Pope John Paul II dies Anthrax poisoning kills 62 in Russia

April02,1979 farming area and infected people

The world’s first anthrax and livestock in the area. Had the epidemic begins in Sverdlovsk, town been downwind from the plant Russia(nowEkaterinburg),onApril at the time of the release, the death 2, 1979. By the time it ended six toll might have been considerably weeks later, 62 people were dead. higher.

April02,2005

1995.

On April 2, 2005, John Paul II, history’s most well-travelled pope and the first non-Italian to hold the position since the 16th century, dies at his home in the Vatican. Six days later, two million people packed VaticanCityforhisfuneral,saidtobeoneofthebiggestinhistory.

Pope John Paul II is remembered for his successful efforts to end communism,aswellasforbuildingbridgeswithpeoplesofotherfaiths, and issuing the Catholic Church’s first apology for its actions during World War II. He was succeeded by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI. Pope Francis, who succeeded Pope BenedictinMarch2013,canonizedJohnPaulIIinApril2014.

Another 32 survived serious illness.

Anthrax is a bacterium that can Ekaterinburg, as the town was enter the body through multiple known in Soviet times, also suffered routes. It is most deadly when it is livestocklossesfromtheepidemic. inhaled.

As people in Ekaterinburg first

It prompts the production of began reporting their illnesses, the toxic molecules that destroy Soviet government announced that essentialproteinsinthebody’scells, the cause was tainted meat that the usuallyinthelymphnodes. victims had eaten. Since the town 1992, that the epidemic was finally In 2001, anthrax spores were wasknowninintelligencecirclesfor explained: workers at the used as a weapon of terror in the its biological-weapons plant, much Ekaterinburg weapons plant failed UnitedStates.Sporesweremailedto of the rest of the world was to replace a crucial filter, causing a media organizations and members immediately skeptical of the Soviet release of anthrax spores into the of the U.S. Senate. Five people died explanation. outsideair and another 13 were infected, but

It was not until 13 years later, in The wind carried the spores to a survived.

Mob boss John Gotti convicted of murder

April02,1992 presented secret taped conversations

AjuryinNewYorkfindsmobster thatincriminatedGotti.

John Gotti, nicknamed the ‘Teflon After deliberating for 13 hours, Don’ for his ability to elude the jury, which had been kept conviction, guilty on 13 counts, anonymous and sequestered during including murder and racketeering. the trial, came back with a verdict on

In the wake of the conviction, the April 2, 1992, finding Gotti guilty on assistant director of the FBI’s New all counts. The mob boss was sent to York office, James Fox, was quoted the U.S. Penitentiary at Marion, as saying, “The don is covered in Illinois, where he was held in virtual Velcro, and every charge stuck.” On solitaryconfinement.

June 23 of that year, Gotti was On June 10, 2002, Gotti died of sentenced to life in prison, dealing a throat cancer at age 61 at a significantblowtoorganizedcrime. Springfield,Missouri,medicalcenter

In addition, prosecutors forfederalprisoners.

John Gotti