The case of the baby-faced backtracker

May 17, 2009 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

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By Michael Jordan
We like to think that a man’s deeds are stamped on his features, that his face is a mirror that reflects the good and ill of his past.
We forget American gangsters like ‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd’, and ‘Baby Face’ Nelson, whose choir-boy features belied the fact that they were ruthless killers.

We forget Guyanese serial killer Harrynauth Beharry, who murdered eight children, though you wouldn’t have known it from his nondescript demeanour.
And now that we are on the subject of infamous Guyanese criminals, that brings me to Lloyd Bacchus.
He was a flashy young businessman, a Michael Jackson look-alike, owner of several properties.
But in 1994, someone put a bullet into the back of Bacchus’s head as he lay in his soundproof bedroom.
His death would lead to the unraveling of a massive organized crime ring.

It was 22:00 hrs on Saturday, January 8, 1994, and about seven friends were in the living room of Bacchus’ spacious home at Prashad Nagar.
The 27-year-old Bacchus was resting in his bedroom after having called a taxi to pick him up. Some of the friends were watching television when four men suddenly entered through the front door.
At least two of the men were bare footed, and all were reportedly armed. The men ordered the frightened occupants to lie on the floor. Warning them to remain silent, the gunmen turned the television set up to full volume.

Two of them remained with the group, while the others entered Lloyd Bacchus’s room.
Two minutes later, the muffled sound of a gunshot was heard. The men then exited the room, reportedly with a duffel bag and then fled via the back door.
After making certain that the gunmen were gone, Bacchus’ friends then entered the young businessman’s room. There, they found the young man lying facedown and motionless. He had been shot at close range to the back of the neck.

The initial belief was that Lloyd Bacchus was the victim of a brazen robbery.
But it soon became evident that there was another motive. And that motive lay in Lloyd Bacchus’s background.
Police confirmed that a search of the slain man’s home unearthed several blank US passports, and forged passport seals.

What had been whispered in the streets was now clear: the young man, who had once won a Michael Jackson look-alike contest was the head of one of the largest ‘backtracking’ rings in the country.
Charging a reported US$10,000 a client, the Bacchus ring, allegedly aided by Immigration and airport personnel, smuggled about ten clients a week to the United States and Canada.
From reports, things didn’t go well for those who tried to fleece the young ‘businessman.’
Police had received information that Bacchus had abducted two children after their father failed to cough up the full payment for his ‘backtrack’ fee.

Bacchus reportedly kept meticulous records of his business associates. A book containing the names of some of these associates was unearthed during the investigation.
The US Embassy also confirmed that they knew of Bacchus’s escapades and had denied his application for a US immigrant visa.
In fact, in January, 1993, an Embassy official had previously informed Bacchus by letter that he was ineligible for an immigrant visa, under laws which prohibited anyone who had “wrongly aided, abetted anyone to enter the US illegally.”

Nevertheless, there were reports that Bacchus had managed to slip into the US on several occasions.
In his 1992 application for a US visa, Bacchus had informed the US Embassy that he owned seven properties and estimated his assets at US $310,000.
Commissioner of Police Laurie Lewis admitted that the Guyana Police Force was aware of the Bacchus operation. How this operation was allowed to operate with apparent impunity under the noses of the Guyana Police Force would soon become clear.
After Bacchus’s death, a murder case surfaced in the High Court in which the murder accused alleged that he had paid Lloyd Bacchus $265,000.

Less than a week after Bacchus’s death, police rounded up several suspects. Among them was a 25-year-old David Patterson, called ‘Polaro.’
On January 19, 1994, the accused appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court and was charged with Bacchus’s murder.
But this has failed to clear up some aspects of the case. Was Bacchus the victim of a robbery or of a soured ‘backtrack’ deal?

Who, if anyone, paid Patterson and his associates to execute him?
However, at least one question was answered. That question had to do with the possible involvement of the police and other officials in the Bacchus operation.
Several months after his execution, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) cracked a massive alien-smuggling ring with links to Guyana.

Tapping the phones of the Guyanese ringleader, the RCMP operatives managed to listen in to conversations between the ringleader and several of his associates in Guyana.
According to the RCMP investigations, these ‘associates’ included several airline and airport officials and junior and senior ranks in the Guyana Police Force.
Some of the culprits were overheard demanding more money for removing ‘uncooperative’ police ranks from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport on days that the ‘backtrack’ clients were scheduled to depart.
But we have short memories here. Today, quite a few of these ranks still hold senior positions in the Force.

If you have any information on any unusual case, please contact us at our Lot 24 Saffon Street office or by telephone.
We can be reached on telephone numbers 22-58465, 22-58491, or 22-58458. You need not disclose your identity.
You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address [email protected].

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