35 years for a pair of shoes - The importance of the gun in Jamaica's gangland

Gary Spaulding, Senior Reporter

'Everybody haffi ask weh mi get mi Clarks. Everybody haffi ask weh mi get mi Clarks' ... Chants Vybz Kartel in his monster 2010 hit song Clarks, which dominated the charts in Jamaica and overseas.

But four years later, another kind of 'shoes', brand unknown, has placed the self-proclaimed 'Worl' Boss' in prison facing a 35-year minimum stretch unless he overturns his conviction on appeal.

This time the 'shoes' under the glare are guns, with the 'laces' being bullets.

Kartel, whose real name is Adijah Palmer, was found guilty of killing Clive 'Lizard' Williams, and the court heard that the murder was over two missing shoes.

With the authorities seemingly unable to stop the flow of guns into Jamaica, several persons have questioned why would someone, whose wealth is estimated at millions of dollars, feel the need to kill over two missing 'shoes', which could have been repurchased without any hassle.

But in the mean streets of Jamaica, everyone in the criminal underworld understands that going back to the market is not how men react when their guns go missing.

It is the 'gun bag', a junior member of a criminal gang, who is usually given the responsibility of ensuring that the all-important weapons are well hidden but quickly available when needed.

Because the gun is all-important, the gun bag must be a trusted member of the gang and the leader will usually know his family, his girlfriend, even his children, so that they can be approached if a 'shoe' goes missing.

Usually, no excuse is accepted if these weapons are not available when the senior members of the gang need them.

"The gun is the law and the judge in these communities. It is life and death," declared Maxie, a self-professed former gangster from one of Kingston's toughest inner-city communities.

"The gun is power and some people don't know how to control it ... when you have it you no fear no one," added Maxie.

Most sacred equipment

He told The Sunday Gleaner that high-powered weapons are easily the most sacred equipment in Jamaica's gang culture, not unlike illegal narcotics in the moneyed drug-trafficking arena in some countries, hence the drugs-for-guns trade.

"What is considered to be the most serious of offences is the loss of a gun, or worst yet, guns," asserted Maxie, who was supported by another community leader, who requested anonymity.

"The gun is the underworld's greatest status symbol of control. The unwritten creed demands that if you allow a weapon to be lost or taken from you, you must be punished or the leaders lose face and stature if nothing is done," said the community leader who now plays a key role in keeping peace in his area.

He argued that the loss of stature could mean violent, overthrow attempts or even protracted gang warfare.

"The gun is more important that everything else. To them, it carries a lot of respect, and if it is taken by the police it different, but if it get miss up, there is hell to pay."

It is not unusual for persons in the underworld who lose guns to lose their lives as well.

Corporate Area story

On the streets of the Corporate Area, the story is told about one community where three illegal guns went missing after they were given to three 'gun bags" to be put away by the area leader.

"Is eight man him beat for them. Who get bruk hand, bruk foot and one of them get him ribs bruk. All of them did have fi pay back fi the gun dem, and you know after them pay the money the gun dem did still run back," said Jackie, a resident of the community near Papine in St Andrew, where the incident took place.

Added Maxie: "This is why the youth them get vicious because they are at the mercy of both police and their peers ... they want fame and money, they see others doing it and want to be like that person but they don't know the danger. I was in that place once."

Maxie said he was baptised in the criminal underworld when he acquired two high-powered weapons in unexpected fashion.

They belonged to his uncle and he watched him hiding them in a cellar. His uncle was killed and the guns were now in his possession as a teen.

"With this new-found power, I soon got into trouble and in jail. It was there I decided that as a high school dropout, I was too bright for this type of life, so I sold one of the guns and gave away the other. The man I gave the gun to is dead."

During the 65-day trial, the 12-member jury heard voice recordings of a man identified as Kartel threatening to kill Clive 'Lizard' Williams over missing shoes.

In one of the recordings, which was punctuated with expletives, a voice was heard complaining of receiving a call from a man called Lizard and another man, identified as 'Wee', telling him that they could not locate "two new shoes".

The voice was also heard saying he told 'Lizard' he had until 8 o'clock that night to return the shoes and if the shoes were not returned persons would be killed.