A new mob boss for the Mother City?

The arrest and bail denial of alleged 28s crime kingpin Ralph Stanfield in September last year has left Valhalla Park in Cape Town without a prominent leader for the first time in almost four decades.

There is now scurrying to take over the Mother City’s top mob boss position. The top contenders, according to sources, are Jerome “Donkie” Booysen, and Stanfield’s one-time henchman, who has since turned state witness and has turned his loyalties to Booysen. 

Alleged to be the head of criminal enterprise the Firm — a 28s affiliate — Stanfield’s supposedly lucrative criminal empire is vast, and is assumed to include extortion, fraud, drug and firearm smuggling, dubious construction deals and a criminal network stretching beyond the borders of South Africa.

But in the underworld, rumours are rife and whispers are getting louder that Stanfield’s empire is collapsing, the result of his bail denial, along with that of his wife and three others — accused of theft, robbery and fraud — and the subsequent void it created. There are also questions about who will usurp the strongman’s crown. 

Stanfield’s quasi-monarchical reign in Valhalla Park was one of terror and tears. The former because of him and his crew, the latter for law-abiding residents. He is alleged to have taken over from his uncle, Colin Stanfield, who was widely considered one of the biggest drug dealers the Western Cape ever produced.

The Mail & Guardian interviewed residents, policing structures, politicians, retired and active cops, private investigators and gang members in an attempt to determine the effect of Stanfield’s detention. For safety reasons and brevity, all sources are anonymous or have had their names changed, unless otherwise indicated.

One of the fundamentals that became evident as a result of this investigation, is that “the Number” — the gang, the lifestyle — is both revered and detested, but is mostly spoken of as if it was a religious cult, amorphous, an enigma, instead of an enterprise of thugs. 

“The Number doesn’t lose, it is deep, deep. There might be general infighting and disruptions, but Stanfield will be replaced. The Number will continue to exist,” said a former police detective.

Crumbling empire 

A former Numbers affiliate said it was no secret that Stanfield acted with impunity, thinking his organisation was “untouchable, above the law” because of his alleged vast connections in government and community structures. 

People feared Stanfield, he said, referring to the alleged gang boss as a “dictator”. This fear drove his men to turn on him; “people got tired of his anger, his reign of terror” and for only receiving the “crumbs” from his laden table. 

But the empire “took a dent” when his henchman, who is in hiding, turned state witness. Stanfield’s house is crumbling from the inside, said the source.

Another source, who works closely with policing initiatives in Bishop Lavis and Valhalla Park, said it appeared residents of Valhalla Park were also breaking away from Stanfield’s grip since his imprisonment. 

Asked how he could substantiate the claim, the source — who is a resident in the area — said that since Stanfield’s arrest, the police had seen an increase in the number of crimes being reported. Previously, crime was “reported” to Stanfield. 

“They have a type of bundu court system where Stanfield was the justice system in Valhalla Park,” said the source. 

Provincial police spokesperson Joseph Swartbooi would not confirm the alleged increase in crime reports in Valhalla Park, saying the South African Police Service does “not share statistics pertaining to the crime pattern analysis as cited in your inquiry”. 

Since Stanfield was detained, the number of criminal cases reported had “skyrocketed”, according to the source, particularly rape. More police raids were also being conducted, he said, and more weapons were being confiscated. 

Because of his “untouchable” status, alleged the source, a government project could not be carried out in Valhalla Park if it did not have Stanfield’s approval. It was the “happiest day” when he was arrested, he said. 

Stanfield, his wife Nicole Johnson and three co-accused face charges of theft, robbery and fraud. Stanfield faces a separate charge of attempted murder. 

Next to reign

Stanfield, according to those who know him, now finds himself in a vulnerable position. While he spends his days behind bars, a gang war is raging outside over his territory. 

A private investigator, who worked on cases relating to Czech gang boss Radovan Krejcir, has drawn a possible parallel between the Czech and Stanfield. After two years of incarceration, Krejcir’s grip on his empire started to slip. His sentencing was the final blow. His accomplices left to seek greener pastures. 

It is alleged that the former henchman and now state witness is fighting for control of Stanfield’s territories. The rift between Stanfield and his henchman caused the latter to seek support from the alleged leader of the rival Sexy Boys gang, Jerome “Donkie” Booysen. 

“Donkie rol vir Stanfield,” said a source familiar with the matter. In other words, the two alleged gang bosses are fighting over turf. Booysen has allegedly gained turf in Delft, previously controlled by Stanfield.

The real shift in leadership might only become visible after Stanfield has been sentenced.

A source, who brushed shoulders with former and current prominent underworld figures, said loyalty in the gang world is fleeting. “It is all about the money.”

Money buys loyalty, he said, adding that loyalty, trust and brotherhood among gang members had “all changed”, leaving an already complex and violent system more volatile and unpredictable. 

Death row

Almost as an aftershock to Stanfield’s arrest, his cousin Noor Stanfield Stephanus was assassinated only days later, outside his home in Valhalla Park. 

Speculation about Noor’s murder is rife. An unknown person could not enter Valhalla Park unnoticed, drive up to Noor’s home and shoot him in front of his own house, said a source. 

Noor, Colin’s son, obviously trusted the person who shot him, said the source. Noor was Stanfield’s right-hand man. 

Killing him was a message to Stanfield, said a source. 

Another source agreed that Noor’s murder must have been an “inside job”. 

A gang member not affiliated to the 28s, and who lives outside Stanfield’s turf, said Noor stole from Stanfield after his arrest, but the allegation could not be confirmed.

It does correlate with similar claims Stanfield and Johnson made in their bail application in that the state’s witness — Stanfield’s former henchman — stole money from them. The witness is in hiding after an attempt to kill him failed. He is alleged to have shifted loyalties to Booysen. 

It is not only Noor who was killed in recent months. Aside from fatal shootings on a near daily basis in Cape Town’s suburbs, another two confidants of Stanfield were gunned down in separate incidents.

A cousin, Simon Stanfield, was shot in Delft on 13 March, while Ernest McLaughlin was killed a stone’s throw away a day before in Belhar. Some sources consider the hits to have been from the inside but the Mail & Guardian understands the deaths were a result of the ongoing power struggles between Stanfield and Booysen. 

Two of Booysen’s sons, Jenino and Joel, were wounded in a targeted shooting in May and June. 

Other gang leaders in the Western Cape were also taken down in recent years. The Hard Livings’ Rashied Staggie, the 27s leader William “Red” Stevens and Ernie “Lastig” Solomon of the Terrible Josters were killed in 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively.

“Their killings are both a symptom and a cause of increased gang fragmentation,” noted the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime in its Western Cape Gang Monitor report. 

“High-level assassinations of this sort create power vacuums and instability among the top leadership, opening the door to a young generation of leaders who must prove themselves, often by demonstrating their capacity for violence,” the report noted.

A new era

A Bishop Lavis resident who has dedicated much of his life to improving safety in his community decried the disregard young gangsters have for order and discipline. The youngsters defy hierarchy and show no loyalty, with money and power the key drivers to joining a particular gang, or “jump camp”, he said.

According to the gang monitor report, the Fancy Boys gang is rapidly strengthening its support base.

Foot soldiers and even higher-ranking gang members are joining the gang. “Former members of the Hard Livings and 28s in Mitchells Plain have crossed the floor” because the Fancy Boys have large sums of money readily available to buy weapons and drugs for members.

“[The money], in part, comes from the legitimate business interests that one of their leaders has in the retail sector …. The guns, along with drugs and cash, are then distributed to the gang’s foot soldiers. These trappings are an attractive incentive to lure lower-level members from other gangs hungry for firepower and money, and the status these bring.”

When South Africa opened its borders in 1994, the cash gates and opportunities of a new criminal world emerged. No longer bound by the borders of the country, criminal organisations grew and established themselves internationally.

In its opposing bail affidavit, the state submitted travel information for Stanfield and his wife. From April 2010 to July 2023, Stanfield left the country 31 times. His wife travelled overseas and back on 24 occasions from March 2011 to August 2023. 

The headline-grabbing May 2023 shooting in Constantia, in which four people, believed to be of Bulgarian descent, were killed, is evident that cartels with transnational networks had entered the country. So much so that the 2023 Global Organised Crime Index classifies South Africa as one of the global frontrunners in organised crime: armed robberies, drug trafficking, cable theft, kidnapping and extortion. A private investigator who specialises in kidnapping said kidnapping and extortion have become “easy money” for syndicates.

Stanfield’s empire might not withstand his stint in prison. But another enterprise will replace it, as has happened before.