[imagesource: Esa Alexander]

It’s not easy leaving one of the Cape’s most notorious gangs.

“Blood in, blood out” is one of the commonly used phrases, and former 28s boss Ernie “Lastig” Solomon’s 37-year affiliation with the gang came to an end last Friday.

Solomon was gunned down in a hail of bullets in Boksburg, after two men opened fire on his BMW, and sources say his murder was inevitable.

Gunmen fired through the roof of the BMW he was inside, just in case the car had been bulletproofed.

Despite his efforts to distance himself from his past, those in the know say Solomon remained a gangster until the very end.

That being said, he did record a video warning about the pitfalls and violent nature of gang life prior to his murder, which the Daily Maverick has reported on:

In the video, Solomon said: “The Number is like a germ. It comes into you when you are in prison. We all got it in us. I also got the germ in me. People die every day because of this story of the Number. This cut in my face, I got because of the Number. I was very young and didn’t know what the Number really means to me.

Image: Daily Maverick

“Now I must try to make it right for my people or my next generations before I’m not in this world any more. I’m 54 years old and all the years of my life I was losing friends and those friends were like my brothers and like my children. When they died I felt it in my heart but I never thought of the day when I’m going to die.”

Perhaps Solomon knew his days were numbered, because he finished the video by saying “be careful, you are going to kill your family and your own community and after that your own brothers are going to kill you”.

Now the hunt is on to find out who ordered the hit on Solomon. If it came from within the prison system, one could expect a war to be fought on the inside.

If a street gang ordered the hit, expect bloodshed and open warfare to take place in the Cape’s gang-afflicted areas.

You can read more on the Numbers setup, both inside the prison system and on the streets, here.

Writing for News24, Mandy Wiener says that with the death of Solomon, and last year’s murder of Rashied Staggie, a “new guard” has begun the fight for control:

Solomon and Staggie were the last of the seniors, leaving only Jerome ‘Donkie’ Booysen at the helm of the Sexy Boys.

Emerging now is a younger brand of gang boss attempting to wrestle control in a highly contested environment, where power, influence, routes and territory remain the most sought after commodities. Many of those rising into authority are from established gang families and are the scions of the old school seniors, pointing to internal family fallouts and disregard for the old adage that blood is thicker than water…

As things stand, the situation looks like it is out of the control of the police, who have long struggled to contain the growth and influence of the gangs on the Cape Flats. Networks trading in tik, abalone and other contraband have grown more established, which makes the stakes higher. It also explains why volatile alliances are being formed among new leaders wrestling for control.

Ultimately, it’s the communities caught in the midst of these turf wars and violent battles that suffer the most.

Oh, and if you want the Netflix version of Solomon’s life, you can watch A Lucky Man, the 2013 film based on his life that is currently streaming.

Let’s finish with the trailer:

[sources:dailymav&news24]