♪ for safe and secure ways to stay connected, visit usps.com/mail the annual enrollment period ends december 7th. we can help answer your questions. call unitedhealthcare medicare solutions. hello, everyone. i'm don lemon here in the cnn newsroom. thank you for joining us. we will begin with this. it was born out of necessity and created during the debt ceiling crisis but the super committee in washington made up of six republicans and six democrats from both the house and congress may have been doomed from the start. they are down to the final hours of their self imposed deadline

on coming up with a plan for the deficit. at this hour, things really don't look good. our congressional correspondent kate baldwin is standing by. she's in the capitol building now. kate, congress, washington, missing deadlines becoming all too familiar. where do we stand now? >> i think we can say, don, at best the super committee is on the brink of failure as talks have all but fallen apart. especially in the last, i would say maybe 24 hours really. the question, the conversation is now kind of how and when the committee is likely to make its formal announce they have failed versus they are near some kind of agreement and could be making an announcement anytime soon. of course there can be a hail mary pass at the 11th 0 hour but with such little time left it seems unlikely the committee will be able to reach any sort

of agreement and more likely they have failed. evidence of that, don, just listen to the dramatic shift in tone among committee members themselves. they fanned out on the sunday morning talk shows and their tone and what they are talking about and focusing on, shifting from not pushing for agreement and pushing for a deal and we're hopeful to who should be to blame if when the committee fails. let's listen here. >> nothing new came out of this from the democratic side the same thing, raise taxes pass the president's jobs bill and on the other side a new concept of tax reform which could generate revenue from the upper brackets for a deficit reduction. >> the truth at this point today, democrats have made some tough decisions and come to some pretty tough choices that we're willing to put on a line, on entitlements and spending cuts

but only if the republicans are willing to cross the line on the bush tax cuts and be willing to say revenues have to be part of the solution. >> both sides clearly blaming the other for being inflexible and not being able to reach agreement around the minimum required amount of deficit savings of $1.2 trillion over ten years. the talks largely breaking down over the same issue that held up these negotiations throughout the entire process, which is the issue of taxes. tax democrats insist that revenue tax increases need to be part of any deal as it needs to be part of a quote unquote balanced approach as they like to call it to deficit savingsing. republicans are much opposed to tax increases unless they are part of an overall broader tax reform process. and that's really where the talks broke down early on and no matter how they worked it seems that's what held up in the process. >> you say the talks broke down

early on. were committee members ever close to an agreement or just as divide as congress itself? >> i will tell you, in talking throughout the months they have been together and working, i fold it closely. close aides have told me they have been working hard. even members themselves have told me quietly there were glimmers of hope and moments where they were close. they thought they had the elements of what could be a deal and they had to give a little bit here or there and they thought negotiations would come together. in the end it comes down to they are taking on the tough stuff. that's why the committee was set up to begin with. the issues of entitlement reform and taxing and sending cuts is an issue that held up the congress and congresses before it. that's why it is so hard and it seems that this committee was not able in the end, really, to overcome the hurdle of these very tough issues that are principal differences between democrats and republicans on how to reduce the deficit and run congress. >> this is one story we will pay

close attention to at this time. thank you very much. when the first group of religious leaders gathered in washington to support government spending on the poor. prayer rally was held across from the white house. they called on super committee members to come up with a plan that preserves programs for children and others who rely on government assistance. what's if the super committee comes up short and fails to reach a deal? more than $1 trillion in automatic cuts will kick in but won't happen right away. lisa dejar din explains. >> look at where it could fall. aviation business in virginia. >> on the outside it looks like a normal plane and on the inside this is equivalent of r2-d2. >> it is a drone made for u.s.

defense and across the board cuts hitting the pentagon in 2013 could hit this aircraft and business, too. >> the employees are incredibly nervous. i think everybody is. in a small business it is a hand-to-mouth kind of thing. >> let's stop here. specifics super committee failure triggers 8 to 9% in automatic cuts for the defense department. but cuts would hit social programs that help the poor and other places like border patrols and hurricane readiness because the nondefense side of government gets an 8 to 9% cut also. some call it catastrophic. the kato institute says something else. >> if there is no deal, taxpayers win. there are automatic reductions in the projected growth of government spending. >> reporter: how much red ink would it stop. >> the maximum amount it could be under the law is 1.2 trillion

over nine years and obviously that is a lot of money. >> hold it there. that is the federal budget expert. he said 1.2 trillion in automatic cuts. sounds like a lot? >> but over a nine-year period it is not that great. >> reporter: the bottom line, back at aurora flight services, john langdon worries that it looks like across the board cuts that will knife defense but barely scratch the debt problem. >> as we talk about bringing overall spending down you have to do it wiedsly. >> reporter: there is another possibility. across the board cuts coming don't in until 2013. so congress would have a year to water them down. if they did it could have repercussions on wall street and extend the messy debate in to a messy campaign year. cnn, captiol hill. >> thank you very much. the final word on the super committee belongs to will cane and lz granderson and they will join me to talk about this and

other headlines. egypt's revolution isn't over. hundreds of soldier and police stormed ta ta here square today. demonstrators fled in the face of tear gas and what sounded like gun fire. ten people have been killed in the square so far, according to the health ministry. hundreds have been injured. the military insists it will transfer power back to civilians and parliamentary elections will be held later this month. protesters are upset about the slow pace of reform and the possibility the military will try to operate outside government control. libyan national transition said they have capped moammar gadhafi's brother in law and a figure in the regime.

. he is the highest profile detainee and captured on saturday in the desert. libyans insist it will bring him to justice as they insist he should be sent to the hague. did you see this video? campus police at the university of california davis pepper spraying occupy protesters. new information on this story and fallout from this incident in the last couple of hours.

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to report the chons lar's response to this incident at. they are putting two officers on leave as they pepper sprayed

occupy protesters at point blank range on friday night. it was caught on tape sparking outrage. the university say that's were trying to clear out the occupy encampment and felt trapped by ro testers. 11 required treatment and two hospitalized. protesters and faculty members are calling on the school's chan lohr to resign. last night, dozens of students gathered nearby, their arms linked in silent protests. earlier in the evening, they were much more vocal with their demands forrer the chancellor's resignation. . >> take responsibility! take responsibility! >> she is refusing to resign and while she calls the police action chilling and unacceptable, she told me last night the students encampment was raising security concerns. >> we have an event that i hope we will not really see again in our campus. we have been in the last 2 1/2

weeks dealing with student unrest. our students are very upset. they are very frustrated. and they are trying to find ways to express this frustration. on thursday, they tried to -- they created a camp, they set up a camp which is against university police policy for a number of reason, safety is the main concern and health. >> the university set up a task force made up of students, faculty and staff to investigate the incident. a report is expected within the next 30 days. we have news that is just in to cnn. literally just in. reading it straight from the wires here. we are learning from cnn that mayor bloomberg will be holding a press conference at 7:30 p.m. tonight. he will be joined by police commissioner ray kelly and d.a.

van. we are told this is terrorism related. new york city mayor michael bloomberg holding a press conference concerning terrorism. this is concerning and important because of the holiday season coming up. new york has three big airports la guardia,ing newark and kennedy but also, again we don't know exactly what it is, except that it is terrorism related we will carry it here on cnn. stay tuned. the super committee charged with cutting the deficit hours away from announcing it has failed. is this further proof that washington is broken and can't be fixed? which party is to blame? both, none. we're discussing it in two minutes. what do you mean? it ends december 7th. if you haven't reviewed your medicare plan choices yet, well, it's getting late. medicare gives you free cancer screenings and wellness visits, and 50% off brand name prescription drugs when you're in the donut hole... it's all part of the health care law.

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more information for you on press conference held at 7:30 p.m. eastern in new york city by new york city mayor bloomberg, also the police commissioner and district attorney vance. what cnn is confirming it is terrorism related and we will carry it at 7:30 p.m. eastern as soon as the mayor, police commissioner and district attorney get to the podium and start this press conference. don't know exactly what it is about. but we know it is terrorism related and of course it is a concern because the holiday weekend starting. travel is already started next week, starting monday going to be a big travel week. we want to know. a lot of people will be traveling in and out of the airports as well and in and out

of new york city. i will be one of them. we will update you as soon as we get more information on this. all right. to politics now, the super committee turns out to be not so super. apparently stalled with hours to go before its deadline to reach a deal on cutting the deficit. plus, republicans pounce on the president for using the word lazy in a discussion about the american economy and american workers. who better to talk about this than our regulars. there they go. we keep them separated even on the screen because they tend to go at it a lot. will cain and lz granderson. will and lz, are either of you surprised that the super committee won't be presenting us with a grand compromise to cut the deficit. lz first and then will? >> i don't think that anyone is surprised by it. when it was announced in the late sumer we thought it was a joke. we thought if they weren't able to get a debt ceiling done

before our credit rating dropped we weren't expecting months later to have a bipartisan discussion of what should be raised and cut. i'm not surprised. i don't think anyone is. >> are you in agreement, will? >> i'm not surprised. i don't know how you could be. to hang up a deficit reduction deal. it where are where we started from. >> lz grat democrats are using their republicans are defending tax cuts for the rich and democrats weren't coughing up ideas for spending cuts, were they? >> no. if you look at what the automatic cuts will be the 1.2 trillion if you have to say which side favors it more you would think democrats do. i think there's a level of disingenuine activity here. because if the cuts kick in most of the money is cut out of the military and that's that's a

liberal field-good moment. >> i want to say she pointing out something interesting here. there will be a lot of talk about republican -- on taxes. a democratic aide said the national conversation turned to inequality and not cutting. two democratic represents showed up disengaged from the process because they felt the automatic cuts were better than any of the ideas anyone would come up with. >> you know what the average person at home is wondering, why can't they agree? they are tired of one side blaming the other. they just want people to agree and get something done. let's move on. let's talk about laziness. the president used the word lazy on a snashl stage and he is taking heat from republican hopefuls. here's the discussion. >> we have been lazy the last

couple of decades. we have taken for granted people will want to come here and we aren't out there hungry selling america and trying to attract new businesses in to america. >> all right. so that's the remark. now perry is running an ad saying the president is wrong for calling americans lazy, but is that what the president did? here's two views. take a look. >> i actually agree he should have chosen a different word. it is a distortion of what he said but left him open to the attack. >> the ad was out of context and it is hard to defend the tone of the president's remarks on many things skated close to jimmy carter malaise speak. i think the tone is legit nate mate. it is hard for me to defend the use of that tape in that ad. >> it is fair to say the president's calling people lazy? >> i think we are focusing on the wrong word, don. i think the operative word from

the the phrase is we. who is he talking about we hen he said we have gotten lazy, if he is talking about the government, he has a misguide role of the government. it is to set the rules and step out of the way. if he means americans or american businesses i think he is treading on dangerous ground because that is the one trait that made america exceptional throughout our history. >> it may be tough. sometimes things are true in general but there are some remarks that you can't say outloud, will. do you think it is fair the president said that and was he really talking about the american people, per se? >> that's what i just said. i don't know. >> lz. >> did i say will, i meant lz you did. >> as far as i'm concerned it is a shame the president's words were taken out of context in

that ad. it is ridiculous. clearly it is not what he meant calling american workers lazy. there is something to be said over the fact we have gotten so used to seeming we are number one in everything that we don't stop and look at our efforts in everything. i think that is important for us to do. i will give an example. i recently wrote a story on espn and i looked at the college graduation rates and i was shocked to see the u.s. per capita was 13th in the world in terms of college degrees in the population. 13th. so we snipped in a lot of place answer we need to talk about that. if you need to hear things like we are lazy or not as educated to shake things up i think that is a good thing. >> thank you very much. the next thing i was going to say is just for you. i en joyed seeing jon huntsman last night. this is for you, lz on snl because he showed personality and people probably liked him because he was funny.

lz has been talking about jon huntsman f months. he's on the jon huntsman bandwagon. jon huntsman is a cob servetive and lz is a liberal. >> you are doing jon huntsman a lot of favors there. >> there's time in television. can't get everything in there. >> jon huntsman is going to get his turn to be number one. watch. >> we will see. happy turkey to both of you. the hour's top stories ahead after the break. and the penn state sex abuse scandal. one of the questions that keeps lingering, how much did joe paterno know about the alleged crime? senior investigative reporter jon wertheim will join us live. sanjay gupta launched a new program called "the next list" it will profile people from all fields of endeavor and walks of life. he talks to a cab driver turned award winning perfumer.

>> i can remember scent very, very accurately, which i'm told from even like really excellent researcher at the monell center that people can't do this. which i can't imagine how they can't. i can pull them and arrange them in my head without doing anything physically. >> tune in on sundays to watch the next list or zest set your dvr for 2:00 p.m. eastern. you ready for your present? yeah.

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want to cut back on fat and not compromise on taste? try smart balance fat free milk. it's what you'd expect from the folks at smart balance. just this to cnn, a press conference at 7:30 p.m. eastern. 7:30 p.m. eastern in new york city. it will be held by the mayor michael bloomberg and the police commissioner and the manhattan district attorney. this is a live picture of manhattan that you are looking at. cnn is confirming that the mayor is going to hold a press conference. the only thing, the only information we have gotten about this press conference is that it is terror related. it is terrorism related. so we will carry it for you live in an hour here on cnn when the mayor, the police commissioner and the manhattan d.a. step up top the mic and give a press

conference in new york city on terrorism. meantime, we want to check the headlines. the congressional super committee given the job of coming up with a plan to cut the deficit by more than a trillion dollars over the next decade looks headed to failure. there's been no final decision but sources tell cnn that an end to the talks could be announced tomorrow. without an deal, automatic cuts across the board in spending will go in to effect in 2013. overseas in cairo ten people were killed in clashes between police and protesters. running battles began when soldiers and police charge in tahir square. pro-democracy activists worry the military will try to keep its grip on power. they vow to transfer power to the new president after elections. syria is ignoring an arab league deadline to end the crackdown on pro democracy protesters. they say 12 people were killed

today. they want to send some 500 observers to damascus but syria balked at that plan and offered to accept 40 instead. president bashar al-assad says his country is battling militants not demonstrators. in philadelphia, two runners die today in the city's annual marathon. that's according to race officials. the causes of death have not been released. unlike other marathons a road race through downtown philadelphia is open to anyone. no prequalifications are required. a man whose sexual abuse claims are threatening to rock syracuse basketball team hits back after head coach boeheim called him a liar. a former ball boy is accusing bernie fine of molesting him hundreds of times over a 16-year period. davis' step brother mike lang says fine molested him when he was younger.

fine is on administrative leave as police investigate the actions. coach boeheim came out in support of fine calling davis a liar and accusing him of coming forward to get money. but davis says that boeheim can't possibly know what he is talking about. >> boeheim wasn't there with me and bernie. i don't know how he could say that. he one there. i mean how does he know what happened in bernie's house at night? maybe the thinks he knows bernie like a lot of other people do but they don't. how can he tell people he didn't do that to me. i don't know how you can say that when you weren't there. >> davis first accused fine in 2003, but police say they wouldn't pursue the case because the statute of limitations had expired. an internal investigation by the police cleared fine in 2005. he released a statement calling davis' claims patently false in every aspect. the syracuse allegations only add to the painful time in

college athlete ecks. the penn state news gets worse and worse. the alleged cover-up, fired administrators accused of looking the other way and joe paterno has been diagnosed with cancer. i want to bring in jon wertheim. a senior investigator for "sports illustrated." he's a regular on the show. his colleagues, david epistein had the cover of this week's issue and it is interesting. the headline, the failure and shame of penn state. good to see you again. this has become a horror story. let's start with joe paterno. you have been talking to a lot of people in state college, pennsylvania in recent days. have you talked to anyone at all who's close to the 235program a believes that joe paterno could not have known that former coach jerry sandusky was a threat to children. >> joe paterno has a lot of backers. one thing we have heard he was 75 years old at the time. he is a conservative man.

he country curse and doesn't have e-mail. and it didn't really process, it didn't crystallize. but you step back and look at the totality here. 1998, there was a report, 100-page police report that went to the local prosecutor alleging jerry sandusky of this, the notion that joe paterno never found out about this defied, it resists everything we know about coaching and common sense. ideally, eventually we will get a straight answer. i have a hard time believing before 2002 he didn't know. >> you can not -- that's like saying i didn't know about the law. you can't claim ignorance of the law. even though he is 75 and didn't have e-mail the buck stops with you. as you know, back in 2002 with, coach allegedly saw sandusky assaulting a child in the shower. the lone result of the decision is that sandusky was prohibited from bringing children on

campus. don't do it here among the graphic and horrifying details in the grand jury testimony. this point perhaps most damning. there were people aware of the allegations, including -- at any point why didn't anyone call police? >> that's the question we all want answered. obviously we would have saved some potential victims allegedly. we wouldn't be at the situation where we are right now. that was my big takeaway from the whole report. it wasn't until jerry sandusky left the confines of penn state football that the investigate got rolling. he had a incident and that kick started this. if he restricted thoims the penn state facilities there is nothing to suggest he would have ever gotten caught. >> here's the interesting thing. i wrote about it on cnn.com today. if this assistant football coach, this graduate student saw it happening and said he intervened that will come out in a report but why would he leave

a 10-year-old with a grown man maked in the shower. that's the whole thing for a lot of people, as well. >> again, he has his story and he sort of hinted we are not getting the full story. there are four different investigations afoot. hopefully we'll get straight answers. but i think you are right. that is something that sticks out. how could this have possibly sglapd a school trustee is leading an investigation and he says he will let the chips fall where they may. the ncaa investigating. we talked about that last week. in fact it got a little heated between us. what is the worst that could happen, no bowl game, football program suspended, something more serious? what? >> there is a death penalty. you and i disagree about jurisdictional issues but what if penn state came out and said this is so horrible and unprecedented it goes to the core and it is still evolving. we month don't know who, what

and when. we will finish out the season and play our game but 2012, we will step back. the players if they want to transfer them, we will release them and no football for 2012. you wouldn't want to say t it at state college but if i'm penn state i'm thinking of self sanctionening. keep the football program and change the power dynamic with the rest of the university. give it a rest for a year and see what happens. >> do you feel differently -- it seems like last week you didn't think so. you said other people in the team had nothing to do with it. as you are finding out more and time is going on, are you feeling differently about this? >> i was talking last week about jurisdictionally. does the ncaa have power to do this. but it is true that every day brings a new story. i can't get over how much is still left unknown. all sorts, this plot twists by the day. so what if you just said, you know what, until we know more it

is time to take a break from football. >> sir. happy holiday to you. >> thank you, tom. whether you are traveling for thanksgiving the holiday or friends and family are traveling to you don't want to flun to this. major snowstorm causing problems this evening. jacqui jeras has the weather conditions you need to know about next. stick around. it's electric. i don't think so. it's got a gas tank right here. electric tank, right over here. an electric tank? really, stu? is that what you pour the electricity in? it's actually both, guys. i can plug in and go 35 miles gas free, or i can fill up and go a whole lot farther. is that my burger? oh. i just got bun. i didn't even bite any burger.

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welcome back, everyone. just in to cnn, this is our developing news, new york city mayor michael bloomberg and the police commissioner and manhattan district attorney will hold a press conference at 7:30 p.m. eastern to be carried live here on cnn. what we do know is it is terrorism related. ray kelly, sigh vis vance, manhattan d.a. will join michael bloomberg in the press conference. don't want to go anywhere because we want to know what is going on leading up to the thanksgiving holiday. let's talk about the weather. it is from minnesota. the state's first major snowstorm of the season left up to a foot of snow in some places. state trooper had to guide a

snowplow through the traffic jam on 94. a wreck shut down the highway for about two hours. now the snow is moving out and rains are moving in. unbelievable, jackie. it is the first snowstorm. don't expect the first snowstorm to be that big. think it will be a little snowstorm. but this, leading up to the thanksgiving holiday, may provides some travel woes for a lot of folks. >> it will take a little bit to melt the 12 inches. so a little freeze going on. minnesota will be a problem. the system that caused the snow is stalling out. it is producing severe weather on the southern end of it. we have a severe thunderstorm watch in effect which includes dallas-ft. worth. large hail, damaging winds is the primary concern here. unfortunately, as the thing doesn't move, we will see the same weather the next couple of days. today is day one of about three days of seeing severe weather across the mid south.

as storms track over the same areas, we are talking about heavy rain. as much as three to five inches can be expected between now and wednesday. there's the threat of flooding to go with that. flash flood watches have been issued from eastern oklahoma to arkansas and in to western tennessee. now, let's take you through the next couple of days. this is what we are expecting on monday. look at that. san angelo to dallas near little rock expecting to see strong to severe thunderstorms possible. as we head in to tuesday, this is more the middle mississippi and tennessee river valley, possibly as far north as cincinnati. as we head in to wednesday, this is the big travel day, the number one travel day of the year, i do believe and we have a front up and down the east coast of the u.s. we could see a few thunderstorms becoming severe, i think in this area. we will have to watch for that. the delmar va to the carolinas and of course if you are traveling by the airways that is

a mess. in san francisco, delays over an hour and a lot of rain in los angeles, too. >> in los angeles. >> i know. it has been raining all day. >> thank you. we want to tell you, at the bottom of the screen, the live picture of new york city is because mayor bloomberg will hold a press conference. we just got the notice a short time ago here at cnn. only thing we know is it is related to terrorism. we will care it live. stay tuned. in the meantime it could be an interesting ride for 150,000 school kids. their buses may not be rolling. a live report after the break. i found one that uses robots instead of real people. 'cuz robots work for free. robot 1:good morning... robot 1:...female child. sfx: modem dial-up noise woman: are there flaws? yeah, um, maybe. anncr: there's an easier way to save. anncr: get online. go to geico.com. get a quote. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

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chase sapphire preferred, this is julie in springfield. update you on the developing news we have. cnn has confirmed that new york city mayor bloomberg is holding a news conference at 7:30 p.m. eastern. we will carry it live. it is terrorism related. apparently it must be at least of some seriousness because he will be joined by the police commissioner and the manhattan district attorney. as soon as the mayor holds his press conference at 7:30 p.m. eastern we will have it live here on cnn. more than 150,000 kids may not make it to school in new york city tomorrow. school bus drivers could go on

strike f the city doesn't promise to protect their jobs. we are joined live. what are you hearing? what are the odds of this happening? >> well, i spoke to the local union today and they said they don't have immediate plans for a strike, but they are leaving their option open. on friday they had criticism for the mayor's office saying the mayor's actions were making a strike likely. i spoke to the mayor's office today and they told me that last week they were informed that a strike was imminent but that they were not told when it would occur. mayor bloomberg saying if they do strike that this would be illegal and it would create a lot of chaos here. don? >> we know this is a very difficult situation for all of us, and we understand that it may be upsetting to our students and families. every parent or guardian must evaluate the needs of his or own child in terms of making the

best arrangement to transport the child to school. >> can -- ines, can you explain what the conflict here is exactly? >> yeah , it's really about jobs. what happened is the city issued a bid for bus services for pre-k students with special needs without some employee provisions, which would have basically guaranteed that the local union workers would have guaranteed those jobs. now, the city is saying they couldn't include those provisions in the bid. the union said their workers are experienced and they should be getting those jobs and they put out a statement saying when it comes to school children the mayor should be more concerned about safety, not just cutting costs, don? >> does the city have a contingency plan? what is the plan if the strike happens? >> yeah. they sent out letters to parents on friday and it includes

300,000 metro cards that would be available to students so they could get to school and they are used for the subways in new york city and also the public bus and also parents, some of the parents that drive their kids to school will be reimbursed for their drives and if they wanted to take their kids via taxi. >> thank you very much. we will be watching that one. it is one of the biggest casino cheating scams in u.s. history and caught on camera. we will look at how a black jack ring used a phony card shuffle to rake in millions. that's next after the break.

this just into cnn. new york city mayor michael bloomberg to hold a news conference, 7:30 p.m. eastern. we know that it is terrorism related. it is just over 30 minutes away and we're going to carry it for you live. you want to pay attention with the holiday season coming up, a lot of folks traveling in and out of new york city and through major airports there. we want to hear what the mayor, the police chief and also the manhattan district attorney have to say about this terrorism-related press conference that they're going to hold at 7:30 p.m. eastern. in other news now, as card cheats go, these guys were pros. they hit casino after casino. surveillance video showed how the team used high-tech

equipment, hand signals and slight of hand shuffling to rake in millions. but their luck ran out at the blackjack table in san diego. i spoke with george joseph, the founder of worldwide casino consulting. he's an expert on casino security. here's his demonstration of what they used. >> for the demonstration, you'll think that the cards are being shuffled. and this is called the riffle shuffle. and it looks as if the cards are mixed. and in fact, the cards are still in the same order. >> so nothing is mixed? >> nothing is mixed. if you knew the order of playing cards caming out in any round of play, you would have a big edge on the casino, you'd know how to bet on which side on a baccarat

game and the outcome of a blackjack game. >> so the false shuffle is one component. what did the others do? >> the others were betters and/or trackers and in some cases just locked up the table so some innocent player wouldn't sit down and mess up the order of the cards. >> so they reportedly hit 29 casinos and stole about $7 million. why did it take so long to catch them? >> that's a very good question. you know, given that virtually every one of their instances were on videotape. sometimes it's a lack of communication between the floor and the eyes. sometimes the false shuffle was so good that they didn't recognize it as a false shuffle. and until they got intelligence from other casinos and around and pieced it together. it took a while to put the thing together. >> it's almost like an "oceans 11" thing, george.

a lot of people tried to scam casinos. and this one, you said it was so successful, because sometimes false shuffle was so good. was it the number of people who were in on it? and does it have anything to do with technology? does technology help? you see the people speaking into their cigarettes there, or is it just people have to be in on it at the casino, with the dealer and the people working there? >> it's really kind of a combination of both. in the early days, you would memorize a group of cards in order and keep that order. then they moved to, as they said, tape recorders and microphones and hidden cameras and now cell phones. but what really made the scam for blackjack so profitable for the bad guys was the use of a computer program that allows you to put cards randomly into the -- excuse me -- into the computer program and then on the next round of play, it would tell you how many hands of play, how many cards to draw in order to break the dealer, and then adjust the number of hands to

play, so that technology wasn't available 30-some years ago when it first started. >> george joseph, thank you, sir. listen, we have some developing news here on cnn. just about 30 minutes, the mayor of new york city is going to come out and announce something that has to do with terrorism in his city. it is of some seriousness, we know, because he has the manhattan district attorney and also the police commissioner there. they will be standing by his side. i don't know if they'll be speaking at this particular press conference. but, again, you're looking at live pictures of new york city. that is columbus circle. a lot of people visit columbus circle, central park, that entire area a live shot of manhattan. a lot of people go to new york city and you see green and red, the empire state building there for the holidays as well, all dressed up. a lot of people will be going to new york city for the holidays, traveling through three major airports there. and in their subway system and on their mass transit as well. mayor michael bloomberg holding a press conference, 7:30 p.m.

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