Federal prosecutors in New York on Wednesday charged Sinaloa Gov. Rubén Rocha Moya and nine other current and former Mexican officials with drug trafficking and weapons offenses, alleging they took millions of dollars in cartel bribes to protect the Sinaloa Cartel’s narcotics operations.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Drug Enforcement Administration announced the unsealed indictment Wednesday, identifying Rocha Moya, who has been in office since November 2021, as the most senior official among the 10 defendants. Prosecutors said all 10 are believed to be in Mexico.
The charges include conspiracy to import fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States, along with weapons offenses involving machineguns and destructive devices. Each defendant faces a mandatory minimum of 40 years in prison and up to life if convicted.
According to the indictment, the defendants worked with the “Chapitos,” the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the imprisoned former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. Prosecutors allege they protected cartel leaders from arrest, shared sensitive law enforcement intelligence and used state and municipal police forces to guard drug shipments bound for the United States.
Rocha Moya’s alleged ties to the cartel go back to his campaign, prosecutors said. The Chapitos allegedly helped him win the governorship by kidnapping and intimidating political rivals. After he took office, Rocha Moya allegedly met with cartel leaders and promised to let them operate without interference.
The indictment also describes alleged monthly payments to other officials. Dámaso Castro Zaavedra, deputy attorney general for the Sinaloa State Attorney General’s Office, allegedly received about $11,000 a month from the Chapitos and, in return, tipped them off to planned U.S.-backed law enforcement operations.
The most serious additional charges involve Juan Valenzuela Millán, a former high-ranking Culiacan Municipal Police commander known as “Juanito.” In addition to the drug and weapons counts, Millán faces charges of kidnapping resulting in death.
Prosecutors allege that in October 2023, Millán helped the Chapitos kidnap a DEA confidential source and the source’s relative. Both were later tortured and killed, according to the indictment. Millán faces mandatory life in prison if convicted.
“The Sinaloa Cartel, and other drug trafficking organizations like it, would not operate as freely or successfully without corrupt politicians and law enforcement officials on their payroll,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said.
DEA Administrator Terrance Cole called the cartel “a designated terrorist organization that relies on corruption and bribery to drive violence and profit” and said the defendants “used positions of trust to protect cartel operations, enabling a pipeline of deadly drugs into our country.”
The remaining defendants include Mexican Sen. Enrique Inzunza Cazarez, former secretary general for Sinaloa; former Secretary of Administration and Finance Enrique Díaz Vega; former Secretary of Public Security Gerardo Mérida Sánchez; two former heads of the Investigative Police for the Sinaloa State Attorney General’s Office; a former deputy director of the Sinaloa State Police; and Juan de Dios Gámez Mendivil, the current mayor of Culiacan.
Wednesday’s indictment is the latest in a series brought by the Southern District of New York targeting the Sinaloa Cartel. Since 2023, the office has charged more than 30 cartel members and associates. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla.
All charges are allegations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
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