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  1. #1
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    Jamaica's P. M. Hires Firm to Lobby vs. US Extradition, Drug

    Updated May 12, 2010

    Jamaica's prime minister: I authorized firm to lobby against drug suspect's extradition to US

    Associated Press

    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico

    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Jamaica's prime minister has acknowledged authorizing a lobbying firm to help the government contest a U.S. extradition request for a prominent Jamaican community le...

    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Jamaica's prime minister has acknowledged authorizing a lobbying firm to help the government contest a U.S. extradition request for a prominent Jamaican community leader accused of drug and arms trafficking.

    A senior opposition leader urged Prime Minister Bruce Golding to resign Wednesday after Golding notified parliament that he sanctioned the lobbying effort against the extradition of Christopher Coke.

    A U.S. indictment accuses "Dudus" Coke of leading a gang with members in Jamaica and the United States that sold marijuana and crack cocaine in the New York area and elsewhere and funneled profits back to Coke. His name has been included on a U.S. Justice Department list of the world's most dangerous drug kingpins.

    In a written statement to parliament Tuesday, Golding said he acted in his capacity as leader of the governing Jamaica Labor Party and not as prime minister when he gave the green light to the lobbying effort by Los Angeles-based firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

    "I sanctioned the initiative, knowing that such interventions have in the past proven to be of considerable value in dealing with issues involving the governments of both countries," Golding said.

    Coke, 41, allegedly controls a band of gunmen that operate and help maintain order inside the barricaded Tivoli Gardens neighborhood in west Kingston, a political stronghold of Golding's Labor Party.

    Since the U.S. requested the extradition of the reputed gang leader in August, Golding has led opposition to his extradition, claiming that evidence against Coke was illegally obtained.

    In his statement, Golding said that Manatt, Phelps & Phillips registered Jamaica as its client without the appropriate authorization from the government.

    The law firm insisted Wednesday that it was employed by the government of Jamaica, through an intermediary, to assist with matters including existing treaty agreements between the U.S. and Jamaica. The lobbying assignment ended Feb. 8 and was first publicly disclosed in Jamaica the following month.

    Coke's father was Lester Lloyd Coke, better known as Jim Brown, a leader of the Shower Posse gang during the 1980s cocaine wars, during which the FBI blamed the drug gang for 1,400 murders on the East Coast of the U.S.

    U.S. prosecutors say Christopher Coke took over the organization following his father's death in 1992.

    http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/12 ... -+World%29
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  2. #2
    Senior Member Tbow009's Avatar
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    Sounds Like

    Sounds like the Good Prime Minister has some ties to the Drug Trade...

  3. #3
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    May 16, 7:37 PM EDT

    Jamaican prime minister rejects calls to resign

    By HOWARD CAMPBELL
    Associated Press Writer

    KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) -- Jamaica's prime minister will not resign despite criticism of his efforts to protect a community leader in his west Kingston constituency who is wanted in the United States on drug and weapons trafficking charges, the governing party said Sunday.

    The general secretary of the Jamaica Labor Party downplayed a growing scandal over Prime Minister Bruce Golding's disclosure last week that he authorized the hiring of a U.S. lobbying firm to persuade Washington to drop its extradition request for Christopher "Dudus" Coke.

    "We realize that there has been a fundamental weakness in which we have communicated the facts of this issue," Karl Samuda said following an emergency meeting of the party's executive committee at a hotel in the resort city of Ocho Rios. "However, we do not feel that that rises to the level that requires the resignation of the prime minister."

    Golding did not appear at the news conference that aimed to defuse the party's biggest political crisis since he took office in 2007 on pledges to fight corruption and this Caribbean island's soaring homicide rates.

    Gang leaders in Jamaica have loose allegiances to both major parties dating back to the 1970s, when political factions provided guns to intimidate elections rivals.

    Coke presides over a Kingston neighborhood that Golding represents in parliament, and the case has raised questions about government ties to organize crime.

    The U.S. government filed its request in August for Coke, who allegedly oversees the distribution of cocaine in the New York area and the smuggling of weapons back to Jamaica as the reputed leader of the notorious "Shower Posse" gang. The U.S. Justice Department named him to a list of the world's most dangerous drug kingpins.

    Coke has lived openly in his barricaded Tivoli Gardens neighborhood as Golding has led opposition to the extradition request, claiming the indictment in the U.S. Southern District of New York is based on illegal wiretap evidence.

    The opposition parties and public sector groups that called for Golding's resignation this week were outraged by the acknowledgment that he authorized the campaign involving the Los Angeles-based firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

    Golding said he was being honest when he denied any government role in the contract two months earlier because he sanctioned the effort as party leader, and not prime minister.

    "I am very disappointed to hear the JLP defending the indefensible," said Trevor Munroe, a member of the main opposition People's National Party.

    Coke's father was Lester Lloyd Coke, better known as Jim Brown, a leader of the Shower Posse during the 1980s cocaine wars, during which the FBI blamed the drug gang for 1,400 murders on the U.S. East Coast. U.S. prosecutors say Christopher Coke took over the organization following his father's death in 1992.

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/ ... TE=DEFAULT
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    Shower Posse

    The Shower Posse originated in the Tivoli Gardens section of Kingston, Jamaica, and its members have been avid supporters of the Jamaican Labor Party (JLP). In September, 1988, a federal grand jury indicted 34 members of the Shower Posse, including Lester Lloyd Coke, alias Big Jim Brown, the Shower Posse leader in Kingston, as well as Vivian Blake, the leader of the Shower Posse in the United States. Blake's two half-brothers, Errol Hussing and Tony Bruce, who headed the New York City operations of the Shower Posse, were also indicted. Coke is scheduled for an extradition hearing from Jamaica. Vivian Blake is still a fugitive, and intelligence information indicates that as recently as September, 1989, he had been in Atlantic City for less than 24 hours before departing for Toronto and then to Jamaica.

    Shower Posse networks are involved in the sale of cocaine and marijuana in the New Jersey cities of Newark, East Orange, Irvington, Camden, Atlantic City and Vineland. Recent arrest statistics indicate that the number of Shower Posse members operating within the state is growing. In November, 1988, 53 Shower Posse members were arrested in New Jersey for their involvement in drug distribution. Within the last year, the number of members identified has increased to 75. By November, 1989, arrests in Trenton and Bridgeton revealed Shower Posse activity in those areas as well.

    http://www.mafianj.com/afro/showerposse.shtml
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    Corruption at the highest level

    Posted March 2, 2010

    The Americans have re-iterated their demand for the Jamaican Don man, and high profile crime lord – Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke on drug and gun charges.

    They have wanted him to be extradited to face these serious criminal charges since August 2009 but the Jamaican government have been dragging their feet, some might say, burying their head in the sand, willing this request to go away.

    So now – the US are strengthening their language and putting it out there by saying there is blatant corruption going on – as the Don Man Dudus has well reported ties to the ruling Jamaica Labour Party.

    The US State department says, “The high-profile suspect resides in and essentially controls the Kingston neighbourhood known as Tivoli Gardens, a key constituency for the Jamaica Labour Party,â€
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  6. #6
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    Updated May 17, 2010

    Jamaica's PM says he will approve extradition of alleged drug kingpin wanted by United States

    Associated Press

    KINGSTON, Jamaica

    KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Jamaica's PM says he will approve extradition of alleged drug kingpin wanted by United States.

    http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/17 ... -+World%29

    (this was all given)
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