The ear-splitting sounds of mortars and the haunting memories of blood-soaked bodies are fresh in the mind of long-time Tivoli Gardens resident Jacqueline Brown.

Now a Christian, Brown admits to being more than a passing acquaintance of thugs who barricaded Coke’s redoubt, recruiting gunmen from as far away as St James.

Brown likened the atmosphere in Tivoli Gardens to the circumstances of the war-torn Middle East.

When house a bomb round deh suh, and di house dem a shake suh, mi never know say mi did deh a Iraq,” Brown told The Gleaner.

Brown’s nostalgia of Coke’s supremacy is grounded in the perceived absolute power he appeared to wield – as judge and jury.