Capturing the Friedmans Page #8

I don't want to be on tape.

Why are you so

When we stop talking to her

She doesn't want

She doesn't want any record,

any record at all

As if they were

Can you believe these kids,

that they have to persecute me?

David, if your mother

doesn't want to be filmed

don't film her.

- OK.

- Come on.

When it was all over,

they said it was all my fault

because I wanted them

to take a plea and

it had been arranged before.

Arnold agreed to take a plea

but they were very hurt.

I'm still here.

Yeah.

I may not be here

very much longer

but I'm still here.

That's disturbed.

The sentence:
10 to 30 years.

The crime:

Sodomizing young boys.

Defendant Arnold Friedman

had pleaded guilty

to sexually abusing

more than a dozen youngsters,

but this does not end

the Friedman case.

There are still numerous sodomy

and sex abuse charges

pending against Arnold's son,

Jesse Friedman.

I mean we could try this case

in the media.

Who's gonna, who's gonna buy

that I sodomized boys?

Yeah, I agree with you.

I agree with you.

No, I really

Well, I don't think

we have to try

well, all I want to do

We didn't make a deal

with Arnold Friedman

to spare his son.

So his son is facing

a multiple count indictment

he's facing a considerable

amount of jail time

and now he's confronted

with a situation

where Long Island knows

that his father admitted

his guilt

and there's a reasonable

human expectation

of some people that, you know

where there's smoke,

there's fire.

And if he did it,

maybe his son did it.

We know he was in the same class

and he was helping his father.

So I think that

was a difficult thing

for Jesse to have to overcome.

I always believed Jesse.

How could this possibly

go on for 4 years

children repeatedly sodomized

and sexually abused

with brutality

if you believe the police.

And then their parents come

to pick them up

right after computer class

and not one kid is crying

not one kid tells

his mother or father

what happened in class

not one kid says anything?

I find that so incredible

that Jesse's story

that nothing happened

to me was more believable

than the police version

of these horrific acts.

Jesse and I went

we flew in August of 1988

all the way

to Madison, Wisconsin

where we rented a car

and drove 90 miles

to some town that I couldn't

possibly give you the name of

to a federal prison.

Who knew more about this case

then Arnold Friedman?

He knew more about

it than Jesse.

I had to wait 40 minutes

because Arnie was either

playing tennis or golf

I don't remember what it was.

I was outraged.

It was a visiting room.

Jesse was out in the waiting

room at this point

and this man had this little boy

in there who was his son

or his stepson, I don't know

but the child was about

4 or 5 years old

and they were in the table

right next to us.

And I was interviewing Arnie

and all of a sudden

he leaned over and asked me

if I could ask

the corrections officer

or whoever was in charge

in the room

if we could get another table.

And I asked him why, and he said

"That little boy over there

bouncing on his father's lap

is getting me very excited."

It took me about 15 minutes

to regain my composure.

I remember that

like it was yesterday.

I was shocked

'cause even though I was

involved in the case now

for two months

and even though

I had studied pedophilia

and I knew what these men

did to little boys

I had never heard somebody

actually say it.

And I was absolutely disgusted.

We did change our table

and I spoke to Arnie.

I interviewed him

for a very long time.

He was telling me

that the only reason

he pled guilty and went to jail

was because he wanted

to save his son, Jesse.

He told me that he was

a pedophile.

He told me that he had

had activity with boys

but not in Great Neck.

He told me that he had a house

in Wading River

a beach resort

and that the family

enjoyed vacations there.

And he told me that

there were certain boys

he took liberties with

and I don't want to go into it

while he was in that area.

"In my early 40s,

during the summer"

I did go 'over the line'

and did have sexually arousing

contact with two boys

short of sodomy.

One of the boys was the son

of a close friend

and I feared exposure

and loss of this friendship.

The boy might have

told his parents

but they said nothing

"so I assumed that

he really had not told them."

That's what? It's one sentence.

What does that mean?

Do you f***ing know

what that sentence means?

I don't even f***ing know

what that sentence means.

I "sexually aroused?"

What the f***

is he talking about?

Maybe he put his arm

around the kid.

Maybe he took him in a sailboat

and he found that

sexually arousing?

Maybe he was leaning

against a tree.

That's called

sexually arousing contact

if you're sexually aroused

while you lean against a tree.

I don't know what that means.

I don't know

what that sentence means.

When Arnold was first arrested,

he said

"I'm arrested because

of this magazine."

I sent one magazine in the mail

and that's why I'm arrested,

and it's nothing.

It's just nothing.

It doesn't count,

it doesn't matter

"it's nothing."

And you know, you live

as husband and wife

you share certain intimacies.

I said to him,

"Tell me the truth.

What happened?"

He says, "That's it.

That's the truth."

So it came out that he had

in fact molested a young man.

And we were sitting

in the therapist's office

and he said,

"Oh, I just molested two boys."

And I said, "Two? Two?"

I said, "I thought

you told me only one."

"Well," you know, and he

"It didn't matter.

It's nothing," you know.

And then I went berserk.

And I felt betrayed.

Yeah, my father

had the magazines

and yes, my father admitted

that he was a pedophile

and had these fantasies

and yes, my father admitted

that he was no saint

and that there were times

that he slipped

but I was arrested, too

and I'm not a child molester.

And I don't think

it's appropriate

for me to have to answer

for the sins of my father.

This is what I walk around with.

It's just, every day.

It's just ridiculous.

All I think about is the case

and my career

and they're completely,

it's like oil and water.

With the case,

it's a question of research.

My brother's been in

the law library

researching his current plan

and I'm supposed to go out

and make people laugh.

It's unbelievably difficult

to deal with the case

and then go out

and entertain people.

Hey!

Hi, everyone!

We carefully investigated

this case for trial.

Really get into the case,

examine, investigate

and try to build a defense.

While I was out on bail

I put all the charges

into a database

so that they could be

sorted by complainant

by time period,

by nature of charge.

For example,

there was one complainant

10-year-old boy

says he came to class

in the spring of 1986

and during this 10-week session

where he was only over my house

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