Leader of notorious criminal outfit, two cronies escape security dragnet.
ONE member of the notorious ‘Duppy Flames’ gang was yesterday shot and killed, while one of his cronies was found hiding in a church building during a massive police/military operation in MelBrook Heights in Harbour View, St Andrew yesterday morning. However, the reputed leader of the criminal outfit, Marlon ‘Duppy Film’ Perry, and two of his cronies managed to escape the dragnet which included 100 members of the constabulary force and 90 members of the army.
The heavily armed gangsters, despite being smaller in numbers, took on police and soldiers in a running gunfight, in which gangster Jason Foster was cut down in a hail of bullets, which awoke and frightened residents of Harbour View. The escapees, who ran for shelter from bullets, managed to crawl their way to freedom in a riverbed north of the community and were believed to be headed to August Town to hide out, but ran leaving their prized possession — an Uzi submachine gun — which was seized by the police.
Deputy commissioner of police in charge of operations, Glenmore Hinds, would not divulge much information when contacted by the Jamaica Observer yesterday, but said that Perry was the main target of the operation. Perry is wanted in connection with the murders of Corporal Kenneth Davis, who was assigned to the Protective Services Division, and Constable Craig Palmer, who was assigned to the Kingston Western Division. The men were gunned down at Poor Man’s Corner in St Thomas last December. The Police High Command has since increased the reward for anyone who provides “reliable” information leading to the arrest of Perry from $1 million to $1.5 million. In the meantime, police yesterday asked Kevin Eldermire, otherwise called ‘Harry Patta’, of St Thomas, to turn himself in to the police. It was not clear, however, if he had any link with the gang. ‘Duppy Flames’ gangster shot dead, one held