NOTHING much has changed in the extortion zones of Spanish Town. For more than two years, an elaborate racket has turned the St Catherine capital into a haven for thugs who prey on informal sellers and formal businesses, extorting hard earned cash that the gangs then use to finance their criminal networks and rich lifestyles.

But even the death of the gangleaders, most lately Clansman leader Donovan ‘Bulbie’ Bennett who was killed October 30, and though the police has reported infighting in the gang over who should replace Bennett, and so control the network, the gang is still operational on the streets.

Six weeks later, street sellers still speak in whispers and any conversation is cryptic and short so as not to alert lurking Clansman members, to whom they are still paying out.

“Mi cyaan tell you say it nah gwaan,” said one peanut vendor, with whom the Sunday Observer spoke during a visit to the town Thursday.

“But we cyaan talk too loud bout ya so, you see me, cause dem nuff bout ya.”

According to the peanut seller, the collectors are almost ‘omni present’; they are everywhere, he said.

When asked how many ‘collectors’ were operating in the town’s taxi park, a known zone of extortion controlled by Clansman, he said: “Nuff man, nuff. Around at least 60 a dem, man.”

But local police chief, Superintendent Kenneth Wade, says he cannot confirm that the gang was still extorting.

“Because, no one is coming forward with information it is hard to actually get someone convicted,” said Wade.

“I cannot confirm that the extortion racket has been going on, or that it is presently being carried out at this time, in the bus park … However, the police is making every effort to control and to get rid of the scourge of violence and extortion.”

There are two main gangs in Spanish Town, Clansman and One Order, both of which have different zones of operation. One Order leader, Oliver ‘Bubba’ Smith, was gunned downed in July 2004.

Sellers in the town say they each pay up to $500 per week to the gangs, which, given the volume of vendors and other informal tradesmen and women, amounts to about $200,000 per week.

This figure does not take into account the take from taxi operators who have to pay over a portion of daily earnings.

Local businesses are also said to fork out hundreds of thousands of dollars to the collectors on a weekly basis. One proprietor told the Sunday Observer that he pays out $50,000 per week to enforcers for ‘protection’.

If the protection money is not forthcoming, the punishment is swift and decisive – “Licks or even worse,” he said.

Wade, describing how hard it is to break the back of the extortion racket, said it requires police personnel going under cover and actually witnessing persons being bullied into paying over their cash.

“When the issue of extortion is being explored, one should keep in mind also that when it becomes so organised, the police will have a more harder time in holding a person or persons for the violation,” said the Spanish Town police chief.

“What we have to do is to put that man or woman under surveillance, to determine the link and the operation being perpetrated against the citizens.”

Wade said that a contingent of police was always on the streets doing patrols and surveillance, hoping to nab the extortionists.

Notwithstanding, the activity of the gangs were noticeable Thursday in the bus park, where several men were dictating to taxi operators, where they could and could not park.

Any attempt to resist resulted in threats and beatings.

A resident told the Sunday Observer that one morning while on her way to work, she witnessed a driver being beaten by enforcers who told him not to stop at a particular section of the road, but he disobeyed. She said the taximan was beaten with what appeared to be a bat.

“Dem beat him without mercy, and all you beg fi him, dem just beat him even more,” she said.

paulc@jamaicaobserver.com