Shadow of the Indian underworld reaches Canada amid scandals

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“We mafia are like water… if you mix the sweetness of friendship, we will become the holy water… and if you mix the poison of enmity, it will kill you.” – Quote from the 1996 Bollywood blockbuster Mafia.

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Six bullets destroyed the chest of Mumbai politician Baba Siddique, sending him to the mortuary.

The targeted hit on October 12 fueled fears of new bloodshed on the streets of India’s most populous city. That murder has tentacles that stretch across the Pacific Ocean to Canada.

The common denominator is one of the subcontinent’s most notorious alleged gangsters: Lawrence Bishnoi. A Facebook post by a person claiming to be a member of his crime syndicate, the so-called Bishnoi gang, claimed credit for the hit, although police have not confirmed the authenticity of the post, the BBC said.

It was the alleged subordinates of the captured Bishnoi who allegedly beat Punjabi rapper Sidhu Moose Wala and were punished for acting as proxies for the Indian government’s campaign to freeze Khalistani separatists in this country.

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The explosive international outcry has shone a light on India’s underworld with its toxic mix of politics, religion, terrorism and violence.

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From the ports of Lower Manhattan to Mumbai, organized crime has historically raged in the teeming port cities. Driven by poverty, desperation and opportunity, the ports were a bountiful recruiting ground for young criminals.

Whoever controlled the port controlled the unions, the incoming drugs and all kinds of contraband. Ethnic enclaves also played a role in the flourishing of organized crime.

With over twelve million inhabitants, Mumbai remains the richest prize for the subcontinent’s gangsters. For decades it was run by Haji Mastan, Varadarajan Mudaliar and Karim Lala.

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Mastan was a Tamil Muslim gangster who started working in the docks in 1944. He was the first famous gangster of the then British colony. Mastan made millions smuggling gold, silver and electronic goods before entering Bollywood.

From 1960 to 1980, Mudaliar, a Tamil Hindu, began his criminal career by smuggling liquor looted from the port. In the city’s Tamil communities, he presided over a parallel legal system that ruled over life and death.

Lala’s syndicate was called the Afghan Mafia because most of its members were ethnic Pashtuns from Afghanistan’s Kunar province. His specialty was drug trafficking, extortion, protection, gambling and contract killings.

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The old guard’s obsession was money and power, but their world was rapidly changing. The closure of Mumbai’s textile factories in the late 1970s created a new group of criminals.

Enter Dawood Ibrahim – public enemy No. 1 in India. From the late 1970s, Ibrahim is said to have ruled Mumbai through terror and extortion, leaving hundreds dead on the streets as his power grew to 5,000 ‘soldiers’.

But Ibrahim is said to be a gangster with a twist: he is said to have linked Islamic terrorism to his rackets.

On March 12, 1993, at least thirteen bomb explosions devastated Mumbai, killing more than 250 and injuring 1,500 others. The United States designated Ibrahim – who is now believed to be hiding in Karachi, Pakistan, under the protection of Pakistan’s notorious secret service – as a terrorist.

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And no wonder. He reportedly worked with now-deleted terror master Osama bin Laden in securing his drug routes through Afghanistan and destabilizing India.

On November 26, 2008, horror struck Mumbai again when ten members of the Islamic terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba unleashed a four-day shooting and bombing spree across the city. Ibrahim is believed to have been the quarterback with blessings from Pakistan.

Estimates are that 175 people died in the attacks.

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Lawrence Bishnoi was unknown to most Canadians until recent months. Bishnoi did the opposite of Ibrahim: politics came first, then allegedly crime.

At just 31 years old, Bishnoi and his college buddy Goldy Brar reportedly saw a vacuum in Mumbai’s underworld and jumped. Besides being involved in the usual rackets, he also became involved in arms trafficking.

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Bishnoi has been locked up in a murder case since 2014 and is said to still be in charge of his syndicate – and he remains steeped in Punjabi politics.

On May 29, 2022, popular Punjabi singer Wala was murdered. Brar is said to have claimed responsibility for orchestrating the murder in collaboration with Bishnoi’s gang.

Bishnoi is said to have wormed his way into the Canadian criminal landscape, where his alleged hitters are said to act as proxies for Narendra Modi’s government.

In early October, the RCMP accused Bishnoi and other Indian gangsters of targeting pro-Khalistan activists in Canada. Chief among them was Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Nijjar, 45, was removed from the board on June 18, 2023, in the parking lot of a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C. In May, Mounties arrested three Indian nationals – here on student visas – and charged them with Nijjar’s murder.

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Canada and India are now engaged in a war of words with both countries expelling diplomats. The end of the diplomatic battle is not yet in sight.

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Back in Mumbai, the police and public prepare for more violence. Bishnoi has denied all allegations.

Yet Siddique remains quite dead.

“This horrific incident exposes the complete breakdown of law and order in Maharashtra,” said Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition Congress Party.

Detectives in Mumbai have arrested several suspected killers. Those arrested told police they had a list of other targets for death.

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For years, Bishnoi’s alleged criminal activities sent shivers down the spine of the Indian diaspora, B.C. politician Kash Heed said. Global news.

“He is an individual prone to violence in India. A few years ago the Bishnoi gang really started coming on air and people (were) concerned about it… a lot of the diaspora know about Lawrence Bishnoi and his activities (in India).”

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