Prosecutors say the Sinaloa cartel helped elect Ruben Rocha Moya to lead the state in exchange for protecting the criminal organization.MANHATTAN (CN) — The Department of Justice has charged the governor of Sinaloa and nine other current and former Mexican officials with drug trafficking, accusing them of helping to import massive amounts of narcotics into the United States in exchange for bribes and political influence.In a 34-page indictment, unsealed Wednesday in the Southern District of New York, federal prosecutors charge the 10 officials with assisting the Sinaloa cartel in shipping fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine across the U.S.-Mexico border.“The Sinaloa cartel is a ruthless criminal organization that has flooded this community with dangerous drugs for decades,” Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement Wednesday. “As the indictment lays bare, 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. The support of corrupt foreign officials for deadly trafficking of drugs must end. Let these charges send a clear message to all officials around the globe who work with narco-traffickers: No matter your title or position, we are committed to bringing you to justice.”The defendants, including Ruben Rocha Moya, who has been the governor of Mexico’s Sinaloa state since 2021, are not in custody.Prosecutors say Rocha conspired with leadership in the Sinaloa cartel — run by the “Chapitos,” the sons of infamous drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera — to win the 2021 gubernatorial election.According to prosecutors, Rocha met with the cartel several times during his campaign, providing members with the names and addresses of his political opponents to intimidate them into dropping out. The cartel also stole ballots and ballot boxes for the opposing party, according to prosecutors, helping Rocha guarantee an electoral win.In exchange, prosecutors say Rocha promised to place officials friendly to the cartel’s drug trafficking operation into power.“As governor of Sinaloa, and as promised before his election, Rocha Moya has since ensured that the Chapitos have been able to consolidate and exercise near total control over state and local law enforcement agencies in Sinaloa,” prosecutors claim in the indictment.Rocha is the highest official named in Wednesday’s indictment. He faces charges of narcotics importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices — stemming from his supposed meetings with the cartel, which prosecutors say were staffed with armed criminal guards.In a statement posted to social media on Wednesday, Rocha said in Spanish that he “categorically and absolutely” rejects the charges against him, claiming they “lack any truth or foundation whatsoever” and are “part of a perverse strategy to violate the constitutional order.”“To the people of Sinaloa, I say that, with the courage and dignity that characterize us, we will demonstrate the lack of foundation for this slander,” he said.Rocha and eight of his co-defendants, which include the mayor of Culiacan, a Mexican senator and various executive and law enforcement officials of Sinaloa, each face between 40 years and life in prison for the same three counts, if convicted.One defendant faces more: Juan “Juanito” Valenzuela Millan, a former high-level commander in the Culiacan Municipal Police who prosecutors say directly assisted the Sinaloa cartel with kidnapping and murdering its enemies — including a DEA source and his relatives.One of the victims was a 13-year-old boy, according to the Justice Department.“Millan and his officers assisted with the kidnappings,” prosecutors claim. “Under Millan’s command, municipal officers, in a patrol car, stopped the [source] and another victim, kidnapped them and turned them over to cartel sicarios, who tortured and then killed those and other victims.”Millan faces five charges in total, including the three counts assigned to the other defendants, plus two additional counts: kidnapping resulting in death and conspiracy to commit kidnapping resulting in death.The Sinaloa cartel is one of eight Latin American criminal organizations to be designated as terrorist organizations by the Trump administration’s Department of State in 2025. Guzmán, one of the group’s founders and ex-leaders, is currently serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison. Another key founder, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia, pleaded guilty to sweeping federal crimes last year in the Eastern District of New York and is expected to face life in prison when he is sentenced next month.
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