[troutman]

This book is stunning -



‘A Brief History of Seven Killings,’ by Marlon James

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/bo...view.html?_r=0

This turf war led to spiraling poverty and savage violence. It was the kind of trauma described and transmuted into song by the great Bob Marley (referred to in the novel as the Singer), who in 1976, amid unprecedented bloodshed, announced a free concert to promote peace in Kingston. (Marley was himself caught between the J.L.P. and P.N.P., along with their criminal gangs.) At the same time, outside forces including the C.I.A., anti-Castro Cubans and the Colombian drug cartels were converging on Jamaica with money and guns.

If all this sounds confusing, it’s because it’s true. On Dec. 3, before he could give the peace concert, Marley was ambushed at his house by a band of gunmen, shot twice, and almost murdered. After that, organized crime in Jamaica went international.