Top Story with Tom Llamas - Tuesday, December 17, 2024

Episode Date: December 18, 2024

Tonight's Top Story has the latest breaking news, political headlines, news from overseas and the best NBC News reporting from across the country and around the world.

Tonight, the CEO murder suspect now charged with murder as an act of terrorism. Luigi Mangione now facing 11 counts connected to the targeted attack on the United Healthcare CEO. The Manhattan DA saying the killing was, quote, intended to evoke terror. The New York police commissioner slamming those who are praising Mangione as a hero. Tonight, we'll ask how all that attention will play into his trial. Also tonight, the Russian general assassinated in Moscow. Ukraine carrying out a sophisticated attack, detonating a bomb inside of a scooter. The general accused of orchestrating attacks on the Ukrainian people using chemical weapons.

With Russia vowing revenge, will this be a major setback for potential peace talks? The major development in the Gilgo Beach murders, serial killer suspect Rex Sherman, charged with murdering a seventh victim in Long Island. The chilling new details, including an alleged DNA match on a strand of hair belonging to Hurman's wife and daughter. Blinded on the bridge, terrifying video as fog blankets, the longest bridge in the U.S., triggering a series of crashes, chaos unfolding with drivers trapped on the 24-mile Causeway Bridge, surrounded by nothing but water. And NBC News exclusive, our cameras, going inside the raid of a black market weight-loss drug supplier. the woman caught selling counterfeit versions of the popular semi-glutide medications so many Americans are taking even allegedly mixing some herself the concerns these fake drugs could put countless others at risk the fall of the Assad regime exposing their alleged drug trafficking empire tonight we'll show you how rebels waiting factories and warehouses revealed the massive operation the regime had long denied the pills similar to meth hidden inside fruit and furnishing

even computers, generating billions in the Middle East. And last chance of survival, a woman who donated her kidney years ago and now in need of one, receiving one of the first ever big kidney transplants, the innovative procedure hoping to revolutionize medicine. Plus another setback for those NASA astronauts stuck in space, their trip back to Earth delayed once again. Top story. Starts right now. And good evening. Tonight, Luigi Mangione, accused in the brazen CEO murder, is formerly indicted by a grand jury. The 26-year-old facing a slew of charges, including murder as an act of terrorism.

The announcement coming nearly two weeks after the United Healthcare CEO was gunned down in Midtown, Mangione remaining behind bars in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested after being recognized. Here's a look at the charges announced today, including that up. murder charge, accusing Mangione of murder in the first degree. The other notable charge is that second-degree murder count, which accuses the 26-year-old of using the killing to, quote, evoked terror. And a quick reminder of some of the evidence authorities say they've recovered, including a notebook, a manifesto, fingerprints at the crime scene, the gun and silencer, the fake ID,

and clothes allegedly matching the shooters. Prosecutors expected to present some, if not all of these items, to a jury. The shooting has become an online obsession. with some coming to Mangione's defense and even celebrating the killing. We've seen websites and vendors posting merchandise in support of Mangione and glorifying his actions. But today, the NYP Police Commissioner

condemning those rallying around the suspect. We don't celebrate murders and we don't lionize the killing of anyone. And any attempt to rationalize this is a vile, reckless, and offensive to our deeply held principles. of justice. So the question we're asking tonight, will it be tough to get a conviction if people are sympathizing with him, some with grievances over the health care system in our

country? We'll break that down in just a moment. But first, we want to start with NBC's Stephanie Gosk. Tonight, two weeks after United Health Care CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down on a New York City street, Luigi Mangione has been indicted for his murder. Mangione now facing 11 counts, the most serious first-degree murder and furtherance of terrorism. This was a killing that was intended to evoke terror. Prosecutors today also laying out the most detailed timeline yet of Mangione's alleged movements the morning Brian Thompson was killed. They say he left the hostel where he was staying at 5.34 a.m. and headed to Midtown on an e-bike. For nearly an hour from 552 to 6.45,

he walked around near the Hilton, where Thompson was set to a 10.m. attend a conference. According to prosecutors, these images are from a Starbucks where he stopped at 615. Beginning at 638, he stood against a wall across the street from the hotel with his hood up. Seven minutes later, at 645, prosecutors say he approached Brian Thompson from behind and shot him. This was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation. According to prosecutors, Mangione fled New York City and was eventually arrested at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania five days later, with two magazines, multiple live cartridges, and a 3D printed ghost gun and suppressor. Mangione remains in a prison in Pennsylvania.

A source familiar with the situation tells NBC News he does not plan to fight extradition to New York. Tonight, the city's police commissioner with this message for those who have celebrated Thompson's death. In the nearly two weeks since Mr. Thompson's killing, we have seen a shocking and appalling celebration of cold-blooded murder. Let me say this plainly. There is no heroism in what Mangione did. All right, Stephanie Goss joins us tonight from Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. Stephanie, I want to pick up right there from what we heard the NYBD commissioners say. It was her, it was also the DA, but making it very clear that they are disgusted with how Mangione is being idolized,

not only in New York City, but around the country. Yeah, you know, Tom, you heard it in her voice there. Not only was that incredibly pointed language, but she was angry. She was angry at some of the things that she's seen. She also talked about, in her words, quote, the ghoulishly plastered posters that were put up around New York City, targeting not just Brian Thompson in them, but other CEOs that were then ripped down. And we've been hearing from the NYPD officials all along. even after Luigi Mangione's arrest, that they're concerned because of this act was that it was going to trigger more violence.

And that is why you see these charges in furtherance of terrorism, that talk of terrorism. You had the deputy commissioner of anti-terrorism also talking about the fact that she was just concerned that this was being translated in our society as an act of terror and that there could be, in her words, a contagion talk. All right, Stephanie Goss, great to have you leading off Top Story tonight. For more on these charges, I want to bring in our good friend Bernardo Villalona. She's a criminal defense attorney and a former prosecutor in New York City. Bernada, thank you so much for joining Top Story tonight. I want to continue the conversation here, right? Because I think it's very important.

And it'll lead to my first question with you. So let's talk about the overnight sort of cult classic that this alleged killer has become, which I think is kind of confusing and also sort of sick at the same time. Here's some of the stuff that we've seen that our top story team has been able to find out there on the internet and being sold around New York City. You can see Christmas sweaters being sold on Etsy with the words deny, defend, depose. The same words written on the bullets found at the crime scene that killed the United CEO. Mug's being sold on the site, Mod Party with his photos saying, Mama, I'm in love with the criminal and Luigi Mangione's biggest fan. Even a DJ at a Boston venue over the weekend showing a slideshow of Mangione's pictures.

as people danced and cheered along. So he's become an internet sensation. So my question to you, Bernardo, is it going to be hard to sit a jury? And will the people on that jury have sympathy for this guy? Yeah, so it's going to be hard to pick a jury, but it won't be impossible. So you have to think, first off, the jury pool is going to be based of New York County residents, since it is a New York County case, it's not a federal case. So in terms of when it comes to picking a jury, in this case, they're going to have an extensive wadilla,

questioning of each of the potential jurors to make sure that even if they heard about this case, even if they see news about this case, they can still be fair and impartial jurors and just listen and judge the evidence based on what's presented in court. So it won't be impossible. Remember, New York, we've tried many high-profile cases. If you could find a jury for Donald Trump, for Harvey Weinstein, for Daniel Penny, and these are all national cases, you can definitely find a jury here for Luigi Mangione. It's a good point. Explain the issue of terrorism. here, right? Because DA Alvin Bragg has come under some criticism in the past few years for maybe stepping a little bit out of bounds, for maybe going a little too far. Is this something he'll be

able to prosecute Mangione on, you think? Well, as of now, we know that a grand jury indicted him on murder in the first degree with the intent to commit terrorism. So of course, when it comes to a grand jury presentation, the burden is different. So even though a grand jury said, more likely than not, probable cause to believe that he committed this murder in the first degree is completely different than presented in front of a jury where you have to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Remember, we don't know all the evidence that has been recovered so far. So we're just based in our opinions, based on what we see in the news. But I thought from the very beginning that it may be tough for a trial, but then again, we don't know what the evidence is.

I want to play for you something that was said at the news conference today that stood out to me that we've just learned today and may hurt his defense case. Let's listen. Part of that vetting process was that they reached out to Mangione's mother in San Francisco very late on the 7th. They had a conversation where she didn't indicate that it was her son in the photograph, but she said it might be something that she could see him doing. So there was a missing person's case in San Francisco. His family was looking for him.

The FBI was involved. They noticed the photos. An agent thinks they both kind of look alike. They go to his mother, Manjone's mother. And she says, listen, she says, it doesn't look like him, but it's something he may be able to do. I mean, if she told that to authorities, how damaging is that to his case? Oh, very damaging. Best believe that mom is going to become a witness at trial. Best believe that law enforcement has interviewed her even more. Of course, she can refuse to talk

to law enforcement, but we know that she's going to be crucial in terms of either a defense witness if we're talking about a defense having to deal with insanity or for the prosecution when they say that, look, his proof, his deliberation, his premeditation, even his mom knew about it. So I'm curious to see what did mom know to lead her to believe that, hey, that person that killed someone on December 4th may be my son. Finally, and quickly if you can, is this a slam-dunk case for prosecutors? No case is a slam-dunk case because you're dealing with many issues. You're dealing with 12 civilians that have to agree that you've proven your case beyond a reasonable doubt. And as you can see from the phenomenon on the internet, on social media about this love for

Luigi Mangione, you may be confronted with jury nullification. that even if you prove your case beyond a reasonable doubt, I'm going to find him not guilty because I'm fed up with the health care system. Right. Okay. Bernadano Villalona, always a pleasure to have you on. We thank you for being here. We want to turn to some other breaking news we're having tonight. Officials today revealing a new charge in the Gilgo Beach murder investigation, tying the suspect Rex Hurman to a seventh killing. NBC's Emily Aketa has this one. The work of the Gilgo task force is ongoing and continuing.

The suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer back in court in New York and facing, another murder charge. Accused of killing Valerie Mack more than two decades ago. The 24-year-old New Jersey native was a mom and involved in sex work. Her parents today embracing other victims' families. The lives of these women matter. Obviously, no one understands it more than the families. Rex Ehrman has now been charged in the murders of seven women, which went unsolved for years. Six of those victims are forensically tied to the 60-year-old through hair, according to prosecutors. They say a strand found on Mack matches the DNA profile of the suspect's wife and daughter, who was just three or four at the time of Mack's death.

Heurman and architect was first arrested in July of 2023, after prosecutors say DNA on a pizza crust he threw out helped link him to one of the Gilgo Beach victims. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. has said from day one he is not responsible for these murders prosecutors today pointing to a document they believe hereman used to methodically blueprint and plan out his kills one section lists mill road as a d s which prosecutors say stands for dump site that's where police found some of max remains in 2000 prosecutors also alleging hereman kept these magazines and newspapers covering the murders as souvenirs or mementos of his crime now part of an

investigation, they say, is far from over. All right, Emily, kind of joins us now live in studio. So, Emily, I guess the big question is, is this going to go to trial anytime soon? I know they're still doing a lot of investigating, but there's a lot of victims. I know there's a lot of families that are looking for justice right now. Yeah, especially after so long, the judge has not set a trial date yet at this point. But the DA today saying that the judge has been eager to get this underway and is pressuring both the defense and the prosecution to get to a place to take it to trial, especially when you consider

some of these murders happened more than 30 years ago. Heerman, by the way, actually speaking out in court today, telling the judge he is not guilty of any of these crimes. Meantime, the prosecution is saying that it is likely that the murders happened inside his Long Island home, when his family was likely out of town in most, if not all of the cases. And in the background of all of this, investigators, they're still looking into whether Heurman is connected to even more deaths. Right. They're saying in that basement where they spent so much time investigating,

when they raided the house. Emily, great to have you on. We thank you for that. We're learning new details tonight about that devastating school shooting yesterday at the Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin. Police identifying the shooter

as a 15-year-old female student of the school. Authority spent the night searching her home and looking into her social media footprint. The police chiefs saying they're also investigating whether bullying was a factor. A teacher and a teenage student

were killed. Two students tonight remain in critical condition. Okay, we're also following that major news out of Russia. Ukraine claiming responsibility for an assassination from a scooter bombing that killed the top Russian general only about 10 miles from the Kremlin. Tonight, the Pentagon saying the U.S. had no involvement in the attack. Kier Simmons has the furious response from Russia tonight. Tonight's dramatic video capturing the moment a Russian general is assassinated in Moscow. He walks out. Seconds later, an explosion rocking a

quiet street early this morning. The body of Lieutenant General Igor Karilov and his assistant later seen lying on a snow-covered sidewalk. The bomb was attached to a scooter and detonated remotely. A Ukrainian security source briefed on the matter tells NBC News. One video of the killing seems to be filmed from the back of a car. That Ukrainian security source tells NBC news the security service of Ukraine carried out the killing, saying Karilov was a, quote, target because he ran the Russian army's chemical weapons program. Tonight, in Russia, a prosecutor in a televised address calling Karelov's death a murder and terrorist act, former president and prime minister, Dmitri Medvedev, calling on colleagues

to stand in honor of the general and urging investigators to find the killers. All of it comes after President-elect Trump again called for a deal to end the war. We've got to stop it. It's carnage. Tonight, Russian security officials are under pressure to explain an assassination so close to the Kremlin. This week, President Putin will face questions from journalists and the public. He'll inevitably be asked about today's killing. Tom? OK, Keir Simmons first, Keir, we thank you for that. For more on how Ukraine could have carried out this assassination and what it means for the larger war.

I want to bring in Michael Allen, a former senior director at the National National. Security Council and Majority Staff Director on the House Intelligence Committee. Michael, thanks for joining Top Story once again. It's great to have you tonight. I want you to walk our viewers through how you think possibly this happened, right? The planning and the execution, what type of surveillance it takes to pull off something like this for Ukraine to take out one of the top Russian generals on their home turf? Tom, Ukraine has shown itself throughout this war to have a very skilled intelligence service. I think in this instance, they likely hacked into the general's headquarters computers,

tried to figure out his schedule, generally speaking, where would he be and when. Of course, there was likely a lot of on-the-ground surveillance as well to establish a pattern of life. Where does he go? Where does he sleep? Where would he be the most vulnerable? And I think it took a very sophisticated bomb maker to build such a explosive device, that could be fit into a scooter and project outward and to kill him and his assistant, as the case may be, but to otherwise limit a lot of the collateral damage. So a very professional operation by the Ukrainians. On that issue of the bomb maker, do you think a bomb like this would have to be built in Moscow because it's so sensitive or is this something they could have imported

in from across Ukraine? I think they could have built it and designed it in Ukraine, but I bet the safest thing for them to do was to do the lion's share of the work inside of Moscow, which says to me that the Ukrainians have safe houses and other locations that they feel like they can access. They likely have agents all over the place, and they very likely want to be able to plan an egress route to escape as soon as possible after the bomb went out. And Michael, I want to remind our viewers, I want to put this graphic up for them. This is not the first time that Ukraine has been able to do something like this, right? right? It's killed several Russian leaders and those close to them, both inside Russia

and in the occupied territories of Ukraine and Crimea, including car bombings that took out a Russian naval officer, a senior commander of Russia's fleet in the Black Sea, and the daughter of a Russian nationalist. What does this tell you about Ukraine and what they're able to pull off? I think Ukraine is sending a larger message, and they have been, I believe, for months, that the Russians are not safe anywhere. They are going to bring the fight. to you. They are going to take the most egregious actors in the Russian officer corps and target them for assassination. And in fact, Tom, even the Ukrainian intelligence service might have been in Syria to ensure that the Russians lost as they tried to protect the Assad

regime last year and there are reports of Ukrainian intelligence officers occasionally in Africa to target Wagner, the Putin-aligned soldiers. of fortune. So I think they're saying we're going to go after you anywhere in the globe and you are not safe because you invaded our territory. Finally, the big picture here, right, Michael, because I mean, this comes at a time when we had Zelenskyy, right? Go to Paris to meet with President-elect Trump, to try to get to some type of peace deal with Russia to end this war. And now you have this major move by Ukraine. And I also want to point out the video that we've been showing, it has a watermark that says RT, that is from a Russian new.

agency, which shows that Russia does not want the world not to know about this. They want the world to know about this because it fuels the war. It keeps, it gives them another reason to keep attacking Ukraine. So how does this, how does this play into, you know, the hope that some had for peace in that area? Well, I think Ukraine partisans are probably cheering, but here in the United States, as Trump prepares to take office, we're really aware of him not wanting Ukraine to escalate matters too much. President Trump said in the press conference, yesterday. He disagreed with the Biden administration position to allow missiles to range deeply into Russian territory. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if some in the Trump camp looked at this

and said, you know what, this is unduly escalatory and it's not in tune with what Trump wants to do, which is to be able to strike a peace deal between Zelensky and Putin very soon. Michael, do you think the attack was worth it for Zelensky? I think it's good for him to just demonstrate to his people, that he is in the fight, and that they are carrying against it, carrying it against the Russians on all fronts. But he has to begin to look at the politics of this in the United States and chart a way forward where it looks like Putin is the obstacle to peace, not him. And if he's seen escalating all the time, I think people are going to be more likely to say, hey, Zelensky, you're the one that's keeping this war going.

A pleasure to talk to you. We thank you for joining Top Story tonight. Thank you. Still ahead tonight, the crackdown on black market weight loss drugs. An NBC News exclusive, a look at a raid in Tennessee where a mother is accused of mixing and selling fake drugs, drugs that are so popular right now all over the country, what police found inside that house and the serious health risk to those who take them. Plus, body cameras no longer just for law enforcement, why Walmart is having some of their employees test out the devices. Stay with us. Okay, we're back now with an exclusive look at the exploding black market for weight loss

drugs. With some brand names like OZempic and Wagovi retailing for more than $1,000 a month, there's a growing illegal trade offering steep discounts. Our NBC news team there as law enforcement and Tennessee raided one home lab where they allege a woman sold and even mixed some of the medications herself. NBC's Aaron McLaughlin has this report. The West Tennessee Drug Task Force is used to taking down hardened criminals, but this is a first. Today's target, a single mom, believed to be selling black market weight loss drugs. What investigators say they find inside is shocking. 330 vials labeled semaglutide and tersempatide, as well as several drugs yet to be approved by the FDA.

John Carter is the director of the task force. She's mixing them here? Yes. How is she doing that? She's getting them in a powder base, and then she's making them into a liquid base, and then selling them. NBC News was granted exclusive access to the raid. The culmination of a two-month-long criminal investigation sparked by public complaints that 41-year-old Emily Arnold was selling suspiciously cheap weight-loss drugs online. Have you been selling counterfeit weight-loss drugs?

What you have to ask? Anything you'd like to say? Drugs that cost $1,000 were listed for less than 200. We've made several undercover buys. She mixed it all for us into syringes. We sent those off for testing. They tested for nothing on the first one. So she was selling nothing?

Nothing. $185 worth of nothing. The second one, however, does appear to be legitimate. It was a good counterfeit. A good counterfeit, yeah. Arnold has been charged with four felonies and a misdemeanor, including impersonating a licensed professional. Her attorney tells NBC News she will plead not guilty.

Investigators allege Arnold's illicit business went beyond this one house and that the vials she was mixing herself were also being sold to unsuspecting patients elsewhere. Investigators just served a warrant to this wellness clinic. They're alleging it's one of Emily Arnold's many customers here in Tennessee and possibly beyond. Investigators say they traced over 350 vials, found it two wellness, clinics back to Arnold. The owner of those clinics who hasn't been charged told them she believed Arnold was selling legitimate drugs. Are you going to notify your patients now that you know? Absolutely. According to investigators, the clinics owner said they would buy from Arnold when their

supply ran out. Their patients had no idea that they were being given black market drugs. They had no idea. That's shocking. If I'm a customer or a client, I'm going to be angry. If you're a weight loss patient, how do you have confidence in what you're injecting? You don't. Experts point to a growing and potentially harmful wave of black market weight loss drugs, driven by high prices and a nationwide obesity epidemic. The question, just how many illicit operations are out there. Aaron McLaughlin joins us now in studio.

So Aaron, what stands out to me is that they were buying this drug for less than $200 and it sometimes goes for as much as a thousand. How can people know, right, if they're getting a drug like Ozempic or Wagovi from the black, black market and it's not the real actual drug they hope to buy. Well, it's important here to draw the distinction between a counterfeit version of this drug and a compounded version of the drug. Compounded drugs are approved currently by the FDA, given the supply shortages associated with many of these weight loss drugs, they are provided by licensed pharmacists.

Counterfeit drugs are not. They're individuals in their homes and other locations that are not licensed, not regulated, that are simply making these drugs and then selling them. So how can you protect yourself? Make sure that you're going to licensed doctors, getting a licensed prescription from a licensed pharmacist. It's very important. And then, you know, there are victims in this case.

How can regulators, how can officials learn if there were side effects to these sort of bad drugs or fake drugs, if you will? Well, this is very much an ongoing investigation. Authorities are looking into this specifically as it relates to those two clinics that are now shut down. They have set up a hotline, an email address for patients of those clinics to be able to reach out. According to investigators, so far, they've received 40 emails of individuals reporting adverse side effects, side effects ranging from rashes to pain at the injection site. All of that's still very much part of this investigation. Remember, the owner of those two

clinics that's now shut down. She claims that she didn't know she was purchasing counterfeit drugs. Okay. Erin McLaughlin, always great to have you. We thank you for that. When we come back, blinded on the bridge, intense fog, leading to several pile-up crashes on the longest bridge in the country. So what happened here? We'll walk you through it. Stay with us. Okay, welcome back. Time now for Top Stories News Feed, an update on those two NASA astronauts stuck in space. NASA announced an mission to bring those astronauts home, Butch Wilmore, Sunni Williams' home is delayed once again. They will not be able to leave the International Space Station until the end of March at the earliest. The two arrived in June, and their mission

was only supposed to be about one week, but NASA sent their Starliner capsule back empty because of safety concerns. Okay, lawyers for Derek Chauvin will be allowed to examine George Floyd's heart tissue. A Minnesota judge granting Chauvin's team permission to examine a heart tissue and fluid samples from Floyd's autopsy. The motion is part of the of Chauvin's appeal of his 2022 federal civil rights conviction. The Minnesota Star Tribune reporting, Chauvin says his original defense attorney didn't tell him that a forensic pathologist doubted that he caused Floyd's death. Chauvin's new team looking for evidence of a medical condition that could have caused Floyd's

death instead. Okay, Walmart adding body cams to their employee uniforms. CNBC learning that Walmart is piloting a program to give store-level workers body cams. The retail giant saying the cameras are intended to keep. keep staff safe, not as a theft deterrent. The program only being tested in at least one Texas store right now. No word from the company on when the program might be expanded to other stores. Body cams are being used by other retail chains.

And a Christmas tree fire hazard, light controllers sold by popular retailers being recalled over potential fires. Here's how it looks. These Christmas tree light controllers sold at Cracker Barrel, Target, and Walmart. They've been recalled after fire and 10 reports of overheating. The remote includes a switch and a plug for the lights. Thankfully, no injuries were reported from the fire, and consumers can return it for a full refund. For more information, you can check out the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's website.

Okay, next to those drones, those mysterious drones, and as holiday travel picks up, the federal authorities and law enforcement officials are taking steps to reassure the public that there is no known threat on the ground or in the air. Here's NBC's Tom Costello, who's been following this. heading into yet another record-breaking travel crush. The FAA is tonight reminding drone operators they must adhere to strict flight regulations.

The FAA works every day to make sure everyone in the airspace operates together. Amid thousands of reported drone sightings and facing a loss of public confidence, a rare joint statement from the FBI Homeland Security, DOD and the FAA that most sightings are a combination of hobbyist drones and law enforcement drones. as well as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones. We know that there's no national security threat. We know there's no public safety threat. Drones have exploded in popularity. More than one million registered across the country. Despite 2,000 drone flights every week over New York, the NYPD reports no suspect activity. But New Jersey Governor Murphy says states need more authority to deal with drones.

It is extraordinary to me that the nation is great. is ours. Has the deficiencies that we have now seen in living color as it relates to drone incursions. Commercial drones are used every day by emergency responders, utility crews, building and bridge inspectors, farmers, news crews, and cinematographers like Cizzo Media in New York. Drones are 100% critical in our business, and they will become very critical in many other industries that aren't even thinking about it. Okay, we thank Tom Costello for that. We want to turn out to a story that popped on our radars today, and it involves the weather. Dangerous fog in New Orleans causing multiple car crashes on the Causeway Bridge in New Orleans.

That fog, you see it here in closing down the 24-mile-long bridge connecting the north and south shores of southeast Louisiana's Lake Pontchartrain. This is the New Orleans area. That bridge known as the Causeway, one crash involved more than 11 cars, more than 50 total vehicles, wrecked at least 20 people hurt. for more in this terrifying situation. I'm joined now by NBC News meteorologist Bill Cairns. And Bill, the bridge is the longest continuous bridge over water in the world, right? But it's also incredibly narrow, making it so dangerous if you're stuck on it. What led up to these pile-ups?

Yeah, 24 miles long. Here's New Orleans, and there's the other side of the Manderville here. So this is the actual bridge. Two lanes going north, two lanes going south. You can drive 65 miles per hour. So this morning, when people woke up in New Orleans, sunny, clear. No problems whatsoever. But as they went northwards, now it's going to change us to a black and white image.

The white shows you where the clouds and fog is, where it's black that shows you where there's, you know, sunny skies, no clouds. So everyone driving north at 65, all of a sudden got into this fog bank in the middle here, and there started being chain reaction accidents. As soon as one car had an accident or it got rear-ended, then they just started building up. And that's why we ended up with 50-some vehicles involved in these. And it wasn't just northbound. It was also the southbound lanes also that was affected. and then the fog burned off about an hour or two after these accidents, and that was it, Tom. Yeah, and Bill, it's interesting, right, because I've driven on this bridge several times.

I mean, it's a low-profile bridge, and you think of yourself, you know, why is this so dangerous? It's a bridge. There's literally nowhere you can go with your car, and they've had several accidents in the past. And one of the first questions, everyone was like, well, did any cars go over the railing? Did any cars plunge into the water? Because going back in the past, that's happened over a dozen times, and there's been numerous fatalities because of it. a graphic that show you just, you know, about a million people use that bridge every single month. And typically in the year, there's about 100 to about 150 vehicle accidents, and a lot of

those time are the rear-end collisions. But they did make dramatic improvements. And so since then, they've had no cars go over the railings. So maybe you can feel a little safer going across that bridge. And then, Bill, you know, is there a chance for fog issue tomorrow? And I guess the bigger question is, is there no kind of weather technology that can warn drivers of this, that the fog is suddenly moving in, or does that not exist yet? Today was very isolated and localized, which makes it difficult. Tomorrow morning, we have fog advisories from Houston to Victoria to Lake Charles to New Orleans to Baton Rouge. So we know there's going to be a very foggy, very dangerous morning.

When you wake up tomorrow morning in these areas, you're going to see the alerts on your phone. So you know if you're driving in areas that are dangerous, like the Causeway Bridge and the fog, you'll know about it. But today, Tom, it was very isolated. It was not a big patch of fog. It was just a really bad situation. and a lot of the drivers couldn't do anything about it. Even the deputies that were responding ended up getting in accidents too because they got rear-rending just people couldn't see them.

Bill Cairns, we appreciate you for breaking that down for us. Okay, now to Top Story's Global Watch. We start with the massive earthquake striking Vanuatu in the South Pacific. The quake rattled the island nation's capital, triggering landslides and aftershocks, flying debris crushed buildings and cars. At least 14 people are dead and hundreds more injured. rescuers are searching for people trapped underneath that rubble. And rescuers in northeast Italy have found a woman trapped in a cave for several days.

This new video, Justin, shows the woman wrapped in blankets and on a stretcher as they try to get her to the surface. Authorities say the 32-year-old woman, who is an expert cave explorer, was injured after falling 16 feet during an expedition on Saturday. Authorities say she has fractures to her face, ribs, and knees. And singer Adele facing some legal trouble as a Brazil judge, ruled her song a million years ago must be pulled from the airwaves in an ongoing plagiarism case. A composer claimed Adele copied his song in a $160,000 lawsuit. The judge ruling the Brazilian Sony and Universal subsidiaries must stop her song's distribution and marketing or be fined $8,000 per act of noncompliance. The music labels are not commenting just yet on this case.

Next tonight, it's one of the most surprising headlines to come out of Syria in the fall of Bashar al-Assad. The rebel fighters who took control uncovering evidence of a massive drug network that the Assad regime was behind, raiding labs and manufacturing centers. Inside, they found this vast stockpiles of an illegal methamphetamine-like drug called Captagon. Some of the pills hidden in fruits and electronics, those drugs part of what was likely the most profitable drug smuggling network in the Middle East. That's right. Not only was the side of brutal dictator, he was apparently an alleged drug kingpin. For more on this, I'm joined by Caroline Rose. She's the director of strategic blind spots at the New Lions Institute, a New York-based policy group. So, Caroline, I want to play these videos of the rebels and sort of walk our viewers through what exactly is happening here.

So the rebels come in, they're trying to expose the regime for selling these drugs. And what are we seeing here? Walk us through this. So really what we're seeing is some of the largest industrial scale facilities that the... the regime was operating inside of former regime-held territories in Syria, like Latakia, like the outskirts of Damascus, like Duma. And ultimately, we've seen the Assad regime, many family members of Bashar al-Assad, his own brother even, really engage in operating these facilities and producing this amphetamine-type stimulant.

And we see them, like, hidden in wire bundles inside of computers, inside fruits. They would basically hide them anywhere and then ship them out of space. Exactly. Exactly. Find fake fruits or even real fruits, vegetables, machinery, really anything that they could get their hands on to essentially trick law enforcement officials. Most of our viewers probably just like I have, our producers, I'd never heard of Captagon. What exactly is it?

So Captagon is an amphetamine-type stimulant. It's much like Adderall-Ridolin. It used to be a licit drug, essentially prescribed by doctors from the 1960s to the 1980s. But after it was scheduled by the World Health Organization in the mid-1980s, it became an illicit substance. And it's been used across different demographics, primarily in the Middle East, by partygoers for recreational purposes, but also by truck drivers, university students, those populations that are food insecure. Because Captagon really allows you to stay up late. It allows you to stave meals, as well as it induces this euphoria life. But it's incredibly dangerous, right?

highly addictive? Absolutely. It's very addictive and long-term usage can induce psychosis. It can induce a myriad of cardiovascular and pulmonary issues. And is it true that this was Syria's most valuable export? One of, and I think perhaps one of the most valuable illicit exports that the Syrian regime heavily relied upon, up to around $2.4 billion the regime was estimated to make from Capiton production. What did that do to keep Assad in power? It very, very much kept the seams together for as long as it could. But I think that what we've seen... Exactly, fund his regime, fund his regime, fund their weaponry, ensure that recruitment levels stayed at least, you know, stable for as long as it could. But ultimately, it didn't save

Bashar al-Assad or his regime. So what happens next, right? Because we saw the rebels there and they were getting rid of the drug, they were burning them, throwing them down the sewer. What happens? Will somebody else sort of take the trade on with the supply that's still there, do you think? So given the fact that the Syrian regime and regime held areas, it was responsible for around over 80% of Capdagon production and smuggling. We're likely going to see an immediate halt in a large-scale Capiton production. But that doesn't mean that the Capiton trade will stop entirely. I think what we'll see is a spillover into other transit countries like Iraq, like Turkey, like Lebanon, Egypt. And we actually have a map, I think, of what?

where all the drugs were being sent from Syria right here. I mean, it pretty much goes all over the Middle East and all over Europe, right? Exactly, exactly. And I think what we've seen, or at least over the last two to three years, a lot of these illicit trafficking networks, they've already started to set up shop and set up network, set up facilities in some of these neighboring transit countries. And so as a result, I think that these are going to be the next stop,

so to speak, for these illicit trafficking networks. All right, Caroline Rose, we thank you for here and explain. so it was something we had not heard about just yet. I'm sure we're going to keep covering it. All right, coming up, the last chance of survival, doctors using a genetically modified pig kidney in hopes of saving one woman's life. Could this groundbreaking operation be a game changer

for organ transplants? Stay with us. We are back now with Top Stories Health Check and a potentially groundbreaking operation. More than 100,000 people are waiting right now for organ transplants in this country. But there are not nearly enough donors to satisfy that need. The solution, it might actually be found in pigs.

When Georgia grandmother, now the fifth person to receive an organ transplant from a genetically modified pig, NBC's Valerie Castro, explains. Tijuana Luni is hopeful she has a new chance at life. The 53-year-old grandmother from Gatson, Alabama, underwent an intense seven-hour surgery last month to transplant a genetically modified pig kidney into her body after battling kidney failure for eight years. I'm taking the clamp off the artery,

and it should be nice and pink. Yeah. It's beautiful. I don't settle for what else. I don't settle for nose. I keep trying. And I thank God, Dr. Locke didn't give up on me all these years. It was an operation of last resort.

Luni actually donated one kidney to her mother in 1999. I was watching her suffer and fight for life. But high blood pressure during a later pregnancy damaged her remaining kidney, which ultimately failed in 2016, landing Luni on dialysis. As a prior donor, Luni was given priority on the transplant list, but very high levels of antibodies in her blood complicated her case. And basically what that means is it's really, really hard, almost impossible to find a completely compatible transplant.

I think we did. Looney's medical teams in Alabama and New York got special FDA clearance to use a gene-edited pig kidney from a Virginia-based biotech company. We used a pig that has 10 gene edits, four knockouts, and six human trans genes are basically where we put a human gene

into the pig genome so that her human proteins will interact efficiently with the kidney. She's only the fifth person in the United States to receive a gene-edited pig organ. Four others died within months of the transplants. A risk, Luni says, her doctors made clear. And she explained to me the odds because this is new territory for everybody, even me, even her. And I said, I still want to do it. Doctors say Looney is not as sick as those prior patients post-operation,

which means her surgery could be groundbreaking. And what is unique about this particular case? This is the first time that a kidney with those 10 specific mutations has been transplanted, and that's why the transplant community is really following this closely to see the results and to see if this is feasible for another patient. A bit of hope for Looney, and for the 100,000 people in the U.S. waiting for an organ. I want everybody, everybody to see it can be done.

Okay, Valerie Castro joins us now. Valerie, the patient is Tijuana Looney. How is she doing tonight? Well, Tom, tonight she is actually back in the hospital, but that is part of her ongoing treatment program. Doctors want to watch closely to make sure there are no signs that her body is rejecting this organ, and they will be continuing to adjust her medication

while she's under observation. And then what are people saying as far in the medical community about this experimental surgery. It is experimental. And so one of the risks that have been raised is, could there be a possible contamination when you're introducing an organ from an animal that is not human? They could be susceptible to other viruses. Could they be transferred to humans? That is a big concern and something that is being watched closely. Yeah, they're going to have to wait and see. And then hopefully, as she says, this will provide hope to all those people on the organ transplant

list. Valerie, we thank you for that. And we will be right back. Finally, tonight, I look at some of the most iconic holiday displays of the season. It may not be a white Christmas here in New York City, but it sure is a winter wonderland. Chloe Malas traveled all over Manhattan to show us this year's best and brightest. More than 7 million people are expected to descend upon New York City this holiday season to try and catch a glimpse of some of the city's famous festive landmarks. The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, the Radio City Rockettes, and the famous Fifth Avenue. window displays. These dazzling displays started in 1874 with Macy's, and since then, department

stores have followed suit, from Bergdorf Goodman to Bloomingdale's, even Louis Vuitton getting in on the fun this year, transforming an entire building into luxury luggage. But one department store is pulling back, Saks Fifth Avenue canceling their iconic light show that's wowed visitors for two decades. A SAC spokesperson writing in a statement, it's instead celebrating the season by honoring the architectural significance of this iconic building. But there's one department store right up the road that's pulling out all the stops, Nordstrom, even inviting their window gazers inside. People come from all over the world to stereotypically Fifth Avenue around the holidays,

but we are not on fifth right now. We're on 57th and Broadway. So how are you guys drawing people off fifth to come to Nordstrom here? I mean, I think that New York, because it is such a destination for the holidays, And I think anybody who comes here either as a tourist or even if you're a local, the city has always been about discovering. Nordstrom's Olivia Kim taking us inside their Wonder All the Way experience. And you might hear a familiar voice or two. Some people just don't understand.

And that's because John Waters and Fran Drescher voice a life-size display, gossiping lipsticks, and drizzle the anxious umbrella. So is the idea to have these larger-than-life inflatables that talk, is it to get kids and parents in here? It's for everyone. You know, I think it's when you look at something this big, it's that instant feeling of when you were a kid and things were small, right? And what that feels like, that feeling of wonder, that feeling of magic, and being a kid again, it's certainly going to be inspiring for kids, but we're finding adults engaging just as much.

And we even got a chance to see Santa himself. Hi, Santa. How are you? One trend that's growing in Manhattan are bars dripping in holiday decor. and holiday decor with weeks-long waiting lists and lines out the door. So we decided to check one out for ourselves. Blitzin's bar at the Omni Berkshire Place in Midtown Manhattan, who said their concept is so popular that within 30 minutes, every seat is filled. It's a holiday explosion in here. This year, they've partnered with Julie Rainer from Netflix's Drinkmasters. Come inside

festive cocktails, because it gets nuts out there. There's so many people, and, you know, to be able to kind of tuck in and have a delicious string is amazing. And in case you're looking to mix up a cocktail of your own, she's got tips. I would recommend batching your cocktails and making a punch. I think having a non-alcoholic option for your friends who maybe are not imbibing, really fun garnishes. You know, you want to have something that is not too difficult to make, but something tasty. One thing's for sure. It all might be too much to see in a New York minute, but there's definitely something for everyone in the city that never sleeps. Chloe Malas, NBC News, New York.

Looking forward to some of that holiday punch or maybe some eggnog. We thank Chloe Malas for that story, and we thank you for watching tonight. I'm Tom Yamason, New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.