WARNING: LONG ASS POST
Bugsy's thread about Jewish mobsters got me thinking about the Israeli O.C groups
and then the bosses & underworlds of any of the 190+ other countries. There are those
certain countries of which we accept organised criminals & crime to be an aspect of,
that we "expect". Mafia related articles are hard copy around the world, but for
obvious reasons we expect & are not surprised to read & hear about American/Italian/
Russian/Mexican/Colombian etc mobsters & crime rings. We all know crime is international,
but only some attract real attention & interest universally. An example; every one knew
who John Gotti was; how many have even heard of Dawood Ibrahim, a crime boss exponentially
more powerful?
A mention of India does not typically lead to thoughts of sophisticated organised crime
gangs, but for others India is inseperable from its corruption & criminals.
India is a smaller country by area then the US, Australia or Russia. The thing is
though, there are lots of people. Lots & lots of people. Like nearly 4 times the
population as the US and something like 90 times the population of Australia.
17% of the world population is Indian, with only China having more people & by not
really that many.
Alhough it is a fastly developing nation with a large economy, India could still be
descibed as third world with millions suffering in poverty, widespread disease &
malnutrition, and high rates of illiteracy. This does not mean that there are no millions
or millionaires to be seen in India, but that more so then many Western nations, the
majority of the wealth is controlled by a tiny minority of the population. Under such
an economic situation, corruption is understandably significant & entrenched, leading
to what has been termed the "Mafia Raj", a situation where corrupt officials, politicians
&/or businesses come to control economic sectors through shady tactics. Wikipedia
has an adequate explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_raj These conditions inevitably breed organised crime cells, an Indian Mafia.
They have sprung up over the years, typically, around the major cities.
Mumbai in particular is the default capital of Indian organised crime, by which
i refer to the typical "mafia" rackets: gambling rings, loansharking, extortionate
"protection" rackets, drug trafficking, prostitution & increasing incidents of white
collar crimes.
No one criminal entails these such crimes in India more than Dawood Ibrahim, a billionaire
crime boss with an international empire & personal links to terrorist cells.
Indeed, having been linked to Bin Laden himself, as well as to the alleged funding &
organization of actual terror attacks, he was a target of the Bush Administration
and is currently wanted by Interpol. He has been ranked Number 4 & Number 50 in the
Forbes Most Wanted Criminals List of 2008 and the Most Powerful People of 2009 respective.
He was just another small time smuggler until he hooked up with the ISI, the pre-eminent
intelligence agency of Pakistan. This association supposedly facilitated his rapid rise
through the Indian underworld, until he and his group, known as "D-Company", were on top,
the classic gangster with "a finger in every pie", that is, an interest in a wide range
of rackets.
He controls a number of seemingly legitimate enterprises, which are ostensibly used to
launder money, along with "Hawala", an unofficial network of bankers & money-brokers used
by many Muslims for the transfer of funds. Again,
Wikipedia has an adequate explanation of this system:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawala Perhaps of interest to fans of the sport of Cricket, Ibrahim is alleged to
have a large part in recently uncovered charges of match-fixing and game throwing that
have beleagured the favorite pastime of many countries.
India's proximity to the "Golden Triangle" & "Golden Crescent" of heroin production
has seen it become a hub for drug-trafficking, and while there are definitly Indian
elements involved, apparantly a significant number of the drug related arrest's are of
those of US or Nigerian individuals.
As the US Mob was known to infiltrate Hollywood at different times in history, likewise have Indian gangsters made forays into the Bollywood film industry,
extorting & bankrolling film producers.
http://www.bollywhat.com/darkside.html http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=272825&%3Brss=yes He seems practically untouchable, but of course such a streak must end at some point,
and recent years have seen some blows struck against him. Along with being declared a
"global terrorist" by the US Treasury Department, he has also had to deal with the deaths
& murders of several close associates, which have included two of his brothers. Despite
these setbacks and no lack of rivals, he for the moment remains a powerful criminal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawood_Ibrahim http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4775531.stm http://connect.in.com/dawood-ibrahim/profile-70881.html Long thread, i know, and apologise.
Ill use this thread to post articles relevent to OC in India.
