The implications of last week’s request by the United States government for the extradition of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) strongman Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke on alleged drug trafficking charges are expected to unfold in the coming weeks and months.

Under existing conditions, the US request for his extradition would be forwarded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after which it is expected to be sent to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), then to the Attorney General’s office and back to the DPP where arrests warrants are drawn up and sent to the police.

Coke is the leader of Tivoli Gardens, where residents are fiercely loyal to the ruling party. Details are sketchy, but Coke is believed to be on a list of drug trafficking suspects wanted by the US Drug Enforcement Agency.

His father, Lester Lloyd Coke, otherwise known as Jim Brown, leader of the feared Shower Posse, died at the General Penitentiary in 1992 while awaiting extradition to the US for murder and drug trafficking.

Coke’s brother, Omar, was one of two alleged cop killers shot by police after they reportedly gunned down a police corporal at the intersection of West Kings House and Waterloo roads in May 2003. Prior to that, Mark Anthony Coke, his elder brother, was gunned down in 1992.

Coke’s troubles

Christopher Coke has had his own troubles with the law. In 1997, he was charged for murder after he allegedly shot and killed Michael Porter at the Metropolitan Bus Terminus in downtown Kingston. He was exonerated.

The community leader was also implicated in a triple murder in Hannah Town, which rocked the nation in 1993, when two children and an old man were killed in a blaze of gunfire.

The victims, Errol Hines, 66-year-old shoemaker, seven-year-old Lorna Mitchell and five-year-old Audrey Collins were gunned down during a pre-dawn strike on the community. Coke appeared in court in March 1994, but the case was dismissed after the main witness changed her testimony. She was cited for perjury.

Coke’s rule, however, has not been smooth. He earned the wrath of former Opposition Leader Edward Seaga in 1994, after Tivoli Gardens gangsters clashed with opponents in the west Kingston constituency.

Fifteen persons, including seven-year-old Crystal Francis of 13 Wellington Street, were murdered. An angry Seaga, who was then the MP for west Kingston, submitted a list of names of 13 men to then commissioner of police, Colonel Trevor MacMillan (retired), and threatened to publish a full-page ad with a reward of $25,000 for Coke’s capture.

Coke’s current status with Prime Minister Bruce Golding, Member of Parliament for west Kingston, is not clear. According to sources in the constituency, PM Golding has been forced to deal with the strongman who, like his predecessors, Claudie Massop, and Coke’s father, is well cemented in the constituency.

Tightly controlled

It is well known that like other garrison communities, west Kingston is tightly controlled. According to sources, under the rules which govern the community, gang members who take guns into the community, must declare them and then a decision is taken whether they should keep the weapons. In some cases, members are allowed to keep their weapons if they are of the calibre that is usually kept on the street corners. Otherwise, the system owns and controls all guns.

The history of the community was among factors which influenced incumbent commissioner of police Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin to describe the community as the “mother of all garrisons” while he was head of the army.

There is no doubt that the US request sent shockwaves throughout the country and especially in the JLP strongholds, as many are sitting on the fence watching how the government would deal with its latest dilemma.