The Bell Foot Pants War

I was reading the Jamaican Gleaner today and came upon an interesting story. It seems back in the late 60's their was a gang in Kingston known as the "Max Gang." The gang included Rastas and Bald head (non rastas). They operated in a place called,"Rosemary Lane." (Today that territory is called, "Tel Aviv and Soutside.)




The story goes that, Winston Green Aka as " Leliments, a member of the gang back then was walking down the street in Southside when suddenly trouble start up with members of the Max gang. This was back in 1969. Winston was a tailor and had on that day some pants known as "Bell Foot Pants," and a colorful shirt. Word is that one of Max men said, "Blood fire fe dem pants deh, only batty bwoy where dem pants deh." Green and his men retaliated for this remark and since then the area has never been the same. Out of this confrontation the gangs, Southside and Skull gangs were born.

You can read the rest of the story in the Jamaican Gleaner.

The sad part through this 10 and more years feud the people that have suffered is the community. Those gang members family members have taken over an now sticks are replaced with high tech guns. The killings in Central Kingston rival the most violent in many major cities in America (an more). Hopefully the current government will assist in getting rid of the guns and drugs in these areas. Giving people hope and away out of their poverty will help that community immensely.