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A violent Jamaican drug lord — whose criminal tentacles reached deep into Queens and The Bronx — was sentenced in Manhattan federal court yesterday to 23 years in prison.
Christopher “Dudus” Coke, 43, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in August and admitted he ran a criminal organization that smuggled cocaine and marijuana from Kingston to New York City and Miami.
The kingpin was extradited to the United States in 2010 after Jamaican police stormed his armed, inner-city stronghold. At least 76 people died in the fighting that ensued — and the aptly named Coke was arrested while disguised in a woman’s wig and counterfeit Gucci cap.
In court yesterday, prosecutors described some of the “brutal, sadistic murders” Coke used to punish those who displeased him.
“[Coke] had him brought to the jail and he killed him with a power saw,” said US Attorney Jocelyn Strauber. “He slowly dismembered him so that his hands, feet and head were severed from the body.”
Strauber also told of how Coke once used a hatchet to kill a man who stole his motorcycle.
In a bid for a leniency, Coke described the social programs he founded in the Kingston neighborhood he ruled with an iron fist.
Coke’s attorney said there was little reason to appeal the sentence. “He’ll do a lot of time, yes, but he’ll return to Jamaica, which is what he wanted,” said Stephen Rosen.
When Coke pleaded guilty, he admitted that since the early 1990s he ran a criminal organization that sent at least 33 pounds of cocaine and at least 6,600 kilograms of marijuana to the United States — especially to Eastchester in The Bronx and Rosedale, Queens.