This series of articles is not intended to lionise or glorify the acts of criminals but to put a historical perspective on criminality in Jamaica, with the hope of shedding light on why the country is now teetering on the edge of lawlessness.Of significant note, as well, is the fact that the subjects of these stories die violently and very young.

HE was never without a Bible, and possessed a charming smile that would disarm many an unsuspecting female.

But Nathaniel ‘Natty’ Morgan was a deadly criminal described by police in the latter part of the 1980s as ‘the most feared criminal by society since the death of Rhygin in the 1950s’.

During his descent into the depths of crime and violence, Natty Morgan drove fear into law-abiding citizens, while at the same time earning the status of ‘hero’ from residents of the communities he used as his stomping ground.

Nathaniel Morgan was born on New Year’s Day, 1966. His mother dumped him on his father, who lived close to the Riverton City landfill, before he was one year old. He was the only son of his father’s six children.

The appalling conditions of filth, squalor and refuse which filled the squalid community at the edge of the City dump provided the perfect training ground for this youth, who would grow up to become the nation’s most-wanted man.

During his formative years, Natty Morgan learned the power of violence through the constant beatings he received from his father and elder sister who were convinced that tough treatment would curb his mischievous ways.

Morgan would more often than not be absent from classes at the Seaward All-Age School where his father sent him to get an education.

By the time Morgan was seven, his penchant for criminality began to emerge. By the time he celebrated his 10th birthday, he had been absent from home for weeks at a time.

Those who lived in Riverton City said the youth was attracted to the ways of the older gangsters in the community and would willingly run errands for them or alert them of the presence of the police.

Frustrated that his efforts to keep his son on the straight and narrow path were failing, Morgan’s father shipped him off to live with his mother in St Mary.

But Natty Morgan was back in the capital city about five years later, and immediately linked up with his boyhood friends who, by this time, had grown into reckless teenagers.

It would not be long before he had his first of many brushes with the law and, for the next five years, he was a regular occupant of jail for charges, including shooting with intent and illegal possession of a firearm and robbery.

Police have blamed Natty Morgan and his gang for the multiple murders of seven men who attended a wake in Seaview Gardens on February 25, 1989. The men were all put to lie down and were shot in the back of the head. The killings drew the condemnation of society and were dubbed ‘the Seaview Massacre’. Popular talk at the time was that the men were killed because they attended the wake of a person whose life was snuffed out by Morgan’s gang.

After the massacre, a police post was set up in Seaview Gardens to ease the fear of terrified residents.

Morgan and his crony, Peter Lawrence, were captured by police who organised a massive operation a few months after the massacre and were dragged before the court after being charged with nine murders.

But the criminals would not stay behind bars for too long as, on December 19 of that year, Natty Morgan and Lawrence both walked out of the Gun Court after they had appeared there to answer to the multiple murder charges.

The two were handed over to prison warders after the court had adjourned and were discovered missing hours later.

After his flight from justice, Natty Morgan became a thorn in the side of law enforcement and eluded several attempts to collar him. He used the swampy terrain near the dump as his hideout and would often leave his lair to carry out heinous crimes.

The police then named Natty Morgan as the most wanted fugitive, and blamed him for 11 murders during his time on the run. In all, police say Morgan and his gang were believed to be responsible for 19 murders, 41 robberies, shooting with intent, arson, attempted robbery and three cases of abduction.

The crimes were carried out in several parishes.

Among his murder victims were University of the West Indies (UWI) lecturer Dr Garfield Saddler and his female companion Rosemary Stewart, who was vacationing in Jamaica at the time. Their bodies have never been found, and police theorise that they were burnt and buried somewhere in the Riverton landfill. The couple were believed to have been abducted at the Red Hills Mall in St Andrew. It is believed that the gang wanted their motor car to carry out a robbery.

Morgan was also suspected of being the triggerman behind the killing of his gang members Evon Jones, Peaches Gordon and a man known only as ‘Wasp’.

Natty Morgan was also suspected of running a massive extortion racket, in which he allegedly collected payments from all of the big businesses on Spanish Town Road.

He was also known to wear dresses and wigs in order to hide his true identity.

Those who knew Morgan describe him as having a calm disposition and a warm smile which masked his evil intent.

“Him was a man who would laugh with people and shoot them. He was very cold, and killing to him was like taking a breath of air, a natural body function,” said one woman who claimed to have lived in Riverton City at the time.

Not even his siblings were free from the fear of the nefarious criminal.

In an article which appeared in the Daily Gleaner of August 25, 1991, one of Morgan’s sisters, identified as Joan, said her brother had once threatened to shoot out her teeth after she questioned him about an edict he gave to three women to leave the Riverton City community.

The women were friends of Joan but were branded as informers by Natty Morgan.

But despite his thirst for blood, Natty Morgan was also described as a man who would spend hours reading his Bible which he also carried in his back pocket.

He was also said to be pursued by women in Riverton City who saw it as an honour to sleep with him. He has been rumoured to have slept with four women in a single night. Those who knew him say the women, some young teenagers, would brave attacks from alligators and trek the swamps to copulate with Natty Morgan. It is said that young girls willingly gave up their virginity to him.

Natty Morgan is rumoured to have sired more than nine children.

He was also a lover of guns and was said to have owned a large cache of assorted weapons.

“Some of them I don’t even know exist on the face of this earth. I don’t know where he get the guns from but he was always up here with them. Up to two, three at a time,” Morgan’s sister told the Gleaner days after his reign of terror, like most badmen, came to a bloody end.

After eight months on the run, Natty Morgan was cut down in a hail of police bullets in Lakes Pen, St Catherine, near to the Lakes Pen dump.

Acting on a tip, a police team cornered Natty Morgan and three of his cronies who were travelling in a van on the lonely strip of road and a gun battle ensued. When the smoke cleared, Morgan was found clutching an M16 Colt AR assault rifle. He also had his Bible in his back pocket. His crony Arthur ‘Bomber’ Hamilton was also found clutching a Remington repeater shotgun.

Morgan’s face was so badly damaged by the police bullets that the police had to use fingerprints and a missing finger, which was said to have been shot off during an earlier shootout with the police, to officially identify him.

Responses:

Dear Editor,

I am not sure of the journalistic value of this article or of others of the same nature, but I do know this, that this one has brought me back to the saddest day of my life. My father is numbered among Shabba’s victims. He was the first police officer to have been killed in 1978; January 5th to be exact. Shot in the back of the head, while standing at the bus stop on North street by the Gleaner Company.

Thirty years have not lessened the pain. You have done a great job in bringing everything back in focus. Perhaps you could tell me the real purpose of this article.

ERAZORSHARPE@aol.com

Hail mi Bredren,

Why am I even congratulating you? I expected nothing less than the high-quality reporting/writing that you have been utilising on this series. And although I am certain that your detractors will say that you are lionising criminals, the truth must come out. It is as simple as that.

Hearty congrats.

observemark@gmail.com

Dear Editor,

In the Observer of Sunday, December 16, 2007, the article titled: “Robin Hood lucks out at 23,” by Karyl Walker, startled and mystified me somewhat as to why an article such as this would now appear in this newspaper at a time when we have more than 1,500 murders in Jamaica during this year of our Lord 2007; most of which could be ascribed to and related to politics.

Because of where we are at in our political and criminal history to date, the article somehow could be misinterpreted as embracing Shabba’s criminal bravado, as illustrated through the interview with his brother.

After 39 years since he was killed by the police and was described as one of the most notorious criminals of his time, he and his brother and other hoodlums received space in this paper, which could be taken as glorifying them. Although I despise the article, it clarifies one of my ‘knowings’ of our Jamaican history that ‘politics has been in bed with the criminal elements’ for over 40 years now, in that ‘Shabba’ (Derrick Adair) was described as the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) chief enforcer in the 1970s.

This reinforces what we all know now as today’s garrisons. There have been suggestions and much more that politicians past and present have some responsibility for the gun wars that have now resulted in hundreds of senseless killings, many of which are not solved. Yes, it is believable that governments past and present must take some responsibility for the current conditions of what I term the killing fields. I am strongly recommending to Prime Minister Golding to strike a commission of inquiry that will delve into this matter. It is high time.

Dr Dudley E Morgan

deliasmorgan@gmail.com