Lester Lloyd Coke

Lester Lloyd Coke, commonly known as Jim Brown, was a Jamaican drug lord and the founder of the Shower Posse, a gang based out of the Tivoli Gardens garrison community in West Kingston. Coke was identified by the Netflix documentary ReMastered: Who Shot the Sheriff? as present and a party to the shooting of Bob Marley on 3 December 1976.

Shower Posse After Tivoli Gardens strongman Claudius Massop was killed by police in February 1979, Lester Lloyd "Jim Brown" Coke did not immediately inherit an absolute leadership vacuum. Senior Phoenix Gang leader Carl "Byah" Mitchell remained alive and highly influential within Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town through the 1980 election cycle. Coke consolidated authority over the local remnants of the Phoenix Gang gradually, stepping fully into the primary leadership role as Mitchell's health collapsed from years of heavy drug abuse prior to his death at St. Joseph's Hospital on January 10, 1984. Coke subsequently fled Jamaica for the United States later in 1984 following his implication in the Rema killings. While in the U.S., Coke teamed up with Vivian Blake, whose established drug distribution lines integrated with Coke's local enforcers to form the international Shower Posse.

The Shower Posse dealt cocaine and cannabis across Jamaica and the United States. They are also tied to a large number of murders in both countries.

Criminal history in the United States

1984 Miami drug house homicide Following his lead involvement in the Rema killings in May 1984, an arrest warrant was issued for Coke, prompting him to flee Jamaica for the United States. In late 1984, just six weeks after arriving in the United States, Coke smoked crack cocaine and passed out inside a Miami drug house, making him an easy target for a robbery. The perpetrators stole cash and jewellery from him. In response to the theft, Coke mobilized a heavily armed faction of the Shower Posse to locate the individuals responsible. The search culminated in a retaliatory raid on an inner-city crack house in November 1984, during which gunmen shot and killed five people. One victim, a pregnant woman, was found in a praying position that suggested she was begging for her life, according to officials.

Federal racketeering indictment The November 1984 quintuple homicide subsequently served as a foundational component of a federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) investigation into the organization's activities. In October 1988, a federal grand jury in Miami unsealed a 62-count indictment charging Coke, co-leader Vivian Blake, and dozens of associates with racketeering, drug conspiracy, and multiple counts of murder. The legal proceedings marked the first time federal prosecutors utilized the RICO statute against a Jamaican criminal organization. Coke avoided immediate prosecution on these charges by returning to Jamaica, where he remained until his arrest and subsequent death during extradition proceedings in 1992.

1985 Miami raid and 1987 deportation In July 1985, a U.S. Marshals task force tracked Coke to a safe house in the Norland neighbourhood of Northwest Miami-Dade County, Florida. A heavily armed Special Response Team conducted a morning raid on the residence, arresting Coke along with ten other individuals. Inside the home, law enforcement seized more than 100 pounds of marijuana. Although Coke was initially booked on federal drug trafficking charges, the charges against him were subsequently dropped after another male occupant in the house stepped forward to claim sole ownership of the contraband.

Despite evading the drug charges, Coke remained under intense scrutiny by federal and immigration authorities, who sought his removal due to his undocumented status and a standing May 1985 Jamaican arrest warrant accusing him of orchestrating a mass shooting that killed 12 people in Kingston. Coke aggressively mounted legal challenges to fight his expulsion, remaining in the United States for over a year. In March 1987, the U.S. government successfully deported him to Jamaica. Upon arriving at the airport in Kingston, he was immediately arrested by local authorities for the 12 murders, though the Jamaican state's case ultimately collapsed after key witnesses recanted their statements.

Criminal history in Jamaica

Murder of Jerome White (1988)

On the night of 10 June 1988, Kingston minibus driver Jerome White was dragged from behind the steering wheel of his Route 40 bus on Spanish Town Road near Darling Street. He was accused by a group of men of “bad-driving” them in their car, taken down the street, and later found stabbed and battered to death.

Coke, described as a building contractor of Building 14, Tivoli Gardens, was arrested by detectives on 6 September 1988 and formally charged with White’s murder following a ruling by the Director of Public Prosecutions. A preliminary enquiry began in the Kingston Resident Magistrate’s Court before Resident Magistrate Mahadev Dukharan.

The enquiry was repeatedly delayed. On 5 October 1988 it was adjourned because the main civilian witness failed to appear. On 31 October–1 November 1988 the Crown called witnesses including Glen Graham, who testified that he had sold a blue Honda Accord to a man known only as “James or Jim Brown” earlier that year; Graham said he could not identify the purchaser in court. The bus owner, Henry Bryan, and Det. Insp. Arthur Martin of the Homicide Squad also gave evidence. The conductor of the bus, Dalton Gayle, could not be located despite repeated efforts by police. Coke was remanded in custody and the enquiry adjourned to 7 November 1988.

January 1989 Spanish Town Road incident In January 1989, Coke was involved in a physical altercation at an Esso gas station located at 76½ Spanish Town Road in Kingston. The confrontation began when the gas station's operator attempted to push Coke's smoking vehicle away from a fuel pump to mitigate a fire hazard, leading to an exchange of blows involving Coke, his son Tony, and several associates. A plainclothes police officer intervened to defuse the initial altercation, after which Coke's group temporarily withdrew toward Tivoli Gardens.

Shortly following the initial dispute, responding police units intercepted the returning convoy near Mother White's Bridge on Spanish Town Road. A shootout ensued between the authorities and individuals in the convoy, resulting in the injury of a police constable and the death of a Tivoli Gardens enforcer named Michael Powell. The incident escalated security concerns in the area, requiring a continuous police guard at the gas station due to subsequent bomb threats, and it drew public statements from People's National Party (PNP) officials who clarified that the dispute was entirely non-political.

Rema killings (1984)

In May 1984 a violent clash broke out between factions of the Jamaica Labour Party in the neighbouring West Kingston communities of Tivoli Gardens and Wilton Gardens (better known as Rema). On the morning of 8 May, gunmen from Tivoli Gardens entered Rema, firing into the high-rise blocks. Fighting continued through the night and into the following day. Seven people were killed and several others wounded. Among the dead were Owen Brown, Keith Marshall and Keith Graham. Houses and businesses were burned, and hundreds of residents fled the area.

Contemporary reports described gangs of armed youths, some carrying M16s, patrolling the streets and demanding to know the whereabouts of “rats.” The violence was internal to the JLP rather than the usual party-versus-party confrontations of the period. Prime Minister Edward Seaga, who was also the member of parliament for West Kingston, later said the trouble had started with the maltreatment of a young woman from Rema who had a boyfriend in nearby Rose Town. Attacks followed, people from Rose Town fled into Tivoli, and the situation escalated beyond control.

Coke was widely named in later accounts as having organised or led the raid from Tivoli Gardens. An arrest warrant was issued and he left Jamaica for the United States. Several other men from Tivoli were charged. In April 1986 two of them, George Graham and Arthur Morrison, were convicted of the murder of Owen Brown and sentenced to death. Carl Robinson and Joseph Dunbar still faced trial at that time. Coke himself was eventually deported to Jamaica in 1987 and faced charges connected to the killings, though the cases against him were repeatedly delayed by problems with witnesses.

Edward Seaga

Coke's close proximity to the political establishment of West Kingston became a frequent point of public controversy and partisan debate. Following his acquittal in a high-profile late-1980s murder trial—which occurred after key eyewitnesses recanted their testimony—local accounts reported that Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader Edward Seaga joined Coke in Tivoli Gardens to share a beer in celebration of the verdict. These allegations were later heavily weaponized in national political campaigns; during the 1993 election cycle, the People's National Party (PNP) published national advertisements asserting that Seaga had been photographed drinking beer with Coke and other men in Rema following local shootings.

Death of daughter and related violence (1990)

On the night of 2 May 1990 Coke’s 16-year-old daughter, Bridgette (also known as Mumpi), was found shot in the forehead in the West Street area of Kingston. She was taken to Kingston Public Hospital and died from her injuries. Two men were questioned in connection with the killing, one of them a Special Constable employed by the Transport Authority.

Two months later, on the evening of 3 July, a well-known Tivoli Gardens political activist — widely identified as Coke — drove into Hannah Town looking for a man believed to have knowledge of Bridgette’s murder and who was also accused of stealing cocaine and guns. His car was shot up and one of the occupants wounded. The vehicle left the area. Later that night a group of armed youths from Tivoli entered Hannah Town and a gun battle followed with local gunmen. One man was killed and several others, including five policemen caught in the crossfire, were wounded. An AR-15 rifle was recovered at the scene.

Police sources later linked the July violence to the earlier killing of Coke’s daughter and to ongoing disputes over drugs and weapons. A special task force formed by the Commissioner of Police to deal with the upsurge of shootings in West Kingston was reported to be focusing on Coke. He was picked up for questioning a few days later.

Arrest and death In 1990, Lester Lloyd Coke and other gang members were indicted by the United States Department of Justice, and Coke was arrested by ATF, US Marshals and Jamaican authorities.

He was put in the General Penitentiary in Kingston to await extradition to the United States on drug trafficking and murder charges. The events drew large crowds and were heavily managed by members of the local community. During the proceedings, one section was reserved for the Coke family, including his common-law wife Beverly Burgess and their children, while another was occupied by senior figures of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). Government consultant forensic pathologist Dr. Royston Clifford testified that Coke was alive when the fire started in his cell, concluding that the cause of death was smoke and soot inhalation with possible carbon monoxide intoxication.

Family In 1992 Coke's eldest son Mark Coke was shot and killed while riding his motorcycle down Maxfield Avenue in St Andrews.

Coke's 16 year old daughter, who went by the name Mumpi, was killed in a shootout, in which her boyfriend was also shot and killed.

Upon his death, Coke's son Christopher Coke was elected as the new head of the Shower Posse.