Federal prosecutors announced Monday the sentencing of two leaders of a notorious Haitian gang that kidnapped U.S. citizens, laundered their ransoms, and illegally exported arms from the U.S. to Haiti using the laundered sums.
Joly Germine, 31, of Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti—styled the “King” of 400 Mawozo gang—will spend 35 years behind bars, a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Columbia revealed.
Eliande Tunis, 46, of Pompano Beach, Florida—self-styled as Germine’s wife and described in court as the “Queen” of 400 Mawozo—received a 150-month prison sentence Jun. 5, according to the statement.
Two other co-defendants—Florida residents Jocelyn Dor, 31, and Walder St. Louis, 35—were sentenced to 60 and 36 months respectively, having admitted to purchasing straw guns for Germine and Tunis, the statement noted.
Germine and Tunis pleaded guilty to a 48-count second superseding indictment charging them with “conspiring to violate U.S. export control laws and to defraud the United States, violating export control laws, smuggling, and laundering the proceeds of ransoms paid to free U.S. hostages taken by the gang and laundering money to promote [their] crimes,” the prosecuting office said.
“King” of Violent Haitian Gang Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison for Gun Smuggling and Money Laundering
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Germine, Tunis, Dor, and St. Louis conspired with one another and with other 400 Mawozo gang members to illegally export guns from the U.S. to the gang in Haiti from around Mar. to Nov. 2021, prosecutors argued in court. Germine reportedly directed the operations—including sending money transfer instructions and the specifications for the weapons—using unmonitored phones while in a Haitian prison. Tunis, Dor, and St. Louis then bought at least 24 rifles, handguns, and a shotgun at Florida gun shops on Germine’s behalf while pretending to be the actual buyers, the prosecutors said.
Tunis smuggled weapons in containers disguised as food and household wares to Haiti May 2021. She attempted to send additional weapons Oct. 2021 but the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) intercepted and seized the shipment, according to prosecutors.
The 400 Mawozo began taking U.S. citizens hostage from around Jan. 12, 2020. The gang received ransom payments for three U.S. citizens the gang took hostage in the summer of 2021, mixed it with the gang’s funds, and wired it via MoneyGram and Western Union to the U.S. to buy more weapons, the court heard. (RELATED: Gang Kidnaps YourFellowArab After He Tries Interviewing ‘Barbecue’: REPORT)
The gang also claimed responsibility for kidnapping 16 Americans—including five children—and one Canadian in the fall of 2021. The gang demanded $1 million per hostage. The victims belonged to a missionary organization visiting an orphanage in Port-au-Prince and had escaped or been released by Dec. 2021, prosecutors said.
Germine, a.k.a. “Yonyon”, reportedly faces separate charges related to the kidnapping.
“The leaders of violent gangs in Haiti that terrorize Americans citizens [sic] in order to fuel their criminal activity will be met with the full force of the Justice Department,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said, the statement reported.
