Jailed leader in command
Published:Sunday | May 23, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Laura Redpath, Senior staff reporter
THE 'Umbrella' gang has emerged as one of the "most brutal" criminal organisations operating across the country.
The gang has made its name in Newlands, St Catherine, where it is involved in a bloody battle with a gang known as 'Uprising'.
Thugs from the gangs are also involved in extortion, rape and other crimes.
According to some residents, the members of the Umbrella gang create more trouble because they are not originally from Newlands but are trying to take control.
The St Catherine South police claim the gang is responsible for more murders than any other in the history of the division.
At present, the gang is said to be led by its jailed leader.
"It is distressing," a political source told The Sunday Gleaner. "You don't need him to be caught, he is already incarcerated. People are suffering, and he is behind bars," the source said while requesting that his name be withheld.
Earlier this year, four other alleged members of the Umbrella gang, three of whom were on the St Catherine South police division's most-wanted list for six months, were arrested and charged.
Travis 'Shrek' McPherson, Romaine 'British' Edwards, Patrick 'Mad Max' McDonald and Odean 'Zekes' Samuels have been described by the police as key players of the gang, and among those involved in unleashing a reign of terror on the Newlands, Naggo Head and Portmore Lane communities.
The Umbrella gang has also attracted several young members, who the police say are involved in "acts of intimidation".
At the start of the year, Minister of National Security Dwight Nelson alleged that the Umbrella gang, along with other large criminal ope-rations, were collaborating with their overseas networks when carrying out their criminal activities.
Newlands residents are aware of the wide reach the jailed leader of the Umbrella gang has and said it stretches as far as Montego Bay, St James.
Community residents also said the gang members hide their ammunition in the bushes surrounding Newlands, specifically on a plot of land where a hospital and community centre should have been built.
"The don from prison say him man haffi get work while dem ah build, or the building dem nah go up," a resident said.
funding
According to a Gleaner source, Umbrella gang members have access to funding through businesses owned by the jailed leader.
The police have vowed to dismantle the gang, but some residents of Newlands say the job of the police is being made more difficult because of the corrupt nature of some members of the force.
According to the residents, some members of the force give gang members the phone numbers of persons who call with information.
"You will dial and try tell the police wha you know, and then you get a phone call from the gang dem a threaten you fi kill yuh or burn down yuh house."
While the Social Development Commission (SDC) in Portmore has been developing an initiative since late 2009 that would address gang warfare, there are persons within the SDC who say they are unaware of the gang's operations in Newlands.