Muscle Men: 6. One Last Hit

Summary

Extreme Podcast Summary: Muscle Men: 6. One Last Hit

Release Date: September 2, 2024
Host: Natalia Melman Petruzella
Producer: Caroline Thornham

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Introduction: The Rise and Fall of a Steroid Empire

In the gripping sixth episode of Muscle Men, titled "One Last Hit," host Natalia Melman Petruzella delves deep into the clandestine world of steroid distribution in the mid-1980s. This episode chronicles the meteoric rise and catastrophic downfall of William Dillon, also known as Dylan, a key figure in a sprawling steroid ring that ultimately drew the full force of federal law enforcement.

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William Dillon’s Journey: From Fitness Entrepreneur to Drug Dealer

William Dillon's Initial Decision to Exit:

The episode opens with William Dillon reflecting on a pivotal moment in his life:

[00:05] William Dillon: "After the raid they did on us, that's when I got out."

Following a violent raid by federal agents that left his Los Angeles home in disarray, Dillon realizes the necessity of a drastic change to avoid imprisonment and protect his family's reputation.

[00:22] William Dillon: "I didn't want to go to jail. I didn't want to embarrass my parents. I decided, I'm out. I took my money, I had bought into the Gold's Gym in San Diego and I just decided, I'm going to go there, I'll run the gym and I'll start over, right?"

In August 1986, Dillon and his wife, Cecilie, relocate to San Diego, attempting to leave their illicit past behind by investing in a Gold's Gym franchise.

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The Return to the Underworld: Temptation of "One Last Hit"

Resurgence of the Steroid Business:

Despite his efforts to break free, Dillon's former associates are not ready to let him go. The call from David Jenkins, the head of their Mexican steroid suppliers, reignites Dillon's involvement:

[01:12] William Dillon: "He goes, they need you, man. They need you. They can't find anybody that can move any volume."

With the steroid ring struggling due to diminished sales and the absence of Dillon's sales acumen, his return becomes imminent. The allure of a significant commission is hard to resist:

[03:11] William Dillon: "How do you say no to 80, 90, $100,000 just for doing almost nothing? You don't."

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Operational Dynamics: Structure and Ethics Within the Ring

Organized Operations and Moral Boundaries:

Under Dillon’s leadership as the sales representative for United Pharmaceuticals, the steroid ring operates with newfound professionalism. Dillon emphasizes ethical sales practices, especially concerning underage buyers:

[08:12] William Dillon: "I went, how old is this guy? And he goes, oh, he's gonna be 17, he's 16. I went, you frickin sold steroids to a kid."

Dillon attempts to instill a moral code among distributors, aiming to mitigate the inherent risks of steroid distribution. He focuses on controlling distribution to prevent overuse and protect young users:

[09:08] Natalia Melman Petruzella: "Dylan tells me he trained the guys who bought from him not to sell to underage kids or to sell too many doses to one person without them taking a break between their steroid cycles."

Despite these intentions, maintaining strict ethical standards proves challenging, especially as internal conflicts arise.

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Internal Struggles: The Breakdown of Trust

Conflict with Jim Insco and Leonard Suerta:

The fabric of the steroid ring begins to unravel when Jim Insco, a trusted associate, faces a failed transaction. Insco’s attempt to secure payment from a Phoenix customer leads to violence orchestrated by Leonard Suerta, the enforcer known for keeping order within the ring:

[12:18] William Dillon: "He was Italian. He was short. I can't say we were friends, but I mean, he respected me and I respected him."

Leonard Suerta’s brutal handling of the Phoenix incident serves as a wake-up call for Dillon, highlighting the volatile nature of their operations:

[12:56] William Dillon: "I needed to get out because it was past time. I had already realized that there was nothing good for me that was ever going to happen."

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Federal Crackdown: Escalating Pressure from Authorities

Formation of the National Steroid Task Force:

Unbeknownst to Dillon, the federal authorities, led by Philip Halperin, are intensifying their efforts to dismantle the steroid ring. The discovery of counterfeit steroid labels during a previous raid connects Dillon directly to more serious charges:

[14:14] William Dillon: "The one thing I never thought about was the counterfeiting charge. I don't know what I was thinking."

These counterfeit labels, along with connections to Dan Duchene’s businesses, provide substantial evidence for the Task Force to build a case against Dillon.

Surveillance and Wiretapping:

Despite Dillon’s attempts to cover his tracks, including moving operations to reduce visibility, the Task Force secures a warrant to monitor his phone calls:

[16:38] William Dillon: "I wanted out. They didn't want me out. You don't want to lose your best salesman. Businesses go under for less than that."

However, Dillon remains elusive, planning his exit strategy even as the authorities close in.

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The Final Deal: A Sting Operation Unfolds

Collaboration with Larry Pacifico:

As Dillon prepares for a massive $500,000 steroid transaction, he unknowingly interacts with Larry Pacifico, a legendary powerlifter and covert collaborator with the Task Force:

[17:48] William Dillon: "Larry Pacifico. He was a powerlifting God."

Pacifico, possessing significant influence in the bodybuilding community, becomes the linchpin in the undercover operation orchestrated by Dennis Deegan, a pivotal FDA investigator.

Undercover Agent John Bosley:

Dillon meets John Bosley, an undercover customs agent posing as a bodyguard, during the setup of the final deal:

[21:37] William Dillon: "You know, he wasn't that big, but."

Bosley’s unassuming appearance allows him to gain Dillon’s trust, leading to the exchange of counterfeit steroids for the substantial cash Dillon expects.

The Takedown:

The operation culminates at the Dana Inn in San Diego, where the exchange takes place. However, federal agents anticipate the deal and intercept the cash transmission:

[22:40] William Dillon: "Everything was set. It was done."

As Dillon retreats to Santa Barbara, the sting operation successfully apprehends Bosley and Manson, leading to the collapse of the steroid ring.

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Aftermath: Betrayals and Consequences

Ring Members Turn on Dillon:

In the wake of the arrest, mistrust festers within the ring. Distributors accuse Dillon of betrayal, fearing he orchestrated the downfall:

[26:39] William Dillon: "They're paying me this much money, 75,000 or something, right?"

[26:43] Natalia Melman Petruzella: "To kill you."

Leonard Suerta orders the hit on Dillon, believing him to be the architect behind the failed deal and subsequent arrests, sealing Dillon’s fate.

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Reflections: Morality and the Human Cost

Dillon’s Regret and Ethical Dilemmas:

Throughout the episode, Dillon grapples with the ethical implications of his actions. While striving to implement moral boundaries within the steroid ring, the inherent illegality and dangers of the business lead to tragic outcomes:

[09:53] William Dillon: "I'm not trying to make it sound holier than thou, I'm just saying that it was a touchy of enough subject that would affect people's lives beyond just the cycle that they took."

His attempts to control and minimize harm are overshadowed by the ring’s internal conflicts and the relentless pursuit by federal authorities.

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Conclusion: The High Cost of the Impossible

"One Last Hit" serves as a poignant exploration of ambition, ethical compromise, and the destructive pursuit of success within the shadowy underworld of steroid distribution. Dillon’s story is a testament to the perilous balance between personal gain and moral responsibility, ultimately questioning whether the relentless chase for power and profit is worth the irreversible costs.

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Notable Quotes:

• William Dillon on Exiting the Ring:
  "I didn't want to go to jail. I didn't want to embarrass my parents. I decided, I'm out."
  [00:22]

• Dillon on Ethical Sales Practices:
  "How do you say no to 80, 90, $100,000 just for doing almost nothing? You don't."
  [03:11]

• Reflection on Liability:
  "You frickin sold steroids to a kid. Do you realize what that does to him? It shuts off their long bones from growing more."
  [08:17]

• Dillon’s Realization of Betrayal:
  "They're paying me this much money, 75,000 or something, right?"
  [26:39]

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Production Credits:

• Producer: Caroline Thornham
• Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed
• Editor: Kathryn Godfrey
• Sound Design & Mix: Daniel Kempson
• Original Music: Silverhawk AKA Cyril Poirier
• Production Manager: Cherie Houston
• Commissioning Editor: Dan Clark
• Executive Producer: Max O'Brien

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Host Commentary:

Natalia Melman Petruzella masterfully navigates the complex narrative, intertwining personal anecdotes with broader implications of steroid use and distribution. The episode not only recounts Dillon’s downfall but also casts a critical eye on the culture surrounding bodybuilding and the lengths individuals will go to achieve perceived perfection.

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Looking Ahead:

One Last Hit sets the stage for subsequent episodes, promising to further unravel the intricate web of muscle men, their motivations, and the systemic issues within the sports and fitness industries.

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Tune In:

For those intrigued by true stories of ambition, ethical quandaries, and the dark side of the pursuit of physical perfection, Muscle Men: One Last Hit is a compelling listen on BBC Radio 4’s Extreme series.

Transcript

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

BBC Sounds Music Radio podcasts.

[William Dillon]

After the raid they did on us, that's when I got out.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

William Dillon walks through his LA home. He surveys the rooms in total disarray, freshly ransacked by a team of federal law enforcement agents. He knows that something has to change.

[William Dillon]

I didn't want to go to jail. I didn't want to embarrass my parents. I decided, I'm out. I took my money, I had bought into the Gold's Gym in San Diego and I just decided, I'm going to go there, I'll run the gym and I'll start over, right?

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

In August 1986, Dylan and his wife uproot their life in LA and set about building a new one. Each day. Dylan goes to the Gold's franchise he bought with steroid money and finishes out the summer to the familiar clank of the steel weights. And when the feds don't come knocking again, it seems like maybe he's gotten out of the steroid business just in time. But then the phone rings. It's David Jenkins with a message from their Mexican steroid suppliers. Dylan remembers it like this.

[William Dillon]

He goes, they need you, man. They need you. They can't find anybody that can move any volume.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Dylan is out. And Dan Duchene is laying low, too. Without their sales savvy, business for the steroid ring has seriously slowed down.

[William Dillon]

When I left, they couldn't sell anything, so they tried to get their people from Mexico to get stuff selling. No one wanted to buy from them.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

The ring needs its trusty Midwestern salesman back at any cost.

[William Dillon]

He goes, they want you to come down and talk to them.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Dylan's old life has come calling. After his run in with the feds, he knows he should resist.

[William Dillon]

Either you're an unbelievably smart person to get out in time, or you have to be pushed. Apparently I was almost smart enough, but I was too greedy at the end not to get that last little hit.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

I'm Natalia Melman Petruzella from BBC Radio 4. This is Extreme Muscle Men episode six one last hit. One sweltering day later that August, William Dillon drives across the US border and rolls up to the swanky Hotel Fiesta Americana, where laboratorios Milanos had an office at the time. Jenkins and the head of the steroid supply lab, Juan Xavier Maclis, are waiting for him.

[William Dillon]

They were willing to move me to Mexico full time and give me like 10% of the profit. All I had to do was be the one that sold it. And they said just for a Little while. Just get us back on our feet, you know, with sales.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Dylan knows it's a risk. He moved to San Diego to get away from all this. But a 10% commission, that's big.

[William Dillon]

How do you say no to 80, 90, $100,000 just for doing almost nothing? You don't.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Dylan is back in. This time around, things in the steroid ring run a little differently. Dylan is appointed as the sales rep for United Pharmaceuticals. That's the name the ring was using at the time as the legitimate front for their illegal operation. It's a desk job, no boxing up packages of steroids or stuffing them into his attic. Dylan has one job to sell.

[William Dillon]

They knew that I was a good salesman and they knew I had a good reputation. They needed that credibility.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

In an effort to reduce risk, David Jenkins has cut down their network to five key distributors who each cover a different region of the U.S. very discreet, very professional. The cops have leveled up, so the ring has to do the same. They've learned lessons from the last year. And for Dylan, this whole setup is cleaner, easier, and at least on the face of it, safer. The only time he has to surface is to collect his cut. One day in mid October, Dylan drives to the Embarcadero in downtown San Diego, a neighborhood on the water. It's home to the city's cruise ship terminal with a wide boardwalk. Dylan makes his way to the Holiday Inn. David Jenkins is waiting inside with Dylan's money for the month, just as promised. Nine grand in 80s money. Not a bad start. But Dylan knows he can do much better. In the fall of 86, he's involved in at least 15 major steroid transactions. By the time David Jenkins hands Dylan a paper bag full of cash at a burger spot in Pacific beach that December, Dylan's commission has more than tripled to a tidy $29,000. Business is back on track, and the old gang is back together. Well, almost. The ring is still missing its steroid guru, Dan Duchene. The summer of run ins with the feds has scared him straight, at least for the moment. He's even got a real job from an old friend and co author of the Underground Steroid Handbook, Mike Zumpano.

[Mike Zumpano]

I naively thought that if Dan left the business behind that the feds would just say, oh, well, he's a good boy now. He left the business. We'll leave him alone.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Mike and Dan had parted ways when Dan got into selling. And by now Mike has his own thriving and legitimate sports nutrition business.

[Mike Zumpano]

I moved Dan up to Northern California. I found A nice place for him to live in Benicia, right on the water. He had a view of the bridge and the water was beautiful. And he started coming to work and writing for me, and his heart wasn't in it, you know. Dan wanted to be a gangster, and that's the only thing that got him excited. He wanted to be surrounded by pretty girls and enjoy their adulations and be a gangster.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Mike can see that the stresses of the past year are wearing on his old friend.

[Mike Zumpano]

He couldn't write. He was taking 100 milligrams of Valium a day, and he was using Nubain and a drug called Statol. They were designer drugs, they were called, and he was very addicted to them. He'd have to take them every couple hours or he'd go into withdrawal.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

At times, even Duchenne recognized that his chemical fascination had the potential to be destructive. This is him being interviewed for Bill Phillips Muscle Media 2000. In the 90s, you have to realize.

[William Dillon]

That bodybuilders are not doctors.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

They can't even read some of the stuff on the label. The mentality of most bodybuilders is they're not responsible people. I see what he means. For all the discipline and commitment that bodybuilding absolutely demands, there's also something kind of reckless about it. The unregulated steroids, of course, but also putting in the work to achieve a body that is so big that it actually can be something of a social liability. Remember that muscle bound used to be a slur, meaning someone so muscular that their intellect, soul and even conscience are literally impeded by the size of their muscles. That attitude dies hard. It's unfair. But plenty of people see someone who clearly spends a lot of time bulking up at the gym and still automatically think meathead. His or her priorities must be off. So the professional, businesslike way that Dylan and Jenkins were running the operation at this point goes against that image. And it's a stark contrast to Dan's chaotic behavior. For sure, he and Dylan were always different in this regard. Remember, Dylan says he never shared Dan's interest in recreational drugs. Dylan always had the business in mind, and protecting the integrity of the product was important to him, including when it came to the potential risks of the steroid boom.

[William Dillon]

I was more worried about the information and the quality that was going out to these kids all around the country, you know?

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

But in Dylan's eyes, the ring wasn't increasing that risk, it was controlling it.

[William Dillon]

I wanted to have more control over what was being bought and where it was being bought. And how much of it was being bought. I remember there was a guy that sent me pictures of a kid that won some 16 and under bodybuilding show. And he was huge. And I'm looking at the pictures, I go, how old is this guy? And he goes, oh, he's gonna be 17, he's 16. I went, you frickin sold steroids to a kid. Do you realize what that does to him? It shuts off their long bones from growing more. It shuts everything off. So when I started realizing there needed to be some policing, then there was some policing. You know, we had, I want to call moral rules. We had rules of how you conduct yourself and how, how you sell and what you sell to whom.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Moral rules. Take this one. Dylan says he trained the guys who bought from him not to sell to underage kids or to sell too many doses to one person without them taking a break between their steroid cycles. So you were confident, I'm not killing people, I'm not selling to young people. Did you ever have an experience where you made a sale that you regretted or you read the situation wrong?

[William Dillon]

No, you gotta remember, I'm not dealing with the end users very often. I'm dealing with one guy up.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

I know you were one level up, but like one level up actually means in some ways like you have less control. Right. Did you ever feel like you were maybe naive to think that you could maintain that standard? Cause after all, you know, there's a lot of places things can go wrong.

[William Dillon]

Well, you can never be so naive that you think you know how everybody's taking it. Right. I'm not trying to make it sound holier than thou, I'm just saying that it was a touchy of enough subject that would affect people's lives beyond just the cycle that they took. And I tried to make that kind of a serious thing, you know. Yes, it was about money, but it was also about being safe and about not doing stupid things to hurt someone else.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Dylan tells me he tried to instill that value in the distributors he sold to.

[William Dillon]

We didn't allow them just to go out and do anything. Now, does that mean they always followed it? No, not really. I can't tell you that they did, but the good ones did, you know.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

So Dylan had a moral code, which can sound a little ridiculous when you are, after all, a drug dealer, but it's not. And it's really common that people in totally unregulated fields, especially those associated with vice, create strong lines and boundaries for their own behavior. You see this a Lot in sex work, which in the US is largely illegal and also the target of a lot of social condemnation in that people have all these kinds of strict personal codes about which lines they will not cross. When you're working outside the legal structures that keep most of us in check, you have to be really deliberate and thoughtful about defining for yourself what you will and won't do. Otherwise, you kind of lose your humanity. Not to mention any semblance of control. In the fall of 86, not long after he got back in the ring, Dylan's ability to keep a lid on things took a blow he just couldn't manage. It starts with an old contact by the name of Jim Insco.

[William Dillon]

Jim Insco and I were good friends. He was a great bodybuilder.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Dylan met Insco in the gym. He was USA champion in 1983, with rippling abs and a full head of brown hair. Not long after Dylan gets back into the ring, Jim is buying steroids to supply a guy down in Phoenix, Arizona. InSCO and another guy from the ring front the customer 50k for 30,000 vials of steroids to earn his trust. That's a business trick he learned from Dylan. But instead of paying Insco back the money he owes him, once the drugs arrive, the Phoenix guy calls and says he never got the steroids, claims they were stolen and refuses to pay up. InSCO, Mr. USA calls in another contact from the gym scene, Leonard Suerta.

[William Dillon]

He was Italian. He was short. I can't say we were friends, but I mean, he respected me and I respected him. And everybody knew he was a collector, someone that you would send in to get something you needed.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Lenny Suerta has a rep for being an enforcer, the muscle guy, to keep the muscle world in check. Court documents allege that Swerta traveled to Phoenix and threatened the customer, beat him and cut him with a knife. Dylan says he heard about it firsthand.

[William Dillon]

Lenny said that he beat him up so bad that he had to sit down and take breaks to catch his breath.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

It's a nasty moment and a wake up call for Dylan.

[William Dillon]

I needed to get out because it was past time. I had already realized that there was nothing good for me that was ever going to happen.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

If Dylan wants to get away, he's got to make it quick because there's someone else who's taking notice of that debacle in Arizona, the National Steroid Task Force. Back when Dylan got raided in the summer of 86, he thought he'd gotten away with it after all, the cops let him go they found, like, five labels, a few labels, a couple bits of paper. From Dylan's point of view, they had nothing on him. He was spooked at first, but if anything, the fact they let him go was just more proof that law enforcement didn't take steroid dealing very seriously. Right. What Dylan didn't realize was just how crucial those labels would turn out to be at this point. Steroids are not a controlled substance. They're regulated under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic act, so you can't smuggle them or sell them without a prescription. But the penalties aren't as hardcore as they would be for controlled drugs like cocaine or even marijuana. But when the investigators raided Dylan's house In August of 86, several weeks before the deal that went wrong in Phoenix, what they found told them that something even more serious was going on.

[William Dillon]

The one thing I never thought about was the counterfeiting charge. I don't know what I was thinking.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

The investigators found labels carefully designed to look like a perfect copy of the ones used by a US Or European steroid manufacturer.

[William Dillon]

They found labels, not product. They found labels. Then they knew it was being counterfeited.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

The task force also found a piece of paper with the letterhead of one of Dan Duchesne's businesses on it. Now they had confirmation that Dylan was counterfeiting steroids and proof of a direct link between the two dealers.

[William Dillon]

That's when the. You know what really hit the fan?

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

The feds never gave up on Dylan. They were just waiting for him to surface again. And when news gets back that a crew of bodybuilders has flown down to Phoenix to threaten a customer, the investigators are on red alert. According to court documents, the feds discovered that Dylan had been in contact with Insco about the steroid deal with the guy in Phoenix. Dylan says he knew all the guys involved, but didn't set up the meeting to have the customer beaten up.

[William Dillon]

Dillon.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

So while Dylan was getting settled back into the ring and collecting his fat monthly commissions, the steroid task force was stepping up their operation on the golden California beaches. Hidden among the tourists and roller skaters is a rotating cast of special agents. They're keeping a very close watch on Dylan and his contacts. I remember being lying in the dunes, watching through binoculars to see when people were gonna make their move. Steven Gelman is one of the agents out there getting sand in his shoes. I'm imagining loafers with no socks. It all sounds a bit Miami Vice to me. Anyway, he dutifully notes down which bodybuilders are going for coffee with each other. You stay outside, you watch who's coming and going, and you record that information, Build basically a timeline of who was there, when and what. The investigators are champing at the bit to pull the plug on the stick steroid ring once and for all, but they still don't have all the pieces of the puzzle. In late October, Philip Halperin secures a warrant for federal agents to tap Dylan's phone calls. But Dylan is not only a good salesman, he's even better at covering his tracks. They can't seem to catch him saying anything incriminating over the phone. And they're running out of time because Dylan is already planning his ex exit strategy.

[William Dillon]

I wanted out. They didn't want me out. You don't want to lose your best salesman. Businesses go under for less than that.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

You know, it takes a few months of wrangling. But in the spring of 1987, Dylan and his fellow ring members finally reach a compromise.

[William Dillon]

They had X amount left, and I wanted out. So they're like, well, let's get rid of this last stuff, okay? Can you do that? It was the last big buy. That was my exit. I was leaving. I wasn't gonna sell anymore for these guys. And I organized a group of guys to pool all their money and get one big shipment, and then I was gone.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

One last deal before Dylan cashes out to his happily ever after. A deal for around $500,000, one of the largest single steroid transactions of all time. And one last shot for investigators to catch him in the actual Dylan is getting set up for the buy when he gets a call. It's one of his buyers, a young guy in Miami named Toiville Manson. Toy for short. Toy says he has a contact who wants in on the deal. Dylan says this is how it went down.

[William Dillon]

Larry Pacifico wants to do it, too. Can he come in?

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

You might not know who Larry Pacifico is, but if you were big into the sport of weightlifting in the mid-1980s, you definitely would have known what happens.

[William Dillon]

With world records when you're breaking new ground.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

No one's done that before.

[Mike Zumpano]

Well, it always feels good to break.

[William Dillon]

A world record, but world records don't win contests right here.

[Mike Zumpano]

You gotta hit the right lifts at the right time.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

This is Larry Pacifico at the 1980 World Powerlifting Championships for NBC's Sports World program. He squeezed his burly frame into a short red unitard and a leather lifting belt to brace his core. He doesn't even take off his enormous pair of aviator glasses as he coolly benches 529 pounds. He's a nine time world powerlifting champion. In short, he's a legend.

[William Dillon]

Larry Pacifico. He was a powerlifting God.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

It's always a risk to let someone new in on a deal, of course, but this is Larry Pacifico.

[William Dillon]

To hear his name, it'd be like, if you're gonna meet Arnold Schwarzenegger tonight, right? You're like, oh, Arnold Schwarzenegger, right. Everybody knew Larry Pacifico, so I was honored to meet with him.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

There's just one thing Dylan doesn't know. Three years earlier, the dogged FDA investigator Dennis Deegan, who set up the steroid task force with Halperin, was doing some digging when he came across a lead in what was probably the first undercover steroid sting operation in American history. Deegan headed into a gym in a Michigan suburb and went about making some and buys from one of the employees. It turned out the gym was a front for a much larger operation run by, you guessed it, Larry Pacifico. In fact, he wasn't just a God.

[William Dillon]

In powerlifting, he was a God in steroids.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Pacifico was a major steroid supplier in the Midwest. Back in 84, Degan and a team of agents had moved in on Pacifico's office and searched the place. And once you're on the federal government's radar, you rarely come off it's Larry Pacifico was in trouble. So much trouble that in 1987, when the steroid task force came looking for a mole to infiltrate the California steroid ring, he was willing to collaborate. Pacifico had done business with Toy Manson, Dylan's guy in Miami, before. The way Dylan tells it is that when Pacifico asks for a meeting to get in on the final big steroid deal, he doesn't suspect a thing.

[William Dillon]

I had no reason to think that there was anything but giving this guy the confidence to put his money in to get his deal.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

The task force is in. When March 1987 rolls around, Dylan is prepping for the big buy. He's looking forward to saying a grand farewell to his steroid dealing days.

[William Dillon]

I think it was like 350 or $400,000 deal, so I would have gotten 10% of that. I was done.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Dylan isn't the only one who's been getting his ducks in a row. The investigators are preparing for the big day too, and they're not leaving anything up to chance. Dylan arrives at the Dana Inn. It's over by SeaWorld San Diego in Mission Bay, a 4,000 acre water park where you can go water skiing or Sailing. But he's not here to be entertained. According to Dylan, Larry Pacifico is here for a meeting. And the power lifter doesn't show up alone.

[William Dillon]

He brought in a guy. He said it was one of his finance guy and a bodyguard.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Dylan doesn't know it, but that bodyguard is an undercover U.S. customs agent named John Bosley. It's his job to secure the crucial evidence the feds need for convictions. He's been chosen for his muscular build. But a serious bodybuilder like Dylan isn't impressed.

[William Dillon]

You know, he wasn't that big, but.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

It'S not like he's so scrawny it would look suspicious.

[William Dillon]

It was easy going. Had a couple drinks, and we just talked.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Dylan is full of bravado, talking things up.

[William Dillon]

You always want to be bigger. You always want to be the guy with the most money, the guy with the most answers, the guy with the most connections. And I'm good at that. I'm good at selling. So, I mean, you know, the amount of information that came out, probably 90% of it was just BS, you know?

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Bosley, the undercover guy, can talk a big game, too. He says he's a big spender and wants to get involved. He offers a cool 250k. Now, the undercover agent doesn't actually have any money at this point. The government isn't about to hand over 250k in cash to a black market steroid ring. At least not right away. So Bosley asks to do the transaction in two parts. He wants to see a buy first to get how it all works before he hands over the cash. Maybe it's Larry Pacifico's star power that disarms Dylan. Or maybe the flashing dollar signs are so bright that he's blinded to any warning signs. Dylan doesn't question it.

[William Dillon]

Everything was set. It was done.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Dylan doesn't stick around. He drives a few hours up the coast and stays in a hotel in Santa Barbara. The finish line is so close he can almost taste it.

[William Dillon]

It was the last hurrah.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Three days later, early in the morning, Bosley meets Toyville Manson, Dylan's man from Miami. Back at the Dana Inn by SeaWorld, Manson has two brown paper grocery bags containing $200,000. He stuffs them into a blue and gold gym bag, goldstream branded, of course. He's going to take Bosley with him on a dry run for the main deal. The two men get in a rental car and drive to the San Ysidro border.

[William Dillon]

And it was going to be simple. It was go down, drop off Come across the border and you leave.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Manson and Bosley park the rental car and cross into Mexico on foot. Then they take a cab to the flashy hotel Fiesta Americana, where the ring steroid manufacturers laboratorios Milanos had an office at the time. They take the elevator up to the fourth floor. There we waiting for them in room 458 stands the rangy figure of ex Olympian sprinter David Jenkins. He shakes hands with Bosley, the undercover officer, and takes the bags of cash off Manson. He sends them both down to enjoy the buffet breakfast. A little over an hour later, Jenkins meets them back in the shiny hotel lobby. He hands over a set of directions, a parking permit and a set of keys.

[William Dillon]

You'd have keys to a U Haul.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

A U Haul truck stacked full of anabolic steroids is waiting for them in a parking lot. Back in San Diego, Bosley and Manson cross back over the border into the US to pick it up. Back at the Dana Inn, the two men unload around 100 cartons of injectable vials, syringes and bottles of Diana Ball into a couple hotel rooms. So far, everything is running according to plan for the steroid ring, but also for the federal investigators. Now it's time for Bosley to put his money where his mouth is. That same day, he heads to a bank in San Ysidro and picks up $250,000 in cash. He meets with Manson, who pulls it with an additional $120,000 from the other investors. With the cash stowed safely in a bag, they're ready to execute. But this time, when they get to the border, the customs officers have been primed. They pull Bosley aside and ask him whether he's carrying more than $10,000 cash. When he says nope, they search the bag and they find hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. They arrest Manson and Bosley too, so they don't blow his cover. As they snap handcuffs around their wrists, Bosley, the undercover agent, gives an Oscar performance, shouting and raging that he's been set up. Up in Santa Barbara, where Dylan is hanging out in his hotel room. The phone is ringing off the hook with different members of the ring desperately trying to get in touch.

[William Dillon]

They got stopped at the border with the money. I knew something was up.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

This is not good.

[William Dillon]

I checked out of the hotel, checked into a different hotel, paying cash and another name. I figured that if something happened, they'd be looking for me. And then I just waited to hear what was going to happen, just who.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Might be looking for him. Dylan isn't sure. Yet the authorities, certainly. But it also could be people in his own ring. Someone has betrayed them. And when tensions are high, people start pointing fingers.

[William Dillon]

My guys blamed me. I organized it. I vouched for everything. They looked at it like I was taking their money and leaving.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

The guys Dylan handpicked to be his distributors think he sold them out to the authorities.

[William Dillon]

I got a call from Lenny Leonard Swerta, the enforcer.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

These words are lodged in Dylan's memory.

[William Dillon]

They're paying me this much money, 75,000 or something, right?

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

To kill you. That's next on Extreme. We approached David Jenkins for a comment on the events relating to him in this episode. While disagreeing with some of the events we have described, he declined to participate in the series. He added that all this happened a long time ago and said he has no interest in steroids today. The producer of Muscle Men is Caroline Thornham. The assistant producer is Mohamed Ahmed. The editor is Kathryn Godfrey. Sound design and mix by Daniel Kempson. Original music by Silverhawk AKA Cyril Poirier. Our production manager is Cherie Houston. Our commissioning editor at the BBC is Dan Clark. Max O'Brien is the executive producer for Novel and I'm Natalia Melman Petruzella, your host and executive producer. Extreme is produced by novel for BBC Radio 4. This is the shocking moment English football has been dreading. My name is Moses Swabu and I used to be a professional footballer, but then I got in deep with organized crime. A match fixing investigator has highlighted two matches he says appear to have seen suspicious betting patterns and became a match fixer operating in the English league. How honest are you going to be with me? This is 100%. Join me for sports Strangest Crimes presents Confessions of a Match Fixer. Listen on BBC Sounds.