Ecuador Extradites Alleged Gang Leader to US to Face Charges

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said that José Adolfo Macías Villamar had arrived in the United States.

Drug trafficker Adolfo Macias, alias Fito, is guarded by Ecuadorian Interior Minister John Reimberg (R) and military personnel upon his arrival at the Guayaquil air base following his recapture in Manta, Manabi province, in Ecuador on June 25, 2025. Marcos Pin/AFP via Getty Images

Ecuador extradited the alleged leader of Los Choneros, one of the nation’s most violent drug trafficking and transnational criminal organizations, to the United States on July 20 to face international drug charges.

José Adolfo Macías Villamar, also known as “Fito,” was removed from a detention center in Ecuador on July 20 for his extradition, according to SNAI, the government agency responsible for overseeing prisons in Ecuador.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa on the same day said that Macías had arrived in the United States, adding that the extradition took place following the passage of a referendum backed by the Ecuadorian people.

The 2024 referendum approved new security measures designed to combat gang violence.

“Goodbye forever, Fito,” Noboa stated on X. “Fito is already in the United States. This is thanks to you, Ecuadorians, who voted yes in the referendum. I look forward to the creative theories claiming otherwise.”

Noboa did not provide further details about the extradition.

Ecuadorian authorities recaptured Macías in June, more than a year after he escaped from prison—where he was serving a 34-year sentence for crimes including drug trafficking and murder—in January 2024. The government declared a 60-day state of emergency following his escape.

Macías was arraigned in Brooklyn federal court on July 21, where he pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Alexei Schacht, said Macías will be detained in a prison yet to be determined after his court appearance.

Magistrate Judge Vera Scanlon ordered that he remain in custody until trial and that his health problems, including high blood pressure, gastritis, and bullet fragments in his body, be treated while in detention. His next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 19.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said that its Office of International Affairs coordinated with Ecuadorian authorities to provide “substantial assistance” to secure the extradition.

“This marks Ecuador’s first extradition of an Ecuadorian national since an April 2024 popular referendum amended Ecuador’s constitution to allow for the extradition of Ecuadorian nationals,” the DOJ said in a press release.

In April, U.S. prosecutors indicted Macías on seven criminal charges, including international cocaine distribution and a related conspiracy charge, use of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking, smuggling firearms from the United States, and conspiracy to engage in straw purchases of firearms.

Macías has allegedly led Los Choneros since at least 2020, according to an April 2 statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

The indictment alleges that the criminal gang, in partnership with the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, controlled key cocaine trafficking routes through Ecuador and operated a large-scale 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 vast majority of drugs trafficked by the group were allegedly imported into the United States. The indictment alleges that the criminal group relied on hitmen or “sicarios” as well as corruption and bribery to further their drug trafficking operation. The hitmen used military-grade weapons to perpetrate violence, including murder, torture, and kidnapping, according to the indictment.

Under Macías’s direction, Los Choneros committed violent acts against law enforcement, Ecuadorian politicians, attorneys, prosecutors, and civilians, according to the indictment. Macías was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in February 2024 due to his alleged role in Los Choneros.

The Associated Press and Katabella Roberts contributed to this report.