Three Westchester Doctors Accused of Providing Drugs To Mob
NEW YORK Three Westchester doctors were charged Thursday with supplying the Gambino crime family with Viagra and large amounts of other prescription drugs, prosecutors said.

The physicians, Arlen Fleisher, Stephen Klass and George Shapiro, received personal and financial benefits by supplying the drugs and drug samples to members and associates of the organized crime family, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan.

In a release, the prosecutor's office said charges in a criminal complaint unsealed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan resulted from a three-year investigation in which an FBI agent worked undercover in one of the family's crews.

The wider probe exposed alleged racketeering activities including extortion, loansharking and the sale of stolen goods. Those crimes were outlined in a March 2 indictment used to arrest 32 defendants including the family's acting boss and underboss.

In a criminal complaint, the government alleged that the Westchester doctors regularly and illegally provided large amounts of drugs, including Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, all of which require a prescription.

In return, the doctors received discounted construction and auto repair work done by Gambino-controlled businesses and the use of a Gambino family table at a Manhattan restaurant, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said evidence included taped conversations in which the doctors were heard discussing the prescription drugs.

In one instance, Klass allegedly referred to himself as the medical "consigliere'' for the Gambino family, prosecutors said.

Barry S. Zone, a lawyer for Fleisher, said the government was trying to turn legitimate medical work such as providing drug samples to patients into a crime.

"These are hard working, honest doctors,'' he said. "Apparently, I guess the rule is that if you're alleged to be a wiseguy, don't get sick.''

Richard Herman, a lawyer for Shapiro, said his client had been treating one of the reputed mobsters for many years for a heart condition but had done nothing wrong.