A GANG LEADER believed to be linked to the kidnapping of Irish missionary Gena Heraty has been placed on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list.

On 3 August, Gena was abducted along with seven others, including a three-year-old child, from the Sainte-Hélène orphanage in Kenscoff, Haiti.

Gena, a native of Westport, Co Mayo, oversees the Sainte-Helene orphanage in Kenscoff, 10km southeast of the capital Port-au-Prince.

The facility is operated by humanitarian organisation Nos Petits Frères et Sœurs (Our Little Brothers and Sisters).

Gena Heraty, who was kidnapped from an orphanage in Haiti. University of Limerick University of Limerick

It is believed the gang behind the abduction are associated with Viv Ansanm, a powerful criminal alliance that has seized control of much of Kenscoff.

Jimmy Cherizier is a former officer in the Haitian National Police and currently the leader of Viv Ansanm.

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information that leads to his arrest or conviction.

“There’s a good reason that there’s a $5 million reward for information leading to Cherizier’s arrest,” US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said at a press conference.

“He’s a gang leader responsible for heinous human rights abuses, including violence against American citizens in Haiti,” she added.

Cherizier and another man, Bazile Richardson, have been indicted on charges of conspiring to transfer funds from the US to fund gang activities in Haiti.

The Justice Department said that Cherizier and Richardson, a naturalised US citizen who was arrested in Texas last month, raised funds from members of the Haitian diaspora in the US and had the money transferred to intermediaries in the Caribbean nation.

Cherizier allegedly used the funds to pay salaries to members of his gang and purchase firearms.

Cherizier has ties to the Dominican Republic but is currently believed to be located in Port au Prince.

He is also known as Barbecue, BBQ, or Babekyo, has tattoos on his right forearm and is 48-years-old.

In 2020, Cherizier was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption.

The former policeman heads an alliance of gangs whose members are accused of murder, robbery, extortion, rape, targeted assassinations, drug trafficking and kidnappings.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, with swaths of the country and the vast majority of the capital Port-au-Prince under the control of armed gangs.

Despite the deployment of a Kenyan-led multinational force to back up Haiti’s police, violence has continued to soar.

At least 3,141 people have been killed in the first half of this year, according to figures released last month by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

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Meanwhile, Pope Leo XIV recently called for the release of Gena and the seven others who were abducted earlier this month.

During his Angelus prayer last Sunday, the Pope remarked that the “situation of the people of Haiti is increasingly desperate”.

The situation of the Haitian people is increasingly desperate. There are constant reports of murders, violence of all kinds, human trafficking, forced exile, and kidnappings. I make a heartfelt appeal to all responsible to release the hostages immediately, and I ask for the…

— Pope Leo XIV (@Pontifex) August 10, 2025

“Reports of murders, violence of all kinds, human trafficking, forced exile and kidnappings continue to pour in,” he added.

He made a “heartfelt appeal to all those responsible to release the hostages immediately”.

Pope Leo also called for the “firm support of the international community to create the social and institutional conditions that will allow the Haitian people to live in peace”.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince described the kidnappings as an “attack on society” which took place in a “climate of dehumanisation”.

-With additional reporting from © AFP 2025