Biography
Francis Melvin "Mel" Madden, a Boston native, was ordained a Franciscan priest in 1965 and founded Liberty Village, a Jersey City drug-treatment center, in 1967. By 1971 he had married, had two children, and worked as training director for New Jersey's drug-education program, from which he was suspended without pay after his arrest. He was severed from the main trial and his charges were dismissed after the May 1973 acquittals.
