The Cape Town gangsters who use extreme violence to operate solo

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Joining a gang offers marginalised Capetonians opportunities for income, protection and empowerment.

Take the story of Prince, a Capetonian gangland mercenary who chose not to join a street gang. Describing a shootout with the city’s biggest gang, the Americans, he told me in an interview:

Prince said he sought out conflict with the gang after newly arriving in its territory. Doing so earned the Americans’ respect, which in turn gained him access to their territory to sell methamphetamines and other narcotics. I found that most gangsters are unwilling to expose themselves to this level of vulnerability. This means that few in Cape Town fly solo.”, those rare gangsters like Prince who challenge street norms by refusing to declare allegiance to a group, defend its tattoo and die for its turf. Instead, they master the “art of killing” to fight alone among the city’s gangs, breaking with the expectations of the streets and showing how radical acts of violence can upset accepted gang norms in Cape Town.

Gaining street cred is not just about how you fight though. It is also about who you fight. Just as Prince targeted the “top dogs” to gain access to drug turf, Jerome robbed high-ranking gangsters to fill his own pockets. “It is who you rob. If I know that is a higher rank, we rob him … So the whole gang thinks, and even he thinks: what’s going on?” declared Jerome.

 

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