Maximum - US prosecutors call for longest possible sentence for Dudus

The speculation, according to Coke's legal team, is putting the "innocent" lives of the family members of the former Tivoli Gardens don at risk.

"He is not co-operating," Stephen H Rosen, Coke's Florida-based attorney, told the Observer in an interview.

A few hours later Rosen, through Priya Levers, the legal consultant to Coke's local legal team, would elaborate on the matter: "I can assure you that Mr Coke has no intention whatsoever of calling any names. Certainly those are my instructions and those of Mr Rosen," said Levers.

The attempt to set the record straight came on a day that was dominated by news that Coke had written to Judge Robert P Patterson Jr asking for leniency ahead of his December 8 sentencing.

In his seven-page, hand written letter that was released to the media on Tuesday, Coke asked Patterson to use his discretion to sentence him "below the guideline range".

The 42-year-old Coke, who had been on a list of the world's most dangerous drug traffickers, on August 31 pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to commit assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering and faces a maximum prison sentence of 23 years.

"Good day to you, Sir. I am humbly asking if you could be lenient on me...," Coke said in the letter to Patterson.

Coke listed 13 reasons the judge should be lenient, including the recent loss of his mother, who had bemoaned his incarceration. "I was told that while she was on her deathbed, she was crying and kept calling my name," Coke wrote.

He also asked for mercy for the sake of his son, aged eight, telling the judge: "I was told that he is constantly asking for his daddy. He cries all the time..."

Coke was last year extradited to the United States to face guns and drug-running charges but eventually pleaded guilty after Patterson refused to throw out damning wiretap evidence against him. Also contributing to Coke's decision was the fact that 12 convicted men from Tivoli Gardens were set to testify about him committing no fewer than six murders in the furtherance of his alleged drug and gun-running operations.

Coke was facing possible life in prison if convicted and his plea to the lesser charges quickly fuelled speculation that he had agreed to implicate others.

Yesterday, Levers said that Rosen, whom she said "has done a terrific job on Coke's behalf, was "disturbed" about the speculation.

"I don't know why people are saying that and I don't know on what basis people are saying that. Those of us who have worked closely with Mr Rosen... can't understand that malicious and damaging circulation," said Levers.

She added: "People have to understand that the man has lost his mother, his family is here, and by saying these sorts of things you are putting an innocent family at risk. People really have to do better than that."

"Good day to you, sir," the letter to the judge began. "I am humbly asking if you could be lenient on me."

Judges receive letters all the time from defendants who are about to be sentenced, but according to a report carried in the New York Times yesterday, judge Robert P Patterson Jr of Federal District Court has received a letter from Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

Coke, who was described by United States prosecutors as one of Jamaica's most brutal drug lords, is said to have written a seven-page-long and neatly handprinted letter.

The Tivoli Gardens area leader who led a trafficking ring was arrested and sent to Manhattan, where he has since pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. He could receive a 23-year sentence.

It was in that context that the New York Times article claims that Coke, 42, took it upon himself to send a polite letter to the judge.

It is further reported that while addressing the judge as 'Justice Patterson', Coke said he accepted responsibility for his actions and asked that the judge use his 'discretion' to sentence him "below the guideline range."

In doing so, Coke is reported to have offered a list of 13 reasons. For one thing, he said, he had lost his mother recently. "I was told that while she was on her deathbed, she was crying and kept calling my name," the report said.

And his eight-year-old son had been traumatised by his arrest, he is reported to have further stated in the letter. "I was told that he is constantly asking for his daddy," Coke explained, adding "He cries all the times."

The letter is said to have also contained Coke's claim that after he serves his sentence he would leave the United States and would never be able to visit his brother or other relatives who live there. He also described 'charitable deeds and social services' that provided to his community, including efforts for the elderly, the unemployed, parents and a 'back-to-school treat' for students that included school bags, books, pens, pencils and uniforms.

Coke is reported to have also mentioned even organising a parent committee which made sure that children and teenagers were off the streets by 8 p.m., Sunday to Thursday.

In the article, federal prosecutors are said to have had no comment on the September 7 letter, which was signed "Sincerely, C Coke" and mailed from the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he is being held. His lawyers said he wrote the letter without their assistance.