A mayor in a small Rio Grande Valley town has been sentenced to 4 years in federal prison for his alleged involvement in a $1 million drug trafficking ring, which authorities say he operated out the middle school where he worked, MySA reports.
Gerardo “Jerry” Alanis has been mayor of Progreso, a tiny border town, for 8 years. And though the mini-municipality has a population of just 5,000, it harbored a large-scale cocaine operation, involving Alanis, his brother and other elected officials, according to federal officials.
For his alleged part in the snowy scheme, Alanis was sentenced in a Brownsville federal court on Thursday, July 24. He also must pay a fine of $15,000 and remain under court supervision for 3 years following his release.
While serving as mayor, Alanis kept his job at a local middle school, which is also where authorities charge that he packaged the cocaine for distribution behind a locked door in an unused IT room.
“It is unthinkable that a public official would allow a school of all places to be used as a storehouse for cocaine. The facts of this case demonstrate how the drug trade affects all facets of a community, not just law enforcement,” Nicholas Ganjei, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said in a statement.
From there, the blow would find its way to Illinois, Tennessee and North Carolina, according the U.S. Justice Department. The massive yayo operation ran from 2020 to 2022, the feds maintain.
During that time, Alanis bankrolled several large shipments of cocaine, according to MySA. The operation also roped in other noteworthy figures from the Progreso community, including his brother Frank Alanis, who served as school board president, the news outlet reports.
Frank Alanis was sentenced in early July to 12 years in prison, according to local NBC and CBS affiliate ValleyCentral.
Progreso is located near Progreso International Bridge, which crosses over into the Mexican border town of Nuevo Progreso. The Texas town’s close proximity to the border and reputation for corruption made it a hotbed for drug trafficking and other nefarious activity, ValleyCentral reports.
Indeed, Alanis isn’t the first Progreso mayor to face charges.
Former Mayor Omar Vela was arrested for illegal voting in 2003, according to ValleyCentral. Ten years later, he was arrested on public corruption charges for using his position to solicit kickbacks from local lawyers, architects and businesses in Progreso, the site reports.
Vela was sentenced to 10 years in prison, clearing the way for the town’s next mayor, Arturo Aleman, who ValleyCentral reports faced allegations of his own.
Aleman has also admitted to participating in Alanis’ cocaine operation by purchasing the tractor trailers used to transport the blow, for which he was sentenced to 33 months in March, according to federal officials.
Others in the drug trafficking ring included a truck driver and members involved in the logistics of transporting the nose candy across the country, Justice Department officials said. Both were sentenced to more than 10 years in prison, according to the feds.
Altogether, nine have been sentenced for the operation.
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This article appears in Jul 23 – Aug 6, 2025.