Lurker Posted July 26, 2012 Posted July 26, 2012 For a country infested with goonda, dada, bhai, Don, Anna, bahubali and where every election seems to be won, or lost, by these criminals, we somehow seem to have very few crime journalists of repute. Perhaps nowhere is this truer than when it comes to Mumbai mafia. Far as I can remember only 2 journalists have done their job impressively. Baljeet Parmar, who seems to write very little these days. And Jyotirmoy Dey, who while taking a lot of poetic liberties also provided the aam janta with knowledge of the soft underbelly. Dey was recently gunned down, apparently by Chota Rajan men. It is also said that perhaps the best coverage of the Mumbai mafia has been in the local Marathi and Urdu akhbaars, but since I can't read either I can't say much about them. Somewhere in late 90s a third journalist started to make noise -- Syed Hussain Zaidi. Zaidi used to be my favorite scibe for Mid-Day. He would capture my attention lot faster than the Page 3 picture. Soon enough he was writing for Indian Express, Asian Age etc. All along winning accolades about his knowledge of the Mumbai underworld. Then of course Black Friday happened. Black Friday is a seminal book, and a seminal movie. Much as it was a great investigative book, what was even better was it was raw and named names. They both happened at a time when Pakistan was noted as parosi mulk, and Shiv Sena & BJP as sampradhayik parties. But here was Zaidi, and Anurag Kashyap, naming names. In a scene from Black Friday, Badshah Khan(Aditya Shrivastav) stands infront of Shiv Sena Bhavan and mutters Saala unke qile ke bahar laga dete hain, poora Marathwaada thoos jaayega. The movie obviously would struggle to get past Censor board but the book did and Zaidi became something sort of cult figure, the authority on Mumbai underworld. When HBO decided to make a movie on 26/11 they reached out to Zaidi. So when I heard Zaidi had written an encyploedia of sorts on Mumbai mafia I had to get my hands on it. The book is predominantly about Dawood Ibrahim, his growth from a fake watch peddler to 57th on Fortune list but it covers the 60 years of Mumbai mafia pretty well. It does help if you have some knowledge of Bombay so you can relate to what happens in Manish Market and Sion-Koliwada, Byculla vs Pydhonie, but if you don't that's fine too. Overall it is a fascinating work and amongst other things covers very well the following: Growth of early Gangsterism in Mumbai Years of Karim Lala, Vardhabhai, Haji Mastaan and Baashu Dada The menace of Pathan gangsters - Alamzeb, Amirzada, Saeed Batla, Samad Khan - in late 70s early 80s. The beleif of Mumbai Police that having a local goon (Dawood is from Ratnagiri) was much better than Pathan and Tamil menace. The thought of Indian Intelligence Agencies (IB) that having 1 supreme smuggler (Dawood) would control smuggling of gold in India compared to multi smuggler gang(Haji Mastan, Sukur Bakhiya etc) Manya Surve and his masterminding of bumping off Dawood's elder brother Shabbir at Tardeo Servo gas station Manya's subsequent encounter at Wadala. Babu Reshim bumped off at Jacob Circle lock-up by Kanjaris. Chota's Rajan's last minute shave of being bumped off and arriving at Indian Embassy in Dubai to save himself Gulshan Kumar killing Dawood's surrender offer to Ram Jethmalani. Teens of other players - Bada Rajan, Rama Naik, Abdul Kunju, Kaliya Antony, Paul Patrick Newman, Ashok Joshi etc. Ineptitude of Indian Agencies (RAW & IB). Salem was extradited after 3 years, and Chota Rajan escaped after 90 days while under custody in Thailand. Plan to bump off Dawood at his daughter's marriage by Indian agency, and how it was a collosal flop. The book is not without its faults though. Amongst others: Zaidi shows Dawood's father as an ex-cop who was widely respected by gangsters Karim Lala and Mastan. Most accounts mention his father as diabolical and meek Zaidi assembles the caste well but takes license in actual delivery. The killing of Babu Reshim in the book is different from the actual documents. Zaidi starts with a very bold question - Why do Muslim youngsters in Mumbai become gangsters so easily? But somehow during the course of the book he forgets about it. It ignores many players who have been key at some point - Amar Naik, Dholakia Brothers, Subhas Singh Thakur etc. Still overall it is a great read. You can buy it for 350 bucks in India, which is probably as expensive as your dosa, with only lot more masala. Zaidi is another of those young guns that would be stellar for next few decades...and thank God for that!
maniac Posted July 26, 2012 Posted July 26, 2012 Sounds very interesting, might pick up a copy when I visit later this year
triam Posted July 26, 2012 Posted July 26, 2012 did you write the review Lurker? if so great job, I am very interested in the mumbai mafia, knew a lot about the chennai mafia (but nowhere in scale as the mumbai one). Would love to get this one..
Lurker Posted July 26, 2012 Author Posted July 26, 2012 did you write the review Lurker? if so great job' date=' I am very interested in the mumbai mafia, knew a lot about the chennai mafia (but nowhere in scale as the mumbai one). Would love to get this one..[/quote'] Yes I did Triam. You can order the book online as well. I got it from www.amazon.com/shops/southasiabooks If you knew about Chennai mafia I have a strong feeling you will enjoy this one.
Desi Cartman Posted July 26, 2012 Posted July 26, 2012 ^ I prefer audio books as they save me from listening to Republican radio while driving :--D. Well I cant find audio book but kindle edition is under 10 bucks so might give it a try sometime.
Mariyam Posted July 27, 2012 Posted July 27, 2012 Great review Lurker. Though its a topic that doesn't interest me, I'm going to buy this book. There is an interesting anecdote with Hussein Zaidi that I'll share with you. I am involved with an NGO that takes care of street kids, kids who run away from home and those who have done some time (mainly for petty crimes, but some of them for serious stuff like being drug carriers) in juvenile correctional facilities and have no where to go. These children are counseled and taught basic English & vocational subjects so that they have a fair chance to get some kind of employment. A few years ago, on Jan 26th Hussein Zaidi was asked to speak to some of these kids, on why they should stay away from crime and focus on a normal life. I wasn't present during the talk, but from what I hear he had these kids in tears. That is quite something, because these kids are those who have seen the worst of life and are not moved my much. And most of these children wouldn't have even known who this guy is.
triam Posted July 27, 2012 Posted July 27, 2012 Yes I did Triam. You can order the book online as well. I got it from www.amazon.com/shops/southasiabooks If you knew about Chennai mafia I have a strong feeling you will enjoy this one. Will definitely buy this one, chennai mafia had its own set of characters but it was never as big or organized as mumbai was. And the names of the characters were legendary. My dream is to write about chennai mafia (although 75-80% will be fictional since I am neither a journalist nor do i have intimate details).
Lurker Posted July 27, 2012 Author Posted July 27, 2012 Will definitely buy this one' date=' chennai mafia had its own set of characters but it was never as big or organized as mumbai was. And the names of the characters were legendary. My dream is to write about chennai mafia (although 75-80% will be fictional since I am neither a journalist nor do i have intimate details).[/quote'] Most work on underworld does have a element of fantasy since there is no way anyone knows exactly what happened. Even the widely accepted truth, say Dawood's participation in Bombay blast, is not 100% proven. Certainly not how it was planned, what direction was given specifically by Dawood etc. So dont worry about the fiction part of it Triam, if you are really into it, I say go for it. I must plead ignorance on Chennai mafia. I know bits and bobs but it is one of the more hush hush than Mumbai, or even Bangalore mafia. It would be quite interesting though. For atleast 2 reasons: Generally speaking, Chennai has a predominant personality reverence (think MGR, Jayalalitha etc). I would think this would mean stiff loyalties for the Annas. Proximity to Sri Lanka, and the impact of LTTE. This would mean easy access to weapons. In Mumbai mafia it is Ashwin Naik's group who benefitted immensly with closeness to LTTE. I would think Chennai mafia would have lot closer contact.
triam Posted July 27, 2012 Posted July 27, 2012 Most work on underworld does have a element of fantasy since there is no way anyone knows exactly what happened. Even the widely accepted truth, say Dawood's participation in Bombay blast, is not 100% proven. Certainly not how it was planned, what direction was given specifically by Dawood etc. So dont worry about the fiction part of it Triam, if you are really into it, I say go for it. I must plead ignorance on Chennai mafia. I know bits and bobs but it is one of the more hush hush than Mumbai, or even Bangalore mafia. It would be quite interesting though. For atleast 2 reasons: Generally speaking, Chennai has a predominant personality reverence (think MGR, Jayalalitha etc). I would think this would mean stiff loyalties for the Annas. Proximity to Sri Lanka, and the impact of LTTE. This would mean easy access to weapons. In Mumbai mafia it is Ashwin Naik's group who benefitted immensly with closeness to LTTE. I would think Chennai mafia would have lot closer contact. Yes access to LTTE was huge, especially before Rajiv assasination. Political affiliation was huge too, and pretty much most dons were along party lines and flourished when their parties were the ruling regime. example would be welding kumar who mutilated the lawyer who was filing a case against JJ with respect to Tansi.
Lurker Posted July 27, 2012 Author Posted July 27, 2012 Great review Lurker. Though its a topic that doesn't interest me, I'm going to buy this book. There is an interesting anecdote with Hussein Zaidi that I'll share with you. I am involved with an NGO that takes care of street kids, kids who run away from home and those who have done some time (mainly for petty crimes, but some of them for serious stuff like being drug carriers) in juvenile correctional facilities and have no where to go. These children are counseled and taught basic English & vocational subjects so that they have a fair chance to get some kind of employment. A few years ago, on Jan 26th Hussein Zaidi was asked to speak to some of these kids, on why they should stay away from crime and focus on a normal life. I wasn't present during the talk, but from what I hear he had these kids in tears. That is quite something, because these kids are those who have seen the worst of life and are not moved my much. And most of these children wouldn't have even known who this guy is. That's great. Thanks for sharing Mariyam. Yeah Zaidi would have intimate knowledge of how these kids are (mis)used by the gangs. In fact he does write about how Chotta Shakeel specifically targetted younger generation of killers. Get the book, you may like it.
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