Gio was a gangsta rapper. He was also the right-hand man of Ecuador’s most notorious criminal, Choneros boss “Fito.”
*This episode is also available in Spanish.
Jorge Mora Villamar, known to his fans as Gio, was a rapper, music producer, and DJ. His talent lifted him out of poverty and off the streets of Guayaquil. But it also led him into the inner circle of Ecuador’s most notorious crime boss—and gave him a front-row seat to the criminal violence that has reshaped the country.
When we met Gio in 2024, he explained the inner workings of the Choneros mafia and how they combined gang warfare on the streets with a “digital war” waged through their own stable of musicians. He also described the mafia maneuvers, alliances, and betrayals that had tipped Ecuador over into a period of relentless and brutal violence, which continues today. What Gio told us helped us analyze the structure of Ecuadorian organized crime and explain how a country once known as one of the most peaceful in South America could become one of the most violent places in the world.
Gio also shared his own story, his journey from drug user to rapper to criminal commander. And he told us about his close relationship with one of the most infamous figures in Ecuador’s modern history: Choneros leader José Adolfo Macías Villamar, alias “Fito.” That part of the story, we couldn’t tell, because it would have exposed him, putting his life and liberty at risk.
But one year later, Gio was murdered when 28 bullets were fired into his SUV by unknown gunmen.
So that’s the story we’re telling in this episode.
The Choneros
The Choneros are criminal pioneers that have reshaped Ecuador’s underworld. Starting out as a gang of common street thugs, the group underwent a dramatic evolution while behind bars. Under the charismatic leadership of Jorge Luis Zambrano, alias “Rasquiña,” they recruited bands of petty criminals and youths into a criminal federation that took over the prison system and expanded around the country. The Choneros then used their power and reach to establish themselves as a mercenary army, hiring themselves out to transnational drug traffickers and criminal elites.
The Choneros federation began to fall apart after the murder of Rasquiña in 2020, and the organization’s battles with splinter groups such as the Lobos, the Tiguerones, and the Chone Killers led to a series of brutal prison massacres. The national murder rate spiraled. Rasquiña’s successor, Jose Adolfo Macías Villamar, alias “Fito,” would become the face of this security crisis as he directed the Choneros from a prison that he had converted into his command center.
Fito escaped from prison in 2024 after Ecuador’s new hardline president, Daniel Noboa, ordered his transfer to a maximum security cell. But he was captured a year later and has since been extradited to the United States. The Choneros, meanwhile, have been in decline, losing power and territory as Ecuador’s ever more violent underworld undergoes a period of criminal fragmentation in which street gangs no longer respond to their mafia paymasters.
Credits
Script and Narration
James Bargent
Research
James Bargent, Karol Noroña, Mathew Charles
Editing
Liza Schmidt, Tomás Uprimny, and Steven Dudley
Production
Steven Dudley and Elisa Roldán
Creative Direction
Elisa Roldán
Sound Design
Valentina Fonseca and Juan Felipe Pulido
Graphic Design
Isabella Soto
Marketing and Social Media
Paula Rojas and Isabella Soto