Is Lawrence Bishnoi The New Don? The Rise And Fall Of Mumbai Underworld Explained – News18

Mumbai, India’s financial capital, has been a city of paradoxes. Known for its skyscrapers, wealth, and opportunity, Mumbai is also notorious for its dark underbelly: the underworld. Mumbai’s gangland history is a compelling saga of power struggles, ambition, and bloodshed that goes back to the late 1970s. Over roughly three decades, from early dons like Karim Lala, Varadarajan Mudaliar and Dawood Ibrahim to more recent figures such as Chhota Rajan, Arun Gawli, Amar Naik and now Lawrence Bishnoi, several gangsters built their network and carried out their operations, and left a mark on the city’s criminal fabric.

The involvement of Lawrence Bishnoi in the killing of former Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Baba Siddique on Saturday night on a busy road in Bandra has revived the spectre of the dark world of Mumbai’s underworld.

Let us look at Mumbai ganglords who set up organised crime as a profession for many in the ‘city of dreams’.

Karim Lala: The Early Don

Karim Lala, often hailed as the first true don of Mumbai, was a towering figure in the city’s early underworld. Born in Afghanistan in 1911, Lala arrived in Mumbai in the 1930s, initially working in the city’s bustling money-lending market. Over time, he expanded his reach, becoming a key player in the illegal gambling and protection rackets. His network, the ‘Pathan Gang’, controlled a large portion of the city’s smuggling operations, particularly in South Mumbai. Karim Lala actually showed the Mumbai underworld how money could be earned through smuggling goods. Karim Lala’s rise marked the advent of organised crime in Mumbai, where crime was no longer about petty street-level disputes but a more sophisticated web of smuggling, extortion, and political connections.

Known for his integrity within the criminal world, Lala was both feared and respected. His alliance with other emerging underworld figures like Haji Mastan and Varadarajan Mudaliar, laid the groundwork for a criminal empire that would dominate Mumbai for decades. Despite his criminal activities, Lala maintained a Robin Hood-like image within the Afghan and Pathan communities of Mumbai, distributing portion of his wealth to the needy and supporting them to sustain in a city like Mumbai.

Varadarajan Mudaliar: The Tamil Godfather of Mumbai

If Karim Lala represented the Afghan influence on Mumbai’s underworld, Varadarajan Mudaliar, or Vardha Bhai as he was often called, represented the Tamil contingent. Arriving in Mumbai from Tamil Nadu in the early 1940s, Mudaliar began his career as a humble porter at the Mumbai docks. It was from these docks that he would build his empire, specialising in smuggling goods, particularly gold and electronics, during a time when import restrictions made these items highly valuable on the black market.

Mudaliar was not just another gangster. He held a unique place in the hearts of the Tamil population in Mumbai. He established a reputation for looking after the community, offering financial assistance and jobs. In return, the Tamil working class saw him as a protector. His reign stretched from the 1960s to the late 1970s, during which time he became known for his business acumen and his ability to keep a relatively low profile while running a vast criminal network. The Tamil community in Mumbai’s Dharavi still holds special place in their heart for ‘Varda Bhai’, who helped them to get settled in the city, support them financially for the education of their children and gave them jobs. However, like many crime bosses, Mudaliar’s time came to an end as law enforcement intensified its crackdown on organised crime in the 1980s. Facing pressure, he left for Chennai, where he lived quietly until his death in 1988. His departure signalled the end of an era and paved the way for a new generation of gangsters.

Dawood Ibrahim: The Don of Dongri

The most infamous of all Mumbai’s dons, Dawood Ibrahim, took the underworld to a new level. Born in 1955 in Khed village in Konkan region of Maharashtra, Dawood started as a small-time criminal but quickly worked his way up the ranks. By the 1980s, he had become the city’s most powerful gangster, outstripping the older dons like Karim Lala and Varadarajan Mudaliar. What made Dawood different was his vision; he transformed the local smuggling business into a transnational empire.

Dawood’s gang, known as D-Company, engaged in everything from smuggling gold and electronics to running drug syndicates and international arms deals. His most notorious moment came in 1993 when he was implicated in orchestrating the Mumbai bomb blasts, which killed over 250 people. The blasts were seen as retaliation for the destruction of the Babri Masjid in 1992, and Dawood’s role in this act of terrorism put him on India’s most-wanted list, as well as the radar of international intelligence agencies. Fleeing India, Dawood is believed to have taken refuge in Pakistan, where he continues to operate his global network. His criminal activities have evolved over the years, involving money laundering, extortion, and possibly even ties to global terrorist organisations like al-Qaeda. Despite numerous efforts by Indian authorities to extradite him, Dawood remains elusive, a ghostly figure who continues to influence Mumbai’s underworld from afar.

Amar Naik: The Notorious ‘Ravan’

As Dawood fled the country, the vacuum he left in Mumbai’s underworld was quickly filled by new, more violent gangsters. One of the most infamous of these was Amar Naik, a gangster from Mumbai’s impoverished slums. Naik’s rise symbolised a shift in the nature of Mumbai’s gangland. Unlike Dawood or Mudaliar, who built sophisticated smuggling empires, Naik was focused on more brutal activities—extortion, land grabbing, and mainly contract killings. He was called ‘Ravan’ by his gang members because of his cruel ways of dealing with his enemies. Naik’s reign was short-lived but violent. He ruled Mumbai’s suburbs with an iron fist, engaging in bloody turf wars with rival gangs, particularly the gang led by Arun Gawli. His rule came to an abrupt end in 1996 when he was killed in a police encounter. However, Naik’s legacy of violence and street-level control would continue to haunt Mumbai’s criminal underworld.

Arun Gawli: The Gangster-Turned-Politician

One of the most unusual figures in Mumbai’s underworld is Arun Gawli. Unlike other gangsters, Gawli made the successful transition from criminal to politician. Starting his career in the 1980s as part of the Amar Naik gang, Gawli eventually broke off to form his own gang and carved out a niche for himself in central Mumbai, particularly in the areas of Byculla, Parel, Saat Raasta and Lalbaug. Known as ‘Daddy’ to his followers, Gawli entered politics in the 1990s and even won a seat in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. He founded the Akhil Bharatiya Sena, a political party that drew support from the local Marathi population. However, his political career couldn’t erase his criminal past, and in 2008, he was convicted of murder, bringing an end to his dual life as a gangster and politician.

Lawrence Bishnoi: The New Kid on the Block

In recent years, the face of Mumbai’s underworld has changed again. The city is no longer dominated by traditional crime lords but by a new breed of gangster. Among them is Lawrence Bishnoi, a figure whose operations stretch across Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, and have even touched Mumbai. Bishnoi came to nation’s attention after the high-profile killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala in 2022, which was allegedly orchestrated by his gang. Unlike his predecessors, Bishnoi represents a more interconnected, tech-savvy generation of criminals who operate across state lines and use modern technology to evade capture. Interestingly, despite being behind the bars in Sabarmati Jail of Gujarat, Bishnoi is carrying out criminal activities undeterred. The arrested shooters in Baba Siddique’s death have claimed to be part of the Bishnoi gang. The gangster has a long-standing feud with actor Salman Khan, who was convicted in 2018 for the killing of Blackbucks in Rajasthan during the shooting of his film ‘Hum Saath Saath Hai’ in 1998. The actor was later released on bail. Since blackbucks are revered by the Bishnoi community of Rajasthan, Lawrence Bishnoi had declared to “kill” the actor in Jodhpur in 2018 while in police custody. The second more intense threat was in 2022 when Salman’s father Salim Khan discovered a letter while on his morning walk. In March 2023, an email threatening Khan and his family was received by one of his team members, leading to a case being registered at the Bandra police station. In April 2024, shots were fired by two motorcycle-borne men at the actor’s apartment in Bandra. The act clearly sent a message that Bishnoi and his gang were willing to escalate the matter with Salman.

The evolution of Mumbai’s underworld is a testament to the city’s resilience and adaptability. From don Karim Lala to global criminal Dawood Ibrahim and the tech-savvy Lawrence Bishnoi, each generation of gangsters has got their own unique identity and way of working. Yet, despite these changes, the essence of Mumbai’s underworld remains the same: a dangerous, shadowy world driven by power, money, and violence, forever intertwined with the city’s glittering exterior.