Haitian gangs

[Lucinda F. Boyd]

Amongst the more than 3000 inmates who escaped from Haiti's main prison when the earthquake struck were untold numbers of gang members, including gangsters who once ruled the country's largest slum with violence and intimidation.

One particularly notorious escapee was the warlord known only by his street name "Blade".

These gangs stole guns from officers at the National Penitentiary and went straight to the collapsed justice ministry to set it on fire and destroy any records of their incarceration or criminal history. They then returned to the Cite Soleil shanty town mounted on motorcycles and brandishing assault rifles.