In one instance, investigators found Warren County residents were traveling to Bergen County to visit a so-called pill mill run by Kamil Mustafa, an elderly doctor with ties to the Italian mob.
Crooked doctors, some with ties to organized crime, and shady entrepreneurs running illegal medical practices are helping fuel the growing problem of prescription pill and heroin abuse across New Jersey, according to a new report.
During the course of a two-year investigation into what the study authors call an epidemic, the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation found corrupt doctors and underground drug networks have flooded the streets with prescription pain killers, according to the 74-page report released Wednesday.
In some cases, doctors worked as fronts for the Russian mafia, writing prescriptions and charging Medicare for reimbursements before funneling a "fortune" of money into the bank accounts of the crime syndicate, the report found.
"Some medical management companies with names that incorporate benign terms like 'pain management' and 'wellness' have transformed street-corner drug dealing into an orderly and seemingly ordinary business endeavor," states the report, titled "Scenes from an Epidemic."
In one instance, investigators reported finding Warren County residents traveling to Bergen County to visit a so-called pill mill run by Kamil Mustafa, an elderly doctor with ties to the Italian mob.Mustafa saw as many as 77 patients a day, charging $300 for bogus prescriptions for pills such as Xanax and oxycodone, the report states. Mustafa's practice served as a conduit for Joseph Gianetti, a former chiropractor previously convicted of laundering money to help pay off thousands of dollars of debt to the Genovese crime syndicate, according to the report.
Mustafa was arrested last year and surrendered his license to practice medicine, according to the report.
In a separate instance, a doctor in Passaic County handed out prescriptions for pain killers and funneled reimbursement funds totaling more than $750,000 directly into the bank accounts of reputed Russian mobsters, the report states.
"It's really no examination," one customer told the commission about his visits to the doctor. "The nurse basically knows all about you before the doctor, so she's giving him the paperwork and he's going by what you need at the time. So he's just making sure you get your medicine, that's it. He is really just signing his signature and keeping it going. It's really nothing to him. He really is full of crap, really."
Heroin use linked
The use of pills has since triggered a resurgence in the abuse of heroin, the report found. Heroin generally costs less, delivers a strong high and "these days, is more readily available than ever in areas with suburban and rural ZIP codes."
Throughout the course of the investigation, investigators said they found victims in "virtually every corner of New Jersey." The commission cited an April bust of 49 people in Hunterdon County for possession and distribution of heroin as an example of the far-reaching effects the epidemic has had.
"It's become much easier to come to the rural areas because of technology, smartphones, GPS -- that in addition to the highway infrastructure," said Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony Kearns III. "All those factors have made the rural areas much more vulnerable."
In April 2010, Flemington pharmacist Vincent Hsia was arrested in a federal prescription drug sting, "Operation Oxymoron." Authorities say Hsia was the owner of Lincoln Pharmacy Network in Edison, N.J., where he distributed thousands of prescription drugs in a lucrative and illegal distribution network.
A year earlier, 43 individuals were arrested after a Pohatcong Township-based oxycodone-distribution ring was dismantled. Several members of the ring were found to have visited doctors in Essex County before distributing the drugs locally, according to authorities.
Dozens of additional possession and distribution arrests have been made in both counties, with a reported 21 opiate-related overdoses in Hunterdon in the past year and a half, authorities said.
"We are aware these drugs are making their way out on the streets and it is a very real problem," Kearns said. "We remain vigilant and continue with our best efforts to tackle this problem."
What to do now
The commission -- it was established in 1968 as an independent watchdog over organized crime, corruption and waste of tax money -- said its findings challenge the conventional wisdom of addiction and call into question the adequacy of law enforcement strategies meant to combat the drug problem. The agency forwarded its findings to prosecutor's offices in each of the state's 21 counties.
Commissioner leaders called for a series of reforms, including tough penalties for drug traffickers and better monitoring of the medical community.
Kearns said while law enforcement was key to removing drugs from the streets, he stressed prevention and education were just as valuable in fighting the ongoing battle.
"We are fighting it on multiple fronts," he said. "Our hope is that young people won't get involved with it in the first place and not create this demand for the drugs."