Posted on 03/12/2005 10:44:02 PM PST by GreatOne
The recipe called for 1/2 cc of testosterone cypionate every three days; one cc of testosterone enanthate per week; equipoise and winstrol v, 1/4 cc every three days, injected into the buttocks, one in one cheek, one in the other.
It was the cocktail of a hardcore steroids user, and it is one of the "arrays," or steroid recipes, Mark McGwire used to become the biggest thing in baseball in the 1990s, sources have told the Daily News.
Long before Jose Canseco claimed he injected McGwire in the behind in his tell-all autobiography "Juiced," the man known as Big Mac denied ever using illegal steroids. But according to FBI sources, McGwire's name came up several times during "Operation Equine," a landmark anabolic steroids investigation that led to 70 trafficking convictions in the early 1990s. No evidence against McGwire or any other steroid user was collected, and one former agent who worked undercover in the case says McGwire was not a target.
But two dealers caught in Operation Equine told the Daily News that a California man named Curtis Wenzlaff provided Canseco and McGwire, among others, with illegal anabolic steroids. One informant in the case says Wenzlaff injected McGwire at a gym in Southern California on several occasions, and established "arrays" of performance-enhancing drugs such as the aforementioned cocktail.
"Curtis was an expert on how to take drugs," one of the informants in the case says. "The West Coast - that was the Mecca of drugs back then. And Curtis was involved with some serious people. Curtis gave me the same cycle that Mark McGwire (allegedly) was on. The best cycle (of steroids) I ever did came from Curtis."
Reached by the News, a former member of the gym where Wenzlaff and McGwire allegedly worked out together - Racquetball World in Fountain Valley, Calif. - said he saw them work out together "maybe five times" and that the two discussed using steroids in his presence.
"No comment," said Wenzlaff when asked to confirm the accounts.
A month-long review by the News of court documents, FBI records and interviews with sources on both sides of the law found that Operation Equine was a massive warning sign of what was to come in the American sports landscape. Dealers like Wenzlaff were befriending ballplayers like Canseco all over the country, and those players were passing on their new-found expertise to friends in the game.
"In hindsight, we could have gotten the big names - (Michigan State lineman) Tony Mandarich, Canseco - the problem is, where do you draw the line?" says Bill Randall, who was the FBI undercover agent during Operation Equine. "You have to remember, there was no benchmark, nothing for us to model the investigation on. We wanted to get to the root of the problem, that's all we were after. We could have hammered Canseco, but again, that wasn't the thrust. And if we had started going after Major League Baseball players, we'd never get up to these big-time dealers."
Representatives for Canseco and McGwire said the former players did not remember meeting Wenzlaff, and were not aware their names came up in the FBI's investigation, although an FBI source provided the News with previous telephone numbers for Canseco and McGwire and a pager number for Canseco from Wenzlaff's old phone book.
"We're not going to comment on anything at this time," said Marc Altieri, McGwire's representative, "but we believe one should consider the sources of such allegations."
"Jose doesn't want to deny knowing him, but he just doesn't remember the guy," said Robert Saunooke, Canseco's attorney.
However, Wenzlaff's longtime friend Reggie Jackson, who Wenzlaff insists never used steroids or knew he was dealing them, says he saw Wenzlaff and Canseco work out and socialize together.
"Yes, they had spent some time together," says Jackson, who met Wenzlaff after his career ended with the Oakland A's in 1987.
"Curt's a good guy that got mixed up in steroids at a very young age. He's a good, solid, stand-up guy and he's honest."
Jackson, who let Wenzlaff stay in his Oakland home for long stretches in the late 1980s, says he was not aware that Wenzlaff had allegedly supplied steroids to Canseco or anyone else until last year when Wenzlaff testified before a Senate subcommittee investigating steroid use in pro, college and high school sports.
The two convicted sources who connected Wenzlaff to Canseco and McGwire declined to be named, saying they feared retribution from some of the steroid dealers they informed on. But two FBI sources confirmed the men's identities and said they provided credible information throughout the operation and, like Wenzlaff, avoided jail time for their cooperation. One FBI source also said the men's fears about retribution are well-founded.
"That's why I'm amazed at what Jose said in the book," Wenzlaff says. "There are some people who might come after him."
Excerpt - more at link above.
I haven't read any comments on Bonds' and Sosa's appearance this Spring. Have they noticably shrink in any way?
What bothers ME most is that we have much better things for the FBI to be doing than investigating overpaid sports "heroes" and their drug use.
Seriously tho this is the first actual evidence anyone has had linking McGwire to illegal steroids. I think people should step back and stop assuming people are guilty until proven innocent.
I used to inject 'roids into my fingers (with another FReeper's assistance) to gain a posting advantage...the shame still haunts me.
If all the steroid use stopped today the top player this upcoming season would most likely be batting around .315 with 35 homeruns and around 120 RBI.
I don't much care if an athlete uses steroids to enhance his performance. He's making a choice whether to risk his life in the long-term to benefit by taking certain drugs that could benefit him in the short term.What's wrong with that? We can't possibly measure the effect of everything an athlete does to build up his skills, so why should taking steroids be different? When a player is injected with cortisone for pain or injury, that happens to include steroids. If a player , like McGwire wanted to risk taking steroids, that was his choice, stupid as it may have been. In my mind, it takes nothing away from his on the field achievements. Am I wrong?
Doesn't Congress and the FBI have anything more important to investigate? It's a sport, a recreational activity. Let them police themselves and the fans decide what they will accept! This is a ridiculous waste of government time and resources!
Not to me.
The "purists" out there will say that it is unsportsmanlike to use chemicals for a competetive advantage, but I'm with you: So what?
Pofessional sports is a business, where players and owners make money based on performance.
I couldn't care less what they take to enhance that performance, and I think it is a shame that we waste so many valuable resources and time to investigate such.
If MLB is worried about it, let THEM pay for the investigation - Congress and the FBI have better things to do.
Exactamundo BUMP!
There is so much BS circulating about steroids it is hard to determine what is fact and what is fiction. I lift weights with steroid users and at least in my experience steroids are almost worthless.
Well...heres the deal about purity of the game. Baseball is about stat's...and you have to be able to talk and compare players. The minute you admit that Barry was juiced...then his homer season is not compariable to Maris or Ruth. A star has to go on that column. You create a fictional character out of Barry Bonds...because he can't be truely compared to Maris or Aaron or Mays.
We can talk business all you want. But everyone who claims to be a fan...is really stat person...and has to make comparisons. And deep down...you really have to admit that Barry's big year...earns a asterik.
Umm...what are you smoking, btw?
Nothing could be further from reality.
"If MLB is worried about it, let THEM pay for the investigation - Congress and the FBI have better things to do."
If it's in a player's contract that he may not use steroids, that would probably constitute a violation of the contract. But otherwise, MLB should just lay off, and again if players want to use chemicals to build their bodies, so what? All drugs are chemicals. Does that mean anyone who takes prescription drugs and has a job, has an unfair advantage over those who don't take drugs? Liberals have to learn that life isn't always fair, people are individuals,and are entitled, within the law to take risks. Is that so unreasonable?
I am willing to concede your point.
I enjoy watching baseball, but I'll be dipped in shiz before I tie up too much of my attention with the minutae of stats.
Anyone that does needs to get a life, IMHO.
Not unreasonable at all.
70*
Why does it earn an asterisk? Maris had to do much less traveling than Bonds, Bonds is living in a much more stress-filled environment, and on and on. You cannot make fair comparisons between players of 40 years ago and today's players.
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