Stolen-pills probe finds Hall of Fame stash

illiam Stracher is a criminal, authorities said. The Paterson drugstore owner is also a very, very big baseball fan.

A normally unremarkable county garage took on the look of a lavish baseball memorabilia auction Wednesday, treasure stacked upon treasure that authorities say Stracher amassed through a lucrative, decade-long prescription drug scheme.

There were signed photos of 19th-century Hall of Famers and numerous century-old tobacco trading cards. A single sheet of Boston Braves stationery had 27 penciled autographs of players who have been inducted into Cooperstown. Original Yankee Stadium blueprints hung on the wall. Beneath them was a bat signed by teammates Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, who chased the single-season home run record in 1961.

"Look at this," Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said, hefting a framed picture of legendary first baseman Lou Gehrig. "He signed, 'Good Luck, Lou Gehrig.' You can see from the tilt of the script that he was a lefty – pretty classy."

Stracher, 65, was arrested Tuesday and charged with making millions by selling stolen prescription drugs out of his Sussman Drugs store in Paterson. Authorities say he then laundered the profits by accumulating prized baseball memorabilia.

Investigators said he stashed most of it in a locked room at his Vermont home, in the shadow of a popular ski resort.

The Yankee Stadium blueprints hung in a basement that had enough room for a bar, hot tub, pool table and arcade games.

"This stuff was all alarmed," Molinelli said, adding that detectives had to remove a keypad-access door to enter. "No one could get inside."

Once inside, they found the memorabilia neatly arranged, including dozens of signed baseballs in plastic casing, yellowing tobacco trading cards that are presumed to be worth thousands of dollars each and boxes of newspaper clippings from Yankees heydays.

All of which painted a picture of Stracher as a baseball aficionado with a telling taste.

"There's one hitch here: No Mets stuff," the prosecutor said. "It's all Yankees stuff here."

Authorities said Stracher's scheme required him to periodically rid his shelves of prescription drugs -- including antidepressants and allergy medications -- and then restock his store with drugs he bought at illegally low prices.

The pharmacy owner then laundered the profits from those drugs by obtaining money orders and buying the items.

Stracher does not own property in North Jersey, authorities said. Rather, he would stay with friends whenever he traveled to the area for business. Real estate records show Stracher and his wife, Antonia, once owned a Mahwah residence but sold it.

Also arrested Tuesday was 52-year-old Luther Manning, a Wyeth Pharmaceuticals sales representative from Union County who stole doctor's samples and peddled them to people like Stracher at the lowered prices, investigators said.

More arrests are expected, Molinelli said.

The Prosecutor's Office expects to hire an independent appraiser to put a price tag on each item. That may be easier than expected: Stracher kept detailed records and boxes of certificates of authenticity.

Once the confiscated goods are deemed forfeited assets, authorities will auction the memorabilia, Molinelli said. That may not happen for a year or so, the prosecutor said.

"This is pretty lucrative stuff," he said, casting a mock-suspicious glance about. "Got to make sure no one walks off with anything."