CNN  — 

Ecuador’s most wanted man and leader of the Los Choneros gang, Jose Adolfo Macias, was captured on Wednesday, according to the country’s President Daniel Noboa.

Macias, known as “Fito,” escaped from a prison in Guayaquil in January 2024 while serving a 34-year sentence for homicide and narcotics trafficking.

His escape unleashed a wave of violence in Ecuador, prompting Noboa to declare an internal armed conflict and designate Los Choneros and 21 other criminal groups operating in the country as terror organizations.

In February 2024, the US Department of the Treasury sanctioned Los Choneros and Macias over their drug trafficking and violent activities in Ecuador and across the continent.

Noboa said Ecuador is working to extradite him to the US and is awaiting a response from American officials.

Macías is one of Ecuador’s most notorious gangsters and is the only founding member of Los Choneros believed to still be alive. In 2011 he was sentenced “for a string of crimes, including homicides and narcotics trafficking,” according to think tank Insight Crime, but sprung out of jail in February 2013 before being recaptured months later.

Little is known about his life prior to crime, but the 44-year-old gained a reputation for being the gang’s money laundering expert while incarcerated for over a decade.

Video taken by soldiers in the aftermath of Macías’s prison escape showed that the criminal boss had enjoyed a penthouse-like suite in prison. His cell had a private bathroom, a queen-sized bed, a mini-fridge, and numerous murals.

For his 42nd birthday, Macías was treated to a fireworks show accompanied by music, according to footage from CNN affiliate Ecuavisa. One military source told CNN that Macías’ room was enlarged to twice the size of a normal prison cell, and that he had entertained numerous female guests in his quarters.

“The criminal groups have all the control [of the prisons] – that’s why Macías had all those benefits in prison: TV, internet, food, alcohol, women – everything he wants,” Jean Paul Pinto, an Ecuadorian security expert who has previously advised Ecuador’s police and intelligence agency, told CNN shortly after Macías escaped.

Ecuadorian officials apparently understood the risks. Before he fled custody, the government was planning on moving Macías to a higher-security facility. Noboa’s press secretary told a local channel that the news had likely reached Macías and prompted him to make his escape.

This story has been updated