At 36, Christopher Lance presided over a Long Island drug empire that generated over a million doses of steroids for what one assistant district attorney in Nassau County called "an amazing clientele base."
Facing 2-1/2 years behind bars if found guilty on state charges, and with federal charges looming, Lance committed suicide a week ago today, after a making a court appearance in Nassau County. Investigator William Gillespie of the Nassau County DA's office, a former NYPD veteran of 23 years, said he received a sobering call from Lance's attorney Joseph Ferri following the death. According to investigators, Lance, who left a suicide note, died of a drug overdose.
Lance was the ringleader of GenPharms, a Melville steroid manufacturing and distribution laboratory that was one of two Long Island "underground" outfits Nassau DA and federal Drug Enforcement Administration authorities recently took down, all part of a national drug-trafficking investigation labeled "Operation Raw Deal" that has exposed more than 50 such operations nationwide. A Farmingdale lab called "Strong Island Underground," also known as SIUG, was the second L.I. lab in the Nassau County investigation.
At a press briefing at the DEA offices in lower Manhattan yesterday, Nassau investigators said Lance operated the steroid ring from his mother's Massapequa home before relocating it to Melville within the last month. After DEA agents and Nassau County investigators busted Lance and seized approximately 1.25 million steroid dosage units, he was charged with five counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree.
Lance's wife, Debra Rosenbach, is charged with three counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, and his mother is charged with two counts. Christopher Lance was to have made his next court appearance Dec. 5. Ferri would not comment on his client's death or the case when the Daily News reached him by phone yesterday.
According to Gillespie, part of GenPharms' operation was being run out of Lance's Melville apartment.
"It was an upstairs apartment with two bedrooms. One had his computer and a closet. The room was filled with Rubbermaid containers with finished products," said Gillespie. "There were vials ready to hit the street. There were plastic bags in Chris' lab that were marked, 'Do Not Breathe' and they contained Cytomel and Clenbuterol. In his bedroom, there were more containers under his bed, filled with vials." Gillespie added that Lance had been cooperative with authorities. Cytomel is a thyroid hormone typically used when someone is cycling off steroids. Clenbuterol is a powerful stimulant that has anabolic properties and is used to get a "ripped" look.
Teri Corrigan, the Nassau County assistant district attorney, said that her office's investigation did not yet have a connection to the national steroid-trafficking probe led by Albany County DA David Soares. Corrigan also said no professional athletes' names have surfaced in the busts of GenPharms and SIUG labs. But, Corrigan added, "a lot of what these guys did was over the Internet, so you're looking at screen names. It's difficult to identify who's on the other end of that screen name.
"They were basically very well-entrenched where they were in Nassau County and had an amazing clientele base and moved millions of shipments," Corrigan said of the two labs. "We've recovered 1.1 million dosages from SIUG labs and 1.25 million dosage units from GenPharms. It was an awful lot of product that had the ability to hit the streets."
Facing 2-1/2 years behind bars if found guilty on state charges, and with federal charges looming, Lance committed suicide a week ago today, after a making a court appearance in Nassau County. Investigator William Gillespie of the Nassau County DA's office, a former NYPD veteran of 23 years, said he received a sobering call from Lance's attorney Joseph Ferri following the death. According to investigators, Lance, who left a suicide note, died of a drug overdose.
Lance was the ringleader of GenPharms, a Melville steroid manufacturing and distribution laboratory that was one of two Long Island "underground" outfits Nassau DA and federal Drug Enforcement Administration authorities recently took down, all part of a national drug-trafficking investigation labeled "Operation Raw Deal" that has exposed more than 50 such operations nationwide. A Farmingdale lab called "Strong Island Underground," also known as SIUG, was the second L.I. lab in the Nassau County investigation.
At a press briefing at the DEA offices in lower Manhattan yesterday, Nassau investigators said Lance operated the steroid ring from his mother's Massapequa home before relocating it to Melville within the last month. After DEA agents and Nassau County investigators busted Lance and seized approximately 1.25 million steroid dosage units, he was charged with five counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree.
Lance's wife, Debra Rosenbach, is charged with three counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, and his mother is charged with two counts. Christopher Lance was to have made his next court appearance Dec. 5. Ferri would not comment on his client's death or the case when the Daily News reached him by phone yesterday.
According to Gillespie, part of GenPharms' operation was being run out of Lance's Melville apartment.
"It was an upstairs apartment with two bedrooms. One had his computer and a closet. The room was filled with Rubbermaid containers with finished products," said Gillespie. "There were vials ready to hit the street. There were plastic bags in Chris' lab that were marked, 'Do Not Breathe' and they contained Cytomel and Clenbuterol. In his bedroom, there were more containers under his bed, filled with vials." Gillespie added that Lance had been cooperative with authorities. Cytomel is a thyroid hormone typically used when someone is cycling off steroids. Clenbuterol is a powerful stimulant that has anabolic properties and is used to get a "ripped" look.
Teri Corrigan, the Nassau County assistant district attorney, said that her office's investigation did not yet have a connection to the national steroid-trafficking probe led by Albany County DA David Soares. Corrigan also said no professional athletes' names have surfaced in the busts of GenPharms and SIUG labs. But, Corrigan added, "a lot of what these guys did was over the Internet, so you're looking at screen names. It's difficult to identify who's on the other end of that screen name.
"They were basically very well-entrenched where they were in Nassau County and had an amazing clientele base and moved millions of shipments," Corrigan said of the two labs. "We've recovered 1.1 million dosages from SIUG labs and 1.25 million dosage units from GenPharms. It was an awful lot of product that had the ability to hit the streets."
