1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:20,599 Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The Peter Tosh story. 2 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 1: His role as a reggae revolutionary who rejected peace in 3 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 1: the name of truth and justice, an outspoken critic of 4 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:32,199 Speaker 1: the Jamaican government whose refusal to compromise nearly cost him 5 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:36,279 Speaker 1: his life many times over, is so complex that we 6 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 1: needed two episodes to properly tell it. If you're just 7 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:43,479 Speaker 1: getting hip to this now, I suggest you hit pause 8 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:46,520 Speaker 1: and go back to the last episode of Disgraceland, part 9 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:50,879 Speaker 1: one of the Peter Tosh story. In this episode, we 10 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:54,400 Speaker 1: get into Peter Tosh's attempt to take his revolutionary message 11 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: to the airwaves by buying out Jamaica's radio one, his 12 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: need to protect himself by way of African bush doctors 13 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:07,479 Speaker 1: and medicine men, and his shocking and brutal murder which 14 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:11,520 Speaker 1: happened inside his own home, carried out by someone he knew. 15 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 1: This is a story about the cost that Peter Tosh 16 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: paid for getting up, standing up, and speaking his mind 17 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:24,400 Speaker 1: through his actions and his music. Great music, unlike that 18 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:26,680 Speaker 1: music I played for you at the top of the show. 19 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:31,440 Speaker 1: That wasn't great music. That was a preset loop for 20 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 1: my melotron called Incessant Cha Cha MK two. I played 21 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:39,920 Speaker 1: you that loop because I can't afford the rights to 22 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:43,760 Speaker 1: La Bamba by Los Lobos. And why would I play 23 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 1: you that specific slice of Yono soemeronaro cheese. Could I 24 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:52,400 Speaker 1: afford it? Because that was the number one song in 25 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:57,560 Speaker 1: America on September eleventh, nineteen eighty seven, And that was 26 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 1: the day that three armed men made their way named 27 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: Peter Tosh's house, ordered everyone inside down on their bellies 28 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 1: and did not leave until three people were dead. On 29 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:16,639 Speaker 1: this episode Revolutionary Messages, Radio one, medicine men, armed men 30 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:22,720 Speaker 1: and the assassination of Peter Tosh. I'm Jake Brennan and 31 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: this is disgrace lamp. In Jamaica, music was like food 32 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:55,720 Speaker 1: or water and essential for human life. Reggae music in 33 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: particular was built around the heartbeat, and they quickly became 34 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:04,119 Speaker 1: the heartbeat of the country. It beat everywhere in homes 35 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 1: and corner stores, restaurants and bars, on front steps and 36 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:12,600 Speaker 1: street corners. But no heartbeat was as powerful as a 37 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: Jamaican sound system. A generator, some turntables, in huge speakers, 38 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 1: the bigger the better, stacked on top of each other 39 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 1: in a truck bed to form a wall of sound, 40 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:28,600 Speaker 1: steelhorn speakers strung up in the trees or propped up 41 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:34,040 Speaker 1: on rooftops, dancehall parties, and spinning dub plates, the heartbeat 42 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 1: thumping loud and clear from one neighborhood to the next, 43 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:40,640 Speaker 1: the sound of life in the face of great adversity, 44 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: stretching on for miles in any direction. Tonight, however, was 45 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:50,120 Speaker 1: different than most Tonight. There was no music in the 46 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:54,240 Speaker 1: Kingston air, only the sound of crickets and tree frogs 47 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:57,760 Speaker 1: serenading the sun as it sank slowly below the horizon. 48 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:02,560 Speaker 1: In the sun's place, the sky was streaked blood red. 49 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 1: Within minutes, all leftover color faded away, and then there 50 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 1: was just darkness. Out of that darkness rumbled three motorcycles. 51 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:19,200 Speaker 1: They came up Kingston's Plymouth Avenue. Before stopping outside a house, 52 00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:23,839 Speaker 1: the three drivers killed their engines. The man leading the trio, 53 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:27,919 Speaker 1: Dennis Leppo Loebin knew that his buddy Peter Tosh was 54 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:31,719 Speaker 1: home along with his common law wife Marlene Brown, and 55 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: by the sound of it, they had company. Leppo had 56 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 1: crashed parties before, He was a regular at Peter's plays. 57 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:43,000 Speaker 1: He wasn't a musician or revolutionary or anyone of great importance. 58 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 1: For that matter. It was a common criminal, but also 59 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:50,839 Speaker 1: a friend. Some called him a leech, a moocher. Leppo 60 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:53,720 Speaker 1: knew it wasn't that simple. There was a reason he 61 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:56,160 Speaker 1: did the things he did, even the thing he was 62 00:04:56,200 --> 00:05:01,320 Speaker 1: about to do tonight. Peter knew why Marlene two. It 63 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: was no longer the nineteen sixties or the nineteen seventies, 64 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: but even now, in nineteen eighty seven, times were tough. 65 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:13,320 Speaker 1: Some days your reputation was all you had, and it 66 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 1: could be a struggle to maintain even that. Leppo thought 67 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:21,120 Speaker 1: about the stacks of fresh green cash Peter had stashed 68 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: inside American cash, cash he'd just made on a lucrative tour, 69 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:29,559 Speaker 1: the kind of cash the person who stepped into Bob 70 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:35,000 Speaker 1: Marley's shoes made. Thinking about money made Leppo impatient. He 71 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:38,400 Speaker 1: rattled the gate that surrounded Peter's house to signal his arrival, 72 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:42,840 Speaker 1: and the dogs began to bark. Inside the house, Peter 73 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:45,560 Speaker 1: Tosh asked his friend Michael Robinson to go let in 74 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:48,920 Speaker 1: the remaining guests waiting at the gate. Peter and Marlene 75 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:53,479 Speaker 1: were expecting local DJ Jeff Dixon aka FREEI and his 76 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: wife to join them. For dinner, along with Michael, who 77 00:05:56,400 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: was already here with Herbilis Wilton, Doc Brown, and Carlton 78 00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 1: Santa Davis. The dogs were still barking when Michael stepped outside. 79 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:11,440 Speaker 1: Seconds later, the dog stopped. Then the door opened and 80 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: Michael came back inside, followed not by a DJ Freey, 81 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 1: but by Dennis, Leppo, Lobin and the two men with him. 82 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:23,360 Speaker 1: These men weren't here for a dinner party. They all 83 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:26,960 Speaker 1: had guns in their hands. Zero fox looks on their faces, 84 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:30,479 Speaker 1: and Leppo raised his pistol in the air. This is 85 00:06:30,520 --> 00:06:33,520 Speaker 1: a hold up, he said. He looked over to Marlene, 86 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 1: and it's you why this is happening. Leppo then turned 87 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:42,120 Speaker 1: to Santa Davis dread lay down. Santa did as he 88 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:44,719 Speaker 1: was told. He dropped to the floor and got on 89 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:48,159 Speaker 1: his belly. Leppo, waving his gun around, told the rest 90 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:52,239 Speaker 1: of them to do the same. Peter, Marlene, Michael, Doc 91 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:55,359 Speaker 1: Peter thought of the pain he'd endured at the hands 92 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:59,119 Speaker 1: of seven police officers some nine years prior. He also 93 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:01,400 Speaker 1: thought of the ghost he found living there in his 94 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:05,120 Speaker 1: house on Plymouth Avenue when he first moved in. Forty 95 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: nine of them. He had to persuade them to vacate 96 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:12,080 Speaker 1: the premises one by one. He was the duppy conqueror. 97 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:15,280 Speaker 1: He was ready to do that again, now, ready to 98 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: usher evil back out the front door, ready to fight. 99 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:22,880 Speaker 1: He thought of Bob Marley, attacked just like this in 100 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:25,920 Speaker 1: his own home. Forced to think quick, to save his 101 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 1: own life, think on his feet. Marlene shot Peter a look, 102 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:33,840 Speaker 1: a look that said, remember, our other friends will be 103 00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: here soon, and we don't want them involved in this. 104 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:40,680 Speaker 1: Let's get this over with quick. Peter told himself he 105 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:43,800 Speaker 1: wasn't doing this for Leppo, he was doing it for Marlen. 106 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:47,280 Speaker 1: He got down on his belly. Leppo wanted to know 107 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:50,360 Speaker 1: where the money was. Peter shook his head. There was 108 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:53,600 Speaker 1: no money, not the kind of money Leppo was talking about, 109 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:57,320 Speaker 1: not in the house that is. Peter wasn't some street 110 00:07:57,320 --> 00:08:00,480 Speaker 1: dealer who kept his bills stuffed under his mattress. He 111 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:03,800 Speaker 1: was a major recording artist on EMI Records. Now, he 112 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:07,800 Speaker 1: had international bank accounts, he had accountants. He never even 113 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:10,600 Speaker 1: touched the money he made on his recent tour. All 114 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 1: of that was handled for him. Leppo was pissed. He 115 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:18,720 Speaker 1: didn't believe his old friend. All those shows, those stadiums 116 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 1: and clubs, and big time American cities, while Leppo was 117 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:27,400 Speaker 1: left behind here in Jamaica barely scraping by, and Peter 118 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:31,800 Speaker 1: had nothing to show for it. Bullshit. Leppo told the 119 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: two other gunmen to go find the real money. They 120 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:38,960 Speaker 1: pulled out drawers and overturned cushions, ransacked the place, determined 121 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:42,640 Speaker 1: to find the cash that Lepo promised them was there. Eventually, 122 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:45,680 Speaker 1: they returned empty hand into the room where Peter, Marlene, 123 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:48,679 Speaker 1: and the others remained on the floor, their heads arranged 124 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:51,520 Speaker 1: in a semi circle. One of the gunmen pulled out 125 00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:54,920 Speaker 1: a machete. If Peter Tosh wanted to fuck around, then 126 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:58,000 Speaker 1: he'd get his fucking head cut off right here, right now. 127 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:02,480 Speaker 1: Marlene could take it anymore. She told Leppo he was 128 00:09:02,679 --> 00:09:07,280 Speaker 1: no good ingrain, a devil. After everything Peter had done 129 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:11,080 Speaker 1: for him, all the money, all the favors, hadn't he 130 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:16,280 Speaker 1: any compassion. Leppo wasn't hearing it. Marlene was always getting 131 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 1: between him and Peter, and what kind of man was 132 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:22,280 Speaker 1: Peter letting his wife boss him around and tell him 133 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:25,160 Speaker 1: what to do. Leppo told the other two gunman to 134 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 1: frisk everyone. They took whatever they could find jump change. 135 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:32,880 Speaker 1: Leppo jammed his gun into the back of Marlene's head, 136 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:35,800 Speaker 1: forcing her into the carpet. One of the other gunman 137 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:39,520 Speaker 1: began to pistol with Peter in the head. You're dying tonight, 138 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:42,720 Speaker 1: the man said. Another cracked the face with the butt 139 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:49,920 Speaker 1: of a gun, and another and then everyone froze. Leppo 140 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:52,040 Speaker 1: motioned for one of the gunmen to go see who 141 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:55,480 Speaker 1: was outside. The gunman left in the room was silent. 142 00:09:56,280 --> 00:10:00,160 Speaker 1: Leppo paced quietly. Peter hoped it wasn't who we thought. 143 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:04,840 Speaker 1: It was. More innocent people just meant more mess. The 144 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 1: door to the house finally reopened, and the gunman walked 145 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:13,199 Speaker 1: back in his pistol trained on two new arrivals, Freei 146 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:18,439 Speaker 1: Dixon and his wife Shit. Peter wished he could stand 147 00:10:18,559 --> 00:10:22,839 Speaker 1: up and embrace them both, apologize for this, somehow make 148 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:27,360 Speaker 1: it right, but there was nothing right about this. Leppo's 149 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:30,520 Speaker 1: men working over Free I, taking an envelope of cash 150 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:32,920 Speaker 1: and a watch from his pocket, but one of the 151 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:35,080 Speaker 1: men suddenly hit Free Eye's wife in the face with 152 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:37,760 Speaker 1: the butt of his gun, and she collapsed to the floor. 153 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:43,079 Speaker 1: Leppo told Fria to follow her down Belliott. Free I refused, 154 00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:48,040 Speaker 1: He stood his ground. Leppo told him again, Belliat free 155 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:51,840 Speaker 1: I remained where he was. Leppo and his men became agitated. 156 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:54,800 Speaker 1: They grabbed free Eye and roughly forced him down onto 157 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:58,240 Speaker 1: his belly next to the others, and then for a 158 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:03,839 Speaker 1: moment there was some vilence. It didn't last long. Within 159 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:06,800 Speaker 1: a few seconds, Peter Tosh's house was a washing. Sound 160 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:11,240 Speaker 1: not crickets, not tree frogs, had not a makeshift sound 161 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:15,360 Speaker 1: system pulsing with Jamaica's heartbeat. These sounds didn't aim to 162 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:19,079 Speaker 1: replicate a heartbeat. They aimed to take the heartbeat away. 163 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:23,840 Speaker 1: The first pistol cocked, it was time for Peter Tosh 164 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:28,679 Speaker 1: to step into someone's shoes, not Bob Marley's, the ones 165 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:31,720 Speaker 1: left empty by the ghosts. Peter once ushered out of 166 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:35,240 Speaker 1: his own house. There was a void in the shadow world, 167 00:11:35,679 --> 00:11:38,280 Speaker 1: a void that was hungry to be filled. And as 168 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:40,440 Speaker 1: soon as Leppo and his men pulled their triggers and 169 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:44,120 Speaker 1: the guns began to fire, that void got what it wanted. 170 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:16,560 Speaker 1: Nineteen eighty four, three years before Dennis Leppo, Loban, and 171 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:19,360 Speaker 1: two other armed men entered Peter Tosh's house with the 172 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:23,600 Speaker 1: intent to rob and kill. Years Peter spent knowing there 173 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:25,640 Speaker 1: was a bullet out there with his name on it, 174 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:28,880 Speaker 1: and it was only a matter of time. The world 175 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:32,080 Speaker 1: didn't allow revolutionaries like him to walk around for too 176 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:38,080 Speaker 1: long looking for truth, demanding justice. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, 177 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:42,040 Speaker 1: John Lennon. The assassin's gun found each and every one 178 00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:45,720 Speaker 1: of them before long, and they almost got to Bob too, 179 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:48,840 Speaker 1: though Peter wasn't ruling out the possibility that they actually 180 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:52,360 Speaker 1: did get to his former bandmate. You could give someone 181 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:54,360 Speaker 1: cancer just like you can give them a bullet in 182 00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:58,120 Speaker 1: the head. One Love didn't protect Bob Marley in the end. 183 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:01,680 Speaker 1: Peter had loved too, the love of his common law 184 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:04,840 Speaker 1: wife Marlene, the love of a reggae community looking to 185 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:08,880 Speaker 1: him for leadership. But in the end, love wasn't going 186 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:11,440 Speaker 1: to protect him from some asshole with a pistol and 187 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:16,000 Speaker 1: no moral compass. Peter grew tired of love and of 188 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:19,920 Speaker 1: love songs. He'd been over those for years now, since 189 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:22,440 Speaker 1: way back when he was still a whaler, still living 190 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:26,120 Speaker 1: under Bob's long shadow. Bob at the time was being 191 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:29,880 Speaker 1: groomed for superstardom in a manner that Peter simply didn't understand. 192 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:34,960 Speaker 1: To Peter, music wasn't about being famous. It was about 193 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:38,520 Speaker 1: delivering a message, and not a message to shake your ass, 194 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:42,040 Speaker 1: a message that if things didn't change, you'd no longer 195 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:48,760 Speaker 1: have an ass to shake. This was the ideology behind 196 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:52,880 Speaker 1: Peter's greatest songs four hundred years, get Up, Stand Up, 197 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:57,920 Speaker 1: Legalize It, equal Rights. He was passionate about the truth 198 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:02,200 Speaker 1: about uplifting black people in and uplifting black consciousness all 199 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:06,360 Speaker 1: over the world, but he was not compassionate in his delivery. 200 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:12,880 Speaker 1: He was prickly, arrogant and unreasonable, completely unwilling to negotiate 201 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:15,880 Speaker 1: when it came to his beliefs, and this made him 202 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:19,920 Speaker 1: difficult to work with, difficult to talk to. But luckily 203 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:23,480 Speaker 1: for Peter, he had no trouble finding like minded souls 204 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:28,160 Speaker 1: willing to put in the work. His friend DJ Freei Dixon, 205 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:34,760 Speaker 1: fellow Rastafarian, fellow revolutionary, shared Peter's passion. Sometime in the 206 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:38,040 Speaker 1: early nineteen eighties, Together they conspired to take over the 207 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:43,480 Speaker 1: airways from which Freei routinely broadcast legally, of course, La 208 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:46,760 Speaker 1: Pair submitted an application to buy out the Jamaican Broadcasting 209 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:51,840 Speaker 1: Corporations Radio one and focused his transmissions entirely on black culture. 210 00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:56,200 Speaker 1: On rasta culture, a culture whose voice Peter and FREEI 211 00:14:56,360 --> 00:15:01,960 Speaker 1: thought could use some amplification. But Jamaica, specifically, the Jamaican 212 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:06,040 Speaker 1: government wasn't ready for that. To give two civilians that 213 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:08,840 Speaker 1: kind of control over the airwaves to tell the truth 214 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:12,440 Speaker 1: as they saw it, that was dangerous, That would upset 215 00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:16,360 Speaker 1: the balance of power, or perhaps more accurately, the imbalance 216 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:20,920 Speaker 1: of power. The government was after all, in the oppression business, 217 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:26,080 Speaker 1: down pressing, as the Rastas would call it. Peter knew 218 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:29,040 Speaker 1: the concept of the radio takeover increased the target on 219 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:32,600 Speaker 1: his back. He was under regular surveillance by the police, 220 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:36,160 Speaker 1: eager to deliver another beating and this time finish the job. 221 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:38,720 Speaker 1: The fact that he had enough money to purchase a 222 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,360 Speaker 1: radio station did not go unnoticed by people like Leppo, 223 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:46,960 Speaker 1: who still resorted the criminal activity to scrape by. All 224 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:50,000 Speaker 1: of these things loaded that inevitable bullet in the chamber. 225 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:54,440 Speaker 1: All of it marked Peter Tosh as dangerous, and a 226 00:15:54,560 --> 00:16:00,600 Speaker 1: dangerous man needs protection. But circa nineteen eighty four, Tosh 227 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:07,640 Speaker 1: didn't just need protection, he needed healing. He had developed 228 00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:11,560 Speaker 1: ulcers which were affecting his ability to sing. So we 229 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:14,640 Speaker 1: went to Africa to seek out the advice of Bush doctors. 230 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:18,800 Speaker 1: And medicine men. He communed with the natural world, with 231 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:22,960 Speaker 1: the spirits of his ancestors, with his roots. And I'm 232 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:27,480 Speaker 1: not talking about genealogy here, I'm talking about actual roots, 233 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:32,800 Speaker 1: the kind used by African healers to fight disease, cure ailments. 234 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:38,240 Speaker 1: One healer in particular explain how the process was extremely intentional. 235 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:41,800 Speaker 1: The right medicinal plant used on the right day, at 236 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:44,600 Speaker 1: the right hour, with the sun facing the right direction. 237 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:48,720 Speaker 1: That made all the difference. You could change your life. 238 00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:53,160 Speaker 1: You could change your form. No longer a man but 239 00:16:53,280 --> 00:17:00,400 Speaker 1: a beast. First a tiger, six hundred pounds, four inch long, teeth, apex, preditor, 240 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:08,120 Speaker 1: all muscle, sovereign, supreme. Then from a tiger to a snake, cunning, cutthroat, 241 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:11,560 Speaker 1: cold blooded, and from a snake back into a man. 242 00:17:12,080 --> 00:17:17,320 Speaker 1: The transformative experience now with you, forever, transforming, shape, shifting. 243 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:22,320 Speaker 1: It was power, and power was protection. But although he 244 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:25,440 Speaker 1: felt a little better when he returned to Kingston, Peter 245 00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:29,040 Speaker 1: Tosh did not change. He did not become a tiger 246 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:36,760 Speaker 1: or a snake. He became more like Peter Tosh, stubborn, arrogant, dangerous. 247 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:42,520 Speaker 1: Now However, three years later, September eleventh, nineteen eighty seven. 248 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:46,600 Speaker 1: Lying on his belly inside his own house on Plymouth Avenue, 249 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:50,199 Speaker 1: the carpet in his mouth, Peter Tosh felt that the 250 00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:55,440 Speaker 1: danger had left his body. It stood above him, manifested 251 00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:59,560 Speaker 1: in Denis Leppolobin and his two henchmen. There was no 252 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:04,399 Speaker 1: ritual here, no roots, no herbs, no healing, Just the 253 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:08,040 Speaker 1: thing Peter Tosh had been waiting for all along, the 254 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:12,800 Speaker 1: punishment for becoming more like Peter Tosh, the bullet inside 255 00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:16,520 Speaker 1: Lepo's gun, the gun that was now emptying the contents 256 00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:18,960 Speaker 1: of its clip into the bodies on the floor. It 257 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:22,679 Speaker 1: fired alongside the guns of Lepo's associates, and the sound 258 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:26,960 Speaker 1: was deafening. Peter's common law wife, Marlene, was shot first, 259 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:30,600 Speaker 1: but she was lucky. The bullet grazed their skull injuring 260 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:35,960 Speaker 1: her severely, but she lived. Peter wasn't so lucky. Two 261 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:38,200 Speaker 1: bullets in the back of his head killed them instantly. 262 00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:42,120 Speaker 1: Doc Brown and Free Eyed Dixon, both lying next to him, 263 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:47,080 Speaker 1: were also killed. Leppo and his henchmen quickly made their 264 00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:49,639 Speaker 1: way out into the night. They ditched their bikes and 265 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:51,919 Speaker 1: hopped into a taxi, which they found idling at a 266 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:55,680 Speaker 1: meeting place that Lepo had previously arranged. They settled into 267 00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:58,199 Speaker 1: the cab, guns in hand, and told the driver to 268 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:02,280 Speaker 1: floor it. The taxi showed off toward downtown Kingston, a 269 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:07,600 Speaker 1: little too fast, perhaps local police behind them. Now suspicious gaining, 270 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:10,320 Speaker 1: Leppo told the driver to lose the heat, and the 271 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:12,760 Speaker 1: cabby put years of tricks up his sleeves into action. 272 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:15,520 Speaker 1: He banged the left, then a right, trying to shake 273 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:18,679 Speaker 1: the cops, but the patrol car lingered like a bad smell, 274 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:23,560 Speaker 1: and then Leppo had another idea. Stop here. The Cabby 275 00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:26,480 Speaker 1: slammed on the brakes. Leppo and the others were out 276 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:29,560 Speaker 1: of the taxi in a flash, dashing down side streets, 277 00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:32,119 Speaker 1: swallowed by the shadows before the cops could catch on. 278 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:35,439 Speaker 1: The Next day, the cabby heard the news along with 279 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:39,600 Speaker 1: the rest of the world. Peter Tosh murdered in his home. 280 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:44,040 Speaker 1: His conscience was heavy. He went to his local constable 281 00:19:44,119 --> 00:19:46,960 Speaker 1: and told his story about the night before, about how 282 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:48,720 Speaker 1: a man had made a plan with him to pick 283 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:50,560 Speaker 1: him and two others up after they did what they 284 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:54,240 Speaker 1: did at Peter's, so he'd essentially acted as their getaway driver. 285 00:19:55,119 --> 00:19:57,359 Speaker 1: The constable told the cabby not to worry about it 286 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:00,879 Speaker 1: to just keep quiet. Soon and cops were at the 287 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 1: Cabby's front door, arrested for his part in the murder 288 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:07,520 Speaker 1: of Peter Tosh and two others. But the cops didn't 289 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:11,320 Speaker 1: care about the taxi driver, not really. They just needed 290 00:20:11,359 --> 00:20:13,359 Speaker 1: him to get to the one person they were really after, 291 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:16,560 Speaker 1: the only person who would be punished for what happened 292 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:20,199 Speaker 1: that night. The Cabby flipped gave the cops that they 293 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:25,120 Speaker 1: were looking for Dennis Leppo Loban, arrested by the same 294 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:28,240 Speaker 1: people who some would say put them up to the 295 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:36,520 Speaker 1: murder in the first place. We'll be right back after this. 296 00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:44,760 Speaker 1: We're we're, we're. Why Why did Dennis Leppo Loban and 297 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:47,720 Speaker 1: two other men force their way into Peter Tosh's house, 298 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:52,080 Speaker 1: order Peter Tosh, his wife, and his friends down on 299 00:20:52,119 --> 00:20:55,880 Speaker 1: the ground, and then murder Peter, Doc Brown and Freei 300 00:20:55,960 --> 00:21:00,919 Speaker 1: Dixon for money money that Lepo thought exist. Did the 301 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:04,000 Speaker 1: same money that Lepo routinely received as a handout from 302 00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:07,159 Speaker 1: his friend Peter Tosh and had received as recently. Is 303 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:11,160 Speaker 1: that very weak or was it something else? There were 304 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:16,520 Speaker 1: many rumors, many theories about what really happened. Three theories 305 00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:20,120 Speaker 1: in particular the cloud of the truth, the very thing 306 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:22,680 Speaker 1: that Peter Tosh had been able to see so clearly 307 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:26,360 Speaker 1: since he was a kid. What was the truth when 308 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:31,399 Speaker 1: it came to Peter Tosh's assassination? It was out there, 309 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:37,480 Speaker 1: hiding in plain sight. But first theory number one revenge. 310 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:41,000 Speaker 1: Leppo had been in and out of prison for years, 311 00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:44,840 Speaker 1: mostly because he knew no other way to live, always 312 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:47,280 Speaker 1: on the wrong side of the law in order to survive. 313 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:51,160 Speaker 1: He also had Peter, a friend from wayback who had 314 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:54,159 Speaker 1: managed to pull himself out of the Trench Town ghetto. 315 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:56,800 Speaker 1: Peter remained a man of the people, and as such 316 00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:59,800 Speaker 1: he helped the people not only with his music in 317 00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:03,720 Speaker 1: his message, but with his money. Leppo benefited from this, 318 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,440 Speaker 1: just as many others did. But Leppo considered himself special, 319 00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:11,440 Speaker 1: so special that when Peter faced jail time for a 320 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:14,800 Speaker 1: gun possession charge, Leppo jumped at the chance to take 321 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:18,560 Speaker 1: the rap. He was familiar with the inside. He was 322 00:22:18,600 --> 00:22:22,240 Speaker 1: well versed in that convict life, so he offered Peter 323 00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:26,000 Speaker 1: a deal. He Leppo would do the time for the 324 00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:28,959 Speaker 1: gun charge if Peter promised to take care of his 325 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:33,680 Speaker 1: family while he was away, food, rent, money, a whole nine, 326 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:37,359 Speaker 1: and Peter agreed. Peter Tosh then spent the middle of 327 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:41,160 Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties becoming more famous and more rich, while 328 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:44,000 Speaker 1: Dennis Leppo Lobin spent the middle of the nineteen eighties 329 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:48,159 Speaker 1: in a prison cell. Inside that cell, Leppo became resentful 330 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:50,840 Speaker 1: with every line he notched on the wall to indicate 331 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:53,320 Speaker 1: the passing of another day. He wondered if he would 332 00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:55,560 Speaker 1: always be the one to get the raw deal. He 333 00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:58,920 Speaker 1: thought about Peter doing whatever he pleased on the outside 334 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:02,919 Speaker 1: thanks entire leave a Leppo's selflessness, and then wondered if 335 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:05,280 Speaker 1: Peter was actually holding up his end of the bargain, 336 00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:08,240 Speaker 1: if the amount of money Peter was giving Leppo's family 337 00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:10,800 Speaker 1: was directly proportional to the amount of money Peter was 338 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:15,120 Speaker 1: now making us the international face of reggae music. When 339 00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:18,680 Speaker 1: his sentence was up, Leppo altered the terms of their deal. 340 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:23,159 Speaker 1: Shit had changed. Peter was on TV talking about millions 341 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:25,879 Speaker 1: of dollars old to him by EMI, his current record label. 342 00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:29,720 Speaker 1: Leppel felt he was owed some of that windfall. It 343 00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:32,880 Speaker 1: was the least Peter could do. Leppo got a couple 344 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:35,400 Speaker 1: guys who he knew were discreet, who would keep their 345 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:39,119 Speaker 1: mouths shut and they had pistols, they had motorcycles, and 346 00:23:39,119 --> 00:23:41,440 Speaker 1: they cut a straight line through the early Kingston Knight 347 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:44,439 Speaker 1: to Peter Tosh's house, where they would take what rightly 348 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:49,320 Speaker 1: belonged to Leppo. Unless, that is, there was another way. 349 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:56,639 Speaker 1: Theory number two wounded pride. Peter's common law wife, Marlene 350 00:23:56,680 --> 00:24:00,919 Speaker 1: Brown wasn't about to win a popularity contest. She was 351 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:04,760 Speaker 1: what some might call overly protective. She put up a 352 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:09,080 Speaker 1: wall around Peter. She screened his calls, she called his shots. 353 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:12,840 Speaker 1: She steered his career, which included the release of No 354 00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:17,160 Speaker 1: Nuclear War, his seventh studio album, in nineteen eighty seven. 355 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:22,320 Speaker 1: She kept Peter's family, Peter's friends at bay. She wasn't 356 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:27,160 Speaker 1: a fan of most people, especially Leppo. Leppo made her nervous. 357 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:31,920 Speaker 1: Once a con, always a con, a plague in Peter's world, 358 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:37,440 Speaker 1: a pestilence, so entitled, so pitiful, reaching out to Peter 359 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:41,680 Speaker 1: with an empty hand, his pockets empty, belly empty, expecting 360 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:46,679 Speaker 1: Peter to fill it to make everything better. Well, fuck that, 361 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:52,240 Speaker 1: and fuck Leppo. Leppo, and Leppo alone was responsible for 362 00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:58,119 Speaker 1: Leppo's own problems, not Peter Tosh. Marlene told Leppo as 363 00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:00,480 Speaker 1: much when he was released from prison for his role 364 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:03,520 Speaker 1: in the shooting of a police officer. She told Leppo 365 00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:06,440 Speaker 1: he was weak, that prison had made him even weaker, 366 00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:10,439 Speaker 1: the prison had turned him into well. She called him 367 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:12,719 Speaker 1: a name, and let's just say it was a terribly 368 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:17,480 Speaker 1: offensive name that called into question Leppo's sexuality, an insult 369 00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:21,160 Speaker 1: that in nineteen eighty seven in Jamaica, a hard man 370 00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:24,480 Speaker 1: from the streets like Dennis Leppo Lovin simply could not 371 00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:30,119 Speaker 1: accept that he wouldn't accept, which would explain why when 372 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,560 Speaker 1: Leppo and his goons burst into Peter Tosha's house, before 373 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:36,480 Speaker 1: shooting off his gun, he shot a look at Marlene's 374 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:41,240 Speaker 1: direction and said, it's you why this is happening. You her, 375 00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:48,160 Speaker 1: Marlene Brown, Marlene's words, her cavalier attitude, her careless behavior. 376 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:51,320 Speaker 1: She was the reason that her common law husband was 377 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:58,000 Speaker 1: murdered because Leppo felt the mean and threatened by a name, unless, 378 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:03,480 Speaker 1: of course, it happened to the third way theory number three, 379 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:08,399 Speaker 1: murder for hire. It was no secret that Peter Tosh 380 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:12,560 Speaker 1: aggravated the powers that be in Jamaica. He lobbied for 381 00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:16,200 Speaker 1: the legalization of marijuana and defiantly smoke ganja in the 382 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:19,440 Speaker 1: face of the law. He spoke up for the injustices 383 00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:21,639 Speaker 1: he saw in the world at a time when the 384 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:26,320 Speaker 1: world didn't want those injustices exposed. Peter Tosh in turn, 385 00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:32,119 Speaker 1: exposed at all lies, corruption, hypocrisy, and oppressive government thriving 386 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:35,679 Speaker 1: on political violence. He was nearly beaten to death for 387 00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:38,800 Speaker 1: being such neartant. A detective pressed a gun to his 388 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:42,240 Speaker 1: head and came close to pulling the trigger. And now 389 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:47,560 Speaker 1: Peter's desire to purchase the Jamaican Broadcasting Corporations Radio one 390 00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:50,160 Speaker 1: was a risk that was too great for those who 391 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:55,160 Speaker 1: relied on maintaining the status quo, so they the government 392 00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:59,960 Speaker 1: law enforcement, whoever, hired a violent ex Khan Denis Leppo, 393 00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:03,560 Speaker 1: a man who known Peter for years, a man who 394 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:06,600 Speaker 1: had access to Peter's house and a wallet, to do 395 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:10,800 Speaker 1: their dirty work and eliminate Peter Tosh for them, flanked 396 00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:13,080 Speaker 1: by two men who were not criminals like Leppo, but 397 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:17,480 Speaker 1: actually cops. A detail in this version of events, it 398 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:22,159 Speaker 1: was allegedly later confirmed by an anonymous Jamaican official. Leppo 399 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 1: made it look like a robbery, which is what everyone 400 00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:28,200 Speaker 1: would expect from him given his criminal history. But Leppo 401 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:30,679 Speaker 1: didn't expect to find so many people at the house 402 00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:33,159 Speaker 1: and then for more to show up while they were 403 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,720 Speaker 1: in the middle of the hit. They threw them off 404 00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:39,280 Speaker 1: and he bungled the job. And by bungled, I mean 405 00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:43,320 Speaker 1: he left survivors eyewitnesses. What was he going to do 406 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:48,159 Speaker 1: murder seven people? Perhaps the people who hired him planned 407 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:51,399 Speaker 1: for this. Perhaps they wanted Leppo to be fingered by 408 00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:55,480 Speaker 1: the remaining victims, and they the government, law enforcement whoever, 409 00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:58,720 Speaker 1: could wipe their hands of the whole thing. The job 410 00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:01,440 Speaker 1: was done, and the best part was they didn't even 411 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:05,120 Speaker 1: have to pay for it. Leppo fancied himself a tough guy, 412 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:14,040 Speaker 1: but in the end he was just a patsy, or 413 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:18,040 Speaker 1: so went the thinking. After all, Leppo was the only 414 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:21,119 Speaker 1: one arrested. He was found guilty by the jury in 415 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:25,159 Speaker 1: just eleven minutes, the fastest conviction in Jamaican history at 416 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:29,960 Speaker 1: the time. Sentenced to hang, the case was closed immediately. 417 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:33,320 Speaker 1: All other leads went dead. There was no search for 418 00:28:33,359 --> 00:28:36,560 Speaker 1: the other two gunmen, no interest in finding out more 419 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:39,400 Speaker 1: about the shocking tragedy that had rippled through Jamaica in 420 00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:43,440 Speaker 1: the reggae world, no interest in the truth which was 421 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:46,719 Speaker 1: right there. It was in the ocean in the clouds. 422 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:49,680 Speaker 1: It was carried on the wind, but no one could 423 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:53,760 Speaker 1: see it, not really. Now that Peter Tosh was gone, 424 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:56,560 Speaker 1: so were the eyes that were able to identify the 425 00:28:56,600 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 1: truth amongst all of the other noise, eyes that the 426 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:02,960 Speaker 1: once tried to take for himself with an old barbed 427 00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:08,719 Speaker 1: wire fence. The world carried on as usual, conflicts divides 428 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:13,440 Speaker 1: brother against brother, so much going on that no one 429 00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:16,280 Speaker 1: at the time or the ability to see the truth 430 00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:43,520 Speaker 1: for what it really was. Dennis Leppo Lobin was adamant 431 00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:47,000 Speaker 1: that only he knew the truth, not about what happened 432 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:50,400 Speaker 1: on the night of September eleventh, nineteen eighty seven, about 433 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:54,000 Speaker 1: what didn't happen. He said it over and over again 434 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:57,160 Speaker 1: from the Jamaican jail cell he now called home. He 435 00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:00,720 Speaker 1: said he was innocent. He said he didn't murder Peter Tosh, 436 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:03,840 Speaker 1: Doc Brown and Free Eye Dixon. He said he was 437 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:08,000 Speaker 1: somewhere else when the murders took place. Peter's common law wife, 438 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:11,320 Speaker 1: Marlene Brown, set him up. She pinned this whole thing 439 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:14,480 Speaker 1: on him because she didn't like him, because she was vengeful. 440 00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:18,200 Speaker 1: Leppo appealed a sentence, the one that said he was 441 00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:20,120 Speaker 1: to be hung by the neck until he was dead. 442 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:24,520 Speaker 1: He was now serving life in prison. That wasn't going 443 00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:27,720 Speaker 1: to stop him from telling his truth, a story that 444 00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:30,680 Speaker 1: ran in direct opposition to the story told by the 445 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:35,600 Speaker 1: four people who survived the shooting, Marlene Brown, Santa Davis, 446 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:40,200 Speaker 1: Michael Robinson, and Freey's wife, Joy Dixon. They all knew 447 00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:43,520 Speaker 1: who Leppo was, and all identified him as the ringleader 448 00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:47,640 Speaker 1: of the trio who had invaded Peter's house. Santa Davis, 449 00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:50,080 Speaker 1: for one, could never forget the faces of the men 450 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:54,240 Speaker 1: who shot him. At first, one of those gunmen, perhaps 451 00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:57,680 Speaker 1: Leppo himself, Sanna couldn't be sure. With his face to 452 00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:00,440 Speaker 1: the floor, had the barrel of his gun the back 453 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:04,400 Speaker 1: of Sanna's head. At the moment the pistol fired, Sanna 454 00:31:04,560 --> 00:31:07,600 Speaker 1: moved just enough so that the bullet didn't enter his 455 00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:11,320 Speaker 1: skull but his left arm. The nine millimeters slug went 456 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:14,960 Speaker 1: in through his clavicle and immediately collapsed as lung. Sanna 457 00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:17,440 Speaker 1: felt like he had been pinched, and then it felt 458 00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:19,520 Speaker 1: like he had no arm at all. He had a 459 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:21,800 Speaker 1: look at his arm to confirm that it was still there. 460 00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:24,880 Speaker 1: He didn't know that he was bleeding on the inside 461 00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:29,880 Speaker 1: drowning in his own blood. In the emergency room, doctors 462 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:34,720 Speaker 1: saved Sanna's life. Meanwhile, paramedics wheeled Peter Tosh in on 463 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:38,040 Speaker 1: a gurney next to where Santa was being treated. The 464 00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:41,600 Speaker 1: doctors then struggled to do the impossible to bring a 465 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:48,479 Speaker 1: dead man back to life, futile task. One doctor stated 466 00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:53,600 Speaker 1: the obvious, I'm afraid mister Tosh has left us. Just 467 00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:57,680 Speaker 1: weeks before his forty third birthday, and just months before 468 00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:00,560 Speaker 1: he was honored with the Grammy Award for Best Reggae 469 00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:04,960 Speaker 1: Recording for his seventh studio album, No Nuclear War, his 470 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:08,200 Speaker 1: first Grammy, in the first major award that acknowledged his 471 00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:13,280 Speaker 1: greatness and impact, a greatness and impact so profound that 472 00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:16,760 Speaker 1: it was believed he was killed for it. Peter Tosh, 473 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:20,200 Speaker 1: of course, was not present at the ceremony at Radio 474 00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:23,560 Speaker 1: City Music Hall to accept his award. He was not 475 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:26,840 Speaker 1: present to see his revolutionary stance and his rebel music 476 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:30,240 Speaker 1: finally lifted up for all the world to see. And 477 00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:37,320 Speaker 1: that is a disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan in this This 478 00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:53,240 Speaker 1: DISGRACELAMD Disgraceland was created by yours truly and is produced 479 00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:56,680 Speaker 1: in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can 480 00:32:56,720 --> 00:33:00,440 Speaker 1: be found on the show notes page at disgracelambpod dot com. 481 00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:03,600 Speaker 1: If you're listening as a Disgraceland All Access member, thank 482 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:06,320 Speaker 1: you for supporting the show. 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He then