‘King’ of Violent Haitian Gang Sentenced to Life in Prison for Hostage Taking of 16 American Christian Missionaries

           WASHINGTON – Joly Germine, 34, of Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to life in prison without the possibility of supervised release for his role in orchestrating the 2021 hostage taking of 16 American citizens, including five children, and holding most of them hostage for 62 days, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro. The victims were part of a missionary organization, Christian Aid Ministries, and were on their way back from working at an orphanage when they were taken hostage in October 2021. 

           Germine, aka “Yonyon,” was found guilty by a federal jury on May 16, following a 10-day trial in the District of Columbia, of one count of conspiracy to commit hostage taking and 16 counts of hostage taking of a U.S. national for ransom. In addition to life in prison, Judge John D. Bates ordered Germine to pay a fine of $1,700. 

           Joining U.S. Attorney Pirro in the announcement was FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles of the Miami Field Office.

           “The missionary group included 12 adults and five young children, including a 6-year-old, 3-year-old, and an 8-month-old. Sixteen of the victims were U.S. citizens from Christian Aid Ministries,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro. “This sentencing makes clear that Germine’s scheme to win freedom for himself by using Christians as pawns backfired.”

           The former leader and self-described “king” of the notoriously violent Haitian gang known as 400 Mawozo, Germine had previously pleaded guilty to his role in a gun trafficking conspiracy that smuggled firearms to Haiti in violation of U.S. export laws and the laundering of the gang’s funds derived from ransoms paid for other U.S. hostage victims. For those crimes, he was sentenced in June 2024 to 35 years in federal prison. 

           According to court documents, Germine’s gang, 400 Mawozo, operated in the Croix-des-Bouquets area to the east of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. Germine directed the gang’s operations from prison using unmonitored cell phones and was constantly in touch with other 400 Mawozo leaders, most of whom were his relatives. Germine controlled the gang’s finances, supplied the gang’s weapons, and otherwise directed operations. 

           On October 16, 2021, 17 Mennonite missionaries from Christian Aid Ministries, an Ohio-based missionary aid organization, were returning from visiting an orphanage when they were stopped by 400 Mawozo’s armed and masked soldiers. Many of the gang’s soldiers brandished guns supplied by Germine. 

           The gang drove the missionaries to a field and robbed them, while consulting by phone with Germine, their leader. The gang took the missionaries to a building in a rural area, held them at gunpoint, and demanded ransom of $1 million each for their return. 

           In postings on social media, the gang threatened to kill all the hostages if the ransom was not paid. Early on in the negotiations, senior gang leadership said that, in lieu of the ransom monies, 400 Mawozo would accept Germine’s release from prison in exchange for the hostages. 

           On November 20, 2021, two hostages were released when one of them was suffering from life-threatening health conditions. On December 5, 2021, 400 Mawozo released three of the hostages, two adults who had significant medical issues and the six-year old child, after receiving a $350,000 ransom payment. Though the gang had stated they would release all the hostages for the ransom paid, at Germine’s direction, the gang thereafter refused to release any more hostages, hoping instead for his own release from Haitian jail in exchange for the hostages’ release. On December 16, 2021, the remaining hostages escaped under cover of darkness while their captors were distracted, walking for five hours through the Haitian bush until they were out of the gang’s territory. They were received by the FBI, which had deployed to Haiti and arranged to immediately transport them from Haiti before the gang could respond to their escape. In total, most of the missionaries were held for 62 days. 

          The evidence at trial showed that Germine directed the initial kidnapping, arranged for the locations where hostages were held, and set the $17 million ransom demand, knowing it was too high to be paid and hoping it would result in the Haitian government negotiating his release from prison in exchange for the missionaries.  The evidence also showed that Germine was involved in or consulted on the decisions to release victims. 

           The FBI Miami Field Office investigated the case, with assistance from Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. During the law enforcement response to the kidnapping, extraordinary assistance was provided by various agencies in a whole-of-government response, including the Department of Commerce, Customs and Border Protection Service, the Drug Enforcement Agency, Department of Defense, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Valuable assistance was provided by the government of Haiti, the government of the Dominican Republic, the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the Department of State and the Embassy in Port-au-Prince, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida’s Special Prosecutions Section.

           The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karen P. Seifert and Thomas N. Saunders with invaluable assistance from Paralegal Specialist Jorge Casillas, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Paschall, Victim Advocate Yvonne Bryant, and Victim Witness Coordinators Tonya Jones and Guisela Castillo.

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