[stxnas]

ESPN - DEA pulls off biggest crackdown of steroid labs - ESPN

Monday, September 24, 2007
'Raw Deal' busts labs across U.S., many supplied by China

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By Shaun Assael
ESPN The Magazine

NEW YORK -- In a four-day series of daylight raids that ended Sunday, Drug Enforcement Administration agents shut down 26 underground steroid labs and made more than 50 arrests across the country, capping what agents are calling the largest performance-enhancing drug crackdown in U.S. history. The DEA also has identified 37 Chinese factories that purportedly supplied the raw materials for the labs, a DEA spokesman told ESPN.

The raids capped an 18-month probe that has netted 124 arrests in 27 states and closed 56 labs. The agency also seized $6.5 million and 532 pounds of raw steroid powder -- 308 pounds of it in the past week. Most of the raids took place in quiet suburban neighborhoods.

The investigation also focused on message boards where advice is traded about obtaining raw materials, as well as on the Web sites that help the labs sell finished products to the public. Hundreds of thousands of e-mails were intercepted, according to Dan Simmons, a San Diego-based special agent for the DEA. Simmons said that no professional athletes have been implicated so far but that the e-mails are being compiled into a massive database of names and are being analyzed.


In this storage locker on Long Island, N.Y., DEA agents discovered trash cans and bins full of illegal performance-enhancing drugs.
"I don't think we even know what we have yet," he said. "There's no part of the country that wasn't impacted by this."

The crackdown, dubbed "Raw Deal," grew out of a 2005 operation targeting eight Mexican labs that were responsible for 80 percent of America's underground steroid trade. Several large Chinese factories had been supplying the Mexican labs. When the Mexican labs were closed in what came to be known as "Operation Gear Grinder," those Chinese factories redirected their pipeline to the U.S.

"We came to find that 99.9 percent of the steroids in the U.S. were coming from China," Simmons said.

Drug agents in Mexico, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Thailand cooperated in the Raw Deal probe, setting up shell companies to order the raw materials. They also focused on the makers of kits that help underground drugmakers turn raw materials into sellable drugs.

"This wasn't us going after one organization," said Rusty Payne, a DEA spokesman in Washington, D.C. "We went after lots of little cells. There's no one ringleader."

In Westbury, N.Y., the DEA raided the home of an unidentified 38-year-old resident who had boxes of Chinese steroid powder stacked in his garage beside a shiny white Corvette. Agents carted away an estimated 800,000 doses of steroids from the Long Island home, which was described as newly renovated with flat-screen TVs in every room. A lab in the Midwest was so coated with steroid powder that agents said they created footprints in the living room when they entered.

"We want 17-year-olds to know that the stuff they're buying on the Internet isn't what they think," Payne said. "A lot of the time, what they're putting in their body has been mixed in someone's dirty kitchen sink."

In a tragic turn, the subject of another raid in the New York area committed suicide last week after being arraigned on charges of conspiracy and money laundering, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the death. No further information was immediately available.


Agents take away an unidentified suspect charged with running an underground steroid lab in New York.
It is unclear what impact the case will have in China, where the Chinese government is preparing for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Already reeling from a series of food and drug scandals that led to the execution of the head of its state food and drug administration earlier this year, the government has promised the cleanest Olympic Games in history. But it is also keenly aware that performance-enhancing drugs are a source of great profit. The World Anti-Doping Administration estimates that Chinese factories are responsible for as much as 70-80 percent, or up to $480 million worldwide, of an annual $600 million black market in human growth hormone.

Simmons said he and other agents traveled to Beijing to brief their Chinese counterparts in February and handed over information on 10 labs. Since then, he said, the DEA has received information about only one of those 10 being closed. The government reportedly has floated several reform proposals, including banning steroids in pharmacies around Beijing and lowering export quotas to stem the flow of steroids and HGH. But so far, no definitive steps appear to have been taken.

"We're keeping the Chinese in the loop and asking them to do the same," Simmons said.

The DEA is particularly eager to stem the flow of Chinese HGH, which is not approved for sale in the U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration. Because it often sells illegally for one-third the price of approved brands, Chinese-made growth hormone is proving irresistible for anti-aging clinics and pharmacies that specialize in making generic drugs.


Among the items seized in a Long Island, N.Y., raid is this box, thought to contain raw steroid powder sent from China.
In a separate probe, the Albany, N.Y., district attorney has indicted more than two dozen doctors and pharmacists for running bogus prescription mills for HGH and, in so doing, has helped reveal the widespread use of HGH in sports. St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Rick Ankiel and New England Patriots defensive back Rodney Harrison are among those who have acknowledged getting prescriptions from the main pharmacy in the Albany case, Signature of Orlando. Ankiel insists he received a legitimate prescription while rehabbing from elbow surgery in 2004.

Albany prosecutors have met with officials from Major League Baseball and the NFL, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has remarked that he has no reason to believe any other player will be linked to HGH. But the existence of a separate, and much larger, roster of names in Operation Raw Deal is certain to create a new round of concern.

Simmons said the DEA intends to share the Raw Deal names with other law enforcement agencies and Congress. He also said the agency expects to be making arrests based on the evidence for months, if not years.

"In Gear Grinder, we didn't target the end user," he said. "Now, we have investigative leads everywhere."

News conferences about the operation are scheduled for Monday in Kansas City, Mo.; Providence, R.I.; San Diego; Houston; and New York.

Shaun Assael is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. He is also the co-author of "Sex, Lies, and Headlocks: The Real Story of Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment," which is available here. His second book, "Steroid Nation," will be released in October.

[Dr Packenwood]

I can hear the beat of Orrin Hatch's drum now.

I guess I better do what I was thinking of doing and buy $2000 worth of legal stuff now to last me the next 15 years.

[RisingAgainst]

This sucks BIG time fellas..

[RisingAgainst]

Originally Posted by Dr Packenwood

I can hear the beat of Orrin Hatch's drum now.

I guess I better do what I was thinking of doing and buy $2000 worth of legal stuff now to last me the next 15 years.

Not quite the best place to announce that... can you not read?? "investigators have been watching online forum boards to find out, etc etc"

[AM07]

Steroids cause people to go out and rape and murder everyone in site.

They should give death sentences to the people apprehended.

[RisingAgainst]

Originally Posted by AM07

Steroids cause people to go out and rape and murder everyone in site.

They should give death sentences to the people apprehended.

I saw one dude, he was kinda big, so he MUST HAVE been on roids, and he like totally raged on some guy that hit his girlfriend in the face with a brick FOR NO APPARENT REASON!

[ReaperX]

Lol, dirty gear.

[stxnas]

Originally Posted by RisingAgainst

Not quite the best place to announce that... can you not read?? "investigators have been watching online forum boards to find out, etc etc"

It's pretty common knowledge that these types of forums have been "watched" for a while now...and at least he said legal...

[kwyckemynd00]

I think the only reason LE focuses on busting gear labs is because its the only part of "the war on drug" they actually make any progress with. Sad part is that steroids are pretty much harmless so they're doing nothing. Its so pathetic.

[Dr Packenwood]

Originally Posted by RisingAgainst

Not quite the best place to announce that... can you not read?? "investigators have been watching online forum boards to find out, etc etc"

Yes, I can read, can you?

What I was referring to, is everything you can buy at a store. I don't do anything illegal, but I didn't do anything illegal when I used to by 4-Androstenedione and 19-Nor androsteinedione, along with a bevy of other supplements back in 1996 until these idiots made them class 3 substances with harsh penalties for possession because of the stupid BS with major league baseball.

When the ban was announced in 04 people bought up everything they could, and I plan on doing the same when they decide that what is legal now, will be illegal in 3 months.

According to how the FDA has worded its own rules, they could put Creatine on the list tomorrow. If they did would you run out and stock pile it, or would you simply flush what you have down the toilet so you wouldn't be a 'felon'?

[RisingAgainst]

Originally Posted by Dr Packenwood

Yes, I can read, can you?

What I was referring to, is everything you can buy at a store. I don't do anything illegal, but I didn't do anything illegal when I used to by 4-Androstenedione and 19-Nor androsteinedione, along with a bevy of other supplements back in 1996 until these idiots made them class 3 substances with harsh penalties for possession because of the stupid BS with major league baseball.

When the ban was announced in 04 people bought up everything they could, and I plan on doing the same when they decide that what is legal now, will be illegal in 3 months.

According to how the FDA has worded its own rules, they could put Creatine on the list tomorrow. If they did would you run out and stock pile it, or would you simply flush what you have down the toilet so you wouldn't be a 'felon'?

Man I see your point, I wasn't trying to sound like a prick there man, just saying, I'm not gonna mention jack on the boards in regards to hormonal products unless I have to. Call me paranoid, but I've got a lot to lose lol.

[Dr Packenwood]

Originally Posted by RisingAgainst

Man I see your point, I wasn't trying to sound like a prick there man, just saying, I'm not gonna mention jack on the boards in regards to hormonal products unless I have to. Call me paranoid, but I've got a lot to lose lol.

I know. Its cool man. We ALL have alot to lose, and we need to do what we can to either fight it, or not draw any attention to it, but right now what is legal is legal. We can talk about it all we want. They can however do what ever the hell they want without any input from us at any time.

All they need is a simple document, its gets signed in 1 day by the president and put into effect literally within a week. Then the rush is on.

Look up the PH ban and read a little bit about how fast it was enacted, and what McCain and Hatch said about it. I read through it some time ago again, and the briskness that it was signed into effect is sickening when it takes years if ever to get bills passed that actually mean anything to the rest of us.

But, now that those old school PH's are no longer available we have to do resort to other methods. I however think this resulted in better supplements.

I do hope there is something that the bodybuilding community can get support on. Look at the people that want marijuana legalized. There are SO many people that want it, some high ranking officials consider it. Granted its different altogether than a bodybuilding supplement, but the support is there for what ever reason. There's no reason why we can't get what we want but we have to go about it the right way.

I have some feelings about the FDA that I'm sure I share with others, and that is when it comes down to some things that some groups want, it depends on how much $ it takes out of someone elses pocket, that happens to have someone elses hand in.

[stxnas]

Just saw another thread about this (I looked before posting mine, but I missed it)...let's carry over the conversation to that one since it was before this one:

DEA pulls off widespread busts of steroid labs