Doctor of evil
Ran Rx empire on S.I.: cops
A STATEN ISLAND doctor ran a pill mill that pumped millions of painkillers into his own community — even as a lethal opioid crisis raged around him, law enforcement sources said Thursday.
The scheme’s alleged mastermind, who complained last year that someone wrecked his bright yellow Corvette because of his vocal support of Donald Trump, funneled 500 patients to the doctor every month, the sources said.
Federal authorities on Thursday busted Dr. David Taylor, 74, alleged ringleader Vito Gallicchio, 48, and a third man, Daniel Garcia, 57, who distributed the pills to street dealers, according to prosecutors and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
One law enforcement source referred to the conspiracy as the “No. 1 opioid supplier” on Staten Island.
“It is alleged that millions of dollars worth of pain medication was diverted onto the streets of Staten Island, enabling addiction and overdoses in the borough,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge James Hunt.
Taylor, a pain-management specialist, worked out of an office at Hylan Blvd. and Oceanic Ave. in Eltingville.
Hunt called the location “the heart of the borough.”
An indictment unsealed Thursday alleged that the trio had run the scheme since January 2012.
Gallicchio would direct fake patients to the doctor, many of them addicts looking to feed their habit, law enforcement sources said.
Taylor, in turn, would write up prescriptions for doses of the painkiller oxycodone, as well as oxymorphone and the anti-anxiety medication alprazolam, which is marketed as Xanax, sources said.
The patients would give the doctor money, paying him about $150 to write a prescription, or would barter services, like contracting work for the doctor’s home, sources said.
If the doctor gave them preferential treatment, the patients would supply him with bottles of singlemalt Scotch whisky, sources said, adding he preferred Glenlivet.
Gallicchio allegedly would then take the patients to pharmacies to get the prescriptions filled. The patients would keep some pills and give the rest to Garcia, who supplied other dealers, all on Staten Island, sources said.
The DEA’s tactical diversion squad, which includes the NYPD, state police and other agencies, took down the operation Thursday after a two-year probe, authorities said.
In all, the scheme pumped 4 million pills onto Staten Island’s streets, with a retail value of $46 million, law enforcement sources said.
Gallicchio bragged about his cherished Corvette Z06 online, posting several videos.
“Brand-new. We’re gonna go down the quarter-mile on it. I’m gonna show you the Power of America,” he said in an April 12 YouTube video. “I’ll just put my seatbelt on, because we do have deer on Staten Island.”
In a Nov. 3 interview with the Staten Island Advance, Gallicchio said someone tossed a rock through the car’s rear window. He blamed the vandalism on someone unhappy with his support for Trump.
DEA agents swarmed Taylor’s office and his Staten Island home Thursday.
“He put out more pills than Martin Tesher,” one agent outside his office said.
The feds busted Tesher, 70, another Staten Island doctor, earlier this month, accusing him of writing more than 14,000 oxycodone prescription for about 2.2 million pills over five years.
There were 1,374 fatal drug overdoses in the city last year — about 80% of them attributed to opioids, officials said.
Gallicchio, Taylor and Garcia were awaiting arraignment in Federal Court in Manhattan.