Ecuadorean gang leader ‘Fito’ agrees to be extradited to the US
Security forces stand outside the National Court of Justice following a hearing for the extradition of Ecuadorean gang leader Jose Adolfo Macías
By Ana María Cañizares and Max Saltman, CNN
(CNN) — Ecuador’s most notorious drug kingpin is headed to the United States.
Jose Adolfo Macías, better known as “Fito,” agreed Friday to be extradited from Ecuador to the US, where he is wanted by the US Justice Department on charges of drug and weapons trafficking.
The head of the criminal organization Los Choneros accepted his extradition during a hearing at the National Court of Justice.
In a statement to CNN, Alexei Schacht, Macías’s attorney in the US, said that his client agreed to be extradited on the advice of his Ecuadorean lawyer.
“We are working hard to defend his rights and help him and his family,” Schact said. “Mr. Macías and his entire legal team are working hard to obtain the best possible outcome for him.”
Macías escape from prison in January 2024 plunged Ecuador into chaos. Soon after, gunmen stormed a popular TV station and held the crew hostage live on the air.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, who had taken office shortly before Macías’s escape, declared a state of “internal armed conflict” within Ecuador and designated Los Choneros and 21 other gangs as terrorist organizations.
Found in a bunker
Macías is the only founding member of Los Choneros believed to be alive. Little is known about his life before he entered the criminal underworld, but after over a decade in prison, he garnered a reputation as the gang’s money-laundering expert.
Macías’ 2024 prison break revealed that he enjoyed numerous luxuries in prison. He was treated to fireworks displays for his birthday, according to footage from CNN affiliate Ecuavisa. One military source told CNN that Macías had arranged to have his cell doubled in size, and that he had entertained several female guests while imprisoned.
He was captured last month after over a year in hiding, in circumstances not unlike those he’d enjoyed while imprisoned. Authorities found him in an underground bunker by a mansion in Manabí province. The villa was equipped with a home gym, marble walls and a game room, among other amenities.
Surveillance flights over the property detected an irregular field behind the house.
“They started to excavate,” Ecuador’s Interior Minister John Reimberg recalled soon after. “As soon as this happened, Fito panicked because if we continued, the roof of his bunker would collapse. At that moment, he opened the hatch, where the military was already located, and climbed out of the hole where he was hiding. That’s how we detained him.”
Noboa announced soon afterwards that he intended on having Macías extradited to face justice in the US.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
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