The Inside Story of How the Deadly Melvin vs. Marriott Feud Began
Halifax, Nova Scotia's most notorious criminal, Jimmy Melvin Jr., stepped into the courtroom Monday, facing murder charges for allegedly killing his long-time nemesis, Terry Marriott Jr. The Melvin and Marriott families are practically household names in Nova Scotia, infamous for a long and violent feud in a rough-ish suburb of Halifax called Spryfield, which I previously wrote 4,000 words about here.
Melvin Jr., 35, made national news numerous times during his decades of crime, but perhaps nothing is more memorable than the website, Real Live Street Shit (the url is now dead), which he launched four months after the February 2009 murder of Marriott Jr.
The short-lived website featured videos of him wearing only his underwear, proudly showing off his bullet wounds and colostomy bag while waving around multi-colored Canadian bills. It also featured local TV news clips about his various criminal activities set to hip-hop beats.
Although the website was quickly removed, highlights from the various videos can be seen in this old CBC News clip, including him shouting his most famous quote, "There is no rats in the Melvin family!" after an attempt on his father's life.
After the Marriott Jr. murder, Melvin Jr. appeared to feel invincible; nearly all his enemies were dead or imprisoned after a years-long feud. He felt so confident that in one video he referred to himself as "the cock of the walk, king of the talk."
The Melvins and the Marriotts have become synonymous with crime in Nova Scotia, and the root cause of the violence has long been a source of speculation for many in the eastern Canadian province. The media has often portrayed it as a battle for drug territory, however, inside information tells a different story—a tale of reputation and revenge
A source close to both families has spoken with me for many hours under the condition of anonymity. The source is a childhood friend of Jimmy Melvin Jr., his brother Cory Melvin, Terry Marriott Jr., BJ Bremner (Terry's half brother, son of Terry Marriott Sr.), and their cousin Wayne "Chop" Marriott and has been been publicly implicated in criminal activities with various members of both families.
The following is his explanation of the cause of Nova Scotia's most infamous feud, backed up by newspaper articles and court proceedings of various incidents.
Terry Marriott Jr. was murdered in February 2009, but during the late 90s he'd established himself as a crime figure in Spryfield involved in small time drug dealing. Marriott Jr. was several years older than the younger generation and eight years older than Jimmy Melvin Jr.
The younger generation consisted of a group of Spryfield residents who were childhood best friends: Jimmy Melvin Jr., BJ Marriott, Derek MacPhee (the Crown's key witness in the ongoing murder trial), as well as several others. They were followed by a second group a few years younger led by Wayne "Chop" Marriott, Cory Melvin, and Jeremy Leblanc.
"We always looked up to Terry, he was older, right," said the source. "He had everything."
As teenagers, the source claimed the younger group would often hang out at Terry Jr.'s residence, where drugs and women were plentiful, as they began committing crimes themselves. But Jimmy Jr. always used to get on Terry Jr.'s nerves.
"He used to always pick on Jimmy, like slap him, try to bitch him out in front of people," said the source. "He never used to slap anyone else, it was always Jimmy man."
But although they didn't get along, Jimmy Melvin Jr. and Terry Marriott Jr. had something in common—both their fathers and namesakes were in jail, Jimmy Melvin Sr. and Terry Marriott Sr.
Jimmy Melvin Sr. was sentenced to eight years in prison in 1994, along with nine others, for his role in the importation of a reported 3.5 tons of Middle East hashish to Nova Scotia three years prior.
His sentence was extended until the mid 2000s when he was also implicated in the attempted importation of $20 million of cocaine in 1992. Unfortunately for Melvin Sr., after a high-seas pursuit by the US Coast Guard the drug-filled ship sank and he and an associate reportedly spent two days hunting for the vessel and its shipment, unaware it was underwater.
Terry Marriott Sr. had been in and out of jail for a variety of offenses since the mid-1960s. During the 90s he was incarcerated while his brothers, Billy and Ricky, continued criminal activities on the outside. Billy specifically was said to have a close relationship with the Hells Angels after a previous stint in the shoe—a Nova Scotia slang word for prison.
After Marriott Sr. became a free man in the mid 90s, Terry Jr. was already a well-known Spryfield drug dealer in his own right. But little did they know, their lives would change as Marriott Sr.'s two brothers, Billy and Ricky, would both soon be dead.
It's unclear exactly what relationship Billy had with the Hells Angels, however, he was charged for carrying out a Hells Angels hit in 1998 on another Nova Scotia criminal named William St. Clair Wendelborg (this is explained in more depth in my previous Melvins and Marriotts article).
Weeks after Wendelborg's decomposed body was found, Billy Marriott claimed to have discovered his own brother Ricky, and Ricky's wife, Gail Stone, murdered in their home. Due to the positioning of their bodies police suspected that they were murdered by someone they trusted. Shortly after, police arrested and charged Billy for the Wendelborg hit, but before his 2000 court date, Billy hanged himself in his cell.
