Some Early Mafia Dons of Mumbai
The city of Mumbai is the commercial and financial capital of India. It has always attracted persons who want to make a fortune for themselves by any means whatsoever. It is the city where mafia dons have grown and fallen. The city is full of opportunities and it is natural that it should have seen the birth of mafia dons much earlier than other Indian cities. The romance of these dons with the people of Mumbai in particular and the country in general never seems to end. Bollywood has a big role in keeping the aura of these dons alive with movies like 'Once Upon a Time in Mumbai' and earler on Deewar.
Just around independence the area of Byculla in South Mumbai had two small time gangs lording it over and fighting among themselves for control. These are the first recorded gangs in Mumbai whom the police also acknowledged as criminal gangs in their records. On one side were Nanhe Khan and Wahab Pehalwan and on the oither side were three brothers known as Bada Johnny, Chhota Johnny and Chikna Johnny. They were small time dons and were happy to muscle there way in getting whatever they wanted. They spent all their energy in fighting with each other and did not graduate into bigger gangs. What they lacked in brains they made up with their brawn. Soon they eliminated each other to the relief of the city police. However the big mafia gangs were round the corner.
In the year 1934 a poor Tamilian, migrated from his Panaikulam village in Tamil Nadu, along with his eight year old son. In search of an opportunity to find a suitable job to come out of his poverty. The son also found odd jobs and would often look at elegant theaters and big cars and dream of having them one day. At the age of eighteen in 1944,all he could do was join the Mumbai Port as a coolie on a monthly salary of Rs 15. He soon found out that if imported goods could be smuggled in without payment of duty ,huge profits could be made. The future Haji Mastan was 'born'. He soon was to graduate into smuggling gold into the country and smuggling silver out of the country also as a payment for the incomng gold. Besides in 1950 prohibition was imposed in the then Bombay State. It provided a splendid opportunity to Mastan for supplying banned and illicit liquor at huge profit to needy and willing customers. Mastan became rich and powerful.The only time he faced the law was when he was arrested during the Emergency. Post his release he left smuggling and turned ito producing and financing Bollywood movies. He also dabbled in politics and tried to gain respectability. He passed away in 1994 in Mumbai.
By a strange coincidence another Tamilian also born in 1926 in Vellore in Tamil Nadu, came in search of work to Mumbai and started his career as a porter, at the Victoria Terminus railway station. He started working at the age of seven and was soon to learn the English and Tamil languages. At VT station he came in contact with shady characters and soon not only became street smart but also learnt ways of making money te wrong way. Prohibition gave him a golden opportunity to make money by making and selling banned liquor. He soon became wealthy and created his gang and his area of influence was in North central and East Mumbai areas. In the areas of Dharavi, Matunga, Sion, Chunnabatti and Kings Circle it was his writ that ran. He used to organize the annual Ganesh festival in Matunga. Varadarjan Mudaliar popularly known as Varadabhai had come along way from his poverty ridden days of a porter at VT station. He operated as the second don in Mumbai from his headquarters in Antop Hills in Central Mumbai. However the Mumbai police successfully eliminated a large part of his gang and he wa forced to go to Chennai. He died in in 1969 and his friend Haji Mastan chartered a plane to bring his body to Mumbai for his last rites. Varadbhai ran a parallel justice system where he settled disputes within his community. he has been immortalised in the Bollywood film directed by Feroze Kumar Dayavan a remake of the Tamil movie Nayagan directed by Man Ratnam and acted by Kamla Hasan.
The third of the early dons of Mumbai was the lanky Pathan named Abdul Karim Khan. He was nearly seven foot tall and also came in the 1930's to Mumbai in search of a better life, from Peshawar city. Born in 1911 he rose to be the first of the big mafia dons of Mumbai. He too started his early career in the Mumbai docks in the early 1940's. Soon he started gambling dens and also the activity of lending money to losers and others at high rate of interests. Along with other Pathans he knew how to act tough with defaulters and recover his loans. His image and clout went up in no time .He got involved in smuggling, extortion rackets and selling hashish also. His reputation grew and he became the leader of Pathans in Mumbai. He became famous as Karim Lala of Mumbai. He passed away in 2002 at the age of 90 years in Mumbai.
The growing activities of Haji Mastan necessitated his bringing together the other two dons. Their men and clout was necessary to provide trusted manpower for smuggling in and distributing gold and collecting silver from hinterlands and smuggling it out in return. Varadbhai and Karim Lala willingly joined Mastan and in the process ruled their areas without interference from each others gangs. Their deadly alliance made them virtually the Kings of Mumbai.The !970's clearly belonged to them. The gangs rarely fought with each other as they respected the territorial integrity of each other. However the rules of the game were changing. The hold of the senior most don Karim Lala was beginning to wane. Mastan had handed over his empire to a gangster named Dawood Ibrahim and soon he would emerge as the don of dons.
The early mafia dons played by rules but the emerging dons ruled by playing with established rules. Mumbai would never be the same again.
(Pictures from Google)
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