Steroid Sting Bust 120 People

I know it might seem like I'm beating a dead horse here, but I promise this story is big. Authorities arrested more than 120 people and uncovered dozens of steroid labs in an international investigation into the illicit trade of performance-enhancing drugs, federal officials announced Monday. The Drug Enforcement Administration said the investigation, called Operation Raw Deal, was assisted by the governments of nine other countries, including China. In the United States, agents seized 56 labs manufacturing anabolic steroids and human growth hormone (HGH) and seized 11.4 million doses of drugs in all, the DEA said.

One of the largest charged is a Chinese manufacturer accused of smuggling HGH in to the United States and four men who allegedly distributed drugs through a MySpace profile. DEA spokesman Michael Sanders said 143 federal search warrants were issued during the 18-month investigation, many of them since Thursday. The FBI, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Food and Drug Administration were also involved. One of the questions would be how China helped in the investigation since a company inside of China is being charged, here is your answer: "China really stepped up to the plate to help us in this investigation," DEA spokesman Garrison Courtney said in Washington.

In all, investigators seized over 500 pounds of raw ingredients from a steroid manufacture that originated in China. Other countries who participated in the investigation were Mexico, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Thailand.

This just shows how rampant the illegal drug industry is and that it isn't a problem just in the United States.

Mike Tyson Pleads Guilty to Drug, DUI Charges

Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson pleaded guilty Monday to charges of drug possession and driving under the influence stemming from a traffic stop last year when he was leaving a nightclub. Tyson also aknowledged that he had cocaine and was impaired when he was stopped for driving all over the road in Arizona on December 29th. Tyson faces up to 4 years in prison for the counts that are against him. Tyson is like O.J. Simpson in a lot of ways, they cannot stay out of trouble. I still think there are some people like Tyson and Simpson that enjoy it when they get in trouble. I hope Tyson gets put in prison and that the authorities forget to let him out of his cell.

Federal Agents Seize Illegal Steroids from New Jersey Home

In Newark, New Jersey, Federal Agents raided a Jersey home and seized more than 40,000 doses of illegal anabolic steroids. The agents said that the house they raided was being used as a factory. The manufacturing was being done in the basement of the home of Alfred Scarpa, an electrician who was arrested by the Drug Enforcement Agency, agents said. Scarpa, 34 admitted that he was involved with buying, making and selling steroids. He was held without bail.

DEA Agents also seized $56,000 cash & 2 semiautomatic handguns and in the basement it was filled with "tubes, bottles, vials," Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Kirsch said. The raid happened after the Feds acquired emails from Scarpa that showed that he was negotiating to buy steroid powder since at least April 2006. The DEA also found financial records showing wire transfers totaling at least $25,000 to businesses in Colonia and New Providence, some which were suppliers of steroids, the DEA said.

This story is huge because it shows that the Feds are now finding out how and where the steroids are originating. There was a story about this same thing in Yahoo! Sports that talks about how the Feds are finally figuring out where HGH is originating. The story is here: http://tinyurl.com/2kvp2e. Most of the HGH that gets into the United States for a multitude of reasons mostly comes from China. A man who in March pleaded not guilty to charges of illegally selling HGH and steroids received $108,900 for Somatropin, a generic form of HGH, which was imported from China which was in violation of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules, according to the documents that were found. To understand the whole story, you will have to read the whole story by Josh Peter of Yahoo! Sports.

The scary thing that comes out of these examples and stories is that it will be hard to stop the importing of HGH from China. Again like I said in my past posts, the "steroid period" will not go away until the feds come up with a way to test for HGH. MLB officials said that the "steroid period" was gone and that we were entering the clean period of sports, but obviously they were way off. Even if say Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants really took the "cream", we as a society need to look not just at popular players that you might hate, but the players that are really nice. I don't think Bonds truthfully took steroids because if you think about it, steroids cannot and will not increase you talent as a player by just "juicing" up. The concept of steroids is to give you more stamina so you don't get injured as much and if you do get injured it will cut down on the rehab time of the injury itself. Barry Bonds is one of the most talented baseball players of all time not because of the home runs he hit, but because of the overall game he has. The guy was a stellar left fielder when he was younger and he knew the concept of hitting the ball the other way and how to on a consistent basis. The only reason baseball people hate Bonds and think he took steroids is because he is an ass to the media. If you remember, before Mark McGuire retired, he was one of the nicest and most liked persons in baseball by the media during his home run breaking period. Then, after he retired and went to the government hearing and wouldn't answer any of the questions about what he did during his career because he only wanted to talk about the future, not talk about the past. Then you had Rafael Palmero of the Baltimore Orioles pointing his figure to the panel stating he had never taken steroids and then 2-3 months later he is suspended for failing the steroid test. I can go on forever, with Sammy Sosa who had the corked bat when he played with the Cubs and then afterword denied that he had a corked bat and lied about it. I know I'm rambling on, but it all ties back to steroids and how it will change and screw people up physically. Just look at the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) and all of their wrestlers sudden deaths from heart failures. Most of them were "juicing up" and the "juicing up" destroyed their bodies and with one of them destroyed his brain. Chris Benoit went off of the deep end because of taking steroids and killed his kid by smothering him/her with a pillow, then killed his wife and after killing them both hung himself in the basement of his home in Atlanta, Georgia. The investigators said that the steroids he was taking screwed up the electrical impulses in his brain and made him go off of the deep end. My next post will talk about what steroids will do to people's bodies and how it will destroy young children if they take them.
Enjoy,
Ryan

O.J. Simpson Charged with 11 Felony Charges

O.J. Simpson Tuesday morning was charged with 11 total felonies after the armed robbery in Las Vegas. The 11 charges includes two counts of first-degree kidnapping with use of a deadly weapon; two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon; and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. The kidnapping charge accuses the men of detaining each man "against his will, and without his consent, for the purpose of committing a robbery."

O.J.'s lawyer, Yale Galanter, said he would ask for Simpson's release and also added, "If it was anyone other than O.J. Simpson, he would have been released by now," Galanter also added, "You can't rob something that is yours, O.J. said, 'You've got stolen property. Either you return it or I call the police.'" The co-defendants, Walter Alexander, Clarence Stewart and Michael McClinton, entered the memorabilia store with Simpson and demanded the items while Simpson supposedly held a gun to the head of the victim.

Simpson allegedly went into the memorabilia store in Las Vegas looking for memorabilia he thought the victim stole from him. He set up a meeting with one of the victims Bruce Fromong and when Simpson and his cohorts entered the room they were not there to have a meeting, they came in with guns and held the victims at gun point asking for what Simpson thought was his. Fromong unfortunately suffered a major heart attack after the attack and was in critical condition Tuesday at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The one thing that is a little fishy about the whole story is if Simpson was actually holding a gun when he walked into the hotel room. The police recovered two firearms during planned searches. There were witnesses that saw the even that told the police that they did not think Simpson was holding a firearm. If Simpson was not holding a hand gun during the robbery, than his charges would diminish somewhat.

There is also chatter that O.J. might have been set up, but that is only a thought and has not been proved yet in anyway. Simpson should have paid for what he did when he allegedly killed his ex wife in the famous murder case where he was acquitted of all of the charges. Again like I said in past posts, Simpson should pay for what he did, if he did do what the charges are talking about he should be put in jail or prison for the allotted time. Sports stars in this world and in the United States are turning into people who think they are above the law and it has become true with so many different examples. Michael Vick was the rare exception when he was charged with charges including illegal gambling on dog fighting and then he with his own bare hands executed many dogs that were viewed as being un-fit to fight. He is going to get what he should get and I hope the same happens with O.J. Simpson for what he did allegedly.

O.J. Simpson Caught on Tape

O.J. Simpson, the ex running back for the NFL years ago was arrested Sunday and booked on charges connected with what police described as a robbery at a Las Vegas hotel. The audiotape was released today (Monday) by a celebrity web site TMZ.com, and a man believed to be Simpson demanded "my stuff" multiple times in the tape. He also said, "Think you can steal my s--- and sell it?" Now, Simpson was not the only person in the armed robbery and the others in the attempt were arrested or are in the process of going to be arrested.

Another collector in the same hotel room, Bruce Fromong, stated that the meeting was set up as if the men were customers, but when the men arrived, it was nothing like an orderly meeting: "The door burst open and they came in almost commando style, O.J. Simpson and some of his people, I guess you would call it, with guns drawn," Fromong said to ABC's Good Morning America Monday. "O.J. at that time was saying, 'I want my stuff. I want my stuff. The thing in my mind as soon as I saw him, I'm thinking, 'O.J., how can you be this dumb? You're in enough trouble."'

Simpson said that the men that accompanied him he met at a wedding cocktail party. The whole thing is almost deja vu again with Simpson. He has not been able to get out of trouble or it almost seems like he doesn't want to stay out of trouble. He has almost been like Daryl Strawberry, the ex baseball player who couldn't get out of drugs and alcohol, teams gave Daryl a bunch of chances but he literally threw away his chances at being a good baseball player.

O.J. Simpson right before he had issues with this Las Vegas armed robbery tried to release a book that talked about how he would have committed the murder of his wife, but yet he still thought that after we read his book we would still believe he didn't murder his wife. The guy needs to be thrown in the slammer and the key needs to be thrown away because the guy has tainted any career he had as a running back in the NFL and most people now do not even think of football with O.J., all we think about is somebody who had a chance to have a peaceful retirement, but threw it all away by making horrific choices. I hope young children do not view Simpson as a role model because of what he has done.