José Adolfo Macías Villamar, known as “Fito,” was extradited to the United States on Sunday, July 20, 2025, to face charges of drug and weapons trafficking.
The leader of the Los Choneros gang, Macías was serving a 34-year sentence in a Guayaquil prison for drug trafficking, organized crime, and murder before his escape in January 2024.
He was recaptured on June 25, 2025, in a hidden bunker beneath a luxury home in Manta, a key operational hub for his gang.
Macías agreed to extradition during a hearing in Quito on July 11, 2025, speeding up the process to face U.S. charges.
Macías is set to appear in a Brooklyn federal court on Monday, July 21, 2025, where he will plead not guilty, according to his lawyer, Alexei Schacht.
The U.S. Department of Justice indicted Macías in April 2025, accusing him of orchestrating the trafficking of thousands of pounds of cocaine into the United States.
The Los Choneros gang, under Macías’s leadership, is alleged to have committed violent acts against law enforcement, politicians, and civilians.
The gang is also linked to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, Colombia’s Gulf Clan, and Balkan mafias, contributing to Ecuador’s role as a major cocaine transit hub.
Ecuador’s extradition of Macías marks a historic first, following a 2024 referendum allowing citizen extraditions, supported by President Daniel Noboa’s anti-crime initiatives.
Noboa declared a state of “internal armed conflict” after Macías’s 2024 escape, which triggered widespread violence, including a TV station hostage crisis.
“We will gladly send him and let him answer to the North American law,” Noboa told CNN after Macías’s recapture.
Ecuador’s prisons, plagued by corruption and overcrowding, have been under significant control by Los Choneros, exacerbating the country’s security challenges.
In 2024, Ecuador seized a record 294 tons of drugs, primarily cocaine, as over 70% of global cocaine now passes through its ports.