Ex-Sinaloa Security Chief Appears in NY Court; Judge Calls Evidence 'Abundant'

Gerardo Mérida Sánchez, former Secretary of Public Security for Sinaloa, appeared in shackles before Judge Katherine Polk Failla in the Southern District of New York, two weeks after his arrest in the same cartel-protection case implicating Governor Rubén Rocha Moya and Morena senator Enrique Inzunza Cázarez. The roughly 20-minute preliminary hearing covered conspiracy to import narcotics and firearms-related charges. Judge Failla granted prosecutors two months to process evidence, describing it as 'abundant,' and set the next hearing for August 4, 2026. The proceeding kept the AMLO-era cartel-accommodation scandal in the U.S. legal spotlight.