Founded 1980s Years active 1980-present | Ethnicity Jamaican | |
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Criminal activities Drug trafficking, arms trafficking, racketeering, and murder | ||
The Shower Posse is a Jamaican gang which is involved with drug and arms smuggling. Its home is in Tivoli Gardens in Jamaica, but it primarily operates in the US states of New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Pennsylvania. There are differing reports on the origin of the name. One theory is that it comes from the promises of its associated politicians to shower supporters with gifts. Another view is that it is a reference to the gang showering opponents with bullets. A third theory is that the gang got its name from the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) election slogan 'Shower', which was a response to the PNP's 'Power' that was coined from Manley's 'Power for the people' slogan in the 1970s.
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The gang has a strong international presence among expatriate Jamaican communities in North America. In the United States, a branch was founded by Vivian Blake and it has a prominent role in the New York City drug trade. The gang also has a large presence in Toronto.
"In 1989, former member Charles 'Little Nut' Miller was charged with drug trafficking but agreed to testify against other gang leaders in order to receive immunity. In his testimony – in which he implicated himself in nine murders - Miller revealed his connection to the JLP as a 'political enforcer,' as well as to the CIA, going as far to state that “the United States made me what I am." (Newsweek, July 13, 1998).
2010 Kingston conflict
In 2009 the United States began to demand that Christopher Coke, then current leader of the Shower Posse, with extensive and well-known links to the JLP, be extradited to New York, where he would face charges of smuggling drugs and weapons.
The prime minister of Jamaica, Bruce Golding, who was also the Minister of Parliament for that district, initially questioned the legality of the request, claiming that warrantless wiretapping had been used to collect information on Coke. However, he eventually relented, after public indignation to what many Jamaicans viewed as a cover-up to protect a politically connected drug trafficker, and on 17 May 2010 an arrest warrant was issued for Coke, leading to a state of civil unrest within Kingston, and especially Tivoli Gardens. Coke was eventually arrested outside of Kingston on 22 June 2010. On Friday, 15 June 2012, a New York federal district court sentenced Coke to two consecutive sentences: 20 years for racketeering and conspiracy, and an additional three years for conspiracy to commit assault.
In popular culture
The 2014 novel A Brief History of Seven Killings, by Marlon James, features a gang called Storm Posse, who share many features with Shower Posse, based in a fictionalised version of Tivoli Gardens named "Copenhagen City".