STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- An Eltingville man who was the co-owner of a Brooklyn pharmacy raided by authorities in connection with a multistate probe into illicit drug use, was found shot dead last night on a floor above the Bay Ridge store.

The body of John Rossi, 56, part-owner of Lowen's Pharmacy, 6902 Third Avenue, was discovered shortly before 7 p.m. by a store employee.

Rossi had a single gunshot wound to his head. However, police believe Rossi took his own life using a .380 caliber handgun found near his body. The medical examiner planned to perform an autopsy today.

Authorities recovered a suicide note at the scene that sources said mentioned the high-profile steroid investigation.

At the time of Rossi's death, police were investigating who his customers were and his level of involvement in dispensing steroids, according to a report in today's Newsday. The report also said the Brooklyn district attorney's office was close to bringing the case to a grand jury.

The Advance reported last fall that a Staten Island doctor, a local gym chain and a wellness center were targets of an ever-widening probe into the shadowy underworld of illegal steroid trafficking.

A massive, multistate investigation -- which began with Orlando, Fla.-based Signature Pharmacy -- began to turn in the Island's direction in October with a raid of Lowen's Pharmacy in Bay Ridge that netted $7.5 million worth of human growth hormone and anabolic steroids, and a list of prescriptions for the illicit muscle-bulking drugs.

A common name on those scripts: Dr. Richard Lucente, an osteopath with medical offices in Dongan Hills and Bay Ridge, and a wide range of clients, including NYPD officers, bodybuilders and local high school athletes, several sources familiar with the ongoing investigation said. It was Dr. Lucente who wrote the prescriptions for muscle-bulking drugs for several of the six cops who are under investigation by the Police Department, sources said.

Dr. Lucente has not been charged with a crime and has not been disciplined by the state Health Department.

Lowen's Pharmacy took on a greater role in the illegal steroids market after Signature Pharmacy was shut down in February, according to Albany District Attorney P. David Soares, who began the investigation into Internet prescription drug sales.

It is not illegal in New York for pharmacies to dispense steroids and human growth hormone for valid medical purposes, but their activities are tightly regulated and it is a crime for a doctor to prescribe drugs without examining the patient.

Lowen's is housed in a building co-owned by Rossi and Julius Nasso, a pharmacist-turned-movie producer who was sentenced to prison in 2003 for conspiring with Gambino crime family members to extort money from actor Steven Seagal. Nasso's attorney said his client has nothing to do with the drugstore or its day-to-day business.

In May, the state Bureau of Economic Enforcement raided the Bay Ridge drugstore and seized medical records and nearly $200,000 worth of steroids and human growth hormone. The state Health Department's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement seized several million dollars more last October.

In a statement sent to the Advance at that time, however, Lowen's law firm rebutted that information.

The law firm added that Lowen's continues to cooperate with state officials. A representative of the Brooklyn district attorney's office said the case will be presented to a grand jury.


http://www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/1201611609285291.xml&coll=1