Mark Lifman and the dark underworld: Yuri the Russian, Cyril Beeka and the battle for ‘the doors’

Suspected underworld kingpin and murder accused Mark Lifman met his fate by the bullet when he was gunned down in a drive-by shooting at the Garden Route Mall, in George, on Sunday morning.

The 57-year-old Lifman – who was usually surrounded by his team of heavily armed bodyguards – was gunned down by two men with assault rifles in a white VW Golf in the parking lot shortly after 11am.

The controversial Cape Town businessman’s assassination comes while he was on trial – and out on bail – for the murder of “Steroid King” Brian Wainstein.

Wainstein was shot and killed in his posh Constantia home in August 2017.

Liftman was due back in the dock at the Western Cape High Court with his co-accused on Monday morning for the murder trial of the international steroid smuggler.

The State alleges that Wainstein and Lifman clashed over property deals and a plan was then hatched to have Wainstein murdered along with the help of 27s gang members.

In the wake of his death, The Citizen takes a look at Lifman’s alleged involvement in the dark underbelly of Cape Town’s organised crime world throughout the years.

‘Underworld kingpin’ Mark Lifman

For decades, Lifman has faced multiple serious charges. These included murder; attempted murder (with Springboks bad boy James Dalton featuring on the list); money laundering, as well as gang-related offences.

The Cape Town property developer however repeatedly denied the allegations racked up against him.

Security racketeering: The Cyril Beeka days

Lifman’s name pops up several times in a case study of security racketeering by the Institute of Security Services, titled Cape Town’s underworld: Mapping a protection racket in the central business district.

The apparent overlapping of protection rackets, nightclub security and organised crime has been a long-standing feature in Cape Town’s underworld.

In the 1990s, rumoured intelligence operative Cyril Beeka dominated nightclub security in the city with his company called Pro Access.

The security boss gained a reputation for extortion, violence and drug pushing. Beeka and his “lieutenants” however denied these claims. 

A presidential investigation task unit report in 1997 accused Beeka and his staff of being “soldiers” for the Italian Mafia and their alleged “banker”, Vito Palazzolo, who had moved to South Africa.

At the time, Beeka, according to AmaBhungane, also worked closely with “the Moroccans”.

His company would allegedly send “the Moroccans” – led by the lethal kickboxer Houssain Ait Taleb – to cause havoc in clubs, after which the owners were offered security services.

If they refused, the Moroccans were sent in again…

Lifman, Naude and the Booysen brothers

Beeka – who also served as Czech fugitive and former crime boss Rodovan Krejcir‘s security consultant before their fall-out – was assassinated in March 2011.

The BMW X5 he was driving was found riddled with bullets on Modderdam Road, in Bellville, Cape Town.

The 49-year-old Beeka’s death led to significant shifts in the city’s organised crime landscape.

Enter Lifman, former bouncer Andre Naude and Jerome “Donkie” Booysen, once named in court as the alleged leader of the Sexy Boys gang in Belhar.

The trio subsequently became key figures in private security operations and extortion at nightclubs in the Cape Town CBD.

Former bouncer Naude (also an accused in the Wainstein case) stepped in to fill the gap left by Beeka’s untimely “departure” with the private security company Professional Protection Services (PPS).

According to AmaBhungane, the new security company was bankrolled by Lifman and “supported” by the Booysen brothers, Jerome and his now-estranged brother Colin.

‘Serious threats and extortion’

The Institute of Security Services’ research paper states that “the development of this company was accompanied by serious threats and extortion as it muscled its way into the city’s security system”.

In 2012, Lifman and Naude were arrested and faced 313 charges for allegedly running a security company without being registered with the Private Security Regulatory Authority, as is required by law.

At the time, PPS had about 350 doormen working at 146 clubs, roughly 60% of the province’s nightlife.

In 2015, the pair were cleared of those charges and countered that the State had targeted them.

Lifman and Yuri the Russian

Before Beeka’s death, Lifman was already rubbing shoulders with other prominent underworld figures, such as Yuri “The Russian” Ulianitski.

Lifman, who was also a racehorse owner, is alleged to have had business dealings with Ulianitski who came to South Africa in 2001 and owned a strip club in Cape Town.

Ulianitski was one of the city’s most feared underworld figures. He was linked to club protection rackets, rigging horse races, prostitution, debt collection and gambling.

In May 2007, Ulianitski and his daughter were shot and killed in their car as he was driving away from a Milnerton restaurant where the family celebrated his birthday.

The hit allegedly took place minutes after Liftman left. The murder remains unsolved.

‘Modack group’ vs ‘Lifman group’

In 2017, suspected organised crime kingpin Nafiz Modack and others linked to him entered the fray, resulting in the “battle of the doors” as Modack attempted to seize control of bouncer operations in the city from Lifman and PPS.

Daily Maverick reported that, according to police investigators and what surfaced in court cases, clashes between the “Modack group” and the “Lifman group” sparked violent skirmishes in Cape Town from 2017 onwards.

Modack has been arrested and then acquitted for security service-related matters in the past.

He was subsequently rearrested for other crimes and is now in custody and on trial for the murder of policeman Lieutenant Charl Kinnear in Cape Town in September 2020.

The Beerhouse saga

At the time of his murder, Lifman was taking legal action against, among others, Randolf Jorberg, the owner of the former Beerhouse in Cape Town’s CBD.

Lifman was claiming damages of R1 million.

The Beerhouse saga goes back many years.

Daily Maverick previously reported on the murder of one of the Beerhouse’s doormen, Joe Kanyona, in 2015.

This allegedly after Jorberg refused to sign up with a group offering “services” styled as security.

At the end of July 2024, the Beerhouse announced it was shutting its doors because of matters relating to extortion.

In an affidavit dated 21 October, Lifman asserted that Jorberg had defamed him through statements he made on Carte Blanche and social media posts.

• Reports of arrests in connection with Lifman’s murder surfaced later on Sunday, but police are yet to confirm this officially.

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