US jury convicts once powerful Haitian gang leader in kidnapping of US missionaries
Germine Joly, whom authorities said led the 400 Mawozo gang in Haiti, will be sentenced later this year following Friday's conviction at a federal courthouse in Washington, D.C.
Joly, who has denied involvement with the gang, was sentenced to 35 years in prison last year after pleading guilty to weapons smuggling and the laundering of ransom related to the mass kidnapping.
Haitian police arrested Joly in 2014, and he was sentenced to life in prison in 2018. Authorities said he still directed gang operations from prison, including the October 2021 kidnapping of 16 Americans, including five children, and a Canadian who worked with the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries. The children were ages 6 and 3 and 8 months old.
The gang initially demanded $1 million each for the hostages or, alternatively, the release of Joly from prison. The first hostages were released in November 2021, with a $350,000 ransom eventually paid for the release of the remaining captives.
The Haitian government extradited Joly in 2022.
Joly, known as 'Yonyon,' was co-leader of the 400 Mawozo gang, which translates roughly to '400 simpletons.' It controls part of Croix-des-Bouquets, a neighborhood in the eastern region of the Port-au-Prince capital and surrounding areas. The gang also operates along a route that connects the capital with the border city of Jimaní in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.
The gang is still led by Joseph Wilson, best known as 'Lanmò San Jou,' which means 'death has no date,' and it is an ally of G-Pep, a gang federation that is now part of a powerful gang coalition known as 'Viv Ansanm.'
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Toronto Sun
a minute ago
- Toronto Sun
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Winnipeg Free Press
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Global News
31 minutes ago
- Global News
Poilievre calls for terror listing of India-based Lawrence Bishnoi gang
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is the latest politician calling for the federal government to designate the India-based Lawrence Bishnoi gang as a terrorist entity. His call on a visit to Surrey, B.C., comes after RCMP in the city announced last month they had made two arrests in an investigation into extortion targeting the South Asian business community. Police have linked some extortion cases back to the gang, whose leader Lawrence Bishnoi is in prison in India. Poilievre says a terror designation will be part of a tough-on-crime push the Conservatives will make during the fall session of Parliament. 5:32 Growing calls to label Bishnoi gang a terrorist group He says the move would help police and prosecutors deal with an international extortion group that's been active in Surrey as well as cities including Calgary and Brampton, Ont. Story continues below advertisement Poilievre says his party is also pushing to increase mandatory prison sentences for extortion, starting with a four-year sentence for the first offence. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'Our plan repeals catch and release bail, brings in mandatory jail time for repeat offenders, and ensures that we have a ban on the Bishnoi terrorists, so that this network of extortionists and terrorists are automatically criminalized,' he told a news conference. In June, B.C. Premier David Eby asked the federal government to declare the gang a terrorist organization, a call repeated by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith last month.
