A notorious Jamaican drug lord named Christopher “Dudus” Coke who prosecutors implicated in five slayings, plead guilty to charges that will likely put him in the slammer for at least 21 years. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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Christopher (Dudus) Coke, 42, pleaded days after prosecutors revealed they had evidence of at least five murders, including one where they say he killed a man with a chainsaw.
“Coke murdered at least two individuals in Tivoli Gardens (in Kingston) who failed to repay narcotics-related debts,” prosecutors wrote last week.
“Coke directed his “soldiers” to locate (one) and bring him to the jail in Tivoli Gardens. While the victim was tied down, Coke killed him with a chainsaw.”
The 37-page motion contained what Coke’s lawyers called “massive additional instances of criminality sprung at the last minute” and came a day before a judge ruled that prosecutors could also let jurors hear their wiretaps.
Coke, who ran the notorious “Presidential Click” drug gang, faced life in prison on the drug charges but instead pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assault and conspiracy to racketeering charges.
“I’m pleading guilty because I am guilty,” he told Federal District Judge Robert Patterson in a Manhattan courtroom.
The 5-foot-4 strongman was captured after a deadly four-day gun battle in Kingston, Jamaica last year and extradited to the U.S.
“For nearly two decades, Christopher Coke led a ruthless criminal enterprise that used fear, force and intimidation to support its drug and arms trafficking ‘businesses,'” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said. “He moved drugs and guns between Jamaica and the United States with impunity.
“Today’s plea is a welcome conclusion to this ugly chapter of criminal history.”
