Oil for Drugs

The Oil for Drugs case is an Italian doping case against doctor Carlo Santuccione and a number of accomplices, started in 2003. He is accused of administering prohibited doping products to professional and amateur athletes, to enhance their performance as well as being involved in doping network across Italy.

Timeline

Death of amateur cyclist

The catalyst to start the investigation was the death of an amateur cyclist in Italy that was suspicious. The death of this unnamed cyclist, which occurred around December 2002, led to an investigation by the Italian authorities. The State Prosecutor started and coordinated the investigation.

Police action

Italy's Anti-Narcotic Group (NAS) began an investigation, this included tapping the phones of Doctor Santuccione and installing a hidden camera in his office. On March 3, 2004, they recorded a phone call in which Santuccione advised the professional cyclist Danilo Di Luca to inject EPO before Milan–San Remo. Di Luca said that he would visit the Doctor that evening with teammate Alessandro Spezialetti. Later that evening the video surveillance of Santuccione's office showed Santuccione preparing two disposable syringes with EPO and exiting his office to where Di Luca and Spezialetti were waiting outside. A teammate of Di Luca and Spezialetti, Eddy Mazzoleni also sent SMS messages to Santuccione at this time mentioning Di Luca and hormone use.

Following this surveillance the NAS squad conducted coordinated surprise raids at team hotels as well as at certain riders' homes on the night of May 24, 2004. Eight riders (all clients of Santuccione) from six different teams were involved. These were:

• Alessio Galletti and Mario Scirea from Domina Vacanze
• Fabio Sacchi from

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• Eddy Mazzoleni, Danilo Di Luca and Alessandro Spezialetti from

Alerting users

• {{alert/first}} ({{Contentious topics/alert/first}}) is used, on a user's talk page, to "alert", or draw a user's attention, to the contentious topics system if they have never received such an alert before. In this case, this template must be used for the notification.
• {{alert}} ({{Contentious topics/alert}}) is used, on a user's talk page, to "alert", or draw a user's attention, to the fact that a specific topic is a contentious topic. It may only be used if the user has previously received any contentious topic alert, and it can be replaced by a custom message that conveys the contentious topic designation.
• {{alert/DS}} ({{Contentious topics/alert/DS}}) is used to inform editors that the old "discretionary sanctions" system has been replaced by the contentious topics system, and that a specific topic is a contentious topic.
• {{Contentious topics/aware}} is used to register oneself as already aware that a specific topic is a contentious topic.

Editnotices

• {{Contentious topics/editnotice}} is used to inform editors that a page is covered by the contentious topics system using an editnotice. Use the one below if the page has restrictions placed on the page.
• {{Contentious topics/page restriction editnotice}} is used to inform editors that the page they are editing is subject to contentious topics restrictions using an editnotice. Use the above if there are no restrictions placed on the page.

Talk page notices

• {{Contentious topics/talk notice}} is used to provide additional communication, using a talk page messagebox (tmbox), to editors that they are editing a page that is covered by the contentious topics system. The template standardises the format and wording of such notices. Use the below if there are restrictions placed on the page.
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• If a user who has been alerted goes on to disruptively edit the affected topic area, they can be reported to the arbitration enforcement (AE) noticeboard, where an administrator will investigate their conduct and issue a sanction if appropriate. {{AE sanction}} is used by administrators to inform a user that they have been sanctioned.

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• Ruggero Marzoli from Acqua & Sapone
• Giuseppe Muraglia from Formaggi Pinzolo Fiava
• Simone Masciarelli from

Alerting users

• {{alert/first}} ({{Contentious topics/alert/first}}) is used, on a user's talk page, to "alert", or draw a user's attention, to the contentious topics system if they have never received such an alert before. In this case, this template must be used for the notification.
• {{alert}} ({{Contentious topics/alert}}) is used, on a user's talk page, to "alert", or draw a user's attention, to the fact that a specific topic is a contentious topic. It may only be used if the user has previously received any contentious topic alert, and it can be replaced by a custom message that conveys the contentious topic designation.
• {{alert/DS}} ({{Contentious topics/alert/DS}}) is used to inform editors that the old "discretionary sanctions" system has been replaced by the contentious topics system, and that a specific topic is a contentious topic.
• {{Contentious topics/aware}} is used to register oneself as already aware that a specific topic is a contentious topic.

Editnotices

• {{Contentious topics/editnotice}} is used to inform editors that a page is covered by the contentious topics system using an editnotice. Use the one below if the page has restrictions placed on the page.
• {{Contentious topics/page restriction editnotice}} is used to inform editors that the page they are editing is subject to contentious topics restrictions using an editnotice. Use the above if there are no restrictions placed on the page.

Talk page notices

• {{Contentious topics/talk notice}} is used to provide additional communication, using a talk page messagebox (tmbox), to editors that they are editing a page that is covered by the contentious topics system. The template standardises the format and wording of such notices. Use the below if there are restrictions placed on the page.
• {{Contentious topics/page restriction talk notice}} is used to inform editors that page restrictions are active on the page using a talk page messagebox (tmbox). Use the above if there are no restrictions placed on the page.
• If a user who has been alerted goes on to disruptively edit the affected topic area, they can be reported to the arbitration enforcement (AE) noticeboard, where an administrator will investigate their conduct and issue a sanction if appropriate. {{AE sanction}} is used by administrators to inform a user that they have been sanctioned.

Miscellaneous

• {{Contentious topics/list}} and {{Contentious topics/table}} show which topics are currently designated as contentious topics. They are used by a number of templates and pages on Wikipedia.

No illegal substances were found.

The NAS raid was part of a much larger raid carried out in 28 Italian cities involving 138 professional and amateur athletes, doctors and others who were under suspicion of dealing or using doping in several sports. However, by May 2004, only two arrests had been made. One of these involved a pharmacist.

Suspensions and bans

Danilo Di Luca was given a three-month suspension due to his involvement in the case. On December 18, 2007, Doctor Santuccione was given a lifetime ban by the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) due to his involvement in the Oil for Drugs case and after having already serving a lengthy ban for a previous doping offense. On October 26, 2007, the Italian pole vaulter Giuseppe Gibilisco was given a two-year ban for his involvement. On April 8, 2008, Mazzoleni was given a two-year suspension due to his involvement in the case.