If records were maintained listing egregious behavior on the part of licensed physicians who illegally prescribe opiate medications, Dr. David Taylor would likely rank very high on such a list.

Federal agents and police officers arrested Dr. David Taylor, 74, and two others for allegedly running a pill mill on Hylan Boulevard on Staten Island. The doctor diverted 4 million pills with a street value of $40 million to Staten Islanders, according to authorities.

The pain management specialist allegedly took money and goods, including single malt whiskey, for the prescriptions. The Feds said the doctor would write scripts for oxycodone and Xanax without an examination, MRIs, or medical records.

Federal and State authorities announced the unsealing of an indictment charging of David Taylor M.D., a state-licensed doctor, with writing medically unnecessary prescriptions for oxycodone over a five-year period.  In addition to Taylor, Vito Gallicchio, and Daniel Garcia were arrested on charges that, from January 2012 through at least June 2017, they conspired with Taylor to distribute oxycodone.  

The case has been assigned to United States District Court Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr.

DEA Special Agent in Charge James J. Hunt said:  “It is alleged that millions of dollars’ worth of pain medication was diverted onto the streets of Staten Island, enabling addiction and overdoses on the borough. These arrests will impact Staten Island’s opioid market by shutting down an illicit pill distribution operation located at the heart of the borough, along Hylan Boulevard.”

According to the allegations in the Indictment unsealed  in federal court:, David Taylor, Vito Gallicchio, and Daniel Garcia, and others conspired to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute oxycodone between January 2012 through at least June 2017, in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere, .

The three are charged with one count of conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute oxycodone.  This offense carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kiersten A. Fletcher and Dina Y. McLeod are in charge of the prosecution.

This case is a sad example of how far a single physician can cross the line into the shadowy underground world of narcotic addiction.