Seeking Mr Coke

American anger at Jamaica’s slowness in handing over an alleged gang boss

Mar 11th 2010 | PORT OF SPAIN | From The Economist print edition


UNTIL recently the United States was pleased with the co-operation it was getting from Jamaica over the extradition of people accused of serious crimes. The Jamaican authorities were responding promptly to requests and, last year, sent 15 suspects to the United States. But the case of Christopher “Dudus” Coke seems to be different. The American authorities have become frustrated at what they see as foot-dragging by Jamaica’s government over their request last August for the extradition of a man they say is the leader of an “international criminal organisation”.

A “Gang Threat Assessment Survey” conducted by the Jamaican government last year reckoned there were 268 criminal groups in Jamaica, earning cash from extortion, selling cannabis, transporting cocaine, contract killings, prostitution and international cybercrime. Many of them are merely small-time thugs. But the United States Justice Department has put Mr Coke on its “world’s most dangerous” list, accusing him of directing drug deals as far away as New York.

Mr Coke’s home patch is Tivoli Gardens, a tough inner-city garrison close to the waterfront. It is the core of the Kingston Western parliamentary seat, held since 2005 by the prime minister, Bruce Golding, and for 43 years before that by Eddie Seaga, his predecessor as leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

Two of Mr Coke’s brothers and a sister have been shot dead over the years, either by gangland killers or in shoot-outs with police. His father, Lester Coke, was a leader of the infamous Shower Posse—the gang which, according to the American indictment, his son now runs. It was widely blamed in the 1980s for more than 1,000 murders in Jamaica and America. Mr Coke senior died in a mysterious fire in his prison cell in 1992, while awaiting extradition to America on drugs and murder charges. It was the day of the funeral for another son, Mark, who had been shot dead three weeks earlier. Mr Seaga, then opposition leader, marched alongside party colleagues in the funeral cortège.

The State Department’s annual narcotics report, published on March 1st, talks of a “dramatic change” from earlier co-operation on extradition. It says Mr Coke has “reported ties” to the ruling party and that the delay in extraditing him “highlights the potential depth of corruption in the government.” Although the report acknowledges that a police anti-graft squad has made progress in catching crooked policemen and officials, it says some gang bosses enjoy police and political protection.

Responding to the American criticism, Mr Golding says the extradition request is based on evidence from illegal phone-tapping—an offence, he adds, that carries a five-year prison sentence under Jamaican law. For the processes leading to extradition to start, the respected attorney-general, Dorothy Lightbourne, would have to give her signature. Mr Golding argues that for her to do so in violation of a defendant’s constitutional rights would be a resigning matter.

Mr Coke’s rights will be ably defended by his lawyer, Tom Tavares-Finson, a government-appointed senator who is also one of the JLP’s two members on the island’s Electoral Commission. Speaking to the Jamaica Observer in December, Mr Tavares-Finson said of his client: “Nobody has heard of him being involved in any criminal activity.” He describes Mr Coke as “just an ordinary Jamaican going about his everyday business…trying to improve the lot of his children, his family and his community, with a recognition that he has an influence…and that influence is what is propelling the transformation of western Kingston.”

The community influence his lawyer credits Mr Coke with means that the police might find it difficult and dangerous to find and arrest him. Given his father’s fate, it would be understandable if he were reluctant to submit himself to extradition. If the American allegations of political links are well-founded, some Jamaican public figures may fear that Mr Coke’s arrest would lead to the disclosure of embarrassing information. It is rumoured that he has deposited incriminating documents with lawyers, to be released in the event of his untimely death.

With 1,672 murders last year—the highest number on record—Jamaica is one of the world’s most violent countries. Although it is pressing hard for Mr Coke’s extradition, the United States must also be aware of the risk that his arrest could further destabilise a country that is already racked by drugs-related violence. When his father and brother died in 1992, rioting and gun battles left at least eight dead.

Jamaica, struggling through a recession, has turned to the IMF for help. Any upsurge in violence might cause great damage to the island’s main source of domestic income, tourism. It might also undermine efforts to rebuild nearby Haiti—just 120 miles (193km) away by boat—given the links between Jamaica’s gangs and crime in its earthquake-hit neighbour. America’s State Department says it wants to see Jamaica’s “transformation into a more secure, democratic, prosperous and stable partner.” However Mr Coke’s case turns out, this will not be easy.

Seeking Mr Coke

American anger at Jamaica’s slowness in handing over an alleged gang boss

Mar 11th 2010 | PORT OF SPAIN | From The Economist print edition


UNTIL recently the United States was pleased with the co-operation it was getting from Jamaica over the extradition of people accused of serious crimes. The Jamaican authorities were responding promptly to requests and, last year, sent 15 suspects to the United States. But the case of Christopher “Dudus” Coke seems to be different. The American authorities have become frustrated at what they see as foot-dragging by Jamaica’s government over their request last August for the extradition of a man they say is the leader of an “international criminal organisation”.

A “Gang Threat Assessment Survey” conducted by the Jamaican government last year reckoned there were 268 criminal groups in Jamaica, earning cash from extortion, selling cannabis, transporting cocaine, contract killings, prostitution and international cybercrime. Many of them are merely small-time thugs. But the United States Justice Department has put Mr Coke on its “world’s most dangerous” list, accusing him of directing drug deals as far away as New York.

Mr Coke’s home patch is Tivoli Gardens, a tough inner-city garrison close to the waterfront. It is the core of the Kingston Western parliamentary seat, held since 2005 by the prime minister, Bruce Golding, and for 43 years before that by Eddie Seaga, his predecessor as leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

Two of Mr Coke’s brothers and a sister have been shot dead over the years, either by gangland killers or in shoot-outs with police. His father, Lester Coke, was a leader of the infamous Shower Posse—the gang which, according to the American indictment, his son now runs. It was widely blamed in the 1980s for more than 1,000 murders in Jamaica and America. Mr Coke senior died in a mysterious fire in his prison cell in 1992, while awaiting extradition to America on drugs and murder charges. It was the day of the funeral for another son, Mark, who had been shot dead three weeks earlier. Mr Seaga, then opposition leader, marched alongside party colleagues in the funeral cortège.

The State Department’s annual narcotics report, published on March 1st, talks of a “dramatic change” from earlier co-operation on extradition. It says Mr Coke has “reported ties” to the ruling party and that the delay in extraditing him “highlights the potential depth of corruption in the government.” Although the report acknowledges that a police anti-graft squad has made progress in catching crooked policemen and officials, it says some gang bosses enjoy police and political protection.

Responding to the American criticism, Mr Golding says the extradition request is based on evidence from illegal phone-tapping—an offence, he adds, that carries a five-year prison sentence under Jamaican law. For the processes leading to extradition to start, the respected attorney-general, Dorothy Lightbourne, would have to give her signature. Mr Golding argues that for her to do so in violation of a defendant’s constitutional rights would be a resigning matter.

Mr Coke’s rights will be ably defended by his lawyer, Tom Tavares-Finson, a government-appointed senator who is also one of the JLP’s two members on the island’s Electoral Commission. Speaking to the Jamaica Observer in December, Mr Tavares-Finson said of his client: “Nobody has heard of him being involved in any criminal activity.” He describes Mr Coke as “just an ordinary Jamaican going about his everyday business…trying to improve the lot of his children, his family and his community, with a recognition that he has an influence…and that influence is what is propelling the transformation of western Kingston.”

The community influence his lawyer credits Mr Coke with means that the police might find it difficult and dangerous to find and arrest him. Given his father’s fate, it would be understandable if he were reluctant to submit himself to extradition. If the American allegations of political links are well-founded, some Jamaican public figures may fear that Mr Coke’s arrest would lead to the disclosure of embarrassing information. It is rumoured that he has deposited incriminating documents with lawyers, to be released in the event of his untimely death.

With 1,672 murders last year—the highest number on record—Jamaica is one of the world’s most violent countries. Although it is pressing hard for Mr Coke’s extradition, the United States must also be aware of the risk that his arrest could further destabilise a country that is already racked by drugs-related violence. When his father and brother died in 1992, rioting and gun battles left at least eight dead.

Jamaica, struggling through a recession, has turned to the IMF for help. Any upsurge in violence might cause great damage to the island’s main source of domestic income, tourism. It might also undermine efforts to rebuild nearby Haiti—just 120 miles (193km) away by boat—given the links between Jamaica’s gangs and crime in its earthquake-hit neighbour. America’s State Department says it wants to see Jamaica’s “transformation into a more secure, democratic, prosperous and stable partner.” However Mr Coke’s case turns out, this will not be easy.

Founder of Jamaica's infamous Shower Posse dead He was really a nice guy when you got to know him
BY HOWARD CAMPBELL

ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

KINGSTON, Jamaica -- The founder of a cocaine-smuggling gang blamed for about 1,400 slayings has died of illnesses at a Jamaica hospital, a year after returning to his native island following a prison term in the United States.
Vivian Blake, 53, died Sunday at University Hospital of the West Indies, where he had been admitted a day earlier after suffering a heart attack, according to attorney George Soutar. The lawyer said Blake also had kidney disease and had been receiving dialysis treatment.
In the days before his death, Blake was his "usual effervescent self" and had been working on a screenplay about the Shower Posse, the gang he founded in Brooklyn in the 1970s, Soutar told The Associated Press.
U.S. prosecutors alleged that the Shower Posse - the name came from their alleged practice of showering their enemies with bullets - was responsible for some 1,400 killings in several states during cocaine wars of the 1980s.
Authorities alleged that Blake, who was living in the Fort Lauderdale area at the time, was responsible for smuggling more than 1,000 tons of the drug into the United States.
Blake fled the U.S. in 1988 on a cruise ship and slipped back into his native Jamaica, where he spent five years in an eventually unsuccessful fight against extradition. He pleaded guilty in 2000 to racketeering, conspiracy and cocaine possession and admitted a leadership role in a gang. He received a 28-year sentence as part of a plea bargain.
He was released on parole after eight years and returned to Jamaica in January 2009. He had been apparently living quietly since then, though the Shower Posse gang remains active.
The U.S. has been seeking the extradition of the gang's current alleged leader, Christopher "Dudus" Coke, to face arms and drug trafficking charges in New York.
The government of Jamaica, where gangs have long enjoyed a degree of political protection for their ability to get out the vote in rough neighborhoods, has resisted the request, saying the U.S. has failed to provide sufficient evidence against him.
U.S. authorities allege that under Coke's leadership, Shower Posse members have sold marijuana and crack cocaine in the New York area and elsewhere and funneled profits back to him.
Blake's son, Duane Blake, is author of the 2003 book "The Shower Posse: The Most Notorious Jamaican Crime Organization." Vivian Blake's brother, Paul, was slain at his home in St. Andrew parish in November and no arrests have been made in the case.

Vivian Blake, 54, Founder of Jamaica Drug Gang, Dies
By LIZ ROBBINS
Published: March 25, 2010

Vivian Blake, a former top leader of the Jamaican Shower Posse, which United States prosecutors say was responsible for more than 1,400 drug-related killings in this country in the 1980s, died Sunday night in Kingston, Jamaica. He was 54.

Courtesy of BET Networks
Vivian Blake died in Jamaica.
Mr. Blake died after being brought to the University Hospital of the West Indies complaining of breathing problems, said Ruel Rainford, the senior director of administration and operations. He said an autopsy was planned. Mr. Blake’s daughter, Dominique Blake, said he had been suffering from kidney failure and diabetes.

Since his release from prison in the United States 14 months ago, Mr. Blake had been living in Jamaica and writing a screenplay about his life, said his lawyer, George Soutar.

Mr. Blake, who grew up in poverty in West Kingston, earned a scholarship to St. George’s College, a private high school in Jamaica. He first traveled to New York as part of a cricket team in 1973, and stayed there, establishing the American affiliate of the Shower Posse in Brooklyn.

There are differing accounts of how the gang got its name. Many believe it was derived from a 1980 campaign speech by Edward Seaga of the Jamaican Labor Party, who promised “showers of blessings” in economic opportunity for Jamaicans. The gang was widely seen as aligned with Mr. Seaga’s party. Another version contends that the name came from the way the gang would spray its victims with bullets.

In the United States, Mr. Blake developed a marijuana and cocaine distribution network that spanned major cities from Miami to New York to Los Angeles and even reached as far as Anchorage. A warrant for his arrest was first issued in 1988 after he and other members of the gang were accused in the November 1984 killing of five people in a Miami crack house. Mr. Blake escaped arrest by hopping on a cruise ship in Miami bound for Jamaica, according to a 2008 profile of the Shower Posse on the BET series “American Gangster.”

While fighting extradition in Jamaica, Mr. Blake established a nightclub, motorbike rental agency and a loan company. Another arrest warrant was issued, and in 1999, he was extradited to Miami. As part of a deal to avoid trial, he pleaded guilty to racketeering, criminal conspiracy and drug possession while admitting his leadership role in the gang.

“But what he never admitted to was his responsibility in personally killing anybody,” said his lawyer at the time, David Rowe. “I think he always felt above the fray.” Ms. Blake said her father had shielded her and her older brother, Duane, from his activities. “It wasn’t until a couple years back that I started to learn things in detail,” she said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

“There was not one day in my life I did not speak to him,” said Ms. Blake, who won an N.C.A.A. title in the 4-x-400-meter relay while attending Pennsylvania State University and who now directs Black Knight Investments, the loan company modeled after the one her father started, while training to make the Jamaican Olympic team. Her brother chronicled their father’s life in a 2003 book, “Shower Posse: The Most Notorious Jamaican Crime Organization.”

“We are definitely saddened, as with any death,” said Dr. Peter Phillips, a former Jamaican minister of national security, “but I think it would do Jamaica well to examine his own admissions in his establishment of high-level criminal organizations in Jamaica.”

Federal prosecutors in New York are seeking the extradition of Christopher Coke, the current Shower Posse leader, on charges of drug distribution and firearms trafficking.

Besides his two children, Mr. Blake is survived by his wife, Valerie, and four grandchildren.

Ross Sheil contributed reporting from Kingston, Jamaica.

Blutarsky, now that you have posted this cut and paste, you might follow up by giving a scholarly dissertation on the origins of the gun culture in places like Jamaica and Trinidad. a man of your intellectual fortitude should find a task such as that to be a piece of cake.

You are the man who knows Kingston like the back of his hand .. ....I used to drive by Jane and Finch with the windows rolled up and armed

Jamaica agrees to turn over accused drug kingpin to U.S.

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BY FRANCES ROBLES



Under increasing fire to step down over his handling of the extradition request for a notorious drug lord, Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding did an abrupt about-face Monday and announced he'd hand over the alleged kingpin to face charges in New York.
Golding has been dogged for months over his relationship with with Christopher ``Dudus'' Coke, who U.S. federal authorities have named as one of the world's biggest narcotics traffickers. A grand jury indictment out of U.S. district court in New York City charges that Coke has trafficked in marijuana, cocaine and weapons since the 1990s.
But citing illegally obtained evidence, Golding's Minister of Justice never signed extradition papers.
As rumors swept through Kingston that Golding had approved the extradition request, downtown businesses shuttered their doors in fear of widespread violence, news stations reported. Streets were jammed with traffic had residents fled downtown, CVM News reported.
``This has consumed too much of our energy, and led to paralysis that must be broken,'' Golding said in a late-night televised apology to the nation. ``I regret the entire affair.''
Golding admitted that he offered his resignation, but said his party declined to accept it.
Coke, the alleged leader of the ``Shower Posse'' gang, rules an inner city neighborhood called Tivoli Gardens which Golding represents in Parliament. Coke is close to the ruling Labor Party, enjoys widespread support in the neighborhood and is credited for keeping the area safe.
Golding began to lose his grip on power last week, when he finally acknowledged that he had sanctioned the hiring of a Los Angeles law firm to lobby Washington over Coke's extradition.
Golding argued that the wiretap used to gather evidence against Coke violated treaties and was illegally obtained. The government objected to the use of anonymous witnesses, and insisted that the Department of Justice divulge the name of the unnamed police officer who handled the wiretap.
The officer, the Jamaican government said, had broken the law and should be extradited to Kingston to face charges there.
After months of denials, last week Golding finally said that he had sanctioned the lobbyists -- but acted in his capacity as party leader, not prime minister.
``In hindsight, the party should never have been allowed to intervene in the way that it did, and I should never have allowed it,'' he said.
Golding was dogged all weekend with demands for his ouster and was widely expected to resign this weekend.
Instead, he announced that he would reassign some of his duties to other ministers in an effort to combat corruption, clean up party financing and put an end to tribal politics.
``The prime minister has yielded to considerable political pressure brought upon him by the American government and press,'' said Miami lawyer David Rowe, who has represented Jamaican drug dons. ``Jamaica must renounce violent crime and narcotics trafficking if it is to re-enter the international community of nations. Cocaine and guns are not a future for Jamaica's youth.''



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/17/1634420/jamaica-government-agrees-to-turn.html#ixzz0oNw3tndF

he did what his Uncle told him to do

(CNN) -- The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert for Jamaica on Friday, citing unconfirmed reports of criminal gang members amassing in Kingston and the mobilization of Jamaican defense forces.

"The possibility exists for violence and/or civil unrest in the greater Kingston metropolitan area," the alert said.

"If the situation ignites, there is a possibility of severe disruptions of movement within Kingston, including blocking of access roads to the Norman Manley International Airport," according to the alert.

"The possibility exists that unrest could spread beyond the general Kingston area," the alert said.

The U.S. Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica's capital, is taking extra security precautions, according to the alert, which expires June 21.

"American citizens should consider the risks associated with travel to and within the greater Kingston metropolitan area," the alert said. "U.S. citizens in Jamaica are advised to monitor local news reports and consider the level of security present when venturing outside their residence or hotel."

The United Kingdom on Thursday updated its travel advisory for British citizens in Jamaica.

The British Foreign Office urged UK citizens to take extra care when traveling away from their homes or hotels due to the "increased risk of civil disorder and street violence in Kingston" and potentially other urban areas.

We have been trying to tell the president of the Borrachones thread that he only belongs to one doghouse. The stupid retarded old hag of a fool that he is continues to venture off of the thread and wander onto ones like this and bore people who do not have time to read the garbage that he pastes without any backup points in support. So Dread you simply request a scholarly dissertation and all i have to ask is does ChuckyCacataLaFea even understand what you are saying?