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Italy’s Most Wanted Mafia Boss ‘Messina Denaro’ Dies At 61 After Capture And Conviction

(CTN NEWS) – In a twist befitting a Hollywood thriller, Matteo Messina Denaro, the elusive Mafia boss who spent nearly three decades on the run from law enforcement, has breathed his last.
His death, while receiving medical treatment for colon cancer at San Salvatore hospital in L’Aquila, Italy, marks the end of an era in the annals of organized crime.
The man who was once Europe’s most wanted criminal, orchestrating dozens of Mafia-related murders for the infamous Cosa Nostra, has left behind a complex legacy that will continue to captivate the world.
Matteo Messina Denaro: A Life of Audacity, Cunning, and Relentless Pursuit by Law Enforcement
Matteo Messina Denaro‘s story is one of audacity, cunning, and a relentless game of cat and mouse with law enforcement. His life of crime began early, born into a notorious Mafia family on April 26, 1962.
From his youth, he was immersed in the secretive world of organized crime, where loyalty to the Cosa Nostra was paramount.
The most significant chapters of his criminal career were written in blood. In 1992, Messina Denaro was implicated in the murders of anti-Mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, marking a brutal turning point in the fight against the Sicilian Mafia.
These heinous acts led to his conviction in absentia and the imposition of several life sentences.
The weight of his crimes only grew with time, as he was later sentenced in 2020 for orchestrating fatal bombings in Milan, Florence, and Rome during the late 1990s.
His ruthlessness reached horrifying depths with the murder and torture of 11-year-old Giuseppe Di Matteo, the son of an enemy who had given evidence against the Cosa Nostra.
What makes Messina Denaro’s story all the more intriguing is his unwavering denial of any involvement with the Cosa Nostra, despite the damning convictions and evidence stacked against him.
His ability to maintain this facade for nearly three decades while orchestrating a criminal empire is a testament to his cunning and the code of silence that shrouds the Mafia.
For nearly 30 years, Matteo Messina Denaro managed to elude the grasp of law enforcement, earning the dubious title of the Cosa Nostra’s longest-hiding fugitive.
ORIGINAL STORY: Italy’s Most Wanted Mafia Boss Messina Denaro is Arrested in Sicily After 30 Years
The January 2023 police raid that finally led to his capture at the Maddalena clinic in Palermo involved more than 100 agents from the anti-Mafia Carabinieri.
It was a momentous event, symbolizing the relentless pursuit of justice and the relentless efforts of Italian authorities to bring down the last of the old guard of Mafia bosses.
In the years leading up to his capture, anti-Mafia security forces had been closing in on Messina Denaro’s inner circle.
They had seized approximately €3 billion ($3.25 billion) in assets belonging to his associates, relatives, and supporters, who had enabled his life in hiding. Arrests were made in a crackdown between 2009 and 2010, further eroding his power and influence.
Experts suggested that, by the time of his arrest, Messina Denaro no longer wielded the same level of authority he once did within the criminal underworld.
Messina Denaro’s rise to power within the Cosa Nostra was closely linked to his mentor, Bernardo Provenzano, who was famously apprehended while hiding in a farmhouse outside Corleone, Sicily, in April 2006.
Their partnership and the smooth transition of power solidified Messina Denaro’s status as one of the successors to the Mafia throne.
Crime ran deep in the veins of the Messina Denaro family. Salvatore Messina Denaro, the boss’s brother, was among those arrested in the 2009-2010 crackdown but remained tight-lipped about his sibling’s whereabouts.
In 2013, their sister, Patrizia Messina Denaro, received a 14-year prison sentence for her association with the Mafia, a sentence she continues to serve. The family’s connections and criminal ties created an intricate web that law enforcement worked tirelessly to unravel.
Secret Hideouts and the Changing Face of Italian Organized Crime
In the lead-up to his capture, rumors of Messina Denaro’s deteriorating health had circulated in Sicily for months. Whispers of a potential deal to lure him out of hiding in exchange for better cancer treatment added an element of intrigue to his capture.
When the moment finally came, Messina Denaro did not resist arrest, choosing to admit his true identity instead of attempting to use his alias.
The hideouts discovered by police in the Sicilian town of Campobello di Mazara, where he had likely resided in recent months, painted a picture of the secret life he had led.
One hideout was located in the heart of the town, while another was a fortified bunker concealed behind a hidden door.
These locations exemplified the lengths to which he went to evade capture and maintain his freedom.
During his years on the run, Messina Denaro worked closely under Provenzano’s shadow until the latter’s death in 2016. This transition marked the ascension of Messina Denaro to the pinnacle of the Cosa Nostra hierarchy, making him the de facto top boss.
Felia Allum, a professor of comparative organized crime and corruption at the University of Bath in the UK, characterized Messina Denaro as the last of an old generation of Mafia bosses.
She noted that he represented the bridge between the overtly violent Cosa Nostra of the early 1990s and the more discreet, business-oriented Mafia of the 21st century. His capture signaled the end of an era and a shift in the dynamics of organized crime in Italy.
Matteo Messina Denaro’s Complicated Legacy
Matteo Messina Denaro’s passing also leaves behind a complicated personal legacy. He is survived by his 27-year-old daughter, Lorenza Alagna, whose mother was one of Messina Denaro’s many lovers.
All of his reported romantic partners had been questioned by the police and were under investigation for harboring a fugitive.
Alagna, initially reluctant to visit her father behind bars, eventually did so in May, introducing him to his only known grandchild, a poignant moment in the life of the convicted mafioso.
In the annals of organized crime, the name Matteo Messina Denaro will live on as a symbol of the elusive, calculating, and ruthless nature of the Cosa Nostra.
His death marks the end of a chapter in the long, complex history of the Mafia, but it is a reminder that the fight against organized crime and the pursuit of justice continue unabated.
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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.
According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.
Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.
Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding
Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.
Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.
Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.
To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.
Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.
On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.
In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.
Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding
On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.
TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.
When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.
And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.
Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.
A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.
Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.
But today, it feels more like reality.
Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.
SOURCE | CNN
News
The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.
The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.
Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.
This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.
In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.
The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.
This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.
The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.
In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.
According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.
Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.
The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.
Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.
For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.
Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.
As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.
As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.
The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.
SOURCE: AP
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Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli, To repay $6.4 Million

Washington — The Supreme Court rejected Martin Shkreli’s appeal on Monday, after he was branded “Pharma Bro” for raising the price of a lifesaving prescription.
Martin appealed a decision to repay $64.6 million in profits he and his former company earned after monopolizing the pharmaceutical market and dramatically raising its price. His lawyers claimed the money went to his company rather than him personally.
The justices did not explain their reasoning, as is customary, and there were no notable dissents.
Prosecutors, conversely, claimed that the firm had promised to pay $40 million in a settlement and that because Martin orchestrated the plan, he should be held accountable for returning profits.
Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli
Martin was also forced to forfeit the Wu-Tang Clan’s unreleased album “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” which has been dubbed the world’s rarest musical album. The multiplatinum hip-hop group auctioned off a single copy of the record in 2015, stipulating that it not be used commercially.
Shkreli was convicted of lying to investors and defrauding them of millions of dollars in two unsuccessful hedge funds he managed. Shkreli was the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals (later Vyera), which hiked the price of Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per pill after acquiring exclusive rights to the decades-old medicine in 2015. It cures a rare parasite condition that affects pregnant women, cancer patients, and HIV patients.
He defended the choice as an example of capitalism in action, claiming that insurance and other programs ensured that those in need of Daraprim would eventually receive it. However, the move prompted criticism, from the medical community to Congress.
Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli
Attorney Thomas Huff said the Supreme Court’s Monday ruling was upsetting, but the high court could still overturn a lower court judgment that allowed the $64 million penalty order even though Shkreli had not personally received the money.
“If and when the Supreme Court does so, Mr. Shkreli will have a strong argument for modifying the order accordingly,” he told reporters.
Shkreli was freed from prison in 2022 after serving most of his seven-year sentence.
SOURCE | AP
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