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Speaker 1: From the newsroom A newsed to come today.

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Speaker 2: Gooday, they're I'm Andrew Buckalow, and today we are taking

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Speaker 2: a look at the rise and fall of one of

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Speaker 2: the world's most feared men. Adolphio Marsis, known as Fito,

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Speaker 2: is a ruthless drug lord who turned Ecuador's jails into

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Speaker 2: his cartel headquarters and left the trail of blood across

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Speaker 2: a nation. He escaped from prison not once but twice,

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Speaker 2: smuggled tons of cocaine, and allegedly green lit hundreds of assassinations,

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Speaker 2: including a presidential candidate. Now, after more than a year

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Speaker 2: on the run, he's finally been captured and extradited to

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Speaker 2: the United States.

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Speaker 3: This is the story of Frito.

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Speaker 2: I'm joining in the studio now by news dot com

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Speaker 2: dot us Brielle Burns, who's been covering the story of

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Speaker 2: Ecuador's biggest drug lord.

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Speaker 3: And what a bonker's story it is, Cada.

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Speaker 2: Brielle, Hi, thanks for having me, Thank you for coming in.

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Speaker 2: Let's start at the beginning. How did this feller, Adolfo

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Speaker 2: Marsius aka Feto, We're just going to call him Fido,

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Speaker 2: that's a little bit easier.

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Speaker 3: How did they become a big drug trafficker.

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Speaker 4: So I guess starting back at the very beginning. He

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Speaker 4: was born in nineteen seventy nine in the port city

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Speaker 4: of Manta, so he's forty five years old. And before

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Speaker 4: he became Ecuador's biggest drug lord, he actually worked as

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Speaker 4: a taxi driver. Well there you go, very different career.

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Speaker 4: Over time, he established links with Lochanios, which is a

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Speaker 4: powerful gang that had begun as local hit squads and

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Speaker 4: trafficking units in the nineteen nineties to early two thousands,

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Speaker 4: and now it has ties to Columbia's Golf Clan, which

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Speaker 4: is the world's biggest cocaine exporter, as well as other groups.

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Speaker 4: Right by the late two thousands, Fedo was embedded in

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Speaker 4: the organization. He gained influence through extortion, contract killing, and

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Speaker 4: hands on involvement in trafficking. But then in twenty eleven

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Speaker 4: he was dealt a big blow. He was sentenced to

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Speaker 4: thirty four years in prison for drug trafficking, weapons chargers, murder,

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Speaker 4: and organized crime.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so that was back in twenty eleven. Let's fast

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Speaker 2: forward a couple of years to twenty thirteen. Feto breaks

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Speaker 2: out of prison for the first time. Tell me what happened, Yes.

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Speaker 4: Just the first time. So in February twenty thirteen, Fido

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Speaker 4: pulled off this very daring breakout from Laroka Prison alongside

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Speaker 4: seventeen other members of his gang.

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Speaker 3: Yeah right, So to carry out this.

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Speaker 4: Escape, they immobilized fourteen prison guards and fled by boats

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Speaker 4: along a river. Oh god, yes, but it didn't last

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Speaker 4: too long. They were recaptured three months later in May

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Speaker 4: at their own residence.

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Speaker 2: Says like something from a movie, does it does? So

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Speaker 2: you'd think that he might lose influence while behind bars.

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Speaker 2: He obviously got put back in prison after that escape,

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Speaker 2: But that wasn't the case with Fido.

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Speaker 3: Was It.

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Speaker 4: Definitely not. So he actually solidified his power back, controlling

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Speaker 4: parts of the prison network with corruption, mobile phones, favors,

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Speaker 4: and even hosting fights.

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Speaker 3: Oh my gosh.

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Speaker 4: So his big break came in twenty twenty when the

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Speaker 4: then leader of his gang was murdered.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 4: Feto then stepped up and became the boss, all while

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Speaker 4: behind bars.

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Speaker 3: Jesuy, that's not a bad effort.

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Speaker 2: He's locked up and he's automatically become the head of

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Speaker 2: his cartel.

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Speaker 3: Okay, he's very busy.

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Speaker 4: He's doing a lot of work. So he ended up

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Speaker 4: transforming the organization. He established alliances with international cartels, especially

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Speaker 4: the Cinealower Cautel, which is one of the most powerful

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Speaker 4: in Mexico.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I've heard of the Cina Lower cartel. They are

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Speaker 3: absolutely ruthless, aren't they.

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Speaker 4: Absolutely? So his power extended from the prisons to the streets,

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Speaker 4: where he controlled drug trafficking routes and hit man networks.

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Speaker 4: Through his gang, he shipped tons of cocaine to the

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Speaker 4: United States. This earned him an indictment in a federal

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Speaker 4: court in New York.

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Speaker 2: All right, that'll come into play a little bit later,

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Speaker 2: that indictment, but let's just talk more about his life

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Speaker 2: behind bars there. I believe it was a pretty luxurious

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Speaker 2: life even though he was in prison.

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Speaker 4: That's right. So experts actually said his prison cell basically

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Speaker 4: resembled a hotel room, so he had access to women

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Speaker 4: as well, who were brought to him.

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Speaker 3: Okay, that's a mental image I didn't need.

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Speaker 4: He also had murals of himself on the walls, and

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Speaker 4: he became he quite famous. In fact, he became so

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Speaker 4: famous that he even starred in a music video, all

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Speaker 4: Bar Behind Bars. So his daughter, known as Queen Michelle,

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Speaker 4: released a song in twenty twenty three called The Lions Ballad,

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Speaker 4: which is all about her powerful dad. Fino actually appeared

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Speaker 4: in the music video himself as well.

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Speaker 3: I was reading about this earlier.

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Speaker 2: It's crazy to think that he started in the music

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Speaker 2: video while he was in prison, and people have no

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Speaker 2: idea how they managed to get cameras in the prison.

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Speaker 2: Obviously someone made it happen for him. Let's just have

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Speaker 2: a listen to the.

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Speaker 3: Song called m noiaa.

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Speaker 5: La ma.

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Speaker 3: So that was the song The Lion's Ballad by Fido's daughter,

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Speaker 3: Queen Michelle.

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Speaker 2: I feel like we could do a whole separate podcast

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Speaker 2: on the fact his daughter is called Queen Michelle, but

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Speaker 2: we'll move on.

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Speaker 3: In the song, they keep singing.

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Speaker 2: He's the boss, He's the boss, And I tell you what,

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Speaker 2: Fveto was a pretty ruthless boss, wasn't he, Brielle?

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Speaker 4: Absolutely so. Fino instructed his gang to use strategies similar

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Speaker 4: to those of Mexico's most vicious cartels, so that included

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Speaker 4: targeted murders, dismemberment, and beheading Jesus just an example of

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Speaker 4: how ruthless he was. Fido is actually the leading suspect

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Speaker 4: and mastermind behind the twenty twenty three assassination of a

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Speaker 4: politician who was running for president when he was gunned down.

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Speaker 4: So several weeks before the assassination, the politician mentioned threats

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Speaker 4: he got from the gang, who were pretty unhappy he

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Speaker 4: kept talking about them in his campaign. So it's claimed

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Speaker 4: Fido gave the green light for the politician to be killed,

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Speaker 4: and that's exactly what happened in August twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 5: Flanked by minimal security, this was the moments when Fernando

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Speaker 5: Villa Vescencio was shot dead after a political run. With

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Speaker 5: the sound of gunfire clattering through the city, his supporters

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Speaker 5: took cover and inside the venue where he'd just spoken

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Speaker 5: was chaos and panic, with blood dotted across the floor.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, shocking assassination there.

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Speaker 2: Let's fast forward a few months now to January twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty four, when Feto escaped from prison for the second time.

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Speaker 1: Ecuador has launched a nationwide operation to locate a drug

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Speaker 1: lord who disappeared from jail.

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Speaker 6: They're searching for Audolpho Mathias, known by azaleas Fito. He's

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Speaker 6: not just any escapee. He's the leader of one of

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Speaker 6: the most powerful drug gangs in Ecuador who vanished overnight

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Speaker 6: from a high security jail, so.

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Speaker 4: No one really knew how he got out, which is

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Speaker 4: pretty crazy to think given it's a maximum security prison.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they still have no idea how arguably the biggest

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Speaker 2: prisoner in Ecuador got out of this prison.

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Speaker 3: But anyway, let's just move on.

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Speaker 4: But he managed it, and when he did escape, it

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Speaker 4: unleashed a storm in Ecuador. Within hours, frights erupted in

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Speaker 4: several prisons across the country. The violence soon spilled over

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Speaker 4: to the streets, and explosions and terrorist attack rock several cities.

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Speaker 4: Perhaps the most shocking incidant of all, though, was when

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Speaker 4: a group of armed gangsters wearing balaclava's took over a

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Speaker 4: television station during a live broadcast, forcing the terrified crew

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Speaker 4: to the ground and firing shots.

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Speaker 7: We have some breaking news that's coming in. A group

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Speaker 7: of armed gunmen in Ecuador have stormed a television station.

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Speaker 5: There.

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Speaker 7: Shots have been heard inside the station, located in the

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Speaker 7: city of Guaya Kill. This footage from the broadcast shows

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Speaker 7: staff being forced to lie on the floor. You see

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Speaker 7: there gunment with masks on, reportedly saying that they have

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Speaker 7: weapons and guns and bombs.

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Speaker 4: So faced with chaos, the president declared a nationwide sixty

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Speaker 4: day state of emergency and ordered the military into prisons

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Speaker 4: and onto streets. And while all this was happening, they

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Speaker 4: were still desperate to track down Feto and get him

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Speaker 4: back behind bars, so they offered a one million dollar

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Speaker 4: reward leading to his arrest.

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Speaker 2: It took seventeen months, but eventually Feto was arrested again.

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Speaker 2: We'll tell you more in just a moment.

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Speaker 3: Welcome back.

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Speaker 2: I'm chattington News dot com dot u's Braille Burns about Feto,

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Speaker 2: Ecuador's biggest drug lord. He escaped from prison in twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty four for the second time, and then after seventeen

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Speaker 2: months on the run, he was finally captured.

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Speaker 7: Last month, Ecuador says one of the country's most wanted

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Speaker 7: men has been captured.

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Speaker 1: This is the moment security forces in Ecuador realized they

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Speaker 1: had their man. Jose Adolpho Masius Elias Fito had been

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Speaker 1: on the run for more than a year after escaping

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Speaker 1: from prison, and this is where they found him, hiding

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Speaker 1: in a bunker under the floor of a luxury home

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Speaker 1: in the western city of Manta. Authorities have yet to

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Speaker 1: explain how Fito managed to break out of this maximum

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Speaker 1: Security in January twenty twenty four. He had been held

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Speaker 1: there since twenty eleven. His arrest comes after Ecuador imposed

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Speaker 1: a state of emergency to combat rising violence linked to

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Speaker 1: the drugs trade.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so that was last month. He was taken back

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Speaker 2: into custody. Where are we at now, what's happening with Fveto?

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Speaker 4: So the Ecuadoran government on Sunday extra died him to

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Speaker 4: the US. So he's definitely their problem now.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Ecuador don't want anything more to do with this.

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Speaker 4: Valer, definitely not so. The US Attorney's Offers filed charges

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Speaker 4: against him back in April on suspicion of cocaine distribution, conspiracy,

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Speaker 4: and firearm violation, including weapons smuggling. So Fino agreed in

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Speaker 4: Ecuadorian court last week to be extradited to the US

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Speaker 4: to face the charges. Now, the big news is that

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Speaker 4: on Monday, he pleaded not guilty to drug and gun

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Speaker 4: charges in New York and a judge ordered him to

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Speaker 4: be detained until trial. His next court date will be

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Speaker 4: September nineteen.

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Speaker 2: This is going to be a story that keeps going

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Speaker 2: and going, and it's not no doubt, a big relief

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Speaker 2: for the people of Ecuador that Fiedo is out of

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Speaker 2: the country because he caused chaos, didn't.

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Speaker 4: He He did so. For many years, Ecuador was considered

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Speaker 4: one of the safest countries in Latin America, but that

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Speaker 4: all changed when Feto took control of the gang, so

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Speaker 4: he partnered up with Mexican cartels Colombian cartels. He started

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Speaker 4: using ports in Ecuador to traffic record amounts of cocaine

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Speaker 4: to Europe and the US. There was also a bunch

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Speaker 4: of brutal turf wars between his gang and other groups,

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Speaker 4: which spucked violence on the streets. And here's a pretty

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Speaker 4: shocking stat more than seventy percent of all cocaine produced

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Speaker 4: in the world now passes through Ecuador's ports.

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Speaker 3: Wow.

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Speaker 2: That is such a shocking and sad status well for

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Speaker 2: the people of Ecuador who were just kind of innocently

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Speaker 2: caught up in this drug war. It's a story that

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Speaker 2: is obviously going to continue over the next few months

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Speaker 2: as he faces trial in the US. Brielle, thank you

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Speaker 2: so much for coming on the podcast to tell us

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Speaker 2: about it today.

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Speaker 4: Thank you very much for having me. It's a crazy story,

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Speaker 4: so it'd be good to see how it plays out.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, crazy story. And a sad story. All right, thank

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Speaker 3: you so much for listening. We'll be back Tomorrown.

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Speaker 1: Follow us, subscribe to from the Newsroom, wherever you get

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Speaker 1: your podcasts.