The Lagartos emerged from a loose coalition of hired guns and street gangs in the prisons of Ecuador’s biggest city, Guayaquil, to become one of the country’s most notorious criminal groups. Initially formed to oppose the expansion of rival group the Choneros, the Lagartos control local criminal economies and strategic territory used for transnational drug trafficking.
History
The Lagartos has its roots in several Guayaquil prison gangs, most prominently the groups led by William Poveda Salazar, alias “El Cubano,” and Geovanny Mantilla, alias “Gorras.” The name comes from the word lagartos, meaning lizards, which referred to assassins in prisons.
Both El Cubano and Gorras led local Guayaquil gangs that repeatedly clashed with the Choneros in the 2010s, first in the prisons, and later on the streets. The Choneros at that time were seeking to take control of territory and criminal economies, both behind and beyond the prison bars.
In 2019, the fighting peaked with the gruesome assassination of El Cubano in a high-security pavilion of the Regional prison of Guayaquil. Following his death, the Lagartos emerged as a unified criminal group under the leadership of Gorras, a former member of the Latin Kings gang.
However, the Lagartos soon suffered another blow when Gorras died from COVID-19 in 2020. Soon after, the Choneros took advantage, overrunning a Lagartos-controlled part of the Litoral Penitentiary in an attack that left 11 dead. The remaining Lagartos then negotiated their transfer to a separate facility in the Guayaquil prison complex.
There, secure from the threat of the Choneros, they were able to establish control of the facility and regroup. Following the death of Gorras and the significant weakening of the Lagartos in 2020, the group faced a leadership crisis with both José Arturo Rivas Lonzano, alias “Joselo,” and Carlos Mantilla Ceballos, alias “Choclo,” competing for the role as leader. After three failed assassination attempts, gunmen killed Joselo and his son by shooting up his car in October 2023. Choclo took on sole leadership of the Lagartos.
The Lagartos have maintained control over their territory in Guayaquil, particularly in the impoverished sector of Guasmo Sur. According to local authorities, by 2024, the Lagartos had struck alliances with groups such as the Latin Kings, the Carniceros and the Diablos, although such relations are often unstable and subject to sudden changes.
The Lagartos have also established drug trade ties with the Mexican Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación – CJNG), according to multiple Ecuadorian news outlets. As above, such relationships are also often fluid and volatile. In January 2024, President Daniel Noboa declared the Lagartos a terrorist organization, alongside many of its rival groups.
Leadership
Early on, the Lagartos coalition consisted of distinct gangs, led by their respective local leaders, like El Cubano and Gorras. The death of El Cubano led Gorras to take over leadership, solidifying the Lagartos. However, his death in 2020 weakened the group and exposed them to retaliation by the Choneros.
In 2023, Geovanny Mantilla emerged as the Lagartos’ sole leader. Mantilla served several prison sentences for murder, criminal association, and extortion. In 2024, he was transferred to Ecuador’s high-security prison, La Roca.
In addition to Choclo, ten members of the Lagartos leadership remain on Ecuador’s most wanted list.
Geography
The Lagartos mainly control the area of Guasmo Sur, an impoverished neighborhood in the south of Guayaquil. This strategic location borders a branch of the Guayas river and offers access to one of Guayaquil’s main ports, which is used for transnational drug trafficking.
The Lagartos have repeatedly expanded their extortion networks into the territory of Guasmo Norte. However, local authorities say that the territories held by criminal groups are often highly localized and alliances are constantly shifting.
After negotiating their transfer out of Litoral prison in 2020, the Lagartos were left in control of the Guayaquil prison complex’s Provisional Detention Center. However, it is unclear whether this has endured following the military intervention in Ecuador’s prisons in 2024.
Allies and Enemies
The Lagartos fight with both bigger mafias and smaller gangs for control of territories in Guayaquil. They continue to clash with their primary enemy, the Choneros, and their offshoots such as the Fatales and the Águilas.
The Lagartos are known to collaborate with smaller local groups, such as the Guayaquil-based group Cuartel de las Feas, although such connections are highly fluid.
Prospects
In the tumultuous organized crime landscape of Ecuador, the Lagartos have regrouped repeatedly and successfully, most notably surviving the loss of key leaders and attacks from the Choneros in 2019 and 2020. This shows that the group is resilient and capable of evolution.
With the group unified under the leadership of Choclo and their primary enemy, the Choneros, struggling, the Lagartos may gain further influence in the underworld. But in the context of Ecuador’s militarized crackdown on crime, and an increasingly fragmented criminal landscape, they may find themselves once again forced onto the defensive.
