Secret Society; Brazilian Plane Crash; Iraq Vote Falls Short
ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR: While most of his teammates will be on their way to training camp, Michael Vick will be headed to federal court next week on dog fighting charges. The NFL standout is accused of running a vast dog fighting operation out of his home in Virginia. The charges could cost Vick his career. And if convicted, he could be headed to prison. As for the crime, CNN investigative correspondent Drew Griffin has the rare glimpse into a brutal, guarded world. A word of warning, there are some disturbing images.</s>DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What you are watching is a family vacation like none you have ever seen.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was filmed approximately an hour or so prior to the fight, in a hotel room.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stand up, Mark. Let me get you.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The person filming it is the dog fighter's wife.</s>GRIFFIN: The so-called fighter this undercover investigator is talking about is actually a dog owner. He's getting himself and his family prepared for the big event that brought them from Richmond, Virginia, to Columbus, Ohio. The big event is secret, a championship dog fight. The stakes high.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Each fighter put up $5,000, winner take all.</s>GRIFFIN: They also know the loser may be left with a dog that may never recover.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very common for a championship fight to be videotaped. It's a marketing tool.</s>GRIFFIN: In all, 40 people have come to watch, which, in Ohio, is a felony.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You really run the spectrum. There's actual business people who will frequent these, street people, and everyone in between. One of the fighters brought his grandkids.</s>GRIFFIN: All will be arrested when the raid begins, but right now, oblivious to the police gathering outside, the ring is the only attraction. This undercover detective, who does not want his face shown, has been on 40 raids in the last five years.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a largely underground, clandestine activity. People may hear about a dog fight, but, you know, they don't think well it happens in my community.</s>GRIFFIN: Commander Geoff Shank with the U.S. Marshals Service in Chicago says it's not uncommon to find fighting dogs in raids he conducts.</s>COMMANDER GEOFF SHANK, U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE: We encountered what we later found out was 13 caged pit bulls. And one of the interview -- people we were interviewing, claimed to be called trainer. We put two and two together and realized he was a, quote unquote, "dog trainer." We called the local -- Chicago Police Department. They were fully aware of who this guy was, told us they'd been looking for him for a couple of years.</s>GRIFFIN: Felons, gang bangers, drug pushers -- all have been linked to dog fighting. And more and more linked to inner city neighborhoods, many fights happening in broad daylight. In Chicago's public schools, the problem is so extensive, school programs are being developed to try to tell children dog fighting is not OK.</s>DR. GENE MUELLER, ANTI-CRUELTY SOCIETY: The earliest surveys that we did showed about one in five grammar school children in Chicago were actively participating in dog fighting.</s>GRIFFIN: Dr. Gene Mueller, the head of Chicago's Anti-Cruelty Society, says inner city dog fights have become entertainment, and the dog owners have become, in many cases, role models.</s>MUELLER: Kids are certainly involved. Felons, gang members. So we have these felons there who are fighting these dogs, for entertainment, or for gambling. Well, that means there's money there, which means somebody has to protect the money. So there's weapons there. And hey, it's an entertainment event, so we better have some drugs there.</s>GRIFFIN: Left out in all of this are the dogs themselves. This pit bull, dropped off for adoption, may have a chance. It has not been used for fighting. But authorities have little choice when it comes to dogs trained and raised for sport. Usually vicious, they must be put to death. They are the final victims, whose owners have bred them to fight and sometimes die in a growing ring of violence. Drew Griffin, CNN, Chicago.</s>MARCIANO: Coming up this hour, we'll talk with an undercover investigator who's been on dozens of dog fighting raids. And later, at 3:15 Eastern, John Goodwin from the Humane Society of the United States joins us. And up until now, that group has been critical of the Vick investigation.</s>KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Heading for Brazil, a team from the National Transportation Safety Board. It will help Brazilian authorities figure out what went so tragically wrong last night in Sao Paulo. At least 200 people were killed after a plane slammed into a building just outside the airport. And today, new questions are being raised about the airport's location and the runway itself. Let's bring in our own Miles O'Brien, our chief technology and environment correspondent. Also a licensed pilot. So, what do you think?</s>MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CHIEF TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, this is a problem that's been 90 years in the making. This airport was built in 1919. Imagine the airplanes and the requirements then. Also imagine the city of Sao Paulo then, a mere shadow of what it is now. Eleven million people live in Sao Paulo. Let's Google Map our way down to this airport and give you a sense of what we're talking about. This is the New York City of the southern hemisphere. Lots of skyscrapers, densely populated. This airport might as -- would be in Central Park if it were in New York City. As we zoom in and give you a sense, the longest runway there is 6,300 feet. Now, 6,300 feet, that's a little more than a mile. That might sound like a lot. And certainly for the biplanes of 1919, that would have been plenty of capability. But 6,300 feet for an Airbus fully loaded on a rainy day is absolutely no additional margin.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, you wonder why there haven't been even more accidents. I mean, when you put it that way, it seems like a miracle that anybody was -- with that size of aircraft, right...</s>O'BRIEN: Yes.</s>PHILLIPS: ... on that type -- in that type of weather, would be able to ever land there safely.</s>O'BRIEN: The plot thickens, though. On Monday, there was a smaller aircraft that went off the runway without any problems. A lot of these runway excursions, as they like to call them, you don't hear about. But look at the distance between the end of the runway, right there, and the building where they ended up. There's very little space there. There's no buffer, no room for play. Take a look at what it looks like here in the cockpit of an airplane coming in there. We got some shots off of YouTube. And this is aboard an A320, just -- the same kind of aircraft that was involved in this. Look at the skyscrapers beneath you there. As you come on this approach right over the skyscrapers, this is a good weather day, not like they had yesterday. Now let's show you the other tape which will give you a sense of what it was like with bad weather. Look at -- look at how close they are to that skyscraper right there. They come in...</s>PHILLIPS: On the right side.</s>O'BRIEN: ... and of course those lights guiding them down to the runway. They call this airport an aircraft carrier, meaning you've got to hit your numbers right on the money.</s>PHILLIPS: But there's no hook.</s>O'BRIEN: But there's no hook and there's wires. It's not like a number three wire every time. Maybe they should have that. But, in any case, what happened was they went to their charts for this aircraft, and they said, hey, it's a wet day and we weigh this amount of money -- this amount of weight. How much runway do we need? It came out to about 6,000 feet. What they did not account for was the fact that the runway is not yet grooved. It's been repaved, but not grooved. And so, the water was standing more than it would normally, and that was perhaps maybe the difference. Now, there's one other thing to consider here. There's been a series of overruns like this. We've seen them here at Midway Airport in the United States.</s>PHILLIPS: Even in Los Angeles.</s>O'BRIEN: Los Angeles.</s>PHILLIPS: Burbank, I think.</s>O'BRIEN: Burbank. Southwest Airlines occurred there.</s>PHILLIPS: Right.</s>O'BRIEN: There's been a series of them. It happens about 40 times a year the world over. There is technology which makes it possible to stop an airplane when you don't have that kind of buffer zone. Take a look at this airplane right here. This Gulfstream II was chartered by A-Rod himself, Alex Rodriguez. This happened this past fall at Burbank. Now, look down at that nose wheel. It's buried. Yes, here -- if you can take a look right down in there...</s>PHILLIPS: You can see where it's buried.</s>O'BRIEN: ... look at the nose wheel. You see it's kind of buried in crushable -- I don't know what's happening to my -- oh, gosh. I just got a terrible report there. Let's see if I can make that -- I can't make it out. But you see the nose wheel. That is crushable concrete which has been installed at various airports. This particular airport had that overrun, installed this material, and it is designed to crush when an airplane gets on it.</s>PHILLIPS: Stop the airplane.</s>O'BRIEN: Stop the airplane. It causes damage to the airplane, but everybody walks away.</s>PHILLIPS: Right.</s>O'BRIEN: So, there are ways to stop it. In case, it was not evident. It was not there at that particular airport. Some question, too, as who to whether the crew made the decision to try to get back airborne after landing and realizing the braking wasn't working. Split-second decisions. It will be second-guessed. Very difficult to know right now.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, it will be interesting what the NTSB recommends and if there's any changes made to that runway.</s>O'BRIEN: Right. Well, we'll find out. The black boxes have been recovered, flight data recorder, cockpit voice recorder. It will be very interesting to hear what they say.</s>PHILLIPS: Thanks, Miles.</s>O'BRIEN: All right. You're welcome.</s>MARCIANO: A long night of political theater complete with passionate monologues. The ending, well, a bit boring. Senate Democrats called an all-night session in Iraq -- or on Iraq, but failed to get enough support to end debate and force a vote on their latest troop pullout plan. Majority leader Harry Reid led debate. Here's what he said after today's showdown.</s>SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: So, today I'm filled with a mixture of pride and regret. Pride for my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, who have risen to this crucial cause in giving the American people the debate they deserve, yet regret for my colleagues who have blocked the will of the people and the majority of this Congress.</s>MARCIANO: The Democratic plan would bring U.S. troops home by next spring, a prospect that Republican senator John McCain calls a colossal mistake. But McCain, a struggling presidential hopeful, also acknowledges public frustration with the war.</s>JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The verdict of the people will arrive long before history's. I am unlikely to ever know how history has judged us in this hour. The public's judgment of me I will know soon enough. I will accept it as I must. But whether it is favorable or unforgiving, I will stand where I stand and take comfort from my confidence that I took my responsibilities to my country seriously, and despite the mistakes I have made as a public servant and the flaws I have as an advocate, I tried as best I could to help the country we all love remain as safe as she could be in an hour of serious peril.</s>MARCIANO: Four Republican senators did vote with Democrats to advance the pullout proposal. Well, the White House had called the Senate's all-nighter a stunt, and CNN's Elaine Quijano is there live. What else are they saying, Elaine?</s>ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Rob. Well, officials here at the White House say they certainly understand people's disapproval of the Iraq war, but what they dismiss is exactly that, what you said that they called a stunt. Officials here are saying that this essentially did nothing to further serious discussions on the Iraq issue. Here is White House Press Secretary Tony Snow just a short time ago.</s>TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I'm not sure a whole lot was accomplished by it. I don't think a lot of people are going to take out campaign ads saying triumphantly that they skipped a night's sleep or that they spent time on a cot. So I think I'll just let it stay at that.</s>QUIJANO: Now, at the same time, officials certainly acknowledge there is discontent on Capitol Hill over the Iraq war, but once more, officials here are urging lawmakers to wait until September. That, of course, is when General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are due to deliver their reports to Congress -- Rob.</s>MARCIANO: Elaine Quijano live from the White House. Thanks, Elaine.</s>PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, brutal allegations against Michael Vick, but Sergeant David Hunt has seen it all before. A veteran dogfight investigator takes us inside a world he calls sickening.</s>MARCIANO: And are these words their own? Two Iranian-American scholars held on charges of endangering national security in Tehran. Alleged confessions of spying are broadcast on state television.</s>PHILLIPS: Plus, the latest and reportedly last "Harry Potter" book isn't for sale yet, but some Web sites claim to offer a sneak peek. Does