The fugitive of violence Ecuadorian gang Authorities rely on hitmen, bribery and military weapons to do business on Wednesday.
Jose Adolfo Masis Villamar, whose knockname is “Fito,” has been heading Los Choneros and his “network of assassins and drug and weapons traffickers,” since at least 2020, US lawyer John Durham said in a news release. Macias Villamar fled from an Ecuadorian prison last year and is not in US custody.
“The defendant was a ruthless leader and a prolific drug trafficker for violent cross-border criminal organizations,” he said.
Macías Villamar has cultivated cult status among fellow gang members and the public in his country with his extensive criminal history, including murder and organized crime charges. While behind the bar in 2023, he released a video addressed to the “people of Ecuador” while an armed man was caught. He also threw a party into prison. There he had access to everything from the liquor store for cocks and cock fight matches.
Seven count indictments sealed in Brooklyn charge Macias Villamar and unidentified co-defendants with international cocaine distribution, conspiracy and weapon counts.
Los Choneros purchased firearms, components and ammunition in the United States and hired people to smuggle into Ecuador, according to the charges. Cocaine flows into the United States with the help of the Mexican cartel. Together, the group controlled major cocaine trafficking routes through Ecuador, and violently targeted law enforcement, politicians, lawyers and civilians.
“Los Coneros operated a vast network responsible for the shipping and distribution of large amounts of cocaine from South America to Central America and Mexico to the US and elsewhere,” the indictment said. “The majority of the drugs that Los Coneros trafficked were imported into the US where the drug was consumed.”
In January 2024, Macias Villamar, who disappeared from his prison in Quito, Ecuador, was found to have been sentenced to 34 years in prison for drug trafficking. The BBC reported that a 60-day emergency was declared after the escape.
Ministry of Home Affairs in Ecuador via AP, File
Last year, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on Ganglos Coneros and Macias Villamar.
Earlier this month, the Ecuadorian government announced that its reward for capturing Macias Villamar would increase to $1 million.
Los Choneros is one of the 20 Crime gang The “terrorist group” was declared by Ecuadorian President Daniel Novore.
noboa has been declared Emergency and deployed military In streets and in prisons that have fallen into violence, homicide rates fell slightly in 2024 from the previous year. The president took action last year. The gunman attacked and fired TV studios and bandits threatened random executions of civilians and security forces. Prosecutors investigating the attack came later I was shot.
Earlier this year, the leader of Los Lobos, one of Ecuador’s biggest crime syndicates, was Arrested at his house Coastal city in Portoviejo. Last year, the US declared Los Robos Becoming the largest drug trafficking organization in Ecuador.
