Case Explained:This article breaks down the legal background, charges, and implications of Case Explained: Top Criminal Takedowns of 2025 – Legal Perspective
Lobos leader Pipo was finally arrested in Malaga, Spain, on November 16, 2025, in a joint operation between Spanish and Ecuadorian authorities.
His capture was years in the making.
Like many Ecuadorian criminal leaders, Pipo’s ascent to infamy began behind bars. After being nabbed for robbing banks in Cuenca, he was sent to prison, where he met the charismatic leader of the Choneros, Jorge Luis Zambrano, alias “Rasquiña,” Fito’s predecessor. Rasquiña recruited Pipo, absorbing his group, the Lobos, into the Choneros’ criminal syndicate.
When Rasquiña was murdered in December 2020, Pipo’s Lobos and a few other factions broke away from the Choneros, now led by Fito. The split sparked a war between the groups, with violent clashes in the prisons that killed hundreds.
On just one day in February 2021, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, prison riots in Guayaquil, Cuenca, and Latacunga left 79 dead. Pipo took advantage of the chaos to escape and had a false death certificate made. He allegedly fled to Venezuela, then to Colombia, and finally to Spain in 2022.
Pipo went a step beyond fake IDs: He allegedly had seven facial reconstruction surgeries to change his appearance.
For the next few years, he lived mainly between Dubai and Spain, where he stayed in luxury hotels and mansions and commanded the Lobos from afar. In Ecuador, the feud between criminal groups was reaching new heights. The violence peaked in August 2023, when an anti-corruption candidate for president, Fernando Villavicencio, was murdered during a campaign rally. Prosecutors believe the Lobos, led by Pipo, may have been behind the assassination.
Pipo was eventually caught after he was flagged for using false documents when traveling from Morocco to Spain. He is awaiting extradition in a Spanish prison.