A tale of two cities: mafia control, the night time entertainment economy and drug retail markets in Johannesburg and Cape Town, 1985–2015

Abstract

Extortion and violence associated with drug markets in the night time club industry in Johannesburg and Cape Town provide contrasting cases of how mafia groups begin to form and then evolve. In Johannesburg a protection economy, run by a white ‘bouncer mafia’ developed around the distribution of drugs in nightclubs. After significant conflict between these groups, one achieved dominance before being displaced non-violently by emergent Nigerian criminal networks. In Cape Town the night time entertainment economy has evolved into a tightly controlled business, where extortion rackets and the control of club security remains closely linked to drug retailing. The stronger local control of drug markets in Cape Town’s night time entertainment venues is a feature of the linkage between the extortion business and powerful suppliers of violence within the constellation of pre-existing local gangs. Both cases illustrate a conceptual model of how protection economies develop and are sustained.