Spanish Town, St Catherine, the Old Capital of Jamaica, which was the base of Spaniards who came as conquerors in the 15th century, is now being ruled by "conquistadors" of a different and most unruly sort.

Several visits by The Gleaner team to one of the busiest commercial districts in the parish of St Catherine revealed an order of chaos by clans of men whose career it is to take from those who work.

To say that extortion is rife in the Old Capital may be an understatement, investigations by The Gleaner show. On several trips to Spanish Town the extortionists showed they were serious about their trade as it was very organised.

Affiliated sections

From the People's National Party (PNP) affiliated section of the town - which encompasses the town centre to the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) bus park, to the Jamaica Labour Party controlled section of the Spanish Town market and sections of Young Street, extortion is very evident.

In an unofficial bus park, near the old train station, the extortionists have an office close to the exit of the park. A sign next to the office reads: 'Notice. All passengers, workers, bus drivers, taxi drivers and park attendants should report all quierries to the office' (sic).

The office is a cardboard shed where the men who extort stay and collect from the taxis and Coaster buses which have to pay $150 per day and $150 per trip respectively to the thugs.

On the morning when The Gleaner visited the bus park, a bus conductor and a collector got into an argument.

"Yo Finga, pass the money no man," the extortionist said.

The conductor responded: "Me soon come man."

To this the collector answered: "Yo me naw de ya afta 9 o'clock."

"Jus cool, man" the conductor said.

"Yo, old man pass the money. Mi wi box you inna you face you know (expletive) ... " the collector responds.

The experience was similar in other sections of the town. Near the shopping centre in the vicinity of Young Street and Burke Road, alliances of the thugs in the park make sure that bus operators adhere to the 'rules'. They are often seen with large sticks, forcefully persuading the men to comply with their orders.

"Run di food, run di food, or yuh caan wuk out yah". This was a constant reminder to many a motorist. About an hour later, the same group of men shifted their operation to Morrison Street, where they were seen extorting money from other motorists.

Despite the promise of zero tolerance by Police Commissioner Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, no policemen were seen during the times of intimidation.

Apart from the incidents of extortion, there were acts of illegal vending and parking, the sale of contraband items and grown men harassing women going about their business.

Cooperation of citizens

Deputy Superintendent of Police Anthony Castelle, officer in charge of operations in the St Catherine North division, said while extortion was existent, the cooperation of the citizens was crucial to ending it.

"With extortion, a number of persons have not come forward to the police to report this. There are other avenues, where people use and we hear from these avenues but no one has come forward to give reports."

Castelle, however, said the police were and would be carrying out sting and spontaneous operations to target the criminals.