WASHINGTON, Feb 22, CMC – The United States authorities have issued a new one million dollar reward for a Haitian gang leader, even as the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has removed another Haitian gang leader, Vitel’ Homme Innocent, from its “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives”
Innocent had a two million bounty on his head, and the the FBI said although he “remains at large, he no longer fits established criteria for continued inclusion” on the list.
“Innocent has been located in Haiti, therefore his continued placement on the (list) is not expected to result in any additional information that would lead to his capture,” the FBI said, adding that “extensive investigation, as well as continued media exposure from 2023 to the present, has not resulted in the arrest of the gang leader”.
But the US law enforcement authorities said that while Innocent has been removed “the active investigation intended to apprehend him will continue”.
Not, the FBI is seeking to apprehend Johnson “Izo” André, said to be in his 20s, and is affiliated with one of Haiti’s most well-armed criminal armed groups, the 5 Segond/5 Segonn gang.
André, widely known as “Izo,” is being sought for his alleged role in the March 18, 2023, kidnapping of a Unite States citizen in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.
The State Department said that the US national was taken on orders from the gang leader after he asked members to identify victims and take them hostage for ransom. It said the hostage was then held in Village de Dieu, a seaside slum south of the capital that serves as the gang leader’s base of operations and a kidnapping lair.
The hostage was released on March 27, 2023, after a ransom that included the victim’s vehicle, and firearms belonging to the victim’s father, was paid.
In December 2024, André’ was charged in a criminal complaint in the District of Colombia in connection with the ransom kidnapping.
“André remains at large and is believed to reside in Village de Dieu,” the State Department said, adding that André and his criminal group are involved cocaine-trafficking as well.
The State Department said that André and 5 Segond are members of the powerful Viv Ansanm gang coalition, which has been designated as a foreign terrorist by the U.S. They are also responsible for 1,035 documented cases of sexual violence.
CMC/jg/ir/2026