On April 29th, 2026, a U.S. federal court indicted ten Mexican officials and former officials, all from the state of Sinaloa, for involvement with the Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Click here for the indictment, click here for the press release.
The indictment was issued by the Southern District of New York, in Manhattan, a U.S. District Court.
Each of the ten were indicted for the same three charges: “Narcotics importation conspiracy; Possession of machineguns and destructive devices; Conspiracy to possess machineguns and destructive devices”.
In addition, one of the accused, Juan Valenzuela Millan, was also indicted for “Kidnapping resulting in death; Conspiracy to commit kidnapping resulting in death”.
The ten are all government officials or former government officials from the state of Sinaloa, home of the Sinaloa Cartel.
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The Sinaloa Cartel is currently undergoing an intra-cartel war, pitting La Mayiza faction, led by the son of “El Mayo” Zambada, against the Chapitos, sons of “El Chapo” Guzman. The ten man being indicted are alleged to be associated with the Chapitos faction.
The biggest fish being indicted is Ruben Rocha Moya, current Governor of the state of Sinaloa, and a member of President Sheinbaum’s MORENA party.
According to the press release of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York,
“…ROCHA MOYA was elected Governor of Sinaloa, a position he has held since on or about November 1, 2021, after the Chapitos allegedly helped him get elected by, among other things, kidnapping and intimidating his rivals. In exchange, both before and after he became Governor, ROCHA MOYA allegedly attended meetings with the Chapitos, at which he promised to protect the Chapitos as they distributed massive quantities of drugs to the United States and, as Governor, ROCHA MOYA has allowed the Chapitos to operate with impunity in Sinaloa. Similarly, the other defendants have directly and repeatedly helped the Chapitos in exchange for massive drug-fueled bribes.”
Another of the accused is a sitting Mexican Senator from Sinaloa, Enrique Inzunza Cazarez, also the former Secretary General for Sinaloa. Inzunza is a member of President Sheinbaum’s MORENA party.
The other eight are:
1.Enrique Diaz Vega, Former Secretary of Administration and Finance for Sinaloa
2. Damaso Castro Saavedra, Deputy Attorney General for the Sinaloa State Attorney General’s Office
3. Marco Antonio Almanza Aviles, Former head of the Investigative Police for the Sinaloa State Attorney General’s Office
4. Alberto Jorge Contreras Nunez, a/k/a “Cholo”, Former head of the Investigative Police for the Sinaloa State Attorney General’s Office
5. Gerardo Merida Sanchez, Former Secretary of Public Security for Sinaloa
6. Jose Antonio Dionisio Hipolito, a/k/a “Tornado”, Former Deputy Director of the Sinaloa State Police
7. Juan de Dios Gamez Mendivil, Mayor of Culiacan (Sinaloa’s capital and largest city)
8. Juan Valenzuela Millan, a/k/a “Juanito”, Former high-level commander in the Culiacan Municipal Police
Note that all of these guys are from the state of Sinaloa, and all of them are current or former government officials.
As the press release explains: “The defendants are all current or former high-ranking government and law enforcement officials in the Mexican State of Sinaloa (“Sinaloa”), including the current Governor of Sinaloa, RUBEN ROCHA MOYA, and are alleged to have partnered with the Sinaloa Cartel to distribute massive quantities of narcotics to the United States.”
On April 30th, in her morning press conference, President Sheinbaum reported that on the night of April 28th, the night before the indictment, “the SRE [Mexican foreign ministry] received 10 documents requesting the provisional detention of the 10 Mexican citizens for the purpose of extradition.”
President Sheinbaum said that “As President of the Republic, my position in the face of these facts is truth, justice and defense of sovereignty…if the office of Attorney General of the Republic….receives conclusive and irrefutable evidence, consistent with Mexican law or in its own investigation finds constitutive elements of a crime it must proceed in accordance with the law under our jurisdiction…we are not going to cover up anybody who has committed a crime. Nevertheless, nevertheless, if there is no clear evidence, it is evident that the objective of these imputations on the part of the [U.S.] Department of Justice is political. It should remain quite clear: we will not permit for any reason the interference or meddling of a foreign government in the decisions that pertain exclusively to the people of Mexico.”
So what follows?
Will President Sheinbaum authorize the extradition of the men, or even some of them, even political allies?
She can expect pressure from the Trump administration on the one side, and on the other side, pressure from her political allies and the Chapitos themselves.
This is defiinitely a case to keep an eye on.