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Attorney denies 'Dudus' snatched by US authorities
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Attorney Tom Tavares-Finson on Friday scotched a rumour that Tivoli Gardens don Christopher 'Dudus' Coke had been snatched by US authorities and taken out of the island.
"It is not true," Tavares-Finson told the Sunday Observer, adding that the rumour had created a bit of unnecessary panic in downtown Kingston and that some store owners were closing early.
Police say this house in Plantation Heights, St Andrew belongs to Christopher Coke, who is also known as 'Dudus'.
News surfaced last week that the US authorities have formally requested that the Jamaican Government extradite Coke, also known as 'The President' or 'Shortman', setting tongues wagging at the possible social and political repercussions the request could have on the country.
For years, Coke has managed to stay below the radar, although the very mention of his name drives fear into the hearts of many across the island.
Known as a don-turned-businessman, he wields much power and influence in West Kingston, especially in the Jamaica Labour Party strongholds of Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town.
Coke is the second youngest son of Shower Posse boss Lester Lloyd Coke, also called 'Jim Brown', who died in a mysterious fire in his cell at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre in Kingston in 1992.
That same year, Coke's elder brother and heir to the Shower Posse throne, Mark 'Jah T' Coke, was shot and killed as he rode a motorcycle along the lower section of Maxfield Avenue. Mark Coke was buried in May Pen Cemetery the same day his father burnt to death.
Coke also lost his sister to gunmen's bullets, and in 2005 another brother, Christopher 'Chris Royal' Coke, was cut down by police bullets minutes after the shooting death of Corporal Hewitt Chandler near the Canadian High Commission in the Corporate Area.
According to a police source, Coke's influence stretches wider than his West Kingston fiefdom to other JLP strongholds across the country.
"He is the leading figure among JLP garrisons and many leaders in those communities report to him. He is tremendously powerful and is feared by friends and foes alike," the source told the Sunday Observer.
Since the deaths of his father and brother in 1992, Coke, who attended Ardenne High School, has been the leader of the Tivoli Gardens community.
Coke and his close confidant, Justin O'Gilvie, are partners in the construction company Incomparable Enterprises, which was awarded three contracts valued at $32 million from the Ministry of Water and Housing in June for work in Tivoli Gardens.
Incomparable Enterprises was also awarded a $1.3-million contract , under
emergency procurement, to transport materials from Bull Bay in St Andrew to contain a blaze which broke out at the Riverton City landfill in January.
Coke is also the principal of the Presidential Click company which is headquartered in Tivoli Gardens.
Presidential Click organises the Champions In Action stage show which is known to attract thousands of patrons and has widely been touted as one of few live events staged without any violent incidents.
The show is usually held without the usual battery of security guards and police officers but patrons are known to line up in an orderly fashion and no one dares to jump the fence or get into any of the venues by dishonest means.
"Jamaicans are known for their disorderliness, but they know what will befall them if they behave badly at a Champions in Action show," one cop, who refused to be named, said.
Coke is also a record producer and the promoter of the weekly dance Passa Passa , which is known to last until daylight despite Commissioner Hardley Lewin' s pronouncement last year that no dance should go beyond 2:00 am in accordance with the Night Noise Abatement Act.
"When all other dances are shut down by the police, Passa Passa is seemingly untouchable. It shows just how influential the man is," the cop said.
Police say that Coke also owns several residences, including a lavish house nestled in the cool hills of Plantation Heights in Red Hills, St Andrew.
Coke was arrested in 2005 after police raided his upper St Andrew home and found a small quantity of ganja.
He appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court and was fined $200
or 10 days for ganja possession.
Coke was among several persons whose names were handed over to former police commissioner Colonel Trevor MacMillan by former member of parliament for West Kingston, Edward Seaga.
On Friday, Seaga refused to comment on the latest development involving Coke.
"I have been out of Tivoli Gardens for five years and I have nothing to say on the matter," Seaga told the Sunday Observer.
In his Tivoli Gardens fortress, Coke is known for his benevolence and reportedly hands out money and school supplies at the start of each school year to children in need.
The proceeds are said to come from the profits made at the Champions In Action stage show.
He is also known to be a no-nonsense man who runs his community with an iron fist.
Coke has been credited for the drop in petty theft and crime in downtown Kingston. In Tivoli Gardens, rapists, thieves and others who violate the community order are disciplined harshly.
Coke's influence is said to stretch to overseas cities in England and the United States where his father's underlings once ran amok as the
Shower Posse.
He has been credited with reorganising Shower Posse operatives and has managed to keep them below the radar of the authorities in those countries.
However, he came to the attention of Scotland Yard after a rise in violent crimes among rival Jamaican gangs in the UK in 2001.
He has also been under investigation by the United States authorities since 1999.
Attorney denies 'Dudus' snatched by US authorities
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Attorney Tom Tavares-Finson on Friday scotched a rumour that Tivoli Gardens don Christopher 'Dudus' Coke had been snatched by US authorities and taken out of the island.
"It is not true," Tavares-Finson told the Sunday Observer, adding that the rumour had created a bit of unnecessary panic in downtown Kingston and that some store owners were closing early.
Police say this house in Plantation Heights, St Andrew belongs to Christopher Coke, who is also known as 'Dudus'. News surfaced last week that the US authorities have formally requested that the Jamaican Government extradite Coke, also known as 'The President' or 'Shortman', setting tongues wagging at the possible social and political repercussions the request could have on the country.
For years, Coke has managed to stay below the radar, although the very mention of his name drives fear into the hearts of many across the island.
Known as a don-turned-businessman, he wields much power and influence in West Kingston, especially in the Jamaica Labour Party strongholds of Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town.
Coke is the second youngest son of Shower Posse boss Lester Lloyd Coke, also called 'Jim Brown', who died in a mysterious fire in his cell at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre in Kingston in 1992.
That same year, Coke's elder brother and heir to the Shower Posse throne, Mark 'Jah T' Coke, was shot and killed as he rode a motorcycle along the lower section of Maxfield Avenue. Mark Coke was buried in May Pen Cemetery the same day his father burnt to death.
Coke also lost his sister to gunmen's bullets, and in 2005 another brother, Christopher 'Chris Royal' Coke, was cut down by police bullets minutes after the shooting death of Corporal Hewitt Chandler near the Canadian High Commission in the Corporate Area.
According to a police source, Coke's influence stretches wider than his West Kingston fiefdom to other JLP strongholds across the country.
"He is the leading figure among JLP garrisons and many leaders in those communities report to him. He is tremendously powerful and is feared by friends and foes alike," the source told the Sunday Observer.
Since the deaths of his father and brother in 1992, Coke, who attended Ardenne High School,
has been the leader of the Tivoli Gardens community.Coke and his close confidant, Justin O'Gilvie, are partners in the construction company Incomparable Enterprises, which was awarded three contracts valued at $32 million
from the Ministry of Water and Housing in June for work in Tivoli Gardens.Incomparable Enterprises was also awarded a $1.3-million contract
, under emergency procurement, to transport materials from Bull Bay in St Andrew to contain a blaze which broke out at the Riverton City landfill in January.
Coke is also the principal of the Presidential Click company which is headquartered in Tivoli Gardens.
Presidential Click organises the Champions In Action stage show which is known to attract thousands of patrons and has widely been touted as one of few live events staged without any violent incidents.
The show is usually held without the usual battery of security guards and police officers but patrons are known to line up in an orderly fashion and no one dares to jump the fence or get into any of the venues by dishonest means.
"Jamaicans are known for their disorderliness, but they know what will befall them if they behave badly at a Champions in Action show," one cop, who refused to be named, said.
Coke is also a record producer and the promoter of the weekly dance Passa Passa
, which is known to last until daylight despite Commissioner Hardley Lewin' s pronouncement last year that no dance should go beyond 2:00 am in accordance with the Night Noise Abatement Act. "When all other dances are shut down by the police, Passa Passa is seemingly untouchable. It shows just how influential the man is," the cop said.
Police say that Coke also owns several residences, including a lavish house nestled in the cool hills of Plantation Heights in Red Hills, St Andrew.
Coke was arrested in 2005 after police raided his upper St Andrew home and found a small quantity of ganja.
He appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court and was fined $200
or 10 days for ganja possession.Coke was among several persons whose names were handed over to former police commissioner Colonel Trevor MacMillan by former member of parliament for West Kingston, Edward Seaga.
On Friday, Seaga refused to comment on the latest development involving Coke.
"I have been out of Tivoli Gardens for five years and I have nothing to say on the matter," Seaga told the Sunday Observer.
In his Tivoli Gardens fortress, Coke is known for his benevolence and reportedly hands out money and school supplies at the start of each school year to children in need.
The proceeds are said to come from the profits made at the Champions In Action stage show.
He is also known to be a no-nonsense man who runs his community with an iron fist.
Coke has been credited for the drop in petty theft and crime in downtown Kingston. In Tivoli Gardens, rapists, thieves and others who violate the community order are disciplined harshly.
Coke's influence is said to stretch to overseas cities in England and the United States where his father's underlings once ran amok as the
Shower Posse.
He has been credited with reorganising Shower Posse operatives and has managed to keep them below the radar of the authorities in those countries.
However, he came to the attention of Scotland Yard after a rise in violent crimes among rival Jamaican gangs in the UK in 2001.
He has also been under investigation by the United States authorities since 1999.
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