A colorful gangland life deserves a colorful funeral.
And if the gangster goes to the great beyond in a diamond-encrusted casket, accompanied by shouts of "Viva Mafia, Viva"....
Well, all the better, surely.
The Mob Reporter here with the behind-the-scenes story of the life, spectacularly
messy death, and the wild send off of a gangster drug lord, with a special guest, who's on the ground in South Africa.
Yaganathan Pillay is better known by his nickname "Teddy Mafia." From his home in
a suburb of Durban, the third most populous city in South Africa, Teddy Mafia became
a legendary figure. Beloved by many in the community, where he had a fiercely loyal
base of support, built old-school like the traditional mafiosi of old. As a reputed
drug lord in gang boss, he was, in at least one sense, South Africa's version of
John Gotti, a teflon don against whom criminal charges didn't stick. But this week,
Teddy learned that gangland rivals can be a more treacherous adversary than prosecutors.
He was murdered in his home in a shock attack. And then something else remarkable
happened. An angry mob caught and killed his alleged attackers in the street outside.
To learn more about Teddy Mafia and what happened, I reached out to Orrin Singh, a
crime reporter in Durban with South Africa's Times Live and the Sunday Times. Orrin
has been closely watching the fallout from this gangland murder. Welcome to The Mob
Reporter. Orrin, can you tell us why he is known as Teddy Mafia?
So Teddy Mafia's real is Yaganathan Pillay. He's 62 years old. He's a father and a
grandfather. His name, from what I understand, was derived in the early, his early
days in gangsterism. There was a gang known as the Mafias in the 1980s and the early
1990s that really ruled with an iron fist in the Shallcross area.
And I believe that's where Teddy Mafia's name derived from, from the gang that he actually was part of.
What do you know about his early years?
He dropped out of school as early as Grade 8 and he began working, and this was in
order to support his family and he got his first job at a shoe factory. A friend
who's known him for more than about 40 years told me that Teddy always loved money.
He always loved making money. He was very business minded. And so he began a small
operation from his flat in Shallcross, where he started selling liquor and alcohol.
And that kind of grew over the years. After alcohol, he began dealing in a little
bit of marijuana here and there, and thereafter he decided to get into hard drugs or allegedly
started getting into harder drugs and dealing. And that's where he built his empire.
That's how he started his empire, from small-scale alcohol distribution from his
home to this massive drug empire that he is said to have have been sitting on top of the throne of.
I understand he had a deep connection with the community around him in Durban?
I wouldn't say the larger Durban area, but in the community called Shallcross, which
is just south of Durban and he's quite known and revered in the community. But more
than revere, I'd say he's actually seen as what would I say is as a saint.
He does a lot of charity for the people. He has helped schools, churches, temples.
So he's seen as a sort of Robin Hood character, in the sense that he gives a lot
to the poor. But in the same breath, he's not stealing from the rich. To an extent he is stealing from the rich,
but he is also stealing from the poor.
Now tell us how he died?
His death this week, the manner and sequence of events, and the manner of of how things unfolded, and just
the gruesome and horrific scenes, played out in this affluent community in Durban
on Monday, literally took South Africa by shock. The two men that were at his home on
Monday where friends or acquaintances of Teddy. Teddy had instructed one of his drivers
to go and pick up these two gentlemen from a hospital that's not too far away from
his home. And upon picking them up, he brought him back to the house. They were meant
to be having some sort of business deal or conversation. Teddy had been expecting
them throughout the day and had made his family know that these guys are coming to the
house and we have some business to discuss. When they arrived, Teddy and these two
gentlemen walked down to his garage and they started discussing their business there. His daughter
had just left and was walking up the stairs into his home when she heard a gunshot
ring off. And she turned around and ran back down and she sees her father sitting
in a seat with a gunshot wound. And these two men were looking at him and they tel her
"We didn't do it, we didn't do it." And from that point onward, things get a bit
murky. But all we know is fast forward a couple of minutes later an angry mob descends upon Teddy's
home. These men were subsequently shot, from what our sources tell us, then decapitated
in broad daylight in the middle of the road and their bodies are piled up onto a pile of tires,
with twigs and sticks and set alight. From what his brother tells me, he was shot twice
and his brother says that it seems as if he tried to defend himself because he was
shot once in the hand. And it seemed if he tried to grab the barrel of a gun and
then shot just above his right eye in the forehead.
And then those gory scenes played out on Torres Street on the corner with Table Mountain Street in Shallcross.
You attended Teddy Mafia's funeral. It looks a pretty wild affair. Tell us what it was like.
Well, I was at the funeral. It was elaborate to say the least but you wouldn't expect
anything less from someone of his stature within the community.
Under COVID regulations the law permits us under lockdown level 3, not more than 30 people
to be attending a funeral service at any one time. And there's more than 50 people
gathered on the streets. It's safe to say that law enforcement officials had their
work cut out for them. It was a strong police presence there. They had a big screen
TV outside and they were broadcasting live footage from inside the home. Teddy's
casket came down. It was a diamond-encrusted casket made up of fake diamonds. The
funeral procession was led by a white Rolls Royce, and a Scotsman playing a bagpipe
at the front as the funeral possession came down the street. His body was carried
into the home and his family obviously grieved. A lot of people wanted to enter the home and
police had to intervene and eventually dispersed people. Teddy's body was then carried
out by his pallbearers and rested in front of his home. Seven white doves were let
loose. His body was then picked up on the shoulders of his pallbearers
and carried it up the infamous Table Mountain street. His body was carried through
the street before being put it into the hearse. That's a gangsters funeral in a nutshell.
Have theories emerge on who is behind the hit?
From what we understand, Teddy, being a suspected drug kingpin, would have had a lot
of enemies but from what his brother tells me a lot of his enemies were also some
of his closest friends, leading to the cliche: keep your friends close and your enemies
closer. There's been a level of animosity and anger within this community of of Chatsworth
and Shallcross for over a year and that's based there's been seven murders committed
within these communities since December 2019.
Three of these murders, or we can say four, are close friends and relatives of Teddy Mafia.
The last murder that was committed was his son. His son was gunned down in a drive-by
shooting in March last year and prior to that, Teddy lost a friend who stayed on his road
who had a liquor tavern. And he was killed in a drive-by shooting just a month prior
to that. After Teddy's son is murdered in a drive-by shooting, there's at least three
or four other murders, murders that take place within this community, all believed
to be related to a drug feud and turf war.
Teddy Mafia seems to have been South Africa's own Teflon Don. What can you tell us about his track record in court?
His cases are about 12 dating back to 1993 and of those 12 cases he was found guilty
of one. And that case he was found guilty of being in possession of drugs. And that
was in 1995. He was found guilty and sentenced to a fine of one thousand five hundred rand and 60
hours community service. Eleven other cases where either withdrawn or he was found
not guilty. Between 2013 and 2016, during three raids at his home, drugs amounting
to the value of 23 million rand were confiscated, as well as cash, illegal firearms,
illegal ammunition, and gold coins. He had been arrested on so many occasions and
yet never convicted. 1 out of 12, 1 out of 12. Some people actually said that he
worked with impunity and that police did nothing to stop him. I guess it's just what
happens. It happens not only in our country but all over the world, that known drug
dealers are allegedly in cahoots with police and senior officials and I'm not saying
that's the case here, but it certainly looks like it.
Orrin, thank you very much for taking the time to bring us up to speed on this interesting
case, and I'm sure you'll be chasing it for some time to come. Thank you for your time.
And thank you for watching.