Claude Massop (12 May 1947 – 4 February 1979) was the leader and strongman of the Phoenix Gang, later renamed the

Shower Posse The Shower Posse is a Jamaican posse, Jamaican gang, started by Lester Lloyd Coke, which is involved in drug smuggling, drug and arms smuggling. Its home is in Tivoli Gardens, Kingston, Tivoli Gardens in Jamaica. It has several North American b ...

, belonging to

Tivoli Gardens Tivoli Gardens, also known simply as Tivoli (), is an amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the third-oldest operating amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Kla ...

, Wellington Street, Rema,

Denham Town Denham Town is a predominantly residential neighbourhood in western Kingston, Jamaica. It has a reputation as one of Kingston's more violent areas. It was named in memory of Edward Brandis Denham, Governor of Jamaica 1935–1938. Amenities Th ...

and the surrounding areas of West Kingston,

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

Biography

Early life

Massop, who was nicknamed Jack, was born in 1947 in West Kingston's

. He spent his early life in petty criminal activity mostly as a street hustler and pimp. He then moved into construction work as the chief contractor. By the time he was 18 (1965) he was already the acknowledged leader of what would later become known as the infamous

, a gang that was later headed by the notorious Lester Lloyd "Jim Brown" Coke.

Gangleader and gangland don

By 1967 Massop was a big influence in what would later become

, which was at that time nothing more than emerging housing projects for the urban poor. By 1967, Massop's main gang rivals were George "Feathermop" Spence, Winston "Burry Boy" Blake and Anthony (Tony) Welch from the nearby area of Arnett Gardens (Jungle)."Burry Boy and Feathermop: The violent duo that helped and shamed the PNP", ''Jamaican Observer'', 20 January 2008. They were known for their infamous violence and the methods they used to enforce their edicts. Blake and Spence led a motorcycle gang for nearly ten years (1967–76). They were political thugs and enforcers for the then housing minister Anthony Spaulding. The gang included at least thirty men at this time and terrorised victims in Tivoli Gardens, Rema and surrounding areas. Massop had a string of arrests, which included several charges of murder and armed robbery, perjury and shooting with intent but no charges could produce convictions.''The Daily Gleaner'', 6 February 1979. In January 1978, his chief claim to fame was the so-called "political truce" (Peace Treaty) between him, his close associate and chief lieutenant, Carl "Bya" Mitchell (JLP) and Aston "Buckie Marshall" Thomson (PNP). Before that time, a brutal bloody battle ensued between the two political factions, producing more than 800 deaths by the 1980 general elections between the two political parties ( PNP and JLP).

Death

Massop died on 4 February 1979 after being shot by police (at least 40 times, according to newspaper reports) along with two other men named Lloyd Frazer and Alphonson Trevor Tinson, following a police car chase after leaving a football match in

Spanish Town Spanish Town (Jamaican Patois: Spain) is the capital and the largest town in the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of St. Catherine, Jamaica, St. Catherine in the historic county of Middlesex, Jamaica, Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the Spanish and Briti ...

involving the Tivoli Gardens Football Club.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Massop, Claude 1949 births 1979 deaths People from Kingston, Jamaica Yardies Jamaican drug traffickers People shot dead by law enforcement officers in Jamaica Shower Posse