TURF-WAR MURDERS OVER CRACK TERRORISE BLACK MUSIC CLUBS

A wave of gun murders - including carefully planned killings and
indiscriminate shooting into crowds - has caused terror in the black
entertainment industry.

Police, who believe that many of the shootings are linked to a new turf-war
over crack cocaine, have drawn up a list of 200 Jamaican-born criminals who
they suspect are connected with gun crime in this country.

The violence, which has left at least four people dead, has brought fear to
nightclubs across London and Birmingham. Reggae concerts have been cancelled
and music award ceremonies called off to prevent further violence and as a
mark of respect for the families of those who have been killed.

Scotland Yard admits that its efforts to trace the gunmen are being hampered
by a lack of evidence, with witnesses extremely reluctant to come forward.

When two gunmen had a shoot-out in a crowded east London nightclub earlier
this month, seven people were wounded in the crossfire. Yet the police were
almost the last to find out. The victims - three women and four men -
arrived at hospital in private cars.

By the time police got a tip-off - from a paramedic - and arrived at the
scene of the shooting, Orchids nightclub in Kingsland High Street, Hackney,
the venue was empty.

A police source said: "We were not even alerted by the [injured] people
concerned. We need statements from people but they are sometimes very
difficult to obtain. People often give false names and addresses."

The victims of the Orchids shooting suffered their wounds in a gun battle,
but other recent shootings have the appearance of planned murders.

On 6 March, Jamaican-born Mervyn Sills, 36, was shot dead in front of 50
passers-by at 2.15pm on a busy street in Brixton, south London.

Only a handful of people were prepared to speak to the police and the killer
has not been caught.

In another incident, detectives are hunting two men who walked into a music
ticket agency in Lewisham, south-east London, at lunch-time on 13 April and
shot the owner, Keith Balfour, 32, in the chest with a sub-machine-gun. The
men made no attempt to disguise their faces and seemed unconcerned there
were witnesses.

Two days earlier, Richard Parkinson, 30, a doorman at the Stratford Rex
dance hall in east London, was shot dead as concert-goers arrived for a gig
by the Jamaican reggae artist Beenie Man. Two people were injured by
ricochets. A man has been charged with the murder.

The shootings have devastated the black music industry and prompted the
Radio 1 DJ Chris Goldfinger to appeal for calm on his reggae show last weekend.

For more than a year, a team of detectives based in Lambeth, south London,
has been compiling intelligence on Jamaican-born criminals. The Operation
Trident squad includes a number of officers with Jamaican family backgrounds
who have helped to make inroads into previously impenetrable criminal circles.

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Kupis, head of the operation, revealed that
a database had been compiled of 200 Jamaican-born criminals linked to gun
crime in Britain.

"The reality, whether we like it or not, is that it's Jamaicans and very
often they are illegal entrants," he said. "But we are there to support the
community and we want people to stand up and give evidence so that we
alienate a very small group of people who are not part of the community."

Hugh Ord, Metropolitan Police commander for south London, said initiatives
were being developed to break the walls of silence that often surround such
incidents.

He said members of black community groups were being asked to stand
alongside police officers handing out leaflets requesting information on
crimes. Pirate radio stations are even being used to broadcast appeals for
witnesses.

Mr Ord said: "The vast majority of the black community are outraged by this
behaviour. What we are seeing is that by working with the communities we get
the help we need."

But black leaders said previous police tactics for tackling drug-dealing had
deeply undermined the confidence of the community. Lee Jasper, director of
the 1990 Trust, said: "They need to stop making alliances with unregistered
informants and criminals, who are giving them the runaround, and build
alliances with the communities who can give them real information." He
added: "The stereotypical view of the police is that the black community is
soft on drugs but we actually think the police are soft on drug-dealers."

Detectives in Birmingham are hunting the killers of Jamaican-born Michael
Senior, 30, who was shot three times as he stood outside a nightclub in
Handsworth on 1 March.

The killing was witnessed by queues of people waiting to go into Thasha's
club and by others waiting at a taxi-rank. Despite this, police were unable
to name the victim for three weeks until a former girlfriend flew from New
York and identified the body.

Police investigating a series of similar shootings in the city have
recovered American army issue machine-pistols capable of firing 1,100 rounds
a minute, fitted with silencers and retractable shoulder-pieces.

The violence prompted the Birmingham coroner, Dr Richard Whittington, to
make an unprecedented appeal for calm. "We do have a problem with people who
possess guns and have no hesitation in using them," he said. "Not only do
they kill their victims but there's a large number of other people at risk."