Crimson Leaguers spy out Jo'burg as gang battle area

GOLDEN CITY POST, 13 March 1955 FRONT PAGE LEAD

THE notorious Crimson League gang in Durban has started to spy out the land in Johannesburg which it is considering as possible new area for its protection racket. 

This is one of two major developments on the crime front which the Golden CIty Post is able to publish exclusively today. The other is a widespread crusade against crime on the reef by groups of citizens who have banded themselves into group escorts. 

The Crimson League decided to explore the prospects of moving on to the Rand because with Johannesburg’s Sheriff Khan temporarily out of action, his group has no leader. 

The link between Sheriff Khan's gang and the Crimson League was formed some time ago when some of Khan's men went down to Durban in response to a call for help from the Crimson League in the "war" with the Salot gang.

Fordsburg branch? 

Interviewed in Durban last week by a special representative of the POST from Johannesburg, prominent members of the Crimson League would not comment on the report that they were thinking of starting a branch in Fordsburg. A well-known go-between told the POST: “The report is nonsense.” 

But a man who has been associated with the Crimson League’s rival gang, the Salots, said: “I have every reason to believe that certain Crimson Leaguers are very interested in Johannesburg.” 

The Crimson League gang was formed in Durban three years ago. Members are alleged to have beaten up shopkeepers for protection money and to have taken away goods from their shops by force if they have refused to pay. 

The Crimson League gang is not to be confused with the innocuous Crimson League Football Club, the Crimson League Social Club and the Crimson League Taxis.

The Salots are a small family gang driven into violence by their environment. The gang was formed at the same time as the Crimson League and spends most of its time resisting the latter. XXX

THE POST