The fugitive chief of a violent Ecuadorian gang This was counting on wage killers, bribes and military weapons to do business was charged in New York for importing thousands of cocaine books in the United States, authorities announced on Wednesday.
José Adolfo Macías Villamar – whose nickname is “Fito” – has managed Los Choneros and its “network of assassins and drug traffickers and weapons” since at least 2020, said American lawyer John Durham press release. Macías Villamar escaped from a prison in Ecuador last year and is not in police custody.
“The accused was a ruthless leader and a prolific drug dealer for a violent transnational criminal organization,” he said.
With a vast criminal record including accusations of murder and organized crime, Macías Villamar cultivated a cult status among the other members of the gangs and the public in his country of origin. While behind bars in 2023, he published a video addressed to “the Ecuadorian people” when he was flanked by armed men. He also launched holidays in prison, where he had access to everything, from alcohol to roosters for combat matches.
THE Act of indictment at the seven years old An one in Brooklyn accuses Macias Villamar and an unidentified co-feemer with the international distribution of cocaine, the conspiracy and the counting of arms, including the smuggling of firearms in the United States.
Los Choneros has used people to buy firearms, components and ammunition in the United States and pass them into equate, according to the indictment. Cocaine would flow in the United States with the help of Mexican cartels. Together, the groups controlled the main lanes of cocaine traffic by the equator, violently targeting the police, the politicians, the lawyers and the civilians who stood on the path.
“Los Choneros has exploited a large network responsible for the shipment and distribution of multiple quantities of cocaine from South America to Central America and Mexico in the United States and elsewhere,” said the accusation act. “The vast majority of drugs trafficked by Los Choneros have been imported into the United States, where medicines have been consumed.”
In January 2024, Macias Villamar was discovered disappeared from his prison unit in Quito, Ecuador, where he served a 34 -year sentence for drug trafficking. A 60 -day emergency was declared after his escape, The BBC reported.
Ministry of Ecuador from the Interior via AP, file
Last year, the The sanctions imposed on the US Treasury On the Los Choneros gang 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 the “terrorist groups” by the president of Ecuador Daniel Noboa, who waged a war against the blamed drug gangs for an increase in violent crimes in the former South American country.
Noboa said a state of emergency and troops deployed In the streets and prisons with violence, resulting in a slight decrease in homicide rates in 2024 compared to the previous year. The president took measures last year after Armed men stormed and opened fire In a television studio and bandits have threatened random executions of civilians and security forces. A prosecutor investigating the assault was later fell.
Earlier this year, a leader in one of the largest unions in Ecuador’s crime, Los Lobos, was arrested at home in the coastal city of Portoviejo. THE The United States last year said Los Lobos be the largest drug trafficking organization in Ecuador.
