Veteran pro wrestler Paul Wight, formerly known as Big Show in WWE and now known as “Operation Strikeout” by federal agents, has just been linked to the largest performance-enhancing drugs operation in US sports history.
Mike Fish of ESPN has published his exclusive investigation into the Biogenesis of America scandal, which was revealed ten years ago. Biogenesis, a Miami wellness clinic run by cocaine-addicted biochemist Tony Bosch, was responsible for outing some of the country’s biggest athletes as PED users, but others were never publicly linked to the scandal until now, when ESPN conducted dozens of interviews and obtained more than 1,400 pages of unredacted, confidential DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) investigative documents.
The names of other athletes and figures who surfaced during the investigation of the largest doping operation in American sports history, from world champion boxers to pro wrestlers, entertainers, fitness gurus, and even law enforcement officials, have not been made public until now.
Bosch, the operation’s main target, admitted to federal authorities that he treated or supplied nearly 100 athletes, including Wight. On April 9, 2014, during an interview with the feds, Bosch described how he had previously treated Wight, who was then known as Big Show in WWE. When Bosch first met Wight, he was working out of a small room in the back of a tanning salon in Coral Gables, FL, with then-partner Jorge “Ugi” Velazquez. Bosch described how he first treated Wight’s wife Bess as a “body-sculpting” client before being introduced to the wrestler by Velazquez.
In that April 2014 interview with the feds, Bosch recalled attending a Thanksgiving dinner at the Wights’ South Florida home. Numerous pro wrestlers, Velazquez, and Dodd Romero, the one-time fitness guru to MLB great Alex Rodriguez, the most famous Bosch client, joined them. During the dinner, Bosch learned that Velazquez was providing additional performance-enhancing drugs to Wight “behind Bosch’s back.” In the DEA investigation, Velazquez emerged as a major supplier of black market steroids in South Florida.
Wight also informed Bosch that wrestlers were requesting stronger substances such as Deca-Durabolin and Winstrol, according to Bosch. This clashed with Bosch’s anti-doping policies, but Romero sided with the wrestlers.
Bosch told the feds that after this incident, he stopped treating professional wrestlers, but he did see Wight a few more times. According to Bosch, Velazquez continued to provide substances to the wrestlers.
Wight confirmed, through his attorney Edward Brennan, that Bosch and Velazquez attended a “large open house gathering” at his home on Thanksgiving, but he also claimed to have only met Bosch once before. Brennan went on to say that Wight had never failed a drug test and that any involvement with performance-enhancing drugs would be dangerous because Wight had an endocrine system disorder.
“Paul was never treated with Bosch,” Brennan explained. “Paul never took any PEDs from Ugi or anyone else. He is as clean as you can be. More importantly, he would never take any PEDs because of his underlying medical condition.”
Wight had a fairly busy year in WWE in 2009 and 2010. He wrestled at least 78 matches in 2009, and he and Chris Jericho held the WWE Unified Tag Team Titles for 140 days, while also challenging for both of WWE’s top singles titles at multiple events. Wight then appeared in at least 79 matches in 2010 and shared the WWE Unified Tag Team Titles with The Miz for 77 days. Wight also appeared in two movies in 2010, Knucklehead and MacGruber, as well as several TV shows in both years.
When ESPN contacted Velazquez for their investigation, he referred to Bosch as a “snitch,” adding, “What I believe it is, when you are doing a deal with the government, you need to bring stuff to the table to make yourself bigger so you can have more value. [Bosch] is trying to make himself bigger than he is, like always. He is a nobody.”
During the course of the investigation, Velazquez refused federal interview requests and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. He also refused to say whether he was Bosch’s drug supplier to ESPN, but he did say, “I refused to cooperate with the government, 100 percent. It is not my way, man. I wasn’t raised that way.”
According to DEA documents, Velazquez was the primary “source of supply” for Bosch and his former partner, Carlos Acevedo, who later became a confidential informant for the feds and was convicted for his role. Acevedo, who received a 21-month prison sentence, told the feds that Velazquez was “arrogant and manipulative.”
The feds used their entire arsenal to bring Bosch and his colleagues down. Fish stated that DEA agents went above and beyond by using confidential informants for undercover purchases, search warrants and wire taps, and even an air wing at times. Bosch handed over 28 MLB players to the feds, many of whom had never been linked to the Biogenesis of America scandal, including MVPs, All-Stars, and even future Baseball Hall of Fame candidates.
In the end, Bosch and seven of his associates were found guilty. Bosch pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute testosterone and received a four-year federal prison sentence. He served 14 months before being released to a halfway house in late 2016, and he was then sentenced to three years on federal probation. Bosch faced a ten-year prison sentence, but prosecutors recommended a reduced sentence because of his cooperation, which may have included working in an undercover role with law enforcement. In exchange for his cooperation, MLB promised to represent Bosch in any legal proceedings. Bosch also admitted to supplying performance-enhancing drugs to 18 minors, with many of the substances obtained illegally.
Federal authorities refused to characterize Bosch’s statements individually, but they did say that in general, they found Bosch to be truthful in his interviews. If Bosch lied to the feds, he would face not only additional charges, but prosecutors would also have declined to go before the judge in the case and seek a reduced sentence, as stipulated in the cooperation agreement. Bosch, like the other witnesses who gave interviews, was not under oath when he spoke to DEA agents, which is standard procedure in such investigations.
Federal authorities did not target athletes, such as Wight, or other hangers-on in their investigation.
“Our focus was on the distributors and the suppliers of the drugs,” said Mark Trouville, who was the DEA special agent in charge of the Florida office during the Biogenesis of America investigation. “The DEA doesn’t work cases to go after users. … We’re looking for people who are distributing drugs. We’re never concerned about the consumer.”
