Jamaican Organized Crime After The Fall of Dudus Coke

This article examines how Jamaican organized crime has reshaped after the so-called “Dudus affair,” which shook Jamaica’s political system as one of the country’s bloodiest confrontations since its 1962 independence. It looks at how Jamaican politicians, seeing the threat Coke posed, have tried to back away from their long-standing relationship with gang leaders. It finds that Coke’s fall has left a power vacuum within Jamaican ghettoes that other contenders are trying to fill.  Jamaican traffickers from the Shower Posse and other gangs have morphed into more fragmented groups to stay off the radar of law enforcement. These smaller cells have been effective at trafficking cocaine, helping the Caribbean regain its foothold as a major smuggling corridor from Colombia to the United States.

Following the “Dudus affair,” Jamaican traffickers have splintered into smaller groups to avoid detection and conspiracy charges. These groups have been effective at smuggling, and the Caribbean has become more important as a corridor for cocaine heading to the United States. The loss of Coke, however, has left a power vacuum in certain Jamaican ghettoes. A new strongman may arise to fill this space unless the fundamental causes of crime and violence in these areas are resolved

Jamaican politicians appear to have learned from this confrontation and backed away from their historic links to criminal gangs in the last three years. Nevertheless, these links have deep roots, and it remains to be seen whether Jamaican politicians avoid turning back to gang leaders to deliver them votes in the future.

http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/jamaican-organized-crime-after-the-fall-of-dudus-coke

Too many Jamaicans lends support to merchants of death

With Jamaicans spiraling murder rate in Jamaica, many including myself are hoping for solutions to the problem, which would see a reduction in the murder rate.

We can all agree on that.

The methodology to get to the end game is where the problem is as many want to see a quick fix to the problem, which goes as follows.

The cops should determine the identity of the criminals, find them and them eliminate them and the problems would have been solved.

Let’s examine what this really means and the success rate we have seen by doing this .

Special Squad	Yr Formed	# Murder	Crime rate
	1970	152
	1971	145
	1972	170
	1973	227
	1974	195
	1975	266
Echo Squad	1976	367	Up
	1977	409
	1978	381
	1979	351
Ranger Squad	1980	899	Up
Eradication Squad	1981	490	Down
	1982	405
	1983	424
	1984	484
Area 4 Task Force	1986	449	Down
Area 4 Task Force	1987	442	Down
	1988	414
	1989	439
	1990	543
	1991	561
	1992	629
ACID	1994	690	Up
Operation Crest	1995	780
Operation Dovetail	1998	953	Up
Operation Intrepid	1999	849	Down
Special Anti Crime Task Force (SACTF) / CMU	2000	887	Up
Major Investigative Team	2002	1045	Up
	2003	975
Operation Kingfish	2004	1471	Up
	2005	1674
	2006	1340
	2007	1574
	2008	1601
	2009	1680
	2010	1428
	2011	1125
Moca	2012	1097	Down
Anti Lotto Scam task Force	2013	1200	Up

For the life of me I cannot understand why anyone would think that the method to really solve crime is to systematically kill the player, when there is clear evidence to suggest that, this has been a failure from the 1970’s.

The way to solve crime is better investigation,  meticulous evidence gathering, top-notch case building and patience.

The problem with us is we need it fast and in a hurry and so crime scene investigation is reduced simply to picking up of spent shells and appealing for so called suspects to come in or risk being killed on an allegation of being a suspect.

That is just lazy and too many Jamaicans support this approach.

Just today I wrote about the east Kingston where criminal gangs have taken over people homes and them asking them to pay rent to live in their own homes and what does the police do?

They issue a release to say what I said above and then issue and appeal for residents to report such cases to the police. One would therefore left to ask the logic question, how did the cops learn about this trend ?

Since the cops are aware, what does it take for them to go in , determine who these folks are and arrest them. While the cops are issuing press release the people of East Kingston are living in fear, what kind of crap is this.

Is this the same police force which has suggested it will be taking steps to protect the Chinese residents in Jamaica, but is unable or unwilling to protect the people of East Kingston from known criminals, or are these criminals ghost ?

To cripple criminal gangs you need to strike surgical and take down the entire group in a coordinated and simultaneous raid. Killing the leaders does on  of two things

1. Allow a another guy to assume leadership
2. Split the gang into smaller gangs with no real “head”, which now makes them more dangerous and hard to bring under control.

UNITED STATES v. LEE ( Jamaica provided wire tap info)

Defendant-appellant Stephen Lee (“Lee” or “defendant”), an American citizen, appeals from a February 3, 2012 amended judgment of conviction entered by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Allyne R. Ross, Judge ). In this appeal we consider: (1) whether the District Court erred in denying Lee’s motion to suppress evidence obtained pursuant to wiretap orders executed against him abroad by a Jamaican law enforcement agency where that agency had a close and ongoing collaboration with its United States counterpart; and (2) whether the District Court erred in denying Lee’s motion to compel the application materials and other documentation underlying those foreign wiretap orders. –

Selected excerpts

The MOU likewise contemplated that the Jamaican government would provide the fruits of wiretaps to the United States in a format (i.e., on a disc) that the Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”) could use as evidence in American courts. –

 

During the course of a subsequent investigation, which took place from October 2006 to February 2009, Jamaican authorities, with authorization from that country’s Supreme Court, intercepted wire communications on several telephones in Jamaica. Lee was not a target of this surveillance, but he was captured speaking about drug shipments to individuals in Jamaica who were targets.

Jay’s comments, I wonder who were the target and what became of this target?  It would appear the Americans were not interested in the target, but Jamaica did. The Americans got their man, did Jamaica get it’s man .

Lee claims that the close, ongoing, and formalized collaboration between the DEA and VU rendered the latter “virtual agents” of American law enforcement in the context of the parallel investigations. Appellant’s Br. 58. We disagree. A review of the record makes clear that, while the United States and Jamaica agreed on several measures designed to facilitate collaboration and cooperation in transnational drug investigations, the Jamaican investigation of Lee was an independent undertaking by a foreign sovereign. Indeed, Jamaican law enforcement officials (1) initiated their investigation into the marijuana trafficking organization with which Lee was associated before the DEA commenced its investigation; and (2) did not solicit the views, much less approval, of DEA agents prior to conducting surveillance. Moreover, DEA agents were likewise not involved in the actual interception or translation, from Jamaican dialect, of the conversations at issue. Nor did the DEA make a formal request that Jamaican authorities conduct surveillance on Lee or other members of the marijuana trafficking organization. –

Who were the targets and did Jamaica get their target ???

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-2nd-circuit/1633667.html#sthash.HYDcC7gW.dpuf

What Ganja law did the PNP sign with the USA, which could impact ganja debate?

Is there any truth that a former national security minister of the PNP signed some agreement/mou with the USA,  that could severely impact Jamaica’s ability to tap into what has now become know as the Medical Marijuana industry.

I have been informed that Jamaica could stand to lose billions of dollars from this growing business unless the GOJ and the USA revist this MOU/Agreement, with view of allowing the country to benefit from what is said to be a lucrative industry.

I would like for the current Minister of National Security, Peter Bunting to tell the country, what agreements/MOU were signed and the impact those could have on Jamaica’s ability to first decriminalize and then make the product legal as well as exportation of the product?

My sources tell me all this noise you hear is just that and at the end of the day, nothing will change unless the USA gives its blessing.

I hope my sources are wrong this time around. ( 95% of the have it spot on.)

Wil post the various pieces of MOU as they become available

1. mou on drugs
2. MOU #2

It feels like the 1970’s all over again. Houses being captured in East Kingston !

In East Kingston legitimate home owners are being chased from their house by criminals gangs and are being told, they can return only if they agree to pay rent to these criminals for their own homes.

This reminds me of the 1970’s when thousands of Jamaicans had to flee their homes, which were then “captured” by known PNP goons. The country is falling off a cliff and their are applause in some quarters.

The man who runs east kingston is no other that the man who appears to be short on energy, where it matter most.

WTF is wrong with this country ?????