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Drug kingpin faces up to 23 years in prison after admitting in US court to trafficking and violence A Jamaican drug smuggler who unleashed a small war in Kingston last year in an attempt to avoid extradition to the US is facing more than 20 years in prison after pleading guilty in a New York court to trafficking and violence. Christopher “Dudus” Coke, 42, who was once regarded by many Jamaicans as the most powerful man in their country, admitted trafficking more than three tonnes of marijuana and 30lb (14kg) of cocaine to the US, and to ordering the stabbing of a marijuana dealer in New York. “I’m pleading guilty because I am,” said Coke, who faces up to 23 years in prison when he is sentenced in December. The plea, which saved Coke from the possibility of a life sentence, was welcomed by political leaders in Jamaica. Some will be relieved that it does not require him to reveal the powerful political ties that enabled him to run his drug trafficking empire unhindered from the Tivoli Gardens neighbourhood of the capital, Kingston, until the government finally bowed to US pressure last year and sent the police and army in to arrest him. More than 70 people died in the ensuing battle, including some in summary execution-style killings by soldiers. Coke reached the deal a week after a judge ruled that tapes of bugged phone conversations in which he discusses smuggling marijuana, cocaine and weapons could be played in court. He would also have faced several witnesses who prosecutors said would testify that Coke ran a small and violent army, known as the Shower Posse because of its tactic of showering its enemies with bullets, to control the smuggling of drugs through Jamaica. Prosecutors said they would produce evidence that Coke personally killed several people, including cutting up a man with a chainsaw. The prosecution said he was also personally responsible for other murders, shootings and beatings. “Because Coke’s heavily armed soldiers patrolled the Tivoli Gardens community, it was largely closed to Jamaican law enforcement,” prosecutors said in court papers. “Coke’s influence over his New York-based narcotics trafficking co-conspirators, from his base in Kingston, was fundamentally a function of his soldiers’ involvement and reputation for violence and the fact that many family members of these US-based traffickers had stayed behind in Jamaica and were, therefore, vulnerable to threats and intimidation.” Peter Bunting, security minister for the opposition People’s National party, told the Jamaica Gleaner that he was not surprised by Coke’s plea. “Once Mr Coke’s request to reject wiretapping evidence into evidence was turned down by the court, there would have been little chance of him getting away as the evidence, coupled with that of the witness co-operation, has been so strong.” Before his conviction, months of speculation in Jamaica suggested Coke would seek to avoid a more substantial sentence by doing a deal with prosecutors that would prove highly embarrassing to the Jamaican government and some prominent politicians. Tivoli Gardens is one of the neighbourhoods known as “garrisons” because they were built by one of Jamaica’s two political parties during their rotations of power and could be relied on to deliver up the vote accordingly. They also proved to be breeding grounds for criminal organisations that became key to the parties maintaining their grip on the vote. Tivoli Gardens is the constituency of Jamaica’s prime minister, Bruce Golding, who has denied links to Coke. But the drug lord commanded considerable support in Tivoli Gardens by helping the poor send their children to school and buying food and clothes for hard-up families, and was regarded as a political force in delivering votes for Golding and his party. The country’s political and business leaders promised that the political links with organised crime and the dependence of the poor on the gangs would change after Coke was extradited, but residents of Tivoli Gardens have complained that they have seen few improvements in their circumstances. Many remain loyal to Coke and the Jamaican press reported that many residents were shocked that he did not fight the case. Some noted that his mother’s death last week may have had a bearing on his mental state. In an editorial, the Jamaica Observer called on Coke to reveal all that he knew before he was sentenced so that the political system could finally be cleaned up. “Between now and then, we hope that Mr Coke will ‘sing like a bird’, naming names and pointing fingers. In a small society such as ours, it is not possible for Mr Coke to have been able to run such a ‘successful’ organisation without the involvement of well-placed individuals in both the public and private sectors. Not to mention the beneficiaries of his nefarious activities,” it said. “Among the 73 people who died by official count are people whose blood cries out for justice. “Someone must account for the trauma suffered by this nation, particularly during the security forces’ operation to flush out thugs from Tivoli Gardens, and for the severe battering that our national image and economy took internationally.” Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke Jamaica Drugs trade United States Chris McGreal guardian.co.uk