A raging fight over turf is threatening to escalate into a bloodbath involving gangsters in the Mountain View Avenue area east of the capital city, security forces said yesterday.

The support of gunslingers in other sections of the Corporate Area is being sought by the warring gangs in Eastern St Andrew, East Kingston and Port Royal, and South East St Andrew, worried police officers told the Sunday Observer.

At the heart of the latest standoff is the fallout between factions in the Top Jacques Road area called Lagos and Goodridge Lane, who have been at each other’s throats for several weeks.

The fighting is non-political, as Top Jacques Road, supported by elements from the nearby Back Bush, and Goodridge Lane are both staunch allies of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

At the centre of the conflict is a tussle over who gains control of guns, drugs and according to one informant, “other business activities”. Neither side seems willing to back off.

Even a meeting with an unnamed West Kingston ‘don’ who has considerable clout, has failed to ease the tension.

“We have meeting with the big man and him encourage us to make peace,” said one youth from Goodridge Lane whose name or alias cannot be mentioned due to the sensitive nature of the matter.

“Nutten much never come out a de meeting, because some a de youth dem say things just can’t done so. Is a whole heap a man have dem gun ready fi do something when the right time come,” he said in an interview with the Sunday Observer.

There are others within the Goodridge Lane circle who want full-fledged support from their allies in West Kingston, which could develop into an unfortunate situation if that happens, sources close to the conflict fear.

The killing last Sunday of a man who was slain along Bygrave Avenue and the subsequent reprisal murder of Robert Watkin, 22, of Goodridge Lane, has put the situation close to a ‘war’.

Watkin’s head, which was severed after he was shot several times, had still not been found by police, who believe that it is lying in a 12-metre deep pit in which the bodies of Yvonne Beaumont Walters, widow of attorney-at-law Linton Walters, and her cousin, Jeffrey Beaumont were found on August 26, 2002, at the end of a bizarre kidnapping and murder incident.

Beaumont Walters, 44, was a lecturer at the Shortwood Teachers College and Jeffrey, 29, an accountant. Several gunshot wounds were seen on their bodies after they were recovered from the pit.

“There are a lot of trees in it, so we will have to do a major search and see if we can find it,” said one police investigator who asked that his name be omitted.

However, head of operations of the Criminal Investigation Branch, Senior Superintendent Calvin Benjamin confirmed that a search was on, led by the Major Investigations Task Force (MIT). Benjamin confirmed that tension was brewing in the area.

“One of my concerns is for the safety of motorists who use the Mountain View area,” Benjamin said.

“Based upon what is taking place, motorists could get hurt if the differences get any deeper. But the police are taking no chances, we are working with the members of the community and putting adequate police personnel in the area,” Benjamin said.

The point man in charge of the area, Superintendent Michael Bailey, could not be reached for a more elaborate update.

Meetings have been held to secure a return to stability with the JLP official Andre Franklyn, whom the party has assigned to oversee special matters in the Mountain View area, as well as Member of Parliament for Eastern St Andrew, St Aubyn Bartlett, former JLP candidate for South East St Andrew Joan Gordon Webley, along with some members of the warring faction. But nothing has come of it, said a teenager from Top Jacques Road.

“Some a de youth dem don’t even want fi meet with some a de politician dem, because dem a say dem no haffi depend pon politician fe get guns again. Dem can get them own gun,” the teenager said.

Bartlett and Gordon Webley could not be reached for comment, but Franklyn, who is junior minister in the Ministry of Health and environment, confirmed that he was playing a role in trying to cool the tension and make the area safer to live in.

“We are trying to restore the peace. The police will have to do their job, but there are some non-police matters that we are dealing with. There are other aspects of it that we are trying to work on, where the general area is concerned,” said Franklyn, who oversees certain projects for the JLP in some of the inner-city communities in Spanish Town, Grant’s Pen and Mountain View.

Mountain View is known for bloody clashes over the years between rival factions who happen to support opposing political parties. In recent times however, political clashes have become few, with drugs and guns now the primary spoils of war.

Jarrett Lane and Saunders Lane, both of which have solid sympathy for the People’s National Party (PNP), have been approached to get involved in the fracas.

But according to one youth from Jarrett Lane, there was little chance of that happening, as citizens did not want more fingers to be pointed at the community.

“We no involve and we naw tek side wid none a dem. De man dem fe just cool and work out things,” the youth told the Sunday Observer.

Newly appointed minister of national security Dwight Nelson told this newspaper that efforts were being made to address the state of the violence in the Mountain View area.

“I was just being briefed this afternoon by interests, as to the tension in the area,” Nelson said Friday.

“I am putting in place some measures there along with some functionaries to address the problems,” he added.

The Kingston East police division accounts for one of the highest number of homicide cases islandwide each year.