The general public takes comfort in blaming anabolic steroids for violent and abhorrent crimes. The media is quick to find such associations given their tendency towards steroid demonization and steroid hysteria. The latest instance involves child abuse by Anthony Badalamenti in which the perpetrator has been linked to anabolic steroids, the violent beating has been referred to as an example of roid rage, and his behavior has been compared to the Chris Benoit tragedy.
The New York Daily News reports that Anthony Badalamenti obtained anabolic steroids and human growth hormone (HGH) in 2006 from Lowen’s Pharmacy which were prescribed to him by Dr. Richard Lucente (who is under investigation for writing precriptions for performance enhancing drugs) (”Long Island bodybuilder linked to Mitchell Report pharmacy,” November 4).
“I don’t know if this was ‘roid rage, but this sure reminds me of Chris Benoit,” said the source, referring to the professional wrestler who had steroids in his system when he killed his wife and son before committing suicide in 2007.
Mathias Bolton was wrongly attacked and beat in his residence by at least two police officers. He blames anabolic steroids for causing one of the officers to attack him in a lawsuit filed last week; no explanation was provided explaining why the other officer(s) attacked him (”Cop “shot up” before attacking: Claims ‘roids fueled beating on wrong man,” September 3).
The lawsuit claimes Vargas was a target of a Jersey City Police Department investigation into steroid use by cops and “was using a steroid, testosterone or other prescription substance when he assaulted Mr. Bolton which was a proximate cause of his attacking and beating Mr. Bolton.”
New York Police Department (NYPD) Deputy Chief Michael Marino refused to accept departmental punishment that would dock him 30 days pay and place him on one year probation (”Steroid Cop will fight the rap,” August 15).
Marino was on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) for which he obtained a topical testosterone cream from a Lowen’s Pharmacy. Unfortunately, Lowen’s Pharmacy was implicated in a high-profile steroid scandal involving the illegal distribution of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. The steroid hysteria involving cops on steroids unfairly maligned the media, the public, and NYPD against steroid use for any reason – even legitimate medical reasons.
Film producer Julius Nasso denies any mafia involvement in Lowen’s Pharmacy, its compounding business or its large scale distribution of anabolic steroids and growth hormone. Julius Nasso was a long-time friend and former business partner of the principal owner and pharmacist John Rossi, who apparently committed suicide last month. While Nasso still owns the building where Lowen’s Pharmacy is located, his attorney claims Nasso has not had any ownership stake since 1988.
Nasso is a reputed Gambino crime family associate and pleaded guilty to an extortion conspiracy involving using mob muscle to shake down actor Steven Segal.
Nasso maintains there was no organized crime involvement with Lowen’s Pharmacy; John Rossi and Rossi’s son-in-law acted independently to start selling compounded anabolic steroids and growth hormone in 2004.
The drug store’s involvement in compounding steroids and human growth hormone appears to date back only a few years.
Court papers, filed in connection with a civil lawsuit, indicated that the pharmacy - an old-fashioned, 55-year-old shop in Brooklyn’s Bay Ridge section - acquired the equipment, expertise and client lists of another compounding pharmacy in California in 2004. The owner of that business, now defunct, also provided training for some of Lowen’s staff.
Rossi and his son-in-law expanded the compounding business by attending conferences on “anti-aging medicine” in Florida, where they struck up partnerships to provide drugs to a small group of health clinics that sold steroids and hormones over the Internet.
Source: International Herald Tribune
The co-owner of Lowen’s Pharmacy has apparently died from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head; New York Police Department (NYPD) investigators maintain it was a suicide even though the victim was also shot in the chest.
Six NYPD police officers, most of whom worked out at Dolphin Fitness near Lowen’s, have been under instensive internal affairs investigations for improperly obtaining anabolic steroids from Lowen’s Pharmacy. Lowen’s Pharmacy has been raided on two separate occasions by narcotics officers working with the office of New York’s Albany District Attorney David Soares. These raids resulted in the seizure of over $7 million worth of growth hormone from China as well as $200,000 worth of various anabolic steroids, including testosterone, nandrolone and stanozolol; records seized showed that about $30 million in steroids and growth hormone were funneled through “longevity clinics” in Florida.
Lowen’s Pharmacy has ties to the Gambino crime family. Julius Nasso, Jr. is a part owner of Lowen’s Pharmacy; his father owns the building where Lowen’s is located at the corner of Bayshore Drive and 3rd Avenue in Brooklyn. The father of Julius Nasso, Jr. was a former pharmacist turned movie producer who served prison time for conspiring with the Gambino family to extort money from actor Steven Segal; the uncle of Nasso, Jr. owns a drug company and was sentenced for labor racketeering.
