Content Warning: This section includes discussions of anti-Black racism, drug dependency, murder, and violent hazing rituals.

Zack Kligman and some of his associates started pressing their own pills when doing so became cheaper and easier than obtaining black market Xanax. These pills were usually stamped with “GG249.” On paper, they were essentially the same as Xanax: The active ingredient in both is alprazolam, a potent benzodiazepine. Xanax often comes in perforated 2mg bars that can be broken into four 0.5mg doses. The GG249 pills took the same shape, but because they were not pharmaceutical-grade, the dosage was not always exact, and the pills were chalkier and more likely to fall apart. At the height of their operation, Zack and his associates were able to produce 500,000 GG249 pills in a month. When Patrick Moffly was murdered, he was surrounded by hundreds of GG249 alprazolam pills that he had been purchasing, using, and dealing.

The term “Greek life” refers to fraternity and sorority culture. Fraternities and sororities almost always bear titles that combine two or three letters of the Greek alphabet, like Sigma Alpha Epsilon or Chi Omega. When fraternities were originally developed, most undergraduates were already competent at reading Latin, but reading ancient Greek was considered a mark of a superior education.