A former NYPD officer and four of his cronies were indicted in White Plains federal court for allegedly selling methamphetamine and the date rape drug gamma-butyrolactone, or GBL, court records show.
John Cicero, 38, who worked for the NYPD as a police officer for about two years between 2008 and 2010, is named alongside Marco Caso, Eric Baker, Mathew Matteo and Irma Materasso in the indictment, according to court and SeethroughNY records.
Prosecutors allege the suspects sold more than 500 grams of the drug between 2017 and February 2020 in and around Westchester County and New York City.
They further allege Caso, Cicero, Materasso and Matteo also sold GBL, court records show.
Caso, Baker and Matteo were arrested and presented before a White Plains judge on Tuesday but Cicero has not been arrested and remains at large, according to a press release from federal prosecutors.
Materasso is currently in state custody on other charges and will be transferred to federal custody at a later date, prosecutors said.
“As a former police officer, sworn to protect others, Mr. Cicero has seen firsthand the harm these drugs do to our society which makes the charges announced today even more egregious,” FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. said in a statement.
“He now faces the same grim reality criminals he once locked up did — a long prison sentence, this time in a federal jail cell.”
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman added: “Methamphetamine devastates communities and GBL spreads danger all over the Southern District of New York, which is why the defendants face serious federal charges.”
Cicero was investigated in 2010 by the Bronx District Attorney’s Office and the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau during his time as a cop for allegedly kicking and punching a suspect, who was already handcuffed, The Post reported at the time. He was suspended because of the incident but the disposition of the investigation was not immediately clear.
An NYPD spokesperson would only say that Cicero resigned in 2010.
In Cicero’s federal case, he could face life in prison if convicted.