Doctors traded Viagra for mob favors

BY PATRICIA HURTADO
STAFF WRITER

May 6, 2005

Three Westchester doctors were charged yesterday with providing a pharmacy's worth of Viagra and other prescription drugs to reputed members of the Gambino crime family in exchange for car repairs, discounted home construction and even a coveted seat at Rao's restaurant.

Dr. Arlen Fleisher, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Westchester Medical Center, Dr. Stephen Klass, who practices in New Rochelle, and Dr. George Shapiro, a Scarsdale surgeon who works at Associates of Columbia Presbyterian Heart Institute, were released on $50,000 bonds, and their travel was restricted to the continental United States after a brief court appearance before U.S. District Court Magistrate-Judge Debra Freeman.

Prosecutors said the case stems from an investigation into reputed acting Gambino boss Arnold Squitieri and reputed acting capo Greg DePalma. In March, Squitieri, DePalma and more than 30 others were charged in a racketeering case.

This complaint charges that, from February 2003 to this March, the doctors supplied DePalma with enough erectile-dysfunction drugs like Viagra, Levitra and Cialis that DePalma was operating "a virtual pharmacy." The complaint also charges that the defendants provided boxes of other drugs such as Neurontin, an anti-seizure drug; Lipitor, a cholesterol-lowering drug; Celebrex and Vioxx, anti-inflammatory drugs; and pain-killer Percocet.

The complaint charges that the FBI picked up via wiretap conversations DePalma had on his cell phone and intercepted conversations at Westchester diners and even the United Hebrew Geriatrics Center in New Rochelle, where DePalma's son, Craig, is a patient. U.S. Attorney David Kelley in Manhattan said in March that DePalma used the home to hold meetings while at the bedside of his son, who is in a "vegetative state" since he attempted to commit suicide in prison several years ago.

The doctors on the tapes sound willing to provide the drugs. During an Oct. 1, 2004, meeting, Klass asks DePalma if he was the "Gambino family's consigliere with regard to medical treatment."

They also apparently gave the drugs to DePalma knowing he suffers from heart disease and lung cancer. In a June 7, 2004, wiretap, DePalma is asked if he should be using Viagra.

"Not me," DePalma responds. "I give it out."

Joseph Fornino, a reputed Gambino associate, is heard on Jan. 18 asking DePalma for Viagra, and when DePalma complies, Fornino quips, "If you don't feel good, you got a problem, talk to this guy [DePalma]. ... I trust him more than I trust a -- doctor."

The doctors declined to comment. If convicted of unauthorized use and distribution of drugs and drug samples, they face up to 10 years in prison.

Shapiro's lawyer, Richard Herman, said the charges are "based on the rantings and puffings on tape of unsavory individuals."

Klass' lawyer, Robert Wolfe, said, "I guess the medical profession is on notice: Don't treat Italians, and if your Italian patient happens to be charged in an organized crime case, you will be, too."