Investigators busted an oxycodone ring that allowed longshoremen in Staten Island to obtain illegal prescription painkillers and get high while working with dangerous machinery, authorities said.
The insurance-fraud scheme — headed by a crooked doctor and chiropractor — allowed the dock workers to get their hands on nearly 1.8 million pills over four years, District Attorney Daniel Donovan announced Wednesday.
The scheme’s two masterminds, pain-management doctor Mahir Bhatt and chiropractor Thomas Dinardo, used the NYC Wellness Center in Annadale to arrange phony appointments and write fake prescriptions for the longshoremen, who would then take them to New Jersey pharmacist Rita Patel to get them filled, the DA said.
“Over a four-year period, Bhatt prescribed nearly two million pills, enough to cover seven miles if they were put piece by piece,” Donovan said.
Longshoremen Steven Alcaras, Nicholas Tornabene, Rosario Savastano, Christopher Galasso and Charles Tornabene were busted as patients of the pill-peddling bunch, authorities said.