Latest in a series.

For an example of how it’s done, read the Guardian’s series on Christopher “Dudus” Coke, a gang lord from Jamaica:

Coke is described as one of the world’s most dangerous druglords by the US justice department.

…

To the residents of Tivoli Gardens, the poor west side of Kingston where his gang has immense support, he is the benefactor who provides them with food, acts as mediator in disputes and even sends their children to school. They call him Presi, Bossy, Shortman or, most commonly, Dudus.

Residents, not affiliated with the gang, have erected their own barricades:

In the centre of Kingston today, residents could be seen standing behind roadblocks on street corners. Several barricades appeared to have been erected not by gunmen or gang members, but by ordinary residents seeking to protect themselves, or to obstruct the police, who often have a poor reputation for corruption and brutality.

A similar situation erupted in Brazil in 2006, when a gang called the First Command of the Capital shut down Sao Paulo for several days.

What could happen in Jamaica is that the government takes such losses in combating the gangs that its police and security forces refuse to engage.  At this point, the state has failed, and it will probably require massive and expensive intervention by the US to prop up some semblance of a government.  The alternative, that Jamaica, like India, works out a modus vivendi with the mini-state in its midst, was foreclosed when the US decided to force Jamaica to honor the American request to extradite Dudus to New York.  We should be careful what we wish for.