The leader of an infamous gang behind an ongoing armed conflict with another gang in Haiti was flown by federal agents from Port-au-Prince to the United States on Tuesday in connection with last year’s kidnapping of 16 American missionaries.
Haiti National Police confirmed that Germine Joly, better known as Yonyon, was sent to the U.S. aboard a special FBI flight following a request from the U.S. on April 22. Police did not say where he was being taken and the FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but a source told the Miami Herald that Joly was being flown to Washington, D.C.
Joly is considered to be the leader of the 400 Mawozo gang, which has been involved in an ongoing armed conflict that has led to the deaths of at least 20 civilians over the past nine days and forced hundreds of Haitians from their home in the area east of Port-au-Prince.
Until his transfer Tuesday, Joly had been held at the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince. From behind bars, he ran 400 Mawozo using his cellphone and negotiated the release of hostages while also trying to negotiate his freedom. Known for its mass abductions, the gang was behind the kidnapping last year of a group of Roman Catholic clergy, including French citizens, and then later a group of 17 American and Canadian missionaries with Ohio-based charity Christian Aid Ministries.
Some of the U.S. missionaries were held for as long as two months before finally being released after an undisclosed ransom amount was paid. During their captivity, the gang asked for $17 million and its second-in-command, Wilson Joseph, known as Lanmò Sanjou, threatened on social media to “put a bullet” in the missionaries if the gang’s demand for $1 million per hostage wasn’t met.
As the missionaries were being held hostage, federal agents arrested three Florida residents on federal charges for allegedly smuggling firearms in barrels from South Florida to 400 Mawozo. The criminal complaint unsealed in late October said that Eliande Tunis, Jocelyn Dor and Walder St. Louis filled orders for weapons such as AK-47s and AR-15s for two unnamed 400 Mawozo leaders. Tunis is a U.S. citizen, while Dor and St. Louis are Haitian nationals.
Prosecutors claim that Tunis lived in Florida and “is a member of 400 Mawozo.” The complaint says that on Oct. 9, Tunis sent an audio file to “co-conspirator 1 on WhatsApp in Creole saying ‘We are snakes. We slither to get where we are going. They would be shocked to see Mawozo invade Miami.’”
The FBI criminal complaint for all three defendants doesn’t identify Joly by name but says co-conspirator 1 “is a Haitian national and a leader of 400 Mawozo” who is “incarcerated, but still serves as a leader in the organization and directs operations from prison using an unmonitored cellular phone.” That individual is believed to be Joly.
The complaint also speaks of another individual, though not by name. He is described as serving as a leader and appearing on “videos posted on social media, stated his name and declared himself as the leader of 400 Mawozo.” That individual is believed to be “Lanmò Sanjou,” which means “death doesn’t know which day it’s coming.”
The 400 Mawozo gang is believed to be behind the recent kidnapping of a Dominican diplomat and U.S. citizen, Carlos Guillén Tatis, who went missing on Friday while traveling through the gang’s stronghold in Croix-des-Bouquets on his way to the border.
Sources familiar with Joly’s activities said much of the ransom money collected by his gang went directly to him, which he in turn used to purchase arms and keep police officers and lawyers on his payroll. After the arrest of the three Floridians, he grew increasingly concerned about his possible extradition, sources told the Miami Herald.
The ongoing armed conflict may have sped up Joly’s extradition. For weeks, rumors had circulated of a planned prison break involving the National Penitentiary, and concerns grew that Joly might meet the same fate as Arnel Joseph, another notorious gang leader the FBI had targeted. Joseph was shot by police last February while traveling on a motorcycle in the town of L’Estère after a deadly prison break of the Croix-des-Bouquets Civil Prison.
In a statement on its Facebook page, Haiti police said Joly is being prosecuted via an international warrant issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for conspiracy and violation of the U.S. Export and Contraband Control Reform Act, importation of weapons of war and kidnapping of American citizens.
Joly’s arrest is likely to spread panic among Haitian gangs, because it offers U.S. law enforcement and State Department officials the opportunity to learn more about the inner workings of 400 Mawozo, which controls one of the largest territories in Haiti. Following the release of the American missionaries, the gang had splintered, with Joly controlling one group and reportedly launching an attack while he was in prison to show he was still in charge.
“With the transfers of Yonyon to the U.S., we can learn a lot about how the gang functions and the people connected to them and giving them guns,” said Pierre Esperance, a human rights activist in Haiti.
In their statement Tuesday, Haiti police described Joly as “the leader of the criminal organization called ‘400 Mawozo’ involved in several criminal acts including assassination, kidnapping, vehicle theft, destruction of private property and arson, etc.”
Joly was taken by federal agents nine days after his gang launched an attack against a rival gang, Chen Mechan, in the lowland east of metropolitan Port-au-Prince. The armed conflict has killed at least 20 civilians and led to several torched homes. Hundreds of people have had to flee the combat area.
During the conflict, Lanmò Sanjou released a voice note saying he had been warned by a Haitian official of an attempt to kill Joly and that he would kill “thousands” if anything were to happen to the gang leader.
Joly was first arrested in Haiti in 2014 after authorities accused him of armed robbery, membership in a gang and kidnapping.
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Miami Herald staff writer Jay Weaver contributed to this report.
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