Ecuador handed José Adolfo Macías Villamar, the Los Choneros gang leader known as “El Fito,” to U.S. authorities on a Sunday in July. Guards moved him from Guayaquil’s maximum-security prison to the city airport, where the extradition was completed.
He was due in federal court in Brooklyn the next day for arraignment on a superseding indictment. A Justice Department letter said prosecutors would ask that he be held until trial, citing public safety and the risk that he might flee. His lawyer has indicated he will plead not guilty.
In April, the U.S. Attorney’s Office charged Macías with cocaine distribution, conspiracy and firearms offenses, including weapons smuggling. A conviction carries a sentence of 10 years to life.
Escape and recapture
Macías had been serving a 34-year sentence since 2011 for drug trafficking, murder and organized crime. In January 2024 he got out of his cell in Guayaquil’s Litoral prison, along with other high-profile inmates. President Daniel Noboa responded by declaring a 60-day state of emergency. Riots broke out in at least six prisons.
He stayed hidden for more than a year. Police found him on June 25, 2025, in an underground bunker beneath a luxury mansion in Manabí province. The bunker had a gym, marble walls and a game room.
Macías took over Los Choneros in 2020 after the murder of the previous leader, Jorge Luis Zambrano. Critics blame the gang for turning Ecuador from a tourist haven into a country with one of the region’s highest murder rates.
