Thread: Feds bust steroid and pot ring in Greater Danbury

Feds bust steroid and pot ring in Greater Danbury



Federal investigators have busted a drug ring that authorities say distributed steroids to high school athletes and others in the Danbury area and was run by a Bethel businessman, according to prosecutors.

The businessman also headed a separate ring that sold more than 220 pounds of marijuana in the Danbury area over a four-year period beginning in January 2007, according to the indictment unsealed in federal court in Bridgeport late Tuesday.

Under arrest are Mark Mansa, 46, who had worked for a credit card payment processing company; Richard Sciaccetano, of Stuart, Fla., who investigators say has ties to the Bonnano crime family; Kevin Lubic, 48, of Salem, N.Y., who investigators say is associated with the Hells Angels motorcycle club, and Glenn Wagner, of Brookfield, whose home was raided by federal drug agents late last month.

Investigators claim Mansa sold roughly 70 bottles holding 200 milliliters of steroids every month at a price of up to $90 each.

Some of his customers included high school student athletes in the Danbury area, according to federal investigators.

The indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Hartford this month accuses Mansa of conspiring to distribute the steroids for more than seven years, from January 2004 to February 2011.

It accuses Mansa of distributing anabolic steroids to a cooperating witness on four occasions in March and June, 2010. As a result, he faces six federal charges.

Details of Mansa's criminal activity including the steroid sales are contained in an affidavit compiled by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, lawyers involved in the case said. The affidavit remains sealed from public view.

Mansa was arrested Feb. 24 during a planned $60,000 marijuana deal, prosecutors said. Days later, agents arrested Sciaccetano and Lubic.

DEA agents, assisted by Brookfield and Danbury police, executed a search warrant on Feb. 24 at Wagner's North Lake Shore Drive home in Brookfield.

Donald Cretella Jr., an attorney representing Wagner, said his client didn't have anything to do with the distribution of steroids.

Wagner is facing several charges including conspiracy to distribute marijuana, possession of marijuana and possession of a sawed-off Mossberg 12-gauge, pistol grip that was allegedly used in the marijuana trafficking conspiracy, according to the indictment.

The indictment charges Sciaccetano and Lubic, who served a federal prison sentence for trafficking in marijuana, only in the marijuana conspiracy.

Danbury police have been looking into Mansa's background for about five years, according to law enforcement sources.

As the investigation grew, they brought the case to the DEA which used informants, cooperators and hand-to-hand buys, the sources said.

Danbury Police Chief Al Baker confirmed that detectives from the department's Special Investigations Division had been working with DEA agents on a "long-term investigation" for some time, but he declined to say whether it involved the sale of performance-enhancing drugs to high school athletes.

"That would be a concern," he said.

A cooperating witness told investigators that Mansa bragged about his police connections, claiming their help kept him out of trouble.

No police officers have been indicted or arrested in connection with the case.

Mansa is scheduled to be arraigned March 23 before U.S. District Magistrate Judge Holly B. Fitzsimmons in Bridgeport.

At that time Peter Schaffer, Mansa's lawyer, said his client will plead not guilty to the charges.

As to the claims of selling steroids to high school athletes and having contacts in some police departments, Schaffer said, "we deny those allegations."

Wagner's arraignment originally planned for Tuesday was continued to Friday at noon. Fitzsimmons placed several conditions upon his release including home confinement and a $250,000 unsecured bond.

Wagner, who appeared frail and tired in court and is receiving weekly chemotherapy treatments, will be allowed to go to medical appointments during his release.

Lubic, who is charged with conspiracy to distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana, pleaded not guilty to the charge before Fitzsimmons on Tuesday.

She set Thursday afternoon for a hearing to determine if he should be released on bond. He faces a possible life sentence and up to $8 million in fines if convicted.

Lubic smiled briefly during the hearing Tuesday and tapped his fingers on the table in front of him in the courtroom.

He previously served a 77-month federal prison sentence on conspiracy to possess and distribute marijuana charges in New York.

He was released from custody in February 2007, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons -- about the time authorities said the local distribution ring got up and running.

Lubic, who is scheduled to appear before Fitzsimmons for a detention hearing on Thursday, was photographed by Life magazine while attending a Sept. 24, 2009, book signing in New York City with Phil Carlo, author of "The Butcher: Anatomy of a Mafia Psychopath," actor Mickey Rourke and Chuck Zito, former president of the New York Chapter of the Hells Angels and now an actor.

Mansa, Sciaccetano and Lubic are in custody and being held without bond.

Sciaccetano, a gray-haired, bearded man, suffers from numerous medical problems that led to his being taken to the hospital shortly after his arrest.

Robert Golger, who represents Sciaccetano, said his client will plead not guilty to the marijuana conspiracy charge when he is arraigned March 31. Golger denied that his client is associated with the Bonnano crime family.

Sources said authorities have frozen both Mansa's and Wagner's bank accounts.

They are also seeking to seize property Mansa owns on Old Hawleyville Road in Bethel. He purchased the property, which is a little less than an acre according to Bethel land records, for $95,000 last September.

The investigation into the drug ring is continuing.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tracy Dayton and David Sullivan and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Vizcarrando.

It has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Vanessa Bryant in Hartford for trial.

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