SEVERAL frightened families, fearing that they have been marked for death, hustled out of the Tawes Pen area of Spanish Town yesterday in the face of new violence in the community as part of a tussle for power among gang leaders.

“Them get orders to move out,” one onlooker said as members of three families packed furniture, appliances and other belongings into a truck.

At the same time, the police reported that they had interviewed Andrew Hope, also called Bun Man, who cops last year claimed to be among the leaders of the notorious One Order Gang.

Yesterday, Detective Inspector Derrick Champagnie of the Spanish Town Criminal Investigation Bureau, made it clear that Hope was not being questioned for any crime, but apparently because the police believe that he can help broker a truce between protagonists.

“We are trying to get the warring factions to talk to see if the conflict can be resolved peacefully,” Champagnie told the Observer. “The conflict benefits no one.”

The new upsurge of violence in Spanish Town reached a crescendo on Sunday when gunmen, some dressed in police gear, went into the community of Ellerslie Pen and opened fire with automatic weapons, killing three persons and injuring six.

Police said that the shooting was between rival factions of the One Order gang over who should take over from its former boss Oliver “Bubba” Smith, who was killed in Kingston last July. Police believe that Smith was cut down by some of his gang colleagues.

Now, cops claim, some elements of Tawes Pen/ Ellerslie Pen are attempting to pave the way for Linford Hamilton, also called Satta John, to take over the gang when he emerges from prison, which they expect to happen this year.

Hamilton has been in jail for two decades for the murder of a policeman, but will be up for parole consideration.

“They believe he will get parole this year and are trying to pave the way for him to take over the leadership of One Order,” Detective Inspector Champagnie said.

In the face of a spate of retaliatory violence over the past week, some of Hamilton’s relatives, including his mother and sisters, were forced to flee Tawes Pen last weekend, Champagnie confirmed.

Yesterday, the latest group of ‘refugees’ declined to be interviewed, but it was suggested that they were relatives and associates of Hamilton’s family.

“The rumour is that they were given orders to move,” Champagnie said. “Satta John’s mother and sisters have moved from the area.”

The One Order gang is an outgrowth of Bubba Smith’s efforts to bring under a single management all the gangs that operated in Spanish Town communities where the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party has strong support – under one order.

Gangs that resisted were ruthlessly attacked, leading to a spate of inter and intra-gang violence during 2002 and 2003. One Order also clashed with the pro-People’s National Party gang, Clansman, for control of the extortion racket in Spanish Town.

But Smith was killed in Kingston last year and police suspected that his death was linked to disputes over the sharing of gang spoils. At the time of his murder, Smith was driving a car jointly owned by Andrew Hope, his reputed second, and Central St Catherine MP, Olivia “Babsy” Grange.

At the time, Grange explained that she had merely co-signed a loan for a constituent.

Apart from Hope, police said that they wanted to interview two other men, Paul “Chicken” Bell and his brother-in-law, Michael Green, who they believe can help in quelling the conflict. Bell and Green were not found yesterday.

“They are not wanted, but we have not spoken to them,” Champagnie said.