Wilson Madrid Gets 7 Years for Drug Cash Laundering

A Georgia man has been locked up for seven years after admitting his role in a brutal international drug operation that flooded New Jersey with heroin. Wilson Madrid, 32, of Norcross, Georgia, was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison for conspiracy to launder more than $150,000 tied to the distribution of kilogram quantities of the deadly opioid.

U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced the sentence following a hearing in Trenton federal court, where Madrid stood before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan to face the consequences of his crimes. Madrid had previously pleaded guilty to a single count of money laundering conspiracy, a move that did not shield him from a severe penalty in one of the region’s most aggressive anti-drug crackdowns.

Court documents reveal that from June 2014 through November 2014, Madrid worked with a network of traffickers operating across state lines to clean dirty drug money. The organization maintained cells in New Jersey and used sophisticated methods to disguise the origins of cash generated by heroin sales. Madrid’s job was to move and launder the profits—money that directly funded further distribution of the drug.

The operation began to unravel in December 2014, when co-defendant Dany Francisco-Valerio, 44, of Bronx, New York, was caught red-handed transporting 15 kilograms of heroin hidden in a secret compartment of his vehicle. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin and was sentenced to 51 months. Other conspirators, including Henry Zamora and Harry Madrid—each tied to multi-kilogram heroin shipments—also pleaded guilty in 2017.

In addition to his 84-month prison term, Judge Sheridan ordered Wilson Madrid to serve five years of supervised release upon his eventual freedom. The sentence reflects the federal government’s ongoing war against transnational drug rings exploiting interstate and financial systems to sustain their criminal enterprises.

The investigation was led by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division, under Special Agent in Charge Valerie A. Nickerson, with critical support from the N.J. State Police, led by Superintendent Col. Patrick Callahan, and officers from the DeKalb (Illinois) Police Department, directed by Chief Gene Lowrey. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas S. Kearney and Jamari Buxton. Madrid was represented by Mark Davis, Esq., of Hamilton, New Jersey.