A Brief History of Seven Killings

Papa-Lo is driving along the coast with Tony Pavarotti. He and Josey no longer talk. Two years ago Papa-Lo was arrested and taken to prison. With Tony’s help, he killed the policemen who arrested him. He and Tony now pull up to a fort. They open the trunk and pull out a boy whose hands are tied behind his back. Tony pulls out another man. Both the boy and the man have wet themselves and stink of urine. Papa-Lo is punishing them for having tried to kill the Singer. They deny being involved in the plot, and Papa-Lo thinks it’s possible that this is true, but at this point doesn’t care.

Tony shoots the man in the head, and Papa-Lo shoots the boy. Recently Shotta Sherrif suggested that he and Papa-Lo kidnap Mick Jagger and hold him for a $2 million ransom; at first Shotta was joking, but then the plan turned serious. Back when the police arrested Papa-Lo, they also arrested Shotta. People assumed that, once they were locked up together, the two dons would kill each other. At first both of them gathered loyal men and plotted; however, eventually they agreed to talk to one another, on the basis that “when puss and dog kill one another the only one who win is Babylon.”

Papa-Lo and Shotta Sherrif began playing dominos together in prison. In January 1978, Papa-Lo was released, followed shortly after by Shotta. They met on the night of January 9, ritualistically put down their guns, and promised to end their battle with one another. Jacob Miller memorialized the occasion with a song called “Peace Treaty Special.” Only four days before, on January 5, soldiers from the Jamaica Defence Force opened fire on boys from Wang Gang who they had tricked into meeting them in Green Bay. 

During Papa-Lo’s first days in prison, he was beaten “round the clock.” However, Papa-Lo retaliated by targeting the families of the officers who beat him. Back in the present, Papa-Lo and Tony drive back down the coast, and Papa-Lo thinks about the second peace concert, which took place while the Singer was living in England. The Singer eventually came back to Jamaica, but behaved in a newly cautious way. The police do not catch the men involved in the shooting at the Singer’s house, so Papa-Lo goes after them himself.

One of the boys, Leggo Beast, was being hidden by his mother; Papa-Lo beat the woman and exiled her from Copenhagen City. He put Leggo Beast in a cell with others involved in the shooting, and burned all of the possessions in the mother’s house. Leggo Beast confessed details about the ambush, such as the fact that they were trained by Josey and a white man from the CIA. The white man told them that they were going to “save Jamaica from Chaos.” He also explained how Josey gave them cocaine and heroin in order to make them want to kill. Papa-Lo is not sure whether to believe the part about the CIA. He doesn’t understand why the CIA would care about the Singer enough to want him killed.

Papa-Lo asks Josey Wales for an explanation; Josey responds that Papa-Lo is stupid to believe anything Leggo Beast says, and adds that he was not involved with the attack on the Singer. Josey insists that if he had organized the attack, the Singer would not have come out alive. Papa-Lo is not sure whether to believe him, but either way is disturbed by how arrogant Josey has become.

Papa-Lo and Tony take Leggo Beast and two other men involved in the shooting to the garbage-filled McGregor Gully, which runs beneath the ghetto. The men are tied up and Tony kicks each of them to the ground. At the moment, the Singer and his manager arrive. Papa-Lo says that since the police don’t bring about justice, he has set up a court of his own. The Singer’s manager says that one of the men was involved in the shooting, but that there are some “crucial fellows” missing. The manager gives a long speech recalling the events of December 3, 1976. He explains that he was shot and lost consciousness, and was presumed dead.

Papa-Lo asks for the Singer’s thoughts, but the manager replies that he speaks for the Singer. The manager says that the Singer knows who shot him, and repeats that not all of the culprits are present. Leggo Beast claims that he was brainwashed by Josey Wales and the CIA. He then names the other perpetrators of the attack: Demus, Weeper, Heckle, and Josey. Papa-Lo has brought a woman to serve as a witness and asks her for her testimony. However, Papa-Lo really wants the Singer to talk. He knows it was Josey who personally shot the Singer, but the Singer says nothing. Suddenly, Leggo Beast admits that he was the one who shot Rita, the Singer’s wife.

One of the other tied-up men disagrees, saying it was Bam-Bam who shot Rita. Papa-Lo struggles to concentrate, his mind drifting away. He declares that the court finds the men guilty, and sentences them all to death. Papa-Lo offers his gun to the Singer, but the Singer simply turns and walks away. Papa-Lo shoots Leggo Beast, but the Singer doesn’t even turn around. After the Singer drives away, a disheveled man approaches Papa-Lo and begins speaking nonsensically, but Papa-Lo shakes his head and the man disappears. Tony puts nooses around the necks of the other two men and hangs them from a tree. The men die slowly.

Papa-Lo keeps seeing a spectral white man present with him. The bodies of the hanged men finally go limp. Papa-Lo becomes increasingly disoriented, unable to tell where he is, what year it is, and what is happening around him. As he and his men drive away from McGregory Gully, police pull them over for a “spot check.” The officers tell them to get out of the car so they can search it. They find a .38 revolver on the floor of the car, and suggest it could be the gun Papa-Lo and his crew used to fire at the police. Papa-Lo denies this, but immediately after, one of the officers shoots Papa-Lo in the head.  

The officers shoot Papa-Lo’s men as well, and Papa-Lo’s thoughts become increasingly scattered and nonsensical. He has visions of people he knows, including the Singer, as well as figures such as “the angel of death.” The officers shoot Papa-Lo again, this time in the heart. He wants to shout: “Cut off the toe.”