Tomaso Gagula was born in 1992 as Thomas Warui Njoka.
He was the second-born child and first-born son to David Njoka, a Senior Manager at the Ministry of Health, and Catherine Timitra Njoka, a peer counsellor at Kenyatta University.
He was born into a rich family with excellent family morals and values, especially since his mother was a devout Christian who doubled as a peer counsellor at Kenyatta University.
He was taken to a very good school, shule za wadosi — Pioneer School, a private school in Maragua. Huku P.E. time wanafunzi hucheza na ndege. With school fees of not less than 300K per term, this was clearly a school for the well-off.
Kijana akiwa Form 2, he was involved in an indiscipline case that had him expelled. The funny thing about schools like this is that it is very hard for a student to be expelled unless they have committed a very serious offence. Now, you can imagine what the boy did to have him expelled.
This was really a letdown to his family, especially his father, who had sacrificed a lot to give him the best life he never had. Mzae akajam mbaya.
His father tried to enrol the boy in another school, but kijana alikuwa amechoka na masomo. He completely dropped out, a decision that further widened the gap between father and son.
Because parents will always want the best for their children, they would several times plead with him to go back to school, but yeye alikuwa ashafunga hiyo chapter. Na ju aliona hii kusomewa na wazazi imezidi, kijana akaamua kujitoa home aende aanze life kivyake. Why couldn't his parents understand he was done with school?
Tomaso left home for good, packed his little belongings and went to Kayole, where he rented a small house. Here, he would find the peace he wanted, or so he thought.
Coming from an affluent family, he was fascinated by the thrill of ghetto life, and it is here in Kayole that he found his love for matatu culture.
He spent most of his days hanging around touts, soaking in their language, lifestyle, and streetwise ways. Day after day, he became more comfortable in their world until, as the old adage goes, if you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas. Before long, he wasn't just hanging around the touts anymore—he had become one of them.
One person who ushered him into the touting life was the dreaded gangster Kevo Lumidee, who was also a tout.
Kevo Lumidee, who later died after posting on Facebook that he had little time left on earth since the police were on his ass, was the founder of Mauki Family Gang.
Due to Tomaso's great interpersonal skills, Kevo Lumidee helped him secure a job as a tout for a new manyanga in Kayole called TellaBang.
Mchana Kevo Lumidee was a young man earning a legit salary, but usiku, he was a different man, terrorising people. And with Tomaso in the squad, he introduced him to Nairobi's thug life. By day, they were just touts hustling for a living. By night, they transformed into menacing figures moving through the city, looking for their next target.
To celebrate the man he was becoming, he decided to wear his transformation on his smile. He got silver teeth—almost like a badge of his new identity—and embraced the look that helped him blend deeper into the world he had chosen.
Lakini pesa ya makanga pekee haingetosha kuweka meno ya silver na kuning’iniza silver chains. The lifestyle demanded more money than the matatu hustle could provide. So they took their nighttime activities a step further. What began as a daytime hustle gradually turned into a life of crime—mchana makanga, usiku majambazi. They began hijacking cars under the cover of darkness and robbing unsuspecting people, chasing the kind of money their legitimate work could never provide.
Mchana, with his crew, they would spend their days plying the busy Kayole-CBD route while enjoying the sweet herb of Wajackoya.
This, according to him, was the best life ever sio ile maisha wazazi wake walikuwa wanataka aishi.
As his name grew within the matatu industry, so did his reputation beyond the streets. He became a familiar face in Nairobi’s entertainment scene, moving from one popular joint to another, enjoying the nightlife and rubbing shoulders with some of the city’s well-known personalities.
His social circle eventually included celebrated reggae DJ and founder of Rastyle Entertainment, Muzikal Sherriff, who became one of his personal friends. From the matatu stages to the city’s entertainment joints.
It is this love he had for reggae music that also had him travel to Ukambani for the burial of celebrated MC Daddy Konia, who had passed away during the Westgate Mall terror attack.
Sadly, unbeknownst to many, this lifestyle was not solely supported by his touting career but also by the criminal activities he'd started doing at night with his friends. Many didn't know he was a thug at night and a tout by day.
Makanga atakuwa anaingia club aje anaitisha pombe ya 20K na ukimuuliza anatoa pesa wapi, anasema ni God.
Tomaso and his group continued with their robbing activities for a while until the police started suspecting him but couldn't pin him down due to lack of evidence, so they could only wait.
Lakini kama wasemavyo, siku za mwizi ni arobaine.
One night, they hijacked a matatu, and ju alikuwa mtu watu walikuwa wanamjua mchana, a lady recognised his voice.
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That voice was none other than Tomaso.
You would think that with his cover blown, Tomaso would lay low like an envelope, but wapi... NOT HIM.
Tomaso continued with his day-to-day job, thinking that he was the smoothest criminal ever after Michael Jackson.
Together with his Team Chafua, they continued carjacking people, and they also continued with their soft life.
But as they say, illegal soft life huwa haiendi sana. You can enjoy the money, the attention and the lifestyle for a while, but sooner or later, the consequences come knocking. And for Team Chafua, that soft life was about to come to a very abrupt end.
On March 12, 2014, Tomaso, together with his crew, tried to rob a petrol station along Kangundo Road.
However, they were unsuccessful and fled the scene since the police were now on their radar.
The following day, DCI officers showed up at his parents’ home in Lang’ata with a warning that was as serious as it was unsettling. They pleaded with the family to intervene and save their son, urging them to send him to Gishagi, saying he had already been marked as a suspect.
But as every parent knows, when it comes to your child, you will fight their corner—even when the allegations are difficult to believe. His parents flatly dismissed the police claims as nothing more than utter nonsense.
“Mtoto wetu si mwizi,” they insisted.
To them, their son was simply a young man being unfairly accused. Little did they know that the police were already closing in.
Na ndio wahakikishe, on that same day, his parents called him to ask him about what the police had claimed. After refuting those claims as baseless, he posted on his Facebook account this warning to DCI detectives.
Clearly, he wasn't afraid. Na bado akaendelea with his thug Life.
On August 12, he went for his last mission in South C.
Wakiwa na Team yake, they ambushed a resident who was waiting for his gate to open, using a firearm, and sandwiched the victim. Later, they drove off towards JKIA, where they threw him out of the car.
Hapa walikuwa washapiga hesabu ya vile pesa watapata after the sale of that car.
The victim was unharmed and went ahead to report the incident.
Two days later, plain-clothes officers received an unexpected lead. The stolen vehicle with three occupants was seen parked at Buruburu Shopping Centre at 11:30 PM.
The officers waited to pounce, and when the occupants left the vehicle to go to an ATM while surveying their surroundings, the sleuths identified one Tomaso Gagula.
On seeing the potential danger, the two suspects fled the scene, leaving Tomaso Gagula behind.
Tomaso was sprayed with 13 bullets, and that was his end.
He died at the age of only 22 and was later buried at Langata Cemetery after his father declined to bury him on his land and even refused to attend his funeral.
Luckily, he was survived by his son.
Tomaso's story is a painful reminder that crime does not lead to the glamorous life it sometimes appears to offer. The money, the cars, the nightlife, the reputation and the admiration of the streets can disappear in an instant. In the end, crime can take away your freedom, destroy families and, as in Tomaso's case, ultimately cost you your life.
There is nothing glamorous about being a gangster. Crime has consequences.