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SVC senior legal counsel Bruce Antkowiak interviewed for documentary series ‘The Godfather of Fentanyl’

SVC senior legal counsel Bruce Antkowiak interviewed for documentary series ‘The Godfather of Fentanyl’

by Public Relations | August 16, 2024

LATROBE, PA – Bruce Antkowiak, J.D., law professor and senior legal counsel to Saint Vincent College and Saint Vincent Archabbey, appears as an interviewee in “The Godfather of Fentanyl,” a true-crime documentary streaming on Fox Nation.

“The Godfather of Fentanyl” tells the story of George Erik Marquardt, a high school dropout and self-taught chemist who ignited the first fentanyl overdose epidemic in the United States in the early 1990s.

One of Marquardt’s lieutenants was Joseph V. Martier, of Vandergrift. In 1979, when Antkowiak was an assistant United States attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, he helped convict Martier for manufacturing PCP, known on the street as “angel dust.”

“At the time, [Martier was operating] what was the largest PCP laboratory ever found in this country in a little cabin out in Westmoreland County,” Antkowiak said. “If all that PCP had hit the streets, it would have been an absolute plague.”

After Martier was paroled, he connected with Marquardt’s fentanyl production and distribution ring.

“These guys were brilliant chemists,” Antkowiak said. “They could have gotten six-figure salaries from any chemical company, but there’s no jazz in that. There’s a thrill they can’t get from doing things legitimately … We got the impression that [their crimes] weren’t done out of financial desperation or anything, but because it was fun, and they knew they could pull it off.”

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Marquardt was the only source of illegal fentanyl, commonly called “China white,” in America until his arrest in February 1993. The National Center for Health reports that street fentanyl, which is 40 times more potent than heroin, caused nearly 75,000 overdose deaths in 2023.

Marquardt has been likened to fictional meth maker Walter White from the television series “Breaking Bad.” During his trial, Marquardt listed his profession as “clandestine drug manufacturer.” He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison. He was paroled in 2015.

Martier pleaded guilty in federal court in Pittsburgh to conspiring to make and distribute fentanyl and was sentenced to 30 years. Martier cooperated with prosecutors and was released from prison in April 2005.

“The Godfather of Fentanyl” is a four-part series hosted by Fox News anchor John Roberts. It debuted Aug. 14 and new episodes will be released on successive Wednesdays.


 

Portrait of Bruce Antkowiak sitting at his desk

Bruce Antkowiak.

photo of Bruce Antkowiak on the set of “The Godfather of Fentanyl” with a cameras and lights and a production associate.

Bruce Antkowiak during the filming of “The Godfather of Fentanyl”.

 

 

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