Amid the ongoing border crisis and the subsequent drug smuggling crisis, a former Texas border city mayor has pleaded guilty to federal drug trafficking conspiracy charges for his part in aiding a drug smuggling organization.
With an estimated 107,543 Americans dying from drug overdoses in 2023 according to CDC data, it is shocking that an American politician would be aiding in trafficking drugs into his own community that could kill his constituents. However, that is exactly what happened in Progreso, Texas.
Former Progreso Mayor Arturo Aleman appeared in front of a U.S. federal judge in Brownsville, Texas, earlier this week — where he pleaded guilty to one drug trafficking conspiracy charge as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.
According to the case against him, Aleman reportedly worked to obtain tractor-trailers to help a drug smuggling organization traffic illegal substances in Texas. He will now await sentencing that is expected to take place later this year.
The plot to aid the drug smuggling organization allegedly involved his successor, former Mayor Gerardo “Gerry” Alaniz, as well as Alaniz’s brother, local school board president Francisco “Frank” Alaniz — both of whom have been charged with drug trafficking conspiracy charges related to the same case. The Alaniz brothers, Aleman, and several others reportedly aided the drug trafficking organization, an unnamed Mexican cartel, in moving cocaine shipments from South Texas to Houston. The Alaniz brothers are part of a politically connected family that has ruled over Progreso for several years.
In 2023, federal authorities detained the Alaniz brothers as they crossed into the U.S. from Mexico carrying open containers of alcohol while appearing intoxicated. A series of videos published by local news station CBS 4 showed Frank Alaniz bragging to police officers about having a large amount of cash and a $20,000 Rolex watch.
Upon raiding a home owned by Frank Alaniz’s mother, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents found more than $722,000 in cash.
The case against the former mayors and former school board president reportedly began in 2020 when a Progreso school bus driver identified as Jose Rosbel Salas was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents carrying roughly 30 kilograms of cocaine in his vehicle, prompting an investigation that led to the drug smuggling organization.
