Last night, investigators from Jamaica's Major Investigation Task Force charged dancehall star (and our cover artist this summer) Vybz Kartel with murder, illegal gun possession and conspiracy to murder.
The police claim that Kartel conspired to murder 27-year-old businessman Barrington "Bossie" Burton. Burton was killed in July while walking in Gregory Park, a neighborhood in St. Catherine about 17 miles west of Kingston. The charges were filed after MIT detectives interviewed Kartel in the presence of his attorneys. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for today. Kartel's attorney says that his client will fight the charges.
It is not clear what will become of Kartel's locally produced reality dating show Teacha's Pet. A cartoon in today's Jamaica Gleaner newspaper shows a pale-faced Kartel being brought into jail and harassed by prisoners:
