United States Drug Enforcement Administration

TRENTON, N.J. -  Valerie A. Nickerson, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division, and Craig Carpenito, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey announced a Norcross, Georgia, man was sentenced today to 84 months in prison for his role in an international drug trafficking organization.

Wilson Madrid, 32, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan to an information charging him with conspiracy to launder money. Judge Sheridan imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

From June 2014 through November 2014, Madrid conspired with other members of an international drug trafficking organization, with cells operating in New Jersey, to launder more than $150,000.00 related to the distribution of heroin. In December 2014, a co-defendant, Dany Francisco-Valerio, 44, of Bronx, New York, conspired with members of the drug trafficking organization to transport and distribute kilogram quantities of heroin; on Dec. 24, 2014, he was arrested while transporting 15 kilograms of heroin contained in a hidden compartment in his vehicle. Francisco-Valerio pleaded guilty before Judge Sheridan to an information charging him with conspiracy to distribute heroin and has been sentenced to 51 months in prison.

One of their conspirators, Henry Zamora, pleaded guilty before Judge Sheridan on Aug. 31, 2017, to conspiring to distribute four kilograms of heroin that were recovered from a hidden compartment in Zamora’s vehicle. Another conspirator, Harry Madrid, pleaded guilty before Judge Sheridan on Sept. 7, 2017, to conspiring to launder more than $150,000 on behalf of the drug trafficking organization.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Sheridan sentenced Madrid to five years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited the Drug Enforcement Administration’(DEA) New Jersey Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Valerie A. Nickerson, officers of the N.J. State Police, under the direction of Superintendent Col. Patrick J. Callahan, and officers from the (Illinois) Police Department, under the direction of Chief Gene Lowrey, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.