Christopher Michael Coke, also known as Dudus (born 13 March 1969), is a convicted Jamaican

drug lord A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin or narcotrafficker is a high-ranking crime boss who controls a sizable network of people involved in the illegal drug trade. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they are normally not directly ...

and the leader of the

Shower Posse The Shower Posse is a Jamaican gang, started by Lester Lloyd Coke, which is involved with drug and arms smuggling. Its home is in Tivoli Gardens in Jamaica, but it primarily operates in the Canadian province of Ontario and the US states of New ...

, a violent drug gang started by his father Lester Coke in Jamaica, which exported "large quantities" of marijuana and cocaine into the United States. Due to their father's drug profits, Christopher and his siblings grew up amidst wealth and attended elite private schools. His sister and brother were killed in drug-related violence, in 1987 and 2004, respectively. Coke was gradually brought into his father's organization. After his father's death in 1992, Coke, at the age of 23, became leader of the gang and the ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with '' de jure'' ("by l ...

'' authority of the

Tivoli Gardens Tivoli Gardens, also known simply as Tivoli, is an amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the third-oldest operating amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Kla ...

community in West Kingston. He developed community programs to help the poor and had so much local support that Jamaican police were unable to enter this neighborhood without community consent. Coke was arrested on drug charges and extradited to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in 2010. His arrest had provoked violence among Coke's supporters in West Kingston. In 2011, Coke pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges in connection with drug trafficking and assault. On 8 June 2012, he was sentenced by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to 23 years in federal prison.

Early life

Christopher Michael Coke was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1969, the youngest son of Lester Lloyd Coke and Patricia Halliburton. He had an older sister and brother. His father Lester Coke, who was also known as "Jim Brown", was the founder of a violent drug gang called the

. Together with the gang's co-founder

Vivian Blake Vivian Blake (11 May 1956 – 21 March 2010) was a Jamaican drug kingpin who founded and operated the American operations of the Jamaican Shower Posse. Background Blake was born to a poor family in West Kingston, but was granted a scholars ...

, Lester Coke oversaw the distribution of huge amounts of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Am ...

and

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various t ...

throughout Jamaica and the United States; they were blamed for more than 1000 murders in both countries during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The gang ruled the

neighborhood of West Kingston, where the Coke family lived. Although the area had a history of extreme poverty, Coke earned immense wealth from the gang's profits and his family lived in luxury. Christopher Coke and his siblings attended school with children of the country's political elite. The family suffered from the violence associated with the competition of the drug trade and their father's activities. Coke's sister was fatally shot in 1987. Coke's brother was killed in 2004. The

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

indicted Lester Coke and other key members of the gang, including Vivian Blake, on drug trafficking and murder charges in 1990. Jamaican authorities arrested them. Two years after his arrest, the senior Coke died in a mysterious fire at the General Penitentiary in Kingston, where he was being held pending

extradition Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...

proceedings.

Rise to power

Christopher Coke had been incorporated into his father's trusted assistants. He effectively began to rule the gang at the age of 23, after his father died. He also developed himself as a community leader in Tivoli Gardens. He distributed money to the area's poor, created employment, and set up community centers to help the children and others."Extraditing Coke"
''Al Jazeera'', 30 June 2010. He gained widespread support in the community, to the extent that Jamaican police had to seek permission from his organization before entering the neighborhood.

Extradition request and violence

In 2009 the United States first asked the Jamaican government for the

of Coke on drug trafficking charges.

Bruce Golding Orette Bruce Golding (born 5 December 1947) is a former Jamaican politician who served as eighth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 11 September 2007 to 23 October 2011. He is a member of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which he led from 2005 to h ...

, the prime minister of Jamaica and leader of the

Jamaica Labour Party The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is one of the two major political parties in Jamaica, the other being the People's National Party (PNP). While its name might suggest that it is a social democratic party (as is the case for "Labour" parties in sev ...

, initially refused to extradite Coke. He claimed that the US had used warrantless wiretapping to gather evidence on Coke. Eavesdropping evidence precipitated the US call for extradition. On 17 May 2010, Golding relented and the government issued a warrant for Coke's arrest. The

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Tom Tavares-Finson Tom Tavares-Finson (born 7 July 1953) is a Jamaican attorney-at-law and President of the Senate of Jamaica. Biography Tavares-Finson was born in Kingston, Jamaica.. He was educated at the Jamaica College; McMaster University (Ontario, Canad ...

withdrew as Coke's attorney on 18 May 2010 "in order to avoid

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

." Following this news, Coke's supporters began protesting and arming themselves. In late May 2010, the national government placed Kingston under a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

after a series of shootings and

firebombing Firebombing is a bombing technique designed to damage a target, generally an urban area, through the use of fire, caused by incendiary devices, rather than from the blast effect of large bombs. In popular usage, any act in which an incendiary d ...

s within the city. On 24 May 2010, military and police forces launched a large-scale operation in Kingston to arrest Coke. By 27 May, at least 73 people had been killed in clashes between Jamaican security forces and gunmen in West Kingston, primarily in the neighbourhood of

. This casualty toll has climbed to a confirmed number of 76 dead victims. Mattathias Schwartz, writing for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', reported the death toll at 74, including one soldier. In 2013, the Government of Jamaica announced it would set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate and report on the operation: the commission, informally known as the Tivoli Inquiry, first sat in December 2014. It is chaired by Barbados judge

Sir David Simmons Sir David Anthony Cathcart Simmons, KA, BCH, SC, LLM (born April 28, 1940) is a distinguished Caribbean jurist and politician: a former Chief Justice of Barbados, he also served as Attorney General. Early life and education David Simmons was ...

with Justice Hazel Harris and Professor Anthony Harriott and Velma Hylton QC.

Capture

Coke was detained during a routine roadblock while trying to reach the US Embassy in Kingston for surrender. He attempted to disguise himself as a woman, wearing a woman's wig and possessing a second one and a pair of women's sunglasses; however, the security forces recognized him through his disguise.

Reverend The Reverend is an honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. ''The Reverend'' is correctly ...

Al Miller, an influential

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

, was also detained while trying to facilitate the surrender. Miller told police Coke feared for his life if he surrendered directly to the police, and was asked for aid by Coke. Miller had previously facilitated the surrender of Coke's brother one month earlier. Fearing for his safety, Coke voluntarily waived his right to an

trial so that he could be taken to the US to be tried. Coke's father had died in 1992 in a mysterious prison fire while awaiting an extradition trial in Jamaica. Coke was held under heavy guard while awaiting extradition, as the police feared an attack by his supporters. Coke said that his decision to surrender and face charges was based on a desire to end the drug-related violence in Jamaica, to which he'd lost his sister, brother and father. He said:

"I take this decision for I now believe it to be in the best interest of my family, the community of western Kingston and in particular the people of Tivoli Gardens and above all Jamaica."

US Federal court proceedings

Coke was held at the federal New York City Metropolitan Correctional Center during the court proceedings. Coke initially pleaded not guilty to federal

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalati ...

and

weapons trafficking Arms trafficking or gunrunning is the illicit trade of contraband small arms and ammunition, which constitutes part of a broad range of illegal activities often associated with transnational criminal organizations. The illegal trade of small arm ...

charges in May 2011. On 30 August 2011, he pleaded guilty in front of Judge Robert P. Patterson, Jr. of United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to the following charges: racketeering conspiracy for trafficking large quantities of marijuana and cocaine into the United States, and conspiracy to commit assault in aid of racketeering, for his approval of the stabbing attack of a marijuana dealer in New York City. Initially scheduled for 8 December 2011, Judge Patterson postponed Coke's sentencing several times to provide time for Coke's defense attorneys and federal prosecutors to obtain information supporting their arguments as to the sentence. Defense attorneys cited members of Coke's family and other supporters, who portrayed him as a benevolent, philanthropic, and well-mannered individual. By contrast, federal prosecutors presented documents depicting Coke as willing to commit brutal acts of violence to support his drug empire, and implicating him in at least five murders. In one, he allegedly dismembered the victim with a

chainsaw A chainsaw (or chain saw) is a portable gasoline-, electric-, or battery-powered saw that cuts with a set of teeth attached to a rotating chain driven along a guide bar. It is used in activities such as tree felling, limbing, bucking, pru ...

for stealing drugs from him. The Jamaican government provided evidence derived from wiretapping Coke's cellphone prior to his arrest; it had recorded at least 50,000 conversations dating back to 2004. On 8 June 2012 Coke was sentenced to 23 years in prison. He is now held at the Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Dix in Fort Dix, New Jersey with a release date of 25 January 2030. He has a register number of 02257-748.

References

External links

"Indictment of Christopher Coke"
American Law Daily blog
"''USA vs CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL COKE'' (1:07-cr-00971-RPP), May 22-23, 2012"
Trial transcript
Mary Vallis, "Police raids reveal links to powerful Jamaican Shower Posse gang"
''

The National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Mo ...

,'' 4 May 2010.
Denise Balkissoon, "Deadly Shower Posse gang has deep ties to Toronto"
''

The Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

,'' 25 May 2010
"Critics: Rising Jamaican Death Toll Rooted in So-Called 'War on Drugs'"
''

Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...

'' video report, 28 May 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Coke, Christopher 1969 births Fugitives wanted by Jamaica Jamaican drug traffickers Jamaican crime bosses Jamaican people imprisoned abroad Living people People extradited from Jamaica People extradited to the United States People from Kingston, Jamaica Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government Shower Posse Yardies