#1

Biggest Steroid Bust in History
September 25, 2007

Operation Raw Deal was the largest steroid bust in U.S. history. The probe took 18 months, involved nine other countries and included raids on 56 drug labs that resulted in the confiscation of 11.4 million doses of steroids.

It also gave the DEA a database of thousands of customers.

Combine the MLB, the NFL and the Olympics, and this one is even bigger than BALCO and anything else. Target? China.

“We’re targeting the source of supply for all the steroids and human growth hormone in the U.S. - 99 percent of it is coming from China,” said DEA spokesman, Rusty Payne.

A total of 37 companies in all have been supplying banned performance-enhancing drugs, and officials say there is a lot more to go.

The repercussions of Raw Deal could be felt for years. “We’ve intercepted hundreds of thousands of e-mails. We’ve infiltrated the underground steroid market in the U.S. We have names, labs, sources of supply — every step of the chain from China to the U.S.,” said Payne.

Here are the whopping numbers of arrests and seizures:

143 search warrants issued
124 arrests
56 laboratories seized
11.4 million steroid doses seized
242 kilograms of raw steroid powder seized
$6.5 million seized
25 vehicles seized
3 boats seized
27 pill presses seized
71 weapons recovered
9 countries conducted busts outside of U.S.
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#2

Compounding Pharmacy Busted for Steroid Order Operation

A sleepy little neighborhood on Long Island was rudely awakened this month when a spot check netted more than just mortars and pestles at a compounding pharmacy in Bay Ridge.

Lowen’s Compounding Pharmacy went beyond just stocking drugs from outside suppliers. Last year, they began mixing their own raw material batches of various drugs to service customers. It’s something that requires licensing and they were granted that license within the past year. .

But when DEA agents opened a door in the back of the pharmacy, what they witnessed was a much bigger operation.

“The agent opens a door and there’s this room with no windows, about 10 by 18 with a woman in a surgical gown and mask mixing something in a bowl. It’s the size bowl you’d make cookies in,” said one agent. “And she wasn’t making cookies.”

She was mixing a large batch of Stanozolol - the active ingredient in the anabolic steroid, Winstrol.

Against a wall was a fax machine churning out requests from all over the country - orders came in just within the four hours the investigators were there.

On another wall 50 to 60 Fed Ex packages were filled with steroids, ready to be sent to parts across the U.S.

Investigators believe the names of numerous athletes, from high school gridiron stars to professionals, are on the orders.

They collected an estimated $200,000 worth of steroids and human growth hormone. Some manufactured legally, but most from a Chinese importer linked to the Raw Deal suppliers.

The place, described as a “bodybuilder’s dream”, included 25 grams of somatropin, synthetic HGH, that the pharmacy had purchased for $75,000. One gram, say agents could be converted into 3000 i.u.’s.

All told, street value of the HGH alone, when sold, would have meant between $400,000 and $1.2 million in profit for the pharmacy.

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#3

Anti-Aging Clinic Bust

Palm Beach Rejuvenation, a Florida anti-aging clinic was raided earlier this year when authorities unearthed what looked like suspicious activity.

When Florida Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation agents arrived, the operation was more boiler room than waiting room, and was a hub for internet steroid sales.

Customers interested in buying steroids could call a phone number from the PBR site for more information. The calls went to a converted doctor’s office and a 10 by 10 foot room that held three desks and three athletic looking men described as “bodybuilders.”

The “counselors” didn’t just take orders, they told clients what drugs they should take. Counselors would then send lists to “friendly doctors” via fax or email and doctors would either sign the faxes by hand or sign emails with an electronic stamp.

The poorest salesman in the group reported making $110,000 last year counseling “patients” on the phone about drug cycles. He was just 23 years old.
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#4

Bev Francis and Steve Weinberger named as steroid clients

Trouble in Syosset, New York for Bev Francis and Steve Weinberger. They’ve been associated with Dr. Oreste Joseph Bruni, 51, director of the emergency department of New Island Hospital in Bethpage, Long Island, who allegedly ordered steroids for the couple from Applied Pharmacy in Mobile, Ala., one of several pharmacies now being probed for internet prescriptions of anabolic steroids.

Though Francis and Weinberger have not been targeted in the probe, Bruni had their names and a laundry list of items.

Bruni pleased not guilty to felony diversion of a prescription drug in nassau County District Court.