>> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," august 17th, 2012. >> good evening, i'm bill weir. well, it wasn't just a crime of fashion, when yesterday, u.s. customs stopped a multi-million dollar haul of counterfeit designer high heels from china before it could enter los angeles. these knockoffs are only the tip of the iceberg, a sketchy industry worth an estimated $600 billion worldwide. phony designer swag that is not only sold on street corners but in high end shopping malls. abc's ryan owens brings us an encore presentation. >> reporter: they are the name brand fashionistas love to wear. gucci, prad day. but for every pair of real designer jeans, there are dozens of fakes for sale. it's a booming business for the bad guys, worth an estimated $600 billion a year. just yesterday, authorities in california confiscated more than 20,000 pairs of faux pumps, with a retail value of $18 million. >> these red-soled shoes were coming out of china. the genuine products are only made in italy. >> reporter: the fakes cost less than $3 to make. the genuine article sell for up to 6,000 bucks. these border control guys are trained to spot the difference. but this isn't just some high end fashion bust. the counterfeit business cost the u.s. economy $250 billion a year and 750,000 american jobs. and it's not just luxury clothes and shoes. imports range from perfume to luxury car parts to circuit boards destined for nasa. here at the long beach sea port, 14,000 containers come through every day. that's a shipment every seven seconds. >> with the volume of freight that we get here in los angeles, i believe that the smuggler is pretty sure if they send 20 containers, that a few of them are going to go through. >> reporter: so, it's nearly impossible to catch it all. that's where chris buckner comes in. not a cop, but a private investigator. the middleman between the police and the brands themselves. >> anything that the cops don't investigate, we're really doing here at our company for those brand owners we represent. >> it could be real. i just need to take a better look at it. >> reporter: we're with them and the cops as they enter this luxury mall in the o. kc. >> just relax. we have a serf warrant. >> reporter: the contraband these cops are after? counterfeit clothes. santa ana police officers arrest the store manager. he's accused of selling phony prada dolce and a huge stash of true religion jeans. while police put their suspect in the car outside, the brand withes behind the bust is counting the merchandise inside. so, there's not a real pair of true religion in this store that you've seen. >> so far, not that i've seen. this is a great hit. >> reporter: buckner shared some of his secrets on how to tell a fake. >> if there were authentic, it would say true religion on the inside and there's nothing on these. one of the other things, we do the smell testament they throw them in plastic bags before they are dry, through them on a container, smuggle them in. they kind of have a mildewy something to them. >> reporter: long before the cases end up at a police station, they are hatched here at investigative cop sul tants. >> this is our evidence. >> reporter: acting on tips, buckner's agents go undercover to gather evidence. >> there's a darker side than what the public knows. it's huge. it's beyond what anybody can even comprehend. >> reporter: buccaneer says counterfeiteres do a lot more than rip off designers. they say their money funds gangs, organized crime, even terrorist organizations. police are the first to say they couldn't do it without buckner. >> what chris does for us is pretty much 50% of our tips and investigations. >> reporter: he also goes on the raid. >> we'll peel off. >> reporter: we tagged along for this one with the lapd. chris waits a few blocks away to get that call. >> perfect. awesome. >> reporter: this time, officers arrest this woman for selling goods out of a makeshift store in an area of downtown los angeles known as the city's counterfeit capital. her shop may not look like much, but police say she's part of a crew making more than a half million dollars a year. >> about $2,000, a day. >> reporter: their evidence? allegedly in her own handwriting. >> we got the subject we were looking for, recovered the merchandise. nobody got hurt. >> reporter: last year, he took a quarter of a billion dollars worth of counterfeit goods off the street. >> the public doesn't really truly understand the affects. until they stop buying, this problem is going to get bigger. >> reporter: i'm ryan owens for "nightline" in orange county, california. >> our thanks to ryan for that. coming up next, we'll meet one man with a controversial method to treat brain injuries, and a lot of it has to do with that strange machine. ♪ >> our thanks to ryan for that. no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things? fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance. 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[ male announcer ] kick out the finance guys. take it to the track. tweak. tweak. tweak. stop. take it to the car shows. call the critics. win some awards. making a groundbreaking car -- it's that easy. ♪ >> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with bill weir. >> his methods are unorthodox. his critics are many. and yet, a waiting list full of hopeful patients believe that one man has a miracle cure that can help them reclaim their lives. while alternative treatments r fors are not a new concept, one chiropractor's unusual brand of surgery-free teaming has made a major splash and abc's juju chang went in for a closer look. >> you play other sports besides lacros lacrosse? >> reporter: will arlen has a traumatic brain injury and he's so sensitive to light, he wears sunglasses all the time. >> how is our appetite? >> good. >> reporter: his family believes this doctor holds the key to a miraculous cure. ted carrick is a chiropractor by training, who specializes in the brain. >> that's what i want to see, okay. let's take your glasses off. we have to do this stuff. just sort of look at my nose, if you are. >> reporter: the 17-year-old dribls his migraines like a knife stabbing his brain. he can barely stand up on his own. >> let go of you now. >> reporter: and he has trouble moving his level arm. >> let's have you just come up and walk over to that platform and come back here, just walk as you would normally. >> reporter: it started with a vicious hit during a lacrosse game. the concussion sent him into an eight-month tail spin. tell me what it was like. >> pretty active kid, straight-a student normally. outgoing, all that. they had to pull him out of school within a couple of weeks. >> reporter: it's here at luf university in georgia that carrick is a pioneer in a field known as chiropractic neurology. a treatment he's been perfecting for 33 years. when hockey superstar sidney crosby suffered serious concussions, he praised dr. carrick for saving his career. >> let me see you do it on your all about reactivating parts of the brain. is this a miracle cure? >> i think miracles are things that only happen once in awhile. and what we find is that the miracles that we see, we're seeing them frequently, every day, so, they're not really miracles. what we do is amazing, because of what human kind can do. >> can you see your left hand there? >> reporter: in this exercise, carrick uses a full length mirror on will, to trick his mind's eye with his own mirror image of a healthy arm, in order to reprogram his brain. >> when you lift your hand up all by yourself, your left hand. >> reporter: a few minutes ago, will couldn't lift his left arm without help. but now, this. for will, it's huge. >> okay. good man. >> reporter: but the big gun in carrick's arsenal is this machine. carrick says the gyrostim helps stimulate parts of the brain. >> starting to breathe better. >> reporter: were you skeptical? what did you think coming in? >> i'm very skeptical. but what really sold me, watching the passion in dr. carrick's eyes. >> he's got a big heart. >> reporter: critics say carrick's results don't pass scientific muster. and his success is often dismissed as placebo, meaning the patients feel better because they believe in his cure. how can you be so sure that it's not a placebo? >> well, if it was placebo, we're doing a pretty darn good job of it. we don't do anything that is really original in our work. we just combine things that other people have done in a different fashion. >> reporter: yet, despite the criticism, most of carrick's patients are referred to him by neurologists. and he says he has a months-long waiting list. stacey hubbard traveled 500 miles to find out why she can't walk more than a few steps without stumbling. >> what do you feel? >> unbalanced. >> reporter: a hands-on mother of two, she barely got out of bed for ten long weeks. >> if you can pick one thing, what's the worst thing you would like me to fix for you? >> i want to be able to hug my kids. i want to greet them at the door. >> let's go. >> reporter: you did these arm movements and you reprogrammed her brain? is that fair to say? >> absolutely. and it happens very, very quickly. i look very, very carefully at what's happening with her eyes, her head, the degree that her pew pill p pupils or open or closed. and we find if we do a certain motion and we get a different tracking, we say this is going to have a good probability of working. >> this is my problem today. >> reporter: over time, stacey conquers her biggest enemy. the pattern on a hall carpet. >> i think i got this hallway today. i did it. i'm excited. >> reporter: it's day three for will. >> i'm happy since yesterday. for the first time in awhile, so -- it feels good to definitely have someone who knows what they're doing. is that why i don't have feeling in my left side? >> that's pretty significant. so, if your brapt doesn't know where your hand is, it doesn't control it. >> reporter: for will, just doing that with his fingers is the first glimmer of hope. >> nice, huh? >> oh, my gosh. >> okay, okay. let me see you walk. swing your arms like a soldier. >> and he's even able to swing his left arm. >> that's huge, will. huge. >> a lot looser up there. >> yeah, it's huge. huge. okay. show me off. go, go, go. >> reporter: on average, the week-long therapy cost $5,000. for stacey, it's worth every penny. when she gets home from the clinic, she's finally able to hug her kids on her own two feet. >> these are the glasses i used to wear 24 hours a day. >> reporter: and will, who couldn't tolerate any light, is now able to get around without sunglasses. no longer on the sidelines, will is slowly getting back in the game. >> feels good to be back on the ice. >> reporter: i'm juju chang for "nightline" in marietta, georgia. >> thank you, juju. coming up next, a troop of baboons red can sdy for their c. we go inside the new reality show. we go inside the new reality show. part frat house, part zoo. on't,. yes, you do! don't! i've washed a few cupcake tins in my day... oh, so you're a tin expert now. is that... whoa nelly! hi, kitchen counselor here. he's actually right... with cascade complete. see cascade complete pacs work like thousands of micro-scrubbing brushes to help power away tough foods even in corners and edges. so, i was right, right? 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[ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approvehis message. step one. rig a house with cameras. step two, fill said house with real housewives or jersey shore kids or rehab patients. step three, put whatever happens on tv and get rich. but just when you thought reality television had exhausted all casting options comes an experiment from south africa to study the primitive behavior that maims gym, tan, landry seem like astro physics. and yet, another batch of unlikely stars are born. so, you say you have a rodent problem? well, at least mice don't mug you for your lunch. >> hey! >> reporter: squirrels driving your pooch crazy? well, imagine how shot fido's nerves would be dealing with this every day. and you say you're tired or raccoons tipping over the garbage cans? count your blessings, baby. at least they don't break into your house, raid your fridge and watch your tv. welcome to pringle bay, south africa. the kind of place that makes you rethink the definition of pest. because in this sleepy coastal town, they have a baboon problem. >> hey! >> reporter: you need a shower. unbelievable. everywhere you look, there's another 50-pound monkey with two-inch teeth, insatiable about tilt and intelligence of a 4-year-old. aliza leroux has been long fascinated about how these animals react to all the humans moving into their neighborhood. >> you have a 50/50 slit in town. those people that really love them, say, they were here first, we are just visitors, we should just let them be. and then you have the people that really, really hate them and would shoot at them. >> reporter: months back, a local baboon-loving hotel owner made an interesting proposition, after years of trying to keep them out, he suggested letting them in to gain better understanding and help homeowners cope. so, he offered up a bungalow. national geographic rigged it with cameras and microphones and a most primal reality tv show was born. the baboons provided all the typical trappings of this genre. nasty political alliances. occasional slap fights. rampant sex. and after production wrapped, i got a tour of "big baboon house." the lingering scent of the old tenants. >> left them books. >> reporter: that's ambitious. >> we wanted to make it look as realistic as possible. >> reporter: they tried to create the appearance of a normal holiday college, never expecting them to take a balt or order pizza. they wanted to know how long it would take for them to realize how to feed themselves in a human kitchen. >> the door looks too difficult. he jumps behind it, they try everything. it is always trial and error. they figure out a way. >> reporter: unlike some chimpanzees, baboons don't use tools, but the team set up a number of challenges to see how much they could figure out. like a fending machine that would dispense fruit with a push of a bottom. most spent hours trying to eat the machine. and a frus basket above a program to lean provided some of the most entertainment value. it was a valuable project? >> yes, well, i saw things that i've never seen before. i'm not aware of any project that's investigated what happens when baboons break into a house. we always try to keep them away. we never, assign twists, encourage this interaction. we try to be very neutral. here, we had the chance to see things mutually that never happened outside. >> reporter: is that right? so, the women get the remote in the house? >> what house do you come from? >> reporter: and what is it abba boons that fascinate you? >> it's the fact that i recognize so much of their behavior. the connection that i feel with them, sad to say. >> i will never complain about pigeons again after that trip. to see more wild animals, you can go to nat geo