SUMMARY

The increased gang violence in the West Kingston suburbs, in 2001, was a consequence of reactions and counter-reactions to the killing of William “Willie Haggart” Moore. Moore was the leader of the Black Roses Crew, a gang controlling the Arnett Gardens, an area populated with Supporters of PNP (People’s National Party). The origins of the violence can be dated back to the 1970s when the PNP and JLP (Jamaican Labour Party) started to recruit supporters amongst gangs in order to gain control of Kingston’s suburbs.

Since the 1980s the gangs have become more and more independent, as they have become economically stronger through engagement in the drug business. Much of the violence thus has also become related to control over areas and markets and contains everything from raids, with burning of houses, to drive-by shootings and targeted murders. With extremely high levels of murders, much of it gang-related, it would be untrue to say that violence has abated. However, the direct conflict between the rivalry groups of Supporters for JLP and Supporters for PNP seems to have been kept at lower levels since 2001.

The non-state conflict between Supporters for JLP and Supporters for PNP is first included in UCDP data in 2001. By April of that year, the murder of a gang leader from a PNP supporting area triggered escalations that, by July, had resulted in more than 25 battle-related deaths.