Transcripts For WPVI Nightline 20150219 : vimarsana.com

I kissed her, she kissed me like the fellow once said aint that a kick in the head welcome to the most social car weve ever designed. The allnew nissan morano. Nissan. Innovation that excites. Number one in just 60 seconds. Thank you, cable for the slower internet upload speeds. For making me wait longer to share my photo albums. Thank you cable, because if we never had you. We wouldnt know the incredible difference verizon fios makes. In Customer Satisfaction studies, fios is rated 1 in Internet Speed and reliability 8 years running. Plus, fios has the fastest wifi available from any provider. For a limited time, get a fios triple play online at an amazing 79. 99 a month guaranteed for two years. Plus, a 400 bonus with a twoyear agreement hurry, deal ends february 21st. Call the Verizon Center for customers with disabilities at 800. 974. 6006 tty v good evening. Weve all heard the expression, dont do the crime if you cant do the time. The man youre about to meet is serving 55 years for selling weed while carrying a gun. Hed be doing less time if he were a murderer or a terrorist. Hes in this position because of a law that credit ins say is wasting lives and your tax dollars. Heres my nightline coanchor byron pitt. Reporter treasured old photos spread across a kitchen table. A family taking me on a trip down memory lane. Thats like one of those leave it to beaver shots. Reporter here in the angelo house, pain and anger amidst laughter. What are some of those things . That you wish you could have done with your father . Played basketball together. Could have been here for my 16th birthday. Reporter 17yearold jesse and 18yearold anthony have been havent seen their father in seven years. Their dad is in federal prison two states away. Bitter because of that . Sad, angry . Some of all the above . Mostly sad. And then anger after. Sad because theres nothing i could do about it. Angry that they shouldnt have done that to him. Its okay. Reporter today marks a bitter anniversary. 11 years to the day since their father Weldon Angelos, was sent to prison for 55 years. His crime, carrying a gun and selling 24 ounces of pot. What do you think of the law that sent your brother away for 55 years . I dont think it makes any sense. Its like pennies worth of marijuana. How could somebody be doing life for that . Reporter since congress created mandatory minimum sentences for drugrelated cripes in the 1980s the federal prison population has quadrupled in size. From 58,000 prisoners to over 210,000. Many, like Weldon Angelos, serving decades or more for nonviolent offenses. Salt lake city, 2002. Weldon angelos was a 22yearold aspiring music producer and father of two young boys. He founded his own recording company, eventually collaborating with big names like snoop dogg. Angelos also got involved with selling pot. The Police Caught wind. They set up three stings buying about 1,000 worth of marijuana from angelos. During the deals police say angelos had a gun in his possession. The critical detail that made this case so extreme. The case went to federal court. Angelos was convicted. Mindless is a good word. Reporter under the law, judge paul cassell was forced to do something that burdens him still. Do you think about him . I do think about angelos. I drive on the interstate by the prisoner what hes held. I think, that wasnt the right thing to do and the system forced me to do it. Reporter under federal mandatory minimum sentencing laws angelos was facing 55 years for the gun and marijuana charges combined. He was a firsttime offender. Mandatory minimum is a sentence that says the judge has to impose a particular minimum number of years. It ties the judges hands. It was designed during the reagan administrations war on drugs to send a message, right, to drug dealers this wont be tolerated. So mandatory minimums can be used to send a message. But at some point the message gets lost. Reporter paul cassell has since retired from the bench to teach law but says the angelos case weighs on him. The reason he agreed to speak about his ruling, something federal judges almost never do if he had been an aircraft hijacker he would have gotten 24 years in prison. If hed been a terrorist, he would have gotten 20 years in prison. If he was a child rapist, he would have gotten 11 years in prison. Im supposed to give him a 55year sentence . Thats just not right. What does the angelos case and others say about minimum sentencing laws in the kun re . We need to change them. Most of the time our criminal Justice System works well but there are cases it fails and the angelos case is a prime example. Reporter appointed to the bench by george w. Bush cassell believes angelos isnt the only one paying a high and unreasonable cost for these laws. I thought the sentence wasnt just unjust to angelos but unjust to the taxpayers. Reporter it costs 29,000 to keep one person in federal prison per year. Angelos bill after 55 years will be 1. 5 million. The price his family will pay untold. Just ask his sister lisa. Its hard. I just keep telling him, were going to keep fighting we wont stop at anything. Reporter shes made good on that running petitions, filing appeals, testifying before congress. But lisa knows only an order from president obama can help set her brother free. Right now our only hope that we have is a commutation from president obama. Reporter in the angelos family theres hope. In waiting around for the phone to ring the weekly call from prison. This call is from weldon an gel lows, inmate at a federal prison. How are you doing today . Im doing okay. Reporter Weldon Angelos is 35 years old. I never thought in my lifetime this could actually happen. Especially in america. Reporter phone calls like these, his only link to his boys now nearly men themselves. Everyone weve talked to has said they feel like your sentence is outrageous. The judge called it a crime that youre there. How does that make you feel . Do you get frustrated angry . Its difficult to understand. I mean i feel my sentence was definitely unnecessary. And a 55year sentence is not going to do anything more than a five or tenyear sentence would have done. What parts of this experience have been hardest for you . Basically missing out on my sons lives. I was super close to my sons. Not being able to be with them as they grow just kind of hits me the hardest. Reporter beneath the teenage swagger we discover two sensitive sons. Wounded souls. Just watch as they watch this old family home movie. Give me a kiss right here. Kiss right here. Aww reporter the sound of their fathers voice both reassuring and heartwrenching. I notice both you guys perked up when you heard your dads voice. What are you thinking . Just being around them you can feel their heartache. Even through their laughter. Its really been hard for them. When he teared up, you teared up. Yeah. It was really hard to see that. I know how bad he hurts. And seeing what they have gone through by losing their father its just emotionally destroyed me. Reporter there are literally thousands of families in america like the angelos tonight. Mindful a price should be paid for breaking the law, but asking, pleading how high should that price be . For nightline, im byron pitts in salt lake city, utah. After that story, whats your view on mandatory minimums . Go to our Facebook Page and join the conversation. Coming up here on nightline, the secret this man says he learned about our taste buds that is howing him to make millions on pumpkin latte burgers. And later, why Kevin Costner believes hes about to hit yet another Hollywood Home run with mcfarland usa. When youve got somebody thats got your back. 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The back seat of my subaru is where she grew up. What . announcer the 2015 Subaru Forester girl what . announcer built to be there for your family. Love. Its what makes a subaru a subaru. Tonight, a little culinaried a ver tour. And it stars a guy who believes hes tapped into a secret of human craving. The reason some of our Favorite Foods are so addictive. And hes using this knowledge to build a luxury burger empire. Heres abcs nick watt. Reporter i love hamburgers. So juicy reporter cannot get enough many they reserve them. And cheese soy sauce, truffles pizza, fried onions fried chicken. And im not alone, far from it. Millions of us are, i thought, inex inexplicable drawn to food like pringles. Why are we drawn . Umami, thats why, the wood behind a foodie phenomenon. A lot of the fine dining restaurants, food is packed with imami. Reporter its making this guy, adam fleishman, millions. Id like to think i know what imami is but i dont. Enlighten me . Sure. A lot of people think its theoretical or an idea about cooking. But it really is an actual thing. Reporter a mysterious, rich savory thing found in foods we crave most. Fleishman, former finance guy, onetime wine expert has built a burger empire on that taste called umami. You are selling how many burgers now . 1 million a week in burgers. How many restaurants . 25ish. I lost track. You lost track. Reporter armed with umami, japanese for delicious, fleishman has muscled his way into a crowded luxury burger market. Five guys five napkins. Hes in l. A. Vegas, chicago, and new york. The newest flash man umami experiment . Wow. Chicken and biscuits. Reporter a chocolate fried chicken. That must freak some people out. It freaks out a lot of people. We just tell them to come in and try it. It works. Yeah. Thats good. You started out with a sort of rabbit hole geek interest in umami. Yes. Then looked for a delivery vehicle . Correct. And my first idea was pizza. But pizza required special ovens and training. So i started working with burgers. Reporter turns out the burger might be the perfect delivery vehicle for umamipacked foods. Parmesan cheese, onions, mushroom, ketchup, and a secret umami dust. Rumor has it there are driedup fish heads in there, which i love. From here hes gone serious offpiece creative. We wanted to create a burger that tasted like Pumpkin Spice lay day but also stood on its own as a burger. Reporter what exactly is umami and why do we crave it . Human breast milk has eight times more glchlt lutemates delivering umami than cows milk. From infancy, our first meal were getting a rich umami taste we carry the rest of our lives. Reporter recently recognized by western science as the taste results of fit and sour discovered in 1908 by a japanese chemist, whose achievement was immortalized by a company he founded. That night my husband began his quest for the taste. Reporter he figured out umami is a natural amino acid glchlt lutemate that makes savory foods so delicious and found a way to massproduce it in a lab. He called his creation msg. Yep. The very same msg youve been conditioned to fear based on that theory that msgladen chinese food gives you headaches, dizziness, fatigue. That Chinese Restaurant syndrome thing has been debunked among the regulatory and scientific community. Reporter the majority of studies, many sponsored that use it, show msg is safe and only a tiny percentage of the population has sensitivity to large servings. Bottom line, msg is fda approved. The company puts it in everything from doritos, stovetop stuffing campbells soup. Why . We are genetically programmed to be umami cravers. That triggers our brains that this is a food that is going to deliver the necessary protein that we need to sustain the function of our bodies. Reporter back to those burgers. Would you ever use msg . Ive never used it in a restaurant. I would use it at home in something. I dont have anything against it. But i dont use it. To me its not creative. Reporter creative like pumpkin latte burgers. Thats amazing. Yep. Reporter ive eaten a lot of umami making this report. This is our manly burger which is . Smoked onion strings, bacon lardons, housemade cheese we put were in. Reporter the taste is ethereal. Bacon, lardons, those are magic words in my book. Im nick watt for nightline in los angeles. Up next here on nightline, we go one on one with Kevin Costner whos got a new sports movie called mcfarland usa that he hopes will become as iconic as field of dreams. The bold nissan rogue, with intuitive allwheel drive. Because winter needs a hero. Now get 0 financing or up to 1,000 back on the 2015 nissan rogue. Nissan. Innovation that excites. Ive been drivin a lincoln since long before anybody paid me to drive one. I didnt do it to be cool. I didnt do it to make a statement. I just liked it. Lease an mkc for 349 a month plus competitive owners and lessees get 1000 bonus cash only at your lincoln dealer. Most weekends only last a couple of days. Some last a lifetime. Hampton. We go together. Finally tonight, Kevin Costner has starred in some of the most indelible sports movies of all time including field of dreams and bull durham. Can he do it again . Heres my nightline coanchor juju chang. Its more than that. Its perfect. Reporter sports as metaphor for life is hardly new to Kevin Costner who made ladies swoon and men aspire to be better men in field of deeps. Dreams. As veteran catcher crouch davis he beats the rookie and wins the girl in bull durham. I believe in long deep slow, soft kisses that last three days. When you look back on any of your sports manufacture ease what stays with you, what resonates . Yous. If you do a picture right it can live forever. Run a lap. Reporter which is exactly what hes hoping will happen to mcfarland usa. You want another one . Reporter costner is no longer the jock hes the gracefully aging down on his luck coach. We have kids who seem like they can run forever. They carb load on rice and beams. They go to school all day, some of them run home. Ive seen it. Reporter mcfarland usa, based on the true story of jim white, a new to town coach who sees athletic potential in the latino kids of this poor california farming town. Youve croached Cross Country . No. Track . No. Theres something in our psyche that doesnt like when somebody says we cant do something. Theres something specific about america, yes we can, ill show sdplu. Reporter nearly all the kids in this immigrant town work in the fields to help their families get by. Hes the underdog coach leading the ultimate underdog team. Lets hit it again. Theres that stark scene where the coach has them climb the almond pile. Yeah. They pick these almonds. We just eat them. The resourceful nature that an underdog figures out how im going to train to compete. We dont have the big gym. We dont have the facility. Who how do you outthink it . Reporter coach white teaches them to believe in themselves and their 10 yast. Quietly shedding light on the backbreaking work of field labor. When you understand that thats not your life you also understand a little bit how lucky you are. Reporter for many of the actors seeing a latinoinspired storyline on the Silver Screen is a watershed moment. What were doing now, its going to impact hopefully so many kids to really reach their dream. Reporter several of the young actors lived the hardships of their onscreen characters. I was in the morning i would get up go to work get off of school go back to work, then go to Cross Country practice. What do you want people to know know . Its about school. Reporter costners character as to have love father figure on screen and just as involved offscreen in the children. Im interested in their lives. This is the first film theyre going to see with me walk on the red carpet. Reporter in real life coach white turned mac far Hand High School into a Cross Country dynasty, winning nine state championships. Of those original runners all seven went to college. Jim white represents that fabric of coach that alters lives. Kids have the biggest hearts ive seen. Reporter 28 years later, seeing his life depicted on the big screen is a humbling reward for the real coach at the center of it all. God its real. Youve seen this film four times and you cry each time . Yes, maam. Because it touches our heart. And with the right attitude you can overcome. Uno, dos, tres mcfarland occasionally you get to make a movie about something that can give you goosebumps. Its the simpleness of how one human being talks to another being to somehow build them up. Reporter im juju chang for nightline in hollywood. And mcfarland usa will be in theaters february 20th coming from our parent company, disney. Thank you for watching nightline tonight. Tune into gma first thing in the morning. As always were online 24 7 at abcnews. Com. Good night. [dramatic music] yeah hey huh . [cheers and applause] im terry crews, and i cant wait to give somebody that Million Dollars today here on millionaire. [cheers and applause] our returning contestant just wants to be a dad but needs to win some money today to help make that happen. Lets get him some diaper dollars. From oakland, california please welcome jose ruiz [cheers and applause] whats up . Whats up . All right. Right on. How you doing, man . Im good. Im good. Feeling good. So you want the money to start a family . Yeah, my wife and i we are in the middle of doing adoption we want to adopt a child. This money would be the Kickstarter Campaign to get that going so we can bring a child bring the child into a loving, caring, fostering home you know . Yes, yes. Its gonna be good. Oh, man, you look like a great dad. Oh, thank you. Youre a great dad already. I know that. I can tell. I know that. I can tell. I see one when i see it, you know what i mean, i know it. So here we go. Just to recap, you are still working your way through round one. You have banked 28,000, and are nine questions away