Older vehicles with the word “in tow” on the back window on their way to be resold in Mexico are a common sight in Valley roads.

Those vehicles are driven by transmigrantes who transport used vehicles and other goods from the country into Mexico that are later resold in Central America.

On Tuesday, the Department of Justice unsealed of an 11-count indictment charging 12 individuals in a long-running, multi-faceted conspiracy to monopolize the transmigrante forwarding industry in the Los Indios area.

Of those charged, 10 are Valley residents who were supposed to be providing those services.

Threats of violence, extortion and even death are among the accusations made against the dozen individuals.

Daniel Hixson says is mother is a victim of the alleged scheme.

“They were basically trying to get money from transmigrates by means of threats and violence," Hixson said.

According to the indictment, Rocio Alderete died almost four years ago after she was shot while helping organize transmigrante drivers into a caravan.

Alderete was the former owner of Transmigrantes Rocio. Hixson has since taken over the family business.

“We're hoping that some justice is going to be served, we've been waiting for this for a long time,” Hixson said.

Valley residents named in the indictment include:

Carlos “El Cuate” Favian Martinez, 36, Mission; Marco Antonio Medina, 32, Rigoberto Brown, 38, and Miguel Hipolito Caballero Aupart, 70, all of Brownsville, Roberto Garcia Villarreal, 56, San Benito; Sandra Guerra Medina, 68, Rancho Viejo; and Mireya Miranda, 56, La Feria.

Martinez is the son-in-law of a former leader of the Gulf Cartel in Mexico. He controlled a transmigrante forwarding agency that operated in Los Indios.

All 12 of those named in the indictment are accused of conspiring to fix prices and set the market rate for transmigrante services.

According to the charges, transmigrante agency owners and industry participants who refused to charge the fixed prices, pay into the pool or pay an extortion tax were subjected to threats, intimidation and acts of violence against themselves or families.

Hixson hopes the charges will bring safety back to the industry.

“We're hoping that something is going to get done,” Hixson said. “I think we definitely need some sort of reform so these kinda problems don't happen again."

Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI are investigating the case.