The heat is officially on after Donald Trump placed an incredible $5 million price tag on the head of Jimmy Barbecue Chrizier, Haiti’s most dreaded gang leader. The 48-year-old former police officer who is now a warlord is charged with funneling money from the United States directly into the coffers of his armed enforcers in order to finance his brutal rule over Port-au-Prince.
Anyone who can assist in the capture or conviction of Chrizier, who is wanted for allegedly breaking U.S. sanctions, will receive the enormous reward, according to the Justice Department. According to the prosecution, he and his alleged partner, Bazile Richardson, devised a plan to extort money from Haitian-Americans and send it home to purchase weapons and pay gang payroll. Barbecue is still out there, armed, dangerous, and raging the streets despite Richardson, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was detained in Texas last month.
Breaking: Jimmy Barbecue Cherizier, a gang leader, has been charged with conspiring to break US sanctions. Bazile Richardson, a co-conspirator from the United States, was detained in Texas.tweet.com/TwpNSEDmo2
August 12, 2025, Haitian Times (@HaitianTimes_)
He is a gang leader who has committed horrific human rights violations, such as violence against American people in Haiti, according to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirrodidon, who did not mince words. That’s an understatement. Accused of murders, rapes, extortion, and kidnappings, Chrizier is the leader of the G9 Family and Allies alliance of heavily armed gangs that have made Haiti’s capital one of the world’s most dangerous locations.
His moniker, Barbecue, is a tale unto itself. He claims that his mother’s grilled chicken stand is the source of it. He used to set enemy houses on fire while the occupants were still there, according to local rumors. In any case, it has stayed and is being displayed on wanted posters with a reward of millions of dollars.
The warlord has a lengthy and graphic criminal history. He is held accountable for the La Saline atrocity in 2018, which resulted in the burning of hundreds of homes and the murder of at least 70 individuals. Since 2020, he has been on the U.S. Treasury’s sanctions list, and two years later, the U.N. added its own penalties.
Prosecutors claim that Chrizier’s U.S. fundraising network was blatant. Allegedly, Haitian-Americans were instructed to transfer money, which was subsequently routed via intermediaries in Haiti. Receipts, which served as evidence that the money had reached the correct gang boss, were allegedly photographed and returned in certain instances.
“The National Security Division does not tolerate criminal gang fundraising in the United States,” stated Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg bluntly, threatening severe repercussions for anybody who assists Barbecue.
This evening, Haitians gathered to demonstrate against former President Donald Trump at his event in Uniondale, New York. @DCReportMediapic.twitter.com/EiiIv1naYO
9/18/2024 Jack Walsh (@jdwalsh23)
Street criminality is only one aspect of Chrizier’s reach. The surge of violence that overthrew Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry last year and plunged the already precarious nation into even greater disarray was largely caused by his G9 alliance.
Haiti is still mired in a nightmare of poverty, fear, and gang rule. Despite the entry of a security force led by Kenya to try to pacify the country, the U.N. reports that over 3,100 people were killed in the first half of this year alone. Ordinary Haitians are caught in the crossfire as heavily armed gangs continue to control the majority of Port-au-Prince.
Barbecue is thought to be hiding in Haiti for the time being. U.S. officials are placing a wager that someone will decide that the $5 million payout outweighs their allegiance and bring one of the most infamous gang bosses in the world to prison.
