JULY 8, 1994:
McDevitt continued his questioning of Zahorian. Zahorian said he never split his profits with Titan and Titan never offered to split their profits with him. He said there was no way, without x-ray vision, that anyone could know for sure what was in the brown bags wrestlers carried out of his examination room in Hershey. He said in 1977 some wrestlers were already on steroids, such as Ken Patera, Ivan Putski, and Billy Graham. He said he is not responsible for knowing when a drug goes off the market. He said he was not aware of a package insert that stated steroids do not enhance athletic performance. When presented with the insert by McDevitt, he read it and said the statement was inconsistent with the effects of steroids. Zahorian said the alleged conspiracy begins when his trial’s evidence begins – in 1985. Zahorian said Gorilla Monsoon, Phil Zacko, and Vince McMahon Sr. – the three owners of Capital Sports (the predecessor of Titan Sports) – never asked him to sell steroids to wrestlers. He said it would be very difficult to pinpoint the contents of any particular FedEx package.
He said road agent Arnold Skaaland once called him and asked if he was coming and if he was going to bring his medication. McDevitt asked Zahorian if anyone from Titan Sports ever encouraged him to make wrestlers bigger than life so they’d have a better product to sell to the public. Zahorian said no. Zahorian said he once considered the wrestlers his patients, but after two years of incarceration, he realized they were not his patients. He said he sometimes instructed wrestlers on how to use steroids, other times he gave no instructions.
Zahorian said the 1 or 2 percent of his business that was not from WWF wrestlers was Brian Socia (football player), Bill Dunn (strength coach), and Kevin Sheehan (a correctional office). McDevitt pointed out that his 98 percent figure included wrestlers not in the WWF at the time of the shipments. Zahorian stood corrected and said that probably 85-90 percent of his business was to wrestlers who were wrestling for the WWF at the time. “You knew it was a lie when you told it, didn’t you,” pressed McDevitt. Zahorian said no. McDevitt tried to direct suspicious toward Zahorian’s wife getting $40,000 from the sale of his office building (implying it might have been a bonus for cooperating with the government), but apparently since his wife was not convicted of a crime, she owned half the building and was entitled to half of its sale price.
Zahorian said, while he was not hired after the commission law changed in July of ’89, he showed up at WWF events two more times, but they asked him not to show up at the Dec. ’89 event.
Zahorian’s testimony was interrupted briefly so Lance McGlaughlan, a Federal Express employee could take the stand. He testified to three things: weight is rounded up so a package weighing 1.3 pounds would actually be recorded as a 2 lb. package; that Titan’s account number could be used by anyone in the company, not just McMahon; and there is no indication of what the contents of FedEx packages are.
At 1:55 p.m., Zahorian returned to the stand. McDevitt established that the last time he sent Deca to Vince was in August of 1989. McDevitt then established that Zahorian, when the athletic commission no longer required his presence, did not go directly to Vince McMahon for a job (since Titan was now deciding who would be the physician present at matches), thus they must not have been good friends, much less co-conspirators.
“Did you ever sit around and plot and scheme to defraud the FDA,” asked McDevitt. Zahorian said no. McDevitt then read a list of wrestlers Zahorian said he did not distribute to, including Nikolai Volkoff, Ray Rougeau, Butch Miller, King Kong Bundy (who Zahorian said was a brittle diabetic), Sgt. Slaughter, George Steele, Bob Backlund, Tugboat, and Mike Rotunda.
Zahorian then talked about the time in Hershey he was pulled aside by Patterson and brought to another room to meet with him and McMahon. He couldn’t pinpoint which room in Hershey Arena they met in. He said they met for four to eight minutes. McDevitt then stressed that Zahorian told McMahon he was keeping wrestlers “more healthy” by providing them with genuine steroids. Zahorian reiterated that he told McMahon, “If you want me to stop, let me know and I’ll stop doing what I’m doing.” He added, “He (McMahon) then knew I was dispensing steroids, but I believe he knew that ahead of time.” McDevitt said, “You said you were dispensing steroids. Don’t you mean, as you testified in your trial, that you were acting as a physician and providing education on prescription drugs for grown men?” Zahorian responded, “I said that and I was wrong.”
McDevitt established that Zahorian was charged with crimes dating back no further than the Nov. 8, 1988 law change, yet McMahon is accused of a conspiracy dating back to 1985. Zahorian said after Patterson’s phone call warning him about the investigation he still sold steroids via mail, mentioning Dunn, B. Brian Blair, Eddie Gilbert, and others as customers.
During Brevetti’s cross-examination, she tried to establish that Zahorian’s memory got better between his Apr. 8 and Apr. 15 grand jury sessions because he learned what the investigation was about and what the prosecution wanted to hear. “You told McMahon if they took tainted steroids, they could die?” asked Brevetti. Zahorian said he wasn’t certain he used the word “die.”
Brevetti had Zahorian run down his medical background and tried to paint him as being an award winning, successful physician. Most of his recognition came from studies on premature ejaculation, which led to joking by observers and trial participants in the lobby after recessing for the day.
Zahorian said Randy Savage came to his office and purchased steroids. Brevetti asked Zahorian if the big photo of him, Hogan, and McMahon that the prosecution showed was taken at a time when there was a meeting of the minds concerning the alleged conspiracy. As Brevetti went over his treatment before, during, and after his grand jury testimony one more time, jurors, the judge, and even the court reporter yawned or dozed off.
