kissing brad pitt and baring all on screen. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir, in new york city, this is "nightline," january 20th, 2012. good evening. i'm terry moran. we begin tonight with a local tv celebrity and his epic vacation disaster at the hands of two, beautiful women, who turned out to have the wrong kind of friends. his name, john bolaris. at the time, was a philadelphia weatherman, and was reputed to be something of a man about town. he set out for a couple nights of fun in sun-kissed miami beach. but that very first night, he fell into a trap that turned out to be part of a shocking, well-organized operation, run by the russian mafia. here's abc's matt gutman. >> reporter: he traveled to miami beach for some money. maybe some action. but philadelphia weatherman -- >> not out of the question, but highly unlikely. >> reporter: and ladies man, john bolaris, here here with his "playboy" playmate girlfriend, ran into something more serious. no "scarface" tactics. only the velvet glove of seduction. and without knowing it, became victim number 88. >> you're responsible for it. >> reporter: with an investigation ongoing, bolaris wouldn't talk. but designated his friend and lawyer, charles puerto, to tell the story. he says it begins at this miami beach hotel. >> two beautiful girls. they come on to him. one-on-one side. one on the other side. this is every man's dream. he wasn't looking for trouble. trouble found him. >> reporter: he later admitted, quote, i'm a guy. there was a thought i might get laid. at the swank denano hotel, they wanted to buy him drinks. the next thing you know, bolaris wakes up in his hotel room with a wicked hangover. a painting of a woman's head, and no memory of the night before. >> he wakes up in his hotel room the next day. doesn't remember a thing. but he gets a phone call from them saying, john, you forgot your glasses. he thinks they're perfectly honest because here they are, returning his glasses. >> reporter: they meet him, return his glasses and take him out again. to a place called the caviar bar. >> they're drinking heavily. next thing you know, he wakes up in his room again. has no idea what went on. comes back to philadelphia where he works. and the next thing you know, he gets a ridiculous credit card bill. >> reporter: the final tab, $43,700. the caviar bar had swiped his credit card 11 times, charging him $2,495 for a battle of cristal. minutes later, $2,678 for a battle of perrier. two minutes later, $3,120 for dom perignon. and each bill accompanied by a $500 tip. not bad. bolaris had been scammed. at least three victims have called puerto in recent months. the tally, now up to 92. >> this was well-planned. he wasn't the first victim. he won't be the last victim. >> reporter: investigators say the caviar bar was a front. one of six that was being used by eastern european cartel, to lure in tourists and businessmen. walk-ins were blocked at the door. bar girls would pick up men like bolaris at south beach hot spots and coax them back to fake clubs. >> it's fictitious, from top to bottom. and everyone's in on it. >> reporter: as they paid with the credit card, they would snap pictures to fool the credit card companies that the charges on booze were real. it ultimately worked on amex. bolaris sued amex to reverse the charges. amex would not comment. authorities in miami say it was the work of a sprawling, new russian and eastern european mob that has planted itself here for numerous reasons that were chosen. sun and easy money. >> they are very, very strong here. >> reporter: richard mangan spent 25 years as a special agent for the d.e.a. and teaches a class on organized crime. >> this group has been into credit card fraud. they've been into health care fraud. they've been into drugs. >> reporter: but these guys operate under the radar, preferring brain over brawn. >> a lot of the people who run the organization, were nuclear scientists. they were kgb. and they lost their jobs when the soviet union collapsed. >> reporter: what percentage of a whole of the eastern european work in south florida? >> about 10%. >> reporter: one reason the bolaris scam is successful, victims are often married. targeted because they look rich. and when exposed, are too embarrassed to fight back. but john bolaris did fight back. testifying before a miami grand jury in a case involving 87 other victims, which led to 17 indictments and 11 guilty pleas. six defendants will be tried in october. >> i came back. i'm very excited to be back. >> reporter: violating the mafia's cardinal rule, bolaris may have talked too much. he told his story to "the philadelphia daily news" last year. a cover story they called "the hangover," for obvious reasons. then, a tell-all tale of womanizing to "playboy." fox 29 bosses weren't amused. issuing a statement this month saying, they mutually agreed it was time to part ways. for "nightline," i'm matt gutman, in miami beach, florida. >> let the buyer beware. thanks to matt for that. just ahead, is there a psychic power that can help us avoid all those more familiar travel nightmares? 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[ jody ] it's really good value. all my guests love it. i'm jody gonzalez, red lobster general manager. and i sea food differently. >> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city, with terry moran. some bad news for travelers tonight. chicago airports have canceled 800 flights due to the biggest snowstorm of the winter so far. and more than six inches of snow reported in some areas there. there's a snowstorm brewing here in the northeast, as well. not necessarily a good time to hit the road. not unless you can somehow know ahead of time what conditions would be like. well, tonight, we meet someone who says you can. here's abc's t.j. winick. >> reporter: whoever said half the fun is getting there must have never been stuck in a snowstorm. >> it's crazy out here. >> reporter: or endured hours on the tarmac. >> unbelievable. never had an experience like that before. >> reporter: because let's face it, unless you're a stealth ninja business traveler like george clooney in "up in the air," it's pretty easy to lose your cool when running behind schedule. >> what stresses me out is, everybody else doesn't know what they're doing. >> reporter: between his high-powered p.r. job and pressure, jeff moran's on the road about 60% of the time. he never leaves home without his wallet, his passport or consulting his travel psychic. meet linda lauren, who claims she can help guide you to a smoother journey, after a short, half-hour, $90 reading. >> she said don't take the plane. and the plane went out of service because of a problem with the engine. i trust this woman implicitly. i can leave earlier or later. >> earlier. absolutely earlier. >> reporter: think of her as part-travel agent, part-goes whisperer. she's meeting with jeff to talk about a trip with his family. >> i can pinpoint their energy to work with how they are going to travel and what to watch out for in terms of pitfalls and how they're going to react. >> reporter: as jeff goes to pittsburgh, we put linda to the test. there were three different routes that mapquest gives us. and we had a reporter reading over skype. >> within the first ten minutes of that travel, you say, we start to feel like we should have taken this other route. go by your gut. >> reporter: when we hit the road the next day, just as linda predicted, i sensed a better option. traffic has been so light that i'm thinking, linda did tell me i should trust my gut in the first ten minutes or so. so, i think i'm going to make a left-hand turn here on to canal street and take the holland tunnel instead. so far, so good. i mean, really, who needs a gps when you have a travel psychic? then, something linda hadn't seen. getting out of manhattan couldn't have been easier. and now, as you see, we're stuck in a little bit of traffic. you sort of saw that we were going to have more problems up front. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: were you surprised? >> you're a scorpio. you're going to go by your gut and full steam ahead. it might have been a different trip had you not taken the course. >> reporter: with post-9/11 flying stressful, and commuting to work more time-consuming, more fliers and drivers are turning to psychics like linda for direction. i think some people may have a hard time believing that the same woman who can communicate with spirits can also tell you that your flight from tulsa is going to have engine trouble. >> okay, but why? why when it's all intuitive? >> reporter: when consulting her cards, calendars and spirits, linda sees visions. for airline delays, she sees a clock where the numbers are reversed or maybe upside down. when it comes to road detours, she sees red lights. for traffic, i'll let linda describe that one. >> envisioning traffic for this person, i'll see a whole bunch of people in a can of sardines. i know, it sounds weird. >> reporter: really? >> i do. it's going to be all right. >> okay. >> reporter: remember jeff, who saw linda before his trip to pittsburgh? we caught up with him after his trip. >> you might encounter some delays were her exact words. so, woke up in the morning. it was a complete torrential downpour. sure, i would have loved a heads-up about the rain. i can't get a meteorologist to predict the rain. >> reporter: if you think somebody's going to take a flight, say to los angeles from new york, would they be better off having a session with you? or would they be better off maybe getting the upgrade to first class? >> okay. now, how fair is that question? okay. i'd go for the upgrade. but i'd see me first and see if it was worth it. >> reporter: so, maybe, just maybe, some things aren't better off left to fate, especially if it is the journey and not the destination that matters. for "nightline," i'm t.j. winick, in new jersey. >> color me a little skeptical. thanks to t.j. winick for that. next up, kirsten dunst and the art of self-exposure. ♪[music plays] ♪[music plays] purina one beyond. food for your cat or dog. in what passes for common sense. used to be we socked money away and expected it to grow. then the world changed... and the common sense of retirement planning became anything but common. fortunately, td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. take control by opening a new account or rolling over an old 401(k) today, and we'll throw in up to $600. how's that for common sense? she was a critical darling before she turned 13. but she's best known around the world for a blockbuster role as an aspiring actress who ends up falling in love with a superhero. and now, kirsten dunst is taking new risks. here's abc's juju chang with the "nightline" interview. >> reporter: even as a child actor, kirsten dunst rarely played just another kid. >> snatch me from my -- like two monsters in fairy tales. >> reporter: take her breakthrou breakthrough role in "interview with the vampire." when you're kissing brad pitt, that's not a bad thing. ever since dunst, now 29, has been off and running, starring in hits like "bring it on." >> let's go out there and do our best. >> reporter: and "spider-man." >> you are amazing. >> reporter: but she's also embraced less conventional roles. like in sofia coppola's "the virgin suicides." >> about time. we've been waiting for you guys. >> reporter: and marie antoi antoinette. >> i know what i want in my house. i like girls that look like me. >> reporter: during a break from movies, dunst nurtured a passion for art. >> this is interesting. >> reporter: taking classes in painting and drawing. when we talked to her, we ended up at l.a.'s weissman art foundation. >> anyone who has been painting has to feel with how you feel when you look at it. >> reporter: and now, she's taking perhaps one of the biggest artistic risks of her career. in the haunting "melancholia," looking at the end of the world, through the eyes of a deeply depressed bride. >> i think depression puts people in that child-like state. you feel debilitated. that was a very emotional difficult place to go. >> you mean, you want it? >> but i do. >> reporter: depression is something dunst knows about firsthand. in 2008, she suddenly entered treatment for depression. and her stay made headlines. how much on your experience did you draw on to play this role? >> i've always used myself and expanded things in me that, even if it's things like i don't show it to people, that i can use in my performances. >> reporter: were you at all disturbed by the, you know, sort of stewing in the depression, so to speak? >> you have to be in a pretty healthy place to play someone like this. also, because you have to create an inner life that's energetic, even though you're depressed. for me, a lot of my work comes before the film. and that feels almost like therapy between me and the character that i'm playing. >> thank you so much. >> reporter: her portrayal earned her the best actress award at the cannes film festival. you looked beautiful in the awards ceremony. >> it's the angle. >> reporter: what did your father say? >> my dad's from germany. he's european. he said, it's art and i made you and you're beautiful. i'm the one that's the most prude about the whole thing. >> reporter: it must have occurred to you that if you did the nude scenes they would go all over the internet. >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: does that bother you? >> it doesn't because what we made as a film means more to me than the fact that, you know, i'm on the internet naked. >> reporter: indeed, she said taking the risks outside of the hollywood mainstream helps keep her grounded. >> never box myself in into this, like, untouchable celebrity that has the chef and the assistants and the this and the gate. it gets more and more out of touch with just reality. >> reporter: do you have a sort of uneasy relationship with celebrity? >> i think i have a really good perspective on what it is. and it comes with the territory. but i'm very much a -- none of my friends are in the industry. and i don't really -- i don't surround my life in it. >> reporter: you're not defined by your celebrity? >> definitely not. that would be depressing. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm juju chang, in california. >> kirsten dunce, aiming for an oscar. thanks for watching abc news. we hope you check ior