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The orchestrator of the plot, who masterminded a plan to provide undetectable PEDs to elite sports stars including baseball greats Giambi and Bonds and Olympic track champion Marion Jones decades ago, has died. He reached 75 years.

Official Inquiry and Criminal Cases

The federal government's inquiry regarding a separate firm established by Conte, the Bay Area lab, led to the criminal findings of Jones, elite sprint cyclist Tammy Thomas, and ex-pro football defender Dana Stubblefield, as well as coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Conte's Admissions and Sentencing

Conte, who served four months in federal prison for steroid distribution, discussed frankly about his high-profile athletes. He appeared on television to claim he had seen decorated Olympian Marion Jones use a syringe with growth hormones, but consistently avoided pointing the finger at Barry Bonds, the baseball star.

Sport's Official Review

This probe led to the publication titled Game of Shadows. A week after the release of the book in 2006, baseball Commissioner Selig hired former senate majority leader Mitchell to investigate steroids.

He admitted he sold steroids called certain undetectable drugs and guided their application to numerous top performers, such as Jason Giambi, a multiple-time All-Star, according to the report.

Employing banned drugs is a significant danger to the honesty of the game,” the Mitchell report concluded. “Broad usage by players of such substances unfairly disadvantages the clean players who refuse to use them and raises questions about the accuracy of sporting achievements.”

Mitchell indicated the challenges didn’t develop overnight. The report emphasized each participant in professional baseball in the previous twenty years – including leaders, management, the union and players – shared some responsibility for what he called the doping period.

How It Began

The government's case into the company began with a IRS investigator digging through the corporate garbage. Conte ended up pleading guilty to two of the multiple accusations against him in that year prior to court proceedings. Half a dozen of the 11 convicted people were convicted for misleading the court.

Associated Convictions

Bonds’ personal trainer Greg Anderson, confessed to drug dealing counts arising from his involvement with Balco. The court gave him to a quarter year in incarceration and three months of home confinement.

The Slugger's Case

Bonds was charged with deceiving a grand jury about obtaining PEDs and stood trial in 2011. The case was dismissed the charges four years later when the government decided not to contest an reversed conviction to the federal apex court.

A decorated player and star performer, he ended his career after the 2007 campaign with 762 homers, breaking the mark of 755 that Hank Aaron set from 1954-76. Bonds denied intentionally taking performance-enhancing drugs but has failed to gain entry to the sport's hall of honor.

Conte's Post-Prison Life

The former convict told the Associated Press in a 2010 discussion that “yes, athletes cheat to succeed, but the federal representatives also bend the rules.” He also questioned whether the results in such proceedings were worth the resources.

After serving his sentence, Conte resumed operations in 2007 by reviving a supplements company he had launched two decades earlier called SNAC System. He set up shop in the very same place that once housed the original company in the California city.

Unapologetic Views

Conte continued to justify about his major involvement in doling out custom PEDs to top sports stars. He claimed he simply helped “balance the odds” in a arena already rife with doping athletes.

Critical Perspectives

To a WADA member, a former participant of the World Anti-Doping Agency, he could be compared to selling hard drugs. “It concerns unlawful substance distribution. It's about using drugs in defiance of legal codes,” he stated in the past. “It's not a good deed and not a benevolent act. This is drug dealing.”