Jamaican Gangster: Dudus Coke's Release Date Moved to 2028. Inside the US Case (Part 2)

In June 2010 a plane carried Christopher "Dudus" Coke from Kingston to New York. In Part 1 we told how he came to rule Tivoli Gardens. This is the case the United States built against him — and the countdown to his release.

What he admitted in a Manhattan federal court in August 2011: racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit assault, and, in his own words, ordering guns bought in the United States and shipped into Jamaica. What prosecutors alleged in their sentencing papers, and what a cooperating witness, Jermaine "Cowboy" Cohen, testified to at the May 2012 hearing. The seven-page letter Coke wrote to the judge, and the two stacks of letters from Tivoli. Judge Robert Patterson's sentence: 23 years, the maximum. And the Jamaica Gleaner's reporting that his release date has moved from July 2030 to January 29, 2028.

The killings described by prosecutors and by the witness are allegations and testimony; they were never tested before a jury, and Coke never admitted them. The release date is the Bureau of Prisons' current projection and has changed before.

Scenes are dramatized reenactments created with AI, based on documented sources. They are not real footage. Some details of appearance and setting are artistic interpretations.

Chapters 0:00 Trailer 0:53 The plane north 2:00 The case and the two roads 3:39 Guilty, in his own words 4:33 The letter 5:19 The prosecutors' answer 6:36 Cowboy takes the stand 9:40 Twenty-three years 10:30 Fort Dix and the countdown 12:00 Where the case stands

Sources US Attorney's Office, SDNY (sentencing release, 8 Jun 2012); DEA (plea release, 31 Aug 2011); Jamaica Observer ("The man of many names", 27 May 2012);