'Idiot charge'

Feared reputed gang leader Andre ‘Blackman’ Bryan had expressed confidence that he could not be convicted under the anti-gang legislation as the police had nothing concrete on him and, worse, were clueless that he was responsible for the split in the deadly Clansman Gang.

An internal power struggle between the now-incarcerated reputed leader of the Clansman, Tesha Miller, and Bryan, who was allegedly a top lieutenant and interim leader, had reportedly led to a splintering of what is said to be the country’s largest criminal organisation, resulting in the formation of the One Don Gang, with Bryan its alleged leader.

Yesterday, during the airing of one of the secret recordings in the case against Bryan and 32 other alleged gang members in the Home Circuit Court, a man said to be Bryan – who at the time was in custody and under investigation for the anti-gang charges – was heard expressing his views in relation to the investigation while noting that the police would have to have a gang member as a witness to catch him.

“Watch yah now, dem come suh, boop! Yuh see if smaddy a go be a witness, dem affi inna di gang fi a time fi really be a good witness, yuh understand mi?” he reasoned as he spoke with the prosecution’s witness, a driver, who secretly recorded conversations with Bryan and other alleged members.

“Yeah, yeah,” replied the ex-gangster, who, at the time was still a member of the gang and was working with the police.

Furthermore, the alleged don added: “Fi say mi split di gang from Miller, a dat a de wickedest ting weh dem nuh have," to which the witness quickly responded, “Ohhhh.”

In addition, Bryan pointed out that the anti-gang legislation came into force in 2014 and that the police could not charge him for anything that he did before the law took effect.

“True, true,” the witness said.

Bryan was heard saying then that if anyone should get charged under the anti-gang law, it should be Miller, but expressed that he was being charged because they thought he did not understand the law and was an “idiot”.

Earlier, during the conversation, the two also tried to figure out which murder case Bryan was being linked to.

"It seems like a one pon the avenue, the triple murder, and come in like dem a pree Broadie murder, one a Portmore and the one a Walks Road. A 'bout four murder di bwoy dem a pree,” he said.

“.. But like me a say a idiot charge dem a gimme, yuh zeet?" he said. “Big, big, big tufenke.”

The reputed gang leader also ruled out the possibility of being charged for any of the murders allegedly carried out by him and his gang at the Spanish Town bus park in St Catherine.

When the witness mentioned those murders, he said, “Hmmm, no sah. Dem no have nothing pan dem ting deh, dawg. Nothing, mi a tell yuh.”

Further in the conversation, Bryan noted that what the police had on him was “f##$ry”, with the witness assuring him that he had nothing to worry about.

During another secret recording played, the court heard that members of the gang had believed that the lone female defendant, Stephanie Christie, was the “snitch”.

City Puss, the gang’s second in command, was heard saying that he was convinced that it was her who was feeding the police with information, but felt that she was not volunteering the information for free.

“A mussi wa house a foreign dem a go buy him a foreign when him done to bc%%%th caa a cahh voluntary work dis him a do dis p%&y%&&h fah, and him a work hard to enuh,” he said, while the witness agreed that Christie was working hard.

City Puss was also of the view that Christie had given the police information which had led to two of the members being killed following a high-speed chase on Garbally Drive in St Catherine in January 2019.

But the prosecution witness had testified that he was the one who fed the police with the information and was present in the car in which the two other gangsters were killed, but had escaped harm.

The court also heard that Bryan and others were of the view that defendant Jahzeal Blake – 'Squeeze Eye' – was also supplying the police with information and had not only warned the men not to give him any rifle, but had also issued an order for him to be killed.

Bryan, however, had told the witness that he was not convinced that Christie was the informant as she was not privy to some of the information. Instead, he told the witness that he was “preeing" him as a possible informant.

At the same time, the reputed leader was not entirely convinced that the witness was being disloyal to him and was heard discussing with the witness a possible way for him to leave the country.

The witness then explained that Bryan wanted to send him away as he heard that the police were looking for him, and as such, he had convinced the leader that he could get a HEART/NSTA Trust certificate from the automotive school and would use it to help push through his visa request, and Bryan had bought into the idea.

The 33 accused are being tried on an indictment with 25 counts under the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organizations) Act and the Firearms Act.

The trial will resume on Monday.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com