Black Organized Crime Jamaican Crime Lord

CJUS 3310 Organized and Consensual Crime

Jamaican crime lord Christopher "Dudus" Coke faces up to 23 years in prison after pleading guilty to assault and racketeering charges in a New York federal court. He admitted to using "fear, force and intimidation" to control the notorious "Shower Posse." Dudus flourished in Jamaica from early 1990. Jamaicans supported Coke and his criminal enterprises, rewarding him with multimillion-dollar contracts.

Black organized crime will be discussed in this chapter.

AFRICAN AMERICAN ORGANIZED CRIME

 Race is an imprecise term but, like religion, can serve as an organizing variable.

 African-American criminal groups use the drug trade as much as the Irish, Jewish, and Italians used bootlegging.

 They did not have the criminal incubation provided by the corrupt political machines or the ineffective federal law enforcement of prior centuries.

 But drugs are an equal opportunity employer.

 AFRICAN AMERICAN OC (CONT.)

 Important black criminal entrepreneurs operated in the U.S. in the early decades of the 20th century.

 In Chicago, they controlled gambling operations in the city's "black belt" and delivered votes and funds to Republican mayor "Big Bill" Thompson.

 They dominated the numbers (illegal lottery) racket in NY, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

 Dutch Schultz in NY and Sam GIancana in Chicago forced them out of the lucrative business.

 "Bumpy" Johnson's organization ruled over the black Harlem underworld until his natural death in 1968.

THE VIETNAM WAR AND HEROIN MARKETS

 African American criminal groups embraced the heroin business when the Vietnam War exposed them to the Golden Triangle markets.

 They bypassed the American Mafia and bought directly from suppliers in Thailand.

 Frank Lucas and his "Country Boys" were pioneers in this endeavor. FRANK LUCAS AND LESLIE ("IKE") ATKINSON

 In the early 1970s, the "French Connection" was coming apart.

 Lucas' cousin, a former Army sergeant, was running a bar in Bangkok. Together they formed a "military-homeboy" organization.

 Atkinson tells a story different from this, in particular denying shipping drugs in soldiers' coffins as has been claimed by some.

 Lucas lived flamboyantly, attracted law enforcement attention, turned state's evidence, and served time.

NICKY BARNES

 In 1977, he posed for a color photo on the front page of the NY Times magazine as "Mister Untouchable," having beaten government charges 13 times. Witnesses disappeared or were found murdered.

 Donated turkeys to homeless shelters, Christmas toys for children, and sponsored a Harlem basketball team.

 In prison he learned from American Mafia figures who also found him an attorney overturned his conviction.

 Set up a council of major Harlem traffickers. Partnered with Lucchese Family dealer Matthew Madonna.

 NICKY BARNES (CONT.)

 Council members took an oath, pooled resources, and allocated territories.

 Each kilo of heroin was cut--diluted--by an assembly line of women who worked naked, a precaution against stealing.

 One kilo of heroin was converted into 8-10 kilos.

 Arrested, he became a government informant. He was not offered early release, served 15 years, and was released into the Witness Security Program in 1998.

GANGSTER DISCIPLES

 Chicago's best known African American crime group.

 Merger of "Supreme Gangsters" and "Black Disciples."

 Bureaucratic structure similar to early Camorra.