Real Movie Pirate Pays For Plundering
This weekend, many moviegoers will be flocking to the opening of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest." But as CBS News correspondent Vince Gonzales reports, there's a band of real-life pirates who are robbing Hollywood blind.
Movie piracy cost the major studios more than $6 billion worldwide in 2005. Dubbed "The Prince of Piracy" during his trial, Johnny Ray Gasca is now facing as much as 10 years in federal prison for the crime.
"The Gasca trial was very significant because it was the first conviction in the country for the actual act of camcording at the movies," explains Assistant U.S. Attorney Elena Duarte.
Gasca would sneak into screenings and secretly tape films. He was caught in the act by a hidden camera set up to record audience reaction to the film "Anger Management." Security ordered him to stop and hauled him out.
Gasca used a handheld video monitor to check his picture, and a handheld remote control so he could adjust it if he needed to. The equipment was wired into a camcorder, hidden under a sweatshirt and bolted to a seat in the movie theater.
According to John Malcolm, who leads anti-piracy efforts for the Motion Picture Association of America, "well over 90 percent of the original thefts of film products come from camcorders, just like Johnny Ray Gasca."
The illegal recordings end up on the Internet and on the streets. CBS News undercover cameras caught men hiding behind parked cars selling pirated DVDs in downtown Los Angeles. They were charging $5 for the latest films — some not even in theaters yet.
In diaries seized by the FBI, Gasca claimed he made $3,000 to $4,000 a week taping movies. Federal prison officials denied requests by CBS News to interview Gasca in person, so Gonzales spoke to him on the phone.
Vince Gonzales: Did you camcord movies, record movies in a theater with a camcorder?
Johnny Ray Gasca: Yes, I have done that.
Gonzales: Did you make money off that? Were you involved in pirating those movies?
Gasca: I never sold those films.
Gasca was convicted of camcording, threatening witnesses and escape, giving him plenty of time to work on his next project.
"I have a screenplay I've written," Gasca told Gonzales. "It's called 'The Prince of Piracy.' ... And I'm working on a novel version of it."
Johnny Depp, call your agent.