Yardies" usually specifically refers to Jamaican gangs or organized crime groups of Jamaican origin, nationality, or ethnicity. The term is often used interchangeably with the term "posse" or "Jamaican posse" to refer to crime groups of Jamaican origin, with the term "Posse" used more frequently to refer to Jamaican and Jamaican-American crime groups in Jamaica and the United States, and "Yardies" being deployed more frequently in the United Kingdom. Yardie gangs or "posses" are involved in a wide array of criminal activity depending on their location, ranging from political corruption, political violence, and assassination in Jamaica to drug trafficking and gang violence in the U.S. and U.K. Origins: In the 1950s in Trenchtown, Kingston, Jamaica, the government created social housing developments employing large public courtyards, and the courtyard areas soon became the hub of social and recreational activity in the crowded housing of Trenchtown. With increasing overcrowding and poverty, however, squatting and homelessness developed within the yards. Crime, drug abuse, and violence overran the yards, while political corruption and clientelism led to local politicians buying and selling patronage within the community and paying gangs and violent political supporters to intimidate voters and threaten, assault, or kill political opponents. By the 1970s and 1980s, political violence and politically-affiliated organized crime groups and street gangs became increasingly common in poorer areas of Jamaica, with gangs often led by older bosses known as "dons" (in reference to the Sicilian Mafia don) and participating in both apolitical drug trafficking and racketeering and political violence and political intimidation.These gangs became known as "Yardies," "posses," or "crews." By the 1980s, a drop in government budgets resulted in less money being paid by political parties to their gangs of armed supporters. These political Yardie gangs thus increasingly turned to apolitical criminal activity, such as drug trafficking, to bring in income. At the same time, the Jamaican government severely cracked down on Yardie gangs and political violence in general, leading many so-called Yardie gangsters to immigrate abroad and establish gangs the U.K., U.S., and Canada. The establishment of Yardie gangs abroad coincided with the rise of crack cocaine in both North America and the U.K., and Yardie and Posse gangs from Jamaica became heavily involved in the trafficking of crack cocaine and other drugs in addition to illegal gambling and other criminal activity. Criminal activity Yardie gangs are notorious for their involvement in gun crime and the illegal drug trade, notably marijuana and crack cocaine in the United Kingdom.[citation needed] In 1993, Yardies were blamed for the murder of Police Constable Patrick Dunne, shot dead while patrolling in Clapham. British police are hesitant to categorise Yardie gangs as organised crime, since there appears to be no real structure or central leadership; gang affiliations can be described as loose at best.[citation needed] Neither have Yardies made any attempts at setting up fronts for their illegal activities, nor any serious attempts to corrupt and infiltrate law enforcement organisations.[citation needed] Academics have noted a tendency to over-label black British crime as "Yardie"-related due to stereotype and social narrative. A number of operations to combat Yardie gun crime have been set up, notably Operation Trident in the London area. Yardie (or imitator) gangs also appear to be active in Bristol, Birmingham, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Nottingham but to a far lesser extent. Some maintain that the supposed reach and influence in communities of these "Yardies" is a myth. During the 1950s, the British Government encouraged immigration to the country to fill existing job vacancies. Within the Caribbean community, new arrivals from Jamaica were sometimes referred to as "Yardies" due to reference of Jamaica as "back a yard". A large influx of inner city Jamaican immigration to Britain during the 1980s led to the rise of gang violence or behaviour on the part of Jamaicans which became known in wider British society as "Yardie culture" and the participants "Yardies". The terms "Yardie gang" or "Yardie gun violence" were largely used by the British media to describe violent crimes in London's black community. The gangs in London are specifically known to have occupied and operated in their infamous grounds of Brixton, Harlesden, and Notting Hill. Jamaican-born British writer Victor Headley wrote a bestselling 1992 novel entitled Yardie.

• published: 28 Dec 2016
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