Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that former New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) officer JOHN CICERO pled guilty today to distributing large quantities of methamphetamine and gamma-butyrolactone (known as “GBL”) in Westchester County and New York City. CICERO pled guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew E. Krause.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “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. 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. Thanks to the dedication of our partners at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cicero now awaits sentencing for his dangerous conduct.”
According to the Indictment, public court filings, and statements made in court:
Beginning in at least 2017 and lasting until his arrest in February 2020, 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, New York. CICERO repeatedly brokered large-scale narcotics transactions over recorded prison calls with an inmate then in New York State custody. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has previously seized GBL sent from China to CICERO’s address in New York. As part of his guilty plea, CICERO stipulated that he was an organizer, leader, manager, or supervisor in the criminal activity, the offense involved the importation of methamphetamine, and his offense conduct involved over three kilograms of methamphetamine and 750 liters of GBL. The charged conduct began years after CICERO left the NYPD.
On February 19, 2020, CICERO was arrested in a Wall Street hotel, in a room he had rented under a false identity. In addition to methamphetamine and GBL, law enforcement recovered from CICERO’s room a bank card and a fake ID, bearing CICERO’s photograph, all in the name of the false identity to whom the room was rented. As part of CICERO’s arrest, law enforcement also recovered detailed drug ledgers, credit card making equipment, and notebooks full of victims’ personally identifiable information.
CICERO, 39, of Bronxville, New York, is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Kenneth M. Karas on February 10, 2022. CICERO pled guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute 50 grams of methamphetamine and GBL, which carries a statutory mandatory minimum term of five years in prison and maximum penalty of 40 years in prison. The maximum and mandatory minimum penalties are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.
Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI Westchester County Safe Streets Task Force, which comprises agents and detectives from the FBI, Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, Westchester County Police Department, Yonkers Police Department, Peekskill Police Department, Mount Vernon Police Department, NYPD, and U.S. Probation. He also thanked the New York State Department of Corrections Office of Special Investigations, Drug Enforcement Administration, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection for their assistance.
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