A Tucson man arrested in 2007 after nearly 6 tons of marijuana were seized from a Northwest Side home faces up to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty Thursday to state money-laundering and conspiracy charges.
Jorge LaMadrid, who is also awaiting sentencing on federal drug charges, was the head of one of the largest marijuana-distribution rings ever busted in Tucson, said Deputy Pima County Attorney Richard Wintory.
According to federal and state court documents, five members of the LaMadrid family have spent the last several years working for Arturo Elias Machado, an underling of Agua Prieto, Mexico, resident Marco Antonio Paredes-Machado.
Federal authorities say they suspect Paredes-Machado ships marijuana out of Mexico for the Sinaloa cartel, which is headed by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán. They suspect Arturo Machado distributes it and oversees debt collections.
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The LaMadrid family, according to court documents, arranged for the marijuana to be shipped from Tucson to California, Nevada, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois and Michigan.
The LaMadrids included Jorge, Julio and Edgar, their father, David, and their uncle, Saul LaMadrid-Carranza.
When the drug organization started operating in 1991, it was transporting shipments of between 2 and 4 pounds of marijuana via passenger cars, but by February 2004 it was using commercial moving vans to ship 4,000-pound loads, according to a federal indictment handed up in a U.S. District Court in Michigan.
Approximately 40 tons of marijuana were transported to Detroit for distribution between 1991 and February 2004, according to the indictment.
Jorge LaMadrid, Julio LaMadrid, Saul LaMadrid-Carranza, Paredes-Machado and Arturo Machado were each named in the federal indictment from November 2005.
A federal warrant was issued for Jorge LaMadrid at that time, but wasn't served until after he was arrested in the Tucson case.
In September 2007, a Tucson resident called 911 to report a possible burglary in progress at a home in the 1000 block of East Orange Grove Road, near North First Avenue.
As deputies arrived, they saw and attempted to stop two vehicles — a van and a Nissan Titan — that were near the home, but the drivers refused to stop.
One of the vehicles hit a median and the driver got away, but deputies were able to stop the other vehicle with a strip of spikes.
Jorge LaMadrid, then 26, was inside the vehicle, along with his brother Edgar LaMadrid, 20, and Victor Delarosa, 46.
All three men were arrested and later indicted on drug charges because when deputies searched the home, they found nearly 11,000 pounds of marijuana inside. At the time, authorities said it was one of the largest residential seizures in Tucson-area history.
Jorge LaMadrid pleaded guilty in a Detroit court to conspiracy to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds) of marijuana in March and is facing between 87 and 108 months in prison.
His sentences will be served concurrently. Once he is released, he will be returned to Arizona, where he will serve any time remaining on his state sentence.
On Thursday, Jorge LaMadrid acknowledged he, his father, his uncle, and unnamed co-conspirators "bought and sold hundreds of thousands of pounds of marijuana for tens of millions of dollars."
For example, seven months' worth of records show during that time the organization possessed 122,000 pounds of marijuana, with a wholesale value of $61.4 million and a retail value of double that.
Jorge LaMadrid also admitted he and the others modified the East Orange Grove Road home into a refrigerated storage and processing facility that used commercial industrial equipment, and that they laundered money.
Wintory, the state prosecutor who is handling the LaMadrid case, called the bust a significant one.
"What I think we've done with this investigation and this prosecution is eliminate the Guzman cartel's most successful franchisee, and while it may not cripple it, there's no doubt that it hurts," Wintory said.
Lt. Kelly Lane of the Counter Narcotics Alliance said the agency is "more accustomed to dealing with hundreds of pounds of marijuana," and yet his investigators immediately recognized the scope of the organization and quickly and efficiently handled the matter.
Jorge LaMadrid will be sentenced Oct. 15 by Judge John Leonardo of Pima County Superior Court. Edgar LaMadrid and Delarosa are scheduled to go to trial Sept. 29.
Authorities believe the LaMadrids' father, David, and uncle, Saul, were murdered in Mexico around the time of their indictment, Wintory said.
Their brother Julio is a fugitive. Paredes-Machado, Arturo Machado and Guzmán are also fugitives.
