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The Dudus Affair… Bombshell disclosure
Article Published: Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
A convicted drug dealer has revealed to US authorities how he allegedly purchased firearms in the United States for Jamaica Labour Party strongman, Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke in 2007. This is in addition to running a drug trafficking operation, in which Coke was allegedly a major player.
In his affidavit submitted by the US Government to the Jamaican Government, the witness stated that he also knew Coke by the names ‘Little Wicked’, ‘Dudus’, ‘Bossy’, ‘Presi’ and ‘Christopher’.
The witness said he purchased four firearms so that “I could send those firearms to Presi in Jamaica.” He told the Grand Jury hearing that he purchased those guns because he knew that Presi wanted guns to allegedly protect the Tivoli Gardens area.
According to the witness while he was in Jamaica in 2003, he saw the barricaded entrances to Tivoli Gardens manned by individuals, who I knew to be armed. The witness also said he saw Presi, surrounded by numerous armed bodyguards allegedly bearing rifles and handguns.
He said he purchased one Ruger, Desert Eagle, Smith and Wesson 9-millimeter, and a 380 small caliber semi-automatic handgun. After purchasing the firearms, he said he contacted a friend in the New York area who is also a close associate of Presi. Together they drove to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the residence of one of Presi’s associates named Sky. He said he took the guns with him and he bought another Ruger. The guns were handed over to Sky and he was assured that the guns would be sent to Presi in Jamaica.
The witness said he saw other firearms, including two AK-47s at Sky’s house and was told by Sky that he would be sending them to Presi in Jamaica. He also said that he spoke on the telephone with Presi while he was at Sky’s home.
That call, which took place on April 3, 2007, was intercepted and recorded. “Agents later played a recording of that call for me,” the witness said. “On that call, my friend tells Presi, in coded language, that we were in Philadelphia to drop off firearms. I tell Presi, also in coded language, that although the firearms aren’t all that great, together they will add up.”
Recorded calls
The witness in his affidavit said agents also played for him a recorded call that took place on May 8, 2007. “I recognize the voices on that call to be the voices of Presi and Reaggie, one of his right-hand men. In coded language, Presi then talks about who he is going to distribute the guns to, referring to them in coded language; for example, calling the Desert Eagle “the bird” and the Ruger “the ruge.”
On this call, Presi is also recorded discussing which guns he would keep and which ones would go to other people. Agents, the witness said, also played for him a recorded call that took place on April 21, 2007.
“On that call, I recognize Presi’s voice and that of Kevin. Kevin, using coded language, tells Presi that Kevin can only get handguns, which he calls ‘shorts.’ Presi tells Kevin to go ahead. I have had conversations with Presi where he explained that he needed handguns, known as ‘shorts,’ more than rifles, known as “longs,” because the police in Jamaica had seized many handguns from Tivoli Gardens.”
The witness said at some time in early 2007, prior to this recorded call, he spoke to Kevin about shipping firearms to Jamaica for Presi. “At that time, Kevin told me that he had in the past sent firearms to Presi in refrigerators.”
Apart from the gun shipment the witness, who is identified as cooperating witness number 1, revealed how he operated drug scheme, which led him to make personal contact with Coke between 2004 and 2006.
According to the witness in 2003, while he was in Kingston, Jamaica, he spent time with a number of individuals who were close associates of Coke. During this time he made plans to obtain marijuana in Jamaica and transported it by boat to the United States. While making his plans he said he met with Coke and he asked him about his plans and asked that he be kept informed.
This individual, the witness said, had contacts in Miami, Florida, who could sell the marijuana there. “We looked at boats that we could use for this purpose. At some point after we had these discussions, I met personally with Presi, and Presi asked me about this plan. I told Presi in substance that we were still working on it, and he asked me to keep him informed.”
The witness said he lived in Kingston, Jamaica, from 2003 until 2004. During that time, he had conversations with Presi on approximately 10 different occasions. In addition, he saw Presi approximately three times per week during that time, because I spent time with my close friend, David Heron, who was one of Presi’s closest associates and serves as his “right-hand man.” He said he knew Heron as Reaggie who was often present in the same locations along with Presi.
Marijuana trafficking
Around 2004, the witness whose affidavit forms part of the Jamaican Government’s case now before the Supreme Court, said he left Jamaica and entered the United States illegally. Shortly after arriving in the United States, he said he began distributing marijuana in the New York area and elsewhere. He said he maintained contact with Coke and his right hand man, Reaggie.
Between 2004 until October 2007, the witness said he allegedly spoke on the telephone with Coke approximately once or twice a week. Many of these conversations, the witness said, were social in nature, and generally lasted about five minutes each.
“I spoke even more frequently to Reaggie, sometimes as often as two to three times per week. I also sent things to Presi and Reaggie from the United States during this time. I sent Presi clothing and accessories approximately once per month and also sent electronics and car parts on occasion.” He said he sent Reaggie cash, clothing and accessories, and electronics.
He said he sent items to Coke because “I knew that Presi was powerful and influential among drug traffickers in the United States. I understood and expected that if I ever had a problem with my drug business in New York — such as a problem with my customers or suppliers — Presi would help me fix the problem.”
The witness told US authorities that in late 2006, his marijuana business grew to the point where he was distributing, on average, a few hundred pounds of marijuana per week. In early 2007, he claimed that he suggested to Presi and to Reaggie that “I could sell marijuana in the New York area for Presi and Reaggie and I could send them the profits from those sales.”
According to the witness he proposed to Reaggie that if he and Presi had a “worker,” meaning a trusted member of their organization in the United States, he would give the worker marijuana for the cost price and that person could sell the marijuana and send the profits from the sale to Presi and Reaggie in Jamaica.
He said he understood that by selling marijuana in this way, he would not earn any profit from the sales, but he made this suggestion out of respect for Presi.
The witness said on April 11, 2007, he allegedly spoke with Presi via telephone and he agreed that he would provide marijuana to a worker for Presi at cost, so that the worker could sell the marijuana and send the profit to him.
He said he also offered to hold the profits for Presi in the United States. He admitted using coded language such as “thing” to refer to marijuana and “food” to refer to the profit. Presi, the witness said, needed to know what the ‘SP’ would be, meaning “the special price that I would charge his worker for the marijuana.”
According to the witness, Presi during one discussion said that he did not want to talk about the special price over the telephone he was using, “but would have to call me back on one of his “brethren’s” telephone, meaning the telephone of another member of the organization.
Calls intercepted
Although he did not know this at the time, he later learnt that this telephone call was intercepted and recorded and was later played for him by law enforcement officers.
On that call, the witnesses said, “Presi told me that he could not discuss everything with me because of the phone he was using.” He said they also discussed the price he would sell the drug for and what amount he could handle.
The witness said he told Presi that the drug would be sold for four hundred and fifty, meaning four hundred and fifty dollars per pound and Presi said that he was going to talk to a person known as “Sky,” and see if Sky could sell ten or twenty, meaning ten or twenty pounds of marijuana to start.
The witness said that Sky wanted to sell forty, meaning forty pounds of marijuana per week, “but that they would not give Sky that much to start with. Presi then tells Reaggie to tell me to line up ten or twenty, meaning ten or twenty pounds of marijuana. I was not a participant in this call, but Presi subsequently asked me if I would provide marijuana to Sky so that Sky could sell it for Presi. I told Presi that I would not do that because I didn’t trust Sky.”
According to the witness “Reaggie and I then decided that another marijuana trafficker, who I knew as ‘Rome,’ and to whom I regularly supplied marijuana, could sell marijuana supplied by me at cost and then provide the profits to Presi.”
Thereafter, the witness said, he provided Rome with a total of 800 pounds of marijuana to sell for Presi. “I did this on two separate occasions. On each occasion, I provided Rome with 400 pounds of marijuana. The first time was within a few weeks of April 11, 2007; the second was a few months after that.
“On both occasions, Rome and I discussed that Rome would sell this marijuana, pay me my cost for the marijuana, and then send the profits of the sales to Presi and Reaggie. The first time I gave Rome marijuana, he sold it and paid me back my cost. Reaggie informed me that Rome had sent some of the proceeds to Jamaica for Reaggie and that Rome was going to send the rest of the proceeds to Presi,” the witness stated.
This association continued with the witness supplying Rome with marijuana. “Rome did not pay me for it, and I don’t know whether he ever sent the proceeds of the transaction to Presi or Reaggie in Jamaica. In addition to these quantities of marijuana that I provided to Rome to sell for Presi, I supplied Rome with over 1,000 pounds of marijuana to sell for himself on various occasions during 2007.”
Dispute
Around May 2007, witness said he supplied 20 pounds of marijuana to a customer who did not pay for it. The customer was from Tivoli Gardens, Jamaica, but lived in the Bronx, New York. During his ongoing dispute with the customer over the money he spoke to Presi on the telephone and explained the situation.
He said he spoke with Presi about “this because I understood that if I were to retaliate against the customer without discussing it with Presi in advance, Presi might retaliate against me. I understood this because I knew that the customer was from Tivoli Gardens, and that Presi would not want me to fight with a man from Tivoli Gardens without his authorization.”
Witness said when he spoke to Presi, he told him in coded language that “I should do whatever I felt I needed to be done to protect myself and my drug business.”
The witness claimed that agents played for him a recorded telephone call that took place on May 9, 2007. He recognized the voices on this recorded call as Presi’s voice and that of an individual whose name is Lloyd Reid, who he said he knew as “Kevin.”
“I supplied marijuana to Kevin on a number of occasions and Kevin owed me money for marijuana that I had supplied to him. On this call, Kevin and Presi discussed the dispute between the customer and me. Presi says that he knows me and he also knows the customer, and therefore he cannot support any of them to hurt each other.”
During the recorded discussion the witness also said he recognized Presi’s voice saying if customer “did not give me my money, he would have to suffer the consequences.” Kevin reports, in coded language during the discussion, that the customer is taking the money he’s earned from selling my marijuana and re-investing the money in more marijuana, as opposed to paying me.
Presi comments that if a man gives another person his “product” — meaning narcotics — he wants a “return” — meaning he wants to get paid. “On this call, Presi also says that he had planned to link Kevin with me, meaning put Kevin in contact with me so that Kevin can purchase marijuana from me, but that Kevin said that he was already dealing with me. I was in fact supplying Kevin with marijuana during this time period.”
“The agents also played for me a recorded telephone call that took place on May 10, 2007, at or about 12:20. I recognize the voices on this call to be mine and Reaggie’s. On this call, I ask Reaggie to ask Presi to find and put pressure on the person who introduced me to the customer.
I also explain to Reaggie, in coded language, that he should tell Presi that if I can’t get any money here in the New York area, then Presi isn’t going to receive anything from me in Jamaica. Reaggie tells me that I should talk about this with Presi, who he calls “the boss.”
“Reaggie also promises me that he will put pressure on the person who introduced me to the customer.” At some time after this call, in May 2007, in the Bronx, New York, the witness said “he confronted the customer and used violence against him in an effort to recover the money that he owed me.”
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