Since the capture of Christopher Dudus Coke, police statistics show that the number of murders committed in a single month has dropped.

Phipps was long considered a major figure in the Jamaican underworld and a close associate of Christopher “Dudus” Coke.

The People’s National Party said only an independent panel can determine the whole truth.

There was once a Garrison Don named Christopher Coke. Some called him “Dudus” and that was no joke. Others called him the “President” But it was quite evident that this was not a man to provoke.

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) _ A mysterious fire in a sprawling market next to a police-occupied slum has reduced stalls and inventory to ashes. Kingston’s Coronation Market has been gutted in the early Friday blaze. It is next to the bullet-pocked complex of Tivoli Gardens, where Jamaican security forces have conducted a slum raid that left [...]

As rumors of the government’s decision spread before the official announcement, the streets of downtown Kingston emptied as businesses and government agencies closed early out of fear of violence.

West Kingston community leader Christopher “Dudus” Coke is wanted by the U.S. on weapons and drug trafficking charges. Observers say any attempt to arrest the politically connected Coke inside his barricaded neighborhood could spark violence.

Golding has not yet publicly addressed the outcry. The leadership of his Jamaica Labor Party called an emergency meeting for Sunday in the resort city of Ocho Rios to discuss its biggest political crisis since Golding was elected in 2007