Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer
THE STORY of Jamaica's notorious Shower Posse will be told in the new season of Black Entertainment Television's (BET) gripping crime series, American Gangster.
A statement on BET's website said the second season of Ameri-can Gangster begins October 23, with the Shower Posse scheduled as its fourth episode.
'Shower' leader Vivian Blake, currently serving a life sentence in American prison, was interviewed for the piece which is narrated by actor Ving Rhames.
History
Blake was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison in June 2000 in a Miami Federal Court. He had been indicted there 12 years earlier, but American authorities said he fled to Jamaica.
He and other members of the Shower Posse were given lengthy sentences based on 52 charges brought by federal prosecutors. These included racketeering, smuggling and distributing marijuana and cocaine from The Bahamas through the United States.
The Shower Posse, which was a strong supporter of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), was also implicated in more than 1,000 murders in the United States (US). The Feds said they operated lucrative illegal drug rings in Miami, New York City, Philadelphia and Virginia.
Blake was raised in west Kingston, an area that has backed the JLP in general elections since the 1960s. He attended St George's College, where he passed three GCE subjects, but went to the US in 1972 on a football scholarship.
He was one of the Shower Posse's founders, reportedly ruling it with an iron hand. They were regarded as one of America's most dangerous gangs during the 1980s when the narcotics trade was booming in that country's urban centres.
The Shower Posse's rise and fall is chronicled in The Shower Posse: The Most Notorious Jamaican Crime Organisation, a 2003 book written by Blake's son, Duane.
American Gangster premiered on BET in 2007. It features once powerful African-American criminals, such as Stanley 'Tookie' Williams (former leader of the Crips in Los Angeles, California), and Harlem heavyweights Frank Lucas and Nicky Barnes.
