SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — On Tuesday, the U.S. Justice Department revealed that a federal grand jury has charged a dominant Haitian gang leader and an American citizen with conspiracy. They are accused of breaching U.S. sanctions and financially supporting gang operations in the crisis-ridden Caribbean nation.

Jimmy Chérizier, best known as “Barbecue,” is a leader of a gang federation called Viv Ansanm that the U.S. designated as a foreign terrorist organization in May.

Chérizier lives in Haiti, and the United States is offering up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest or conviction. Chris Landberg, a senior U.S. State Department official, said his “reign of terror and mass violence against Haiti must end.”

However, Jake Johnston, author of “Aid State” and international research director at the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research, questioned the government’s reason for offering a bounty.

“This is a guy who is giving international media interviews regularly. I don’t think the issue is being able to find him,” Johnston said, adding that the indictment doesn’t represent a threat to Chérizier since he lives in Haiti. “It’s hard to see how it’ll have much of an effect.”

A policeman turned gang leader

Chérizier is a former elite police officer who was fired in December 2018 and was later accused of organizing large-scale massacres in the slums of Grand Ravine in 2017, in La Saline in 2018 and in Bel-Air in 2019. More than 100 people were killed in the massacres, which Chérizier has denied organizing.

“Haiti is a hotspot right now … there is incredible violence going on there,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Tuesday, calling La Saline killings “notorious because (Chérizier) both planned and participated” in the slaughter.

In June 2020, Chérizier created the “ G9 Family and Allies,” an alliance that grew from nine gangs in lower Delmas and the Cite Soleil and La Saline slums to include more than a dozen gangs, according to a U.N. Security Council report.

The alliance was blamed for the killings of some 145 people in Cite Soleil and the rape of multiple women.

In December 2020, the U.S. Treasury Department issued civil sanctions against Chérizier and others accused of being involved in the massacres.

The G-9 alliance later became part of the Viv Ansanm gang federation created in September 2023 that saw the merging of Haiti’s two biggest gangs that were once bitter enemies: G-9 and G- Pèp.

Since then, the federation has taken control of 90% of Port-au-Prince. It launched multiple attacks on key government infrastructure in February 2024 and raided Haiti’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates. It also forced Haiti’s main international airport to close for nearly three months.

The surge in violence led to the resignation of former Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was locked out of his country while on an official visit to Kenya.

The gang federation continues to attack once peaceful communities in Port-au-Prince, and it is accused of helping gangs in Haiti’s central region.

‘We want to change everything’

Also indicted is Bazile Richardson, whom officials say is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Haiti who grew up with Chérizier and lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Both are accused of leading a “wide-ranging conspiracy” by directly soliciting money transfers from members of the Haitian diaspora to raise funds for Chérizier’s gang activities in Haiti, according to the indictment. It stated that the money was used to pay the salaries of gang members and buy weapons from illegal dealers in Haiti. Most of the firearms are smuggled in from the U.S. since Haiti does not produce weapons.

According to the indictment, there are two other unnamed co-conspirators from Haiti who live in New York and Massachusetts, and five others who live in Haiti.

Chérizier said in a video posted on social media that Richardson never sent him money to finance anything in Haiti.

“If the FBI wants me, I’m here. I’m willing to collaborate with them on one condition, there can be no lies told,” Chérizier said, speaking in English.

It was not immediately clear if Richardson had an attorney.

The indictment noted that Chérizier and Richardson have acknowledged the sanctions against Chérizier, adding that the alleged conspiracy began around December 2020 and continued through January of this year.

One voice memo that an unidentified co-conspirator in Haiti allegedly sent to Richardson stated: “If I have backup, we will take the power, and you will be able to come back to your country. You will need to serve in the new government.”

Richardson forwarded the alleged memo to Chérizier in June 2022, nearly a year after former President Jovenel Moïse was killed at his private residence.

Another person identified only as a Haitian co-conspirator allegedly sent a voice memo to Richardson saying, “we want to start a revolution in Haiti and are trying to collect funds.” Part of the plan was to have 1,000 individuals give $20 each or 1 million Haitians abroad give $1 each, as well as collect money from 1,000 people for each of Haiti’s 10 regions, according to the indictment.

“With this money, they can buy pick-up trucks, weapons, ammunition, clothing to include T-shirts, boots and hats. We want to change everything in Haiti,” according to one alleged voice memo.

In June 2021, Chérizier held a press conference announcing the start of a revolution.

A crackdown

on violence

The indictment comes as gang violence continues to surge in Haiti’s capital and beyond, with gunmen kidnapping an Irish missionary and seven other people, including a 3-year-old, from an orphanage earlier this month.

The office of Haiti’s prime minister did not immediately return a message seeking comment on the indictment.

Johnston said the broader strategy in the fight against gangs remains unclear.

“It does seem like there’s sort of an escalatory framework happening both in Haiti and the U.S.,” he said. “Where does that actually go?”

Darren Cox, acting assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, said the bureau’s Miami office is leading the effort to apprehend Chérizier.

“The FBI is focused more than ever on crushing violent crime,” Cox said. “There is no safe haven for them, or the people like them.”

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Khalil reported from Washington, D.C.