Feds probe Danny Gans pharmacy sex pill

The Las Vegas Sun reports that the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the Nevada Public Safety Department and the State Board of Pharmacy are investigating the manufacture and distribution of Vegas Mixx, the male erection pill that combined Valium and Viagra and was advertised to Las Vegas visitors with the promise it would allow them to "F* like a pornstar."

The drug was manufactured and marketed by of Green Valley Drugs, the Henderson, Nevada pharmacy that was partly owned by the late entertainer Danny Gans, whom the Sun reminds its readers "died May 1 of a prescription narcotics overdose" and was "known for his squeaky-clean image." Scot Silber, the target of the probes. claims Gans did not know abotu the product that was manufactured and marketed while Gans was alive and starring on the Las Vegas Strip, and "would not have approved of Vegas Mixx."


The probes are centered on whether the pharmacy was producing the sex pills on speculation and distributing samples rather than waiting for patient-specific prescriptions from doctors. Silber said he invested thousands of dollars in Vegas Mixx, but sales were limp so he discontinued the product.

Report: Pharmacy co-owned by Danny Gans invented and sold sex pill that promised to help young male Vegas visitors "F like a porn star"

Another wrinkle has been added to the complicated image of late Las Vegas entertainer Danny Gans with the report this morning that the pharmacy he co-owned marketed a male erection pill and advertised it in “crude terms… promising men in obscene terms on a Web site that they could perform ("F") “like a porn star.”

The Las Vegas Sun reports that Scott Silber, Gans’ partner in Green Valley Drugs of Henderson, Nevada, combined Valium and Valium and Viagra into a single pill and called it Vegas Mixx. The pill was advertised on a website in 2007 with “with the promise that the combination would mellow the mind, relax the muscle that causes ejaculation and provide a lasting erection.

“The Vegas Mixx Web site — aimed at guys who come to Vegas for a fling — used crude terms: ‘Vegas Mixx... makes you rock hard, and keeps you that way. Enjoy the ride.’”

The article by Marshall Allen mentions the Danny Gans connection in the fourth paragraph:

“Silber owned the pharmacy with entertainer Danny Gans, who was known for his squeaky-clean Christian image and died May 1 of a prescription narcotics overdose.

“Gans was not aware of Vegas Mixx, Silber said. ‘As you could probably guess, he would not have approved,’ he said.”

LEILA NAVIDI

According to the Sun article, Vegas Mixx idea was a failure and the website was taken down a month ago. Green Valley Drugs, however, could be haunted by the scheme.

“…Silber could face bigger troubles. Green Valley Drugs is a compounding pharmacy — meaning it can combine unique mixes of drugs, based on a doctor’s prescription — but may have been operating outside the bounds of its license. That could lead to investigations by the Nevada State Pharmacy Board and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.”

Danny Gans was 52, with a reputation as an athletic, clean-living evangelical Christian when he died unexpectedly on May 1st of an overdose of hydromorphone, a drug known commercially as Dilaudid and on the streets as “drugstore heroin.”

In the days following Gans’ death, his friends and family expressed amazement that he had been involved with drugs in any way. His ownership in the Green Valley Drugs was revealed in August. Gans’ partners insisted the musical impressionist did not use the place as his own dispensary.

This latest story comes amid a publicity push for Gans’ posthumous inspirational autobiography, The Voices In My Head, that included a television interview with his children.

Las Vegas Sun finally reports week-old Danny Gans pharmacy story: Reporter claims Alicia Jacobs snatched her scoop!

While the Las Vegas Review-Journal continues to keep a conspicuous distance from covering the drug death of Strip headliner Danny Gans and its aftermath, its putative competitor, the Las Vegas Sun, has finally reported news from early last week that the entertainer who died from an overdose of Dilaudid was a part-owner of a pharmacy.

The coverage however, comes in the blog section of its website.

Dana Gentry, a local television reporter and executive producer local cable television shows Face to Face and In Business Las Vegas, reports the story, this afternoon, as well as posting the 2003 letter confirming Gans' stake in the drug business.

Gentry also claims she had the scoop a week ago, but that it was snatched away the following day by a competitor: Danny Gans close personal friend, the beauty-queen-turned-TV entertainment reporter, Alicia Jacobs, who "reluctantly" asked the tough question.

Gentry reports:

Gans owned pharmacy
By Dana Gentry · August 24, 2009 · 3:46 PM

Danny Gans’ friends and family maintained that the late entertainer had little use personally for prescription drugs, though his death in May was from an overdose of Dilaudid, (the generic is Hydromorphone) a painkiller. The source of the drug that killed Gans has not been identified.

Now the Board of Pharmacy is investigating Gans’ ownership interest in Green Valley Med, a distributor of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies to doctors. Documents we obtained from the state reveal Gans had held a stake in the local pharmacy since 2003. The pharmacy board took Gans’ records from Green Valley Med in June, but will not reveal the nature of the documents seized. Green Valley Med bills itself on its website as the "largest medical supplier in Southern Nevada.'

We wanted to know if it carries Dilaudid. Owner Scot Silber seemed stunned last Monday when I asked about his business relationship with Gans. Silber confirmed the two were partners but wouldn’t say whether Green Valley Med carries Dilaudid. Coincidentally, the very next day Gans’ self-described friend, Channel 3 entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs, detailed Gans’ ownership interest and reluctantly delved into the possibility that Gans obtained the lethal drug through that association.

Attorney Bob Massi, who represents Green Valley Med and doubles as its marketing director, declined to be interviewed but in an e-mail said, "The perception that is being portrayed of Danny Gans is disgusting. He was a great man, an ambassador to Las Vegas, and he is being smeared by an affiliation which was and has been a matter of public record."

You can see the story tonight on In Business Las Vegas, Las Vegas ONE, Cox Cable Channel 19.

(click photo to enlarge it)

Las Vegas media buzzes about Danny Gans' book, ignores revelation that he had ownership in a pharmacy supply house

Three days after the bombshell revelation that drug victim Danny Gans had ownership in a pharmacy supply house, no one in the Las Vegas news media, mainstream or otherwise, has seen fit to follow up on-- or even report-- the story.

There is great buzz, however, over the upcoming publication of Gans' autobiography in October.

Co-author RG Ryan, whose negotiations with Gans' family delayed the promised June rush-release of the book that he claims was completed the day before Gans died, posts a "tweet" that he expects "we'll have (The Voices In My Head) out in late October, with the special collector's edition a bit later."


Publisher Carolyn Hayes Uber of Stephens Press, whose parent Stephens Media also publishes the Las Vegas Review-Journal, tweets that she and her team are out "to do Danny proud.

"Fans will love the book. Lots of photos."


Gans was only 52 and three months into a new, longterm contract at Steve Wynn's Encore Hotel & Casino, when he died unexpectedly May 1st of an overdose of hydromorphone, a tightly-controlled, powerful opiate sold under the name Dilaudid and known as "drugstore heroin." One of his doctors claimed that Gans apparently did not have a prescription for the drug. The local news media have kept a suspiciously respectful distance from the story, even after the coroner refused to say what other drugs, if any, were in Gans' system.

The revelation that Gans was part-owner of Green Valley Med in his hometown of Henderson comes amid local coverage of an illegal prescription bust and interest in local doctor Conrad Murray, who's the target of the Michael Jackson death probers. Within hours after the pharmacy news broke, the Review-Journal ran a story announcing the publication of the book and plans to release a Danny Gans CD and DVD.

"Did Danny get any of his prescriptions from this company?" Alicia Jacobs asks the tough question about Danny Gans' drugstore

Did Danny Gans get his fatal dose of prescription drugs from the pharmaceutical supply company he partly owned? His longtime close personal friend, the beauty queen-turned-television entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs asked the question on Las Vegas television, and the answer was, “I don’t know.”

Jacobs took control of the story last night after it was reported earlier on her KVBC-TV News that Gans, who'd overdosed on a powerful opiate May 1st, was a minority owner of Green Valley Med, a "healthcare and specialty pharmacy" in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, where Gans had lived. She expanded the story to report that in the first week of June, the Nevada Board of Pharmacies had raided the place and seized “all of Danny’s records.

“They have yet to return them.”

Jacobs said that the company’s owner, Scot Silber, told her off-camera (because he “was not comfortable speaking on camera”) that “there are five investors in the company and that Danny is the second largest owner.”

Referring to Gans as “Danny” and in the present tense throughout, Alicia Jacobs said, “It began back in 2003. Silber owned Green Valley Drug, which Danny frequented. Silber was expanding his business and approached Danny about investment opportunity, which included selling medical supplies and pharmaceuticals.”


And though Jacobs pointed out that Green Valley Med “is not a place to fill prescriptions,” she asked Silber’s attorney, Bob Massi, on camera:

“It begs the question. Danny died of a drug toxicity. Now we find out he has ownership in a pharmaceutical company. Do we know? Did Danny get any of his prescriptions from this company?”

Massi replied:

“Well, I have no personal knowledge if he did. But the fact that any pharmacy would dispense medication doesn’t mean that they did anything wrong. I’m sure through the pharmaceutical board, you could find out whatever information that you want. Certainly.”

Besides letting slip that Gans had multiple prescriptions (something the coroner did not address when he said that Gans, a former athlete who’d had his share of injuries, had died from taking hydromorphone, which is sold as Dilaudid and known as “drugstore heroin") Jacobs also concluded that there is indeed a connection between Gans' case and the Michael Jackson death investigation.

Alleges link to Jacko death probe

Silber, Jacobs said, had considered buying Applied Pharmacy Services, the operation that federal agents had raised in their investigation of Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray.

Martin Singer, attorney for the Gans estate and other related interests, informed Tabloid Baby that Danny Gans had never been treated by or prescribed medication by Dr. Murray, and we issued a retraction to our story suggested that a possible connection be investigated by the Las Vegas news media.

As KVBC’s newscast tease of a “Michael Jackson connection” was far more misleading than the questions we raised, we wonder if KVBC will also be asked to issue a clarification.


As for Alicia Jacobs, it appears she may be attempting to salvage the credibility she squandered in trying in the weeks after Danny Gans’ death to help spin it into something other than the tragedy it was. Some say that fellow Born Again Christians and those, who, like Alicia Jacobs, saw Danny Gans as a religious leader, should have been the first to shout that the fact that he was a human being who’d suffered to the point where he needed medication takes nothing away from the philanthropy and honest values he espoused, or from the brilliant, unique, family-friendly talent he displayed onstage.

Gans family leaves Las Vegas

As Massi added somehwat superfluously in Jacob's report: “I don’t think you could classify Michael Jackson’s way of life with the Danny Gans way of life. That would be a real tragedy. That would be Shakespearean tragedy. Danny Gans was the antithesis of a Michael Jackson. From start to finish.”

Alicia Jacobs revealed that Gans’ ownership in the company has shifted to the Gans family trust, where it remains, and added a footnote that any local reporter and McCloud-imitating editor would find newsworthy: Gans’ wife Julie and her three children have moved out of their estate in Henderson, and “left Las Vegas for good.

“They’ve moved back to Los Angeles.”

Alas, the rest of the Las Vegas news media has yet to pick up on this latest twist in the Gans saga. While the story of the swimsuit-model-in-the-suitcase leads the mainstream agenda, one respected reporter told us that there is more concern about Time magazine’s cover story in which Joel Stein paints Las Vegas as a burnt-out shell “in the deepest crater of the recession.”

We’d hoped that there would be one strong truth-seeking reporter amid the beholden pack in Sin City. We did not expect her to be Alicia Jacobs. We’ll watch what happens next.

Report: "Drugstore heroin" victim Danny Gans owned his own drugstore!

The extent of the lax coverage of the death of Las Vegas superstar Danny Gans by the Las Vegas news media is beginning to be revealed tonight as a local television news station reports that the headliner who dropped dead in his prime of an overdose of the powerful opiate Dilaudid (aka "drugstore heroin") was part owner of a pharmaceutical supply company.

KVBC-TV News reports that Gans was a "minority owner" in Green Valley Med, a pharmaceutical company in Henderson, the Las Vegas suburb where he lived.

Green Valley Med describes itself as the "largest medical supplier in Southern Nevada," "your one-stop resource" that "caters specifically to the needs of physicians and other medical professionals who want one place they can count on for all their pharmaceutical, specialty compounding, nutriceutical, medical supply, and equipment essentials."

There has never been an explanation if what other drugs Gans may have had in his system when he died at age 52, nor to how Gans got his hands on the Dilaudid (one of his doctors told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that a computer check showed that Gans apparently did not have a prescription for the drug that killed him). There has been no suggestion, as the news report made that clear, that Gans didn't need to "doctor shop" because he had his very own shop.


KVBC is the home of Gans' close friend, the beauty queen-turned-television entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs and executive producer Miles Smith, unofficial husband of local blogger, New York Times stringer, Gay Vegas author, Michael Jackson "tribute" producer and comp queen Steve Friess (who led a crusade to stop and mislead investigation into what killed the supposedly clean-living showman). Already, Jacobs, who'd taken it upon herself after Gans' death to gild and mythologize her close friend, is on the case, twittering:

"Interviewed Danny (Gans') partner
in 'Green Valley Med' today.
Danny was the 2nd lrgst
owner. State Board of Pharm
seized his records in June"

Now we get to the real scandal: Why did the Las Vegas news media withhold this information?

Connected investigative reporters must have gotten the tip, amid all the rumours of steroid and painkiller use, that Gans was part-owner of a giant pharmacological candy store. If there was indeed a raid on the pharmacy in the weeks after Gans' death, the journos would have gotten word.

The websites for Green Valley Med and Danny Gans both mention support of the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation-- good enough place to start.


But as we have documented in the months since Danny Gans died so tragically on May 1st, the Las Vegas news media-- newspapers, television, and with one noticeable exception, bloggers, stayed away from this monumental story.

With Alicia Jacobs telling her 2,131 followers on Twitter tonight that she's on the case, we can be sure she'll be putting the best possible face on unpleasant news. It will be interesting to see if anyone in the Las Vegas news media will stand up to the powerful interests that have kept a lid on this story.

For some reason, we don't expect it to happen.

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