Caryn Dolley
R295.00
Award-winning journalist, Caryn Dolley, has spent years tracing the footprints of kingpins from across the world. Through examining police investigations, delving into court documents, interviewing countless sources and painstakingly tracking arrests, she pieces together a horrific puzzle that shows how different criminal empires have overlapped, merged and clashed in South Africa.
Clash of the Cartels
A high in exchange for a hit. This is South Africa, home to cut-throat gangs and a lair to some of the world’s most notorious drug lords who seem to view the country as a buffer from prosecution. It’s easy to see why – politics has pummeled policing, first in the form of apartheid and then under Jacob Zuma’s presidency when state corruption exploded, and intelligence structures imploded.
Tons of illicit drugs are pumped across the borders annually. This bleeds into other crimes including terrorism, arms dealing, kidnapping and extortion. Add hardened home-spawned gangs to this toxic mix, and the combination is lethal.
An array of local and foreign names surface when prodding this volatile matrix. Among them is one of India’s ‘most wanted,’ Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, accused of partnering with the Taliban, and self-confessed drug trafficking mastermind Vijaygiri ‘Vicky’ Goswami who claims to have helped finance the ANC. Then there is Brazilian trafficking accused Gilberto Aparecido dos Santos, and Cuban kingpin Nelson Pablo Yester-Garrido, who purportedly had a soft spot for Nelson Mandela.
All four operated in South Africa. None were properly prosecuted in the country. This reinforces suspicions that politicians, government officials, and cops are protecting – and working with – powerful drug peddling thugs.
