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The Gran Grif gang operates in the department of Artibonite and is considered one of Haiti's cruelest gangs, [5] with nine mass kidnappings attributed to the group between October 2023 and January 2024. [6] The gang was formed after former legislator Prophane Victor began arming young men nearly a decade ago to secure his election and control ...
"400 Mawozo": The largest gang in Haiti, mainly based in Croix-des-Bouquets, Ganthier and in Port-au-Prince's Tabarre and Pétion-Ville. It has branches in Gros-Morne and the Dominican Republic and has a waiting list for aspiring members. It largely consists of deportees, former leaders of opposition groups, former smugglers and police officers.
Crime in Haiti is investigated by the Haitian police. Since the late 2010s, the country has suffered from widespread gang warfare and civil unrest , including a massive prison breakout in 2024. It also suffers from extreme corruption and high levels of sexual violence .
On 2 and 3 March, armed gangs stormed the two largest prisons in Haiti, one in Croix des Bouquets, the other in Port-au-Prince. [12] More than 4,700 inmates escaped. [10] Police were reported to be undermanned and outgunned by the gangs, with only 9,000 operating in Haiti at the time of the fighting. [13]
On 13 March 2024, YourFellowArab (Addison Pierre Maalouf), a YouTube personality known for touring dangerous places, was kidnapped on his way to interview Jimmy Chérizier. Members of the 400 Mawozo gang demanded a ransom of $600,000 for his release. The U.S. State Department confirmed that a U.S. citizen had been kidnapped. [14]
Since the government's de facto collapse in 2018, Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince has become a hotbed of anarchic gang activity with brutal murders and spates of killing. [1] This was exacerbated in 2021 by the assassination of Jovenel Moïse, leading most of the gangs in Port-au-Prince to ally with G9 or G-Pep. [1]
One of the gangs fighting for power in the city is 400 Mawozo, which formed in 2016, and rose to prominence in 2021 for kidnapping several American missionaries. Since then, however, the gang has become the largest gang in Haiti. [1] In 2015, a man named Claudy Celestin created the Chen Mechan gang, with his alias of the same name. [2]
Since the late 2010's Haiti has suffered a growing epidemic of gang violence and gang-related activity, especially in the capital of Port-au-Prince. The gang violence grew especially after the assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moise in July 2021.