Marlon James - A Brief History of Seven Killings

A

BRIEF

HISTORY

of

SEVEN

KILLINGS

Also by Marlon James

The Book of Night Women

John Crows Devil

A

BRIEF

HISTORY

of

SEVEN

KILLINGS

Marlon James

A Oneworld Book

This ebook edition published by Oneworld Publications, 2014

First published in Great Britain and the Commonwealth by
Oneworld Publications, 2014

Copyright Marlon James 2014

The moral right of Marlon James to be identified as the Author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved
Copyright under Berne Convention
A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-78074-587-9
ISBN 978-1-78074-588-6 (eBook)

Designed by Susan Walsh
Jacket author photograph Jeffrey Skemp

This is a work of fiction. While, as in all fiction, the literary perceptions and insights are
based on experience, all names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of
the authors imagination or are used fictitiously.

Oneworld Publications
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London WC1B 3SR
England

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To Maurice James

An extraordinary gentleman in a league of his own.

December 2, 1976

December 3, 1976

February 15, 1979

August 14, 1985

March 22, 1991

Sir Arthur Jennings, former politician, deceased

The Singer, reggae superstar of the world

Peter Nasser, politician, strategist

Nina Burgess, former receptionist, presently unemployed

Kim-Marie Burgess, her sister

Ras Trent, Kim-Maries lover

Doctor Love / Luis Hernn Rodrigo de las Casas, CIA consultant

Barry Diflorio, CIA station chief, Jamaica

Claire Diflorio, his wife

William Adler, former field officer, CIA, now rogue

Alex Pierce, journalist, Rolling Stone

Mark Lansing, filmmaker, son of Richard Lansing, former CIA director

Louis Johnson, field officer, CIA

Mr. Clark, field officer, CIA

Bill Bilson, journalist, the Jamaica Gleaner

Sally Q, fixer, informant

Tony McFerson, politician

Officer Watson, police

Officer Nevis, police

Officer Grant, police

Papa-Lo / Raymond Clarke, don of Copenhagen City, 19601979

Josey Wales, head enforcer, don of Copenhagen City, 19791991, leader of the Storm Posse

Weeper, gang enforcer, Storm Posse head enforcer, Manhattan/Brooklyn

Demus, gang member

Heckle, gang member

Bam-Bam, gang member

Funky Chicken, gang member

Renton, gang member

Leggo Beast, gang member

Tony Pavarotti, enforcer, sniper

Priest, messenger, informer

Junior Soul, informer/rumored Eight Lanes spy

The Wang Gang, gang based in Wang Sang Lands, affiliated with Copenhagen City

Copper, gang enforcer

Chinaman, gang leader near Copenhagen City

Treetop, gang member

Bullman, enforcer

Shotta Sherrif / Roland Palmer, don of the Eight Lanes, 19751980

Funnyboy, gang enforcer and second-in-command

Buntin-Banton, coleader and don of the Eight Lanes, 19721975

Dishrag, coleader and don of the Eight Lanes, 19721975

Donald Casserley, drug trafficker, president, Jamaica Freedom League

Richard Lansing, CIA director, 19731976

Lindon Wolfsbricker, American ambassador to Yugoslavia

Admiral Warren Tunney, CIA director, 19771981

Roger Theroux, field officer, CIA

Miles Copeland, CIA station chief, Cairo

Edgar Anatolyevich Cheporov, reporter, Novosti News Agency

Freddy Lugo, operative, Alpha 66, United Revolutionary Organizations, AMBLOOD

Hernn Ricardo Lozano, operative, Alpha 66, United Revolutionary Organizations, AMBLOOD

Orlando Bosch, operative Omega 7, United Revolutionary Organizations, AMBLOOD

Gael and Freddy, operatives, Omega 7, United Revolutionary Organizations, AMBLOOD

Sal Resnick, journalist, New York Times

Kim Clarke, unemployed

Charles/Chuck, engineer, Alcorp Bauxite

Storm Posse, Jamaican drug syndicate

Ranking Dons, rival Jamaican drug syndicate

Eubie, head enforcer, Storm Posse, Queens/Bronx

A-Plus, associate of Tristan Phillips

Pig Tails, enforcer, Storm Posse, Queens/Bronx

Ren-Dog, enforcer, Storm Posse, Queens/Bronx

Omar, enforcer, Storm Posse, Manhattan/Brooklyn

Romeo, drug dealer, Storm Posse, Brooklyn

Tristan Phillips, inmate, Rikers, member of Ranking Dons

John-John K, hit man, carjacker

Paco, carjacker

Griselda Blanco, drug lord, Medelln cartel Miami operations

Baxter, enforcer for Griselda Blanco

The Hawaiian Shirts, enforcers for Griselda Blanco

Kenneth Colthirst, New York resident, 5th Avenue

Gaston Colthirst, his son

Gail Colthirst, his daughter-in-law

Dorcas Palmer, caregiver

Millicent Segree, student nurse

Miss Betsy, manager, God Bless Employment Agency

Monifah Thibodeaux, drug addict

Gonna tell the truth about it,
Honey, thats the hardest part

B ONNIE R AITT , Tangled and Dark

If it no go so, it go near so.

Jamaican proverb

Listen.

Dead people never stop talking. Maybe because death is not death at all, just a detention after school. You know where youre coming from and youre always returning from it. You know where youre going though you never seem to get there and youre just dead. Dead. It sounds final but its a word missing an ing. You come across men longer dead than you, walking all the time though heading nowhere, and you listen to them howl and hiss because were all spirits or we think we are all spirits but were all just dead. Spirits that slip inside other spirits. Sometimes a woman slips inside a man and wails like the memory of making love. They moan and keen loud but it comes through the window like a whistle or a whisper under the bed, and little children think theres a monster. The dead love lying under the living for three reasons. (1) Were lying most of the time. (2) Under the bed looks like the top of a coffin, but (3) There is weight, human weight on top that you can slip into and make heavier, and you listen to the heart beat while you watch it pump and hear the nostrils hiss when their lungs press air and envy even the shortest breath. I have no memory of coffins.