All language subtitles for How.It.Really.Happened.S05E05_English

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Hey, everyone. Welcome to
"How It Really Happened."

I'm Hill Harper.

After a wildly successful
30-year stint on the Vegas strip

with their iconic
brand of magic --

making elephants, lions,
and tigers disappear

into thin air --
master illusionists

Siegfried and Roy's
world-renowned performances

came to an abrupt end.

Montecore, one of their
famous white tigers,

grabbed Roy Horn by the neck

and dragged him off-stage
in front of the live audience.

From that moment on,
Siegfried and Roy

consistently
presented one version

of what happened that night.

But some people are questioning
the magicians' story.

Tonight, we will hear
from eye-witnesses,

investigative journalists,
big-cat experts,

about the shocking
tiger attack onstage

at the MGM Mirage
October 3, 2003.

Here's how it really happened.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Cheers and applause ]

Jillette: I was always
terrified by their act.

We would go see the
Siegfried and Roy show.

Those animals in that close
a proximity to humans --

terrifying.

Terrifying.

They were kings of
the Las Vegas Strip.

They werethe
of Las Vegas.

Siegfried and Roy were really
spectacular at what they did.

[ Woman laughs ]

They were sort of bigger
than life in so many ways.

I mean, I think everyone knew
that they had a show

that had white tigers
and white lions,

and that made them unique.

We started with a breeding
program about 10 years ago.

Then, today, we can proudly say

we have 27 white tigers
and five snow white tigers.

[ Cubs mewing ]

Animals that don't exist
in the wild.

I mean, weird hybrids,
you know?

Crazy white tigers,
white lions.

I mean, white,
white, white, white,

[Laughs] in every way.

Salmoni: Every night,
they've got humongous,

full-grown lions
and tigers onstage,

with a live audience,
with no barrier between,

and you cannot prepare for all
of the worst-case scenarios.

Smith: They were entertainers.

They were flamboyant.

They were real hams
with the audience,

and the audience
really ate that up.

They just -- They loved it.

They're kind of analogous
to the rolling stones --

you know, big spectacle
and big bombast and big

"Look at me onstage."

Tapert: They would always,
at the end, have this tag line

about following your dreams,
and it was very emotional.

It was very empowering.

You could see why people
would come there.

They were like
magical evangelists.

Since opening at Mirage
in 1990,

they have sold out at a rate
of 104% capacity for every show.

That's at $90 a seat.

For eight straight years,

they've drawn
15,000 people a week,

700,000 a year --
have been seen

by over 30 million people
live in Las Vegas.

Their gross receipts
over the last nine years --

more than a half-billion
dollars.

How do you -- How do you
explain it to yourselves?

It's unexplainable,
really.

I mean, that sounds
wonderful.

I feel we are only as good
as our last show.

Burns: They made the animals
in the show look really scary

and have that element
of fear kind of built in.

Then they're taunting them --

making them, you know,
reach out of the cage

and try to get
the performers.

[ Cheers and applause ]

Bennett: It's sort of like
Broadway on steroids

with tigers and lions,

and that made it spectacular.

Roy was doing stuff that I found
tremendously dangerous,

and he was making it
look like it wasn't.

That's what attracts me,
is that eventual --

is that danger.

We have underlying danger
all the time.

But if you understand
and if you start learning it,

you don't need any of that.

You can make him do whatever
you want him to do,

but then there
are characteristics

where you can
never change --

You want them
to be tigers.

I want them to be tigers.

[ Tiger growling ]

De Laurentiis: Those lions
and tigers were big. [ Laughs ]

I mean, they weren't
little babies.

They were big guys.

And they were so beautiful.

You know, being that close
without being behind a wall

was really amazing.

The physical size of them --
how Siegfried and Roy

treated the lions
or treated the tigers

and, you know, what they
made them do very easily.

I never felt that things weren't
completely under control

and that there was
a mutual respect

between the animals and him.

Now, is that naive
on my part?

[ Tiger growls ]
Probably.

Do you have any fear
of your animals, Siegfried?

-No, I--
-You have to have respect.

I have respect.
That's all.

But they're used to it,
you know?

-Not worried that anything --
-Well, you can do no mistakes.

You know, you can make
no mistakes.

Have you been hurt?

So far, so good. No.

Burns: And it was all
very controlled.

Like, you could tell that

the performers knew
what they were doing.

You could tell the animals
had done this before,

and everyone had a good handle
on what was going on.

Until the bite.

Until the accident happened.

And then it was like
everything blew up.

[ Siren wailing ]

Moss: We're hearing
over the two-way

that he was in extremely
critical condition.

We were the first
live truck there.

Mic on.
Five, four, three, two, one.

People were kind of frantic.

Everybody was trying
to get the story.

Tonight, a lot more on the story
of the Vegas superstar

mauled by one
of his beloved tigers.

Our other top story
takes us to Las Vegas,

where entertainer
Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy

was badly mauled.

It's at the MGM Mirage.

King: Hundreds of people
watch in horror.

Roy is in critical condition.

He fights for his life tonight.

Jillette: When we found out
that Roy had been hurt,

I was very upset, and part
of what I was upset about was,

I was not entirely surprised.

Roy Horn might be dead.

"No, that's not possible."

It almost didn't sink in.

Burns: October 3, 2003.

We went to the
Siegfried & Roy show.

After the first
half of the show,

they put the curtains down,

and the lights came up
a little bit.

And Roy walks out with the tiger
to the front of the stage,

closer to where we were sitting,
and he said,

"This is my friend Montecore.

It's his first night
performing."

This is Montecore, and tonight
is his first appearance

in front of an audience.

[ Gasps ]

The audience, you know --
"Oh, his first time."

You know, they kind of get a
little chill when he says that.

Which of course,
we found out later,

he was there for maybe --
what, six years?

Montecore was special to Roy.

He'd raised him from birth.

This was a tiger that was
really close to Roy's heart.

I'll never forget --
he had a collar on

and a little leash
about this big,

and it just --
that was the first thing I said.

"Wow, he's got this little,

tiny leash
on this big, monster animal."

When you have a white tiger
walking on a leash this long

and you're only 140 pounds
and 60 years old,

that's just as good
as untethered.

There is nothing Roy Horn
could have done

if that tiger decided he wanted
to jump out into the crowd.

De Laurentiis: He walks out and
he gets about three-quarters

of the way down the runway.

Montecore, I guess, was supposed
to turn around and come back,

and he wouldn't move.

And his chain -- tugged on
the leash a little more,

and Montecore looked
at him funny.

But all of the sudden,
he grabbed his arm.

[ Sirens wailing ]

The tiger kind of turned
its head and bit him on the arm.

He could have taken Roy's
arm off without blinking,

but he looked like he was just
kind of holding on to it,

and Roy didn't like that at all.

Roy started taking
the microphone --

just started whamping
the tiger on the head.

At that point,
the tiger swatted at Roy.

You know, there was
a little bit of commotion

between him and the tiger.

They're both down
on the ground and he's --

and he's still holding him,

and he's still hitting
the tiger on the head.

Boom -- you could hear it
all over the audience.

Boom!

And in a blink,
his legs went like --

two or three times like that.

It was so fast, you couldn't
even see how fast

he jumped up and grabbed him.

Man: We just see him get --
He got attacked.

He was holding on to the tiger,
and the tiger just,

like, grabbed his leg,
knocked him down.

We thought it was part
of the show.

Then we just noticed him
pounding with his microphone

on the tiger, like, so hard.

Before you knew
what happened -- boom.

Right up into his neck
and shoulder area --

right here -- and just dragged
him offstage really quickly.

It was really scary.

De Laurentiis: When Montecore
grabbed him by the neck,

his feet went like this,

and -- boom --
he was, like, hanging.

And Montecore just slowly --
boom, boom.

Just like he maybe was walking
through the jungle or something.

Just walked right past us.

Man: The tiger just grabs him.

Like, just locks on him,
picks him up,

and just takes him
back of the stage.

Roy was completely limp.

He wasn't struggling
or screaming.

You didn't see any blood
on his shirt.

You didn't see anything
on the stage.

De Laurentiis:
Someone had opened the curtain,

and Montecore just calmly,
with Roy in his mouth,

walked behind the curtain.

When he went by, the look
on his face was a dead person.

Burns:: When Montecore carried
Roy offstage,

a couple stagehands or handlers
ran from the opposite stage side

and were chasing after him.

And I do remember seeing
some things on the stage,

and I think it was meat

to try to entice
the tiger back another way.

I don't think Montecore
was following the meat.

He was just on a mission
[Chuckles] to go somewhere.

He had him by the neck.

He could have just bit
his head off.

And he could have jumped in
the audience, for that matter,

but I don't think anybody
thought about that part of it.

Maybe a minute or two later,

I think they hit him
with a fire extinguisher,

and that's when Montecore
let Roy go.

And then, the sound...

of him moaning was
the scariest part,

'cause you could tell that
he was hurt behind the curtain.

It was like a moan of death,
somebody dying.

You don't want to hear that
in your life either.

Burns: And finally, someone said
over the loudspeaker,

"The show is over.

This is how you get your money
back for your tickets.

Sorry. Have a good night."

♪♪

Moss: We moved our
live shot to UMC,

which is our biggest ER center.

Take a look behind me.

Family and friends
are already out here.

People were already out there.

We could see Siegfried,
through the emergency doors,

pacing back and forth.

They came out several times
to update us.

The injury was to the left side
of his neck.

They treated him
for massive blood loss.

He was admitted immediately

and went into surgery
almost immediately.

It's certainly a somber scene
out here in Vegas.

We're told the surgery
went well.

The Mirage says all their shows
will be cancelled

until further notice,

and that tiger
is being quarantined.

It was traumatic because
nobody knew

what the ultimate
conclusion was gonna be.

Was he gonna make it?

There were already dozens --

and within another hour,
hundreds of people outside

holding a candlelight vigil
just spontaneously.

No one had organized it.

It was just fans
that were worried.

That was how big they were
in the Las Vegas community.

We saw Penn outside.

He's hard to miss --
very tall man.

Obviously distraught
over the situation,

and it was
a very emotional sight

to see that many people holding
candles outside a hospital.

I arrived over at the hospital,

and Bernie Yuman,
their manager --

he said that he felt emotionally
unable to speak to the press,

and Siegfried was unable
to speak to the press.

Bernie asked if I would go down
and speak to the TV cameras.

It's really not good.

I mean, I'm sure there's hope.

I mean, when I talked
to Siegfried last night,

he said, you know,
it was going to be okay.

You have no idea
what that means.

It means a friend that
he's loved dearly

and worked with
for 28 years is --

his heart's still beating,
and there's still hope.

The latest I've heard is,
you know, critical but stable,

and he is reacting to doctors.

Moss: It took at least 48 hours

before we got any specifics
on the surgeries.

We found out that there was a
craniectomy that was performed.

It's not every day that you hear
about surgery that sounds

almost like something, you know,
out of science fiction.

They took off part of his skull

so his brain swelling could
increase and then decrease.

And while it was off,

they put the part of the skull
into his abdomen so --

to keep it viable until
they were able to replace it

and put it back,
you know --

back as part of his skull
so that he could heal.

We had also heard from a doctor
that, at one point,

they thought
they had lost Roy.

[ Sirens wailing ]

King: Tonight --
exclusive --

master illusionist
Siegfried Fischbacher

and Siegfried & Roy's
longtime manager, Bernie Yuman.

What's the latest, Siegfried,
on Roy's condition?

Well, I just left Roy
two hours ago.

He responded excellent.

The doctors say it's magic,
what's happening,

and I'm very grateful.

It's only four days ago.

What is his condition?

His condition is stable.

He's critical, and I don't
think there's any way

that you can really
give a long-term prognosis.

Was there ever a time,
Siegfried,

you thought you lost him?

Yes and no.

Really not, because
I know Roy, you know?

And I always say -- [Laughs]
for all these years,

I always say I'm the magician,
and he's the magic.

Moss: The concentration,
of course, in the news was,

"Is this man going to survive?"

And when we knew that it was
a matter of rehabilitation,

we had started to hear that,

possibly, the tiger was trying
to help Roy off the stage

because he was
acting differently.

[ Applause ]

What happened that night?

Where were you?

I was onstage.

We go our show through, like --
like clockwork.

Was -- something was just --
maybe a little confusion.

Something wrong.
Did you sense --

Not wrong --
wrong at that time.

What did you --
What did you see?

I just saw the --
the tiger,

and it grabbed him
on the sleeve like this,

and -- and Roy said,
"Let go."

And the tiger let go, and Roy
went back and he slipped.

He tripped.

Oh, he fell.
He fell.

Do you think he was
trying to help him?

That's exactly what I think.
That was the way.

Roy fall,
and he want protect.

So, he took Roy and put him
backstage behind the curtain --

To protect him.

To protect him, and then he
let Roy go and went back.

Montecore was helping
save his friend --

to take him to safety.

That's -- This is
not an attack.

This was not a mauling.

This was Montecore taking
his friend to safety.

It was the very beginning
of how they spun the story --

how they created the myth.

The story wasn't that this was
maybe a failure of training

or a momentary slip.

The story was that
this wild tiger

was actively trying to help
the person he was attacking.

Goldman: Steve Wynn,
the billionaire casino owner,

gives this bizarre interview...

For whatever reason, Montecore
was fascinated by a woman

with a big hairdo
at ringside.

...where he claims this woman
with, like, a big beehive hairdo

[Laughing] had distracted
Montecore.

And I'll never forget
listening to this,

thinking to myself, "What?"

And on -- down on all four,

puts his face over 4 inches
from the woman and looks at her.

Man: Mm.

The woman thinks this
is part of the show

and thinks, "How adorable."

Montecore's head is
26 inches wide.

Roy is talking
and sees this move,

and he sees the woman
reach up to --

to give Montecore a rub
under the chin.

That's way wrong
all the way around.

He -- As usual,
the heroic fellow that he is,

he jumps in between
the woman and the tiger.

And I'm thinking to myself,
"What ridiculous theories

are they trying to push out
into the public?"

People were actually buying it.

But this is utter
and complete nonsense,

and somehow, you know,

it started taking on
a life of its own.

And there I was,
having to, like,

write it in the copy
that Steve Wynn --

who wasn't there,
had no first-hand knowledge --

thinks that a woman
with a beehive haircut

had somehow distracted
the tiger, and --

and that caused the tiger
to lose focus or something.

Now he wants to shock the cat
into paying attention,

and he whacks him with the
microphone, which is rubber.

Didn't hurt him,
but it made a loud noise.

The cat lets go on command.

Roy falls backwards,

pulling over the paw
of Montecore on his back.

There's four guys
jumping on this cat,

trying to get the cat
to behave.

Montecore gets confused.

"What's going on?"

Montecore gets up,
cool as a cucumber, leans over,

and picks up Roy like a cub
on the right side of his neck.

Not a bite, not an attack.

He picks him up.

The night of the event,
when we were

spending time with --
with their manager, Bernie,

and waiting to do our --

our next interview, he told us
a lot about Siegfried and Roy

and how they lived
with the tigers

and how they slept in bed
with the tigers

and how they had
the tigers kind of as --

as pets like we'd have dogs.

And they have them
roaming around free

in their house just like pets.

Goldman: You know,
the whole idea is,

"Siegfried and Roy can control
these wild animals!"

And then, one day,
you find out they can't.

I'm here to announce to you
tonight that the Siegfried & Roy

spectacle at the Mirage
is now closed indefinitely.

Bernie was nervous about
what would happen to Montecore

because, you know, what people
would assume had happened

and what he thought really
had happened didn't match.

It was not an attack.

I was standing on the side.
I saw it.

It was an accident.

And when the cat dragged Roy
back onstage,

and Roy said, "Don't harm.

Don't shoot.

Don't harm the cat."

Roy's partner,
Siegfried Fischbacher,

now claims the mauling
was actually an accident.

That is also the opinion
of Steve Wynn.

He is the legendary
casino developer in Las Vegas

who actually brought
Siegfried & Roy to town

and remains a close friend
to this day.

To suggest that a cat
viscously attacked Roy

and tried to maul Roy because
of something that happened

is a ridiculous statement,

if you know anything
about Roy Horn

and the 44-year history
of these animals with this man.

-I should make it clear --
-Cats don't attack Roy.

Salmoni: The trap is forgetting
that it's a wild animal

with wild-animal instincts.

[ Laughs ]

Just because that tiger
loves me has no bearing

on whether that tiger
is gonna try and kill me.

[ Tiger roars ]

Welcome back to
"How It Really Happened."

In the weeks following
the heart-stopping night

where Montecore,
a 380-pound white tiger,

sank his teeth
into Roy Horn's neck

before dragging him offstage,

Siegfried and the
performers's inner circle

distanced themselves
from the word "attack,"

telling everyone that it was
a life-saving act by the tiger,

who was not behaving
as a deadly predator,

but as a loving pet.

♪♪

Roy always knew each animal --

who he was, like, what they
liked, what they didn't like.

You could certainly watch
just the friendly

tactile relationship,
the touching.

In the video that they show,
he's even riding the tiger.

Smith: That was how
it was promoted.

These were friends.

These weren't animals
that were wild and could kill

and you had to lock in a cage.

These were pals -- cuddly.

Bennett: He clearly
loved his animals,

maybe even more
than he loved people.

Tapert: I said, "Come on.

You tell me, Roy,
why you really, really,

really have this
rapport with animals."

And he unspilled his story
for me as a --

in his childhood,
which was horrific.

Let's get a little history.
You're both from Germany.

How did this
come about, Roy?

How did you two meet?

Well, we met
on an ocean liner.

I run away from home
as I was --

he loves it --
as I was a young boy.

Where was home?
And --

North Germany.
Bremerhaven.

Both of their fathers were sent
by Hitler's Army

to fight on the Russian front,
which was brutal,

and they both came back
mentally unwell.

I guess today, we would call it
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Siegfried really drowned himself
in -- in magic.

Roy had a special
relationship with --

with animals right
from the beginning.

His first big cat was a
cheetah named Chico

taken from a German zoo.

And on the ship,
I met Siegfried.

He did a magic act.

And one day, Roy saw me there --
was also a steward --

and he saw when I pulled
the rabbit out of the hat

and vanished birds and so on --
swallowed razor blades.

And he said, "Well, if you
can do that with a --

a rabbit, could you do that
with a cheetah?"

And I didn't know he had
a pet cheetah.

So that's our little story
in the --

Stop right there.
Yes. [ Laughs ]

What -- What were you doing
with a pet cheetah?

I know.
Most people
don't have that.

It sounds very unlogical,
but it was very logical for me.

I was, as a child --

I was not very good
in communicating with people

because we came from
Germany after the war,

so we didn't had a whole lot,
and I trusted more in my animals

than I trusted
in people, and --

It's still true?

It's still true.

You trust --
More, actually.
Actually more.

It's true.
Animals are my passion.

So -- and magic became
my life.

Tapert: Two guys get there
to Las Vegas

with just a magic act
and an animal.

They saw the writing
on the wall.

They -- They always knew,

"How do we make
ourselves better?

How do we make
ourselves different?"

You have 24 tigers,
eight lions.

They vanish
and they reappear.

So does an Arabian horse
and an elephant.

Right.

You yourselves appear
and disappear, right?

Of course.
When the curtain opens up,

they have to feel like this
is something special.

You weren't just seeing
two guys doing a magic act.

You were watching a production
with dozens of cast members,

with a story line,
with an evil queen,

with these amazing
white tigers and lions,

and it became iconic
very, very quickly.

King: "Forbes" magazine
reports Siegfried & Roy

the highest-paid entertainers
in Las Vegas history,

and they have an
estimated net worth

of more than $100 million.

This is a very lucrative
business entity.

At the end of the day,
Siegfried and Roy

made millions of dollars
for the Las Vegas Strip,

and part of their show --
the large part --

were these big cats.
[ Tiger growls ]

I've actually been
to their home,

at jungle palace in Las Vegas,

and seen the lions
and tigers there.

They were almost like
house pets in a way,

and I think that
that carried over to the show.

There was just a --
a real love there.

When they are conceived,
I am there,

when I meditate with them

and I heard the little ones's
first time kicking,

and when they are born,
I'm there.

When they open their eyes,
I'm the first one they see.

When they are listening,
I'm the first voice they hear.

[ Cub mews ]

He hated the word "trainer"
because it reeked of the circus.

A trainer -- a lion trainer,
a lion tamer --

he hated any connotation
to that.

I shudder to think
what would happen

if I had used that word --
or tamer.

You know, he would have probably
thrown me out right on my rear.

Bennett: Siegfried focused
on the magic part,

not so much on the animals.

That wasn't his thing,
but very much was Roy's.

Fischbacher: He has a
different way with the animals.

His lifestyle --
He's completely into it,

but for me, it was always the
spiritual thinking of it, and --

King: He's more attached
to the animals than you.

Oh, yeah.

For me, it --
it was always a challenge.

But now, I am also attached
to it very much, of course,

and they teached me
the idea that --

I think they made
a better person out of me.

They were the bread and butter
of their business operation.

Jillette: I think the animals
were bonding with him,

and he really did have
a relationship with them

in a very real way.

And that having been said,
it-- it's also crazy dangerous.

[ Indistinct chatter,
tiger growling ]

Friess:
All over the Mirage hotel,

there were videos playing
ad nauseam on little TVs.

The entire image of this show
rested on the idea that,

yes, these are predators,
but they have been tamed.

They're just choosing
not to attack people

because they're so well-loved
by these odd showmen

who want you to see
what they can do with them.

Bennett: I don't want to say
there was a cover-up.

That makes it sound
very sinister.

But there was certainly
an effort to make sure

that what happened to Roy Horn
was kept within the family.

Goldman: I can't put my
finger on that exact timing

when this theory
started to emerge --

that the tiger, in fact,
was trying to help Roy Horn,

who was having a stroke.

I remember watching this
interview they did --

this exclusive
with Maria Shriver.

Fischbacher:
It's bitter and it's sweet.

Now I know life is a gift.

There you go.

Look at you!
That's great!

Alright!
You're doing it!

If I wouldn't see it with my own
eyes, I wouldn't believe it.

Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, yes!

Left.
You're doing it, Roy!

Goldman:
And, basically, she allows them
to walk through this narrative

which perpetuates this idea
that Montecore was,

like, trying to save his life.

I have
high blood pressure.

It was the stroke.

So you believe you had
a stroke. You fell --

Yes, correct.
Absolutely.

I saw exactly
what happened.

Roy tumbled, and Montecore,
right away --

he realized and I realize
he is in trouble.

He needs some help, and he went
out, and that's what we did.

You believe that
Montecore realized

you were in trouble...
Yes.

...and just picked you up
and took you offstage for help.

Yeah, that's how
wonderful they are.

The story came that --
that Roy had suffered a stroke

that made him fall onstage
and have Montecore drag him off.

That was gonna be the spin,
if you will.

What we didn't know at the time
was whether that was true,

and to be fair,
it seems believable in a way.

If you knew Roy, if you knew
how much he cared

for his animals
and vice versa,

it almost --
for a second or two,

it's the story
you wanted to believe.

Goldman:
Did Montecore get Emergency
Medical Technician training?

Montecore is an EMT?

We wanted to think that there
was a protective moment

with Montecore seeing his owner,

his dad, his caretaker
in trouble

and, therefore,
help him in some way.

Even to Nancy O'Dell
and "Entertainment Tonight,"

they went so far as to say
that the tiger

was relieving
some sort of pressure

because Roy was having
a medical incident.

You're saying
the doctor is saying

that had Montecore
not relieved the pressure,

you would not have lived?

Goldman: Who taught the tiger
how to staunch blood?

Oh, and by the way, the tiger's
the one who did it.

It doesn't --
It doesn't make any --

It's comp-- It doesn't
make any sense.

Siegfried said this to me
personally --

that they believe
that the tiger sensed

that Roy had high blood pressure
and was biting his neck

to alleviate
the high blood pressure.

Now, I have hypertension,
and no doctor's ever suggested

me being bit in the neck
by a tiger to help me,

and they've also never
suggested bloodletting.

I mean, it doesn't seem like
high blood pressure

is too much blood.

But how would a tiger
know that?

This massive animal was, in some
way, trying to save Roy Horn?

This predator that is
programmed,

in its own DNA,
to eat warm flesh?

Somehow, this tiger, Montecore,

had been trained
to suppress its instincts?

[ Growls ]

[ Roars ]

Vegas kind of closed in
on itself to protect its own.

Moss: You hear things
from different reporters --

that maybe someone might have
been behind the scenes

telling people to call it
an attack,

or call it an accident --
those two terms.

"Use this one instead
of that one."

Personally, no one
had ever said that to me.

I realize that Roy, I think --
and Siegfried, too --

would take exception to me
using the word "attack".

But I think that's --
that's the way I see it.

I think they would prefer
the word "accident," perhaps.

The only thing that was
ever gonna answer

any of these questions
about what happened

that night was the tape,
and was anyone gonna see that?

CNN has learned
the Agriculture Department

is investigating
the Siegfried & Roy show

for possible violations
of the Animal Welfare Act.

There may be more to the attack

than what was played out
before a horrified audience.

Goldman:
The United States Department
of Agriculture basically

has an enforcement arm
that deals with exotic animals,

and they provide the
license for people

who have these exotic exhibits
with these animals.

I was a Senior Investigator
with USDA,

and I got called to investigate
the attack with Roy Horn.

The U.S. Agriculture Department
is investigating.

That's normal
in this kind of case.

They had four inspections
in the last three years.

No problems were
ever cited, right?

Stage set-up was
inspected.

Years ago, one of the inspectors
wrote up "no barrier,"

and nothing ever happened.

I was concerned that one
of the tigers or lions

could jump down in the crowd,

but at the time, it was
never even called up to --

for us to investigate
the violation.

And the collar that was
around Montecore's neck

looked like a dog collar,

and it's hard to control
a dog sometime.

I'm sure it'd be hard
to control a large tiger.

I think with no one doing
anything about this,

they were playing
with people's lives,

and if you don't have a problem
right now, why worry about it?

Wait till the problem happens.

You've never had a problem
with any authorities,

any questions about it?

Never, never, and we've
always cooperated

with all of the
regulatory agencies.

And -- And we've been
the example.

Siegfried and Roy are held in --
in that light, you know?

You want to live up
to their standard.

I wonder sometimes about how
differently this story

would've played out today,
because among other things,

those 1,500 people
in the audience

all would've had
their cellphones out,

and there would have been
a flood of video on the Internet

showing exactly what happened.

During the investigation,
we had several theories.

What caused the tiger
to attack Roy?

I realized that they did film

all of the Siegfried & Roy
performances.

Therefore, they had
videoed the attack.

And, remember, the investigators
had a real hard time

getting access
to the official video.

I don't think anyone
was surprised

that the USDA had trouble
getting a copy of the tape.

I certainly wasn't.

It's the Sin City.

It's a town that was
heavily involved

in the Mafia and mobsters
for many years.

It has a side to it that
doesn't necessarily want

to expose all of its secrets.

Goldman: And I thought,
"You know what?

I'm gonna get the videotape
of this thing."

I'm digging in because now
I'm just annoyed by people who,

you know, just can't appreciate
actually what happened.

For me, getting the video

was the holy grail
of this investigation.

Bennett: I'm not saying
anything criminal occurred,

but I don't think
there was anyone

who was going to volunteer

to reveal anything
that Siegfried and Roy

or that their management
didn't want to be revealed.

Neal: I went to Siegfried
and Roy's people --

their production people,
their managers --

and everybody acted like
they didn't have the video.

So, me being a little stubborn,
I figured that somebody had it.

So I contacted our attorneys
in Washington

and had subpoenas issued
to Siegfried & Roy,

Feld Productions, Siegfried and
Roy's manager, and the Mirage.

I don't think a subpoena
anywhere could shake the bonds

of that culture
and that community.

Goldman: Senator Harry Reid --

he was a long-time
Democratic senator of Nevada,

and these were his constituents
-- Roy Horn and Siegfried.

And he had decided that he was
gonna block efforts from me,

"The Associated Press,"
from getting the video.

"The AP" would go on to report
that Harry Reid sent a letter

to the USDA asking them not
to make this video available.

People would argue, "Ah, it's
a violation of privacy."

But because Steve Wynn
and others had floated

these cockamamie
conspiracy theories,

it was in the public's interest
to see this video

and to see it actually --
what had really happened.

During my career with USDA
as an investigator,

I had never had a senator
or a congressman interfere

in any of my investigations up

until the Siegfried & Roy
investigation,

and as far as my knowledge,
it has never happened again.

So, Harry Reid
was a power player --

very good friends
with Siegfried and Roy --

and he actually issued
a statement

saying that he would protect Roy
on behalf of Roy's privacy.

When the report came out that
Harry Reid had gotten involved,

it was another one
of the moments in the story

where, at first,
you're like, "Really?"

And then you're like,
"Of course."

Because this is Vegas
and this was Nevada.

Everybody's power and money

had propped up each other
over all those years.

It is extraordinary.

A copy of that video
would be embarrassing

because it would show
what really happened.

It would be embarrassing
because it would show

Siegfried and Roy
in their worst moment.

Bennett: If it highlights
Montecore in a bad way

or showcases the animal

in a way that makes it look
like a predator

or like it was attacking,

I can't imagine that
that is something

they would ever want
to reveal or show.

There was some compromise
reached, right?

MGM, I think, allowed

the USDA investigators
to look at the video,

but they couldn't
take possession of it.

It was a way to keep
"The Associated Press"

from getting its hands
on this video,

'cause if I had gotten
this video, I would have --

I would have made it public.

We had to make appointments,
and we had to do it behind

closed, locked doors
to observe the video.

Friess: One of the things
that I find most odious

about the whole thing is that
by the time the USDA was trying

to do a legitimate investigation
into a serious incident

that could have had
catastrophic consequences

for members of the public --

by that time,
the show was closed.

The marquee was changed.

Nobody was talking about some
big return of Siegfried & Roy.

They were not coming back.

So, what were they protecting
in trying to avoid

the actual story
being made public?

Goldman:
These are alternative facts.

It's a distortion
of what really happened,

and it undermines the truth.

I couldn't begin to understand

why they would continue
to perpetuate this myth.

It took 15 years for one
of the animal trainers

there that night to come forward
and sort of break

that story line
that Siegfried and Roy

and their team
had been putting out.

Neal:
From seeing Chris Lawrence's
interview on "Inside Edition"...

I won't call them liars.

I'll just tell my truth.

...it appears that his
conclusion is the same

as what we found
during our investigation.

Roy made a crucial mistake, and
there was just no going back.

These animals had done something
very dangerous in the past.

This wasn't a one-off event
that happened.

There were other incidents.

Woman: Roy was holding a leash,
and the leash was let go.

And the next thing they know it,

the tiger had jumped on
my dad's back and bit his neck.

My son was crying and said,
"Mama, am I gonna die?"

It went, "Blaow!"
[ Roars ]

I mean, its face was
just drenched in my blood.

This story could have been
a national news story.

I think Siegfried and Roy
often got a very soft press.

I would like them to tell
the truth -- Siegfried and Roy.

It's not all magical.

It's not.

A wild animal is a wild animal.

From what I saw of the video,
in my opinion,

Montecore didn't want
to be there.

Salmoni: Tigers will kill you.
They don't care.

They'll kiss you and then
they'll kill you.

[ Tiger growls, roars ]

We reached out numerous times
to Siegfried and Roy,

their former manager,
Bernie Yuman, Steve Wynn,

Feld Entertainment,
and MGM Resorts.

They all declined to comment.

And as for Senator Harry Reid,
he sent us this statement.

"The arrangement I made
with the USDA

was that they could look
at the video, but not keep it,

and that's what they did."

In March 2019,
a former employee --

a tiger trainer
named Chris Lawrence --

went public
and challenged their story

that Montecore sensed Roy Horn
was in medical distress

and carried him offstage
for help.

The whistle-blower re-ignited
interest in the case,

and as we investigated
his claims,

we unearthed some secrets that
have remained buried for years.

Did the master illusionists make
previous maulings disappear?

That in our next hour of
"How It Really Happened."

Thanks for watching.
Good night.