Jamaica is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning 10,990 square kilometres (4,240 sq mi) in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about 145 kilometres (90 mi) south of Cuba, and 191 kilometres (119 mi) west of Hispaniola ; the British Overseas Territory of the Cayman Islands lies some 215 kilometres (134 mi) to the north-west.
Yardie is a term often used, particularly within the Caribbean expatriate and Jamaican diaspora, to refer to people of Jamaican origin, though its exact meaning changes depending on context. The term is derived from the Jamaican patois for home or "yard". The term may have specifically originated from the crowded "government yards" of two-storey concrete homes found in Kingston and inhabited by poorer Jamaican residents, though "yard" can also refer to "home" or "turf" in general in Jamaican patois.
Brian Williamson was a Jamaican gay rights activist who co-founded the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG). He was known for being one of the earliest openly gay men in Jamaican society and for being one of its best known gay rights activists.
Albanian mafia or Albanian organized crime are the general terms used for criminal organizations based in Albania or composed of ethnic Albanians. Albanian organized crime is active in Europe, North America, South America, and various other parts of the world including the Middle East and Asia. The Albanian Mafia participates in a diverse range of criminal enterprises including trafficking in drugs, arms, and humans. They are said to control a large part of the billion dollar wholesale cocaine market in Europe and appear to be the primary distributors of cocaine in various European drug hubs including London. Albanian organized crime is characterized by diversified criminal enterprises which, in their complexity, demonstrate a very high criminal capacity. In Albania, there are over 15 mafia families that control organized crime.
The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) is the national official police force of Jamaica.
Delroy Denton is an illegal immigrant to Britain from Jamaica who, while a paid informant for Scotland Yard, raped and murdered 24-year-old trainee beautician Marcia Lawes in 1995. After his arrest and conviction, the fact that he was an informant for Scotland Yard despite having been denied asylum in Britain and being wanted in Jamaica in connection with the murders of seven women lead to a change in the way such police informants were handled.
Eaton Leonard 'Leon' Green was a Yardie gang member involved in armed robbery, drug dealing and extortion in South London. The first Yardie to become a police informant for the Metropolitan Police, his later testimony during his 1997 deportation hearing would reveal police protection for his criminal activities by immigration and intelligence officers of the Drug Related Violence and Intelligence Unit, which included false passports to allow accomplices Cecil and Rohan Thomas known killers and members of the Black Roses crew into the country as well as securing residency rights due to his marriage to a British woman under questionable circumstances.
Glenford "Gee" Spencer is a Jamaican criminal and member of the Yardies who was listed as one of the top ten most wanted criminals in the country by the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
Bulbie "Donovan" Bennett was a Jamaican criminal and gang leader of the Klansman based in Spanish Town, St. Catherine. He was formerly listed by the Jamaica Constabulary Force as number one of Jamaica's top ten most wanted criminals for over ten years before his death.
Ranking Dread was a Jamaican reggae deejay and was born in the Jamaican parish of Trelawny but grew up in the Kingston ghettos of Rema and Tivoli. He became famous for his work with the Ray Symbolic sound system in the 1970s. His later years in the UK and North America were ended by legal issues.
A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin or narcotrafficker is a high-ranking crime boss who controls a sizable network of people involved in the illegal drug trade. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they are normally not directly in possession of something illegal but are insulated from the actual trade in drugs by several layers of staff. The prosecution of drug lords is therefore usually the result of carefully planned infiltration into their networks, often using informants from within the organizations.
Claude Massop was the leader and strongman of the Phoenix Gang, later renamed the Shower Posse, belonging to Tivoli Gardens, Wellington Street, Rema, Denham Town and the surrounding areas of West Kingston, Jamaica.
Christopher Michael Coke, also known as Dudus, is a convicted Jamaican drug lord and the leader of the Shower Posse, a violent drug gang started by his father Lester Coke in Jamaica, which exported "large quantities" of marijuana and cocaine into the United States.
Dawood Ibrahim ( is an Indian mafia gangster, drug kingpin, and a wanted terrorist from Dongri, Mumbai. He reportedly heads the Indian organised crime syndicate D-Company, which he founded in Mumbai in the 1970s. Ibrahim is wanted on charges including murder, extortion, targeted killing, drug trafficking, and terrorism.
Mark Shields Is a former British law enforcement officer and security consultant. He began his police career at an early age, and rose rapidly through the ranks. After nearly three decades of service with the City of London Police Essex Police and Scotland Yard, in 2005 he moved to Jamaica to take up a new position as Deputy Police Commissioner of the Jamaica Constabulary Force. In that capacity, he came to worldwide attention as he led the investigation into the death of Pakistan's cricket coach Bob Woolmer in the run-up to the 2007 Cricket World Cup finals. The Guardian credits him as "the British officer who changed policing in Jamaica".
Charles Hopel Brown, is a US Army veteran and computer engineer. After leaving Robert Lightbourne High School, where he was a member of the cadet corp, he then became a police cadet and later enlisted in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).
Law enforcement in Belize is conducted by the Belize Police Department headed by a Commissioner and headquartered in Belize City.
Dwayne Jones was a Jamaican 16-year-old boy who was killed by a violent mob in Montego Bay in 2013, after he attended a dance party dressed in women's clothing. The incident attracted national and international media attention and brought increased scrutiny to the status of LGBT rights in Jamaica.
The Independence Day of Jamaica is a national holiday celebrated in Jamaica. This holiday commemorates such an event, it is one of the most senior public holidays celebrated in Jamaica.
Marlon Jones is a Jamaican criminal who was added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list in December 2016. He was captured within one day of being on the list.
