Capturing the Friedmans Page #3

like we were supposed to,

we went back the other way.

And that was the moment when

there was this whole new sense

that the problem was

much worse than I

originally thought.

The investigation didn't

end at that point.

That really was the arrest

and the search of the house.

And then we went on, because we

had literally, at that point

dozens more interviews to do.

Somewhere along the way, I think

it was the Nassau County cops,

they showed me this magazine,

and they said,

"You see?

Look at this magazine."

And they showed me the magazine.

They were embarrassed

to show it to me

because of what

the pictures were.

And you know, I didn't see it.

My eyes were in

the right direction,

but my brain saw nothing.

Because when it was all over,

the lawyer showed me

the magazine, and then I saw it.

For the first time,

I really saw it.

I couldn't believe what I saw.

I mean, I had no concept

that this

thing even exists in the world,

that this magazine would

even be in the world.

I mean, we had

a middle-class home, educated.

I had a good family, right?

Where did this come from?

Mr. and Mrs. Friedman's house

on this most beautiful

Thanksgiving dinner.

For my daughter,

for my son-in-law,

and for my 3 grandsons.

I'm thankful that both my

brothers are home, and

I'm most thankful

to my husband, to Arnie.

Anything you want

to say, Mr. Friedman?

Are you guilty?

Did you do all they say you did?

No comment.

I was the first to visit

my brother in prison.

And that was a moment in

my life I'll never forget.

He came into the room.

I was sitting at this

table, a lot of tables,

and they were crowded.

Just awful surroundings.

And he didn't have

his glasses on.

Without his glasses,

he was blind as a bat.

They'd taken them off and

broken them, stepped on them.

He had a smell of urine.

They were throwing urine at him.

They were threatening to

throw him down the stairs.

They knew what

he was in there for.

It was all over the media.

And he was half-blind and

hadn't shaved in two days

and shivering and cold

and scared out of his wits.

The first words out

of his mouth were,

"Howie, they're gonna kill me.

Get me out of here."

The People versus Arnold

Friedman and Jesse Friedman.

Indictment 67430.

Step up, please.

So began the very first time

cameras were permitted

in a Nassau County courtroom.

Fifty-six-year-old

Arnold Friedman

and his 18-year-old son Jesse

heard the court clerk read off

a 91-count indictment

charging them with

sodomy and sexual abuse.

Arnold Friedman, how do you

plead to this indictment?

Guilty or not guilty?

Not guilty.

And Jesse Friedman, how do you

plead to this indictment?

Not guilty.

My brother and Jesse kept

saying they're innocent.

"This is trumped up charges."

And they got

a McMartin's, you know?

They somehow got one kid to,

they got the police to be

able to convince the kids,

"Well, all of your friends

said something happened."

Didn't something happen?

Something must have happened,"

et cetera, et cetera.

And they were convinced.

They kept saying

they were innocent.

And I just kept thinking,

"I have to believe them."

It's very hard for people to

accept him as a pedophile.

Arnold Friedman was

an award-winning teacher.

All over the house were plaques

and newspaper articles

written about him.

He had been given an award,

"Computer Teacher of the Year."

He also taught piano.

David plays beautifully.

And his father taught him

how to play the piano.

It was when he died

that I realized

how much of an impact

he had on my life.

Take a bow.

He was very supportive of my

magic when I was a kid.

When I was about 6, my father

took me to a magic show.

And it's probably

my earliest memory.

You know when your son goes

to college and you say,

"Go to college," and

"What are you going to be?

"Be a doctor. Be a lawyer."

I tried to make him into

a doctor or a lawyer.

You know, my mom would

always say, you know,

"Get a job. Get a job."

But my dad would say to me,

"You know, David,"

I can't tell you what to do,

because you know what I did

"when I got out of college."

He blew off his chemical

engineering degree,

which he could have worked

for an oil company

and made tons of money.

Instead, he played

in the mountains,

which is a total blow-off,

follow your dream,

artistic thing.

And I totally love him for that.

Trust your children to somebody

who was a schoolteacher

for over 20, 30 years,

a member of your community.

All you heard were accolades

about this person,

and now all of a sudden,

he's a monster.

And things that were being said,

you know, upset the community,

because you don't

expect that here.

Great Neck is a peninsula.

It's a very insulated community.

This was a certain kind of

person that lived in Great Neck.

It's on the North Shore

of Long Island,

which is usually a

predominately wealthy area.

These are wealthy,

professional people

that have garnered a great deal

of income in their lives,

and they live accordingly.

Nice community.

Tight.

Affluent.

Well-kept homes.

They get dressed up

to go shopping.

They want to be sure

they get seen by

the people they want to see,

and cars are important,

clothes are important.

There's a lot of

competition in Great Neck.

Everybody's kid's

a genius and the best,

and everybody's the best

in this and that,

and you just want your

kid to be happy

and to get an array

of experiences.

And this computer class was

one of those experiences.

You thought

you were doing right.

Most of the children

started out explaining

how Mr. Friedman would try

to test them, I think,

in my opinion, as to whether

they'd be receptive

to some of his advances.

There'd be certain showings

on the computer

during computer class

of certain material

that was inappropriate

for children.

If you were going to be

the first one abused

on a particular day,

he would pull up a chair

and sit next to you.

Maybe it would start with his

arm around your shoulder

or on your leg and

gradually move it up,

touching private parts.

And then over the course of time

we developed a situation

where we found out that there

was not only sexual touching

of the genitals, but there

were acts of sodomy,

oral and anal sodomy,

that took place during

the course of the class.

So were the kids abused

in the computer room

in view of everyone else?

From what I saw in my sessions,

none were raped

out on the floor.

The kids were raped in Jesse's

room or the bathroom.

Just to change the subject

for a second,

there were these sexual

computer games

that were discussed during

the course of the case.

We'd basically do

the games where

there would be naked girls

and everything

in the computer class.

But I remember one time I

slipped one of the games out,

and I brought it home

and everything,

and I copied it,

and Arnold found out.

Because of that, I was raped

by him and Jesse at the same

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