Bloods gangster convicted in relation to 11 murders

The former gangster who pleaded guilty on Wednesday for his role in 11 murders was the man who ensured that contract killings ordered by the leaders of the Clarendon-based Bloods Gang were carried out.

Travis Gilman’s roles included hiring hitmen, purchasing guns for the gang, driving contract killers to their intended targets, and ensuring that they were paid.

The admissions were contained in a detailed statement Gilman dictated for police investigators, which was among the evidence in the case.

The 38-year-old was convicted in the Home Circuit Court on a 15-count indictment that spawned nearly a dozen killings across the volatile central Jamaica parish over the last four years.

Following the conviction, Deputy Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey sounded a warning to other members of the Bloods Gang.

“We will continue to pursue whatever remnants of that gang that are still around,” said Bailey, who has responsibility for crime and security.

He said Gilman’s guilty plea is a manifestation of the quality of investigations being conducted by detectives despite the challenges.

“If you look at the past two years or so, we have been getting some significant convictions through guilty pleas,” said Bailey, heaping praise on detectives assigned to Area Three and the Major Investigation Division.

Among the 11 murder victims were Kareen Walters, a former security guard, and her common-law spouse Jermaine Crooks, who were shot to death in the community of Race Track on January 31 this year.

Another victim, Lerone ‘Lucky’ Harvey, was shot and killed in the first quarter of 2021, almost four years after he was wounded in an attack that Gilman knew about.

The indictment includes three counts of murder; five counts of conspiracy to murder; three counts of accessory after the fact to murder; one count of accessory before the fact to murder; one count of accessory after the fact of wounding with intent and illegal possession of firearm and ammunition.

He was sentenced to a total of 210 years in prison, which included 30 years at hard labour for each of the murders he confessed to.

However, High Court judge Justice Leighton Pusey, who presided over the case, ordered that the sentences be served simultaneously and that Gilman must serve 25 years before he becomes eligible for parole.

Gilman admitted that he would often receive money, which he was instructed to use and purchase guns for members of the gang and to hire hitmen.

He revealed, too, that the names of the victims would be communicated to him and that he sometimes issued the guns used by the hitmen and served as the driver of the getaway car.

Gilman was not the triggerman in any of the killings, according to investigators.