Philadelphia Pill Mill Doctor Gets 30 Years

Veteran crime reporter and author George Anastasia reports at bigtrial.net that the Philadelphia "pill mill" doctor was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

A federal judge sentenced pill mill doctor William J. O'Brien 3d to 30 years in prison today for running a multi-million dollar drug trafficking operation with the Pagans outlaw motorcycle gang and for contributing to the death of a patient by prescribing what authorities said was a "lethal' combination of pain medications.

O'Brien, jailed since his arrest in January 2015, showed little remorse during the two-hour hearing before Judge Nitza Quinones. On the contrary, the 51-year-old doctor, who had represented himself during a six-week trial that ended in June, insisted he was innocent and continued to rant against prosecutors and investigators who he said lied and fabricated evidence to build the case against him.

O'Brien was found guilty of 123 of the 127 counts he faced, including multiple counts of drug trafficking. He was also found guilty of money-laundering and lying in a bankruptcy proceeding.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.bigtrial.net/2016/10/pill-mill-doc-gets-30-years.html#more

Jury Convicts Philadelphia Doctor Accused Of Running Pill-Mill with Outlaw Bikers' Help

Steve Bohnel at the Philadelphia Inquirer offers a piece on the conviction of the Philadelphia doctor accused of running a pill-mill.

A federal jury Tuesday convicted a Levittown doctor accused of running a multimillion-dollar pill mill with help from the Pagans Motorcycle Club of drug, money-laundering, bankruptcy-fraud, and other charges.

During 23 days of testimony, the government questioned strippers, former patients, investigators, and Pagans members, all of whom said that William J. O'Brien was a drug dealer who illegally prescribed painkillers.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20160629_Jury_convicts_Dr__accused_of_running_pill-mill_with_Pagans__help.html

The Cat In The Hat Read By A Rat: Murder, Mayhem And Dr Seuss At Philadelphia Doctor's Pill Mill Trial

Veteran journalist and author George Anastasia (seen in the above photo) is covering the federal trial of the Philadelphia doctor accused of operating a pill mill with outlaw bikers for Bigtrial.net.

They were, according to the government, partners in crime, co-conspirators in a pill mill operation that generated millions of dollars in illegal drug sales.

But today they found themselves on opposite sides of a high stakes legal battle. Michael "Tomato Pie" Thompson was on the witness stand in U.S. District Court and Dr. William O'Brien, acting as his own attorney, was firing questions in a cross-examination that touched on strippers, Pagans, murder, kidnapping and the Dr. Seuss' children's classic "The Cat in the Hat."

Thompson, 50, a South Philadelphia tow truck operator, has been outed during the trial as a police informant who was feeding information to authorities about the Pagans, the outlaw motorcycle gang that made millions from the pill mill operation. 

"You want to hang the Pagans but you don't want them to know it's you," O'Brien asked while questioning Thompson about a lengthy interview he gave to authorities shortly after his arrest in the pill mill case.

Thompson acknowledged that the bikers had at one time put a $5,000 contract out on him and that part of the plot was a plan to kidnap his daughter. 

"They wanted to kill me and to get to me they were going to use my daughter," Thompson said.
Thompson, who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and drug dealing charges connected to the current case, has been in custody for the past 11 months. This was his second day on the witness stand. He appeared dressed in a green prison jump suit and frankly admitted that he agreed to cooperate in an attempt to win a reduction in the 10- to 12-year prison sentence he is facing.

He has portrayed himself as a major cog in the pill mill scam, sending patients to O'Brien, paying for their visits and then in turning paying them for the prescriptions O'Brien wrote for oxycodone, methadone, Percocet and Xanax. The drugs were then sold on the streets.
... One of the stranger moments in today's -- or perhaps any -- court session came when O'Brien was questioning Thompson about his plea agreement with the government.

"Have you read it?" O'Brien asked.

When Thompson said he had, O'Brien introduced a copy of "The Cat in the Hat" as evidence and asked Thompson to read page 27. It was unclear what point O'Brien was trying to make. Some in the prosecution camp believe O'Brien mistakenly thought Thompson couldn't read and was trying to embarrass him.. But a member of the defense camp said there would be a clearer understanding of the passage later.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.bigtrial.net/2016/06/murder-mayhem-and-doctor-seuss-at-pill.html#more

Fake Legit: Outlaw Biker Associate Explains Expression At Federal Trial Of Philadelphia Doctor's Alleged Pill Mill

Veteran journalist and author George Anastasia (seen in the above photo) is covering the federal trial of the Philadelphia doctor accused of operating a pill mill for Bigtrial.net.

It was "fake legit," an associate of the Pagans motorcycle gang told a federal jury today in describing the pain management operation run by Dr. William O'Brien 3d in South Philadelphia, Trevose and Levittown.

"We acted legit, but we were really fake," explained Michael "Tomato Pie" Thompson in what was perhaps the most devastating testimony thus far in the three-week old conspiracy/drug dealing trial of O'Brien who is charged with running a multi-million dollar pill mill in conjunction with members of the outlaw motorcycle club.

Thompson's testimony, which will continue when the trial resumes tomorrow, came after a South Philadelphia waitress and a strip club dancer both told the jury that they were "patients" of O'Brien as part of a scheme to obtain drugs that others would sell on the streets.

All three witnesses said O'Brien was aware of and played a willing role in the scam.


You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.bigtrial.net/2016/06/jury-hears-fake-legit-description-of.html#more

Imbo-Petrone Disappearance May Be Linked To Pagans Outlaw Motorcycle Gang

Veteran journalist and author George Anastasia is covering the federal trial of a Philadelphia doctor accused of running a pill mill with an outlaw motorcycle gang and selling pills for sex for Bigtrial.net.

Did the Pagans have something to do with the disappearance of Danielle Imbo and Richard Petrone Jr., a couple last seen leaving a bar on South Street 11 years ago?

The FBI may think so.

In a bizarre twist to what is already a bizarre trial, the Imbo-Petrone disappearance and suspected murder may have been alluded to during a tape played at the pill mill trial of Dr. William O'Brien 3d who is charged with conspiring with the Pagans in a multi-million dollar prescription pill scam.

Back in July Patrick Treacy, a member of the outlaw motorcycle gang, was questioned about a "double homicide," although the victims were not identified. 

"I didn't murder nobody," Treacy, 48, said in a taped interview played today for the jury at the pill mill trial. The interview lasted about 40 minutes and was being conducted by FBI Agent Vito Roselli who is handling the Imbo-Petrone investigation.

On the audio and video tape, Roselli urges Treacy to "get ahead of all the bullshit that's going to be coming down" and tells him "in order to help yourself, you gotta clean this up."

There is no direct reference to the Imbo-Petrone investigation and, to further cloud the already murky nature of the trial, there is another double homicide, the 2013 South Philadelphia slayings of Anthony Rongione, 44, and Michael Spering, 52, that sits on the fringe of the pill mill probe.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.bigtrial.net/2016/06/imbo-petrone-disappearance-may-be.html#more

Philadelphia Doctor Clashes With Federal Agent Over Oral Sex Conspiracy At Federal Pill Mill Trial

Veteran journalist and author George Anastasia (seen in the above photo) is reporting on the "Pill Mill" federal trial of a Philadelphia doctor accused of illegally distributing pain pills to outlaw bikers, strippers and others for Bigtrial.net.

Call it the blow job conspiracy.

And, depending on your point of view, consider it one of the high points or low points of the ongoing pill mill trial of Dr. William O'Brien 3d.

O'Brien, who is representing himself, clashed repeatedly today with Joshua Gill, an investigator with the Department of Health and Human Services, as a federal court jury watched and listened to a cross-examination that was in turns nasty, bizarre, sarcastic and petty. And, at times, effective. 

Gill, a veteran investigator with a Clint Eastwood demeanor, will be back on the stand when the trial resumes on Friday. Working for the Office of the Inspector General he is part of the federal task force that built the case against O'Brien.

"Do you guys get a book on the bullshit that you say?" O'Brien asked after nearly two hours of verbal sparring with the bearded agent.

Gill, whose facial expression seldom changed, didn't have to answer that question because an objection by the prosecution was sustained by the judge. But the witness and the doctor immediately got into a heated debate over O'Brien's admitted attempt to trade a higher dosage prescription of Xanax for oral sex.

The "patient," however, was an undercover FBI agent who was secretly taping the office visit in which the doctor suggested "blues (the higher dosage pill) for a blow."  What O'Brien wanted to know from Gill today was where that solicitation fit in the 140-count indictment against him. 


You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.bigtrial.net/2016/06/doctor-clashes-with-fbi-agent-over-blow.html#more