YouTube Just Gave a Prize to a Violent Haitian Gangster Rapper

One of Haiti’s top crime bosses, who heads a gang known for kidnapping and extortion, was just awarded a prize by YouTube for getting  100,000 followers. 

Izo Vilaj de Dye, also a popular rapper, is said to be the leader of one of Haiti’s most violent gangs, Baz 5 Segond, which is allegedly behind a series of kidnappings in Haiti’s capital, Port-Au-Prince, according to local media. 

Vilaj de Dye launched his first single in November 2021, right after 17 foreign missionaries were kidnapped by a rival gang called 400 Mawozo. In his song, Vilaj de Dye accused the Haitian government of arming the gangs with assault weapons.

“The government entered the ghetto. It gave us Galils and it gave us Taurus [gun brand names]. Who did they send to get them back? You will see that they still gave us the police,” Vilaj de Dye wrote in his song se fot yo. 

Vilaj de Dye posted a photo on social media last weekend, holding a stack of cash and the platinum YouTube plaque he was awarded for his first 100,000 subscribers. “Artist Mafia,” Vilaj de Dye wrote in his post. 

Right after announcing his award, a Change.org campaign was launched to remove the gangster rapper’s account from YouTube as people rushed to complain on his page about the platform monetizing an alleged mafia leader. 

“Pray for Haiti while YouTube pays this man,” one YouTube user wrote on Vilaj de Dye’s profile. 

“At the end of the year 2022, BBC reported there were at least 1200 recorded cases of kidnappings in Haiti perpetrated by gang members (…) Among those gangs terrorizing the country and also responsible for most of these kidnapping operations is the most pervasive and infamous gang called: “Baz 5 Segond'' led by: "Izo de Vilaj de Dye,” the Change petition against Vilaj de Dye says. 

“For the amount of violence and insecurity he is responsible for in Haiti, we cannot in good faith allow this individual to continue spreading his influence. He should be recognized globally for what he truly is and be banned from Youtube,” Men Anpil, the campaign organizer wrote in a statement. 

Two days after the campaign launched, Vilaj de Dye wrote “I’m an artist, a true artist,” on his YouTube community tab. 

A week after the change.org campaign was launched, Vilaj de Dye’s YouTube channel seemed to be down.

Vilaj de Dye’s gang is allegedly in control of Village of God, one of the poorest slums in Haiti and where five police officers were killed in a botched raid in 2021. Village of God is also known for having high kidnapping rates. 

Haitian gangs have been accused of wide-ranging human rights violations amid the recent unrest, including murder, child recruitment, and rape.

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged seven Haitian gang leaders for the kidnappings of numerous U.S. citizens, including Emanuel Solomon, aka Manno, a leader of the gang ruling the Village of God neighborhood, who is charged with a kidnapping in January 2021.