Witness recorded gang conversations for cops

A former member of the One Don Gang yesterday revealed that he had secretly recorded conversations with alleged leader Andre ‘Blackman’ Bryan and other key lieutenants and handed them over to the police as they probe the operations of the deadly Clansman Gang breakaway.

The witness, who said he rose to become a top-tier member of the One Don Gang, was continuing his testimony in the Home Circuit Court yesterday as the trial against Bryan and 32 other accused gangsters continued.

The second ex-member of the gang to testify, the witness said that he had used three phones – two provided by cops and a third by Bryan – to record conversations he had with Bryan; the gang’s reputed second in command, ‘City Puss’; the sole female defendant, Stephanie Christie; and other members.

He said the phones were handed over to the cops and the conversations transcribed as he identified the voices on each recording.

Throughout the witness’ testimony, Bryan appeared very uneasy, shaking different parts of his body and bowing his head at different intervals. For the most part, he was observed shaking his legs, but when the witness spoke about the recordings, the accused began rubbing his hands together and shaking his upper body as if he were cold.

The witness, who had previously detailed two murders he had seen the gang carry out, also recounted another five incidents in which the gang unleashed a deadly onslaught, killing seven people, including a couple whose house was set alight after they were killed inside.

In the first double execution, the witness said he, along with several other gang members, travelled in two groups to an area of Twickenham Park in St Catherine called Fisheries.

“We a go shell dun Fisheries,” he recalled Bryan saying before they went in search of a man called ‘Bobo Sparks’, reportedly a gunslinger in the Clansman Gang, reportedly headed by the now-incarcerated Tesha Miller.

The former top commander said that when they arrived in the community, Bryan’s alleged bodyguard ‘CJ’ – defendant Tareek James – kicked open a door to the couple’s house, and the woman, who was in bed with the man, started screaming.

Bryan then took CJ’s weapon and shot the man after speaking with him, the witness recalled. He, however, said that he had not heard what was said.

“Both were in the bed and the girl was screaming. She was begging for them not to kill her,” the court was told. “I think she was saying she not from there or something, but CJ took the gun and shoot her same way.”

Two other cronies – ‘Papa’ (defendant Joseph McDermott) and ‘Shrek’– then lit bottle bombs and threw them inside the board house, the witness added.

Before leaving the community, the men had kicked in two more doors, but no one was harmed as the occupants were elderly and Bryan instructed the men to spare them.

According to the witness, his role that day was to carry the bottle bombs while all the other men were armed with guns.

However, he said that he had indicated his wishes not to go, but Bryan told him to relax as he was “rolling” with him.

In the other double murder, the court heard that two men from Denham Town, Kingston, were killed on a basketball court in Rivoli, Spanish Town, St Catherine.

In this incident, the witness said he was not aware of the hit on the men and had stumbled upon his then-colleague cronies beating the men while on his way to visit a female. He said that one of the alleged gangsters asked him to accompany him up the road, where he saw the two men on their knees being beaten and pleading for their lives.

He said that the men were separated and when they were each told that one was going to die that night, one of the men responded that if they were going to kill his friend, they should kill them both.

The other man reportedly asked the gangsters to spare his life and kill his friend as his friend had children he could not maintain, adding that he would care for them.

The witness said that one of the alleged gangsters then chastised the man, calling him wicked, while another told him that he was one that they had been instructed to kill so his life would not be spared.

The witness said that he asked them to spare the other man, but the killer refused, saying that the man would then call the police. As a result, he left before the men were killed, but he was informed on the following day that they had both been killed.

He said that he also aborted his plan to visit the female.

In another incident, the witness said that he was present when Bryan instructed ‘Mawga Man’ (defendant Ted Prince) to kill a man near a hardware in Spanish Town, and also when Bryan had sent Rooster (Brian Morris) and Stennet (Michael Whitely) to kill a Rastafarian man near Jones Avenue. The former gangster said that he was present when Bryan instructed both defendants to kill a bus driver in the Spanish Town bus park and that he had witnessed the murders.

The witness will continue his testimony on Monday.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com