Feds, NYPD bust $550 MILLION Oxycodone drug ring
Feds, NYPD bust $550M Oxycodone drug ring
By Rich Calder
February 5, 2014 | 1:10pm
Police released this photo of a large crowd of people trying to get Oxycodone prescriptions from the Astramed Physicians clinic in the Bronx.Photo: Handout
MORE ON:
Philip Seymour Hoffman's number found in three 'dealer' cellphones
'My dealer dad knew Hoffman for months'
Philip Seymour Hoffman's tragic last days
Suspected heroin dealers busted in Hoffman death probe
The feds and the NYPD have busted a massive illegal drug ring operating out of sham Bronx medical clinics they say distributed prescriptions for more than five million tablets of the painkiller Oxycodone — valued on the black market at more than half a billion dollars.
According to an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court Wednesday, the 24 people arrested included corrupt doctors and staffers operating out of Astramed Physician medical clinics and drug traffickers who oversaw crews of “patients” whom they sent into the clinics to obtain medically unnecessary prescriptions, which were then filled at pharmacies so that the pills could be resold illegally on city streets.
The operation was also maintained through intimidation and violence, and the feds say their investigation has “uncovered evidence of at least two fatal shootings believed to be associated with the conspiracy, as well as dozens of other incidents of violence committed as part of the charged conspiracy.”
“The clinic itself bears little resemblance to a standard medical office, the indictment says. “Crowds of up to one hundred people gathered outside [one of the clinics] clamoring to see one of the doctors and thereby get a prescription for Oxycodone.”
“The majority of these individuals had no medical need for Oxycodone or any legitimate record documenting an ailment for which Oxycodone would be prescribed.”
Astramed doctors operating out of locations on Southern Boulevard and Westchester Avenue wrote 31,500 “unnecessary prescriptions for Oxycodone” between January 2011 and last month, “comprising nearly 5.5 million tablets with a street value of up to $550 million,” the indictment says.
Astramed’s owner, Dr. Kevin Lowe, pocketed nearly $12 million in fees for so-called “doctor visits” made by crew members during this period, the feds say.
“The world of prescription drug trafficking is looking more and more like the world of old-school trafficking in narcotics like heroin, cocaine and crack, said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
Twenty one of the defendants who are in custody are expected to arraigned Wednesday afternoon before a magistrate judge in Manhattan federal court. The feds plan to ask that the judge deny them bail.
There is also a state criminal case against one of the clinic doctors,Robert Terdiman, who is accused of funneling $90 million worth of oxycodone pills into the black market. He is expected to be arraigned later Wednesday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
http://nypost.com/2014/02/05/feds-ny...one-drug-ring/
