A defence attorney yesterday sought to discredit the testimony of a former member of the Klansman gang-turned-State witness, suggesting that he had never been a don, as he has claimed.

But the witness, who has been testifying from a remote location, insisted that he was indeed a high-ranking member of the criminal organisation — appointed by its alleged leader Andre “Blackman” Bryan — and pointedly told the court that the gang relished extorting and killing people.

“I was a don. Me and ‘City Puss’ fall after ‘Blackman’ and then ‘Mumma’ and ‘Bigs’,” the witness said, using the aliases of other alleged members of the gang on trial in the Supreme Court.

“I didn’t promote myself. Blackman is the one who do the promotion. Dons who go out and do shooting is Hezzy, Jim Brown and Smokey. They love to kill. They kill even their own. The purpose of the gang is to kill and extort. They kill, extort, and bun dung people place, that’s all they do,” the witness said under cross-examination by attorney- Keith Bishop, who is representing Lamar Simpson, one of 33 alleged members of the gang.

In response to Bishop’s suggestion that the witness could not prove that any monies he personally collected from his client had been proceeds of extortion, the witness said: “No, but I know we went to collect extortion money.”

Asked by Bishop if he had undergone any form of initiation into the gang, such as being beaten to show toughness, the witness said, “No.” He told the court that Bryan brought him into the gang and told him that death or prison were the only ways out.

He was also quizzed by Bishop on whether he had joined the gang due to loneliness and poverty and because he was in search of excitement.

However, the witness said he was employed during his time in the gang and sometimes received over $100,000 in monthly salary.

“Blackman took me as part of the gang. I don’t need to be part of a gang to have excitement and thrill. I didn’t go through anything. I was told there is no way out. It’s either prison or the grave. I was also told that every time I leave work I was supposed to be at his foot. I did not experience any beating. I never shoplift and no stealing. Only two times I received any money — I got $10,000 to go to the doctor when I was sick, and I also got $7,000 to buy a rack and pinion,” the witness said.

In further trying to discredit the witness’s claim of being a top-tier member of the gang, Bishop enquired if he had been privy to any private meetings held by Bryan. The witness said he was not invited to private meetings at which contract killings were planned.

“When there is a hit job, I wasn’t invited to those meetings. Private meetings are with Suss and Teacher (Bryan) when they get a contract. They also get contracts from foreign for US$5,000. When they get the money and the picture, Blackman tell dem what to do,” the witness claimed.

He also said there was no logo to identify the outfit; however, the name of the gang was painted on walls and fences in communities in Spanish, St Catherine, that support the People’s National Party.

Cecile Griffiths-Ashton, attorney representing accused Carl Beech, suggested to the witness that he was testifying against her client and implicating him in the gang’s activities because they had had a disagreement over a woman.

The witness laughed and said he had no disagreement with Beech.

She said her client had not been present during the murder of a man called Outlaw; however, the witness insisted that Beech had been present.

She asked the witness if he was aware that another person had been charged with the murder of Outlaw in Lauriston, St Catherine.

The witness responded that the person charged in that matter had told him that he was not worried about the case because he was not involved in Outlaw’s murder, and again placed Beech at the scene of the murder.