- Narrator: In this episode - of "American Greed,"
Aaron Shamo was
the kid next door.
Narrator: Eagle Scout,
churchgoer...
kingpin.
He ran a criminal syndicate
that had numerous people
underneath him.
Millions of dollars.
Narrator: Aaron Shamo
is a clean-cut millennial
from Salt Lake City.
A young man with
the resources to succeed.
- He had very, very good parents, - good siblings,
And really sort of
fashioned himself
a little bit of an entrepreneur.
Narrator: But despite
his daily affirmations
and positive thinking,
he's breaking bad... very bad.
He was down in the basement
running a pill press.
And you're able to produce
7,000 to 10,000 pills an hour,
and you're churning out
pills all day, you do the math.
Narrator: Tonight, the story of
an unlikely dark web drug lord
whose lifestyle is documented
in social media photos
that would come back
to haunt him at trial.
A story told by the reporters
who chased him...
Whitehurst:
of what a drug kingpin is,
- and I don't think, - for a lot of people,
He would necessarily fit
that stereotype.
Narrator: the feds
who collared him...
Stejskal: This product went
to all 50 states,
and the amount
going to each place
was just astronomical.
Narrator: and the families
whose lives he'd change forever,
- Tova: When we found out it was - made in someone's basement,
We were just like,
"You have to be kidding me."
Kelli: This was one pill.
They didn't know
what they were really buying.
Mr. Shamo was motivated
entirely by greed.
Captions by VITAC...
♪♪
It's 10:00 A.M.
on a quiet residential street
in the picturesque suburb
of Cottonwood Heights, Utah.
Inside this home,
26-year-old Aaron Shamo
is in his basement playing
the video game "Battlefield 1."
[ Radio chatter ]
And just outside,
a SWAT team is mobilizing
to break his door open.
- Besser: We had to do this all - very quickly,
So the officers made a quick
and rapid deployment entry
into the house,
and everything was just
kind of frozen as-is
until we knew what
we were dealing with.
Narrator: What they are dealing
with is synthetic opioids,
including deadly fentanyl...
Up to 100 times stronger
than morphine... and lots of it.
- Crane: - During that time in 2016,
- Fentanyl was not - one of those things
We really had an eye on.
We had heard about it
but didn't have any
active investigations
and did not expect
to find one of this scope,
especially here
in relatively quiet
Salt Lake City, Utah.
Narrator:
a new kind of drug ring...
Not Mexican cartels
or inner-city street gangs,
but middle-class millennials
choosing to create and sell
illegal counterfeit opioids
on the so-called "dark web"
for one reason... pure greed.
- One of the first - and most prolific
Is Utah's Aaron Michael Shamo,
AKA "Pharma-Master."
♪♪
Aaron Shamo is born
in Salt Lake City...
The youngest child and only son
to a family
with three daughters.
Mr. Shamo was a average,
clean-cut, American kid.
Was raised in the faith
- of the Church of Jesus Christ - of Latter-Day Saints.
- Skordas: He had a fairly - normal childhood.
- He had very, very good parents, - good siblings.
Had some learning issues.
Was popular.
Wasn't bullied or particularly
troubled as a child.
Narrator: But in junior high,
Aaron begins to head
down a darker path,
skipping school
and getting in trouble.
So his parents send him
to a strict Utah boarding school
where he seems to excel,
earning his high school diploma
and the highest
Boy Scout honor...
The Eagle Scout Award
for Service and Valor.
- That was one - of the things I think
- That helped his family - feel like, "Okay,
He's really turned this around.
He's gonna grow up,
and he's gonna be a man
we can really be proud of."
Narrator: In 2009, Shamo enrolls
at Utah Valley University.
Aaron has always been fascinated
with making it rich
as an entrepreneur.
- Stejskal: His siblings - are all very successful,
- And so they kinda - set the bar high.
And he felt like
he wasn't living up
to his family's expectations.
And I guess, to him,
- part of that - was the money side...
To make money
and show that you're successful
by the money you bring in.
And really interested
in having sort of
the million-dollar
business idea.
Reading books like
"Think and Grow Rich"
and books like "The Secret"
to manifest your desires
and your destiny.
Narrator: But two years in,
he's failing classes
and spending most
of his time partying
and delving into the fledgling
world of Bitcoin mining.
So he drops out and lands
an entry-level job at eBay
with his best friend,
Drew Crandall.
In less than a year,
Crandall is fired,
and Aaron Shamo thinks
it's "unfair"
that he still has to work,
so he quits.
The friends soon come up
with a business plan
combining two of their
favorite things...
Party drugs and Bitcoin.
They start off selling
their own prescription Adderall
on the dark web...
- A part of the internet reached - through a special browser
Where guns and drugs are traded,
and money is exchanged
through cryptocurrency.
It was really
his ability to use
and to manage the cryptocurrency
that helps unlock the door
for him to be able
to set up shop and become
an e-commerce pioneer,
if you will, on the dark web.
Narrator: Shamo and Crandall
learn all they need on the web,
searching with simple queries
like "how to ship drugs."
Sales are immediate,
so they decide to expand...
Ordering drugs in bulk,
repackaging and selling
at a mark-up.
And he found that
it was easy to purchase
controlled substances
through the internet...
Illegally of course...
- And that there was - a huge market for that.
At first, it was
drugs like Xanax
or erectile dysfunction pills,
because they were very popular.
Narrator: A few months
into the operation,
a local drug dealer
gives Aaron Shamo some intel
that changes his life -
the big money
is in fake oxycodone.
Reporter: Opioid abuse
in the United States
is at epidemic levels.
Narrator: In 2016,
opioid abuse...
And particularly OxyContin
addiction... is blowing up...
And it's getting worse
by the day.
With limits on
prescription pills,
thousands of people
are turning to illegal sources.
Shamo's entrepreneurial mind-set
finally has a focus,
and he decides to go all-in,
counterfeiting
the pills himself.
Shamo orders bulk supplies
including fentanyl from China...
A much cheaper and more potent
synthetic opioid
used in counterfeit drugs.
He sets up a pill press
in his basement
and watches Youtube videos
to figure out how to make
fake OxyContin and Xanax.
Mui: These kids were trying
to come up with these recipes
on their own.
They weren't chemistry majors.
They found information online,
- and they did this - through trial and error.
- The first batch - of pills they made
Were sort of turned away
- because they didn't quite - look like oxycodone.
- They were all splotchy - and speckled.
But eventually,
they got the formula down.
And that means that their pills
became incredibly popular.
- Narrator: - Powdered binders and fillers
Are mixed with fentanyl
and shaken by hand.
Dyes are added...
Blue for Oxy's, for example.
The mixture goes
into the pill press hopper,
and extruded pills are stamped
with illegal counterfeit stamps,
also purchased online,
to match the original
pharmaceutical markings.
- Besser: It is not uncommon - with any type
Of even tabletop
industrial pill press
to be able to produce
in between 7,000
to 10,000 pills an hour.
So, if each pill on the street
roughly goes for, say,
in between $20 to $40
and you're able to produce
7,000 to 10,000 pills an hour
and you're churning out pills
all day, you do the math.
You end up coming up
with millions in dollars
of illegal drug proceeds.
Shamo calls his online
storefront Pharma-Master
on one of the largest
dark net marketplaces...
AlphaBay, which acts much like
the legitimate eBay marketplace.
Within a few months, word
of Pharma-Master's reliability
and the quality of his pills
starts to spread.
Sellers like Mr. Shamo
would be rated on things
like quality, price, stealth...
And that's their term
for how expertly
the seller ships the drugs
- to avoid law enforcement - detection.
And Mr. Shamo's feedback
was 360 pages-worth
of positive comments.
You know, people saying
he's the best
dark net vendor, period.
Narrator: Business is so good
that Shamo hires
his gym buddy Luke Paz
to mix and press
thousands of oxy pills a week.
He hires two friends full-time
for order fulfillment...
Packaging drugs
in vacuum-sealed Mylar bags
- and shipping out - hundreds of orders coming in
By encrypted mail.
Shamo also hires his pal
Sean Gygi as a "runner"...
Picking up the packed orders
five days a week
and dropping them off
at various mail boxes
around the Salt Lake Valley.
Whitehurst: Aaron Shamo was not
your sort of bad-guy movie image
of a drug ring leader.
Lots of texting.
Lots of smiley face emojis,
"LOLs."
- These were sort of - generally his friends,
And the communication reflected
a lot of friendship
between them.
Narrator: No wonder Aaron Shamo
is yukking it up with his pals.
He's growing richer by the day.
But Defense Attorney
Greg Skordas insists
that for his client,
it isn't all about the money...
Just partly about the money.
- I know that - people will not believe this,
- But they really thought - they were filling a niche.
- They thought that - a lot of people
Were needing pain medication
and couldn't get it.
They were young kids,
and they really felt like
they were helping people.
And I know that's naive,
- but that's really - what got them into it.
And, of course, they made
a tremendous amount of money.
Narrator:
he's only helping people
with chronic pain,
by the summer of 2016,
Pharma-Master is shipping out
up to 50 orders a day
to customers in all 50 states
and is in the top 1% of all
distributors on AlphaBay.
Aaron Shamo sees himself
as a success story -
a budding young entrepreneur
growing his start-up.
- Whitehurst: You both have - somebody who's very motivated
And very much wants
to be this image
of this sort of classic
American image
of a major entrepreneur somehow.
But of course, did apply it
to this very illegal enterprise.
And did, at the very least,
it appears,
not examine the consequences
of what this could
all bring about.
- Narrator: - Next on "American Greed,"
Pharma-Master
is raking in profits,
but not every customer
is coming back for more.
Besser: He just didn't care.
Money was too good.
Profit was too steep.
The luxuries were too high.
The problem is,
is that willful blindness
translated over into death.
♪♪
Narrator: In a suburb
of Salt Lake City,
business is booming.
Money is flowing in,
and packages are shipping out.
One of them will travel
2200 miles...
and change the recipients'
lives forever.
♪♪
In the quaint Long Island Town
of Center Moriches,
on Main Street's retail row,
Tova Keblish owns
Gavin's Treasure's...
A gift shop named after
her only child.
In 2016, Gavin Keblish
is 23 years-old
- and a recent - University of Albany graduate
Working as a counselor
for children in foster care.
- Tova: He graduated - with a bachelor's,
Became an incredible counselor
basically for kids
that were a little difficult.
He understood them.
- He got them, - and he did it very well
- Because he knew what it was like - to be misunderstood.
- Narrator: - According to his mother,
Gavin has worked hard
to overcome a severe
ADHD diagnosis,
and he's her pride and joy.
Tova: We knew he would soar.
We knew he would make incredible
difference in the world
'cause that's what he had,
and I knew he would
do amazing things.
Narrator: Gavin is also
an avid motocross rider,
having picked up the sport
as a kid.
But in 2015,
he crashes on his bike
and suffers a severe leg injury.
After surgery, he is in
excruciating pain for months,
and the surgical site
is not healing.
Tova: We went back to an
orthopedic, and they said,
"That's your bone exposed."
And from there,
he was placed in the hospital
for about three months.
Narrator: Doctors try
several procedures
to help Gavin heal,
each one more painful
than the last.
Tova: This poor kid
in his early 20s
has to live with a leg
that looked like chopped meat.
And he carried on.
- After this, - he went back to school.
He graduated.
He finished.
He came home.
- And he was always - in a lot of pain.
It was difficult for him,
and he always dismissed it.
- Narrator: Tova Keblish says - she doesn't know
That Gavin is managing his pain
with opioids.
And when his doctors pull back
on the prescriptions,
Keblish turns to the dark web.
He pulls up a site
called Pharma-Master
and places an order
for oxycodone...
20 pills to be shipped
to his mother's home
in Long Island.
Like every Pharma-Master order,
it is sent in an encrypted email
to two employees
of Aaron Shamo...
Alexandrya Tonge
and Katherine Bustin,
who count out the pills
in their suburban Utah condo,
- package the shipments, - and hand them off
To Sean Gygi, who drops them
in the mail.
The envelope arrives
in Long Island three days later.
Gavin Keblish
receives the package
and makes plans
to spend the weekend
in the Hamptons
with his friends.
- Tova: He goes, "Mom, Dad, - I'm just gonna stay there."
- Because he knew he was gonna - hang out with his friends.
He was gonna be drinking.
Yeah, we were planning
on taking him
- to go get a new truck - the next day.
- He's like, "I want to get - a new truck."
He had his own money
at the time.
- So we said, "Okay, Saturday, - when you come home,
We'll go for a car."
- Narrator: The next day, - Gavin is attending a party
In the beach town
of Montauk, New York.
At some point in the night,
according to investigators,
he takes a Pharma-Master pill.
At 6:00 A.M. the next morning,
a passerby sees
what appears to be
the body of a young man
lying in a grassy area
off the road.
Police respond and identify him
as Gavin Keblish.
Later that day,
Tova Keblish learns
that her only child is gone...
Dead of a fentanyl overdose.
Tova "We had found your son,
and he had died roughly
around 2:00 A.M."
And that's all I remember.
I don't remember
anything else after that.
- Narrator: For a year, - the family is left
With nothing but questions.
How did this happen, and why?
- Tova: I will no longer - have grandchildren.
I'll no longer have
our own wedding for our son.
[ Inhales deeply ]
That's rough.
[ Voice breaking ]
That's really rough.
Not being able to see
the best of what he was
going forward as he grows
is very hard.
Yeah, that's pretty hard.
- Reporter: Opioid nation... - [ Indistinct ]
Narrator: Next on
"American Greed,"
all over the country,
cases like Gavin's
are happening every day,
and the fentanyl death toll
goes nowhere but up.
- Gadd: Mr. Shamo was putting - approximately a milligram
Of fentanyl in each pill.
Two milligrams is enough to kill
someone even with a tolerance.
Crush up and snort two pills,
you're dead.
♪♪
26-year-old Aaron Shamo
is living his dream.
- The college dropout - has created a start-up business,
Hired his closest friends,
and grown to profitability
in less than a year.
Besser: He was kind of
a young, college-age playboy.
- He liked to lift weights. - He liked to be with the girls.
- He liked to look good, - drive the nice cars,
Wear the fancy watch
and the sporty clothes.
That was him.
He's young,
living what he viewed
as his best life now.
Narrator:
In his personal journal,
he writes affirmations inspired
by his self-help books.
"I am Shamo.
I am awesome.
My friends love me,
I created an empire.
People look up to me.
It sort of brings to mind
almost a combination
of "Breaking Bad"
and "The Social Network."
He would write these things
and try to manifest them
into the world.
- Narrator: By the end - of his first year in business,
Shamo clears nearly $3 million.
The only catch...
His business model
is totally illegal.
He's selling thousands
of counterfeit opioid pills
through his dark website
Pharma-Master.
But in the rush to meet demand,
the quality of his product
begins to slip.
One review says,
"This is as close to an overdose
as i have ever come.
It just kept coming
stronger and stronger."
Another says,
"People are getting sick,"
which means
"people are overdosing."
But if Aaron Shamo was aware of
any problems with his product,
it is not slowing him down.
- At this point, - Pharma-Master is generating
Roughly $100,000 in revenue
each day.
Shamo spends it
on a house, a new BMW,
weekend trips to Vegas
and first-class vacations.
Gadd: He had a heavy
gambling addiction.
He loved travel.
He loved fine wines.
He loved cruises,
going to the beach.
He spent money right and left
as fast as he could get it.
- Narrator: By this time, - Drew Crandall...
- Who started Pharma-Master - with Shamo,
- Is no longer intimately involved - in the business,
And Aaron Shamo
is calling the shots.
Shamo ups his profits when
he starts selling in bulk...
Up to 20,000 pills at a time...
To local drug dealers.
This is how authorities believe
23-year-old Mitch Kueffner
and his best friend,
23-year-old Devyn Young,
come in possession of Shamo's
30-milligram pills
called Roxy-Oxycodone.
- Kueffner has spent - his whole life
In Woods Cross, Utah...
A suburb of Salt Lake City.
Shaela:
He had a tough-guy shell
with a pretty soft inner self.
He loved to shoot, fish,
his Jeep, Boston Red Sox,
and his friends and family.
Narrator: In 2016, he works
as a dairy manager
at a local grocery store
and is helping to raise
his girlfriend's young son.
- Shaela: He had moved - into an apartment
With his girlfriend
and her little boy.
He was looking at a promotion.
- He was doing good. - He was living life.
He had a good future.
Narrator:
suffers from depression.
Devyn's mother Kelli says that
Mitch is Devyn's
biggest supporter.
But on the night
of June 8th, 2016,
the friends make
a fateful decision.
- Kelli: They literally bought one - oxycodone each,
- And the reason for that was, - is my son had been depressed.
And, you know, Mitch had been
working a lot, and they thought,
- well, you know, - if they each got one,
They could go back,
they could go to sleep
at their own beds
and get rested,
- and maybe Devon would wake up - in a better place,
And, you know, Mitch
a little bit more rested.
Narrator: They each take a pill
and go to their homes...
but only Devyn wakes up.
Shaela Knighton is at work
when she gets a frantic call
and races home.
Shaela: Pulled up to the house.
I saw my then-husband
throwing up
on the side of the road.
My then 21-year-old son...
running down the driveway
just in shock.
Three cop cars.
The officer wouldn't let me
in the house.
[ Radio chatter ]
Narrator: Shaela learns
that her son Mitch has died
from a fentanyl overdose.
Shaela: When they were taking
Mitchell's body,
I asked to see him,
and they wouldn't
let me see him.
I remember my son Devon
holding me up...
from falling to the ground.
Narrator: Mitch's friend
Devyn Young also took a pill.
His mother finds him in bed.
Kelli: He was still overdosing
when I found him.
You know, I did paramedics
and all of that stuff.
But, you know, after the fact,
he had said that
that's all we got.
We got one oxy each.
It never should have happened.
It wasn't much later
that he called me to tell me
that Mitch had passed away.
This was a one-pill..
This wasn't an addiction.
They didn't deserve this.
They didn't know
what they were really buying.
You don't know
what you're getting.
Narrator: Devyn never recovers
from his best friend's death.
He was an absolute mess.
It was devastating to watch.
The kid could hardly eat.
He was pretty wrecked.
6 months later, out of guilt
and feeling as if he was
the cause of Mitch's death,
Devyn Young takes his own life.
Yes, he had made some
bad choices along the way,
but the way I look at it is,
they both died.
- Two different manners - of death,
- But it was all - for the exact same reasons.
Definitely.
It all came down
- That they bought - that night.
That is ultimately what ended
both of our kids' lives.
Mitch and Devyn are buried
on the same hillside,
in a peaceful place
near the mountains
where their mothers
can contemplate
what might have been.
Just thinking of,
what would he be doing today?
You know, where would he be?
Would he be in a happier place?
You know,
what would he be doing?
What would his kids look like?
Would he have married
the girlfriend?
It's just... It's not fair.
Narrator: Today, overdose
is the leading cause of death
of Americans under 50.
Next on "American Greed,"
Aaron Shamo's attempts
to hide his operation
are about to fall short
when a customs officer
IDs one of the country's first
bulk shipments
of Chinese fentanyl
into the United States.
Besser: To be quite honest,
it was shocking.
- And the first thing - on our minds was,
We have to find it.
We have to stop it,
because, literally,
lives are at stake.
♪♪
and Border Protection
mail inspection facility
near LAX,
where 40 million packages
coming in from 180 countries
pass through every year.
- Ross: The international - mail facility
Seizes illicit drugs
on a daily basis.
This is essentially
one large seizure factory.
- Narrator: On the day - "American Greed" goes inside,
A K9 officer is searching
for suspicious packages
containing any number
of illegal drugs,
including
highly deadly fentanyl.
Here, the dog alerts
his K9 officer
by sitting down in front
of a suspicious package.
Ooh, that's a good boy.
That's a good dog.
The box is removed
and tested on-site
using an instrument
which allows the officers
to identify substances
without having to fully open
the packages.
- Officer: This is telling me - right away that it knows
That this is fentanyl.
And here's the scientific
name for it.
Narrator: In July of 2016,
a package much like this one
- comes in from Guangdong, China, - heading to a suburb
Of Salt Lake City, Utah.
It is flagged for inspection.
Inside, the officer IDs
the synthetic opioid fentanyl...
Now well known,
but at the time,
just starting to hit the US
from China.
CBP is concerned.
They refer the case
to federal agents in Utah.
Gadd: Two of my agents came
in my office and said,
"Hey, there's a package of
fentanyl that was intercepted,
and it was addressed
to someone in Utah.
- We want to write - a search warrant
And go see what
that person's doing."
Narrator:
Salt Lake City resident...
26-year-old Sean Gygi.
- Besser: When we started doing a - background on Mr. Gygi...
Again very unassuming.
Didn't fit the typical profile
that people view
as a "drug trafficker"
or a drug dealer.
We did surveillance on Mr. Gygi,
and we ended up approaching him.
Narrator: Gygi initially
tells investigators
that he accepts packages
for his friend Aaron Shamo,
and he thinks that they are
filled with ecstasy pills.
Gadd: My agents said to him,
"Those packages
that you were getting
had fentanyl in them."
And they watched as Mr. Gygi's
countenance changed.
- Narrator: After thinking - over his options,
Gygi agrees to cooperate.
He tells investigators
that he works full-time
for Aaron Shamo.
- Gadd: He said, "Look, not only - was I accepting packages
For Mr. Shamo in the mail,
but for the last several months,
he hired me
to be a daily employee.
And most nights of the week,
I pick up packages
off a doorstep,
and I take those packages
to blue Post Office
collection boxes
throughout the community.
And he pays me
a biweekly wage to do it."
- And so, the agents asked him - to do two things.
The first was, put on a wire
and have a conversation
with Mr. Shamo.
And he did.
They met face-to-face.
- Narrator: Gygi is recording - when he arrives
At Aaron Shamo's house.
- Gadd: It turned out - it was payday that night,
So it worked out real well.
Mr. Shamo paid Mr. Gygi, and
then Mr. Shamo and Mr. Gygi
talked about their future plans.
Besser: And Shamo related
that he wanted to expand
his operation,
and he wanted Gygi
to move to Colorado
and start building a
foundational enterprise there.
Narrator: Next, Gygi allows
agents to follow
as he picks up 79 packages
from the shipper's doorstep
to mail to Pharma-Master
customers.
This time, however,
he doesn't drop them
in the post boxes.
Gadd: He scooped them up
- and then drove - with the agents immediately
- To a local police station, - where they could
Set them out on tables
and start to go through it.
And as they opened these boxes,
they found 10,000
fentanyl pills in a box.
20,000 pills in a box.
Besser: Aaron Shamo's operation
was nothing like
I had ever seen.
Mr. Shamo's enterprise
was one of the first
large-scale dark web storefronts
that we had dealt with.
- At one point, - I know we were able to identify
Over 8,000 package recipients
- all across the continental - United States.
We had to act quickly.
- Our number one goal - was to locate,
Where are the tablets
being manufactured?
- Narrator: - Next on "American Greed,"
Utah agents find
what they're looking for
in their own backyard
and move in on
the Pharma-Master.
Mui: Aaron Shamo was at home
apparently in his basement
when authorities literally came
bashing down his front door.
Narrator: Want more greed?
Follow us on Instagram,
connect on Facebook,
- and listen to - the "American Greed" podcast
Wherever you get your podcasts.
We'll be right back.
♪♪
Narrator: Two days
before thanksgiving,
dozens of agents from the DEA,
Homeland Security
Investigations,
and the National Guard
suit up for a surprise drug bust
on an unlikely
residential block.
Besser: Cottonwood Heights
is kind of a sleepy little
upper middle-class suburban area
south of Salt Lake...
The last neighborhood
that I honestly thought
I would be doing
a search warrant in
for a counterfeit
tableting enterprise.
Narrator: Those seizing evidence
at Aaron Shamo's home
don hazmat suits to avoid
direct contact with fentanyl,
which is so powerful,
a few flakes touching the skin
have caused officers
to overdose.
- Gadd: They called him out - and pulled him out,
And then placed under arrest.
- Inside, there was - a pill press running.
A rotary pill press
just pounding away.
They saw powder
all over the walls.
The room was full
of mason jars.
- That's how they were - mixing their ingredients
To go into the pills.
They put it in a mason jar,
screw the lid on, and shake it.
Agents seize $1.2 million
in cash from a sock drawer
and another $429,000 stored
at Shamo's parents' house.
- But it took them - a lot longer, actually,
- To find one of his biggest - sources of cash,
And that was Bitcoin.
They eventually found
500 Bitcoin
that were linked to his account.
At the time, it was worth a
couple hundred thousand dollars.
Narrator:
sells Shamo's Bitcoin
for more than $5 million.
Across town, agents execute
a search warrant
- at the apartment - of Alexandrya Tonge
And Katherine Bustin...
Shamo's shippers.
Whitehurst: He brought them in
to help do the packaging.
- They would put them in envelopes - and then send them
To whoever around the country
had ordered them.
They were working so fast,
- when pills would drop - on the ground,
They would just vacuum them up.
They weren't even worth
picking up.
Narrator: When Shamo's friend
and former partner Drew Crandall
learns of the arrest
from overseas,
he quickly shuts down
the Pharma-Master store
on AlphaBay.
But investigators have already
got what they need
- from another one - of Shamo's friends
And customer service
employees...
24 year-old Mario Noble.
- Gadd: Mr. Noble, because he did - customer service, had access
- To some of Pharma-Master's - pages on AlphaBay.
- And so, the agents - went in with him
And took screenshots
trying to preserve
the evidence that was online
so we wouldn't lose it.
Narrator: Six months later,
Drew Crandall is arrested
upon arriving in Hawaii,
where he planned to get married.
In all, eight of Shamo's other
co-conspirators are arrested,
and all agree to cooperate
with the government.
Next on "American Greed,"
- while prosecutors - build their case,
They begin to compile
a list of customers
who purchased pills
through Pharma-Master
and uncover a pattern unlike any
they had ever before seen.
- Gadd: To date, we've identified - 90 of his customers
Who died from drug overdoses.
♪♪
Narrator: Two years
after his arrest,
Aaron Shamo is set
to stand trial,
accused of 12 drug counts
including leading a continuing
criminal enterprise...
Sometimes referred to
as the "kingpin charge"...
Which carries a mandatory
life sentence,
and one count
for the overdose death
of 21-year-old Ruslan Klyuev
of California.
Our focus at trial was the two
most serious offences
that the grand jury
charged Mr. Shamo with.
The first was engaging in a
continuing criminal enterprise,
and then the second was
the distribution of fentanyl
that resulted in a man's death.
- Narrator: Evidence from - Shamo's computers
Has led investigators to at
least 90 Pharma-Master customers
that died of fentanyl overdose.
We could track Shamo's orders,
and just through
searching obituaries
- and talking to law enforcement - in different areas,
Confirm OD deaths
from Mr. Shamo's pills.
Narrator: Of the 90 cases
prosecutors believe are tied
to Shamo's pills,
they decide to charge him
with the Klyuev case
because of the evidence...
Including a photo
from the death scene
showing the victim's body
and a Pharma-Master pill package
in the trash bin next to him.
- Gadd: What the toxicologist - was able to show
Was that he had alcohol
in his system
and that he also had fentanyl.
- And so, at trial, - we called a medical doctor
To interpret those findings
and give her opinion
that the alcohol
didn't kill him.
Nothing else killed him.
- But for the fact - that he ingested
The fentanyl that night,
he never would have died.
- Narrator: - Shamo's defense attorney
Greg Skordas acknowledges
his client committed crimes
in selling drugs on the dark net
but says he did not
cause anyone's death
and was not a kingpin.
- Oh, there's no question - the government wanted
- To make an example - out of this case,
And Aaron, unfortunately,
was right in their crosshairs.
Narrator:
to convince the jury
that his client got into
the drug business
to "help people."
- Skordas: It was wrong. - It was criminal.
- But they really felt that - they were filling a niche
With the public
to help people
- who really were suffering - from pain... chronic pain...
And couldn't get help for it.
Narrator: The jury, however,
does not buy that argument.
After a four week trial,
they find Aaron Shamo guilty
on 12 of 13 counts.
- The jury is unable - to reach a verdict
On the charge that he caused
the death of Ruslan Klyuev.
- Skordas: I think it would have - been very hard
For the jury to say,
"Okay, those particular
pills from Aaron
were the cause of death."
- And, in fact, - they couldn't find that.
That one count of the 13
- that were brought - against Aaron Shamo,
The jury did not
make a decision on.
However, law enforcement
authorities do believe
that there was a connection
between what was being sold
on the dark web through AlphaBay
under Pharma-Master's name
and 90 people
taking those pills and dying.
- Narrator: - During the sentencing hearing,
More than 60 of those
overdose victims' families
are able to share their stories
with the court.
- Shaela: - They were loved people.
They were brothers, sons,
grandsons,
fathers, friends.
- They had lives. - They had people that loved them.
- They meant something - to people.
They're not just numbers.
Narrator: At the hearing,
Aaron Shamo states...
On October 15th, 2020,
the judge sentences
30-year old Aaron Shamo
to life in federal prison.
Besser: He ran
a criminal syndicate
that had numerous people
underneath him.
Millions of dollars.
Millions of pills
going all over
the continental United States.
Do I think a life sentence
is too long for Aaron Shamo?
No, because somebody's kid,
somebody's wife
is never coming back
because of what Aaron Shamo did.
Their life is gone,
and I think Aaron Shamo
- has to pay the price - for what he did,
And that's exactly what he got.
And the jury obviously
felt the same.
Narrator: In July, 2021,
- the eight other - suburban Utah millennials
Who worked with Aaron Shamo
and testified against him
learn their fates.
The co-conspirators...
Including Sean Gygi, Luke Paz,
Alexandrya Tonge,
Katherine Bustin,
and Drew Crandall,
all receive reduced sentences
between probation
and 60 months in prison
for their part in the scheme.
Gadd: My sincere hope
is that Mr. Shamo's case
is a cautionary tale
for anyone who's interested
in making a quick buck
by selling poison...
By administering death
through the dark web.
I want those people to know
that there are people like me
and my investigators
who work tirelessly
day in and day out
to find them, to identify them,
and to bring them to justice.
♪♪
- Narrator: On a hot - summer evening,
- Friends and family - are gathered at the home
Of Tova Keblish
on Long Island...
Where Tova's son Gavin
should be celebrating
his 28th birthday.
Instead, his mother
is hosting a party
for what she calls
Gavin's "angel-versary,"
or the day her son died
from a fentanyl overdose.
Mrs. Keblish invited
"American Greed"
to capture the remembrance.
- Thank you, and I just want you - to send your wishes to Gavin.
And we're all gonna put it
in a separate place
- in Gavin's garden, - which you know
Is all wrapped around.
- And then, we will be doing - the lanterns, too,
So make sure you guys
do a lantern, too.
- All right? - Woman: We love you, Tov.
- All right, - I love you guys.
- Now that the trial is done, - it's over with.
It's kind of like
severing the pain
and the hardship
that we have gone through.
And we're going to be
doing basically that...
The celebration of Gavin's life.
[ Cheering ]
Gavin!
Way to go, baby!
Woman: Awwww.
♪♪