Former NYPD Officer Sentenced For Trafficking Date Rape Drug, Meth

BRONXVILLE, NY — A former New York City Police Department officer and Westchester resident was sentenced to prison for trafficking large quantities of a date rape drug and meth in Westchester and New York City.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced Tuesday that John Cicero, 40, of Bronxville, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and four years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay a forfeiture penalty of $216,262.50.

Cicero pleaded guilty Oct. 13 to one count of conspiring to distribute gamma-butyrolactone, known as GBL, and 50 grams of methamphetamine.

Williams said the former law enforcement officer was once sworn to protect the public.

"John Cicero spent years betraying his former law enforcement partners, enriching himself and endangering the community by importing GBL, a dangerous liquid date-rape drug, from China and methamphetamine from Mexico and trafficking massive amounts of both throughout Westchester and New York City, including in Hell's Kitchen and midtown-Manhattan around Penn Station."

According to prosecutors, from 2017 to February 2020 when he was arrested, Cicero and his co-conspirators stockpiled and sold liters of GBL and kilograms of methamphetamine in apartments, hotel rooms and storage units in the heart of midtown Manhattan and a home in Bronxville. He repeatedly brokered large-scale narcotics transactions over recorded prison calls with an inmate then in New York state custody.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection had previously seized GBL sent to Cicero's Bronxville address from China.

As part of his guilty plea, Cicero said that he was an organizer, leader, manager or supervisor in the illegal activity. He also said he imported methamphetamine and distributed more than 3 kilograms of methamphetamine and 750 liters of GBL.

The criminal activity began years after Cicero left the NYPD, authorities said.

He was arrested Feb. 19, 2020, in a Wall Street hotel room rented under a false name. Besides methamphetamine and GBL, law enforcement recovered a bank card and a fake ID with his photo, all in the false name under which he had rented the room.

Police also said they seized detailed drug ledgers, credit card-making equipment and notebooks full of victims' personally identifiable information.

Earlier in the case, three of Cicero's co-defendants pleaded guilty for their roles in the same conspiracy. Marco Caso, 50, of New York City, and Irma Materasso, 38, of New Rochelle, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute GBl and 50 grams of meth. Matthew Mateo, ,25, of the Bronx, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute GBL and 500 grams of meth.