tDt.DECADES OF. 1Yj�MARA

Mumbai's mafia andtl1e underworldhave changed and adaptedwitb theiinancial capital'schangingcharacter. Theirbeginnings canbe traced back cotl1e early yearsof India's lndependeoce when tl1eMaharashtragovernment's prohibition policy led to bootlegging, and tl1e associated businessof matka- an illegal gamblingracket. In the 1960s, Varadarajan Munuswamy Mudaliar (aka Varadabhai), Haji Mastan and Yusuf Patel were the big players. The collapse of me textile industry inMumbai aroundmat timeledtotl1e riseof Dawood Ibrahim and his cohort.

former controlsamulti-billiondollar empire andhisD Company isone of tl1emost politically connected gangsin the world,controlling someof memost lucrative drug andnuclear smugglingroutes. The aumor traces Ibrahim's links with meISI to 1991, andalleges that me communal riots unleashedin Mumbai in 1993 canbe attributed to hisD Company; henowlives 'like a king' in Karachi, andis purportedtohave bailedout Pakistan's Central Bank duringthe eris.is in 2000.There areseveral such connections he draws in the book,includingthe allegation mat Ibrahim had a role to play in the kidnappingof Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, andworkedwith AQ Khan in theillegal smugglingof nuclearmaterial.

Anomer crimereporterand Editor of lnvestigationsforMid-

Dqy, who had also worked with the IndianExpressand Hi11dusta11Ti111e.r,Jyotirmoy

Dey CJ-Dey) wrote abook Kallaas:AnA-ZGuidetothe U11dem1orld,which was, as the title suggested, a complete guide to tl1eMumbaiMafia. Hewroteanotherbook called Zero Ditr!, anexposeon police informers. He amassed awealth of information on tl1e subject by talkingto the police,gang members, informers andtl1e dons themselves. His books alsogive an exhaustive list of euphemisms that the underworld usesto outsmart law enforcers. (These were later used byVikramChandra with greateffect in his gangland-novel SamdGa/Iles).Soclose wasJ-Dey to tl1e truth that this fearless journalisr wasshotdead by four unknown hitmen in2011;he was workingonbisthirdbookon underworld(anditsconnectionto me oil mafia).

Bollywood's fascination wim meunderworld - despite itsvice grip on the industrytoday - has producedseveralmoviesfrom the abovebooks. D011g1itoD11bt1iwas

Thewatershedevent, however, is the Stock Exchange serial blastsof 1993thatleft257 dead andhundredsmaimed; it changedthefaceof organised crime inMLm1bai. Until then, tl1e w1derworld had attracted Hindu andMuslim unemployed youths. DawoodIbrahim's involvement in tl1e serial blasts, however, (promptedby theISi, according toKing),changed it forever: most Hindus drew aline mere andlefthisgang. His trusted lien.tenantChotaRajan formed hisowngangin SouthEast Asia. Also, whereasmostof themob leadershadhailedfrom Mumbai and its surrounds until the 1992; today mostof them come from outsideMaharashtra,mostly fromUP andBihar, and theiruse of katt1.r(hand.madepisrols) has proliferated.

\"v'hereas oncegoldand silver smugglingwas lucrative, today ha111a!t1 andmoney laundering, illegal trade in sophisticated arms and illicit drugs are the favoured activitiesof organised crime inMumbai. Excortion, filmfinancingandthe smuggling of computer parts are now tl1eir breadand butter. Dons ateno longer simply satisfied with a shareof profitsfrom tl1e Bollywoodfilmindustry -they want partnerships, anda sliceof overseas rightsforfilm andmusic distribution.Their transnational linkagesinto legitimate businesses likehotels,realestateandme movie industry, havemade itmore difficultfor law-enforcement agenciescorein themin.

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