DEA SAYS POLITICIAN HELPED SELL DRUGS

Anti-drug Councilor In Rome Charged. Lawyer: He Was In Wrong Place At Wrong
Time.

A Rome city councilman who has campaigned against drug abuse was charged
Thursday with conspiring to sell cocaine.

John K. Ciccotti, 40, was accused of scheming with Mark A. Capponi to sell
1.12 ounces to an undercover police informant for $1,800 in July at an
undisclosed location in Rome.

Ciccotti, a Republican who has been a councilman for 10 years, is up for
re-election Nov. 6. His opponent, Democratic Oneida County corrections
officer Brett Johnson, said he would not comment on Ciccotti's charges.

Capponi, 40, of 114 McAvoy Ave., Rome, was also charged with conspiring to
sell cocaine.

The police informant called Ciccotti July 26 asking to buy 3 ounces of
cocaine, according to an affidavit from Ronald Dadabo, a special agent with
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Ciccotti said he'd call Capponi
or another source to see if he could get that much cocaine, the affidavit said.

Ciccotti called the informant back and told him to call Capponi's cell
phone, the affidavit said. The three arranged a meeting, where the
informant paid Capponi an undisclosed amount and Capponi handed him two
small plastic bags of cocaine, the affidavit said.

Ciccotti and Capponi used some of the cocaine and left the rest for the
informant, the affidavit said. After Ciccotti and Capponi left, FBI agents
seized the cocaine and tested it, the affidavit said.

Ciccotti, of 132 2nd St., Rome, was released on his own recognizance Friday
after appearing before U.S. Magistrate Gary Sharpe. Ciccotti's lawyer
denied the charges.

"He was in the wrong place at the wrong time," defense lawyer Frank Mellace
II said. "He was associating with people he shouldn't have been associating
with. He was not selling drugs, he was not buying drugs, he was not using
drugs. One drug dealer mentioned his name. As a result, he got associated
unjustifiably."

Mellace said Ciccotti has often tipped off police and prosecutors about
drug dealers in the ward that he represents.

"He's vehemently opposed to drug abuse," Mellace said. "Unfortunately, his
personal as well as his professional lives are being affected negatively
based on a charge as opposed to a conviction."