Not Intent on Arriving

Lickety Split Ice Cream Truck Actually Sells $1 Million in Oxycodone

March 19, 2011 12:10 am

Staten Island had one of the most popular ice cream trucks last summer, but for all the wrong reasons. Two men used the Lickety Split ice cream as a front to sell the highly addictive painkiller Oxycodone for $20 a pop. Allegedly, the two men found an accomplice who swiped blank doctor’s script from an unsuspecting practitioner in Manhattan. The men then forged the prescriptions and had a team of runners— friends, family and addicts— fill the orders at various pharmacies.

Though a poorly kept secret in the community, no one told the police of the scheme until a runner was arrested with a suspicious prescription. Now, 31 people have been indicted for the scheme. The two ringleaders allegedly acquired the pills for $1.66 each but sold them for $20. Over the course of a year, they sold 42,755 pills and netted more than $1 million.