Indian mafia
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[edit] History
What is referred to as the Indian Mafia currently, had its beginnings during the turn of last century with the influx of migrants to Bombay, who came from all over India looking for jobs in the bustling port city. Most of them found accommodation in colonies of block-like buildings called chawls which allowed them to nurture strong ties within their community with each community sticking together and forming their own quarter in the city. From these, mostly hardworking lower strata of urban life, arouse an underbelly of criminal elements who quickly became an organised body. The first mafia elements, or syndicates, perhaps had their origins in the gambling and bootleg liquor dens set up by the infamous Pathan Karim Lala in the 1940s, who is arguably the first real Don in the history of the Indian Mafia. The profits from the control of bootlegging and gambling, aided by the introduction of prohibition and anti-gambling laws, made the new syndicate exceptionally wealthy, it enabled Karim Lala to acquire some legitimacy by floating the Jirga-e-Hind Pathan Party, which he claimed had the blessings of the famous freedom fighter Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. He was in-turn succeeded by another migrant named Varadaraja Mudaliar, a Tamil migrant who arrived to Bombay along with a large influx of south-Indian migrants during the first half of the century. By using his community ties, he oversaw the rise of a new generation of underworld until the 1960s. Mudaliar pioneered the art of cultivating official patronage for the underworld. The increasing restrictions placed on the Indian economy by the socialist regimes of those days gave the Bombay underworld increasingly more means by which they could expand their activities. Their influence on the city slowly increased with time. A colleague of his, who was placed in jail during the Indian Emergency (1975 - 77), Mastan Mirza, more famously known as Haji Mastan also played a key role in structuring illegal gambling as an organised business. The first three dons were unique in that they had high standings within their own communities whose interest they looked after, each depending on their community for men and support as is the case with most Mafias.
After the collapse of the cotton mills based textile industry in Mumbai in the 1980s, many workers were left unemployed, furthering the environment for crime that already existed. Various underworld dons rose to power.
D-Company was formed by Dawood Ibrahim, an accolate of Hajji Mastana, and a descendant of migrants from the Konkan coast, and was amongst the most powerful criminal organisations in the world in the 80s, with many illegal and legal business ventures under his control. His group eventually split up sometime during the mid-nineties due to Dawood's use of communal violence for personal gain. Where his mafia had previously been secular, it now broke up on communal lines. After the Bombay riots, a series of blasts took place in Bombay in 1993, that changed Bombay underworld completely. He was soon accused both by former colleagues and the police for orchestrating the blasts. It is thought that in an attempt to gain political support from religious radicals that would legitimise him as more than a crook, he collaborated with Pakistani Intelligence authorities and various terrorist organisations. This led to the fragmentation of his criminal empire when Chotta Rajan, his lieutenant, broke away and gained support of powerful right-wing Hindu Nationalist politicians. Soon after the bombings he was forced to flee the city (now renamed Mumbai) and the country. Dawood Ibrahim reportedly now lives in Karachi or Dubai, and controls what is left of D-Company from there. The last known public contact with him was when a Times reporter once interviewed Dawood in Karachi.
The Indian Mafia in the meantime has spread to other parts of India and has diversified onto various activities. Within Mumbai, with the appointment of new police policies, crime has been going down in Mumbai or the mafia has been forced to flee the city to safer heavens. Many of its crime bosses, including Dawood Ibrahim, operate from different parts of the world, controlling the Mafia within India.
Now the newest Mafia threat arises from the Northern regions of Eastern UP and the states of Bihar, which for the most part of the last five years has seen a power struggle between various groups of gangsters representing different interests and communities.
[edit] Mumbai underworld today
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It is not perhaps the most powerful organization in the world.
The Mumbai underworld, has suffered quite a lot of blows in the last few years. Dawood's close rival Abu Salem was captured and brought back to mumbai from Portugal. It is believed that the Mumbai police was tipped by D-company about the location of Salem. Chotta Rajan, who was attacked in Bangkok has gone into hiding and refuses to trust most of his gang members. And it is believed by many that Dawood still resides in Karachi under the protection of the ISI. It is also believed that Dawood is also using Karachi for his gang activities.
However life is becoming increasingly difficult for Dawood Ibrahim and many other gangsters after many nations have named Dawood a Terrorist with Al Qaeda links.This makes him unable to control his gang with full effect as if his calls are traced the Anti Terrorist Wings of the Countries will be able to find out his location and capture him.
In the past few years the hard working mumbai police force has finally seen some results, but they'll have to keep up this work if they want to find the rest and the upcoming members of D-company.
[edit] Organised crime and Bollywood
The world's largest film industry, Bollywood, which is based in Mumbai, has long been accused of having mafia links or funding. Several directors and actors have been accused of having mafia links. This has been blamed on the lack of legitimate sources of funding for the production of movies, a void filled by the cash-rich mafia needing to legitimize their earnings.[citation needed]
[edit] Indian mafia in popular culture
In the 1970s, many of the most well known classic Bollywood movies were based around themes of fighting criminals and corruption at a time when crime was rising, and authorities were powerless. Classical Amitabh Bachchan films such as Zanjeer, Don and Amar Akbar Anthony depicted the shady underworld, and heroes trying to overcome it.
In modern Bollywood, no director has shed light upon the underworld as Ram Gopal Varma, with his realistic and brutal films such as Company, Sarkar and Satya, which are often, such as in the case of Company and Sarkar, based upon real mafia history. Also, some other films, mainly independent ones, have seriously examined underworld life and street life, such as Chandni Bar, Maqbool and Salaam Bombay.
- The hit Tamil movie Nayakan (1987) is loosely based on Varadaraja Mudaliar.
- The film Deewar (1975), starring Amitabh Bachchan, is said to portray the mafia don Haji Mastan
