This needed poster posted on X by Ecuador’s Ministry of Inside, Jan. 9, 2024, exhibits Adolfo Macías, alias Fito, the chief of Los Choneros gang.
Ecuador’s Ministry of Inside/AP
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Ecuador’s Ministry of Inside/AP
QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuador on Sunday extradited to the US the chief of a violent Ecuadorian gang who relied on hitmen, bribes and navy weapons to do enterprise.
José Adolfo Macías Villamar, whose nickname is “Fito,” escaped from a jail in Ecuador final 12 months and was recaptured late June. In April, a U.S. Legal professional indicted him in New York Metropolis on expenses he imported 1000’s of kilos of cocaine into the US.
Macías “was faraway from the La Roca Detention Heart underneath the custody of the Nationwide Police and Armed Forces for the suitable proceedings within the context of an extradition course of,” Ecuador’s authorities company chargeable for overseeing prisons, SNAI, mentioned in a message despatched to journalists.
Particulars of the handover weren’t specified.
{A photograph} launched by SNAI confirmed Macías sporting a T-shirt, shorts, a bulletproof vest and helmet. A number of law enforcement officials had been guarding him at an undisclosed location.
The Ecuadorian will seem Monday earlier than Brooklyn’s federal courtroom “the place he’ll plead not responsible,” Macías’ lawyer Alexei Schacht informed The Related Press through electronic mail. After that, he can be detained in a jail but to be decided, Schacht added.
The extradition resolution got here after the US despatched a doc to Ecuador providing ensures for the respect of the rights of the 45-year-old prison chief.
Since 2020, Macías has led “Los Choneros,” a prison group that emerged within the Nineties. The gang employed individuals to purchase firearms and ammunition in the US and smuggle them into Ecuador, based on April’s indictment. Cocaine would stream into the US with the assistance of Mexican cartels. Collectively, the teams managed key cocaine trafficking routes by way of Ecuador, violently concentrating on regulation enforcement, politicians, attorneys and civilians who stood in the way in which.
Macías escaped from a Guayaquil jail the place he was serving a 34-year sentence for drug trafficking, organized crime, and homicide. He was recaptured a 12 months and a half in a while the nation’s central coast.
Macías has cultivated a cult standing amongst fellow gang members and the general public in his dwelling nation. Whereas behind bars in 2023, he launched a video addressed to “the Ecuadorian individuals” whereas flanked by armed males. He additionally threw events in jail, the place he had entry to every little thing from liquor to roosters for cockfighting matches.
Macías is the primary Ecuadorian to be extradited to the U.S. from Ecuador, jail authorities mentioned. Two different Ecuadorian drug traffickers have beforehand been handed over to the US however from Colombia, the place they had been arrested.
