In his heyday Cyril Beeka was probed by police for ruling virtually all of the city’s nightclub security operations with an iron fist.
If new club owners did not agree to pay for his security services, they would allegedly face the wrath and the boots of Beeka’s army of security guards, the Moroccans.
In the 1990s the then director of the Presidential Task Unit, Andre Lincoln, had been tasked with investigating the Moroccans. He was then accused of failing to do so and later lodged a complaint of intimidation against Beeka.
Asked about Beeka on Tuesday, Lincoln said: “I don’t have any comment on that. Not even off the record.”
The security boss has been linked to other underworld figures including slain Yuri “The Russian” Ulianitski, who police suspected of beating up business owners who did not pay him and his henchmen security fees.
Two days ago two unknown gunmen on a motorbike shot and killed Beeka, 49, as he was being driven along Modderdam Road near the University of the Western Cape in his BMW 4x4. The driver of his vehicle was shot in the chest but survived.
In the 1990s, when Beeka still owned Red and Pro security companies, his name featured prominently in news publications as he was allegedly involved in murder, drug dealing and extortion.
In late 1999 he appeared in the Cape Town Regional Court as he was suspected of having played a role in the murder of a Chinese sailor.
Newspaper reports based on police affidavits said officers understood that Beeka and his workers controlled 90 percent of the city’s nightclub security operations and had reportedly been involved in a string of illegal activities.
Police had alleged Beeka’s business method at the time was to approach new club owners with proposals and, if they turned them down, he would order the Moroccans to intimidate them, sometimes physically, into reconsidering.
At the time, newspaper reporters said police officers feared Beeka was extending his grip on security operations from the city to the southern suburbs.
Last year, Beeka’s name again cropped up as he was linked to Czech fugitive Radovan Krecjir, currently in Gauteng and convicted of fraud and kidnapping in the Czech Republic.
At the time of his murder, Beeka had been working as the national head of security for the courier company RAM Hand-to-Hand.
Irina Ulianitskaya, Ulianitski’s widow, on Tuesday said she felt for Beeka’s family.
Years ago her husband, who ran the Moroccans at one stage, had briefly been employed by Beeka. Ulianitski and their only child Yulia, then four, were killed in a drive-by shooting as the family was driving in Milnerton in May 2007.
At the time Ulianitski was out on bail of R30 000 and facing allegations of conspiracy to kidnap and possession of illegal firearms and drugs.
Their killers have not yet been arrested.
“(Beeka’s murder) brings back memories. It’s exactly the same thing that happened to my family. I sympathise with his family,” Ulianitskaya said.
She had not known Beeka personally. Former councillor Badih Chaaban, who had known both Ulianitski and Beeka, on Tuesday said that he had once employed Beeka’s brother, Edward, a shareholder of Red Security. Other than that Chaaban said: “I have no comment whatsoever.” - Cape Times