Organised crime in India

Organised crime in India or Indian organized crime refers to organised crime elements originating in India and those who are active in other parts of the world.The purpose of organised crime in India, as elsewhere in the world, is monetary gain. Its virulent form in modern times is due to several socio-economic and political factors and advances in science and technology. There is no firm data to indicate the number of organised criminal gangs operating in the country, their membership, their modus operandi, and the areas of their operations. Their structure and leadership patterns may not strictly fall in line with the classical Sicilian Mafia.

Indian organized crime is also prevelant outside of India, mainly in western countries such as Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. In Canada Indian organized crime groups have been involved in extortion, targeted violence and terrorism. The ongoing diplomatic row between Canada and India is in relation to this. Unrelated to the established crime groups in India, are there also crime groups of Indian-origin engaging in criminal activities such as drugtrafficking, extortion, smuggling and money laundering in Canada and the United Kingdom.

Mumbai is the financial capital of India. Over a period of time, the Mumbai underworld has been dominated by several different groups and mobsters.

The powerful trio of Haji Mastan, Varadarajan Mudaliar, and Karim Lala enjoyed backing from their communities.

Haji Mastan, originally known as Mastan Haider Mirza, was a Bombay-based Tamil mobster who became the first celebrity gangster in the city of Bombay (now Mumbai). Born in 1926 in a Tamil family in Pannaikulam, near Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu. At age 8, he moved to Bombay with his father. The father–son duo ran a small cycle repair shop in Crawford market. Ten years later, in 1944, Mastan joined the Bombay docks as a porter and from there entered organised crime. He worked in association with Karim Lala and by the 1960s became a rich man. He amassed millions from smuggling gold, silver, and electronic goods and expanded his clout in the film industry by investing his money with directors and studios in Bollywood film production. As Mastan's influence in Bollywood grew, he began to produce films himself and was a well-known producer.

Varadarajan Mudaliar, popularly known as Vardha Bhai, was a Bombay-based ethnic Tamil mobster. He came to be known as Vardhabhai, operated from the early 1960s to 1980, and was accorded equal clout to Haji Mastan and Karim Lala. Starting off as a porter, he had his first brush with the crime world when he began selling illicit liquor.^{[citation needed]} He commanded much respect within the Tamil community and ran a parallel justice system where his verdict was the final law of the land and binding in areas such as Dharavi and Matunga, which are believed to have a large presence of Tamils.^{[citation needed]} Mudaliar, in tandem with Haji Mastan, ventured into stealing dock cargo. He later diversified into contract killings and the narcotics trade. He enjoyed a successful stint in the 1970s controlling the criminal operations in the east and north-central Bombay. Karim Lala commanded south and central Bombay, and the majority of smuggling and illegal construction financing was Haji Mastan's domain.

Karim Lala and his family members' groups operated in the Bombay docks. They were often called "Afghan mafia" or "Pathan mafia", terms coined by Bombay law enforcement because the majority of this crime syndicate's members were ethnic Pashtuns from Afghanistan's Kunar province. They were especially involved in hashish trafficking, protection rackets, extortion, illegal gambling, gold smuggling, and contract killings and held a firm stranglehold over parts of Mumbai's underworld. Lala controlled bootlegging and gambling in the city in 1940, and was the undisputed king of the trade until 1985.

D-Company is the organised crime group controlled by Dawood Ibrahim which originated in Mumbai. It has been argued that the D-Company is not a stereotypical organised crime cartel in the strict sense of the word, but rather a collusion of criminal terrorist groups based around Ibrahim's personal control and leadership. Ibrahim is currently on Interpol's wanted list for cheating, criminal conspiracy, and running an organised crime syndicate, and in 2008 he was number two on Forbes' list of The World's 10 Most Wanted. He is accused of heading an illegal empire against India and Indians. After the 1993 Bombay bombings, which Ibrahim allegedly organised and financed with Tiger Memon, both men became part of India's most wanted. According to the United States Department of the Treasury, Ibrahim may have had ties with Osama bin Laden. Consequently, the United States declared Ibrahim a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" in 2003 and pursued the matter before the United Nations in an attempt to freeze his assets around the world and crack down on his operations. Indian and Russian intelligence agencies have pointed out Ibrahim's possible involvement in several other terror attacks, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Ever since he went into hiding, Ibrahim's location has been frequently traced to Karachi, Pakistan, a claim which Pakistani authorities have denied.