SCORES of police and soldiers last night scoured Jamaica’s old capital of Spanish Town for gunmen and other criminals after a day of sporadic violence and uneasiness in the town following Monday night’s murder in Kingston of notorious gang leader, Oliver “Bubba” Smith.

Earlier in the day, members of Smith’s gang and other supporters burnt market and street-side stalls used by vendors, blocked roads, started bon fires and generally sowed disorder. They also coerced businesses to either not open or to close early.

Violence related to Smith’s death had also left two men dead Monday night – shot by the police – and the recovery of a Chinese-made Mack 90 rifle.

By mid-day Spanish Town, the capital of the parish of St Catherine, was a virtual ghost town. “We lost pretty much more than half-a-day of activity,” said Rudolph Green, the president of the Spanish Town Chamber of Commerce.

“Maybe we did 10 per cent of normal business.”

There were suggestions last night that Smith might have been cut down by factions from his own gang in a dispute over the spoils from a robbery.

But as security and business leaders sought to make sense of the situation, well-known parliamentarian and former Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) deputy leader, Olivia “Babsy” Grange was kept busy attempting to explain her relationship with Smith, the reputed head man of Spanish Town’s infamous One Order Gang.

He was shot dead in the Whitehall Avenue area of the capital, next to a car he was driving that is part-owned by Grange, the Central St Catherine MP.

Grange’s argument was that she did not know Smith, but had guaranteed a loan for the purchase of the Honda Civic motor car for one of her constituency workers, Andrew Hope, who the police last night described as one of Smith’s chief lieutenants.

“He would be one of the top members of the gang,” said Senior Superintendent Clifford Blake, who heads the Spanish Town police.

Grange suggested that she was unaware that the banking transaction had left her name on the ownership documents, rather than merely on the loan guarantee papers.

Helping Hope, who is on bail for the illegal possession of firearm and shooting with intent, was as much as she would do for other constituents, Grange indicated.

“He is a constituency worker who I would stand up for and help any time,” she told the Observer.

But the MP insisted that she did not know Smith, who gained notoriety for attempting to pull all pro-JLP gangs in St Catherine into a single command structure – hence the title One Order. Neither did she know how he got the car.

“I do not know the man,” she said. “He is a hangover from Bruce Golding’s time.”

Golding is the former MP for Central St Catherine, who is now the front-runner for the leadership of Grange’s party.

She won the seat in the 1997 general election, two years after Golding had left the JLP to form his own National Democratic Movement (NDM). Golding returned to the JLP in 2002.

According to the police, Smith absconded bail while facing murder charges in 1993 and fled the island to the United States. He was deported to Jamaica in 2002 after serving time abroad for gun and drug-related charges.

His return to Jamaica corresponded with the growth of the One Order phenomena and the escalation of inter-gang rivalry in Spanish Town, especially after local government elections a year ago that were swept by the JLP. In the aftermath of the election, One Order muscled in the town’s extortion racket, previously said to have been controlled by gangs largely aligned to the People’s National Party, which controls the national government.

Smith was also wanted by the police for the murder of Orville Cephas, 56, who was shot dead in March 2003 at the intersection of Cumberland and Wellington streets, in front of Grange’s Central St Catherine constituency office. Another man, Trevor Reid, was also shot and killed during the attack.

But according to official police report on the killing, Smith, 36, may have met his end because his cronies believed he lied about the take from a robbery a week ago at the SuperPlus Food Store in Mandeville.

Smith, according to the police, appeared to have told members of his gang that the robber had netted only $500,000, but it was broadcast that $3 million has been robbed.

“Relations among gang members have reportedly been strained particularly in recent times, as squabbles increased over turf and proceeds from criminal activities, moreso the lucrative extortion racket being carried out in the old capital by the gang,” a police statement said.

A police officer at the scene of Smith’s death, told the Observer yesterday that his killers had followed him to Festival Road, a small cul-de-sac which runs off Upper Ward Close in the Whitehall Avenue area.

“He was followed here by men in two cars,” said the cop. “They shot him brutally and sped away from the area. We do not believe anyone around here knows about this murder although we will not rule out any possible lead.”

Smith was hit four times with bullets apparently fired from an AK 47 assault rifle – twice in the abdomen and once in his neck and forehead. Police say four .762 spent shells were found at the scene.

When news of the gang leader’s death spread, police say bands of gunmen descended on Spanish Town, firing guns indiscriminately.

One group was challenged by the police, leading to an exchange of gunfire. At the end of the firefight, police said, the bodies of Daniel Henry, 22, of a Windsor Road address and 17 year-old Dirky Young of Chambers Lane in Spanish Town were found.

The sporadic violence continued into yesterday, especially in areas of the town where One Order Gang has strength.