Operation Raw Deal in 2007

[Taureau]

An 18-month international investigation has resulted in 124 arrests linked to illicit steroid labs -- the largest bust of its kind in U.S. history.
Operation Raw Deal was a wide ranging probe by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration with the assistance of nine other countries including Canada.
In total, 56 laboratories used for manufacturing anabolic steroids and human growth hormone were seized by authorities, according to a release on the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration website.

Photos





This undated image provided by the Drug Enforcement Agency shows containers holding vials of steroids confiscated on Long Island, N.Y. during the DEA's Operation Raw Deal. (AP / DEA)





This undated image provided by the Drug Enforcement Agency shows vials of steroids confiscated on Long Island, N.Y. during the DEA's Operation Raw Deal. (AP / DEA)





This undated image provided by the Drug Enforcement Agency shows vials of steroids confiscated on Long Island, N.Y. during the DEA's Operation Raw Deal. (AP / DEA)

Charges ranged from conspiracy to import anabolic steroids to conspiracy to launder money.
"The investigation represents the largest steroid enforcement action in U.S. history and took place in conjunction with enforcement operations in nine countries worldwide," the news release stated.
"The Internal Revenue Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the National Drug Intelligence Center also played key roles in the investigation."
In total 143 search warrants were issued during the investigation.
Investigators seized 11.4 million steroid doses in the raids across the U.S., and more than 200 kilograms of raw powder that came from China and is used as a key ingredient to manufacture steroids.
Police also seized:

• $6.5 million in cash
• 25 vehicles
• Three boats
• 27 pill presses
• 71 weapons

The DEA said the arrests -- which range from manufacturers in China who supply the raw materials to the U.S. traffickers who market the drug -- represents a major blow to the drug industry.
"Operation Raw Deal uncovered a clandestine web of international drug dealers who lurk on the Internet for young adults craving the artificial advantage of anabolic steroids," said DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy in a release.
"Today we reveal the truth behind the underground steroid market: dangerous drugs cooked up all too often in filthy conditions with no regard to safety, giving Americans who purchase them the ultimate raw deal."
China, Mexico, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Thailand all played a role in the investigation.
The four-pronged strategy focused on raw material manufacturers and suppliers in China and elsewhere, underground laboratories in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, U.S. websites selling steroid-related items, and online bodybuilding discussion boards where the products are often marketed.

 

[Taureau]

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.

"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."

Federal authorities in Rhode Island said no professional athletes were directly involved in the investigation.

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.

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 an interview, David Howman, the director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said that he expects to learn if the names of any athletes attempting to qualify for the Olympics are in the database. Howman said that he is working closely with the DEA, and veteran BALCO investigator Jeff Novitzky of the Internal Revenue Service, to make sure that any legal hurdles are cleared so that WADA can get that access.

"I expect that in the next six months, we will be hearing things," Howman said. "This is not over. It is a work in progress"

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.

In this storage locker on Long Island, N.Y., DEA agents discovered trash cans and bins full of illegal performance-enhancing drugs. Courtesy of DEA
"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. On Monday, a senior federal law enforcement official said the man had the second-most amount of raw steroid powder of any lab seized in Raw Deal.

In Connecticut, four men were charged with purchasing raw
steroid powder from China, manufacturing anabolic steroids in home
laboratories and distributed them to customers through a
MySpace.com profile and a Web site.

A Chinese corporation and its chief executive were indicted in
Rhode Island on federal charges of smuggling illegal human growth
hormone into the country in connection with the operation.

"China really stepped up to the plate to help us in this
investigation," DEA spokesman Garrison Courtney said in
Washington.

A federal grand jury in Rhode Island indicted Genescience
Pharmaceutical Co. and its CEO, Lei Jin, last week on charges
including money laundering and conspiracy to facilitate the sale of
smuggled goods. Lin is accused of marketing the drugs, under the
brand name Jinotropin, through e-mail and Web sites.

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.

Agents take away an unidentified suspect charged with running an underground steroid lab in New York. Courtesy of DEA
Simmons said 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.

 

[Taureau]

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.

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.

Among the items seized in a Long Island, N.Y., raid is this box, thought to contain raw steroid powder sent from China. Courtesy of DEA
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 provides its evidence to the U.S. Attorney's office, which then can decide whether to share 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."

 

[Taureau]

Operation Raw Deal was the biggest and most elaborate illicit Hormone Supplement Sting ever conducted by American Law Enforcement. Operation Raw Deal was the culmination of years of research and undercover police work leading to more than fifty arrests across the United States. In the final series of drug busts, DEA agents targeted twenty six illegal Steroid production facilities and their operators across the United States.


Just in that one week's bust, over three hundred pounds of illegal Steroids were confiscated. The Drug Enforcement Administration also obtained data on thirty seven Chinese facilities that manufactured and distributed the raw ingredients used to create Steroid Capsules and Injections. Although the main goal of Operation Raw deal was to bust illicit Testosterone distributors, other drugs were also targeted as well, among those being Insulin-like Growth Factor One (IGF-1) and Human Growth Hormone.


American law enforcement officials spent eighteen months quietly accumulating evidence and data about these illegal Steroid operations across America. Over the eighteen month span in which Operation Raw Deal was active, 124 criminals were apprehended in twenty seven different states. These raids ultimately led to the closure of 56 underground laboratories. In addition to the 124 arrests made, 143 federal search warrants were served. Where the arrests generally occurred may surprise you. Most of the culprits were nabbed in quiet, affluent suburban housing developments.


Operation Raw Deal led to the breakdown of more than one hundred locations associated with the manufacture or distribution of illegal hormone supplements. Among the chemicals confiscated from these locations were counterfeit supplements, illegally obtained prescription medicines, and chemical precursors designed to be converted into hormones. These various ingredients come from some thirty black market Chinese drug manufacturers.


Illegal Steroids and Pro Athletes


In the Operation Raw Deal case, hundreds of thousands of electronic communications were intercepted. To this date, there have been no professional or Olympic athletes who were arrested as a result of this sting operation. The full scope of the operation was huge, and there is no state in the country that was not impacted at least on some level by this Steroid bust.


Seizures related to Operation Raw Deal


The amount of illegal supplements confiscated will astound you. By the end of the operation, over eleven million individual doses of Anabolic Steroids were seized. This only accounts for finished products. In addition to that, 242 kilograms of raw anabolic Steroid ingredients were seized as well. A significant amount of money was confiscated, totaling $6.5 million dollars believed to be directly associated with the sale of illegal supplements. Finally, 27 pill presses, 3 boats, 25 vehicles, and 71 weapons were seized. During the final wave of arrests directly involved in Operation Raw Deal, 61 warrants were served and fifty arrests were made.

 

[Taureau]

The FDA and Operation Raw Deal


The Food and Drug Administration fully supports the actions of the Drug Enforcement Agency. FDA officials are incredibly concerned by the prolific distribution of hormone supplements for performance enhancing reasons. They give full and overwhelming approval to the DEA's desire to root out and arrest illegal Steroid and HGH manufacturers and distributors. They consider these individuals criminals that seek to take advantage of both willing and unwitting customers.


Law enforcement officials recognize that many of these groups prey on an audience of teenagers and young adults who don't recognize the ultimate possibility of danger that these unregulated supplements are laced with. These distributors and manufacturers are not naive, however. They recognize the risks that their buyers take when they purchase these illicit products and simply don't care. They are just in it for the bang of the buck, and there is a ton of money up for grabs in this market.


Although the buyers of these illicit hormone supplements may not be aware of the risks involved, one thing is certainly true. These individuals are looking for an unfair advantage over those around them and are willing to go to extreme lengths to obtain that advantage.


United States Postal Service Approves Operation Raw Deal


Multiple American government agencies were involved in Operation Raw Deal, although the DEA was the primary actor in the operation. The United States Postal Service played an active role in the investigation. They were concerned because any illegal use of the Postal Service is an affront to mail carriers across the United States that puts them at risk and puts them in a position where they are unknowingly putting others at risk.


The integrity of the mail system is of the utmost important to USPS officials, and to turn a blind eye to potentially illegal actions perpetrated through the mail service could lead to wide scale outbreaks of postal abuse. The vast records of the USPS were incredibly important to the investigation, because it allowed DEA agents to trace products from buyer to seller, helping them connect the dots of the distribution network.


IRS and Illegal Steroids


IRS officials played a significant role in Operation Raw Deal as well. Where the USPS tracked the packages, the IRS helped the DEA by tracking the money as it passed from buyer to seller. The actions of the Internal Revenue Service were vital in tracking down the perpetrators and bringing them to justice.