Jimmy took advantage of the fact that work had not yet ended, and went straight to Ruiz's office to find him. Neil had just mentioned Haitian voodoo, and considering it's from Haiti, seeking Ruiz for information was the quickest option. There had been data on Haitian gangs in materials he'd seen before, but he had not paid much attention to them at the time, because compared with the gangs from El Salvador, the Haitian ones were significantly less threatening.
MS13 is the gang from El Salvador that spans across Latin America and North America, daring in combat and willing to do anything.
The Haitian gangs weren't nearly as formidable. Due to a decision the United States had made to deport members of Haitian gangs from American prisons back to Haiti, the country had become overrun with hundreds of different gangs, engaging in infighting and robbing civilians.
Moreover, Haiti itself was in great disarray, which triggered a relentless wave of refugees over the years, with Haitian citizens flooding toward the United States. As Haiti is an island nation not far from the United States, they only needed to travel by boat to reach Florida in the southeast, although there were other methods too. In any case, it was easy for them to become refugees or to hide away as undocumented immigrants.
Among these refugees were also many former gang members. They established various organizations in the United States, but in comparison with the Salvadorans who became refugees and undocumented immigrants in the US, the Haitian gangs were generally not very powerful. Of course, there were some ruthless individuals among them, but the gangs were not able to gain significant influence.
Due to the large number, Jimmy wasn't certain about their information in New York, so he absolutely needed Ruiz's help. He was sure Ruiz would remember something, at least enough to help locate the corresponding data.
Luckily, although it was nearly quitting time, Ruiz had not yet left. However, Jimmy noticed that Ruiz looked quite exhausted, and even seemed to have lost weight, after not having seen him for some time.
Jimmy knocked on the door and entered, "Ruiz, you look terrible. What happened?"
Ruiz looked up at Jimmy, "Oh, it's you. I'm fine. What brings you here?"
Jimmy didn't press Ruiz further about his condition. Since he didn't want to talk, it was best not to pry. "Yeah, I need your help. Do you remember anything about the Haitian gangs?"
Ruiz looked at Jimmy, "What about them? Why the sudden interest in gangs?"
Jimmy handed over a photograph, "There's a case involving a buried corpse. This was dug up near the body, and after discussing it with Peter's team, it's confirmed that this is a Voodoo Doll from Haitian voodoo. It's highly likely. So, I'm trying to find out where in New York the Haitian community congregates."
Ruiz glanced at the photograph, "If you're looking for Haitians, that's going to be tough. As far as I remember, they don't have any particularly large gangs, but I do recall there are quite a lot of Haitians in New York, at least a hundred thousand, and it wouldn't be surprising if it exceeded three hundred thousand, including the undocumented."
Jimmy, with a frown, asked, "That many? Where are they concentrated?"
Ruiz got up, "Let me check the files." He left the office and returned after a while with two folders.
Ruiz, "The Haitian gangs are all quite small. We've only recorded two: one is a branch of G9, whose headquarters is in Haiti; what we have here are just some subordinates who have organized themselves. Although they are the biggest gang in Haiti, here in New York, they only have a few dozen people. The second one is 400 Mawozo, which also doesn't have many members and is very loose; we hardly pay them any attention. Take a look for yourself." (These two gangs are real, and among the Haitian refugees in the United States, many have successfully become citizens, with even more being undocumented.)
Jimmy took the material, and while reviewing it, he clicked his tongue in disappointment. The leads were nearly useless. With the large numbers of Haitian refugees combined with the local homeless population, many undocumented individuals simply chose to wander aimlessly, lacking any specific gathering place.
As for the two gangs mentioned by Ruiz, they were both in the Bronx, as the gang territories in Brooklyn had largely solidified, making it difficult for these disorganized newcomers to secure a stable turf there. To carve out a spot in Brooklyn, they would have to compete with Italians, Russians, native gangs, and South American gangs—all of whom were vicious.
This made things complicated, for the body was found in a park in Brooklyn. Logically, the person who buried the body wouldn't be located too far from there. If they came from the Bronx, the round trip would take more than 2 hours, even longer in traffic. If the target area were limited to Brooklyn, there seemed to be no Haitian enclaves; unlike the Italian, Jewish, Chinese, and Russian communities, they didn't have dedicated gathering places, making the search much more difficult.
Jimmy noted down the information on the gang leaders from Ruiz's desk, "Thanks, Ruiz. I'll have a chat with them and see if I can get something useful."
Ruiz shook his head at Jimmy, "You're going on your own? Call me when you go; they don't know you, and you might not even get to see their faces."
Jimmy smiled, "You've got so much on your plate, no need to waste time on such a trivial matter. I'll give it a try first."
Ruiz, "No way. You tell me in advance when you're going, and I'll make contact. I'm not worried about you, but I don't want to be hassled by OPR again. This is non-negotiable." (OPR represents an internal affairs-like unit within the FBI, Office of Professional Responsibility or Office of Professional Standards.)
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.