A federal judge set bond for a cartel-connected businessman accused of conspiring with other businessmen and the Gulf Cartel to extort travelers headed to Central or South America who needed to cross through a particular port of entry at $1 million. He posted the bond less than 48 hours later.
Last week, Rigoberto Brown, who goes by the name Rigoberto Blanco Cantu in Mexico, turned himself in to U.S. authorities at the Anzalduas Port of Entry in Mission, Texas. Brown had been wanted by the U.S. Department of Justice since 2022, when he and several others were formally charged in a criminal indictment with one count of conspiracy to fix prices. The arrest was first reported by Dave Hendricks with the local CBS TV station.
At a court hearing in Houston, where Brown pleaded not guilty, a federal judge set Brown’s bond at $ 1 million with a $500,000 cash deposit. The move was meant to keep him from being a flight risk. Part of the issue concerned U.S. authorities not knowing Brown’s assets in Mexico and the possibility that he would run away if granted bond. 48 hours after his bond was set, Brown’s wife posted the $500,000 in cash and signed the paperwork to cover the full amount.
Brown’s brother is reportedly under investigation in Mexico in connection with a separate criminal conspiracy involving the large-scale smuggling of fuel. That conspiracy not only includes the Gulf Cartel, but also Cartel Jalisco New Generation, as well as top Mexican military officials and top political figures from Mexico’s ruling party MORENA, Breitbart Texas has reported.
As Breitbart Texas reported at the time, the conspiracy dealt with Gulf Cartel-connected individuals controlling an import-export business known as transmigrantes. The business handled the paperwork for Central American and South American individuals moving vehicles and other items from the United States through Mexico into their home countries. From 2011 to sometime in 2022, migrants had to go through the Port of Entry in Los Indios, Texas, and cross into Matamoros, a region controlled by the Gulf Cartel. If migrants did not pay the various fees or did not go through the cartel-approved vendors, they were kidnapped, tortured, or killed.
The conspiracy was largely controlled by Carlos Favian “El Cuate” Martinez, the son-in-law of former Gulf Cartel supreme leader Osiel Cardenas Guillen. In 2025, Martinez pleaded guilty and received an 11-year prison sentence.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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