While still remaining at large, a former NYPD officer was recently charged with distributing methamphetamine and a date-rape drug known as GBL. The disgraced officer resigned from the department after beating a handcuffed man on the sidewalk in January 2010.
Between 2017 and 2020, former NYPD Officer John Cicero and four others conspired to possess and distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine and a mixture containing a significant amount of gamma-butyrolactone (known as “GBL”), according to the recent indictment. Three of the defendants, Marco Caso, Eric Baker, and Mathew Matteo were arrested Tuesday and presented in White Plains federal court before United States Magistrate Judge Lisa Margaret Smith.
Cicero has not been arrested and remains at large. The fifth defendant, Irma Materasso, remains in state custody on other charges and will be transferred to federal custody at a later date.
“As alleged, these defendants trafficked large quantities of methamphetamine and GBL – a liquid date-rape drug – throughout Westchester and New York City,” said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman. “Methamphetamine devastates communities and GBL spreads danger all over the Southern District of New York, which is why the defendants face serious federal charges.”
“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,” stated FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney Jr. “He now faces the same grim reality criminals he once locked up did – a long prison sentence, this time in a federal jail cell.”
On Wednesday, the Justice Department issued a press release announcing the federal charges against Cicero and the four other defendants. In 2010, Cicero resigned from the NYPD after repeatedly slamming Jonathan Baez’s head against the ground while Baez was handcuffed.
Instead of serving time in jail, Cicero was sentenced to 400 hours of community service. The drug charges against Baez were later dropped.
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