This presentation examines the intersection of organized crime and gender-based violence (GBV) through the case of Jessica Martínez, a Black transfemme lesbian activist murdered in Ambato, Ecuador in 2022. Her killing, emblematic of broader patterns of violence against women, trans, and gender-expansive individuals, highlights how organized criminal networks enforce social control through gendered violence while operating within state-criminal entanglements that sustain impunity. By analyzing the structural conditions that enable violence against marginalized communities, this presentation situates Martínez’s murder within Ecuador’s evolving criminal landscape, where organized crime operates as a system of governance, shaping who is protected, who is targeted, and whose lives are rendered disposable. It explores how criminal organizations exploit patriarchal norms, using violence as a means of territorial and social control, and how state actors—through corruption, militarization, and neglect—enable the persistence of GBV. The case of Martínez illustrates the gendered dimensions of organized crime, demonstrating how violence against women, trans, and gender-expansive individuals is both a byproduct and a deliberate strategy of criminal governance. By framing violence as governance, this presentation highlights the limitations of state responses, the failures of securitization policies, and the urgent need for feminist resistance strategies to challenge the intertwined forces of organized crime, state power, and gendered violence.