U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday charged the governor of Mexico’s Sinaloa state, the mayor of Culiacan, a sitting Mexican senator, and seven other current and former officials with running a drug-trafficking conspiracy with the Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for cash bribes that totaled more than $200,000 a month for some of the named defendants.

The unsealed indictment in the Southern District of New York alleges the officials accepted millions of dollars from the cartel’s “Chapitos” faction in return for shielding cartel members from law enforcement investigations, feeding the criminal syndicate sensitive investigative and military intelligence, and protecting shipments of fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine bound for the United States.

The indictment ties the defendants to roughly $10.43 million worth of methamphetamine and cocaine intercepted near the U.S.-Mexico border in December 2023, $5.37 million worth of liquid methamphetamine and cocaine seized in Southern California in September 2023, and a single Phoenix stash house in August 2022 that yielded 41.2 kilograms of fentanyl powder, 630,000 fentanyl pills, more than five kilograms each of heroin and cocaine, and $22,000 in cash. 

Each is charged with conspiracy to import narcotics, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices, including Enrique Inzunza Cazarez, a sitting member of Mexico’s Senate and a former secretary general for Sinaloa. 

Sinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha Moya, the highest-ranking defendant named in the indictment, is also accused of receiving cartel aid to further his political career. Prosecutors allege the Chapitos backed his 2021 gubernatorial campaign by stealing ballots, posting armed men at polling stations, and kidnapping opposition candidates. In return, Rocha agreed to install cartel-friendly officials in state and local law enforcement once in office, the indictment says. 

Juan Valenzuela Millan, a former high-level commander in the Culiacan Municipal Police, faces additional charges of kidnapping resulting in death. Prosecutors allege he and officers under his command kidnapped DEA confidential source Alexander Meza Leon and a relative in Culiacan in October 2023 and turned them over to cartel gunmen, who tortured and killed them. A 13-year-old boy was among those killed, the indictment says.

“The Sinaloa Cartel is a ruthless criminal organization that has flooded this community with dangerous drugs for decades,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement. “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 “Chapitos” faction of the cartel is run by the sons of imprisoned former cartel chief Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera, better known as “El Chapo,” according to prosecutors.