Gloom hung heavy over violence-torn Spanish Town yesterday, after a month of bloodshed that left 17 people dead and severely curtailed business and social activities in the town and its immediate environs.

Once the prestigious seat of colonial government and designated a world heritage site because of its vibrant Spanish history and stylised Georgian architecture, Spanish Town today is a shadow of its former glory.

Its cramped streets that look more like alleyways, usually bustling with people and traffic, were transformed over the last few weeks into virtual killing fields ruled by criminal gangs which had their origins in Jamaica’s tribal politics dating back a quarter-century.

At 17 deaths, the murder toll has raced past last year’s and, if annualised, would be 74 more than the 130 people killed wantonly in the town and surrounding environs in 2003.

Police and residents in the area blame the latest round of violence on a feud between the ‘One Order’ and ‘Clansman’ gangs, reputed toughs who are said to be feared by even the politicians under whose watch they flourished.

“They (the politicians) were the ones shielding the criminals and now they have grown past the politicians, to the extent that they are now supporting some of the politicians and are essential to the politicians’ survival, economically and politically,” said Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams.

Adams, now sidelined, but who gained his reputation as a tough cop when he worked the streets of Spanish Town and later as head of the now disbanded Crime Management Unit, slipped back into the news as residents and business people called passionately for him to be returned to fight the criminals in the area.

“The two gangs are responsible for over 300 murders in the area,” Adams said in a telephone interview with the Sunday Observer.

From accounts pieced together by the newspaper, the ‘One Order’ gang is aligned to the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and is headed by Oliver Smith, also called “Bubba”, a deportee from England who is reportedly orchestrating the coming together of all JLP strongholds in Spanish Town under a central authority, with himself at the helm.

The One Order is strongly represented in the Tawes Pen, Ellerslie Pen, Railway Lane, Shelta Rock, Cumberland Road, Chambers Lane, Winters Pen, Irish Pen and Gordon Pen areas.

Last year July, shooting broke out in Homestead, a JLP enclave, after some sections of that community resisted attempts by the One Order gang to force them in line. Residents from Homestead said that men from Tawes Pen had invaded Valdez Avenue and entered a yard where they shot and killed 28 year-old Ricardo Patience.

Late December, five persons were shot dead and several others injured in a drive-by at Job’s Lane. Police linked the shooting to Job’s Lane’s attempt to thwart the designs of the ‘One Order’.

The ‘Clansman’ gang solidly supports the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) with bases in Rivoli, Africa, Lime Tree Grove, De la vega City, Fish Ground, Manchester Lane and Lakes Pen, police say.

Donovan Bennett, more popularly known as “Bulby”, is the head ‘Clansman’ and is believed by police to have ambitions of being Spanish Town’s only don.

Both gang leaders, Bennett and Smith, are wanted by police for murder and extortion.

Oxford Street is the imaginary line of demarcation, with the area heading south considered to be One Order turf, while the section north of Oxford Street falls under the rule of the Clansman gang.

The bases cut across constituencies held by the JLP’s Olivia “Babsy” Grange and the PNP’s Sharon Hay-Webster. Grange was pre-dated by Bruce Golding from whom she wrested the seat when he ran on a National Democratic Movement ticket in 1997. Golding returned to the JLP in 2002 and is now a seatless chairman of the party.

A Spanish Town-based police officer, who did not wish to be named, traced the violence to a vow by the ‘One Order’ gang – emboldened by the JLP’s victory in last June’s local government elections – to take over control of the ‘lucrative’ Spanish Town bus terminal teeming with vendors and commuters.

“The One Order says they should have control over the bus park since JLP win, but the Clansman not letting go. This is one of the main issues of contention among them,” the cop said.

Adams blamed the political leadership in Spanish Town for harbouring the ring leaders of the gangs, but he noted that although the gangs had aligned themselves to political parties, politicians were not essential to their survival anymore.

Reports said the violence took a turn for the worse two Fridays ago, following a drive-by shooting at the “Fish Ground” – PNP-held territory opposite the Police Academy at Twickenham Park, where vendors of pond fish do business. Gunmen in a grey Nissan motorcar sped by and peppered the area with bullets. Two persons who were buying fish at the time were shot and injured. The same car was said to have figured in another drive-by shooting which left one man injured in the community of Africa, a few minutes after the attack at Fish Ground.

Residents of the community behind Fish Ground blamed men from Shelta Rock for the drive-by attack. Two nights later, gunmen struck in Shelta Rock at a birthday party for a toddler in the community. Four men – Joseph Graham, 35; Lorenzo Tomlinson, 30; Denford Nelson, 33 and Ryan Murray, 22 – were killed. Murray’s sister, Coleen, was also shot and injured during the incident.

The following day, Sherice Campbell was shot five times as she returned to her yard after taking a shower at a pipe in the Chambers Lane area, a known ‘One Order’ stronghold. Campbell, who mothered a child for a man from the opposing ‘Clansman’ gang, was reportedly shot because she was branded an informer. She was shot from behind and received bullets to her mouth, neck, back and stomach. She is in critical condition in hospital.

The shooting continued the next evening when men dressed in khaki invaded sections of the town, including St John’s Road, Burke Road, Jones Avenue and Duncans Pen, firing wildly. The shooting caused major chaos in the town and three persons were killed while four others were shot and injured.

Social historians said the current spate of violence that has plagued Spanish Town has its roots in the tough tribal politics of Jamaica’s post-Independence period and that the One Order and Clansman gangs are now carrying on the tradition of murder and pillage.

When Tivoli Gardens was being built in the 1960s, out of the ruins of a place called “Back O’ Wall”, hundreds of persons living there were chased away by strong-armed JLP activists. Tivoli Gardens is an enclave in the constituency of Western Kingston controlled by Opposition Leader Edward Seaga.

When the PNP took over the reins of the country in 1972, the late Tony Spaulding, then minister of housing, was accused of ordering the bulldozing of homes occupied by JLP supporters in the West Kingston areas of Wilton Gardens (Rema), and Trench Town, to make space for the construction of Arnett Gardens, popularly known as ‘Concrete Jungle’.

Hundreds of JLP supporters were forced to abandon their homes and flee. Many of them captured land and built shanty dwellings in Spanish Town and its environs, including the Sufferers Heights, Shelta Rock and Central Village areas.

Adams, as a young traffic cop during those days, witnessed the arrival of some of the political refugees who flooded the area.

“They were transported by many trucks, day and night. They came and settled on the outskirts of Spanish Town. The PNP formed their own settlement and the JLP formed theirs,” Adams recalled.

In the years leading up to the 1980 elections and after, Spanish Town took a turn for the worse. Solid garrisons were fortified by both sides of the political fence and a bloody political battle begun.

Tawes Pen, for example, was originally occupied by persons loyal to the PNP, but after the 1980 elections they were forcibly evicted by JLP supporters, who took over their homes.

The environment was ideal for the rise of criminal gangs who maintained links with the political parties, providing muscle when needed.

“The Blind Mice was the first gang I knew of when I was stationed there as a young traffic officer in 1968,” Adams recalled. “They used to kill and beat people for the JLP.”

Other gangs to rise up included the ‘Milo gang’ led by a ruthless killer who hailed from Tawes Pen and who the police say had a hand in at least six murders during the 1980s. ‘Milo’ was convicted for murder in the mid-1980s and was released in the early 90s. He died at the hands of cronies in Tawes Pen, police blotters show.

Among the notorious bad men to emerge out of the quagmire of violence were ‘Pum Pum Mouth’ – a Milo gang member who police believe is still alive – and Kemal Gordon, also called “Jackie”. Jackie was suspected by police of running an extortion racket that stretched from Linstead to Spanish Town. He was killed by police in the St John’s Road area in 1998.

Andrew Donovan, also known as “Bun Pan”, is said to be the current don for the Ellerslie Pen area. His arrest last July for allegedly firing at the police, sparked a massive demonstration and residents of Tawes Pen and Ellerslie Pen blocked Wellington Street in the town with every imaginable piece of debris, demanding his release. Donovan has since been released from police custody.

The One Order and Clansman gangs have taken over where the others left off. The Clansman gang has been in existence for over 10 years, while the One Order was formed after “Bubba” was deported from the United Kingdom in 2000.

Extortion is said to be the main money-earner for the gangs who have access to a fleet of vehicles and no shortage of high-powered assault rifles. However, few business owners were willing to address the issue when the Sunday Observer visited the town.

One business person summed up the fear of the business community to report extortion to the police:

“It is simple. If you go to the police and they even arrest somebody, then that person’s cronies will come and kill you. We don’t even know if we can trust the police.”

The police confirmed that not many persons were willing to come forward and although they had information that millions of dollars is being extorted from the Spanish Town business community on a monthly basis, they were powerless to make arrests.

“While I understand the fear factor, the time to stand up to the criminals is now. They already have us in fear for our lives,” one frustrated policeman said.