According to the reports, drug agents raided 11 pain clinics from Miami to West Palm Beach on Wednesday. They have arrested 23 people and seized $2.5 million in cash and dozens of cars. It was the biggest strike yet at Florida's pain pill industry.

According to the officials, among those arrested were four physicians, including the son of Broward Medical Examiner Joshua Perper, and five owners of raided pain clinics .

The officials said that the biggest catch was Vincent Colangelo, 42, a Davie man who earned an estimated $150,000 a day from the seven now-shuttered pain centres he owned.

Law enforcement agencies moved to seize from the Colangelo operation $22 million in assets, including homes, an Okeechobee trailer park and 46 vehicles.

Agents displayed a parking lot full of the high-priced cars, such as a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren sports car and two Lamborghinis.

"We have indicted doctors and clinic owners who are acting as drug dealers", said Wilfredo Ferrer, U. S. Attorney for South Florida.

400 federal officers were involved in this raid. They fanned out in an orchestrated sweep that shut down some of the busiest and best-known pain clinics in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties.