For Immediate Release

February 13, 2003

Local Drug Dealers Who Used Others To Transport And Store Drugs Sentenced

Madison, Wisconsin -- J.B. Van Hollen, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Ernest Brooks, a/k/a "Kid," 27, of Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Barbara B. Crabb to 30 years in prison without parole and five years supervised release for conspiring to distribute multiple kilograms of cocaine, cocaine base and marijuana in the Madison area. Earlier this week, Bernard Brisco, a/k/a "Black," 34, of Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for orchestrating and managing the conspiracy.

A federal jury found Bernard Brisco guilty on November 22, 2002, after hearing a week of testimony detailing Brisco and Brooks' trafficking activities from over 25 witnesses, many of whom were accomplices in the trafficking. Testimony at the trial showed that one of Brisco's primary distributors of cocaine and cocaine base was Brooks, who plead guilty to the conspiracy charges the morning that the trial began.

From late 1999 through February 2002, Bernard Brisco convinced numerous females, with whom he had personal relationships, to travel to Chicago and Los Angeles for the purpose of bringing back kilogram quantities of cocaine on more than thirty occasions. In some instances, Brisco provided these couriers with up to $30,000 in cash to pay for the cocaine and marijuana he had arranged for them to transport. Once the women returned to the Madison area with the packages of cocaine, the kilos would be taken to various Madison residences where Brisco would cook substantial proportions of the cocaine into cocaine base. The powder cocaine as well as the cocaine base was packaged and then distributed through Brooks and other individuals Brisco recruited to sell the drugs in Madison. Witnesses testified that "Black," who admitted his affiliation with a Chicago gang, the Gangster Disciples, had never been lawfully employed, yet he stored thousands of dollars in cash with acquaintances and wore mink coats, diamond jewelry and a $25,000 Rolex watch.

Brisco received a sentence of mandatory life in prison based on a history of four state prior drug trafficking convictions in Illinois and Wisconsin, combined with the quantity of cocaine and cocaine base involved in the conspiracy for which he was convicted in federal court.

The Madison Police Department indicated that until the arrest of Brisco, Brooks and their accomplices in early 2002, there had been a rise in gang/drug related violence and shootings on Madison's Southside over the past few years. After federal, state and local law enforcement developed a combined effort to address drug and gun offenses in the area, and after the arrest and indictment of the Brisco group, the gang related shooting and violence drastically decreased.

United States Attorney J.B. Van Hollen stated that "the conviction and appropriately severe sentences for repeat offenders like Bernard Brisco and Ernest Brooks are a major victory in the joint federal and local response to the scourge of gang, drug and gun related acts of violence in the Madison area within the last two years. Sentences like these will serve as notice that anyone bringing a resume of drug convictions and violent gang activity to the Western District of Wisconsin will be punished accordingly for their socially destructive behavior."

Seven other individuals have been convicted of both federal and state charges directly related to the Brisco drug conspiracy, and an eighth individual is scheduled to enter a plea to charges of committing perjury before a federal grand jury in connection with the investigation.

This case was investigated and prosecuted by Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Attorneys Jeffrey M. Anderson and Robert A. Anderson, who credited the conviction to the outstanding efforts of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Madison Police Department, Dane County Narcotics and Gang Task Force, Wisconsin Department of Justice-Division of Narcotics Enforcement and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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