Criminals Ambush Music ... Dancehall not full of gangsters says cops
• Don't blame music, says cop following Flippa Mafia 25-year sentence
Another of Jamaica's musicians has had to face the consequences of criminality, an occurrence which happens much too frequently, police say.
Dancehall artiste Andrew Davis, 37, more popularly known as Flippa Mafia, was yesterday sentenced to 25 years in a US prison for his role in a drug ring that shipped cocaine into New Jersey through the mail.
Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ealan Powell, told THE STAR yesterday that some musicians are involved in criminality.
"We don't want to use any brush to tar the music industry," he said.
"It is not about the music industry, it is about elements in the music industry. It has put a black eye on the music industry, which undermines and compromises the results and the talent in the country," Powell said.
serious crimes
Mafia has joined Buju Banton and Vybz Kartel as Jamaican entertainers to be imprisoned for serious crimes. Banton is serving 10 years in a US prison for drug trafficking crime, while Kartel is serving a life sentence in Jamaica for murder.
Powell told THE STAR yesterday that in some instances, entertainers who come in conflict with the law are "persons who had criminal minds before they got involved in music".
"Then, you have the set of persons who are greedy, making money out of music and are not satisfied. You have another set who want to prove that they are mighty and it is about 'donmanship' to take on godly status. They believe that they are bigger than the world, and time is catching up with some of those," he said.
Flippa will not be eligible for parole for 12 years.
A New Jersey Superior Court Judge handed down the sentence, also ordering the artiste to pay a US$250,000 (J$31,125,000) anti-money laundering profiteering penalty.