logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2024
29m 1s

Muscle Men: 5. The A Team

BBC
About this episode

Nobody gets arrested for dealing anabolic steroids. That’s the assumption bodybuilder Dan Duchaine, William Dillon and their fellow ring-members are relying upon, as they build the biggest steroid trafficking operation in America. But that’s all about to change.

As President Ronald Reagan’s War on Drugs rages in the mid 1980s, the ring find themselves in the crosshairs of a team of dogged investigators leading the fight against steroids.

Host Natalia Mehlman Petrzela reveals how a newly formed National Steroid Taskforce put steroids enforcement, once seen as a fringe issue by the authorities, on the map. That’s bad news for Dillon and his fellow steroid dealers. But catching them won’t be easy…

Featuring William Dillon; Daniel Supnick, a former special agent with the US Customs Service, and former special agent in the Criminal Investigations Division of the IRS, Stephen Gelman.

Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producer: Caroline Thornham Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed Editor: Katherine Godfrey Production Manager: Cheree Houston Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier Executive Producer: Max O’Brien Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke

A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Featuring clips from: Interview with Philip Halpern - Professor Daniel Rosenke Panorama: Dying to Win: Drugs in Sport - BBC1 Ronald Reagan speech, 1986 - The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library ‘Say No To Drugs’ Public Service Announcement - Mike Tyson

Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you’re in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://bbc.in/3ybDcHO

Up next
Sep 2024
Muscle Men: 6. One Last Hit
In the summer of 1986, bodybuilder William Dillon moves to San Diego to leave his steroid dealing days behind him, and live a quiet life of working out and running a gym. Or at least - that’s the plan. When Dillon’s old life comes calling, with the promise of easy money, it’s har ... Show More
28m 26s
Sep 2024
Muscle Men: 7. French Fries or Bust
When bodybuilder William Dillon moved to LA, he dreamed of getting rich quick by selling the promise of big muscles in a bottle. But in the spring of 1987, that dream has come crashing down around him. With the authorities closing in on the steroid dealing ring, and fearing for h ... Show More
28m 36s
Sep 2024
Muscle Men: 8. The Genie Is Out
In the wake of the steroid ring’s downfall, the headline-grabbing prosecutions combine with sports scandals and anxieties about steroids making it into high school locker rooms. Lawmakers decide to take action. The Steroid Control Act of 1990, spearheaded by none other than then- ... Show More
28m 54s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2023
Mind Over Muscles with Dan "Nitro" Clark
This conversation packs a powerful 90's punch as the former American Gladiator recalls the reality competition full of muscles and mullets! Find out how an accidental knockout led to the job of his dreams...and all the obstacles he endured on and off the show.Plus, the piece of a ... Show More
56m 1s
Sep 2018
BALCO: Steroids and Snake Oil | 1
A college dropout with no background in science turns himself into an expert on performance enhancing drugs. Soon he attracts some of the world’s best athletes—along with the attention of a determined federal agent.Want to listen to the remaining episodes of BALCO? Episodes 2-6 a ... Show More
36m 4s
May 2023
Victorian Bodybuilding
Greg Jenner is joined by Dr Vanessa Heggie and comedian Darren Harriot to learn about the bodybuilding boom of the 19th and 20th centuries.The latter part of the 19th century saw the beginning of a fitness craze where the seeds of the modern-day gym and fitness culture were sown. ... Show More
55m 26s
Sep 2023
Victorian Bodybuilding (Radio Edit)
Greg Jenner is joined by Dr Vanessa Heggie and comedian Darren Harriott to learn about the bodybuilding boom of the 19th and 20th centuries.The latter part of the 19th century saw the beginning of a fitness craze where the seeds of the modern-day gym and fitness culture were sown ... Show More
28m 51s
Feb 2021
TOXIC MASCULINITY PT. 1 with Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova
<p>What's up, gym buds? Get ready for these big buff men to challenge your idea of what it truly means to be a man.&nbsp;</p> 
11m 11s
Jan 2024
The Sad Reality of Gym Bro Culture
David Gornoski is joined by Nicholas Stumphauzer, director of Died Suddenly and founder of matchmaking service Retvrn, for a conversation on the anthropology of matchmaking, mimesis within gym culture, whether biceps have meaning, what constitutes real masculinity, and more. Visi ... Show More
48m 58s