'We were the Disneyland of pain clinics': How identical twins 'poured gasoline ... trends now
A new documentary is set to lay bare the astonishing tale of how two identical twin brothers trafficked $500 million worth of prescription medication across America at the height of the country's opioid crisis.
Chris and Jeff George ran four 'Pain Clinics' in South Florida which became one-stop 'candy stores' for painkillers, signed off by lax doctors who were given financial incentives, between 2008 and 2010.
Desperate customers would travel for hundreds of miles from all across the country to get their hands on the drugs which have ravaged local communities.
'I believe we’ve created a new form of tourism - we were basically the Disneyland of painkillers,' brags Jeff in one clip.
They are now accused of 'pouring gasoline on opioid crisis fire' in American Pain, a documentary from CNN which premiers on Sunday February 5.
Chris and Jeff George ran four 'Pain Clinics' in South Florida which became one-stop 'candy stores' for painkillers between 2008 and 2010.
The brothers trafficked more than $500 million worth of prescription medication and would compete with each other over their lavish lifestyles
Their clinics prescribed 18 million units of oxycodone alone - ranking it among the top nine purchasers of oxycodone in the nation.
The film comes from Emmy Award-winning director Darren Foster and it features FBI wiretap recordings and undercover videos as well as the brothers' exclusive jailhouse interviews.
It charts the rise and ultimate decline of their empire, culminating in the brothers' arrests in 2011.
Astonishing scenes show dozens of customers lining up outside their clinics waiting for their turn.
They would be greeted by doctors who had been recruited through local newspaper adverts and would hand out large and frequent prescriptions.
The physicians were paid per person they treated - offering a cash incentive to keep dolling out the meds.
The clinics would recruit doctors through local newspaper adverts and would incentivise them to dish out large and frequent prescriptions
Their tale is exposed in CNN documentary American Pain which premieres Sunday February 5
The doctors did not obtain prior medical records or prescribe any alternative treatment.
Huge bouncers waited outside the doors to stop customers from snorting their pills in the parking lot.
One clinic referred people without MRIs to a trailer behind a strip club, where they could get lap dances while waiting for new scans from sham radiologists, claims one FBI.
The brothers thought the imaging would make their organization look more legitimate, federal officials said.
To stay under the
