Monthly Archives: December 2016

Blog, Criminal, Immigration, International, Legal News, Organized Crime

How combating the mafia helped Italy fight ISIS:

How combating the mafia helped Italy fight ISIS:  Surveillance techniques and the help of organised crime are keeping extremists at bay, claim experts

  • Marco Lombardi believes Italian authorities are applying same methods to tackling terrorism as organised crime
  • He also told The Times that the mafia does not want ISIS operating in Italy
  • Berlin truck terrrorist Anis Amri was yesterday gunned down in Milan
  • It is not yet clear why he had travelled to Italy after Monday’s atrocity 

 

Italy’s battle against the mafia could be helping authorities tackle extremists – and organised criminals could be keeping ISIS at bay, it is claimed.

Yesterday Berlin truck killer Anis Amri was shot dead after opening fire on two police officers at around 3am in Milan.

When he was approached in the Sesto San Giovanni suburb, the officers had no idea they were dealing with Europe’s most wanted man.

Yesterday Marco Lombardi, a terrorism expert at the Catholic University in Milan, told The Times: ‘It’s no surprise that a new police unit has recently been formed in Italy which fights both the mafia and terrorism, bringing together officers who share surveillance techniques.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4063764/How-combating-mafia-helped-Italy-fight-ISIS-Surveillance-techniques-help-organised-crime-keeping-extremists-bay-claim-experts.html#ixzz4UI1vndo6
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Blog, Criminal, International, Organized Crime

Priest who was banned from giving mafia boss mass seeks meeting with Pope Francis

The mass was supposed to remember Rocco Sollecito, a mobster killed in Canada in May.

By

A priest wants to meet Pope Francis after he was banned from celebrating mass in memory of a mafia boss in the town of Grumo Appula, in the southern Italian region of Apulia.

Father Michele delle Foglie had invited the local congregation to church on Tuesday 27 December, to a service remembering mafia boss Rocco Sollecito, who was killed in Canada in May. Sollecito’s family had approached the local parish priest with the request for a memorial mass service, as is the religious custom in Italy.

Firstly, the police ordered the service to be moved to the evening and be treated as a private function, to prevent a breach of public order. The local archbishop subsequently ordered the service to be cancelled altogether, calling it a “serious scandal”.

The priest was reportedly frustrated with the intervention in what he deemed an interference with his authority as spiritual leader of the community. “I am thinking of appealing to Pope Francis so that he can receive me as a father welcomes a grieving son,” delle Foglie told local media, “The holy mass is not celebrated to honour the dead, is to remember the dead, and the more one has sinned, the more one asks for

Read Full Article – http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/priest-who-was-banned-giving-mafia-boss-mass-seeks-meeting-pope-francis-1598593

Blog, Business Law, Criminal, Drug Companies, Legal News, Organized Crime, Supreme Court

6 pharma executives face criminal charges for alleged fentanyl racketeering scheme

Written by Molly Gamble (Twitter | Google+)  | December 08, 2016 | Print |

Six pharmaceutical executives who worked for Chandler, Ariz.-based Insys Therapeutics were arrested Thursday on charges that they led a nationwide conspiracy to bribe clinicians to unnecessarily prescribe fentanyl-based pain medication, according to the Department of Justice.

The government claims the executives conspired to bribe physicians and medical practitioners in several states, many of whom worked in pain clinics, to prescribe their pain medication called Subsys. This narcotic contains fentanyl, a highly addictive synthetic opioid, and is intended to treat cancer patients suffering intense episodes of breakthrough pain.

In exchange for kickbacks and bribes, practitioners allegedly wrote large numbers of prescriptions for patients, few of whom were diagnosed with cancer. The indictment also alleges the former Insys executives conspired to defraud health insurers that showed reluctance to approve payment for Subsys when it was prescribed to non-cancer patients. The defendants allegedly did so by establishing a “reimbursement unit” that obtained prior authorization directly from insurers and pharmacy benefit managers.

Here are the names of the defendants, all of whom are no longer employed by Insys Therapeutics, along with the respective charges they face:

  • Michael Babich, former president and CEO: conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Law
  • Alec Burlakoff, former vice president of sales: Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act conspiracy, mail fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Law
  • Richard M. Simon, former national director of sales: RICO conspiracy, mail fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Law
  • Sunrise Lee, former regional sales director: RICO conspiracy, mail fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Law
  • Joseph A. Rowan, former regional sales director: RICO conspiracy, mail fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Law
  • Michael J. Gurry, former vice president of managed markets: RICO conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy

Criminal charges are rarely pressed in cases involving pharmaceutical companies, and several agents noted the severity of the charges in statements.

Full Read – http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/legal-regulatory-issues/6-pharma-executives-face-criminal-charges-for-alleged-fentanyl-racketeering-scheme.html

Blog, Business Law, Legal News, Supreme Court

Deposition With Robin Thicke, Pharrell Released

Robin Thicke admits to being drunk and high in his 2013 interviews; Pharrell seems annoyed in newly released deposition video from the ‘Blurred Lines’ copyright infringement case. (Oct. 26)

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