Judy Bagley, a casino cashier who traded chips for cash and vice versa, found out about recession's toll another way.

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As part of her rehabilitation, she was receiving further medical treatment at Hospital Santa Monica, a holistic health center, when she died, her sister Edythe Scott Bagley told CNN.

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"They have been widely corrupted by these violent and well-financed drug gangs and Guinea-Bissau is a very small country, its vulnerable, its institutions are weak, " Bruce Bagley, an expert on drug-trafficking at the University of Miami, told the BBC's Newsday programme.

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