Rapper 50 Cent co-wrote the book "The 50th Law" after reading "The 48 Laws of Power."

At 7 feet tall and 285 pounds, Bynum is the starting center for the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers. He hurls his Mack-Truck-like shoulders against some of the biggest and baddest men on the planet every game night.(CNN) -- When Andrew Bynum walks into a room, people step aside.

Bynum recently came across a book that was as ruthless as anyone he's encountered in the NBA. "At first, I was shocked," he says. "I thought it was cutthroat."

Bynum started reading "The 48 Laws of Power." The best-selling book offers a collection of 48 laws that show people how to gain power, preserve it, and defend themselves against those powerful people who make their lives miserable.

Unlike most self-help books, "The 48 Laws" offers advice that the author freely admits is, at times, cunning and amoral. It includes lessons like "Law 1: Never outshine the master" and "Law 14: Pose as a friend, work as a spy."

The lessons are distilled from colorful anecdotes lifted from 4,000 years of history. They include insights into the scheming of powerful people such as Al Capone, P.T. Barnum and Henry Kissinger.

The book has proved to be so popular that it has spawned several sequels, one recently co-authored by the popular rapper 50 Cent, called "The 50th Law."

Meet the man behind the laws of power

Robert Greene, author of "The 48 Laws," says our fascination with power is rooted in our DNA.

"We want to believe we're descended from angels when we're descended from primates," Greene says. "This is part of our nature and there's nothing to be ashamed of."

Greene says the struggle for power affects even the most benign human relationships. Think of how babies threaten, badger and scheme to get their way, he says.

"Children can be incredibly manipulative," Greene says.

Greene, whose laid-back, soft-spoken demeanor seems at odds with his books, has long been fascinated with power. At first, his interest was restricted to sports. Then he earned a degree in classical studies and saw how power shaped history.

Greene says he received his next lesson in power when he began working as a writer in Hollywood. Every transaction -- business or personal -- revolved around someone grasping for more power, he says.

Greene realized that Hollywood's power elite didn't act all that differently from the ancient Athenians and Chinese emperors he encountered in his classical studies.

He decided to share his insights in a book.

"I wanted to show that what was going on was not new," Greene says. "No one wanted to talk about how these incredible manipulative games had been going on for thousands of years."

One of Greene's central claims is that everyone must learn the rules of power. He describes the world as a "giant scheming court," and says we're all courtiers, whether we like it or not.

"There is no use in trying to opt out of the game," he writes in the introduction to the book. "... Instead of struggling against the inevitable, instead of arguing and whining and feeling guilty, it is far better to excel at power."

Practicing the laws of power

That's the lesson that Bynum, the Los Angeles Lakers' center, says he's learned.

Bynum likes Law 18: "Do not build fortresses to protect yourself -- isolation is dangerous."

It tells the story of Shih Huang Ti, the first emperor of China. The emperor was so paranoid about his enemies that he slept in a different room each night and never let any of his subjects see him. The result: He lost power because he lost touch.

Greene's lesson: Isolation exposes you more than it protects you. Circulate among people, build allies and learn to spot your enemies.

"That was cool," says Bynum, who says he has to be leery of people who try to take advantage of his celebrity. "It's good to be out there, to visit and to see your enemies and even be in the same room with them."

Adam Ishaeik made Greene's book required reading for a business management class he taught at Michigan State University. His students loved it, he says, because it was more practical than most business or self-help books.

Ishaeik's favorite law: Law 10: "Avoid the unhappy and unlucky." That law says that one should avoid people who always attract misfortune. They can "infect" others with their pathology.

The law's solution for dealing with a master of misfortune: Don't help or argue with an "infector" or you will become "enmeshed" in their problems. Flee them. Don't return the call.

Ishaeik says he once became involved with some "infector" relationships that resulted in his living out of his car for five months while becoming deeply depressed. When he cut those people out of his life, he says, his life took off. He is now the CEO of a company that secures government contracts for small businesses.

"If someone is always unlucky and things are always happening to them, deep down inside, there's something that's attracting it," Ishaeik says. "You don't want to be around them."

Dov Charney, founder and CEO of American Apparel, is also a fan of Greene's laws of power. He calls them laws of nature.

"Every single human interaction involves this power exchange," he says. "But it doesn't mean that power can't be generous or philanthropic."

The book, though, has its critics.

Jeffrey Pfeffer is a Stanford University professor and management guru. People like lists, he says, but 48 laws are too much.

"If you give people a list of 48 things, they're certainly not going to remember them in a situation when they need to use them," says Pfeffer, author of the forthcoming book "Power: Why Some People Have it and Others Don't."

Pfeffer says Greene's laws are flawed because they are based on isolated historical examples. Why not build laws around solid research, like a study or experiments?

"If you go to a doctor and the doctor says you have a disease, and we know the treatment because we tried it on one person and it worked -- wouldn't you love to have the treatment based on a long-term study?" Pfeffer asks.

Criticism doesn't seem to rattle Greene. He says he had some tough times in his early career when he violated the first law of power in his book ("Never outshine the master"). But learning the laws of power has given him tranquility.

"It just brings a sense of calmness and detachment because things don't bother me," he says. "I observe everyone else's power games. It's a beautiful position to be in."

Vybz Kartel Being Sought By St. Catherine Police

Vybz Kartel, whose real name is Adijah Palmer, went to the Greater Portmore police station accompanied by his attorney Christian Tavares-Finson.

He was named as a person of interest by the St Catherine South Police two days ago and despite expressing his willingness to be interviewed by the police, Vybz Kartel never made good on his word.

He will spend tonight behind bars as the police say he will be questioned tomorrow.

The entertainer has had an embattled year after being banned from performing in St Lucia and Barbados. He is also banned from entering the United States.

After a bloody battle to capture Coke in his Tivoli Gardens, westKingston, enclave last month, he was held yesterday without one shot being fired.

Coke was held about 4 p.m. yesterday, bringing to a close a monthlong islandwide manhunt. Sources say he was found with a wig that was used as a disguise.

He was reportedly being taken by the Reverend Al Miller, the prominent cleric who facilitated the surrender of two of Coke's siblings, to the United States Embassy in Kingston when he was held.

Miller was travelling with Coke on Mandela Highway close to the border of St Andrew and St Catherine when the police stopped the vehicle.

"The police were monitoring a vehicle checkpoint on the Mandela Highway and they were acting on intelligence," Police Commissioner Owen Ellington told journalists during a press conference at his Old Hope Road, St Andrew, office yesterday afternoon.

Coke was leaving St Catherine on the same day Prime Minister Bruce Golding announced a state of emergency would be established in that parish.

Yesterday, Ellington refused to say if any "armed militiamen" had also been held.

The police commissioner also refused to say if the $5 million bounty offered for information leading to the arrest of Coke would be paid out.

"The arrest of Coke today is the culmination of an extended operation that started on the 24th of May," Ellington said bluntly.

Last night, US Chargé d'Affaires Isiah Parnell said he had not yet been officially informed of the capture.

"I am pleased with the news and am looking forward to dealing with the extradition proceedings," he told The Gleaner.

Miller could be in trouble

During the police press briefing, Ellington warned Miller to turn himself in immediately at any police station for questioning.

The top cop hinted that the pastor could be in trouble for trying to circumvent local authorities by transporting Coke to the US Embassy.

"This afternoon, before coming down here, I spoke with all of my senior officers and I asked each individual if they were party to any discussion or agreement for the bypassing of the legal process for Coke to be turned over to US marshals. Each officer responded in the negative," Ellington said.

However, Ellington could not explain why Miller was not detained when Coke was held.

"The policemen on the ground at the time allowed him to go (but) I'm investigating the reason why that was done."

Last night, Miller, chairman of the National Transformation Programme, said he would turn himself in today.

Ellington said arrangements are being made to have Coke face the courts as quickly as possible.

Could face court in 48 hours

With reports circulating that Coke has decided not to fight the extradition request, the commissioner told journalists that the fugitive could face the local courts within the next 48 hours.

But Coke's attorney, Don Foote, was unable to shed light late yesterday on his client's intentions.

"I will have to get instructions from him. Now that Coke has been held, the committal process has started," Foote told The Gleaner.

As the police and army combed Jamaica for Coke, they had warned that persons knowing of his whereabouts could be charged with harbouring a fugitive, a serious offence that is administered by the High Court.

The manhunt took the security forces into inner cities, rural communities and upscale neighbourhoods where Coke and his associates were suspected to be hiding.

Dudus, indicted in the US on a range of drug- and gun-trafficking offences, has been on the run since he eluded a massive dragnet in his potent Tivoli Gardens.

The alleged druglord Christopher 'Dudus' Coke has been arrested on the outskirts of Kingston, Jamaican police said tonight.

Coke, 42, is wanted for extradition to the United States and at least 73 people were killed when Jamaican security forces stormed a Kingston slum during an attempt to capture him last month.

The Jamaica Observer reported that Coke is being held at Spanish Town police station in St Catherine.

He was handed over to police by Reverend Al Miller and is prepared to commit himself to due process and waive his right to an extradition hearing, the website said.

The arrest took place just outside the capital city late in the afternoonJamaica time, CNN reported Commissioner Owen Ellington as saying.

The US issued an extradition request for the Jamaican citizen on 25 August 2009. Coke is charged with conspiracy to distribute marijuana and cocaine and to traffic in firearms during a period between 1994 to 2007.

Scores were killed in fierce street battles in west Kingston last month, as Jamaican forces attempted to flush out Coke, who US law enforcement claim is the leader of the Shower Posse, an infamous gang with ties to west Kingston, that was regarded as one of the most violent units operating in the US during the 1980s.

Troops stormed the Tivoli Gardens area after Jamaica agreed to extradite the alleged drug dealer, who local residents have nicknamed 'President' and regard as a role model and benefactor.

But growing suspicion that the army operation to capture Christopher "Dudus" Coke and extradite him to the US turned into a bloodbath of extra-judicial killings is threatening to sweep away public support for the government's attempt to assert control over what has been called a "state within a state".

Golding, in a statement to the House of Representatives, said the state of emergency, which has been imposed since Sunday evening, will be used by the security forces to go after armed thugs across the country.

"During this period of public emergency, a concerted effort will be made to go after the criminal gunmen in whatever community they may be ensconced," Golding told the House.

He added that while the state of emergency has been called to deal with the arrest of Coke, "it is not confined to that, because there is a general pattern of criminality, lawlessness and the kind of criminality that is not unwilling to confront and challenge the institutions of authority in the State and those have to be responded to ... ."

Golding disclosed that pending anti-crime legislation

HEAVY explosions are ringing out in West Kingston as a large contingent of police and soldiers have converged on the volatile community of Tivoli Gardens in an effort to bring in reputed don, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

Soldiers clear Red Hills Road

JAMAICA Defence Force soldiers used a bulldozer and trucks to clear blockages erected at various points on the busy thoroughfare of Red Hills Road this morning.

Opposition leader, Portia Simpson Miller yesterday urged Prime Minister Bruce Golding to establish a civilian oversight committee to monitor the State of Piublic Emergency, at the same time offering her support

In a letter to Golding, she said that the People's National Party (PNP) had taken note of the declaration of a State of Public Emergency in Kingston and St Andrew, but noted the party's alarm "that no curfew was imposed in any of those areas while breaches of the public order were allowed to escalate". This took place in certain communities with targeted criminal groups taking the attack to the security forces.

Residents of West Kingston look on as police flood the area yesterday. (Photo: Bryan Cummings

A dumb-founded Jamaican nation remained transfixed to radio and television sets yesterday as marauding gunmen openly challenged security forces for control of the streets of downtown Kingston.

With the tension still running high at nightfall, police counted two of their numbers shot and one civilian dead, casualties of the gunmen's determined stance against the capture of Tivoli Gardens strongman Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

Police on patrol in sections of downtown Kingston. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)

In an advisory, the Kingston Public Hospital said it would only be taking emergency cases after gunshots rang out in the vicinity.

There were signs that Coke was digging in, with supporters extending and expanding the barricades erected in West Kingston since Monday night when Prime Minister Bruce Golding announced that extradition proceedings against him could begin.

The heavily armed gunmen appeared to be on the offensive, torching one police station and keeping lawmen pinned down throughout the day at three others.

In a clear signal they wanted to minimise potential casualties, police invited law-abiding residents of Tivoli Gardens and adjoining Denham Town to leave the communities via Industrial Terrace. But buses provided by the security forces to take the residents to an unnamed location, remained empty. It was not immediately certain if the residents were staying of their own accord or if they were being coerced to stay.

Rumours multiplied throughout the day that the violence would spread beyond West Kingston, causing many citizens to leave downtown Kingston or avoid it altogether.

In one incident late evening, police quickly crushed an attempt to mount a roadblock along Red Hills Road, northwest of the capital, exchanging gunfire with men who quickly fled.

"We tried to clear the roadblock and they fired on us but we have managed to clear the area and calm has returned," said head of crime for the St Andrew North Police Division, Deputy Superintendent Altermoth 'Parra' Campbell..

Earlier in the day, Observer news teams met upon roadblock after roadblock in downtown sections of the capital city and heard gunshots in the distance. But it was unclear who were firing. Roadblocks turned up as far as Heroes Circle near Fletcher's Land near Manchester Square.

"Reports so far are that one civilian was shot and killed and two police officers injured," cops later told the Observer. "At this time, the reports are that at least four police stations have come under attack from gunmen," the police said.

A station in Hannah Town was torched while the Darling Street, Fletcher's Land and Denham Town police stations came under heavy gunfire.

But police could not confirm reports that a police vehicle was also stolen by the gunmen and also that electricity in sections of West Kingston was turned off.

The cops were said to have been forced to beat a hasty retreat when gunmen stole the vehicle with a police radio inside it at Slipe Pen Road in the vicinity of the Blood Bank. The gunmen reportedly sprayed the vehicle with high-powered assault rifles and drove away the car when the occupants fled.

"The man them out on the road crazy, we have to be watching. The situation has reached a serious state," said one man who spoke for a group of frightened looking residents.

Meanwhile the Police Federation blasted the criminal activities as an attack against the State.

"The mettle and resilience of our police officers are being tested by resourceful criminal elements who have declared war on our security forces," said Sergeant Raymond Wilson, chairman of the Police Federation.

"We are asking our members to take all necessary precautions in the face of blatant threats against their lives and their environs," Wilson urged.

"Whilst we have sworn to protect every member of the Jamaican society we must ensure self-preservation, as this is the only way we will be able to execute our duties timely and professionally. I am pleading with every responsible law-abiding Jamaican to support us; this fight is for all of us," said Wilson.

THE stand-off between security forces and 'Dudus' supporters in Tivoli Gardens, West Kingston, last week overshadowed a significant move towards peace in two other troubled Kingston communities.

Passers-by stood in amazement as residents from Big Yard and Cassava Piece, two long-standing rivals at the centre of a bloody feud, faced off in a busy parking lot off Mannings Hill Road.

Entertainer Mavado (left) converses with Rev Al Miller following the peace talks (Photo: Ingrid Brown)