Overview

• Ecuador’s National Prison Service confirmed that Macías was transferred from La Roca prison into U.S. custody in New York under heavy security on July 20–21.
• Macías pleaded not guilty in federal court in Brooklyn to conspiring to traffic cocaine and weapons and remains detained pending a detention hearing.
• He is the first suspect extradited under the April 2024 referendum restoring Ecuador’s power to hand over high-level organized crime figures.
• Known as ‘Fito,’ he escaped a Guayaquil prison in January 2024, triggering nationwide prison mutinies, street battles and a declaration of internal armed conflict.
• U.S. prosecutors allege his Choneros network worked with the Sinaloa cartel, Colombia’s Clan del Golfo and Balkan mafias to move over 70% of the world’s cocaine through Ecuador ports.