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The communities of Rivoli and Waterloo Lane in St Catherine were the seats of the ruthless Klansman gang's kangaroo court at which errant gang members could be beaten within an inch of their lives or even killed at the displeasure of their alleged leader Andre "Blackman" Bryan and cronies, a Crown witness testified yesterday."If you do something wrong, that's the court that they try you in. For instance, if you are part of the gang and yuh name a call up, if yuh don't go yourself, others will come for you and dem beat yuh. And, if everybody vote against yuh, dat mean seh dem a go kill yuh. But it all up to Blackman at the end of the day," witness number one, who began his testimony Wednesday from a remote location, told a shocked courtroom where 33 alleged members of the gang are on trial.Going further to cement his claim that such a "court" existed, he said, "At one point I had to beg for Stenneth [accused Michael Whitley], who is a foot solider and a shooter."The former gang member, the second of the outfit to turn Crown witness, told the court that the gang had a hierarchy with Bryan at the helm, followed by him and an individual so far identified only as "City Puss".Like the first prosecution witness, he described City Puss as "evil" and said he had never met him in person but had multiple telephone conversations with him.Those conversations, he said, were laced with brutality."City Puss call mi like every night. Sometimes wi on the phone for hours, more than one of us speaking," he told the court, noting that those calls usually included Bryan, Stephanie Christie (the only woman among the 33 accused), and several others.Those hours of night-time calls, he said, were about "violence, nothing but violence. City Puss always had somebody who him want fi dead".According to the witness, he fell second in command in the gang because Bryan "gave strict instructions that if I give an order it should not be questioned". That instruction, he said, was given in late 2017.The witness also claimed that he was anointed the sitting don for Lauriston in St Catherine by Bryan in 2018 after the then don, accused Daniel McKenzie, was carted off to jail. According to him, he tried to wheedle his way out of the position to no avail."Before he give mi di title of don next to him I told him this life wasn't made for me because I'm married. He told me the only way out was the prison or the graveyard," the witness claimed.He told the court that, at the time he was the only married man in the gang.Asked by trial judge Chief Justice Bryan Sykes how he came to be trusted enough by Bryan to be given that title, the witness said, "He had a high respect for me, and each area that he controls he gives someone the donship for that area so that person would represent him in that community."Asked by Justice Sykes; "So what, he just comes and says to you, you are now the don and pour oil on your head or something like that, what did your leadership entail?" the witness explained, "Any problem in the community, good or bad, it would be up to me."Continuing, he said, "Like, for example, someone got robbed in the community or killed or if there was a request for someone to be killed, that would have to come to me."The witness went further to name the communities of Lauriston, Top March Pen Road, Top Scarlett Road, Africa, Top Banks, Rivoli, Waterloo Lane, Buck Town, Shelter Rock, and Backland/Jones Avenue as areas allegedly controlled by Bryan. Each of these areas, he said, was assigned to a don selected by Bryan.Bryan himself, the witness claimed, was the don for Jones Avenue, which included Backland.Earlier yesterday, the witness said he had approached the police to give evidence against the gang in 2017 "to try and put a stop to the gang, the killing, the extortion". He admitted that his first visit to the Criminal Investigations Branch (CIB) in 2017 had been aborted because he had become fearful."Because of fear for my life, because I know Blackman have top-tier policeman working with him. I don't know their face or know them personally," he said.Asked by Justice Sykes what he meant by top-tier police, he replied, "Police that have rank that can give him suitable information...him say him don't want fryers police; low rank that can't really give any orders."He said he then decided, instead, to approach a police officer in Spanish Town whom he had heard the gangsters planning to kill. He said he decided that he could trust that officer since he was in the gang's bad books. He said, however, that the officer, upon being told what he had to say, told him he would need to go to "the bigger heads".According to the 33-year-old witness, he had been familiar with the criminal organisation from childhood days."The area that I'm from was controlled by Bulbie [former Klansman boss Donovan Bennett, now deceased], so from I was small growing up it was all about Klans," he stated."Growing up in the communities the gangsters were the lawyer, judge, prosecutor, and police. You couldn't take up the phone and call the police; if anything happened you had to report to the don first," he told the court.Asked how he knew about the killings, robberies, and extortion, he said, "Because eventually I was a part of it."He said he gave the police multiple statements.The witness will continue his testimony when the trial resumes this morning at 10:00.