16 American missionaries +1 kidnapped in Haiti / ALL RELEASED
- Thread starter get these nets
- Start date
get these nets
Veteran
Haiti gang leader back on trial in U.S., this time for missionaries’ 2021 kidnapping
May 13, 2025
Germine Joly, better known as Yonyon, was the leader of the gang 400 Mawozo, which was behind the 2021 kidnapping of 17 U.S.-based. missionaries in Haiti.
The one-time ‘king’ of one of Haiti’s most violent criminal gang, already looking at spending 35 years in a U.S. prison for his role in a gunrunning conspiracy that funneled high-powered weapons to gang members using kidnapping proceeds, will soon learn if he will face more prison time in the United States for his alleged role in the abduction of 17 Christian missionaries, including five children.
Germine Joly, better known as “Yonyon,” who served as leader of the 400 Mawozo gang in Port-au-Prince, was sentenced last year after pleading guilty to a 48-count indictment related to weapons smuggling and money laundering.
For the last week, he’s been back on trial in front of the same federal judge, John D. Bates, inside a Washington, D.C., courtroom, charged with 16 counts of hostage taking. On Wednesday, closing arguments are expected in the case where federal prosecutors accuse Joly of targeting the group in order to use them as a bargaining chip to win his release from a Haitian prison, from where he conducted arms purchases and ran kidnappings and extortion rackets.
The incident involves the 2021 abduction of 16 U.S. citizens and a Canadian national with Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries. Missionaries working in Haiti, the group was taken at gunpoint after returning from visiting an orphanage on the outskirts of Haiti’s capital. At the time, Joly was leader of 400 Mawozo, a post he held from August 2020 through May 2022.
Unfolding three months after the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, the brazen abduction thrust 400 Mawozo into the global spotlight and showed how even foreigners, long isolated from Haiti’s vexing crises, were no longer immune from the violence. The gang demanded $1 million per hostage before they were eventually let go after an undisclosed ransom amount was paid. Their release was made to look like an escape by 400 Mawozo co-leader Lanmò Sanjou, aka Joseph Wilson.
The decision caused a rift between Lanmò Sanjou and Joly, and temporarily weakened the gang, which has since emerged as a powerful force inside the Viv Ansanm coalition that has been wreaking havoc across Port-au-Prince.
In the run-up to the trial, Joly tried to get the kidnapping charges dismissed, arguing that he was illegally extradited to the U.S. by Haitian authorities and the kidnapping accusations were not part of the extradition request. He also tried to suppress information at his trial, including his previous role in the kidnapping of several U.S. citizens in the summer of 2021, his leadership role in 400 Mawozo’s kidnapping-for-guns scheme and his imprisonment in Haiti.
The kidnappings, prosecutors say, were part of a conspiracy by Joly and 400 Mawozo that “provided the gang with proceeds that they transferred to the United States in order to purchase weapons,” which the gang then used to take more hostages.
As part of the scheme, prosecutors say Joly instructed Lanmò Sanjou on the gangs’ hostage-taking operations, and ransoms paid to Lanmò Sanjou were eventually sent to Joly. He then directed the gang’s bookkeepers on how to disburse the proceeds
get these nets
Veteran
‘King’ of Violent Haitian Gang Found Guilty on All Charges for Hostage Taking of 16 American Christian Missionaries
WASHINGTON – Joly Germine, 32, of Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti, was found guilty today by a federal jury in the District of Columbia for his role in orchestrating the 2021 hostage taking of 16 American citizens, including five children, and holding them hostage for 62 days.
Haiti gang leader ‘Yonyon’ found guilty of kidnapping 16 U.S. missionaries
May 18, 2025
Germine Joly, once one of the most powerful gang leaders in Haiti — even when he was behind prison bars — has been found guilty of kidnapping 16 U.S. citizens who worked in Haiti as missionaries.
The missionaries were abducted in 2021, and 12 members of the group from Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries, including a Canadian national, were held for two months. They won their freedom only after a $350,000 ransom was paid and Joly’s co-gang leader, Lanmo Sanjou, set up their release to look like an escape to avoid his fellow gang member’s wrath.
Joly, known as “Yonyon,” took the stand in his defense and refuted any involvement with the 400 Mawozo gang. On Friday he was found guilty by a federal jury in the District of Columbia for his role in orchestrating the hostage taking.
The verdict was announced by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro and FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ryan James of the Miami Field Office.