Gang has police hit list
Police in St James are on high alert after receiving information that a notorious gang based in the parish have compiled a list of cops who they have marked for death.
Assistant commissioner in charge of the Major Investigation Task Force, Les Green, yesterday confirmed that the Stone Crusher Gang, which has been blamed for a series of murders and other violent incidents in Montego Bay and its environs since last year, has masterminded the hit list.
“We are aware of that list and we are following it up,” Green told the Observer yesterday. “Police officers are aware and special measures are being put in place so that they are not at risk.”
The heightened security around the police in St James comes days after the murders of four cops over a four-day period last week.
Two of the cops, sergeants Errol Brown and Alan Lindsay, were assigned to the St James division, and according to Green it was not clear whether the gang was behind their murders.
“We can’t say at the moment,” Green said.
Sources in the police force say the gang crafted the list just days after the police released the photographs, identities and aliases of the island’s 12 most wanted criminals late November. A $1-million bounty has been placed on the head of each wanted man on the list.
Three of the wanted men are from St James and police say they are linked to the Stone Crusher Gang. They are:
. Cedrick Murray, otherwise called ‘Paul Brown’ and ‘Doggie’ – wanted for a triple murder on Felicity Road in Montego Bay on February 9 last year;
. Eldon Calvert – wanted on several counts of murder and shootings in the Meghie Top area of St James in 2005 and 2006; and
. Gerald ‘Rado’ Taylor of Glendevon, St James, who was yesterday shot dead by a joint police/military patrol. He was wanted for murder and shooting in the Blood Lane area on November 7 last year.
Communications officer for Operation Kingfish, Inspector Steve Brown, said the cops were well aware of the devious nature of the members of the heavily-armed outfit and would not roll over and play dead.
Over the weekend, there was a curfew and several police operations in volatile sections of the second city.
“The police have launched a massive counter offensive of their own,” Brown told the Observer. “Not just because police officers have been threatened but because they (the gangsters) are taking too many lives. There is a real problem in that area.”
Law enforcement officials describe the Stone Crusher Gang as a criminal organisation with over 100 members. It has bases in the Glendevon, Norwood, Salt Spring, Rose Heights, Green Pond, Canterbury and Flankers areas.
According to Brown, the gang has been splintered after an internal squabble over leadership created rival factions.
A number of murders, which sleuths have connected to an ongoing lottery scam in the parish, have also been blamed on the gang.
In June this year, police killed Stone Crusher Gang leader Michael ‘Lassie’ Forbes during a gunbattle in Huddersfield, St Mary. At the time of his death, ‘Lassie’ had been on the lam for four years after escaping from the Richmond Farm Correctional Centre while serving a sentence for illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Brown said since the ‘Lassie’ reign of terror ended, members of the gang have been at loggerheads.