José Adolfo Macías Villamar, alias “Fito”

José Adolfo Macías Villamar, alias “Fito,” was the head of the Choneros, one of Ecuador’s most prominent criminal groups. He joined the Choneros during its rapid rise from a regional gang into one of the most powerful criminal organizations in Ecuador, with ties to international drug trafficking networks and significant influence in the prison system. But when he took the reins after his predecessor’s death in 2020, the gang started to fragment.

Fito’s 2024 prison escape triggered a nationwide manhunt and a criminal and political crisis in Ecuador that led President Daniel Noboa to declare an “internal conflict” between the government and armed groups. He was recaptured in June 2025 and extradited to the United States the following month, where he faces drug and weapons charges.

What Is the Story of José Adolfo Macías Villamar, alias ‘Fito’?

Fito was born in 1979 in the city of Manta, in the central coastal Ecuadorian province of Manabí. It was there in the early 2000s that he met Jorge Luis Zambrano, alias “Rasquiña,” one of the leaders of what was then a local gang, the Choneros.

Fito rose through the ranks to become one of the gang’s most important figures by the early 2010s, working alongside Rasquiña, who had become the group’s principal leader. 

Fito was sent to Ecuador’s maximum security prison, La Roca, with a 34-year sentence for murder, robbery, weapons possession, and drug trafficking in 2011. He escaped with Rasquiña and 16 other prisoners in February 2013, but his time on the run lasted little more than three months. In May 2013, he was recaptured in Manta, while Rasquiña was arrested in Bogotá, Colombia, around six months later.

With La Roca shut down in the wake of the jailbreak, Fito was sent to Ecuador’s Regional Center for Social Rehabilitation, also known as La Regional prison. He turned it into an operational hub for the Choneros, expanding the group’s power behind bars and beyond, onto the streets.

Fito leveraged his connections in Manabí, as well as his money laundering knowledge, putting the Choneros at the service of Ecuadorian drug trafficker Washington Prado Álava, alias “Gerald,” to manage his drug trafficking logistics. When Gerald was arrested in Colombia in 2017, Fito launched a campaign to wipe out what remained of his network in order to take over Manabí’s lucrative drug trafficking corridor.

When Rasquiña was murdered in December 2020, Fito took the reins of the Choneros. But without Rasquiña’s cult of personality holding the gang together, it began to fragment. The Lobos, a powerful faction within the Choneros who Fito blamed for Rasquiña’s death, formed a new alliance, becoming a powerful group in its own right.

After a botched assassination attempt against Fito in 2021, he struck back with a mass killing that claimed 31 lives in La Regional prison. With the Choneros’ control in the prison established, Fito lived in relative luxury, alongside his lieutenants, in their own wing. Cell blocks were decked out with televisions, air conditioning, and ice cream makers, according to reports. In 2023, he even filmed a music video there.

He was briefly transferred to La Roca in August 2023, before judges ordered that he be returned to La Regional after Fito’s lawyers argued his life would be in danger elsewhere.

In January 2024, shortly before he was planned to be transferred out of La Regional again, he disappeared from his cell. His second jailbreak sparked a nationwide manhunt and contributed to President Daniel Noboa declaring an “internal armed conflict” against the country’s gangs as violence erupted in cities around the country.

Fito was eventually found in a luxury bunker in Montecristi, a small town just a few kilometers from Manta, in June 2025. A month later he was extradited to the United States to face drug and weapons charges, to which he pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he faces a likely sentence of between 20 and 50 years in prison.

What Criminal Activities Was Fito Engaged In?

Fito oversaw the Chonero’s cocaine trafficking, illegal mining, murder, arms trafficking, kidnapping, and extortion markets. He put the Choneros at the service of drug trafficking organizations, overseeing the logistics of cocaine transportation through Ecuador. Members were paid in drugs that they would sell for domestic consumption.

In the United States, he faces charges of international cocaine trafficking, as well as purchasing, smuggling, and using firearms from the United States. 

Fito’s control of economies within prisons, such as food distribution, contraband smuggling, and extortion, helped fuel his rise to power while incarcerated. His family also managed an extensive money laundering scheme that processed at least $17 million between 2016 and 2024.

Where Did Fito Operate?

From his base in La Regional prison in Guayaquil, Fito used his connections in Manabí to make the Choneros key drug trafficking service providers there, turning the city into a key link in the transnational cocaine supply chain. The Choneros were present in almost all coastal and border states in Ecuador by 2024, but the group has faced challenges to its control since it started to fragment in 2020.

Who Were Fito’s Allies and Enemies?

Fito provided services to the Sinaloa Cartel, as well as European mafia groups. His gang also worked with local trafficker Washington Prado Álava, alias “Gerald,” in the mid-2010s until he was arrested in 2017.

The Choneros’ main rivals for much of the 2010s were the Lagartos, which was an alliance of Guayaquil prison gangs. However, following Rasquiña’s death, Fito faced challenges from former Choneros factions, particularly the Lobos, the Tiguerones, and the Chone Killers, although the latter two groups later sided with Choneros once again.

What Does the Future Hold for Fito?

Fito’s extradition to the United States, where he will likely serve decades in prison, means his role in Ecuador’s criminal landscape is over. Seven members of his family circle were convicted of money laundering in Ecuador in May 2026. The following month, his brother Ronald Javier Macías Villamar, alias “Javi,” who some reports suggested had taken a leading role in the Choneros, was arrested in Colombia. Another leading figure, Celso Moreira Heredia, alias “Patucho Celso,” and Fito’s right-hand man Darío Javier Peñafiel Nieto, alias “Topo,” were also extradited to the United States in June. The Choneros are likely to continue fragmenting, a process that has accelerated since Fito’s extradition, with no clear successor to step into Fito’s shoes.