25:45,917 --> 00:25:47,625 powerful real estate guy in New York? 545 00:25:47,709 --> 00:25:49,458 Cohn: I think it is. 546 00:25:50,583 --> 00:25:52,375 Romano: His currency was money, 547 00:25:52,458 --> 00:25:54,333 but he was a boy from Queens, 548 00:25:54,417 --> 00:25:56,709 and he was a sheltered boy from Queens. 549 00:25:56,792 --> 00:25:58,959 He didn't have any access to the big city. 550 00:25:59,041 --> 00:26:02,083 So, at first, Roy brought him into New York. 551 00:26:02,166 --> 00:26:03,875 Cohn: I met him at a supper club, 552 00:26:03,959 --> 00:26:06,166 which I rarely go to. I'm not too much of a night man 553 00:26:06,250 --> 00:26:07,875 because I have so much work to do during the day, 554 00:26:07,959 --> 00:26:10,041 and I guess the same can be said of Donald. 555 00:26:10,125 --> 00:26:12,041 He hates anything social, 556 00:26:12,125 --> 00:26:15,959 and he really doesn't like anything political very much either. 557 00:26:16,041 --> 00:26:17,750 One night, at Le Club, 558 00:26:17,834 --> 00:26:19,875 we were seated at tables next to each other. 559 00:26:19,959 --> 00:26:21,792 He said, "I've spent two days 560 00:26:21,875 --> 00:26:23,709 "with these establishment law firms 561 00:26:23,792 --> 00:26:26,750 about a case we have." It was a civil rights case. 562 00:26:26,834 --> 00:26:28,750 He says, "I followed your career, and you seem-- 563 00:26:28,834 --> 00:26:31,583 "You're a little bit crazy like I am, and 564 00:26:31,667 --> 00:26:35,208 you stand up to the establishment. Can I come see you?" 565 00:26:35,291 --> 00:26:37,917 Donald Trump: This was a lawsuit against numerous landlords in New York, 566 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:40,583 and I didn't like it because it wasn't true. 567 00:26:40,667 --> 00:26:43,000 We've never discriminated. We don't believe in it. 568 00:26:43,083 --> 00:26:45,125 And I just thought, on a principal ground, 569 00:26:45,208 --> 00:26:48,917 I should-- I should fight, and other landlords didn't. 570 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,625 Manso: Trump was delighted by Roy's attorney's response 571 00:26:52,709 --> 00:26:54,667 to this suit against the two Trumps, 572 00:26:54,750 --> 00:26:58,125 and that was to counter-sue the US Justice Department. 573 00:26:58,208 --> 00:27:00,041 Roy called them Nazis! 574 00:27:00,125 --> 00:27:02,667 Roy called them the Ku Klux Klan! 575 00:27:02,750 --> 00:27:05,500 You know, but the whole point was to resist, 576 00:27:05,583 --> 00:27:07,041 to throw it back at them. 577 00:27:07,250 --> 00:27:10,750 Trump fell in love with that. Never admit that you're wrong. 578 00:27:10,834 --> 00:27:12,458 And the suit was settled. 579 00:27:12,542 --> 00:27:14,667 You serve a complaint, start an action, 580 00:27:14,750 --> 00:27:16,291 and then there's a settlement... 581 00:27:16,375 --> 00:27:18,291 Manso: Roy settled 582 00:27:18,375 --> 00:27:22,917 65-75% of all his cases out of court. 583 00:27:24,208 --> 00:27:26,625 He used his influence with magazines, 584 00:27:26,709 --> 00:27:28,917 newspapers, and individual journalists 585 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:31,583 to get people to settle lawsuits. 586 00:27:32,291 --> 00:27:35,375 The fear of publicity can be a very important factor 587 00:27:35,458 --> 00:27:37,083 in inducing a settlement, 588 00:27:37,166 --> 00:27:38,208 and we'd all be crazy 589 00:27:38,291 --> 00:27:41,667 if we didn't acknowledge that as a fact. 590 00:27:41,750 --> 00:27:45,375 Cindy Adams: Roy grew to understand he could use me 591 00:27:45,792 --> 00:27:47,875 when I joined the "New York Post." 592 00:27:49,250 --> 00:27:52,625 There were stories he was doing, 593 00:27:52,709 --> 00:27:54,583 and it would have served him 594 00:27:54,667 --> 00:27:57,667 if I would take care of the people he didn't like. 595 00:27:57,750 --> 00:27:59,834 Ivy Meeropol: How did he pull that off? 596 00:27:59,917 --> 00:28:01,667 By asking me. 597 00:28:01,750 --> 00:28:04,291 -Oh. -And I did it 598 00:28:04,375 --> 00:28:06,083 because he was my friend, 599 00:28:06,166 --> 00:28:07,583 so it's loyalty. 600 00:28:07,667 --> 00:28:09,917 ♪ ♪ 601 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:11,375 Cohn: Look, 602 00:28:11,458 --> 00:28:13,333 a good part of my life, 603 00:28:13,417 --> 00:28:15,834 legally and extra-legally, 604 00:28:15,917 --> 00:28:19,959 consists of having friends in all walks of life. 605 00:28:24,083 --> 00:28:26,291 For example, the way I met Rupert Murdoch. 606 00:28:26,375 --> 00:28:29,291 His, uh, when they wanted a front-page interview 607 00:28:29,375 --> 00:28:32,709 with Carmine Galante, the Godfather. -Manso: Mm-hmm. 608 00:28:32,792 --> 00:28:34,417 Cohn: I never heard of a Godfather 609 00:28:34,500 --> 00:28:36,583 giving a newspaper interview before. 610 00:28:36,667 --> 00:28:39,208 The metropolitan editor of "The Post" called me and he said, 611 00:28:39,291 --> 00:28:40,667 "We really want this interview, 612 00:28:40,750 --> 00:28:42,208 "and the boss says that he's read about you, 613 00:28:42,291 --> 00:28:43,750 "and if you put your mind to something, 614 00:28:43,834 --> 00:28:45,041 you can get it done." 615 00:28:45,125 --> 00:28:47,166 -Manso: Did you do it? -Cohn: Yes. 616 00:28:50,166 --> 00:28:52,250 (crowd chatter) 617 00:28:52,333 --> 00:28:54,166 Romano: He wanted to make himself this 618 00:28:54,250 --> 00:28:56,083 indispensable power broker, 619 00:28:56,166 --> 00:28:58,250 sort of like the original fixer. 620 00:28:58,333 --> 00:28:59,917 (inaudible) 621 00:29:00,875 --> 00:29:03,875 There was no clear boundary between his personal life 622 00:29:03,959 --> 00:29:06,834 and his professional life. It all kind of overflowed. 623 00:29:06,917 --> 00:29:10,208 ♪ ♪ 624 00:29:10,291 --> 00:29:13,959 The townhouse was this combination of residence 625 00:29:14,041 --> 00:29:17,166 and place of business. 626 00:29:17,250 --> 00:29:20,917 Upstairs, there were floors of offices. 627 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:23,959 Second and third floors were his apartment. 628 00:29:25,500 --> 00:29:28,750 And then, way up top, was the roof deck. 629 00:29:28,834 --> 00:29:31,583 He would sit up there, with his shirt off, 630 00:29:31,667 --> 00:29:35,166 and he would even receive clients while he was doing this. 631 00:29:36,959 --> 00:29:38,750 I assumed that this law firm 632 00:29:38,834 --> 00:29:40,792 had been in existence for many years, 633 00:29:40,875 --> 00:29:43,375 but his name was not on the masthead. 634 00:29:46,125 --> 00:29:47,583 And my understanding is that 635 00:29:47,667 --> 00:29:50,917 he had divested himself of all his assets, 636 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:52,458 so that he could not be sued. 637 00:29:52,542 --> 00:29:55,583 Everything was owned by the firm. 638 00:29:55,667 --> 00:29:58,792 Manso: It's true that you personally own nothing at all? 639 00:29:58,875 --> 00:30:01,041 Cohn: 100% true. 640 00:30:01,125 --> 00:30:02,792 Reason number one, obviously, 641 00:30:02,875 --> 00:30:04,917 is my dispute with Internal Revenue. 642 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:08,166 So, I made up mind I was not going to have bank accounts. 643 00:30:08,250 --> 00:30:09,500 I carry cash. 644 00:30:09,583 --> 00:30:12,375 I also have no credit cards. 645 00:30:12,458 --> 00:30:13,959 Manso: You live very, very well. 646 00:30:14,041 --> 00:30:15,959 You have jets, limousines, 647 00:30:16,041 --> 00:30:18,417 -yachts at your disposal. -Cohn: Now, wait a minute. 648 00:30:18,500 --> 00:30:20,208 I have very rich friends and clients 649 00:30:20,291 --> 00:30:21,333 who have confidence in me. 650 00:30:21,417 --> 00:30:22,875 I can name you 10 right now 651 00:30:22,959 --> 00:30:25,125 I could call up and say, "Look, I hate to trouble you, 652 00:30:25,208 --> 00:30:27,083 "but I'm having a few problems. 653 00:30:27,166 --> 00:30:29,750 "Would it be convenient for you to loan me 654 00:30:29,834 --> 00:30:31,750 a large amount of money?" 655 00:30:31,834 --> 00:30:33,792 The answer would be, instantly, 656 00:30:33,875 --> 00:30:35,792 "Yes." 657 00:30:35,875 --> 00:30:39,333 Morley Safer: Roy Cohn manages to spend, I guess, 658 00:30:39,417 --> 00:30:41,959 a half a million dollars a year as expenses, 659 00:30:42,041 --> 00:30:43,417 without paying a penny in tax on it. 660 00:30:43,500 --> 00:30:46,041 When we talk expenses, now that isn't so. 661 00:30:46,125 --> 00:30:49,667 First of all, I have paid an astronomical amount of taxes. 662 00:30:49,750 --> 00:30:51,875 I, very frankly, don't wanna earn 663 00:30:51,959 --> 00:30:54,000 any more than I have to earn 664 00:30:54,083 --> 00:30:57,834 because I don't like the way this country 665 00:30:57,917 --> 00:31:00,917 punishes the workers, the middle class, 666 00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:03,834 the blue collar people, the white collar people. 667 00:31:03,917 --> 00:31:06,166 I think it's lousy. 668 00:31:06,250 --> 00:31:11,417 Manso: Roy Cohn wanted to die owing the IRS millions. 669 00:31:12,792 --> 00:31:14,583 He never paid his bills. 670 00:31:20,125 --> 00:31:25,625 Here we have a bill from a lease for 1983 Porsche Cabriolet. 671 00:31:25,709 --> 00:31:29,208 "This vehicle was repossessed on 4/30/84 672 00:31:29,291 --> 00:31:31,875 for reason of three months delinquency." 673 00:31:31,959 --> 00:31:34,041 In Roy's handwriting, "Lillian," one of the women 674 00:31:34,125 --> 00:31:35,667 who worked at Saxe, Bacon, Bolan, 675 00:31:35,750 --> 00:31:39,041 "Please try to close it out with no payment." 676 00:31:39,542 --> 00:31:43,375 The Four Seasons Clift Hotel in San Francisco. 677 00:31:43,458 --> 00:31:47,083 Roy's handwriting. "Not necessary to pay." 678 00:31:47,166 --> 00:31:53,959 Unpaid laundry bill of $1,598.21. 679 00:31:54,041 --> 00:31:57,709 The 21 Club, 10 and a half grand. 680 00:31:57,792 --> 00:32:01,291 Sheridan Hotel, 1,100 bucks in Hawaii. 681 00:32:02,166 --> 00:32:05,583 Ivy Meeropol: Did any of these establishments really go after him? 682 00:32:05,667 --> 00:32:08,250 Oh yeah! There were suits against him, sure. 683 00:32:08,333 --> 00:32:10,583 But, you know, did they collect? 684 00:32:10,667 --> 00:32:13,792 ♪ ♪ 685 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:17,959 Adams: Roy wanted to have some 686 00:32:18,041 --> 00:32:20,917 Indonesian and Ming artifacts. 687 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:22,583 I have a dealer here. 688 00:32:22,667 --> 00:32:25,417 So, Joey said, "Well, let's take Roy." 689 00:32:25,500 --> 00:32:29,583 And I said, "No, not good because Roy doesn't pay his bills." 690 00:32:29,667 --> 00:32:32,458 Roy wanted to go anyway, 691 00:32:32,542 --> 00:32:35,625 and he went, and he picked out three items. 692 00:32:35,709 --> 00:32:38,208 It was about $70,000. 693 00:32:38,458 --> 00:32:40,834 Six months went by, he hadn't paid. 694 00:32:40,917 --> 00:32:43,208 Finally, the dealer came up to me and he says, 695 00:32:43,291 --> 00:32:46,208 "Ay, your friend, he don't-- he don't pay nothin'." 696 00:32:46,291 --> 00:32:48,542 And I said, "Not to worry." 697 00:32:49,917 --> 00:32:52,083 I brought my car down there, 698 00:32:52,166 --> 00:32:54,542 and I went and knocked on the door. 699 00:32:54,625 --> 00:32:57,041 Elvira was his longtime housekeeper, 700 00:32:57,125 --> 00:32:59,417 and she knew me for years and years and years. 701 00:32:59,500 --> 00:33:00,959 And I said, "I came to collect something." 702 00:33:01,041 --> 00:33:03,458 She says, "Go ahead. Take whatever you want." 703 00:33:03,542 --> 00:33:05,125 So, I went in with my driver, 704 00:33:05,208 --> 00:33:08,667 and we took out the three pieces of art, 705 00:33:08,750 --> 00:33:11,542 put them in the car, and brought them back to the dealer. 706 00:33:11,834 --> 00:33:15,166 That night, he took me to dinner. 707 00:33:15,250 --> 00:33:17,166 He never mentioned it. 708 00:33:17,250 --> 00:33:20,208 He never brought it up ever. 709 00:33:21,041 --> 00:33:23,917 As we walked out, he said to the maitre d', 710 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:25,709 "The check is in the mail." 711 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:29,083 ♪ ♪ 712 00:33:35,291 --> 00:33:39,083 John Klotz: I'd been very active in judicial reform politics. 713 00:33:39,792 --> 00:33:42,667 So, in 1979, 714 00:33:42,750 --> 00:33:45,792 I decided that we needed a task force on Roy Cohn. 715 00:33:46,333 --> 00:33:48,417 A lot of people knew that what Roy Cohn had 716 00:33:48,500 --> 00:33:50,959 was enormous power with the media. 717 00:33:51,250 --> 00:33:54,667 And we were trying to create a counterweight, essentially, 718 00:33:54,750 --> 00:33:58,500 and also document what was really going on with Roy Cohn. 719 00:33:58,583 --> 00:34:00,959 ♪ ♪ 720 00:34:01,041 --> 00:34:03,792 Roy Cohn was a hidden investor 721 00:34:03,875 --> 00:34:05,709 in a series of businesses 722 00:34:05,792 --> 00:34:09,250 that dealed with all cash primarily. 723 00:34:09,333 --> 00:34:11,500 Among them was parking lots. 724 00:34:14,375 --> 00:34:15,917 Wayne Barrett: His cash cow 725 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:19,125 was city-owned parking lots by the water. 726 00:34:19,208 --> 00:34:21,208 And he controlled the companies 727 00:34:21,291 --> 00:34:23,750 that had the parking lots that were city-owned, 728 00:34:23,834 --> 00:34:28,041 and it was just an enormous amount of money. 729 00:34:28,125 --> 00:34:31,542 The guy who leased those parking lots to him, Rick Mazzeo, 730 00:34:31,625 --> 00:34:34,458 wound up under federal investigation, 731 00:34:34,542 --> 00:34:37,500 and they found his body in the trunk of a car, 732 00:34:37,583 --> 00:34:41,083 and all he did was give parking lots 733 00:34:41,166 --> 00:34:42,375 to Roy Cohn. 734 00:34:42,458 --> 00:34:44,750 That's what he did for a living. 735 00:34:45,834 --> 00:34:48,000 Roy Cohn was... 736 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:51,166 one of the most evil presences, 737 00:34:51,250 --> 00:34:54,208 and I mean evil presences, 738 00:34:54,291 --> 00:34:57,917 in our society during most of my adult life. 739 00:34:58,500 --> 00:35:02,083 He was not just a lawyer for the mob. 740 00:35:02,166 --> 00:35:04,250 He was an active participant. 741 00:35:04,333 --> 00:35:07,083 ♪ ♪ 742 00:35:07,166 --> 00:35:08,834 Allen: Occasionally, there were times 743 00:35:08,917 --> 00:35:12,417 where I'd be farmed out to pick up something or other. 744 00:35:12,500 --> 00:35:14,583 One time, I went to Philadelphia 745 00:35:14,667 --> 00:35:17,917 to some federal penitentiary to pick up parole papers 746 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:19,834 for whoever the Godfather was. 747 00:35:20,834 --> 00:35:22,750 There were trips over to New Jersey 748 00:35:22,834 --> 00:35:25,000 for various client matters. 749 00:35:26,291 --> 00:35:28,917 Manso: It sounds almost like you're a gangster now. 750 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:31,333 Is this what drew such, you know, alleged, 751 00:35:31,417 --> 00:35:33,875 lemme put it this way, Godfathers? 752 00:35:33,959 --> 00:35:35,625 Galante, 753 00:35:35,709 --> 00:35:37,208 Genovese, 754 00:35:37,291 --> 00:35:39,041 "Fat Tony" Salerno... 755 00:35:39,125 --> 00:35:41,208 Cohn: Let's eliminate Tony Salerno right away. 756 00:35:41,291 --> 00:35:42,959 Tony is a-- is a good guy. 757 00:35:43,041 --> 00:35:45,750 -Tony is a gambler. He's filed income taxes... -Manso: Uh-huh. 758 00:35:45,834 --> 00:35:48,625 Cohn: ...paid heavy income taxes for over 40 years. 759 00:35:48,709 --> 00:35:52,166 I like him better than a lot of my other clients. 760 00:35:52,250 --> 00:35:54,250 I know that I can take his word. 761 00:35:54,333 --> 00:35:56,667 Uh, I know he has guts. 762 00:35:56,750 --> 00:35:59,250 I found him to be a warm, decent human being 763 00:35:59,333 --> 00:36:00,875 in his treatment of other people, 764 00:36:00,959 --> 00:36:03,542 particularly other people who needed help. 765 00:36:04,208 --> 00:36:06,792 What are the charges against your client, 766 00:36:06,875 --> 00:36:09,667 Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno? 767 00:36:09,750 --> 00:36:11,792 Cohn: This indictment says that they 768 00:36:11,875 --> 00:36:15,333 supervise gambling, prostitution. 769 00:36:15,417 --> 00:36:17,959 They talk about a cement company and labor piece, 770 00:36:18,041 --> 00:36:19,583 and that's really about all. 771 00:36:19,667 --> 00:36:22,917 If there's substance to this, I just don't see it. 772 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:26,458 Tony, you've read the charges in this indictment. 773 00:36:26,542 --> 00:36:29,250 Did you do any of those things-- 774 00:36:29,333 --> 00:36:30,959 All false. 775 00:36:31,041 --> 00:36:33,375 ♪ ♪ 776 00:36:33,458 --> 00:36:35,500 Klotz: In 1981, 777 00:36:35,583 --> 00:36:38,583 there was a strike of cement workers. 778 00:36:38,667 --> 00:36:42,834 No ready-mix concrete project in Manhattan 779 00:36:42,917 --> 00:36:46,083 was allowed to receive concrete by the union. 780 00:36:46,166 --> 00:36:50,583 Only Trump Tower got their ready-mix concrete. 781 00:36:52,875 --> 00:36:54,583 Barrett: Trump Tower, when it was completed, 782 00:36:54,667 --> 00:36:55,959 was the tallest concrete structure, 783 00:36:56,041 --> 00:36:58,000 all-concrete structure, in the United States. 784 00:36:58,083 --> 00:36:59,917 No steel in the building. 785 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:02,000 Donald made that choice at a time when the mob 786 00:37:02,083 --> 00:37:05,917 completely controlled the concrete industry in New York. 787 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:09,417 Trump Tower and Trump Plaza, his co-op project, 788 00:37:09,500 --> 00:37:12,750 they were built by Fat Tony Salerno's company. 789 00:37:12,834 --> 00:37:16,417 Donald met in Roy Cohn's office with Fat Tony Salerno, 790 00:37:16,500 --> 00:37:17,917 during the very time period 791 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:20,542 that they were in construction. 792 00:37:20,625 --> 00:37:23,542 Klotz: Through Cohn, Trump received access 793 00:37:23,625 --> 00:37:26,166 to the worst organized crime figures 794 00:37:26,250 --> 00:37:28,417 on the New York crime scene. 795 00:37:29,792 --> 00:37:33,250 Protesters: Close the FBI! Open up the files! 796 00:37:33,333 --> 00:37:34,375 (cars honking) 797 00:37:34,458 --> 00:37:37,291 Close the FBI! Open up the files! 798 00:37:37,375 --> 00:37:39,166 Close the FBI! 799 00:37:39,250 --> 00:37:41,250 Open up the files! 800 00:37:41,333 --> 00:37:45,083 Close the FBI! Open up the files... 801 00:37:45,166 --> 00:37:47,083 Michael Meeropol: After we were adopted, 802 00:37:47,166 --> 00:37:50,917 we had extraordinarily normal lives. 803 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:52,917 Went to high school, went to college, 804 00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:55,458 got married, had kids. 805 00:37:55,542 --> 00:37:57,875 Very few people that we knew 806 00:37:57,959 --> 00:38:01,000 knew that we were the sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. 807 00:38:02,250 --> 00:38:04,875 It wasn't until 1973, 808 00:38:04,959 --> 00:38:07,709 Robby and I made a decision to come out publicly 809 00:38:07,792 --> 00:38:10,750 and reclaim our parents. 810 00:38:10,834 --> 00:38:13,417 Reporter: Michael and Robert Rosenberg, aged 10 and 6, 811 00:38:13,500 --> 00:38:15,959 paid a final visit to their parents at Sing Sing. 812 00:38:16,041 --> 00:38:18,250 Twenty-five years later, they and their supporters 813 00:38:18,333 --> 00:38:20,667 are still fighting to clear the Rosenbergs' name, 814 00:38:20,750 --> 00:38:22,792 still insisting their parents were railroaded 815 00:38:22,875 --> 00:38:24,500 in a climate of hysteria. 816 00:38:24,583 --> 00:38:26,166 They have taken the name of Meeropol 817 00:38:26,250 --> 00:38:28,375 after the family which adopted them. 818 00:38:28,458 --> 00:38:30,375 Working through the Freedom of Information Act, 819 00:38:30,458 --> 00:38:32,750 the Meeropols have compelled the government to release 820 00:38:32,834 --> 00:38:35,291 100,000 pages of secret documents. 821 00:38:35,375 --> 00:38:37,417 Among other things, the papers suggest 822 00:38:37,500 --> 00:38:40,333 the Rosenbergs might have been granted a last-minute reprieve 823 00:38:40,417 --> 00:38:42,500 had they volunteered to confess and testify 824 00:38:42,583 --> 00:38:43,792 about their activities. 825 00:38:43,875 --> 00:38:45,125 Michael Meeropol: It's the era of Watergate. 826 00:38:45,208 --> 00:38:46,917 It's the era of Nixon 827 00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:49,333 being forced to resign. 828 00:38:49,417 --> 00:38:52,208 This is a time to launch a campaign. 829 00:38:52,625 --> 00:38:56,458 FBI close down, open up the files! 830 00:38:56,542 --> 00:39:00,458 All: FBI close down, open up the files! 831 00:39:00,542 --> 00:39:01,667 FBI close down... 832 00:39:01,750 --> 00:39:03,333 (inaudible) 833 00:39:03,417 --> 00:39:05,834 Michael Meeropol: I remember my brother in speeches saying 834 00:39:05,917 --> 00:39:09,583 that by exposing the frame up of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, 835 00:39:09,667 --> 00:39:12,000 we were fighting Watergate at its roots. 836 00:39:12,083 --> 00:39:15,834 -And that's true. -(applause) 837 00:39:15,917 --> 00:39:19,166 We were actually sticking it to the government, 838 00:39:19,250 --> 00:39:22,291 and that felt good. 839 00:39:22,375 --> 00:39:24,333 We felt confidence in ourselves 840 00:39:24,417 --> 00:39:26,375 that we could make the case. 841 00:39:27,166 --> 00:39:29,750 I took a leave from my job. 842 00:39:29,834 --> 00:39:32,583 Robby was only working part-time. 843 00:39:32,667 --> 00:39:34,000 We wrote our book together. 844 00:39:34,083 --> 00:39:35,792 We went on speaking tours. 845 00:39:36,417 --> 00:39:37,500 Basically, 846 00:39:37,583 --> 00:39:40,500 from spring of 1974 847 00:39:40,583 --> 00:39:42,750 through June of 1978, 848 00:39:42,834 --> 00:39:44,667 I had three jobs. 849 00:39:44,750 --> 00:39:46,417 I had my job to earn money, 850 00:39:46,500 --> 00:39:49,834 my job to be your and Greg's dad and Mom's husband, 851 00:39:49,917 --> 00:39:52,166 and the job of public Rosenberg 852 00:39:52,250 --> 00:39:53,709 fighting to reopen the case. 853 00:39:53,792 --> 00:39:56,667 I'd like to see a judicial judgment, 854 00:39:56,750 --> 00:39:58,959 not just that my parents were innocent, 855 00:39:59,041 --> 00:40:01,375 but that individuals 856 00:40:01,458 --> 00:40:05,000 conspired criminally to convict them falsely. 857 00:40:05,083 --> 00:40:08,083 I'd like to see the perpetrators locked up. 858 00:40:10,542 --> 00:40:12,125 This was the 1970s. 859 00:40:12,208 --> 00:40:14,875 You know, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. 860 00:40:14,959 --> 00:40:17,458 And I was relatively serious, 861 00:40:17,542 --> 00:40:20,208 didn't do much drugs by any means. 862 00:40:20,291 --> 00:40:23,375 -(singing) -I liked music. 863 00:40:23,458 --> 00:40:25,750 My music experience was sitting around in the living room 864 00:40:25,834 --> 00:40:28,917 with four people playing guitars, singing songs, you know. 865 00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:31,333 All (singing): ♪ Guantanamera ♪ 866 00:40:31,959 --> 00:40:35,375 ♪ Guantanamera... ♪ 867 00:40:35,458 --> 00:40:38,417 (groovy music playing) 868 00:40:38,500 --> 00:40:41,250 (street noise) 869 00:40:41,333 --> 00:40:44,625 (indistinct chatter) 870 00:41:05,959 --> 00:41:07,709 -Tom Snyder: Do you go there for fun? -Cohn: Oh, sure. 871 00:41:07,792 --> 00:41:10,083 Do we see Roy Cohn on the dance floor? Like, you know-- 872 00:41:10,166 --> 00:41:11,875 -Well, I'm not too good on the dance floor, -Neither am I. 873 00:41:11,959 --> 00:41:14,291 but I like to go in there-- I like to go in there and watch. 874 00:41:14,375 --> 00:41:15,875 If they go back to Viennese waltzes, 875 00:41:15,959 --> 00:41:17,667 I might-- I might come back into style. 876 00:41:17,750 --> 00:41:20,500 (club chatter) 877 00:41:24,875 --> 00:41:26,709 Cohn: You look to your left, and you see a bunch of kooks. 878 00:41:26,792 --> 00:41:28,000 You look to your right, 879 00:41:28,083 --> 00:41:30,291 and you'll see movie stars, ambassadors, 880 00:41:30,375 --> 00:41:32,959 senators, congressmen, and it's a kick. 881 00:41:33,041 --> 00:41:34,333 It's just a thing all of its own. 882 00:41:34,417 --> 00:41:37,125 ♪ ♪ 883 00:41:37,208 --> 00:41:39,542 (club chatter) 884 00:41:40,959 --> 00:41:44,000 Marcus: Why was Roy Cohn involved with Studio 54? 885 00:41:44,083 --> 00:41:47,166 It was the hottest disco in the world, and somehow, 886 00:41:47,250 --> 00:41:49,333 Roy was the lawyer for one of the partners, 887 00:41:49,417 --> 00:41:51,667 and also sort of the lawyer for Studio 54. 888 00:41:51,750 --> 00:41:53,959 We cooperate fully with the authorities. 889 00:41:54,041 --> 00:41:57,166 But if you want a bond posted that no one ever smoked a joint 890 00:41:57,250 --> 00:41:59,333 in a discotheque in the United States, 891 00:41:59,417 --> 00:42:01,542 you're talking to the wrong guy. 892 00:42:02,917 --> 00:42:05,917 Roy knew how to get permits taken care of, 893 00:42:06,667 --> 00:42:09,166 unions to do your bidding, 894 00:42:09,250 --> 00:42:11,625 the mafia to leave you alone. 895 00:42:11,709 --> 00:42:14,792 Manso: Roy played godfather to Rubell and Schrager, 896 00:42:14,875 --> 00:42:16,875 and they rewarded him appropriately. 897 00:42:16,959 --> 00:42:18,917 They not only paid him well, 898 00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:20,625 but Roy had a key to the joint. 899 00:42:20,709 --> 00:42:24,041 ♪ ♪ 900 00:42:37,875 --> 00:42:40,667 Theodoracopulos: Studio 54, it was the first time 901 00:42:40,750 --> 00:42:42,375 that a nightclub 902 00:42:42,458 --> 00:42:45,500 operated on a completely different level. 903 00:42:47,458 --> 00:42:49,750 There was sex upstairs, open sex, 904 00:42:49,834 --> 00:42:53,291 mostly gay, and people dancing downstairs, 905 00:42:53,375 --> 00:42:55,667 and a hell of a lot of drugs. 906 00:42:57,709 --> 00:43:00,291 And Roy was there a lot. 907 00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:06,125 (inaudible) 908 00:43:06,208 --> 00:43:07,959 Manso: Roy had alliances. 909 00:43:08,041 --> 00:43:10,750 I don't think Roy ever had a relationship. 910 00:43:10,834 --> 00:43:14,041 Roy was not interested in a relationship. 911 00:43:15,125 --> 00:43:16,959 For years, Roy pretended to be straight. 912 00:43:18,417 --> 00:43:21,667 To the extent of announcing that he was engaged to Barbara Walters. 913 00:43:22,458 --> 00:43:24,792 We're getting married when we're both 60. 914 00:43:24,875 --> 00:43:27,000 (laughs) 915 00:43:27,083 --> 00:43:28,792 Lane: Roy would call Cindy Adams and say, 916 00:43:28,875 --> 00:43:31,500 "Would you, you know, put an item in your column? 917 00:43:31,583 --> 00:43:34,291 Barbara Walters and I may get married." 918 00:43:35,500 --> 00:43:36,875 Adams: I knew the boyfriends. 919 00:43:36,959 --> 00:43:38,792 I can't remember who they were now, 920 00:43:38,875 --> 00:43:41,166 but they were all nice-looking and young. 921 00:43:41,542 --> 00:43:42,917 (laughs) 922 00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:44,583 You know? Should happen to me. 923 00:43:44,667 --> 00:43:46,291 Absolutely. (laughs) 924 00:43:46,375 --> 00:43:48,125 It was fine. 925 00:43:48,208 --> 00:43:49,709 Yes, of course I knew. 926 00:43:50,750 --> 00:43:52,375 We all knew. 927 00:43:52,834 --> 00:43:55,625 (film scratching) 928 00:43:55,709 --> 00:43:58,125 Homosexuality is an enigma. 929 00:43:58,208 --> 00:44:00,291 Even in this era of bold sexual mores, 930 00:44:00,375 --> 00:44:03,041 it remains a subject that people find disturbing. 931 00:44:03,125 --> 00:44:04,291 Embarrassing. 932 00:44:04,375 --> 00:44:05,917 Most Americans are repelled by 933 00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:07,792 the mere notion of homosexuality. 934 00:44:07,875 --> 00:44:10,917 The homosexual, bitterly aware of his rejection, 935 00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:13,667 responds by going underground. 936 00:44:13,750 --> 00:44:16,375 ♪ ♪ 937 00:44:17,375 --> 00:44:20,208 In the '70s, I was working-- 938 00:44:20,291 --> 00:44:22,750 Well, hooking, at a bar called Rounds. 939 00:44:26,041 --> 00:44:29,083 I was picked up by this guy that I thought was very attractive. 940 00:44:29,166 --> 00:44:30,500 So I was like, this is great 941 00:44:30,583 --> 00:44:32,875 'cause I'm gonna get paid plus he's really cute. 942 00:44:34,583 --> 00:44:37,000 They wanted me to meet somebody. 943 00:44:37,083 --> 00:44:40,917 And they drove me deep in the woods somewhere. 944 00:44:42,709 --> 00:44:46,458 It was very secretive. It was very covert operation-like. 945 00:44:52,917 --> 00:44:54,291 (crackling) 946 00:44:54,375 --> 00:44:56,458 Sitting on the sofa was Roy 947 00:44:56,542 --> 00:45:00,083 in this black velour robe. 948 00:45:00,166 --> 00:45:01,709 He was very tanned, 949 00:45:01,792 --> 00:45:03,500 and very, uh, you know, 950 00:45:03,583 --> 00:45:05,667 kinda lizard-like, you know? 951 00:45:05,750 --> 00:45:07,417 But-- but like an old auntie. 952 00:45:07,500 --> 00:45:09,959 Like that had just come home from bingo and was cold. 953 00:45:11,208 --> 00:45:14,500 He asked me to sit down on the sofa next to him. 954 00:45:14,583 --> 00:45:16,208 He made me a cocktail. 955 00:45:16,291 --> 00:45:18,208 I think I asked for a screwdriver. 956 00:45:18,291 --> 00:45:19,750 ♪ ♪ 957 00:45:19,834 --> 00:45:22,542 I saw an album 958 00:45:22,625 --> 00:45:24,625 of Mabel Mercer and Bobby Short, 959 00:45:24,709 --> 00:45:26,792 and I was a fan of this album. 960 00:45:28,917 --> 00:45:31,208 -("When In Rome" playing) -So, we started talking about that, 961 00:45:31,291 --> 00:45:34,083 and he was really surprised that I knew who Mabel Mercer was. 962 00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:38,166 After a very long talk, 963 00:45:38,250 --> 00:45:39,625 I went upstairs 964 00:45:39,709 --> 00:45:41,875 and had sex with this guy that I guess was his boyfriend. 965 00:45:41,959 --> 00:45:43,750 I don't know what was happening. 966 00:45:44,041 --> 00:45:45,625 And then, a couple weeks later, 967 00:45:45,709 --> 00:45:48,667 it happened all over again where they brought me to him, 968 00:45:48,750 --> 00:45:52,041 but at that point, I thought we were "friends," you know? 969 00:45:52,125 --> 00:45:53,417 ♪ I can't explain ♪ 970 00:45:53,500 --> 00:45:56,583 ♪ Please ignore my fondness for... ♪ 971 00:45:56,667 --> 00:45:59,041 I said, "What exactly did you... 972 00:45:59,125 --> 00:46:01,417 "do you-- did you want me to come here for? 973 00:46:01,500 --> 00:46:03,250 Was I supposed to have sex with you?" 974 00:46:03,333 --> 00:46:05,000 (song stops) 975 00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:09,166 That's when it turned... 976 00:46:11,083 --> 00:46:13,125 in a-- in a very strange way. 977 00:46:13,208 --> 00:46:16,583 ♪ ♪ 978 00:46:16,667 --> 00:46:18,917 And he got angry with me. 979 00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:20,667 Didn't raise his voice so much as 980 00:46:20,750 --> 00:46:23,625 his eyes and the tone of voice was strange, 981 00:46:23,709 --> 00:46:27,291 and he said, "I asked you here to discuss music." 982 00:46:27,375 --> 00:46:29,250 He was done with me at that point. 983 00:46:29,333 --> 00:46:31,166 It's sort of like, you know, 984 00:46:31,250 --> 00:46:33,583 Blanche DuBois, you know? 985 00:46:33,667 --> 00:46:36,875 "I don't want reality! I want dreams." 986 00:46:40,583 --> 00:46:42,208 Lane: He came from a certain generation 987 00:46:42,291 --> 00:46:45,291 where you obviously couldn't be openly gay, 988 00:46:45,375 --> 00:46:48,583 and work in the world that he was working in. 989 00:46:50,875 --> 00:46:54,333 Allen: I remember that there was an assistant named Vincent. 990 00:46:54,417 --> 00:46:58,834 He was a young, good-looking guy who kind of passed in and out, 991 00:46:58,917 --> 00:47:00,875 and gradually, it dawned on me that 992 00:47:00,959 --> 00:47:03,333 there's probably some kind of personal relationship 993 00:47:03,417 --> 00:47:04,959 between him and Cohn. 994 00:47:05,041 --> 00:47:06,959 Cohn: Did you remember I had a lunch date with Barbara Walters? 995 00:47:07,041 --> 00:47:08,834 -When is that? -Cohn: Today. 996 00:47:08,917 --> 00:47:12,667 Kushner: He knew how to be a gay man who was in the closet. 997 00:47:12,750 --> 00:47:15,625 But, he'll play games with it also. 998 00:47:15,709 --> 00:47:18,375 He was flaunting it in a certain sense, 999 00:47:18,458 --> 00:47:21,709 and sort of daring people to see how much room 1000 00:47:21,792 --> 00:47:24,250 there was to do whatever you wanted. 1001 00:47:25,125 --> 00:47:27,250 ♪ ♪ 1002 00:47:27,333 --> 00:47:30,417 (birds cawing) 1003 00:47:35,417 --> 00:47:36,917 Cohn: I'm basically an introvert. 1004 00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:38,917 I'm basically a private person. 1005 00:47:40,333 --> 00:47:42,000 When I'm with my friends, 1006 00:47:42,083 --> 00:47:43,917 under circumstances of privacy, 1007 00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:45,834 that's what I really love. 1008 00:47:45,917 --> 00:47:47,875 I think what makes my adrenaline go 1009 00:47:47,959 --> 00:47:50,583 more than anything else is this combination. 1010 00:47:50,667 --> 00:47:52,000 I can't have one without-- 1011 00:47:52,083 --> 00:47:54,041 -Manso: The public and private. -Cohn: Right. 1012 00:47:55,792 --> 00:47:57,208 Manso: Many people were shocked 1013 00:47:57,291 --> 00:47:59,709 that Roy Cohn appeared in Provincetown, 1014 00:47:59,792 --> 00:48:05,000 which is probably the world's leading summertime gay community. 1015 00:48:05,083 --> 00:48:07,250 He was summering in Provincetown, 1016 00:48:07,333 --> 00:48:09,583 quite out in the open, quite conspicuously. 1017 00:48:09,667 --> 00:48:12,709 ♪ ♪ 1018 00:48:12,792 --> 00:48:15,333 (indistinct chatter) 1019 00:48:16,792 --> 00:48:20,291 Roy loved the craziness of Provincetown. 1020 00:48:20,375 --> 00:48:23,291 He loved the drinking, he loved the games, 1021 00:48:23,375 --> 00:48:25,834 the social crap that went on downtown. 1022 00:48:25,917 --> 00:48:28,417 (cheering) 1023 00:48:30,250 --> 00:48:33,959 John Waters: When I saw him, I was appalled that he was here. 1024 00:48:35,792 --> 00:48:37,834 The only place I ever saw him in person 1025 00:48:37,917 --> 00:48:41,000 that I remember was in Front Street, repeatedly. 1026 00:48:41,792 --> 00:48:43,792 It was a jumpin' scene. 1027 00:48:43,875 --> 00:48:47,125 I mean, it was definitely the place to be in Provincetown. 1028 00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:50,917 And he was always in there with hustlers, 1029 00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:52,917 and it infuriated me. 1030 00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:54,917 (indistinct chatter, glasses clinking) 1031 00:48:55,000 --> 00:48:57,875 All these boys around the table. 1032 00:48:57,959 --> 00:49:01,000 They were ordering champagne and fancy food and, you know. 1033 00:49:01,083 --> 00:49:02,834 It didn't seem like they were discussing 1034 00:49:02,917 --> 00:49:05,000 the history of Communism. 1035 00:49:06,125 --> 00:49:08,166 I would've been a Communist then. 1036 00:49:08,250 --> 00:49:09,875 Just meant a liberal, really. 1037 00:49:09,959 --> 00:49:11,792 (laughs) You know, I was worse. 1038 00:49:12,333 --> 00:49:13,458 I was a young-- 1039 00:49:13,542 --> 00:49:15,500 just lunatic myself, really, 1040 00:49:15,583 --> 00:49:16,959 so I never spoke to him. 1041 00:49:17,041 --> 00:49:18,583 And complained that he was in there 1042 00:49:18,667 --> 00:49:20,542 to the people that owned it, who was my dear friend 1043 00:49:20,625 --> 00:49:22,583 Howard Gruber, who was Jewish! 1044 00:49:22,667 --> 00:49:24,208 He said, "Well, I just always spit in his food 1045 00:49:24,291 --> 00:49:25,875 every time when I serve it." 1046 00:49:25,959 --> 00:49:28,000 I would've done more than spit. 1047 00:49:28,083 --> 00:49:30,000 ♪ ♪ 1048 00:49:30,083 --> 00:49:31,959 Noreen Bahring: He'd stop into Front Street 1049 00:49:32,041 --> 00:49:35,917 to make a reservation for a 25-person seating. 1050 00:49:37,083 --> 00:49:39,709 He was a true perfectionist. 1051 00:49:41,458 --> 00:49:43,625 Before any of the guests arrived, 1052 00:49:43,709 --> 00:49:46,000 he had to see it set up. 1053 00:49:48,709 --> 00:49:52,333 He would bring in these candy dishes, 1054 00:49:52,417 --> 00:49:54,375 and he would fill them with cocaine. 1055 00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:57,333 A substantial amount of cocaine. 1056 00:49:57,417 --> 00:50:00,125 He would then place these Tuinals 1057 00:50:00,208 --> 00:50:02,208 to the right of every setting. 1058 00:50:02,291 --> 00:50:03,333 It's a sedative, 1059 00:50:03,417 --> 00:50:06,542 so if they got too crazy on the cocaine, 1060 00:50:06,625 --> 00:50:09,583 they would have a Tuinal to level themselves out. 1061 00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:13,333 Waters: It was a coke pit. 1062 00:50:13,417 --> 00:50:15,166 It was during the cocaine years. 1063 00:50:15,250 --> 00:50:17,166 And I did cocaine in the bathroom there. 1064 00:50:17,250 --> 00:50:18,375 Everybody did. 1065 00:50:18,458 --> 00:50:20,333 Did I ever do coke with him? I wouldn't have! 1066 00:50:20,417 --> 00:50:22,250 I wouldn't have had my nostril 1067 00:50:22,333 --> 00:50:24,959 on the same straw as that pig! 1068 00:50:25,041 --> 00:50:27,500 ♪ ♪ 1069 00:50:27,583 --> 00:50:30,125 He came here for easy sex 1070 00:50:30,208 --> 00:50:31,709 and handsome men 1071 00:50:31,792 --> 00:50:33,834 and probably easy access to drugs. 1072 00:50:33,917 --> 00:50:35,375 And no paparazzi. 1073 00:50:36,000 --> 00:50:39,291 And maybe the fact that people didn't know who he was. 1074 00:50:42,250 --> 00:50:44,250 (birds cawing) 1075 00:50:48,667 --> 00:50:49,792 (sighs) 1076 00:50:50,458 --> 00:50:52,000 (clinking) 1077 00:50:52,625 --> 00:50:56,333 This is Roy's cottage that he rented there. 1078 00:50:56,417 --> 00:51:00,291 It's fixed up somewhat now. 1079 00:51:01,166 --> 00:51:02,792 And this is my house. 1080 00:51:03,417 --> 00:51:07,125 So you can see, we were very connected. 1081 00:51:09,750 --> 00:51:13,083 A neighbor up the street came to me that he had a renter. 1082 00:51:13,166 --> 00:51:15,959 I had never rented before. I said, great. 1083 00:51:16,500 --> 00:51:17,959 And he didn't tell me who it was. 1084 00:51:18,041 --> 00:51:19,917 He said, "But don't worry about it." 1085 00:51:21,166 --> 00:51:23,583 So, lo and behold, 1086 00:51:23,667 --> 00:51:25,792 Roy Cohn moves in. 1087 00:51:26,458 --> 00:51:28,750 I didn't know that much about Roy, 1088 00:51:28,834 --> 00:51:31,291 but I knew enough. 1089 00:51:33,125 --> 00:51:34,917 The neighbors right away 1090 00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:36,875 knew much more than I did. 1091 00:51:36,959 --> 00:51:39,083 "How could you have done that to us? 1092 00:51:39,166 --> 00:51:41,500 "How could you have made that man 1093 00:51:41,583 --> 00:51:44,625 live across the street from me?" And so on. 1094 00:51:44,834 --> 00:51:48,000 But, the rent was paid, the house was clean, 1095 00:51:48,083 --> 00:51:50,083 and he was a good tenant. 1096 00:51:50,166 --> 00:51:53,083 And he had lots and lots of guests 1097 00:51:53,166 --> 00:51:54,875 all the time. 1098 00:51:54,959 --> 00:51:58,500 Tall, blonde, blue-eyed, built like... 1099 00:51:58,917 --> 00:52:00,500 (grunt) yummy. 1100 00:52:03,500 --> 00:52:05,834 I never saw him alone, 1101 00:52:05,917 --> 00:52:07,834 except for when he went swimming. 1102 00:52:07,917 --> 00:52:10,500 ♪ ♪ 1103 00:52:21,041 --> 00:52:22,709 That's an interesting thought. 1104 00:52:23,250 --> 00:52:24,917 Never alone. 1105 00:52:25,000 --> 00:52:28,458 Always at least two or three people, 1106 00:52:28,542 --> 00:52:31,208 if not more... hovering. 1107 00:52:32,417 --> 00:52:35,917 How important is it to spend time with yourself? 1108 00:52:41,291 --> 00:52:44,291 I rented to him a second year, 1109 00:52:44,375 --> 00:52:47,250 and he then came to me and said he wanted to buy it. 1110 00:52:48,083 --> 00:52:50,083 I said, "Well, it's not for sale." 1111 00:52:50,750 --> 00:52:52,417 And he looked at me 1112 00:52:52,500 --> 00:52:54,834 with these very cold eyes. 1113 00:52:54,917 --> 00:52:56,583 Said, "Things have a way of being sold 1114 00:52:56,667 --> 00:52:58,750 that aren't for sale, Anne." 1115 00:53:00,166 --> 00:53:02,250 I just shivered. 1116 00:53:04,250 --> 00:53:05,667 (birds cawing) 1117 00:53:05,750 --> 00:53:09,458 Fortunately, he bought the place two houses from me. 1118 00:53:12,333 --> 00:53:15,250 Manso: Norman Mailer and I were buying a house together. 1119 00:53:15,333 --> 00:53:18,000 Roy jumps into that project, 1120 00:53:18,083 --> 00:53:19,917 and snags for himself 1121 00:53:20,000 --> 00:53:22,083 the cottage that's on the property. 1122 00:53:22,166 --> 00:53:26,041 ♪ ♪ 1123 00:53:29,667 --> 00:53:33,959 I can recall one Sunday on his big deck. 1124 00:53:36,458 --> 00:53:39,041 Roy is surrounded by newspapers. 1125 00:53:39,125 --> 00:53:43,291 You know, the "LA Times," the "New York Times," London papers. 1126 00:53:43,375 --> 00:53:46,959 Norman Mailer had recently gotten back from Russia, 1127 00:53:47,041 --> 00:53:50,041 where he did a piece for "Parade Magazine," 1128 00:53:50,125 --> 00:53:52,333 praising Russia to the skies. 1129 00:53:52,417 --> 00:53:53,875 He loved Russian food. 1130 00:53:53,959 --> 00:53:55,667 "The borscht, oh! You've never had borscht 1131 00:53:55,750 --> 00:53:57,041 "like you can get in Moscow. 1132 00:53:57,125 --> 00:53:58,500 "Russian women! 1133 00:53:58,583 --> 00:54:00,166 Nothing like it!" 1134 00:54:01,583 --> 00:54:03,375 Roy was looking at Norman's piece, 1135 00:54:03,458 --> 00:54:05,542 and Roy looks up and he says, "Have you read this? 1136 00:54:05,625 --> 00:54:07,166 "You know, your friend Mailer 1137 00:54:07,250 --> 00:54:09,333 "you know, is so fucking in love with the Russians, 1138 00:54:09,417 --> 00:54:10,834 "he'll really be happy when, you know, 1139 00:54:10,917 --> 00:54:12,917 "the Ruskies drop a nuke on him. 1140 00:54:13,000 --> 00:54:15,083 That'll bring him to his senses maybe!" 1141 00:54:15,166 --> 00:54:16,625 (TV static) 1142 00:54:16,709 --> 00:54:19,875 (classical music playing) 1143 00:54:23,333 --> 00:54:24,917 Guilty or innocent? 1144 00:54:25,000 --> 00:54:26,959 The question lingers after 30 years, 1145 00:54:27,041 --> 00:54:29,792 and still divides many people here and abroad. 1146 00:54:29,875 --> 00:54:33,333 I would like to introduce briefly our guests tonight. 1147 00:54:33,417 --> 00:54:35,250 To my left, Marshall Perlin, 1148 00:54:35,333 --> 00:54:37,291 a lawyer involved with the case. 1149 00:54:37,375 --> 00:54:40,542 To my left, Professor Michael Meeropol, 1150 00:54:40,625 --> 00:54:43,417 one of the sons of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. 1151 00:54:43,500 --> 00:54:46,667 And to my right, attorney Roy Cohn. 1152 00:54:46,750 --> 00:54:48,500 ♪ ♪ 1153 00:54:48,583 --> 00:54:50,917 Michael Meeropol: When Robby and I got a lot of publicity, 1154 00:54:51,000 --> 00:54:54,208 we discover that Roy Cohn has taken on 1155 00:54:54,291 --> 00:54:57,291 the mantle of defending the government. 1156 00:54:57,375 --> 00:54:59,875 Why was clemency not granted? 1157 00:54:59,959 --> 00:55:01,583 What was standing in the way? 1158 00:55:01,667 --> 00:55:04,208 Well, it is justified in the case of two people 1159 00:55:04,291 --> 00:55:07,333 who stole secrets involving a bomb 1160 00:55:07,417 --> 00:55:11,291 which could take thousands and thousands of human lives, 1161 00:55:11,375 --> 00:55:13,250 and turning it over to an enemy, 1162 00:55:13,333 --> 00:55:15,959 which has blacked out a good part of the world, 1163 00:55:16,041 --> 00:55:18,000 and taken many human lives. 1164 00:55:18,083 --> 00:55:19,625 What could be worse than 1165 00:55:19,709 --> 00:55:22,417 -selling out your own country? -Host: Mr. Meeropol? 1166 00:55:22,500 --> 00:55:26,166 Yes. The first thing that people have to realize is, 1167 00:55:26,250 --> 00:55:28,959 of course, that the man who's saying all this 1168 00:55:29,041 --> 00:55:31,250 was part of a prosecution team 1169 00:55:31,333 --> 00:55:33,542 that engaged in subornation of perjury 1170 00:55:33,625 --> 00:55:35,625 and a conspiracy to deprive civil rights 1171 00:55:35,709 --> 00:55:37,250 by false prosecution. 1172 00:55:37,333 --> 00:55:39,375 Now, he's not gonna stand on television in the United States 1173 00:55:39,458 --> 00:55:40,583 and confess to doing that. 1174 00:55:40,667 --> 00:55:41,834 He hasn't been in the habit 1175 00:55:41,917 --> 00:55:44,250 of confessing crimes in his entire career, 1176 00:55:44,333 --> 00:55:45,917 and I don't expect he's gonna start now. 1177 00:55:46,000 --> 00:55:48,875 Fact remains that ever since 1953, 1178 00:55:48,959 --> 00:55:52,542 we have uncovered perjuries on the part of prosecution witnesses. 1179 00:55:52,625 --> 00:55:54,166 We have uncovered forgeries. 1180 00:55:54,250 --> 00:55:56,208 We've uncovered factual material-- 1181 00:55:56,291 --> 00:55:57,834 Now, you're accusing me of corruption-- 1182 00:55:57,917 --> 00:55:59,583 -No, no, no, no... -That's a strong thing to say. 1183 00:55:59,667 --> 00:56:01,333 Now, let me make a very interesting comment 1184 00:56:01,417 --> 00:56:02,667 that your viewers may be interested in. 1185 00:56:02,750 --> 00:56:05,250 We have a way of reopening the case right now. 1186 00:56:05,333 --> 00:56:07,041 If I just told a lie 1187 00:56:07,125 --> 00:56:08,750 about Mr. Cohn's criminal conduct, 1188 00:56:08,834 --> 00:56:10,500 -I've committed libel. -Host: We don't-- 1189 00:56:10,583 --> 00:56:12,458 -We've got a perfect chance to have a courtroom. -Host: Again-- 1190 00:56:12,542 --> 00:56:14,709 Again, we don't want to get into this right here. 1191 00:56:14,792 --> 00:56:16,667 Michael Meeropol: He knows what he did. He doesn't wanna do it. 1192 00:56:16,750 --> 00:56:18,500 Host: I would like to hear more about the motivation... 1193 00:56:18,583 --> 00:56:20,583 Michael Meeropol: Of course, he did know what he did. 1194 00:56:20,667 --> 00:56:22,917 The point is he didn't care. 1195 00:56:23,959 --> 00:56:26,583 If it wasn't for me, Joe, 1196 00:56:26,667 --> 00:56:30,000 Ethel Rosenberg would be alive today. 1197 00:56:31,041 --> 00:56:34,375 I would've fucking pulled the switch if they'd have let me. 1198 00:56:34,458 --> 00:56:37,417 Why? Because I fucking hate traitors. 1199 00:56:37,500 --> 00:56:39,917 Because I fucking hate Communists! 1200 00:56:40,000 --> 00:56:42,625 Was it legal? Fuck legal. 1201 00:56:42,709 --> 00:56:44,667 Am I a nice man? 1202 00:56:44,750 --> 00:56:45,959 Fuck nice! 1203 00:56:46,041 --> 00:56:49,333 They say terrible things about me in "The Nation." 1204 00:56:49,417 --> 00:56:51,500 Fuck "The Nation"! 1205 00:56:51,583 --> 00:56:53,625 You wanna be nice?! 1206 00:56:53,709 --> 00:56:56,125 Or you wanna be effective?! 1207 00:56:56,333 --> 00:56:59,959 Make the law, or subject to it! Choose! 1208 00:57:01,750 --> 00:57:03,959 The Rosenbergs convicted themselves 1209 00:57:04,041 --> 00:57:05,583 by taking the witness stand 1210 00:57:05,667 --> 00:57:07,166 and lying through their teeth. 1211 00:57:07,250 --> 00:57:09,125 There were a number of other people, 1212 00:57:09,208 --> 00:57:10,917 recruited by the Rosenbergs, 1213 00:57:11,000 --> 00:57:13,959 working with the Rosenbergs, who escaped. 1214 00:57:14,917 --> 00:57:16,417 I welcome a full inquiry. 1215 00:57:16,500 --> 00:57:19,583 I urge you to use the power of subpoena, 1216 00:57:19,667 --> 00:57:22,583 get secret documents, talk to witnesses, 1217 00:57:22,667 --> 00:57:24,917 put people like Mr. Cohn under oath, 1218 00:57:25,000 --> 00:57:27,083 and keep at him 1219 00:57:27,166 --> 00:57:29,583 about things that were developed, prosecution, 1220 00:57:29,667 --> 00:57:31,500 changes, etc., etc. 1221 00:57:31,583 --> 00:57:33,417 I feel the people who framed my parents 1222 00:57:33,500 --> 00:57:36,041 trampled the American flag in the mud, 1223 00:57:36,125 --> 00:57:38,125 and I think it's up to us to wash it. 1224 00:57:38,208 --> 00:57:39,291 I could look him in the eye 1225 00:57:39,375 --> 00:57:40,542 and I could point at him and say, 1226 00:57:40,625 --> 00:57:42,834 "You knew what you did." 1227 00:57:43,417 --> 00:57:44,750 And I kept saying, 1228 00:57:44,834 --> 00:57:48,083 "Come on! If I'm lying, sue me!" 1229 00:57:49,375 --> 00:57:51,500 And he just brushed it off. 1230 00:58:00,166 --> 00:58:01,875 Manso: "Who elected Ronald Reagan? 1231 00:58:01,959 --> 00:58:04,458 "It was union members, defying their leaders. 1232 00:58:04,542 --> 00:58:06,792 "It was the blue collar worker, the truck driver. 1233 00:58:06,875 --> 00:58:09,500 "Because they're the ones who are getting hit by our economy. 1234 00:58:09,583 --> 00:58:12,166 It's the middle class that's been going under." 1235 00:58:12,709 --> 00:58:14,000 You know what? 1236 00:58:14,083 --> 00:58:18,333 That is the subtext to the election of Donald Trump. 1237 00:58:19,125 --> 00:58:20,667 Hmm. 1238 00:58:20,750 --> 00:58:23,625 And this was what? 1981. 1239 00:58:23,709 --> 00:58:26,000 ♪ ♪ 1240 00:58:26,083 --> 00:58:27,834 Mike Wallace: You have claimed to have been a fan 1241 00:58:27,917 --> 00:58:30,166 -of Ronald Reagan, supporter of Reagan. -Cohn: I haven't claimed. 1242 00:58:30,250 --> 00:58:31,875 -I have been. -Wallace: Alright, wonderful. 1243 00:58:31,959 --> 00:58:34,333 For many years. Way before, 1244 00:58:34,417 --> 00:58:36,834 -way before a national-- -Cohn: No, I can tell you exactly when. 1245 00:58:36,917 --> 00:58:40,959 When he made the speech for Barry Goldwater in 1964. 1246 00:58:41,041 --> 00:58:43,583 Ronald Reagan came across as a giant. 1247 00:58:43,667 --> 00:58:45,250 Ronald Reagan: We're at war with the most dangerous enemy 1248 00:58:45,333 --> 00:58:47,917 that has ever faced mankind in his long climb 1249 00:58:48,000 --> 00:58:50,166 from the swamp to the stars. 1250 00:58:50,250 --> 00:58:51,834 And it's been said if we lose that war, 1251 00:58:51,917 --> 00:58:54,917 and in so doing lose this way of freedom of ours, 1252 00:58:55,000 --> 00:58:57,041 history will record with the greatest astonishment 1253 00:58:57,125 --> 00:58:59,291 that those who had the most to lose 1254 00:58:59,375 --> 00:59:01,834 did the least to prevent its happening. 1255 00:59:01,917 --> 00:59:03,166 (applause) 1256 00:59:03,250 --> 00:59:06,125 Crowd: We want Reagan! We want Reagan! 1257 00:59:06,208 --> 00:59:07,750 We want Reagan! 1258 00:59:07,834 --> 00:59:10,000 We want Reagan! We want Reagan! 1259 00:59:10,083 --> 00:59:13,375 (chanting, cheering continues) 1260 00:59:13,458 --> 00:59:17,542 Marcus: Many people did not expect a governor from California, 1261 00:59:17,625 --> 00:59:20,583 who was not sophisticated about international relations, 1262 00:59:20,667 --> 00:59:22,041 to be elected. 1263 00:59:22,125 --> 00:59:24,667 (patriotic music playing) 1264 00:59:24,750 --> 00:59:27,875 Roy predicted that he would be elected well before he was. 1265 00:59:27,959 --> 00:59:29,375 (crowd cheering) 1266 00:59:29,458 --> 00:59:31,500 Roy ushered in that Republican revolution. 1267 00:59:31,583 --> 00:59:34,542 (upbeat music playing) 1268 00:59:34,625 --> 00:59:37,792 (crowd cheering) 1269 00:59:39,667 --> 00:59:41,458 Cohn: Since the time Governor Reagan 1270 00:59:41,542 --> 00:59:43,417 in New York made his announcement 1271 00:59:43,500 --> 00:59:44,709 until the election, 1272 00:59:44,792 --> 00:59:46,458 I don't know where I got the time from 1273 00:59:46,542 --> 00:59:48,667 because my partner, Tom Bolan, was-- 1274 00:59:48,750 --> 00:59:51,417 had the main role as finance director 1275 00:59:51,500 --> 00:59:53,083 for Governor Reagan in New York, 1276 00:59:53,166 --> 00:59:55,333 but I had to do an awful lot 1277 00:59:55,417 --> 00:59:58,583 and through all hours of the night. 1278 00:59:58,667 --> 01:00:01,208 Marcus: Roger Stone was a young campaign person 1279 01:00:01,291 --> 01:00:02,500 who was working in New York, 1280 01:00:02,583 --> 01:00:03,834 and he met Roy because 1281 01:00:03,917 --> 01:00:05,291 Roy hosted him at parties, 1282 01:00:05,375 --> 01:00:08,000 actually introduced him to Donald Trump. 1283 01:00:08,083 --> 01:00:10,250 And Roger Stone got a lot of money, 1284 01:00:10,333 --> 01:00:12,333 so that when Reagan was elected, 1285 01:00:12,417 --> 01:00:14,750 Roger Stone and Ed Meese and people around him 1286 01:00:14,834 --> 01:00:16,291 felt that they owed a lot to Roy 1287 01:00:16,375 --> 01:00:18,417 for making connections and getting him money. 1288 01:00:18,500 --> 01:00:20,750 Ronald Reagan also helped his fellow Republicans 1289 01:00:20,834 --> 01:00:23,417 make a major change in the philosophy of Congress. 1290 01:00:23,500 --> 01:00:25,583 It has become much more conservative 1291 01:00:25,667 --> 01:00:27,917 in the Senate and in the House. 1292 01:00:28,000 --> 01:00:31,291 John LeBoutillier: 1980, it was a big Republican year. 1293 01:00:31,375 --> 01:00:33,583 And I got elected to Congress 1294 01:00:33,667 --> 01:00:35,083 as the youngest member of Congress. 1295 01:00:35,583 --> 01:00:38,834 I just turned 27 during the campaign, so I was... 1296 01:00:39,417 --> 01:00:40,792 young. 1297 01:00:40,875 --> 01:00:44,959 And within a week or two after I got elected, 1298 01:00:45,041 --> 01:00:47,792 I get a phone call and a letter 1299 01:00:47,875 --> 01:00:49,458 asking a favor 1300 01:00:49,542 --> 01:00:53,125 from this law firm that was Tom Bolan 1301 01:00:53,208 --> 01:00:55,583 and his law partner, Roy Cohn. 1302 01:00:56,667 --> 01:00:58,417 They wanted their friends 1303 01:00:58,500 --> 01:01:01,208 to get jobs from the Reagan White House. 1304 01:01:01,291 --> 01:01:04,083 They asked me to support a candidate 1305 01:01:04,166 --> 01:01:06,125 for a federal judgeship. 1306 01:01:06,208 --> 01:01:08,333 And along the way, they asked me to write this letter, 1307 01:01:08,417 --> 01:01:11,000 and they keep pushing it, which I ended up writing. 1308 01:01:11,083 --> 01:01:14,333 It might've been the first letter of recommendation I wrote, 1309 01:01:14,417 --> 01:01:17,500 and it was for Maryanne Trump, 1310 01:01:17,583 --> 01:01:19,375 Donald Trump's older sister, 1311 01:01:19,458 --> 01:01:20,959 to be a federal judge. 1312 01:01:21,500 --> 01:01:23,834 I've never been asked to do such a thing in my life! 1313 01:01:23,917 --> 01:01:26,834 A year earlier, I'm in school! 1314 01:01:26,917 --> 01:01:30,250 And in the new administration, the next year, 1315 01:01:30,333 --> 01:01:33,458 President Reagan did appoint her to the federal bench. 1316 01:01:33,542 --> 01:01:34,959 ♪ ♪ 1317 01:01:35,041 --> 01:01:38,125 Right from the get-go, they were very influential 1318 01:01:38,208 --> 01:01:40,875 with the President of the United States. 1319 01:01:48,417 --> 01:01:52,709 I became very involved in the issue of American prisoners of war 1320 01:01:52,792 --> 01:01:55,792 that were left behind during the Vietnam War. 1321 01:01:55,875 --> 01:01:59,166 I am now on the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House, 1322 01:01:59,250 --> 01:02:02,583 and I have a Laotian pilot 1323 01:02:02,667 --> 01:02:05,542 that I'm hiring to go back to Laos 1324 01:02:05,625 --> 01:02:07,542 to look around for information. 1325 01:02:07,625 --> 01:02:12,166 But we needed to accelerate his citizenship, 1326 01:02:12,250 --> 01:02:14,625 so I asked Roy Cohn. 1327 01:02:15,625 --> 01:02:17,041 And to this day, 1328 01:02:17,125 --> 01:02:20,667 it is the single most impressive use of power 1329 01:02:20,750 --> 01:02:22,583 that I've seen in my life. 1330 01:02:23,667 --> 01:02:25,208 He said, "I've got it all set. 1331 01:02:25,291 --> 01:02:26,542 "Here's what you're gonna do. 1332 01:02:26,625 --> 01:02:28,208 "You're gonna go to Los Angeles. 1333 01:02:28,291 --> 01:02:31,208 "You're gonna go to the federal courthouse. 1334 01:02:31,291 --> 01:02:33,041 "You're gonna go to some courtroom, 1335 01:02:33,125 --> 01:02:36,792 "and there is a Judge Roy Carstairs 1336 01:02:36,875 --> 01:02:39,917 "will be running a federal trial. 1337 01:02:40,000 --> 01:02:42,917 "And you will wait in the back of the courtroom, standing. 1338 01:02:43,500 --> 01:02:46,542 "Judge Carstairs will see you there, 1339 01:02:46,625 --> 01:02:50,000 "he will call a recess of the trial, 1340 01:02:50,083 --> 01:02:52,291 "and he will swear your Laotian in 1341 01:02:52,375 --> 01:02:55,041 as an American citizen right on the spot." 1342 01:02:55,500 --> 01:02:58,834 That is how (chuckles) to wield power. 1343 01:03:04,542 --> 01:03:07,417 Dershowitz: Before I met him, I knew him as a fixer. 1344 01:03:07,500 --> 01:03:09,250 A guy who got things done. 1345 01:03:09,333 --> 01:03:11,250 It wasn't what you knew. It was who you knew. 1346 01:03:11,333 --> 01:03:13,375 (crowd chatter) 1347 01:03:13,458 --> 01:03:16,125 The only occasion I ever had to work with him 1348 01:03:16,208 --> 01:03:19,083 was during the Claus Von Bulow case. 1349 01:03:19,166 --> 01:03:22,000 I was handling the criminal aspect of it. 1350 01:03:22,083 --> 01:03:24,333 He was handling the estate. 1351 01:03:24,417 --> 01:03:26,625 I was, I wouldn't say charmed by him, 1352 01:03:26,709 --> 01:03:29,709 but I was pleasantly surprised by the fact 1353 01:03:29,792 --> 01:03:33,792 that he wasn't the ogre that I had been told he was. 1354 01:03:33,875 --> 01:03:37,792 And he was determined to make me like him some how. 1355 01:03:37,875 --> 01:03:39,583 ♪ ♪ 1356 01:03:39,667 --> 01:03:41,834 He emphasized that he really admired me 1357 01:03:41,917 --> 01:03:44,458 because of my support for Israel, 1358 01:03:44,542 --> 01:03:47,834 my support for Jewish values. 1359 01:03:48,542 --> 01:03:50,375 He tried to persuade me 1360 01:03:50,458 --> 01:03:53,125 that he grew up at a time 1361 01:03:53,208 --> 01:03:56,625 when Communism was associated with being Jewish. 1362 01:03:56,709 --> 01:03:58,125 Not only the Rosenbergs. 1363 01:03:58,208 --> 01:04:00,750 Klaus Fuchs and, you know, so many of the other people 1364 01:04:00,834 --> 01:04:04,041 who were alleged to be spies were Jews, 1365 01:04:04,125 --> 01:04:08,166 and so many of the leaders of Communist parties were Jews. 1366 01:04:08,250 --> 01:04:09,625 And he thought it was terrible 1367 01:04:09,709 --> 01:04:12,542 that Jews were being associated with Communism. 1368 01:04:12,625 --> 01:04:15,875 And he made a decision to stand up against Communism 1369 01:04:15,959 --> 01:04:19,542 as a visible Jew, with a name like Cohn, 1370 01:04:19,625 --> 01:04:21,667 that can be seen around the world 1371 01:04:21,750 --> 01:04:24,667 as Jews standing up against Communism. 1372 01:04:24,750 --> 01:04:27,500 And he went into great detail with me 1373 01:04:27,583 --> 01:04:29,792 about the Rosenberg case. 1374 01:04:29,875 --> 01:04:32,125 ♪ ♪ 1375 01:04:32,208 --> 01:04:35,083 And the story he told is that they knew for certain 1376 01:04:35,166 --> 01:04:38,208 that Julius Rosenberg was a spy 1377 01:04:38,291 --> 01:04:41,625 because they had wiretaps from some embassy 1378 01:04:41,709 --> 01:04:43,041 that they couldn't disclose 1379 01:04:43,125 --> 01:04:45,375 'cause they're not supposed to be taping embassies, 1380 01:04:45,458 --> 01:04:48,792 but they were 100% confident. 1381 01:04:48,875 --> 01:04:51,041 But they couldn't use the evidence. 1382 01:04:51,125 --> 01:04:54,166 And so, they "enhanced" the evidence. 1383 01:04:54,250 --> 01:04:56,375 They "improved" the evidence. 1384 01:04:56,458 --> 01:05:00,542 And he thought it was a morally just thing to do. 1385 01:05:00,625 --> 01:05:02,625 Bob Simon: The star witness for the prosecution 1386 01:05:02,709 --> 01:05:04,500 was David Greenglass. 1387 01:05:04,583 --> 01:05:07,041 He now says this man made him do it. 1388 01:05:07,125 --> 01:05:10,917 And did Cohn encourage you to testify that you... 1389 01:05:11,625 --> 01:05:13,917 saw Ethel typing up the notes? 1390 01:05:14,000 --> 01:05:15,083 Of course he did. 1391 01:05:15,166 --> 01:05:16,542 Did you realize at the time 1392 01:05:16,625 --> 01:05:19,291 or when you were testifying, the importance of this... 1393 01:05:19,375 --> 01:05:21,041 the evidence you were providing? 1394 01:05:21,125 --> 01:05:23,750 I had no idea it was important at all. 1395 01:05:23,834 --> 01:05:25,542 ♪ ♪ 1396 01:05:25,625 --> 01:05:28,125 Dershowitz: He also said that he did have 1397 01:05:28,208 --> 01:05:31,917 many ex-party conversations with Judge Irving Kaufman, 1398 01:05:32,000 --> 01:05:33,625 that they talked on the phone. 1399 01:05:33,709 --> 01:05:37,458 They had agreements about how to handle certain pieces of evidence. 1400 01:05:38,500 --> 01:05:40,500 He never denied 1401 01:05:40,583 --> 01:05:42,709 that the case was fixed. 1402 01:05:42,792 --> 01:05:47,959 He used the term, "We framed guilty people. 1403 01:05:48,041 --> 01:05:50,834 "We framed guilty people. 1404 01:05:52,125 --> 01:05:54,834 "We tampered with the evidence 1405 01:05:54,917 --> 01:05:57,917 "in order to persuade 1406 01:05:58,000 --> 01:05:59,333 "the judge and the jury 1407 01:05:59,417 --> 01:06:03,041 that these guilty people were, in fact, guilty." 1408 01:06:05,083 --> 01:06:10,166 Michael Meeropol: In 1995, the CIA released the Venona transcription 1409 01:06:10,250 --> 01:06:13,709 that attempted to prove that the government was right 1410 01:06:13,792 --> 01:06:17,458 that Julius Rosenberg, my father, was a spy. 1411 01:06:17,542 --> 01:06:19,792 Well, the media's reaction was, 1412 01:06:19,875 --> 01:06:22,583 "The Rosenbergs are guilty." 1413 01:06:22,667 --> 01:06:25,125 We were skeptical of it. But, of course, 1414 01:06:25,208 --> 01:06:28,875 I had to contemplate what would it mean if it were true. 1415 01:06:30,625 --> 01:06:34,333 If we agreed that this stuff was real, 1416 01:06:34,417 --> 01:06:37,208 half of our case was already made for us. 1417 01:06:37,291 --> 01:06:41,375 It was clear that your grandmother was not a spy. 1418 01:06:41,458 --> 01:06:43,000 She never got a codename! 1419 01:06:43,083 --> 01:06:46,250 ♪ ♪ 1420 01:06:48,375 --> 01:06:50,500 Dershowitz: If the whole truth had come out, 1421 01:06:50,834 --> 01:06:52,667 we would have known at the time 1422 01:06:52,750 --> 01:06:56,500 that Julius was guilty of being a spy for the Soviet Union, 1423 01:06:56,583 --> 01:06:59,375 but that the information he provided them 1424 01:06:59,458 --> 01:07:03,166 was not nearly as important or critical 1425 01:07:03,250 --> 01:07:05,875 as the way the government made it sound. 1426 01:07:06,375 --> 01:07:10,291 He was not the man who "gave" the atomic bomb 1427 01:07:10,375 --> 01:07:13,250 to the Soviet Union. 1428 01:07:13,333 --> 01:07:15,250 The other thing we would know for sure 1429 01:07:15,333 --> 01:07:17,834 is that Ethel Rosenberg was not guilty 1430 01:07:17,917 --> 01:07:20,583 of the crime for which she was charged. 1431 01:07:20,667 --> 01:07:23,250 But there was a plot afoot. 1432 01:07:24,375 --> 01:07:25,834 And the plot was, 1433 01:07:25,917 --> 01:07:28,208 from the highest levels of government, 1434 01:07:28,291 --> 01:07:30,875 to frame Ethel Rosenberg 1435 01:07:30,959 --> 01:07:34,375 in order to get Julius to wanna save her life 1436 01:07:34,458 --> 01:07:40,125 by ratting out the people who he was in contact with. 1437 01:07:40,208 --> 01:07:44,041 I don't think we've ever had a miscarriage of justice 1438 01:07:44,125 --> 01:07:47,625 that parallels the Rosenberg case in my lifetime. 1439 01:07:48,500 --> 01:07:51,834 ♪ ♪ 1440 01:07:51,917 --> 01:07:53,917 Ivy Meeropol: You told me before why you never wanted 1441 01:07:54,000 --> 01:07:56,375 -to go to the grave. -Michael Meeropol: Yeah, 'cause I didn't wanna 1442 01:07:56,458 --> 01:07:58,041 put myself through the anguish 1443 01:07:58,125 --> 01:07:59,875 of actually seeing the grave. 1444 01:07:59,959 --> 01:08:03,709 (inaudible) 1445 01:08:03,792 --> 01:08:07,625 Most of the reopening effort was highly intellectual. 1446 01:08:07,709 --> 01:08:10,083 It involved arguing, articulating... 1447 01:08:10,166 --> 01:08:11,583 In the case of my parents... 1448 01:08:11,667 --> 01:08:15,875 But there is a very, very personal side to this. 1449 01:08:19,000 --> 01:08:22,291 Remember, the family was broken up for a good two years. 1450 01:08:24,709 --> 01:08:29,291 The period of time when we visited them was so amazing. 1451 01:08:29,375 --> 01:08:30,750 Hugging them and kissing them. 1452 01:08:30,834 --> 01:08:32,542 We played, we sang. 1453 01:08:33,959 --> 01:08:35,917 There was no pain because it was always, 1454 01:08:36,000 --> 01:08:39,000 "We've still got hope, and, you know, see you next time." 1455 01:08:41,834 --> 01:08:43,750 The reason the last visit was so terrible 1456 01:08:43,834 --> 01:08:46,917 was that there was no next time. 1457 01:08:47,000 --> 01:08:51,333 I was wailing, "One more day to live, one more day to live." 1458 01:08:51,417 --> 01:08:53,875 Then they kissed us and left. 1459 01:08:53,959 --> 01:08:57,041 ♪ ♪ 1460 01:08:58,709 --> 01:09:00,834 (rumbling) 1461 01:09:12,542 --> 01:09:16,417 The last place I saw your grandparents was Sing Sing. 1462 01:09:19,667 --> 01:09:25,166 Going to Sing Sing is a way of connecting to that 10-year-old. 1463 01:09:28,083 --> 01:09:30,333 Memory is important. 1464 01:09:34,625 --> 01:09:37,041 Reminding myself of it is important. 1465 01:09:37,959 --> 01:09:40,625 There were times in my teen years, 1466 01:09:40,709 --> 01:09:43,000 and in my 20s where... 1467 01:09:43,542 --> 01:09:46,458 the press of everyday life would, 1468 01:09:46,542 --> 01:09:49,792 would sort of, take charge, but I always... 1469 01:09:50,417 --> 01:09:54,125 I always reminded myself where I came from. 1470 01:09:56,583 --> 01:10:00,041 ♪ ♪ 1471 01:10:27,500 --> 01:10:30,291 Dershowitz: Roy Cohn represents a type of person 1472 01:10:30,792 --> 01:10:32,792 who recurs throughout history. 1473 01:10:32,875 --> 01:10:35,208 Uh, we know "the" Roy Cohn, 1474 01:10:35,291 --> 01:10:39,000 but every era has a Roy Cohn, an opportunist, 1475 01:10:39,083 --> 01:10:42,875 somebody who will stretch the law and ethics 1476 01:10:42,959 --> 01:10:47,917 to make the ends justify the means. 1477 01:10:48,000 --> 01:10:49,709 ♪ ♪ 1478 01:10:49,792 --> 01:10:53,083 Cohn: This picture of Donald and me hangs in my office. 1479 01:10:53,750 --> 01:10:57,083 He says, "Roy is my greatest friend." 1480 01:10:57,166 --> 01:10:59,250 (car starts) 1481 01:10:59,333 --> 01:11:00,750 The man is, as I say, 1482 01:11:00,834 --> 01:11:03,208 the closest thing to a genius I've ever met in my life. 1483 01:11:05,166 --> 01:11:06,750 When he sees an opportunity, 1484 01:11:06,834 --> 01:11:09,166 he's always there to take it. 1485 01:11:09,250 --> 01:11:10,875 And I have a feeling someday, 1486 01:11:10,959 --> 01:11:12,917 not too far distant future, 1487 01:11:13,000 --> 01:11:14,250 you're gonna see Donald Trump 1488 01:11:14,333 --> 01:11:17,000 in other parts of the country as well. 1489 01:11:18,834 --> 01:11:20,959 Romano: In the early '80s, 1490 01:11:21,041 --> 01:11:22,667 I was living in Washington, 1491 01:11:22,750 --> 01:11:26,000 and I had just joined "The Washington Post." 1492 01:11:26,959 --> 01:11:29,959 After 30 years, the Republicans were hot again. 1493 01:11:30,041 --> 01:11:32,083 And so, all of us, as young reporters, 1494 01:11:32,166 --> 01:11:35,333 were pursuing all the new, young operatives. 1495 01:11:35,417 --> 01:11:39,959 Among them was Roger Stone and Paul Manafort. 1496 01:11:40,041 --> 01:11:42,291 And somewhere in there, Roger Stone, 1497 01:11:42,375 --> 01:11:44,375 who I had cultivated as a source, 1498 01:11:44,458 --> 01:11:47,500 said, "You need to meet my friend, Roy Cohn." 1499 01:11:47,583 --> 01:11:49,792 Roy was very magnetic, 1500 01:11:49,875 --> 01:11:52,083 and he knew how to cultivate the media. 1501 01:11:52,166 --> 01:11:53,625 I mean, I used to see him at parties, 1502 01:11:53,709 --> 01:11:54,792 and, you know, he'd be in town. 1503 01:11:54,875 --> 01:11:56,291 He'd always stay at the Madison, 1504 01:11:56,375 --> 01:11:58,083 which is across from "The Post." 1505 01:11:58,166 --> 01:11:59,625 And he'd say, "I'm over here at the bar. 1506 01:11:59,709 --> 01:12:01,125 Come on over and have a drink." 1507 01:12:01,208 --> 01:12:02,792 And he would say, "I've got a good story for you," 1508 01:12:02,875 --> 01:12:05,000 but it always served his purposes, too. 1509 01:12:05,083 --> 01:12:08,125 Which is how I came to do a profile on Donald Trump. 1510 01:12:08,208 --> 01:12:10,125 ♪ ♪ 1511 01:12:10,208 --> 01:12:12,125 Throughout the whole two hours I'm with him, 1512 01:12:12,208 --> 01:12:14,750 all Trump says is, "Either you got it or you don't," 1513 01:12:14,834 --> 01:12:16,291 about everything. 1514 01:12:16,375 --> 01:12:18,667 "Either you can get a table at a restaurant or you can't. 1515 01:12:18,750 --> 01:12:20,458 Either you can do this or you can't." 1516 01:12:21,583 --> 01:12:23,792 So, during the course of this, he says, 1517 01:12:23,875 --> 01:12:26,250 "I could be the nuclear arms negotiator." 1518 01:12:26,333 --> 01:12:28,375 He said, "I could know everything there is to know 1519 01:12:28,458 --> 01:12:32,250 about missiles and nuclear arms in an hour and a half." 1520 01:12:34,750 --> 01:12:36,792 And he said, "You know, Roy really wants me to do this. 1521 01:12:36,875 --> 01:12:41,375 Roy thinks that I would be a really good nuclear arms negotiator." 1522 01:12:41,458 --> 01:12:44,959 And during this period, he apparently sends word back 1523 01:12:45,041 --> 01:12:47,166 to one of George Bush's operatives 1524 01:12:47,250 --> 01:12:49,959 that he could be working in the administration. 1525 01:12:50,041 --> 01:12:52,834 So, he was starting to feel pretty heady about himself 1526 01:12:52,917 --> 01:12:55,875 and what he could be doing in government. 1527 01:12:55,959 --> 01:12:58,625 Male Interviewer: Would you like to be in a position 1528 01:12:58,709 --> 01:13:00,750 of negotiating disarmament? 1529 01:13:00,834 --> 01:13:02,667 Is that really what's in your head? 1530 01:13:02,750 --> 01:13:05,709 I don't know who's negotiating for us, who had in the past. 1531 01:13:05,792 --> 01:13:08,000 I used to watch, under Jimmy Carter's regime, 1532 01:13:08,083 --> 01:13:10,000 I used to watch people going over 1533 01:13:10,083 --> 01:13:11,417 and looking at these Russians. 1534 01:13:11,500 --> 01:13:12,792 And I could look at the Russians, 1535 01:13:12,875 --> 01:13:14,625 and I could look at these people on our side, 1536 01:13:14,709 --> 01:13:16,041 and I could say there's no chance. 1537 01:13:16,125 --> 01:13:17,542 That's like the Pittsburgh Steelers 1538 01:13:17,625 --> 01:13:19,500 playing my high school football team. 1539 01:13:20,959 --> 01:13:23,667 Female Interviewer: Is it arrogant of Donald Trump 1540 01:13:23,750 --> 01:13:27,166 to even think about negotiating a treaty with the Russians? 1541 01:13:27,250 --> 01:13:28,583 It's not arrogance. 1542 01:13:28,667 --> 01:13:30,542 It's the fact that he sees 1543 01:13:30,625 --> 01:13:32,709 he has a talent in a certain area. 1544 01:13:32,792 --> 01:13:36,625 Look, his next stop might very well be Moscow. 1545 01:13:36,709 --> 01:13:40,083 (indistinct chatter) 1546 01:13:40,166 --> 01:13:44,417 Romano: I think what Roy Cohn saw in Donald Trump 1547 01:13:44,500 --> 01:13:47,041 was sort of an unpolished stone. 1548 01:13:47,834 --> 01:13:51,250 He had some smarts, he had ambition, and he had money. 1549 01:13:51,333 --> 01:13:54,750 And he had nerve. He wanted to shake things up. 1550 01:13:54,834 --> 01:13:58,667 Roy is building this foothold in Washington, DC, 1551 01:13:58,750 --> 01:14:00,875 and Don wants a piece of this 1552 01:14:00,959 --> 01:14:03,000 and Roy wants him to have a piece of it. 1553 01:14:03,083 --> 01:14:06,000 ♪ ♪ 1554 01:14:06,083 --> 01:14:09,083 (indistinct chatter) 1555 01:14:09,166 --> 01:14:12,291 (inaudible) 1556 01:14:15,875 --> 01:14:18,625 Manso: There's this wonderful photograph 1557 01:14:18,709 --> 01:14:20,667 of Roy and his... 1558 01:14:20,750 --> 01:14:23,125 arm candy lover, Peter Fraser, 1559 01:14:23,208 --> 01:14:25,917 at the White House on a receiving line. 1560 01:14:26,000 --> 01:14:28,500 And there's Nancy and there's Ron. 1561 01:14:28,583 --> 01:14:32,500 He's introducing his beautiful for-hire boyfriend, 1562 01:14:32,583 --> 01:14:35,291 and both he and his lover, Peter, 1563 01:14:35,375 --> 01:14:36,959 are being received like royalty. 1564 01:14:37,041 --> 01:14:38,959 Like they're very important people. 1565 01:14:39,041 --> 01:14:42,542 ♪ ♪ 1566 01:14:43,875 --> 01:14:46,500 In the early through mid '80s, 1567 01:14:46,583 --> 01:14:51,667 Peter Fraser was Roy's squeeze of choice. 1568 01:14:51,750 --> 01:14:54,542 Peter Fraser was tall, blonde, 1569 01:14:54,625 --> 01:14:56,917 athletic-looking New Zealander. 1570 01:14:58,792 --> 01:15:04,125 Roy got him made the Aramis Man of the Year. 1571 01:15:04,208 --> 01:15:06,583 Aramis is the men's division 1572 01:15:06,667 --> 01:15:08,750 of Estée Lauder Cosmetics! 1573 01:15:08,834 --> 01:15:12,667 Estée and Joe Lauder were Roy's 20-, 30-year-old, 1574 01:15:12,750 --> 01:15:15,875 right-wing, multi-millionaire friends and clients. 1575 01:15:17,875 --> 01:15:20,834 Peter Fraser was the kept partner, 1576 01:15:20,917 --> 01:15:24,959 and actually served a function in the Roy orbit. 1577 01:15:26,250 --> 01:15:29,166 Here is a letter dated February 1, '85, 1578 01:15:29,250 --> 01:15:31,959 on Saxe, Bacon, Bolan letterhead. 1579 01:15:33,875 --> 01:15:35,291 "To Whom It May Concern, 1580 01:15:35,375 --> 01:15:37,834 "This is to confirm that Peter Fraser's employed 1581 01:15:37,917 --> 01:15:40,250 "by the law firm Saxe, Bacon, Bolan, 1582 01:15:40,333 --> 01:15:43,000 "and he resides at the company house 1583 01:15:43,083 --> 01:15:45,583 "in Provincetown, Massachusetts. 1584 01:15:45,750 --> 01:15:48,458 Yours truly, Roy M. Cohn." 1585 01:15:49,083 --> 01:15:50,458 Wild. 1586 01:15:51,208 --> 01:15:53,709 "Pay to the order of Peter Fraser." 1587 01:15:53,792 --> 01:15:56,166 $5,284. 1588 01:15:56,792 --> 01:15:59,083 See now, here are credit card receipts 1589 01:15:59,166 --> 01:16:01,458 in Peter Fraser's name. 1590 01:16:01,542 --> 01:16:04,750 Now, Roy could not use credit cards. 1591 01:16:04,834 --> 01:16:08,583 You know, 'cause any purchase would be trackable, 1592 01:16:08,667 --> 01:16:12,083 and subject to, you know, IRS scrutiny. 1593 01:16:12,709 --> 01:16:15,834 Who was this? Oh my God, this is more transfers. 1594 01:16:15,917 --> 01:16:17,041 Holy shit. 1595 01:16:17,125 --> 01:16:21,417 Bank of New Zealand for $10,012.50. 1596 01:16:21,500 --> 01:16:23,125 On the same day, 1597 01:16:23,208 --> 01:16:26,458 there is another transfer of $10,000. 1598 01:16:26,542 --> 01:16:28,792 Jesus Christ. 1599 01:16:28,875 --> 01:16:30,625 Deposits, $43,000, 1600 01:16:30,709 --> 01:16:33,750 $50,000, $90,000, $45,000, 1601 01:16:33,834 --> 01:16:35,375 $50,000. 1602 01:16:35,458 --> 01:16:38,166 You know, this is money laundering. 1603 01:16:38,625 --> 01:16:41,834 You know, Roy is using Peter as a cut-out. 1604 01:16:42,417 --> 01:16:45,166 You know what a cut-out is in spy language? 1605 01:16:45,917 --> 01:16:48,709 You're on one side of the fence, I'm on the other. 1606 01:16:48,792 --> 01:16:50,750 But, I have this guy over here, 1607 01:16:50,834 --> 01:16:52,375 and he gets everything I have, 1608 01:16:52,458 --> 01:16:54,667 even though you're focusing on me. 1609 01:16:55,333 --> 01:16:57,166 I mean, I don't know what these... 1610 01:16:57,250 --> 01:17:00,041 you know, 90 and $100,000 balances 1611 01:17:00,125 --> 01:17:02,250 in his accounts represent. 1612 01:17:02,333 --> 01:17:04,291 Where is that money coming from? 1613 01:17:04,375 --> 01:17:05,917 It's coming through Roy, 1614 01:17:06,000 --> 01:17:08,500 but where is that coming from? 1615 01:17:08,583 --> 01:17:10,125 ♪ ♪ 1616 01:17:10,208 --> 01:17:12,291 Reporter: Two years ago, Richard Dupont had this idea. 1617 01:17:12,375 --> 01:17:15,333 He would open a health club in the West Village for gays. 1618 01:17:15,417 --> 01:17:17,458 He took over an abandoned six-story warehouse 1619 01:17:17,542 --> 01:17:19,417 on Greenwich Street near Barrow, 1620 01:17:19,500 --> 01:17:20,709 and spent the next year 1621 01:17:20,792 --> 01:17:23,125 and almost $1 million renovating it. 1622 01:17:23,667 --> 01:17:25,959 What I think most people are afraid of 1623 01:17:26,041 --> 01:17:28,041 is the very fact is they may see 1624 01:17:28,125 --> 01:17:30,834 homosexual people as real people. 1625 01:17:30,917 --> 01:17:34,792 As people who aren't deviants and perverts. 1626 01:17:34,875 --> 01:17:38,458 Klotz: Richard Dupont originally met Roy in Miami Beach, 1627 01:17:38,542 --> 01:17:42,291 where he turned a trick for Roy as a gay prostitute. 1628 01:17:42,375 --> 01:17:44,500 Manso: Richard Dupont was a grifter, 1629 01:17:44,583 --> 01:17:46,709 a guy who lived on his wits. 1630 01:17:47,208 --> 01:17:50,875 And such people could be useful to Roy Cohn. 1631 01:17:52,458 --> 01:17:55,625 (Ray Kiley speaking): 1632 01:18:00,166 --> 01:18:02,792 (Dupont speaking): 1633 01:18:19,000 --> 01:18:20,583 Manso: And the guy decided to wreck revenge, 1634 01:18:20,667 --> 01:18:23,792 and he got to Roy like no one else got to Roy ever. 1635 01:18:23,875 --> 01:18:25,583 ♪ ♪ 1636 01:18:25,667 --> 01:18:27,667 Klotz: He would call the airline and say, 1637 01:18:27,750 --> 01:18:30,417 "This is Roy Cohn calling and... 1638 01:18:30,500 --> 01:18:34,125 you know my reservation for 2:00 to Texas? Cancel it." 1639 01:18:34,208 --> 01:18:37,041 So, Roy Cohn would show up at the airport with his bags, 1640 01:18:37,125 --> 01:18:40,875 and his reservation had been canceled. (laughs) 1641 01:18:40,959 --> 01:18:42,917 At the Ford shareholders meeting, 1642 01:18:43,000 --> 01:18:46,834 a woman came with a delivery of flowers for him, 1643 01:18:46,917 --> 01:18:49,875 and the flowers were wilted. 1644 01:18:49,959 --> 01:18:52,375 There was a note with the flowers saying, 1645 01:18:52,458 --> 01:18:54,792 "Roy Cohn can lick anyone." 1646 01:18:55,458 --> 01:18:58,625 I believe that was a double entendre. 1647 01:18:59,750 --> 01:19:01,917 Manso: One morning, where Roy's office was 1648 01:19:02,000 --> 01:19:05,250 on East 68th Street, for the whole block, 1649 01:19:05,333 --> 01:19:07,083 every five feet, 1650 01:19:07,166 --> 01:19:09,625 (laughing) there was a stenciled message. 1651 01:19:09,709 --> 01:19:11,834 "Roy Cohn is a fag." 1652 01:19:13,667 --> 01:19:16,250 Roy was going crazy. 1653 01:19:16,750 --> 01:19:20,000 I mean, this is the devil visiting the devil, as it were. 1654 01:19:20,875 --> 01:19:23,208 (phone dialing) 1655 01:19:23,625 --> 01:19:26,834 (Cohn and Dupont on phone): 1656 01:20:15,625 --> 01:20:16,792 (hangs up) 1657 01:20:16,875 --> 01:20:18,625 I'm surprised he didn't have him killed, 1658 01:20:18,709 --> 01:20:20,875 but maybe it would've been too obvious. 1659 01:20:20,959 --> 01:20:22,917 He couldn't scare him off. 1660 01:20:23,000 --> 01:20:25,291 And Dupont just kept going. 1661 01:20:25,375 --> 01:20:28,709 (disco music playing) 1662 01:20:28,792 --> 01:20:32,083 (crowd chatter) 1663 01:20:33,625 --> 01:20:36,875 Klotz: In 1980, on Gay Pride Day, 1664 01:20:36,959 --> 01:20:40,709 there was a publication of a magazine called "Now East," 1665 01:20:40,792 --> 01:20:44,875 which contained all of Dupont's fantasies about Roy Cohn. 1666 01:20:44,959 --> 01:20:47,083 ♪ ♪ 1667 01:20:50,208 --> 01:20:55,500 Manso (on phone): It's obvious that you are out to do in Roy. 1668 01:20:55,583 --> 01:20:58,834 -Do you think that you'll outlast Roy? -Dupont (on phone): Oh God. 1669 01:20:58,917 --> 01:21:00,959 Oh God, the second issue. 1670 01:21:01,041 --> 01:21:04,166 -Manso: The second issue is gonna do him in, you think? -Dupont: And the third issue. 1671 01:21:04,250 --> 01:21:05,333 Manso: And the third issue? 1672 01:21:05,417 --> 01:21:06,583 There's a third one coming, too? 1673 01:21:06,667 --> 01:21:08,291 Dupont: Yes, there'll be every issue. 1674 01:21:08,375 --> 01:21:10,417 Manso: I mean, how long is this magazine gonna go on? 1675 01:21:10,500 --> 01:21:12,709 I mean, people eventually may become bored with Roy Cohn. 1676 01:21:12,792 --> 01:21:15,792 Dupont: I don't know whether they'll become bored with Roy Cohn or not. 1677 01:21:15,875 --> 01:21:17,583 I really don't know, Peter. 1678 01:21:19,291 --> 01:21:20,750 Manso: These were distributed. 1679 01:21:20,834 --> 01:21:22,208 They were left in restaurants, 1680 01:21:22,291 --> 01:21:24,417 fancy clothing stores, 1681 01:21:24,500 --> 01:21:26,125 gay bars. 1682 01:21:26,959 --> 01:21:28,959 Roy was genuinely agitated, 1683 01:21:29,041 --> 01:21:32,500 and Roy didn't show anxiety easily. 1684 01:21:33,125 --> 01:21:35,041 "I'm gonna get that motherfucker. I'm gonna kill him. 1685 01:21:35,125 --> 01:21:37,458 I'm gonna put him away. This is gonna end." 1686 01:21:37,542 --> 01:21:38,875 Tonight, we have a story about a man 1687 01:21:38,959 --> 01:21:40,542 who is not charged with a violent crime, 1688 01:21:40,625 --> 01:21:42,333 but he is the object of a lot of attention 1689 01:21:42,417 --> 01:21:43,875 from the Manhattan district attorney. 1690 01:21:43,959 --> 01:21:46,000 John Miller: This is Richard Dupont. 1691 01:21:46,083 --> 01:21:50,041 He was arrested in, what his lawyer described as, a pre-dawn raid 1692 01:21:50,125 --> 01:21:53,792 in which four detectives came crashing into his apartment. 1693 01:21:53,875 --> 01:21:56,834 I received information from my client 1694 01:21:56,917 --> 01:21:58,959 that he had learned 1695 01:21:59,041 --> 01:22:01,041 from associates of Mr. Cohn 1696 01:22:01,125 --> 01:22:05,083 that he was to be indicted on Friday. 1697 01:22:05,166 --> 01:22:08,834 Klotz: "Were we here because of 'Now East'? Baloney. 1698 01:22:08,917 --> 01:22:11,625 "We're here because Richard had the temerity 1699 01:22:11,709 --> 01:22:15,458 to ignore that warning and mess with Roy Cohn." 1700 01:22:16,458 --> 01:22:19,625 (Dupont speaking): 1701 01:22:26,000 --> 01:22:27,333 ♪ ♪ 1702 01:22:27,417 --> 01:22:29,750 Klotz: He was acquitted the first two counts, 1703 01:22:29,834 --> 01:22:32,583 but he was convicted of four or five misdemeanors. 1704 01:22:32,667 --> 01:22:35,917 Misdemeanor clients don't go to penitentiaries. 1705 01:22:36,000 --> 01:22:37,875 And I felt at the time, 1706 01:22:37,959 --> 01:22:40,083 given who he was dealing with, 1707 01:22:40,166 --> 01:22:42,083 uh, the, uh... 1708 01:22:42,166 --> 01:22:44,250 virtual member of organized crime, 1709 01:22:44,333 --> 01:22:45,875 or the attorney Roy Cohn, 1710 01:22:45,959 --> 01:22:48,333 that Richard wouldn't have lasted in a penitentiary. 1711 01:22:48,417 --> 01:22:50,083 And Richard Dupont, as I recall, 1712 01:22:50,166 --> 01:22:52,709 served 18 months in state prison. 1713 01:22:52,792 --> 01:22:54,291 For fuckin' with Roy Cohn! 1714 01:22:54,375 --> 01:22:57,291 Don't mess with Roy Cohn! Moral of the story! 1715 01:22:57,375 --> 01:23:00,458 -(whistle blowing) -(crowd chatter) 1716 01:23:00,542 --> 01:23:02,875 (clapping) 1717 01:23:04,709 --> 01:23:08,125 (crowd chanting) 1718 01:23:08,208 --> 01:23:10,959 Ethan Geto: In the '80s, you could be fired as a schoolteacher 1719 01:23:11,041 --> 01:23:13,625 if you were known to be gay. 1720 01:23:13,709 --> 01:23:16,250 You could be denied an apartment. 1721 01:23:16,333 --> 01:23:17,875 That happened constantly 1722 01:23:17,959 --> 01:23:20,250 in a liberal bastion like New York City. 1723 01:23:21,041 --> 01:23:23,458 You could be denied service 1724 01:23:23,542 --> 01:23:26,333 in a restaurant or a bar! 1725 01:23:26,417 --> 01:23:27,583 You had no recourse. 1726 01:23:27,667 --> 01:23:30,000 -(protesters chanting) -For 15 years, 1727 01:23:30,083 --> 01:23:33,792 the Gay Rights Bill came up for a vote and it was voted down. 1728 01:23:33,875 --> 01:23:35,750 Cohn: My greatest concern in life 1729 01:23:35,834 --> 01:23:37,625 is not about open restaurants 1730 01:23:37,709 --> 01:23:39,875 or this Gay Rights Bill. 1731 01:23:39,959 --> 01:23:41,917 I think if you're a man about things 1732 01:23:42,000 --> 01:23:44,792 and you can fight your own fights, 1733 01:23:44,875 --> 01:23:47,792 things come out okay in the long run. 1734 01:23:47,875 --> 01:23:50,041 Geto: Roy Cohn was very involved 1735 01:23:50,125 --> 01:23:52,291 with politics in New York City. 1736 01:23:52,375 --> 01:23:53,959 He was a lobbyist and spokesperson 1737 01:23:54,041 --> 01:23:55,792 for the Archdiocese of New York, 1738 01:23:55,875 --> 01:23:57,291 which, in those years, 1739 01:23:57,375 --> 01:24:00,083 was very, very powerful politically 1740 01:24:00,166 --> 01:24:02,250 because the Cardinal of New York 1741 01:24:02,333 --> 01:24:05,000 had enormous control and veto power 1742 01:24:05,083 --> 01:24:07,291 over legislation in the City Council. 1743 01:24:08,583 --> 01:24:11,125 Roy Cohn started making public comments. 1744 01:24:11,208 --> 01:24:14,250 ...cannot be done, and the proof is not in what we say, 1745 01:24:14,333 --> 01:24:15,625 but in the city... 1746 01:24:15,709 --> 01:24:17,959 First of all, I don't like any of these rights bills. 1747 01:24:18,041 --> 01:24:19,250 Women's rights bill, 1748 01:24:19,333 --> 01:24:21,959 such as was defeated in New York, very properly. 1749 01:24:22,041 --> 01:24:23,208 I don't like that. 1750 01:24:23,291 --> 01:24:25,083 If the Gay Rights Bill goes to a referendum, 1751 01:24:25,166 --> 01:24:26,959 I think the people will defeat that, too. 1752 01:24:27,041 --> 01:24:29,208 I think there are features of that bill 1753 01:24:29,291 --> 01:24:33,041 that constitutes a clear and present danger 1754 01:24:33,125 --> 01:24:36,583 to the upbringing of children and to family life, 1755 01:24:36,667 --> 01:24:39,834 and I don't think it's a cut-and-dried issue at all. 1756 01:24:39,917 --> 01:24:42,083 ♪ ♪ 1757 01:24:42,166 --> 01:24:45,792 Geto: Taking a very public, hostile stance to gay people 1758 01:24:45,875 --> 01:24:49,291 made everybody who wasn't in the know feel, 1759 01:24:49,375 --> 01:24:51,125 "Of course, there's a rumor 1760 01:24:51,208 --> 01:24:55,041 that Roy Cohn is a homosexual, but that's ridiculous!" 1761 01:24:55,125 --> 01:24:58,166 The other thing was the Catholic Church, 1762 01:24:58,250 --> 01:25:00,625 and they had a similar problem. 1763 01:25:02,625 --> 01:25:04,083 Cardinal Spellman was thought, 1764 01:25:04,166 --> 01:25:07,083 by many people, to be gay. 1765 01:25:07,166 --> 01:25:10,417 He was a very close social friend of Roy Cohn's, 1766 01:25:10,500 --> 01:25:13,625 and he was very, very reactionary. 1767 01:25:14,000 --> 01:25:18,291 That's the environment that Roy Cohn reinforced 1768 01:25:18,375 --> 01:25:21,375 and pushed and supported in a way 1769 01:25:21,458 --> 01:25:24,542 that oppressed millions of people. 1770 01:25:24,625 --> 01:25:27,375 To know that this man 1771 01:25:27,458 --> 01:25:31,417 was actively gay in his personal life 1772 01:25:31,500 --> 01:25:35,083 and his social life and his sex life and so on. 1773 01:25:35,166 --> 01:25:38,792 Again, I say the ninth circle of Hell 1774 01:25:38,875 --> 01:25:42,208 is reserved for hypocrites. 1775 01:25:42,417 --> 01:25:43,625 You feel pretty good. 1776 01:25:43,709 --> 01:25:45,917 -I feel great. -Why? 1777 01:25:46,000 --> 01:25:48,125 I mean, you were at death's door 1778 01:25:48,208 --> 01:25:49,709 six months ago, three months ago. 1779 01:25:49,792 --> 01:25:51,959 I was shaving one morning, and I had a... 1780 01:25:52,041 --> 01:25:53,709 I felt a little bump. 1781 01:25:53,792 --> 01:25:56,333 So I called the doctor, he said come in. 1782 01:25:56,417 --> 01:25:59,959 And they did a biopsy, and they found I had liver cancer, 1783 01:26:00,041 --> 01:26:03,375 uh, and they found that-- which spreads in... 1784 01:26:04,542 --> 01:26:06,166 strange directions, 1785 01:26:06,250 --> 01:26:09,458 and I was treated for three and a half weeks 1786 01:26:09,542 --> 01:26:11,667 at the National Institute of Health. 1787 01:26:11,750 --> 01:26:13,959 ♪ ♪ 1788 01:26:14,041 --> 01:26:16,500 Marcus: He told me he was in an experimental program 1789 01:26:16,583 --> 01:26:17,875 for liver cancer. 1790 01:26:17,959 --> 01:26:19,792 I think they did not actually have 1791 01:26:19,875 --> 01:26:21,792 an experimental program for liver cancer. 1792 01:26:21,875 --> 01:26:23,625 It was trying AZT and other drugs for AIDS. 1793 01:26:23,709 --> 01:26:26,250 Health officials will announce today whether an anti-AIDS drug 1794 01:26:26,333 --> 01:26:29,625 is safe enough for widespread use against the disease. 1795 01:26:29,709 --> 01:26:31,875 The drug AZT has been tested for more than a year 1796 01:26:31,959 --> 01:26:34,792 on 140 AIDS patients around the country. 1797 01:26:34,875 --> 01:26:36,750 While AZT does not cure the disease, 1798 01:26:36,834 --> 01:26:39,166 it does reduce some of its symptoms. 1799 01:26:39,250 --> 01:26:41,291 Did you get that radical treatment at NIH 1800 01:26:41,375 --> 01:26:44,792 -that that Dr. Rosenberg, I believe, is now doing? -Cohn: No. 1801 01:26:44,875 --> 01:26:48,542 -You did not undergo that? -No. I did not undergo that. 1802 01:26:51,250 --> 01:26:53,125 -You scored! -Impressively. 1803 01:26:53,208 --> 01:26:56,208 There may be 30 people in the whole country getting this drug? 1804 01:26:56,291 --> 01:26:57,792 Now, there are 31. 1805 01:26:57,875 --> 01:27:00,750 There are 100,000 people who need it. 1806 01:27:00,834 --> 01:27:03,583 ♪ ♪ 1807 01:27:03,667 --> 01:27:06,917 -(birds cawing) -(water lapping) 1808 01:27:09,625 --> 01:27:12,959 Packard: He spent a lot of time here when he had AIDS. 1809 01:27:13,041 --> 01:27:15,542 That's when I would see his poor, 1810 01:27:15,625 --> 01:27:17,125 diminished body 1811 01:27:17,208 --> 01:27:19,458 'cause I lost a lot of friends, too. 1812 01:27:20,166 --> 01:27:22,750 (inaudible) 1813 01:27:22,834 --> 01:27:24,417 Waters: The town was so struck by AIDS. 1814 01:27:24,500 --> 01:27:27,625 I mean, three-quarters of my friends died. 1815 01:27:28,959 --> 01:27:32,458 He was one of-- the whole town was dying, basically. 1816 01:27:35,125 --> 01:27:37,417 Packard: I wonder what Roy thought 1817 01:27:37,500 --> 01:27:39,834 about the fact that he got AIDS. 1818 01:27:40,375 --> 01:27:44,000 And those that escaped it, and those that didn't, 1819 01:27:44,083 --> 01:27:46,500 but not Roy Cohn. 1820 01:27:46,583 --> 01:27:48,792 He shouldn't have gotten AIDS. 1821 01:27:49,750 --> 01:27:51,500 Right? 1822 01:27:52,375 --> 01:27:54,500 I felt sorry for him. 1823 01:27:55,500 --> 01:27:58,250 Doesn't mean I liked him or approved what he did, 1824 01:27:58,333 --> 01:28:00,959 but I felt sorry for him as an individual. 1825 01:28:01,667 --> 01:28:04,166 He didn't hide in that corner. It was right over there. 1826 01:28:04,250 --> 01:28:07,792 But-- but he didn't want to be... out there, 1827 01:28:07,875 --> 01:28:11,000 and-- and he wanted to show the poor kid he was with 1828 01:28:11,083 --> 01:28:12,875 that he did have a life here. 1829 01:28:12,959 --> 01:28:14,333 And he certainly couldn't take him dancing 1830 01:28:14,417 --> 01:28:16,375 'cause he was at the point where he couldn't walk, 1831 01:28:16,458 --> 01:28:18,000 never mind dance. 1832 01:28:19,041 --> 01:28:21,125 He was gay and he was sick. 1833 01:28:21,709 --> 01:28:25,458 And he's got this child with him that he's infecting. 1834 01:28:25,542 --> 01:28:29,250 You know, this really is sick. 1835 01:28:29,333 --> 01:28:31,291 I was looking at a broken man, 1836 01:28:31,375 --> 01:28:33,917 and he was everything he didn't wanna be. 1837 01:28:34,000 --> 01:28:37,083 ♪ ♪ 1838 01:28:37,834 --> 01:28:40,083 -Wallace: Do you have AIDS? -Oh, no. 1839 01:28:41,041 --> 01:28:42,583 That's easy to answer. 1840 01:28:47,166 --> 01:28:49,291 I'm goin', Ethel. 1841 01:28:49,750 --> 01:28:53,083 Finally, finally done with this world 1842 01:28:53,166 --> 01:28:55,625 at long, long last. 1843 01:28:55,709 --> 01:28:59,333 The Almighty parts the sea of death, 1844 01:28:59,417 --> 01:29:03,959 and lets his Roy boy cross over to Jordan! 1845 01:29:04,583 --> 01:29:07,375 On dry land, 1846 01:29:07,458 --> 01:29:09,500 and still a lawyer. 1847 01:29:09,583 --> 01:29:12,375 Don't count your chickens, Roy. 1848 01:29:12,458 --> 01:29:14,625 -It's over. -(gasps) 1849 01:29:15,542 --> 01:29:20,083 -Over? -I wanted the news should come from me. 1850 01:29:20,959 --> 01:29:23,792 The panel ruled against ya, Roy. 1851 01:29:23,875 --> 01:29:28,208 No, no, they only started meeting two days ago... 1852 01:29:28,291 --> 01:29:30,875 They recommended disbarment! 1853 01:29:30,959 --> 01:29:33,542 Why do you think they're after you? 1854 01:29:33,625 --> 01:29:35,500 There are disbarment proceedings. 1855 01:29:35,583 --> 01:29:37,667 We're talking about two cases, 1856 01:29:37,750 --> 01:29:40,166 in neither one of which anyone was injured 1857 01:29:40,250 --> 01:29:42,375 even slightly, except me. 1858 01:29:42,458 --> 01:29:45,208 Wallace: He borrowed $100,000 from a client, 1859 01:29:45,291 --> 01:29:47,000 Iva Schlesinger, and then, 1860 01:29:47,083 --> 01:29:49,041 despite his numerous written promises, 1861 01:29:49,125 --> 01:29:52,417 he failed to repay her that $100,000. 1862 01:29:52,667 --> 01:29:55,500 (Cohn speaking): 1863 01:29:55,583 --> 01:29:57,625 -Romano: Mm-hmm. -(Cohn continues) 1864 01:30:03,792 --> 01:30:05,959 -Cohn: Pardon me? -(Romano continues) 1865 01:30:11,458 --> 01:30:14,083 Anyone who knows me knows I don't plead. 1866 01:30:14,166 --> 01:30:16,000 And I'm not pleading in this case. 1867 01:30:16,083 --> 01:30:17,709 Lane: He's fighting for his life, 1868 01:30:17,792 --> 01:30:22,417 and, on some level, more importantly, his reputation. 1869 01:30:22,500 --> 01:30:25,625 He probably cried more over the disbarment 1870 01:30:25,709 --> 01:30:28,250 than the AIDS diagnosis. 1871 01:30:28,333 --> 01:30:30,667 That's how important it was to him. 1872 01:30:31,041 --> 01:30:33,417 In this last interview, I show up in Florida, 1873 01:30:33,500 --> 01:30:34,959 and I was actually taken aback 1874 01:30:35,041 --> 01:30:37,125 because I hadn't seen him in about a year, 1875 01:30:37,208 --> 01:30:40,208 and he was extremely frail. 1876 01:30:40,291 --> 01:30:42,917 He had lost a lot of weight, he had to be helped into a chair, 1877 01:30:43,000 --> 01:30:45,959 his clothes were baggy, but he was game. 1878 01:30:46,041 --> 01:30:48,500 He wanted to get stuff off of his chest, 1879 01:30:48,583 --> 01:30:50,458 and we talked for an hour or so 1880 01:30:50,542 --> 01:30:52,166 in this mansion that was-- 1881 01:30:52,250 --> 01:30:53,625 I don't even remember whose it was, 1882 01:30:53,709 --> 01:30:56,083 but it was this beautiful mansion on Worth Avenue. 1883 01:30:56,166 --> 01:30:57,750 And then we went out to dinner. 1884 01:30:57,834 --> 01:30:59,417 And, um, and I asked him, 1885 01:30:59,500 --> 01:31:01,583 I said, "You know, what do you think about now? 1886 01:31:01,667 --> 01:31:03,166 What do you dream about?" And he said, 1887 01:31:03,250 --> 01:31:05,125 "You know, I dream about death, 1888 01:31:05,208 --> 01:31:07,250 and I think about my funeral." 1889 01:31:08,208 --> 01:31:11,375 (Romano speaking on tape): 1890 01:31:18,000 --> 01:31:20,667 (Cohn speaking on tape): 1891 01:31:47,250 --> 01:31:49,625 (applause) 1892 01:31:49,709 --> 01:31:51,500 Crowd: ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ 1893 01:31:51,583 --> 01:31:54,583 ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ 1894 01:31:55,250 --> 01:31:57,333 (singing continues, indistinct chatter) 1895 01:31:57,417 --> 01:31:59,709 Woman: You have to make a very special wish. 1896 01:31:59,792 --> 01:32:02,625 Ivy Meeropol: Did he feel that people were abandoning him? 1897 01:32:03,000 --> 01:32:05,834 I'm not sure that he would ever show 1898 01:32:05,917 --> 01:32:07,875 that side of him. 1899 01:32:09,125 --> 01:32:13,125 But there are some of us who don't abandon friends, 1900 01:32:13,208 --> 01:32:14,542 no matter what. 1901 01:32:15,750 --> 01:32:17,500 Romano: Donald was plugged in. 1902 01:32:17,583 --> 01:32:20,583 And I'm sure he had heard that Roy had AIDS. 1903 01:32:20,667 --> 01:32:23,250 And when he's dying, Trump pulls away, 1904 01:32:23,333 --> 01:32:25,458 and-- and it hurt Roy. 1905 01:32:25,542 --> 01:32:27,834 He felt like he had done a lot to promote, 1906 01:32:27,917 --> 01:32:30,458 to help bring Donald Trump along. 1907 01:32:30,542 --> 01:32:34,625 Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in a salute to a winner, 1908 01:32:34,709 --> 01:32:36,625 and a friend, Mr. Donald Trump. 1909 01:32:36,709 --> 01:32:38,208 ♪ ♪ 1910 01:32:38,291 --> 01:32:40,208 (applause) 1911 01:32:40,291 --> 01:32:41,875 Trump: Thank you. 1912 01:32:41,959 --> 01:32:43,917 I would like to just introduce quickly my family. 1913 01:32:44,000 --> 01:32:46,166 My wife, Ivana, my father, Fred, 1914 01:32:46,250 --> 01:32:49,083 my sister, the judge, thanks to the President. 1915 01:32:49,792 --> 01:32:51,208 (laughter) 1916 01:32:51,291 --> 01:32:53,959 LeBoutillier: It was a wrenching thing to watch. 1917 01:32:56,083 --> 01:32:59,041 But a lot of Roy's so-called friends 1918 01:32:59,125 --> 01:33:01,583 blew him off after he got sick. 1919 01:33:05,375 --> 01:33:08,083 Brit Hume: Roy Cohn, the unorthodox and colorful lawyer 1920 01:33:08,166 --> 01:33:09,834 who may have made more prominent enemies 1921 01:33:09,917 --> 01:33:12,500 and more prominent friends than any American of his time, 1922 01:33:12,583 --> 01:33:13,834 is dead. 1923 01:33:13,917 --> 01:33:16,083 Cohn died early this morning of a heart attack. 1924 01:33:16,166 --> 01:33:19,083 The virus HTLV-3, which is believed to cause AIDS, 1925 01:33:19,166 --> 01:33:21,709 was listed as a secondary cause of death. 1926 01:33:30,917 --> 01:33:34,041 (water flowing) 1927 01:33:40,208 --> 01:33:42,458 Romano: How do you wanna be remembered? 1928 01:33:42,542 --> 01:33:44,542 Cohn: I have no choice 1929 01:33:44,625 --> 01:33:46,750 because I know I am gonna be Joe McCarthy's 1930 01:33:46,834 --> 01:33:49,291 Chief Counsel for the rest of my life, 1931 01:33:49,375 --> 01:33:52,667 no matter what else good or bad I should ever do. 1932 01:33:53,166 --> 01:33:56,500 (somber music playing) 1933 01:33:56,583 --> 01:33:59,959 Romano: If you could turn back the clock to 1953 or four, 1934 01:34:00,041 --> 01:34:02,709 -would you do anything differently? -Cohn: Sure. 1935 01:34:02,792 --> 01:34:04,792 Who, 25 or 30 years later, 1936 01:34:04,875 --> 01:34:06,375 wouldn't do something different? 1937 01:34:06,458 --> 01:34:08,291 Romano: What? Do you think you were too abrasive 1938 01:34:08,375 --> 01:34:11,291 -as some people say? -Cohn: Sure. 1939 01:34:11,375 --> 01:34:13,542 But, I'm not sure if I hadn't been too aggressive 1940 01:34:13,625 --> 01:34:16,000 if I could've gotten any results. 1941 01:34:16,083 --> 01:34:17,792 Romano: What do you say to people who say 1942 01:34:17,875 --> 01:34:19,333 you ruined people's lives? 1943 01:34:19,417 --> 01:34:22,375 Cohn: I say name one. 1944 01:34:22,458 --> 01:34:25,709 Because I know what the truth is and they don't. 1945 01:34:30,750 --> 01:34:33,959 (typewriter clicking) 1946 01:34:36,667 --> 01:34:37,709 (ding) 1947 01:34:37,792 --> 01:34:41,125 ("Exhuming McCarthy" by R.E.M. playing) 1948 01:34:41,208 --> 01:34:42,834 ♪ You're beautiful ♪ 1949 01:34:42,917 --> 01:34:46,834 ♪ More beautiful than me ♪ 1950 01:34:46,917 --> 01:34:50,625 ♪ You're honorable, more honorable ♪ 1951 01:34:50,709 --> 01:34:53,041 ♪ Than me ♪ 1952 01:34:53,125 --> 01:34:56,917 ♪ Loyal to the Bank of America ♪ 1953 01:35:05,333 --> 01:35:08,417 ♪ It's a sign of the times ♪ 1954 01:35:09,458 --> 01:35:12,333 ♪ It's a sign of the times ♪ 1955 01:35:12,417 --> 01:35:14,583 ♪ You're sharpening stones ♪ 1956 01:35:14,667 --> 01:35:16,500 ♪ Walking on coals ♪ 1957 01:35:16,583 --> 01:35:20,333 ♪ To improve your business acumen ♪ 1958 01:35:20,417 --> 01:35:22,458 ♪ Sharpening stones ♪ 1959 01:35:22,542 --> 01:35:24,333 ♪ Walking on coals ♪ 1960 01:35:24,417 --> 01:35:28,291 ♪ To improve your business acumen ♪ 1961 01:35:28,375 --> 01:35:32,166 ♪ Vested interest united ties ♪ 1962 01:35:32,250 --> 01:35:36,083 ♪ Landed gentry rationalize ♪ 1963 01:35:36,166 --> 01:35:39,125 ♪ Look who bought the myth ♪ 1964 01:35:40,125 --> 01:35:43,792 ♪ By jingo, buy America ♪ 1965 01:35:52,333 --> 01:35:56,250 ♪ It's a sign of the times ♪ 1966 01:35:56,333 --> 01:35:59,417 ♪ It's a sign of the times ♪ 1967 01:35:59,500 --> 01:36:01,583 ♪ You're sharpening stones ♪ 1968 01:36:01,667 --> 01:36:03,542 ♪ Walking on coals ♪ 1969 01:36:03,625 --> 01:36:07,417 ♪ To improve your business acumen ♪ 1970 01:36:07,500 --> 01:36:09,458 ♪ Sharpening stones ♪ 1971 01:36:09,542 --> 01:36:11,375 ♪ Walking on coals ♪ 1972 01:36:11,458 --> 01:36:15,250 ♪ To improve your business acumen ♪ 1973 01:36:15,333 --> 01:36:17,333 ♪ Enemy sighted ♪ 1974 01:36:17,417 --> 01:36:19,166 ♪ Enemy met ♪ 1975 01:36:19,250 --> 01:36:23,083 ♪ I'm addressing the realpolitik ♪ 1976 01:36:23,166 --> 01:36:25,834 ♪ Look who bought the myth ♪ 1977 01:36:27,125 --> 01:36:30,709 ♪ By jingo, buy America ♪ 1978 01:36:35,750 --> 01:36:39,500 Welch: Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. 1979 01:36:39,583 --> 01:36:41,542 You've done enough. 1980 01:36:41,625 --> 01:36:45,250 Have you no sense of decency, sir, 1981 01:36:45,333 --> 01:36:46,792 at long last? 1982 01:36:46,875 --> 01:36:50,709 Have you left no sense of decency? 1983 01:36:54,417 --> 01:36:57,959 ♪ ♪ 1984 01:36:58,041 --> 01:37:00,333 ♪ You're sharpening stones ♪ 1985 01:37:00,417 --> 01:37:02,208 ♪ Walking on coals ♪ 1986 01:37:02,291 --> 01:37:06,000 ♪ To improve your business acumen ♪ 1987 01:37:06,083 --> 01:37:08,125 ♪ Sharpening stones ♪ 1988 01:37:08,208 --> 01:37:10,041 ♪ Walking on coals ♪ 1989 01:37:10,125 --> 01:37:13,959 ♪ To improve your business acumen ♪ 1990 01:37:14,041 --> 01:37:16,250 ♪ Enemy sighted ♪ 1991 01:37:16,333 --> 01:37:17,834 ♪ Enemy met ♪ 1992 01:37:17,917 --> 01:37:21,875 ♪ I'm addressing the realpolitik ♪ 1993 01:37:21,959 --> 01:37:23,458 ♪ You've seen start ♪ 1994 01:37:23,542 --> 01:37:25,625 ♪ And you've seen quit ♪ 1995 01:37:25,709 --> 01:37:29,500 ♪ I've always thought of you as quick ♪ 1996 01:37:29,583 --> 01:37:32,125 ♪ Exhuming McCarthy ♪ 1997 01:37:33,291 --> 01:37:35,917 ♪ Exhuming McCarthy ♪ 1998 01:37:37,125 --> 01:37:39,625 ♪ Exhuming McCarthy ♪ 1999 01:37:41,041 --> 01:37:44,208 ♪ Exhuming McCarthy ♪