Leader of notorious Ecuador drug gang who vanished from prison cell is indicted in U.S.

The fugitive leader of a violent Ecuadorian gang that relied on hitmen, bribes and military weapons to do business has been indicted in New York City on charges he imported thousands of pounds of cocaine into the United States, authorities said Wednesday.  

José Adolfo Macías Villamar — whose nickname is “Fito” — has led Los Choneros and its “network of assassins and drug and weapon traffickers” since at least 2020, U.S. Attorney John Durham said in a news release. Macías Villamar escaped from a prison in Ecuador last year and is not in U.S. custody. 

“The defendant was a ruthless leader and prolific drug trafficker for a violent transnational criminal organization,” he said.

With an extensive criminal record including charges of murder and organized crime, Macías Villamar  has cultivated a cult status among fellow gang members and the public in his home country. While behind bars in 2023, he released a video addressed to “the Ecuadorian people” while flanked by armed men. He also threw parties in prison, where he had access to everything from liquor to roosters for cockfighting matches.  

The seven-count indictment unsealed in Brooklyn charges Macias Villamar and an unidentified co-defendant with international cocaine distribution, conspiracy and weapons counts, including smuggling firearms from the United States.

Los Choneros employed people to buy firearms, components and ammunition in the United States and smuggle them into Ecuador, according to the indictment. Cocaine would flow into the United States with the help of Mexican cartels. Together, the groups controlled key cocaine trafficking routes through Ecuador, violently targeting law enforcement, politicians, lawyers and civilians who stood in the way.

“Los Choneros operated a vast network responsible for the shipment and distribution of multi-ton quantities of cocaine from South America through Central America and Mexico to the United States and elsewhere,” the indictment says. “The vast majority of drugs trafficked by Los Choneros were imported into the United States, where the drugs were consumed.”

In January 2024, Macias Villamar was discovered missing from his prison cell in Quito, Ecuador, where he was serving a 34-year sentence for drug trafficking. A 60-day state of emergency was declared after his escape, the BBC reported.

Last year,  the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on the gang Los Choneros as well as Macias Villamar.

Earlier this month, the Ecuadorian government announced that the reward for the capture of Macias Villamar would be increased to $1 million.

Los Choneros is one of 20 criminal gangs declared “terrorist groups” by Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa, who has led a war on drug gangs blamed for a surge in violent crime in the once-peaceful South American country. 

Noboa declared a state of emergency and deployed troops in the streets and violence-riddled prisons, resulting in a slight dip in homicide rates in 2024 from the previous year. The president took action last year after gunmen stormed and opened fire in a TV studio and bandits threatened random executions of civilians and security forces. A prosecutor investigating the assault was later shot dead.

Earlier this year, a leader of one of Ecuador’s biggest crime syndicates, Los Lobos, was arrested at his home in the coastal city of Portoviejo. The U.S. last year declared Los Lobos to be the largest drug trafficking organization in Ecuador.