A mini-war in Jamaica

There have been some threads in the Big Forums but they tend to sink pretty fast. Jamaican newspaper reporting officials saying up to 44 people killed in three days of firefights gangs vs. army. Apparently violence is still going on tonight.



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Dudus still at large
Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, the No. 1 target which sparked an unprecedented assault by the Jamaican army on Tivoli Gardens and other crime havens, is still missing, even as dozens of fatalities were reported from gunfights across Kingston in three days of intense urban warfare.


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Public defender says 44 killed
Mark Beckford & Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporters

No fewer than 44 Jamaicans have been killed in the clashes between security forces and gunmen in west Kingston, according to Public Defender Earl Witter.

Witter, Political Ombudsman Herro Blair and Jamaica Red Cross officials visited Tivoli Gardens yesterday to conduct an independent assessment of the operations being carried out by the security forces.

"The police, I gather, have put out a figure of some 26 dead so far. Our own head count supercedes that. In fact, we visited the morgue and were told that no fewer than 35 bodies were lodged there, and most of them were males, mainly young adults," Witter told The Gleaner late last night.

Witter said that while he was at the morgue, a crew was leaving to go to Lizard Town area to gather another nine bodies. He said that his information suggests that the number will rise.

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~~~~~~~~~ snip ~~~~~~~~

Meade was less forceful in responding to the bombing allegations. Said he: "The Jamaica Defence Force owns no fighter jets, so I cannot speak to that. I am not sure what person refer to when they talk about bombs, so I can't speak to that either," said Meade.

The authorities made no mention of a drone which was seen monitoring the war zone from the skies on Monday.

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A drone overflying the war zone? Strange. Who has drones in Jamaica? Is the U.S. involved?


http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100526/lead/lead11.html

A Case Built in New York Against a Jamaican Kingpin
By BENJAMIN WEISER
Published: May 26, 2010

In October 2007, federal drug enforcement agents were questioning a man who had been arrested in the Bronx on gun and drug charges when he began to talk about someone he depicted as “one of the most powerful men in all of Jamaica,” records show.

The man, Lloyd Reid, said he was referring to Christopher Coke, the notorious gang leader whose resistance to extradition to New York has led to violence and deaths this week in Jamaica as the authorities have hunted for him.

In seeking Mr. Coke’s extradition, Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, has charged that for more than a decade he has controlled an international drug ring from his neighborhood stronghold of Tivoli Gardens in Kingston. Prosecutors say Mr. Coke’s operatives in New York send him part of their drug proceeds and buy guns that they ship to him.

In Jamaica, he distributes the firearms, bolstering his authority and influence, a federal indictment charges.

The prosecutor’s office has not made public its extradition papers against Mr. Coke, but court records in New York show that investigators have been building a case against him through court-approved wiretaps and the questioning of people like Mr. Reid.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/world/americas/27coke.html

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I've seen that name "Dudus" around today but was in such a hurry I still don't know about this. Thankful for your comments, looking forward to returning later to read closely.

Kingston residents fear police more than drug dealer Michael 'Dudus' Coke

After days of bloodshed that turned Kingston into a warzone, the world now knows the name of fugitive drugs kingpin Christopher "Dudus" Coke. Our author examines how his gang became so powerful in Jamaica - and beyond.

By Tony Thompson in Kingston Jamaica
Published: 8:25AM BST 30 May 2010

Ask the people of Tivoli Gardens, Kingston's most notorious "garrison" community, who they consider to be the greatest threat to their wellbeing and the answer is always emphatic: the police.

Little wonder. Prior to last week's bloodshed the area had one of the lowest-reported crime rates throughout the entire city.

Although murals of the prime minister, Bruce Golding, adorn many of the pastel-coloured four-storey blocks and low-rise homes, alongside graffiti urging the residents to support his Jamaica Labour Party, life here is controlled by a force far more powerful than any government.

According to the US State department, Michael "Dudus" Coke is a major drugs and arms trafficker but to those who have fought and died to defend him over the past week, he is the one they rely on to settle local disputes, ensure their children's schoolbooks and shoes on their feet, that holes in their roofs get patched up and rubbish is collected. Most importantly, Dudus is the only one they can rely on to keep them safe from armed incursions by rival garrisons.

To grow up in Kingston is to grow up knowing death and violence from an early age. Each community is allied to and supported by one or other of the two main political parties – the JLP or the People's National Party (PNP). Local MPs fight for seats by guaranteeing the desperately impoverished substantial financial aid for their communities in return for their support. It didn't take long for those living in the worst ghettos to cotton on to the idea of using force to ensure votes in their area went a certain way or, better yet, that all those in a neighbouring community also fell in line.

More:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/jamaica/7783565/Kingston-residents-fear-police-more-than-drug-dealer-Michael-Dudus-Coke.html

Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter

Published: Sunday | May 30, 2010

"YOU HAVE five seconds fi tell mi wah mi waah know," Clive claimed he was told by two policemen while they held guns to his head at his home in Tivoli Gardens last Monday.

The cops, along with soldiers, were searching for Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, the area don many residents had declared that they were willing to die for.

~~~~~~~~~~ snip ~~~~~~~~~

When di police give me mi last five seconds, mi tell him mi nuh have nuttin fi tell him except dat a fada God in charge," Clive said.

A miracle

According to Clive, what happened next was nothing short of a miracle.

"One a dem squeeze the trigger and mi hear it click several times, but nuttin nuh come out. One a dem ask mi how mi science (obeah) so strong, and mi tell him is not science, it's the power of the Lord," added Clive.


http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100530/lead/lead2.html

Posted on Tuesday, 06.01.10
Jamaican drug king's father found fertile ground in Miami

http://media.miamiherald.com.nyud.net:8090/smedia/2010/06/01/08/Lester_Coke_1_MHD_JW.embedded.prod_affiliate.56.JPG

The father of Christopher `Dudus' Coke -- at
the center of a deadly gun battle in Kingston
-- found a fertile ground in Miami in the
1980s for his criminal activities.

BY
JENNIFER LEBOVICH AND TRENTON DANIEL
jlebovich@MiamiHerald.com

It was 1988 and Lester Lloyd Coke's Shower Posse -- a notorious Jamaican drug gang -- was deep into gun and drug running. He was wanted in a South Florida courtroom to answer to murder and drug charges, but never made it to Miami to stand trial.

Now, two decades later, another Coke is accused of running the Shower Posse.

It's Lester's son, Christopher ``Dudus'' Coke, the man wanted for extradition by the U.S. on drug and weapons charges and the object of a manhunt that has touched off a bloody battle between Jamaican authorities and his supporters in Kingston. The government announced last week that the violence had claimed 73 lives.

``All of this old stuff is coming up again,'' said Len Cartor, a former Miami-Dade police sergeant who worked in the department's warrants bureau and arrested the father, also known as Jim Brown, in the 1980s.

Though the father has been dead for 18 years, there's still a painting of him in Tivoli Gardens, where some of the fiercest fighting between government troops and gunmen loyal to Christopher Coke took place last week. It reads: ``Legend Jim Brown, don of dons.''

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/31/1657484/cokes-dad-once-thrived-in-miami.html#ixzz0pdXhXqBv