were ready for the cameras. it was the first televiseda courtroom drama that captivated the united states. it was a huge deal. spoke erik and lyle menendez convicted of murdering their own parents. >> i shut my mom. >> it wasn't real. it just wasn't real. >> they are sociopaths. and big ones. >> chilling details. a letter ending in secrets, too dark to imagine. >> this is so out of the norm. >> did they kill in cold blood? or in crippling fear? >> it was gut wrenching. >> they spoke the truth about what happened. >> here from the brothers themselves. >> let's go through this bit by bit. >> there was no way he was going to let this secret get out. silence destroyed our s whole family. . symbol of their success. here ait was, the shining symbol of their success. here finally an address for the of their long struggle, their amazing rise, beverly hills, california. careful what you wish for. all these years later, it's still the case that has the power to shock. >> it's beverly hills, the movie business, kids going to paris -- parents. >> what possessed those handsome young men who had been given everything? >> they got pretty much what they wanted. >> why did they give back murder? >> how do you plead? >> not guilty. >> there is with the case to usher in wall-to-wall tv coverage, even before oj. >> i was just firing as i went into the room. >> the kind of horror you couldn't stop watching. >> what was in front of you? >> my parents. >> you will hear the real story told by the investigators. >> his face was disfigured from the shotgun blast that he took to the back of the head. >> by the young men themselves. the real-life details of the defense that shocked america. >> we would be in the bathroom and he would put me on my knees. >> is he telling the truth or not? >> we will ask the brother at the center of it all about truth. >> to this day i'm still dealing with the controversy of it. obviously, my own guilt and what happened. >> what really happened? and why? so, to understand, where to begin, how about here, illinois, 1940s. everybody who knows this story knows her as kitty but that wasn't really her name. >> no, it was mary louise. >> the baby of the family, said her older sister. it was one of their brothers who came up with the nickname that stuck for life. >> how did she get to be known as kitty? >> when brian went out to get her for dinner one night or something and he said, here kitty kitty kitty and she came. >> when kitty was three, her dad left the family for another family. as the little girl watched her mother struggle, she imagined a way she could do better. >> she grumbling she was going to marry well and have household help. macau wish you know? >> that's probably what my mother had it maybe wanted for herself and never got. >> kitty was pretty. in 1962 she was crowned miss oaklawn. should be in show business, her mother told her, so kitty studied radio and television at southern illinois university. was that wrapped up in the whole idea of, if you are in that field, you are more likely to meet a successful man? >> absolutely. >> and college she met jose menendez. he fled coming from cuba at 16 with bolded dreams of striking it big in business. just the kind of man kitty was searching for. and so they married in 1963. >> they were stars in our family. >> diane hernandez was kitty's knees and lived with kitty and jose for a few years. >> i was the daughter kitty never had appeared >> kitty and jose had sons, lyle and erik . >> did they seem to get along? >> absolutely. i think erik depended on lyle a lot. >> erik was quite introverted. >> ellen anderson was kitty's nephew. he spent a couple of summers with the menendez family and bonded with lyle. >> he was a mischievous boy to say the least. he liked to smile and laugh and giggle. he loved to laugh and giggle. >> what the brothers did most was practice, and practice, and practice. >> jose wanted his kids to be the best in sports. >> swimming, soccer, tennis. jose pushed his kids to excel at everything, as his own career skyrocketed. in the 70s, jose was the general manager at hertz and impressed his sons by bringing the company's famous spokesman, oj simpson, home to dinner. >> jose was living the american dream and he wanted his voice to compare and discontinue that american dream. >> in 1986, jose took a job with carol cope pictures in los angeles the company that produced basic instinct and the rambo series. carol cole had just bought a video distribution company from a man named noah bloom. they gave jose the job of running it. >> 1989 will be a tremendous year. will be popular as a company. >> that was the year when robert ran and went to las vegas to cover a tradeshow for the home video business. he happened to meet jose menendez. what was your impression? >> talked to him and he seemed professional and dynamic. >> a high-powered career, beautiful family, and finally, the one missing piece of jose's american dream, the perfect home. jose moved his family from calabasas to a more tony address. john was with her sister the day the realtor called kitty. >> they accepted jose's offer and kitty, you got your jet -- z.i.p. code. that made her so happy. >> 90210. >> absolutely. >> 722 north elm drive, a six bedroom mediterranean-style home swimming pool, guesthouse, tennis court. elton john once lived in this very house. so did the saudi prince, and even prince himself. by august 1989, jose had truly made it. now to ensure his sons did too. by then lyle was a student at winston. younger brother was going to ucla in the fall, so perfect. so, why did diane feel this way? >> i know this sounds crazy, but unless i am crazy, somebody who is really close to me is going to die and it's going to be horrible. >> horrible? that it certainly was. coming up, something chilling in the den. >> the first thing i noticed was jose menendez seated on the couch. it was grotesque what happened. >> questions from the very beginning. >> we didn't see any shotgun shells. somebody collected the shotgun shells. somebody that didn't want to fingerprints on the shotgun shells. >> when dateline continues. af than tylenol rapid release gels because advil targets pain at the source of inflammation. so for faster pain relief, advil the pain away. 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>> somebody that didn't want fingerprints on the shotgun shells pick. >> lyle menendez, then 21, and erik, 18 , went to the station to speak to police. >> they said they were in and out throughout the day and as evening approached, they decided they wanted to go to the movies. they wanted to see a james bond movie, but it was sold out, so they saw the batman movie, which they had both seen before. they decided to see that again. >> curious. after the movie they told the detectives they planned to meet a friend for a drink at the cheesecake factory. they had to go back to the house to pick up erik's fake i.d. when they walked in, they saw a haze in the air. smelled gunpowder , went into the den, and then dialed 911. >> someone called my parents. >> the news spread quickly. >> i got a phone call from my brother, and i remember putting the phone down on the table and walking around the house screaming. >> robert ran's phone also rang. it was a friend who attended the las vegas tradeshow 10 days earlier. >> do remember that guy jose menendez? the guy you met briefly last week? and i said, sure. and he said, he and his wife were blown away last night in beverly hills. >> now, that, thought rand, was a story tailor-made for the miami community he was writing for. a rags to riches story captive by murder. he worked the phones and met up with jose's sister, who told him. >> the family was so close, loving, they did everything together. you have to interview erik and lyle. i said, of course. >> as you would find, getting to the brothers was not so easy, but then they just lost their parents. >> lyle and erik were the grieving sons. >> ellen abraham is a journalism professor at usc back in 1989 he was a reporter for the l.a. times. >> nobody quite knew who had killed the parents. was it because of jose's position in business or had he been taken up by the mob? >> after all, both hose and kitty had been shot in the knees, a mafia signature, perhaps? but then there was the company he was running. live entertainment distributed all kinds of movies including children's movies. but it got its start in . >> a lot of pornography is organized crime back. it's a great way to make money. an industry that is not very well regarded. >> and there was actually a homicide in the valley a few weeks before they were murdered and jose mentioned to his sons, this is what happens. this guy was in the pornography business, and he was murdered. >> plus, jose was not to be aggressive when it came to business. and investigators found two rifles in his bedroom. was jose worried someone might come after him? could lyle and erik be next? the brothers hired bodyguards and in an interview, erik menendez voiced his suspicion. >> noel bloom sounds like the most logical possibility. >> noel bloom, founder of the company jose was running. and an unapologetic distributor of adult entertainment. them in his voice were not alone in their suspicion about noel bloom . coming up, rivals at the office. was that a motive for murder? you didn't kill jose menendez? >> absolutely not. >> noel bloom speaks then and now. >> were you waiting for somebody to call you to be taken and put in handcuffs? >> yes. >> when dateline continues. lin but torque gets you going. ♪ ♪ [ engine revving ] oh now we're torquin'! the dodge hornet r/t. the totally torqued-out crossover. when i was diagnosed with h-i-v, i didn't know who i would be. but here i am... being me. keep being you... and ask your healthcare provider about the number one prescribed h-i-v treatment, biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in many people whether you're 18 or 80. with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to undetectable—and stay there whether you're just starting or replacing your current treatment. research shows that taking h-i-v treatment as prescribed and getting to and staying undetectable prevents transmitting h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. if you have hepatitis b do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your healthcare provider. common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. no matter where life takes you, biktarvy can go with you. talk to your healthcare provider today. 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[theme music] [dramatic music] kitty menendez shot this home video in august 1989, kitty menendez shot this home video in august 1989 capturing images of what looked like a happy family. 12 days later, kitty and her husband's murders were front- page news. >> it was a big story because it happened in beverly hills california. >> the big story became a big problem for carol coe pictures. >> the company was getting beat up in the media because all the media stories were, this was a mafia hit. somehow related to shady dealings. >> carol coe hired a publicist to help calm the media storm. sylvester stallone spoke warmly of jose. >> he was a true cornerstone of the company, which i love. >> jose's memorial service was held at the directors guild of america headquarters on sunset boulevard. all of which might have led people to believe he was a beloved hollywood insider. the reality was, jose menendez was really not known in the hollywood community at all, and most of the people at this memorial trouble he had never heard of him. lyle and erik arrived late to the service in a chauffeured limousine. basement the night before in the ultra chic hotel bel air. >> how did they behave when they were there? >> lyle menendez was very cool, calm and collected. >> katie's sister was at the memorial too and heard something disturbing about jose. >> several men that worked with jose talked to me at that memorial service and told me how he loved to humiliate other men. >> pretty shocking to hear a somebodies memorial service. >> yeah. not very memorial. >> so, jose made enemies. the brothers confirmed it and knew where to point the finger. they indicated that their father was involved in some shady business contacts and one in particular was a gentleman by the name of noel bloom. >> that name again. noel bloom had founded the company that became known as live entertainment, and then wound up working uncomfortably with jose. >> they bicker about a lot of things. >> mostly because of the pornography. jose didn't like that at all. >> did it seem to you that there was a motive? >> possible. >> we found this tape of bloom deep in the nbc archives. >> you didn't kill jose menendez? >> absolutely night. >> wondered what he had to say all these years later. what are you doing with yourself now? >> i'm retired. force retirement. >> but your resume? your resume a special. >> yeah, it can scare people. >> noel bloom, known as a kingpin in the pornography trade with alleged tides to east coast mobsters. >> people had a perception that people in the adult business or in organized crime, which is not true. at least i wasn't. >> were some of the people you were associated with numbers? >> a couple in new york that i believe were. >> in the 1970s, he was one of the biggest pornography producers in the country, that he made an unlikely turn. distributing children's programming, care bears, for example. along the way, you encountered this guy jose menendez. >> unfortunately. >> what was he like? >> jose can be very sweet, smile at you, even charming. but, he was very ruthless. he would scream at people. if he fired somebody, you would hear him laughing like it was a big joke. >> jose fight with his own family too, said noel bloom. spoke >> she would go to his office and yell and scream and holler. really loud. >> they would argue a lot? >> yeah, and i think a lot of it was about the kids. >> what was your impression of them? >> they were quiet. they were friendly but a bit troubled. i know they were afraid of him. >> afraid of their father, jose. >> i saw him just stare them down a couple of times. >> after jose was murdered, lyle and erik seemed to be afraid of noel bloom. they told police they thought bloom may have killed their parents and might want to kill them, too. bloom had been arrested before