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Bronxville resident John Cicero, age 39, a former NYPD officer, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, Oct. 13 to distributing large quantities of methamphetamine and gamma-butyrolactone (known as “GBL”) in Westchester County and New York City.
Beginning in 2017 through his arrest in February 2020, US. Attorney Damian Williasm said that 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 residence in Bronxville.
Cicero admitted to repeatedly brokering large-scale drug transactions over recorded prison calls with an inmate who was in custody during the operation.
Williams noted that US Customers and Border Protection previously seized GBL sent from China to Cicero’s Westchester address.
As part of his guilty plea, Cicero admitted to being an organizer, leader, manager, or supervisor in the criminal activity, which involved the importation of methamphetamine, and his offenses involved more than three kilograms of methamphetamine and 750 liters of GBL.
Officials made note that the alleged trafficking began years after Cicero left the NYPD.
Cicero was arrested in February 2020 in a Wall Street hotel which he rented under a false identity.
At the time of his arrest, authorities seized meth, GBL, a bank card, and fake ID with his name all in the name of the false identity he rented the room under. During the subsequent investigation, detailed drug ledgers, credit card making equipment, and notebooks full of victims’ personally identifiable information were all also recovered.
“A former NYPD police officer once sworn to protect the public, John Cicero now stands convicted of trafficking substantial quantities of methamphetamine and GBL, a liquid date-rape drug, throughout Westchester and New York City,” Williams stated.
Cicero is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 10, 2022 after pleading guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute 50 grams of methamphetamine and GBL. He will face up to 40 years in prison on the charges.
“As he admitted today, over several years, Cicero was a leader of a drug trafficking ring, and he was personally responsible for moving over three kilograms of methamphetamine and 750 liters of GBL, and importing narcotics from overseas,” Williams added.
“Thanks to the dedication of our partners at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cicero now awaits sentencing for his dangerous conduct.”
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