By Janet Silvera, Freelance WriterWESTERN BUREAU:
MANY BELIEVE it started as a ganja war, others think politics was the catalyst. But one of the two gang leaders who initiated 'Tribal War' describes it as a grievance between two Rastafarians desperate for power.
Dubbed Montego Bay's bloodiest gang-related war to date, Tribal War, started in 1965 in the inner-city community of Railway Lane, between gang leaders Jack Aubin a.k.a. Fisto, (deceased), and Henry Zale (name changed). Both men were based at 'Top Lane' (Barnett Lane) and 'Bottom Lane' (Swine Lane) respectively. "It was really petty, how it started," said Zale. "Fisto smoked ital herb and I smoked cigarette herb (chalice), so he felt he was more Rasta and tried to press his ideas unto us." He said Fisto started labelling his men as Bop Rastas.
Within months of the conflict, Fisto beefed up his army with men from 'Gully', downtown Montego Bay (William Street), and John's Hall, St. James, and named them 'Beenix'. It is alleged that he had a number of police officers in his pocket, so they also fortified his squad.
Zale named his gang, Table-Z and drafted supporters from areas such as Mt. Salem, Glendevon (Devon), Flankers and Granville. "We were about 2,000 strong and had no money to pay the police. Moreover we felt that if you are police you must uphold the law," Table-Z's leader told The Gleaner.
CONFLICT
The conflict lasted for nine years, ending in 1974, with the intervention of late Prime Minister Michael Manley, who called a peace meeting between the two gangs. Before it came to an end, hundreds of the town's men died, bodies were buried without a trace, several men had their limbs severed and a number of families were dislocated. "Over 300 men died in 1972 alone, but many people felt it was because of politics," said Zale.
What had started out as simply stupidity on the part of two men, had evolved into full-scale war, financed now by the proceeds from ganja; as smuggling the drug to the United States, brought guns into the hands of the gangs.
"It was easy to get the guns via the cruise ships in those days," said Zale. "And it was easy to get the ganja onto the ships."
The men, who were accustomed to defending themselves with machetes, harpoons, gas bombs and knuckle dusters (a four-finger ring made of lead), now had a deadlier weapon, in their possession, the gun.
Zale said he bought his first firearm in 1965 at the age of 17 in Kingston. According to him, he started 'roughing it' from age nine, so it was no surprise he was the leader of a gang at age 17.
But the advent of the shotgun impacted most importantly on the war, "the shotguns could pump 10 shots, without having to reload," said Zale.
CRUEL ACTS
It is felt that a number of the men were under the influence of the drug LSD and, as a result, were more cruel, so the means of torture became very popular during the period. Zale remembers that one member of his gang was captured by the Beenix men, taken to John's Hall where he was knifed all over his foot bottom. "This was to prevent him from walking."
Fisto himself was chopped more than once and Zale was shot in the shoulder in 1968 during a gang clash at a dance at Jarrett Park. He was hospitalised for one week.
A man was shot in the mouth and one of Montego Bay's most famous tribalist, lost a foot in the process. It became extremely bad when the target turned to innocent men living in the communities that were at war. And a young Christian man, who absolutely had nothing to do with the war, was attacked and badly beaten one night at the William Street (Gully Bus Stop). It is said this affected the young man psychologically, creating a terrorist in the process.
Doctors and hospitals were avoided.
A number of men with gunshot wounds would stay clear of the hospitals and doctors out of fear. Instead, they implemented home made treatments, by administering the red and black capsules used to cure gonorrhea, to treat their wounds.
The men were supplied with gauze by nurses known to them and the more serious wounds were cared for by doctors they trusted. A number of the 'tribalists' would also hide in the dormitories at the University of the West Indies, because this was an unlikely place for the police to search. "When your friends were gone to their classes, you would live in their dorms, until it was no longer hot," said Zale.
THE MORE POWERFUL
OF THE TWO GANGS
Zale admits that the Beenix gang was more powerful than the Table-Z gang financially, but says his men had brains.
While the Beenix men were using the new drug at the time, LSD, getting drunk and hardly sleeping, the Table-Z men would ambush and take away their guns.
Fisto, who owned several vehicles and homes and who became one of the richest men in Jamaica, died approximately four years ago a pauper. Zale, moved to New York in 1972, where he worked hard at making a life for himself and his family.
THE YOUTH TODAY
According to Zale, he never did anything without just cause and never hurt anyone but real bad men. He said the difference with his days and the youth today is the way they kill people, "to mek duppy or have notches on their belts". "We never did that in our days."
WHY
Both Fisto and Zale believed in Haile Selassie and were deeply embedded in their African routes. The fact that they may have come from different tribes was where the name 'Tribal' originated. The name 'Beenix' came about as a result of the men wearing bell foot and hipsters looking pants, taking on the resemblance of hippies.
And Table-Z was selected by Zale, who said he considered himself the last letter in the alphabet. centrleline: The war ends in Jamaica, but moves to New York
On the same day that Michael Manley held the peace meeting a man was shot in the community of Green Pond, because there were factions that had no interest in ending the war. However, the former Prime Minister's trip to Montego Bay was considered a success as he got the men from Lane to shake hands and eat food with the men from gully. However, after the war ended in Jamaica, it moved to areas such as Flatbush in Brooklyn New York. This time around drugs was more profitable. Rather than the urge to kill each other, the men were trying to make money.
