| Founded | 1940s |
|---|---|
| Founding location | India |
| Years active | 1940s–present |
| Territory | India,Pakistan,Afghanistan,Nepal,Bangladesh,Sri Lanka,Canada,United Kingdom,[1]Australia,United States,Mauritius,Iran,Malaysia,[2]Singapore,Kuwait,Qatar,UAE,Oman,Saudi Arabia,Jordan,Indonesia,[3]Nigeria,South Africa,[4]Somalia,Fiji,Guyana[5] |
| Ethnicity | Indians,Indian diaspora |
| Criminal activities | Racketeering,smuggling,extortion,loan sharking,raping,human trafficking,money laundering,robbery,arms trafficking,drug trafficking,illegal gambling,illegal mining,bribery,skimming,murder,contract killing,kidnapping,forgery,assault |
| Allies | Afghan mafia Canadian mafia |
| Rivals | Pakistani mafia |
Organised crime in India orIndian organized crime refers toorganised crime elements originating inIndia and those who are active in other parts of the world.The purpose of organised crime in India, as elsewhere in the world, is monetary gain. Its virulent form in modern times is due to several socio-economic and political factors and advances in science and technology. There is no firm data to indicate the number of organised criminal gangs operating in the country, their membership, theirmodus operandi, and the areas of their operations. Their structure and leadership patterns may not strictly fall in line with the classicalSicilian Mafia.[6]
Indian organized crime is also prevelant outside of India, mainly inwestern countries such asCanada, theUnited States and theUnited Kingdom. In Canada Indian organized crime groups have been involved in extortion, targeted violence and terrorism.[7] The ongoingdiplomatic row between Canada and India is in relation to this. Unrelated to the established crime groups in India, are there also crime groups ofIndian-origin engaging in criminal activities such asdrugtrafficking,extortion,smuggling andmoney laundering inCanada and the United Kingdom.[8][9]
Mumbai is the financial capital of India. Over a period of time, the Mumbai underworld has been dominated by several different groups and mobsters.
The powerful trio ofHaji Mastan,Varadarajan Mudaliar, andKarim Lala enjoyed backing from their communities.
Haji Mastan, originally known as Mastan Haider Mirza, was a Bombay-basedTamilmobster who became the first celebritygangster in the city of Bombay (now Mumbai).[10] Born in 1926 in aTamil family in Pannaikulam, near Ramanathapuram,Tamil Nadu.[10] At age 8, he moved to Bombay with his father. The father–son duo ran a small cycle repair shop in Crawford market. Ten years later, in 1944, Mastan joined the Bombay docks as a porter and from there entered organised crime. He worked in association with Karim Lala and by the 1960s became a rich man. He amassed millions from smuggling gold, silver, and electronic goods and expanded his clout in the film industry by investing his money with directors and studios inBollywood film production.[11] As Mastan's influence in Bollywood grew, he began to produce films himself and was a well-known producer.[10]
Varadarajan Mudaliar, popularly known asVardha Bhai, was a Bombay-based ethnicTamil mobster. He came to be known as Vardhabhai, operated from the early 1960s to 1980, and was accorded equal clout to Haji Mastan and Karim Lala. Starting off as a porter, he had his first brush with the crime world when he began selling illicit liquor.[citation needed] He commanded much respect within the Tamil community and ran a parallel justice system where his verdict was the final law of the land and binding in areas such asDharavi andMatunga, which are believed to have a large presence of Tamils.[citation needed] Mudaliar, in tandem with Haji Mastan, ventured into stealing dock cargo. He later diversified intocontract killings and the narcotics trade. He enjoyed a successful stint in the 1970s controlling the criminal operations in the east and north-central Bombay. Karim Lala commanded south and central Bombay, and the majority of smuggling and illegal construction financing was Haji Mastan's domain.[11]
Karim Lala and his family members' groups operated in the Bombay docks. They were often called "Afghan mafia" or "Pathan mafia", terms coined by Bombay law enforcement because the majority of this crime syndicate's members were ethnicPashtuns fromAfghanistan'sKunar province. They were especially involved inhashish trafficking,protection rackets,extortion,illegal gambling, gold smuggling, andcontract killings and held a firm stranglehold over parts of Mumbai's underworld.[12] Lala controlled bootlegging and gambling in the city in 1940, and was the undisputed king of the trade until 1985.
D-Company is the organised crime group controlled byDawood Ibrahim which originated inMumbai. It has been argued that the D-Company is not a stereotypical organised crime cartel in the strict sense of the word, but rather a collusion of criminal terrorist groups based around Ibrahim's personal control and leadership.[13][14] Ibrahim is currently onInterpol's wanted list forcheating,criminal conspiracy, and running anorganised crime syndicate,[15] and in 2008 he was number two on Forbes' list ofThe World's 10 Most Wanted.[16] He is accused of heading an illegal empire against India and Indians. After the1993 Bombay bombings, which Ibrahim allegedly organised and financed withTiger Memon,[17] both men became part of India's most wanted.[18][19] According to theUnited States Department of the Treasury, Ibrahim may have had ties withOsama bin Laden.[20][21] Consequently, the United States declared Ibrahim a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" in 2003 and pursued the matter before theUnited Nations in an attempt to freeze his assets around the world and crack down on his operations.[22] Indian and Russian intelligence agencies have pointed out Ibrahim's possible involvement in several other terror attacks, including the2008 Mumbai attacks.[23][24][15][25][26][27] Ever since he went into hiding, Ibrahim's location has beenfrequently traced toKarachi,Pakistan, a claim which Pakistani authorities have denied.[28]
Chotta Rajan is the boss of a major crime syndicate based inMumbai. He was a former key aide and lieutenant of Dawood Ibrahim. Starting as a petty thief andbootlegger working forRajan Nair, also known asBada Rajan (Big Rajan), Chota Rajan took the reins of Bada Rajan's gang after Bada Rajan's murder. Later, he was affiliated with and operated at the behest of Dawood in Mumbai and eventually fled India to Dubai in 1988. He is wanted for many criminal cases that includeextortion, murder,smuggling,drug trafficking, andfilm finance. His brother is said to produce films financed by Rajan. He is wanted in 17 murder cases and several more attempted murders. Chhota Rajan was arrested inBali by Indonesian police on 25 October 2015.[29] He was extradited to India on 6 November after 27 years on the run and is currently awaiting trial inCBI custody.[30]
Arun Gawli's gang is based atDagdi Chawl inByculla, Mumbai. Gawli started his criminal activities there and used the rooms there for keeping kidnapped persons, torturing them, extorting money from them, and murdering them. The police raided the premises several times and finally broke his operations. He has been arrested several times for criminal activities and detained for long periods during a trial. However, he could not be convicted in most of the cases as witnesses would not depose against him for fear. He, along with eleven others, were finally convicted for the murder ofShiv Sena politician Kamalakar Jamsandekar by a court in August 2012.[31]
Dacoity is a term used for "banditry" in theIndian subcontinent. The spelling is theanglicised version of theHindustani worddaaku, "dacoit"/dəˈkɔɪt/ is a colloquialIndian English word with this meaning, it appears in theGlossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases (1903).[32]Banditry is criminal activity involving robbery by groups of armed bandits. TheEast India Company established theThuggee and Dacoity Department in 1830, and theThuggee and Dacoity Suppression Acts, 1836–1848 were enacted inBritish India underEast India Company rule. Areas with ravines or forests, such asChambal andChilapata Forests, were once known for dacoits.
Thuggee were crimes carried out by organized gangs of robbers and murderers which operated in the northern and eastern parts of theIndian subcontinent.[33] Thugs were gangs of highway robbers, who tricked andstrangled their victims with a handkerchief or noose.[34] They would then rob and bury their victims. Sometimes they mutilated the corpses of their victims to avoid detection.[35] The leader of a gang was called a 'jemadar'. The usage of military ranks like 'jemadar', 'subedar' and 'private' suggests that these gangs had military links.[35] Although strangulation was their main method of murder, they also used blades and poison.[36] The thugs comprised some who had inherited thuggee as a family vocation, and others who were forced to turn to it out of necessity.[36] The leadership of many of the groups tended to be hereditary with family members sometimes serving together in the same band. Such Thugs were known asaseel.[37] Not all thugs were trained by their family but rather by experienced thugs called 'guru'.[38] While they usually kept their acts a secret, female thugs also existed and were calledbaronee in Ramasee, while an important male Thug was calledbaroo.[39]
Thugs considered themselves to be the children ofKali, having been created from her sweat.[40] However, many of the Thugs who were captured and convicted by theBritish wereMuslims.[41]
There are families withblood feuds with each other in theRayalaseema region ofAndhra Pradesh and parts of easternKarnataka in India, and associated with allegedMafia Raj. It is locally referred to as "factionalism" and involves various crimes. Activities likeillegal mining are common and one of the major social and environmental issues in the region. It also persists due to illiteracy and lack of environmental awareness in the region and public inactivity, having led to severe deforestation anddesertification in the region. The vendetta between the groups originated historically during theVijayanagara Empire. This often co-exists withmafia states. Much of the mining and real estate mafia in the region is run by such families, and to avoid punishment, they are often involved incorruption and local politics. There have been numerous murders committed by rival families, including the murders of noteworthy politicians. Factionalism is one of the main reasons for which vendetta politics is widely practiced in Andhra Pradesh, and is also a major cause of rioting anddomestic terrorism in the region.
Several local Indian,Russian,Israeli andNigerian criminal groups are reported to be heavily involved in the organised drug trade inGoa, one of the smallest states of India. Sources reveal that there are also individual players who are British, French, Italian, Portuguese, and of other European nationalities. Some have been visiting the state for over two decades and have their fixed international and local clientele.[42] Goa has, in recent days, become a principal hub of the international drug trade apart from being a key point of consumption. According to estimates, drugs flowing out of different foreign locations lands on the comparatively unguarded Goan coastline as Mumbai and its hinterland are no longer considered an easy route for trafficking since checks by theCoastguard,Navy, Customs, and other government bodies began.[43]
There has been a spurt in the formation and activities of such criminal gangs in Punjab over the last decade even though some gangs, have been operational in the state since the end ofmilitancy in Punjab.[44] Post militancy, the gangs took to contract killings. The real estate and industrial sector boom of the early 2000s saw several criminals surfacing with the primary objective of controllingunions. The flourishing of the banking sector, especially finance companies, spurred the demand for bouncers who ensured recovery of bad loans and helped in taking disputed properties.Cricketbookies also use the services of these bouncers. Around five years back when the boom in real estate ended, these gangs then turned to extortion and protection money as their source of income.[citation needed] Most of these are inter-state gangs as well as the ones specializing in arms smuggling, narcotics and abduction. Kidnappings for ransom in Punjab, are something which rarely happen.[45]
TheChaddi Baniyan Gangs (also known as theKachcha Baniyan Gangs) arecriminal groups operating in parts of India.[46] Gang members perform attacks while wearing only their underwear, which is the source of their name (in the local languages,chaddi, orkachcha are underpants andbaniyan is undershirts). In addition to wearing undergarments, members wear face masks and cover themselves in oil or mud to protect their identities.[47]
The gangs tend to move in groups of 5-10 people,[48] and wear akurta andlungi. During the day, they gather at transport hubs or disused urban spaces. They conceal themselves as beggars or common labourers to identify potential houses to rob. Before moving on to a different town, the gangs attempt to steal from multiple homes.[48]
Gang members tie up family members, during robberies, and murder anyone who resists. They often arm themselves with rods, axes, knives, and firearms. When they rob a house, they sometimes eat and leave their excrements. The gang members often rent cars to get around,[49] and are suspected of robbing temples.[50]
Kala Kachcha Gangs (also known asKale-Kachchewale orKale Kachche Gangs) refers to certain organized criminal gangs inPunjab, India. The Kala Kachcha gang members are robbers and dacoits, who don police uniform or 'Kale Kachche' (black underpants)[51] to evade detection. They put grease on their body as lubricant.
There are many such gangs suspected to be active in Punjab. They usually target families living at isolated places in the countryside and always thrash their victims before robbing them.
India is a major transit point for heroin from theGolden Triangle andGolden Crescent en route toEurope. India is also the world's largest legal grower ofopium; experts estimate that 5–10% of the legal opium is converted into illegalheroin, and 8–10% is consumed in high quantities as concentrated liquid. Thepharmaceutical industry is also responsible for much illegal production ofmandrax, much of which is smuggled intoSouth Africa. Diamond smuggling via South Africa is also a major criminal activity, and diamonds are sometimes used to disguise shipments of heroin. Finally, there is muchmoney laundering in the country, mostly through the use of the traditionalhawala system, although India criminalised money laundering in 2003.[52][53]
In thecinema of India, particularlyBollywood,crime films andgangster films inspired by organised crime in India have been produced since 1940. Indian cinema has several genres of such crime films.
The dacoit film was a genre of Indian cinema that began withMehboob Khan'sAurat (1940) and gained popularity with its remakeMother India (1957) as well asDilip Kumar'sGunga Jumna (1961). A subgenre is theDacoit Western, popularized bySholay (1975). These films are usually set in rural India, and often inspired by real dacoits.
Examples of the genre:
In the early 1970s, a new genre of Indian crime films andgangster films arose, set in urban India: Bombay underworld films, later called Mumbai underworld films. These films are often inspired by real Mumbai underworld gangsters, such asHaji Mastan,Dawood Ibrahim andD-Company. These films are often set around Mumbaislums such asDharavi orJuhu, and gangsters in these films often speak with aTapori orBombay Hindi street dialect.
The genre was pioneered by screenwriter duoSalim–Javed. They began the genre of gritty, violent, Bombay underworld crime films in the early 1970s, with films such asZanjeer (1973) andDeewaar (1975).[54][55] They reinterpreted the rural themes ofMehboob Khan'sMother India (1957) andNitin Bose'sGunga Jumna (1961) in a contemporary urban context reflecting thesocio-economic andsocio-political climate of 1970s India,[56][57] channeling the growing discontent and disillusionment among the masses,[56] and unprecedented growth ofslums,[58] and dealing with themes involving urban poverty, corruption, and crime,[59] as well asanti-establishment themes.[60] This resulted in their creation of the "angry young man", personified byAmitabh Bachchan,[60] who reinterpreted Dilip Kumar's performance inGunga Jumna in a contemporary urban context.[56][57]
By the mid-1970s, gritty, violent crime films andaction films about gangsters (Bombay underworld) as well as bandits (dacoits) had become popular. The writing of Salim-Javed and acting of Amitabh Bachchan popularized the trend, with films such asZanjeer and particularlyDeewaar, a crime film inspired byGunga Jumna[54] that pitted "a policeman against his brother, a gang leader based on real-life smuggler Haji Mastan" portrayed by Bachchan;Deewaar was described as being "absolutely key to Indian cinema" byDanny Boyle.[61] Along with Bachchan, other actors that rode the crest of this trend includeFeroz Khan.[62]
The crime films written by Salim-Javed and starring Amitabh Bachchan reflected thesocio-economic andsocio-political realities of 1970s India, channeling the growing discontent and disillusionment among the masses, and the failure of the state in ensuring their welfare and well-being, in a time when prices were rapidly rising, commodities were becoming scarce, public institutions were losing legitimacy, smugglers and gangsters were gathering political clout,[56] and there was an unprecedented growth ofslums.[58] The cinema of Salim-Javed and Amitabh Bachchan dealt with themes relevant to Indian society at the time, such as urban poverty in slums, corruption in society, and theBombay underworld crime scene,[59] and was perceived by audiences asanti-establishment, often represented by an "angry young man" protagonist, presented as avigilante oranti-hero,[60] with his suppressed rage giving a voice to the angst of the urban poor.[58]
Later films in the genre includeRam Gopal Verma'sSatya (1998) andCompany (2002), based on theD-Company, which both offered "slick, often mesmerising portrayals of the Mumbai underworld" and displayed realistic "brutality and urban violence." Another notable film in the genre wasBlack Friday (2004), adapted from Hussein Zaidi's book of the same name about the1993 Bombay bombings.[61][63][64][65]
The genre later inspired the filmSlumdog Millionaire (2009), which drew inspiration from Mumbai underworld films. Its influences includedDeewaar,[66][67]Satya,Company, andBlack Friday.[61][63][64][65] 1970s Bollywood crime films such asDeewaar andAmar Akbar Anthony (1977) also have similarities to theheroic bloodshed crime genre of 1980sHong Kong action cinema.[68]Deewaar had aHong Kong remake,The Brothers (1979),[69] which went on to inspireJohn Woo's internationally acclaimed breakthroughA Better Tomorrow (1986),[70][69] which set the template for the heroic bloodshed genre in Hong Kong cinema.[71][72]
Examples of the Mumbai underworld film genre:
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Authority control databases: National |
|---|
