South Africa's Underworld is Killing Itself

Cape Town’s underworld war was supposed to be about nightclub doors. Instead, it turned into a sprawling battle over drugs, extortion, government contracts, corrupt cops and control of an entire city.

In part two, Danny follows the bodies as they pile up: the “Gentleman Gangster” Mark Lifman is assassinated in a shopping mall parking lot, top gangsters are picked off one by one, and one of South Africa’s most respected detectives is murdered after warning that corrupt police were working against him. Meanwhile, the old nightclub protection rackets evolve into something much bigger, with criminal groups pushing into construction, public contracts and the state itself. Along the way, too many failed assassination plots to list.

By the end, Cape Town’s gang war looks less like a turf dispute and more like the anatomy of a mafia state.

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