Garth Rattray | Glimpse into a gunman’s world

There is a one-hour YouTube video of an interview featuring an admitted career gangster, gunman, and killer. He was armed with an assault rifle, masked, and his voice was electronically distorted to keep his identity secret. The interviewer asked if he is an 87 [criminal]. He dismissed the question and would only say that he is defending himself and his friends.

Through a social media link, I learnt that, colloquially, gangsters are classified like fuel – 87, 90, and 116 octane criminals. The 87 criminal is the low budget criminal, a puppet who carries out the dirty work. These criminals are from depressed communities. Typically, they have no father in their lives and grow up struggling for survival. They begin street life in their formative years and run afoul of the law at an early age.

This group constitutes the petty thieves, purse snatchers, and pickpockets. They also do the running around for the bigger criminals. They are the type that muscle the people that they extort, collect extortion money, rob people and will kill their victims. They never become influential in any way. They are the ones who are usually mowed down by the security forces because they can’t buy out corrupt officials or the corrupt police to protect them.

Despite the multiplicity of serious crimes that they commit, and the monies that pass through their hands, these criminals always die poverty-stricken. Their lives are disposable … like waste men, they live hard, spend hard, and die unceremoniously.

On the other hand, the 90 criminal (aka the premium criminal) is usually not born into riches or wealth and also begins life struggling. However, their cunning and intelligence allows them to accumulate riches to employ the 87 criminals to do their heavy lifting, enforcing, and dirty work. They become the dons. Although they may opt to carry out violent crimes, they have the resources to evade the law or pay expensive defence lawyers to spring them and get them acquitted. They are the elite of the underworld. Nevertheless, they remain susceptible to the political class that can dethrone or eliminate them if necessary.

116 OCTANE CRIMINAL

Then there is the 116 octane criminal. These are said to be some of the wealthy, topanaris, atypical-looking Jamaicans. It is believed that individuals in this class of criminals were never poor or wanting. They began with outlaw activities but quickly legitimised their businesses and, in doing so, secured generational wealth. It is said that these supreme citizens float among the upper echelons of our society and wield their power and influence to their ultimate advantage.

The interviewer sought an answer to the age-old question regarding the influence of music on violence. This was downplayed by the killer; he said that while planning and executing a crime, nothing influences them. He also reiterated that he was not an 87 criminal. He declined to categorise himself, except to say that he supervises and leads others.

The interviewee made the point that he, like others of his ilk, came into this world seeing gang warfare, and eventually committing violent acts … it was their culture. Given the society in which they were raised, their involvement with guns is seen as a very natural process. It takes nothing for them to kill anyone who kills their friends. The taking of lives under varied circumstances is inconsequential, natural, a fait accompli once decided upon.

When asked about peace between the warring factions, the interviewee was resolute that peace is fragile, and will never be permanent. It was further revealed that close relatives were fully aware of [their] gun activities. When pushed about the age of his initiation into criminality, he said that he began at 15 years old. He explained that he shadowed the older gangsters and by the age of 18, he was leading his own troop on missions. By 19 and older, he was giving orders to the younger ones.

He said, however, that he only went out to commit serious crimes and showed the youths how things are done. He was fully aware that they were only hustlers who remained poor and saw their escape from that lifestyle only coming if they migrated overseas. He lost many close friends and feels trapped because of the circumstances of his existence.

SUPPORT THEM

During the interview, he claimed that their relatives and community are not only aware of their criminal activities, they also support them and their criminality. Ostensibly, they see them as community soldiers. He sidestepped the reality that some feared them.

He was evasive about the source of their weaponry, but said that guns and ammunition are never scarce … that some police are on the payroll of criminal elements … that killing for profit (carrying out ‘hits’) is an accepted way of living … that there are no second thoughts or remorse for killing anybody, and that gunmen accept the likely inevitability of dying by the gun at an early age.

The criminal world is well established and more functional than most citizens realise. Nevertheless, this killer opined that there would be a better life for him, others like him, and society if he had a nuclear family, an education, and a worthwhile livelihood.

Uprooting criminality will take much more than localised zones of special operations, states of emergency, and lightweight social programmes. It will require unprecedented social intervention. Unless major and sustained resources are poured into underprivileged, disenfranchised communities, we will never tame the crime monster, and we will continue to suffer when our two worlds collide.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com.