Claude Massop
Encyclopedia
Early life
Famed gang leader and strongman of the Jamaica Labour PartyJamaica Labour Party
The Jamaica Labour Party is one of the two major political parties in Jamaica, the other being the People's National Party. Despite its name, the JLP is a centre-right, conservative party.-Background:...
(JLP) political faction belonging to Tivoli Gardens
Tivoli Gardens, Kingston
Tivoli Gardens, the political Garrison, is a West Kingston neighbourhood in Kingston, Jamaica. Tivoli Gardens has been the scene of confrontation between gunmen and security forces in 1997, 2001, 2005, 2008 and during the 2010 Kingston unrest. It is home to the alleged drug 'Don' Christopher Coke...
, Wellington Street, Rema and surrounding areas of West Kingston, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
. Massop was the leader or head of a group of which would later be known as the infamous Shower Posse
Shower Posse
The Shower Posse is a Jamaican posse which is involved with drug and arms smuggling. Its home is in Tivoli Gardens in Jamaica, but it primarily operates in New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Pennsylvania, where it is one of the most powerful posses. There are differing reports on the origin of the...
. He began life as a petty street hustler, getting involved with low level narcotics distribution (marijuana) and pimping, then he moved into building contractor work (as the chief contractor). Massop ruled these areas with an iron fist and will and was the acknowledged leader there for over 10 years until his death. Along with William 'Burrey Boy' Blake, Rock Eye, Aston 'Bucky' Marshall, Dennis 'Copper' Barth, Carl Bya Mitchell, Brown Man aka Mr. B, Waxy, Jimmy Sport, Fitzy, Dinal 'Rock', Tantuddy, Sexy Paul, Juicy Badness, Donovan Jones, George 'Badwud' Tonya, Teddy Paul, Lester Lloyd (Ba-Bye) Jim Brown Coke, Baskin, Devon Star, Top Cat, Run Joe, Curly Locks, George Phang, Anthony (Tony) Welch, the Phipps brothers, Glenford (Early Bird) Phipps (died, JULY 15TH, 1990) (sole survivor brother Donald 'Zeeks' Phipps) produced what is now known as Garrison politics in Jamaica (poignantly portrayed in the film The Harder They Come
The Harder They Come
The Harder They Come is a 1972 Jamaican crime film directed by Perry Henzell.The film stars reggae singer Jimmy Cliff, who plays Ivanhoe Martin, a character based on Rhyging, a real-life Jamaican criminal who achieved fame in the 1940s...
starring Jimmy Cliff
Jimmy Cliff
Jimmy Cliff, OM is a Jamaican musician, singer and actor. He is the only currently living musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievement in the arts and sciences...
).
Biography
Massop was born in 1949 in West Kingston in Denham TownDenham Town
Denham Town is a predominantly residential neighbourhood in west-central Kingston, Jamaica. It has a reputation as one of Kingston's more violent areas.-External links:*.*Photos:...
he spent his early life in petty criminal activity more as a street hustler and pimp. But by the time he was 18 (1967) he was already the acknowledge leader of what would later become known as the infamous Shower Posse
Shower Posse
The Shower Posse is a Jamaican posse which is involved with drug and arms smuggling. Its home is in Tivoli Gardens in Jamaica, but it primarily operates in New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Pennsylvania, where it is one of the most powerful posses. There are differing reports on the origin of the...
(once headed by the notorious Lester Lloyd Coke ('Jim Brown')). It was this 'political' activity which brought Edward Seaga
Edward Seaga
Edward Philip George Seaga ON PC was the fifth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 1980 to 1989 and Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party from 1974 to 2005. He served as leader of the opposition from 1974 to 1980 and again from 1989 until January 2005...
and Michael Manley
Michael Manley
Michael Norman Manley ON OCC was the fourth Prime Minister of Jamaica . Manley was a democratic socialist....
into political power, both employing their own henchmen and a vicious power struggle which would ensue for the next 4 decades, prevalent right throughout the 1970s and 1980s, which spawned a brutal vicious, violent gang struggle primarily fought between mainly two factions; mostly fuelled by the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, (consumers) and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
,(producers) includes:Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
(which encompasses China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, the so called 'golden triangle' Burma, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
) need for the expanding boom in the Narcotics trade (Cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
, Crack Cocaine
Crack cocaine
Crack cocaine is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked. It may also be termed rock, hard, iron, cavvy, base, or just crack; it is the most addictive form of cocaine. Crack rocks offer a short but intense high to smokers...
, Marijuana) throughout the 1980s which still persist today (the other faction would later become known as the Spangler posse formerly led by Donald 'Zeeks' Phipps until his imprisonment in 2006). While Jamaican involvement in the drug trade is rather minimal or small in comparison to other countries(Italy seizure of cocaine for the first 6 months of 2009 was 2,473 Kilograms compared to Jamaica of 222 kg for the whole of 2009), it is the government's perceived inability, from other governments, particularly the United States to deal with persistent drug crime and the so called 'Don's' problem has plagued the country for the past four decades. This has led to persistent criticism of the governments policy towards this issue and its links with a well known criminal 'Don' from Tivoli gardens has only exasperated the problem.
Gangleader and Gangland Don
By 1967 Massop was a big influence in what would later become Tivoli GardensTivoli Gardens, Kingston
Tivoli Gardens, the political Garrison, is a West Kingston neighbourhood in Kingston, Jamaica. Tivoli Gardens has been the scene of confrontation between gunmen and security forces in 1997, 2001, 2005, 2008 and during the 2010 Kingston unrest. It is home to the alleged drug 'Don' Christopher Coke...
which was by this time nothing more than emerging housing projects for the urban poor. By 1972 George Phang and Anthony (Tony) Welch was the 2 main Spanglers Top Rankin men in an areas now known as Arnett Gardens ('Jungle'). In Tivoli Gardens, Rema and surrounding areas, Massop had a string of arrests, includes several charges of murder and armed robbery(the firearm recovered from the scene of the shooting of Massop was involved in a recent robbery a month before), perjury and shooting with intent but no charges could produce any convictions. in January 1978 His chief claim to fame was the so called 'political truce' (Peace Treaty) between him, Bya Mitchell (JLP) and (PNP) Aston 'Buckie Marshall' Thomson , up until then a brutal bloody battle ensued between the two political factions, famously producing more than 800 deaths in the 1980 general elections between the two political parties (PNP
PNP
-Science and technology:* Legacy Plug and Play or PnP, an ISA bus extension, a special case of Plug and play* Principles and parameters, a linguistics framework* PNP, a type of Bipolar junction transistor...
and JLP). Massop met his death on 4 February 1979 by being shot dead by police(at least 40 times according to newspaper reports) along with two other men named Lloyd Frazer and Alphonso Trevor Tinson following a police car chase after leaving a football match in Spanish Town
Spanish Town
Spanish Town is the capital and the largest town in the parish of St. Catherine in the county of Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the former Spanish and English capital of Jamaica from the 16th to the 19th century...
involving Tivoli Gardens.