Gangsters retreat

Long before May 24, the public was accustomed to announcements that the police believe a certain person or persons could assist in their investigations into a particular matter.

Whether they did turn up to duly assist - and if they did - seemed largely a hit-or-miss affair, the results varying from case to case.

However, there is a striking difference in the response since the incursion into Tivoli and the subsequent assault on crime.

Several gangsters who once ignored calls to turn themselves in are now running to their lawyers or pastors to take them in before the police come for them.

One case which stands out is that of Jamaica Labour Party strongman Cleveland 'Cassie' Downer.

On Wednesday, January 31, 2007, The Gleaner reported that a feud among JLP factions along Red Hills Road, St Andrew, spiralled into at least 23 murders since November 19 the previous year.

At that time, the police expressed an interest in a man who had been shot and injured on the first day of the conflict.

"We have an interest in Cleveland Downer who we believe can assist with our investigations," Senior Superintendent Calvin Benjamin of the Major Investigation Team told The Gleaner at the time.

But at that time, Downer did not show much interest in speaking with the police, and in a newspaper report Assistant Commissioner Les Green seemed to appeal to him by stating that the police had never said he was wanted for a crime.

According to Green, the police wanted to speak with Downer as not only had he been wounded, but also a man had died in his house and several others were injured.

Overseas recuperating

Downer was reported to have been overseas recuperating from damage caused by a bullet lodged in his spine, and it was never clear if he made himself available for questioning.

Just over three years later, however, Downer was one of 25 persons who turned themselves in to the police, days after being asked to do so.

He was in custody by June 2, less than one week after the announcements were made.

Among the others who also turned themselves over to the police in short order were Michealous Phipps, also called 'Zeekie' (son of imprisoned Matthews Lane don Donald 'Zekes' Phipps); Rohan Hope (brother of slain gangster Andrew 'Bun Man' Hope); Mark 'Mark II' Walters; Kareem Allen (son of murdered Southside don; Franklyn 'Chubby Dread' Allen); Horace 'Pugu' Ramsay; Kevin 'Forehead' Myers; Kevin 'Killer' Elliott, and Andre 'Mills' Buchanan.

The speed with which they turned themselves in to the police was striking, 12 turning themselves in on Wednesday, May 26, mere hours after the police announced their interest.

Noted figures who came in after that initial surge were George Phang, who turned himself in on Friday, May 28, and Dudus' brother Leighton 'Livity' Coke, as well as sister Sandra 'Sandy' Coke.

Still, not all the men named as persons of interest have turned themselves in.

Among the most notorious are Harold 'Harry Dog' McLeod out of Tivoli Gardens, Christopher 'Dog Paw' Linton of Tavern, and Donald 'Negus' Brown from Spanish Town, St Catherine.

But they have been absent from their regular haunts since being named as 'persons of interest' and are now fugitives.