Lords of war: Profiling the gangs bringing Haiti to its knees

Armed paramilitary groups have a long history in Haiti, tracing back to the combined 29-year rule of Haiti’s former President Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier. To suppress opposition, the Duvaliers established the feared paramilitary group Tontons Macoutes, which was linked to the killing and torture of thousands of people under the regime. Other members of the elites, including both government and opposition politicians, also maintained paramilitary forces to serve their financial or political interests. Until fairly recently, these groups remained under the control of their benefactors, but now they have become independent organisations that wield considerable power in the country.

Today, there are an estimated 200 armed gangs operating in Haiti, with around half maintaining some presence in the capital, Port-au-Prince. The gangs range widely in size and capabilities, with smaller groups comprising a few dozen loosely affiliated members, while bigger, more established gangs or gang alliances are up to 1,500-strong and are organised along militarised hierarchical structures. Establishing the true number of groups, along with their size and specific areas of control is challenging, not least because gang alliances are fluid, with as many cooperating and tolerating each other at any given time as there are feuding with each other. Revenue sources for gangs vary too, and include everything from robbery, to drug trafficking, to protection rackets, to organised kidnapping, and even running municipal services – at a fee. With an underfunded, understaffed and underequipped police force, failing state institutions, and an unelected prime minister in forced exile, the criminal groups run the show.

Below we profile some of the most high-profile gangs operating in Haiti.

G9 an Fanmi e Alye (G9 Family and Allies) is a collective of nine gangs based in Port-Au-Prince, and is led by former police officer Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier. In Haiti’s lawless environment, particularly following the largescale gang uprising since 29 February, Chérizier has emerged as a leading opposition figure to Prime Minister Ariel Henry. He touts himself as a revolutionary leader, and likely has political ambitions that go well beyond the leadership of G9. Emerging from a relationship between Chérizier and former President Jovenel Moïse, the G9 Family is particularly well equipped, and retains close connections within both the police forces and government. These connections have facilitated G9 in retaining access to weapons, police uniforms, government vehicles, and ammunition, and allowed it to amass superior equipment to Haiti’s beleaguered police forces, which has seen between 3,000-15,000 of its members flee its ranks in the past two years.

The G9 currently controls some 80 percent of Port-au-Prince, and while its primary revenue stream is extortion, the gang also maintains control of public services such as electricity and water, and has taken an increasingly functional role amid Haiti’s failing state architecture.

G-Pèp is G9’s main rival, and is led by Gabriel Jean-Pierre, also known as Ti Gabriel. Where G9 was historically linked with the ruling Haitian Tèt Kale Party (PHTK), G-Pèp has links with the Haitian opposition. It too is an amalgamation of several gangs, and includes groups such as Kraze Barye and 5 Segond. Kraze Barye rose to notoriety for targeting police officers and burning down a police station in 2023, while 5 Segond has been involved in capturing critical infrastructure and government facilities, including the Supreme Court building, and ransoming these back to the government. G9 and G-Pèp have been engaged in protracted fighting for several years, although in September 2023 they agreed on a pact to cooperate in ousting Henry and preventing the deployment of a planned Kenya-led international security mission.

Possibly the largest gang operating in Haiti is the 400 Mawozo, who rose to prominence globally when they kidnapped a group of 17 Western missionaries in 2021. Following the kidnapping, one of the gang’s leaders, Germine “Yonyon” Joly, was arrested and extradited to the US in 2022. In February 2024, he pleaded guilty to smuggling and money laundering charges after taking part in smuggling at least 24 military grade weapons from Florida to Haiti. He is due to be sentenced in May. 400 Mawozo is now headed by Joseph Wilson, known as “Lanmò San Jou”, who is also on the FBI’s wanted list. The group has concentrated its power in the Croix-des-Bouquets neighbourhood in the north of Port-au-Prince, but maintains a presence in other parts of Haiti. 400 Mawozo’s main source of income has historically been kidnapping, and since 2020 has focused particularly on express kidnapping, targeting victims on main roads or on public transportation.

As with other bigger players, 400 Mawozo is politically connected and has access to sophisticated weapons, with an estimated membership of at least 1,000 people, and broad reach across various criminal activities in the country including truck hijacking, extortion, and illegal trafficking. Following Joly’s arrest and extradition, 400 Mawozo has reportedly formed an alliance with G-Pèp.

Among other notable actors in the Haiti gang scene are Fantom 509, a well-armed group formed from both active duty and former police officers who, somewhat idiosyncratically, have been engaged in attacking government buildings and facilities as a means to improve the working conditions of police officers. Another group, Unité Village de Dieu, released a slickly produced video in March 2024 showcasing heavily armed members decked in military garb, accompanied by four-wheel drive vehicles in camouflage paint, branded with the gang’s logo. Other, similar gangs exist, to either fill a niche in the criminal market, or hold sway over a given territory, and it is more the sheer number and overall reach than the specific profile of an individual gang that makes the current Haitian landscape remarkable.

On the other side – ostensibly to fill the gaps left by a weakened police force, though their tactics are not so different from the gangs’ – is a loosely bound group of civilians armed with improvised weapons called Bwa Kale, which has engaged in vigilante justice against suspected gang members since 2023. While some have lauded Bwa Kale’s actions in countering the power of the gangs, their approach of carrying out extrajudicial killings arguably contributes further to the rampant violence in the country, and run the real risk of targeting innocent victims.