Extortion and Me in Jamaica

  Extortion affects more than just the construction industry. Decades ago, as a youngster in Jamaica, I opened a Grocery off of Spanish Town Road - then the area of Jamaica with the highest crime rate. My family thought I had gone insane. I was not. There was no competition. My shop was the only grocery for blocks in the densely populated area so I did very good business. Sometimes, there was a line at the door. I learned to retail bread and cheese by the slice, toothpaste 'by the squeeze'. Buying in bulk and breaking down items made me a lot of money while making it easier for my customers who lived day to day. When I was setting up shop, installing counters, shelving, etc., unlike this case, I was given no extortion letter. Instead, I was approached by a soft spoken, friendly young man who openly admired our work on the shop saying an operation like this was going to need 'security'. As I was expecting this, I enquired how it would work. The young man guaranteed that my shop would never be broken into (saving me thousands for security measures) and that I would never have any 'trouble' with customers. This young man seemed so gentle, I did not feel threatened at all.

So, every Friday evening as I was coming from my day job, I would check on my grocery. The young man would be waiting on the corner. I would hand him a brown paper bag with a few hundred Ja$ - which was good money then. My shop was never broken into and I never had any 'trouble' with customers. Everyone in the area treated me with respect. The police could not guarantee that to me so I willingly paid for this 'protection'. Now, before you condemn me and say how could I support these gangsters and why was I not as brave as Mr. Kelly is in the article below, you have to realize that Mr. Kelly is not typical and I doubt that he is telling the truth about defying extortionists as he would be dead. In that area, I witnessed gunfights and experienced police raids. There were no cellphones then and no one had land lines. I had tried to get a landline without success. The closest call box was about a mile away and most of the time it was out of order.

One night before the renos started, my building was in the middle of some gang dispute. Gunfire broke out and I could hear bullets hitting my walls. I bailed out of bed and 'hit the deck', crawling under my bed for protection. The gunfire lasted for what seemed like a long time. Some of the weapons were fully automatic. Lots of rounds had been fired. The gangs seem to have unlimited ammunition and firepower. There was no police response as no one had died.

One of the basic functions of government is the provision of security. If they can't do that, what is the point of government? I never actually interacted with the local gang but I was constantly aware of their presence. One of my neighbors was gunned down (I only heard the shots one night from the grocery) over a dispute with them about a gun but other than that, they were invisible to me. Yet, they maintained some kind of order. If the JCF can implement that kind of relationship with the citizenry, then they will be able to replace the gangs.

My Only Interaction with the police in the ghetto
I used to sleep at the shop occasionally as sometimes we worked until late into the night. One night, while sleeping in the shop, I was rudely awakened by banging on the door and shouts of 'Police!'. As robbers sometimes pose as police, I did not open the door immediately. Instead, I peeped through a window and saw some men in plain clothes who had handguns at my door. Then, I looked up the street and saw a lone policewoman in uniform standing in the street. There was no way a lone policewoman would be in the area so I deduced that it was indeed a police operation. By now, the officers still banging on the door had started to curse and demand that I open the 'Bloodclaat' door or they would break it down. Trembling, I opened the door.

The officers entered and even though I was in my underwear and clearly unarmed, they put a gun to my head demanding 'Wey di gun dem deh?' I told them I had no guns. They then proceeded to ransack the store and my adjoining bedroom while one held me at gunpoint. Finding nothing, they told me to 'join the truck'. I then noticed that all the young men in the area were being marched into a police truck - some only in underwear. The women were standing around in the street guarded by the policewoman - some of my female neighbors were also in their underwear. I only avoided being detained when I produced my (now defunct) Jamaica Telephone Company (JTC) ID card. I was a Statistician and middle manager at the JTC at the time - that was my day job. That made me an 'Essential Worker'. The police were surprised when they saw my ID.

The truck left with my male neighbors for the Hunts Bay station and they were all released the same day. I am sure some held were probably gang members but without evidence, they had to be released. The women were not taken. What was accomplished by this raid? In my opinion, absolutely nothing except to piss off everyone. Were young men hurt while being interrogated at the police station? That was common but I don't know. What I do know is that looking at my ransacked place, I felt violated. I had never had a loaded gun put to my head before. I never slept over there again and eventually I closed the shop and retreated back to my uptown ('taponaris') area where these sort of things don't happen. I went into other businesses which is a story for another time.... This was a long time ago. The gangs are much stronger and much more organized and entrenched now. Defy them? I don't think so......

Raymond D. Grant
Research Director, EXILED
Canada
exiledonline.ca
https://jamaicaninexile.blogspot.com
https://xile.godaddysites.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWY9f91Awb0FTpg1-6Vi3OA

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‘Bounty or blood’ - Decades of extortion crippling Jamaica’s construction industry - Contractors urged to stand ground | Lead Stories | Jamaica Gleaner
A nefarious letter demanding bounty or blood from construction site operators in St Thomas has been turned over to the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Unit (C-TOC) for deeper analysis, but for many residents of the sleepy Trinityville community, the damage has already been done.
jamaica-gleaner.com