𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟 𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗔𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗚 𝗣𝗨𝗕𝗟𝗜𝗖 𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟𝗦 𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗨𝗡𝗥𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗜𝗡 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗢 𝗔𝗦 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗢𝗔𝗥𝗗 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗙𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗘𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗘𝗥 𝗠𝗔𝗬𝗢𝗥 𝗔𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧𝗦 𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗟

 by Marc Duvoisin,  San Antonio Express-News

Francisco "Frank" Alanis

{October 2, 2024} A leader of a political dynasty in the border city of Progreso has plead guilty to providing financial support to cocaine traffickers so they could buy tractor trailers to ship the drug across Texas and to other parts of the country.

Francisco "Frank" Alanis, 41, former president of the Progresso school board, entered the guilty plea on Tuesday in federal court in Brownsville.

The plea grew out of a federal drug trafficking investigation that has ensnared Alanis' brother,  former Progreso Mayor Gerardo "Jerry" Alanis, and other political figures in the city.

Frank Alanis was arrested in October and charged with conspiracy to possess more than 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of cocaine with intent to distribute, an offense punishable by a minimum 10-year federal prison term with no possibility of parole. At the time, he was both president of the school board and an assistant city manager.

Jerry Alanis, then serving as mayor, was arrested in March on the same charges.

A federal grand jury indictment cites three dates in 2020 and 2021 on which the brothers and two co-defendants allegedly conspired to distribute cocaine. The amounts involved ranged from 30 pounds to 58 pounds, according to the indictment.

Frank Alanis was scheduled to stand trial on the charges next week. Instead, he struck a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to one of the charges against him and waiving his right to appeal. In return the U.S. Attorney's office dropped other charges. He is scheduled to be sentenced in January.

“The risk of going to trial with a life sentence in the balance was part of the calculus,”  stated Alanis’ attorney, Carlos A. Garcia.  “He made the decision to accept responsibility and move forward.”

Jerry Alanis has not reached a plea agreement and is set to go to trial next month.

The federal investigation began more than four years ago with a drug bust in barren scrubland west of Padre Island National Seashore. On Aug. 8, 2020, a man driving a tractor-trailer pulled into a U.S. Customs and Border Protection checkpoint there.

Behind the wheel was Jose Rosbel Salas, a former school bus driver. Federal agents at the Sarita checkpoint inspected Salas’ rig and saw something suspicious-looking in the undercarriage, near the drive shaft. It was a 30-pound package of cocaine.

Salas admitted he was being paid to transport the drugs and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. He plead guilty to conspiracy to possess more than 5 kilograms of cocaine with intent to distribute — the same charge on which the Alanis brothers were indicted. After his cooperation, Salas was sentenced in December to 47 months in prison.

Details of the assistance he provided to prosecutors are under seal.

Criminal wrongdoing by current or former public servants is nothing new for Progreso, a Rio Grande Valley city of 6,000.

In 2014, then-Mayor Omar Leonel Vela plead guilty in connection with a scheme to shake down businesses for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for contracts with the city and the school district.

Vela pleaded guilty to federal bribery and conspiracy charges. Federal prosecutors said the mayor’s father, Jose Vela, who was director of maintenance and transportation for the Progreso school district, dominated local government and the school board through his sons, Omar and school board President Michael Vela.

Together, the Velas demanded bribes and kickbacks from contractors, while Jose Vela, the family patriarch, manipulated school board members through rewards and retaliation, prosecutors said. After one board member defied him, Jose Vela ordered associates to run the man’s car off the road and assault him, an FBI agent testified.