Table Of Content

OTHER LOTUS TITLES Ajit Bhattacharjea Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah: Tragic Hero of Kashmir Anil Dharker Icons: Men & Women Who Shaped Today’s India Aitzaz Ahsan The Indus Saga: The Making of Pakistan Alam Srinivas & TR Vivek IPL: The Inside Story Amarinder Singh The Last Sunset: The Rise & Fall of the Lahore Durbar Amir Mir The True Face of Jehadis: Inside Pakistan’s Terror Networks Ashok Mitra The Starkness of It H.L.O. Garrett The Trial of Bahadur Shah Zafar Kiran Maitra Marxism in India: From Decline to Debacle Kuldip Nayar Beyond the Lines: An Autobiography L.S. Rathore The Regal Patriot: The Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner M.B. Naqvi Pakistan at Knife’s Edge M.J. Akbar Byline M.J. Akbar Blood Brothers: A Family Saga Maj. Gen. Ian Cardozo Param Vir: Our Heroes in Battle Maj. Gen. Ian Cardozo The Sinking of INS Khukri: What Happened in 1971 Madhu Trehan Tehelka as Metaphor Masood Hyder October Coup: A Memoir of the Struggle for Hyderabad Nayantara Sahgal (ed.) Before Freedom: Nehru’s Letters to His Sister Nilima Lambah A Life Across Three Continents Peter Church Added Value: The Life Stories of Indian Business Leaders Sharmishta Gooptu Revisiting 1857: Myth, Memory, History and Boria Majumdar (eds) Shashi Joshi The Last Durbar Shashi Tharoor & Shadows Across the Playing Field Shaharyar M. Khan Shrabani Basu Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan Shyam Bhatia Goodbye Shahzadi: A Political Biography Vir Sanghvi Men of Steel: Indian Business Leaders in Candid Conversations FORTHCOMING TITLES Imtiaz Gul Osama: Pakistan Before and After Lotus Collection © S. Hussain Zaidi, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the publisher. First published in April 2012 Fifth impression, July 2012 The views and opinions expressed in this book are the author’s own and the facts are as reported by him which have been verified to the extent possible, and the publishers are not in any way liable for the same. The Lotus Collection An imprint of Roli Books Pvt. Ltd M-75, Greater Kailash II Market New Delhi 110 048 Phone: ++91 (011) 4068 2000 Fax: ++91 (011) 2921 7185 E-mail: [email protected]; Website: www.rolibooks.com Also at Bangalore, Chennai, & Mumbai Layout: Sanjeev Mathpal Production: Shaji Sahadevan ISBN: 978-81-7436-894-2 Typeset in Perpetua by Roli Books Pvt. Ltd and printed at Nutech Printers, Okhla Dedicated to my friends Dr Shabeeb Rizvi Chandramohan Puppala Mir Rizwan Ali Contents Foreword Preface Introduction: Up, Close, and Personal Part 1 1. The Big D 2. In the Beginning: Bombay 1950–1960 3. Bombay’s Midas 4. Madrasi Mobster 5. Tamil Alliance 6. Pathan Power 7. The Original Don: Baashu 8. The Star called David 9. The Baap of Dons 10.Of Young Turks 11. David versus Goliath 12.The First Blood 13.A Seed is Sown 14.Beginning of the Bloodshed 15.The Executioner 16.The Emergency 17.Mill Worker-Turned-Don 18.Pathan Menace 19.Mastan’s Masterstroke: The Truce 20.Dawood’s Smuggling Business 21.A Don in Love 22.Ageing Dons 23.Death of a Brother; Birth of a Gang War 24.Dawood’s Coronation 25.Mumbai’s Hadley Chase 26.The Fallout 27.Mafia’s Bollywood Debut 28.Pathan in Patharwali Building 29.Typewriter Thief: Rajan Nair 30.Pardesi Kills Pathan 31.Circle of Revenge 32.Rise of Chhota Rajan 33.Enfant Terrible: Samad Khan 34.Dawood’s Better Half 35.Escape to Dubai Part 2 1. Making of an Empire 2. Wiping Out Rivals 3. Mafia’s Most Daring Operation 4. End of Dawood-Gawli Alliance 5. Shootout at Lokhandwala 6. JJ Shootout 7. Communal Strokes 8. Surrender Offer 9. Maal, Moll, or Mole? 10.Developments in Dubai 11. New D Company-HQ: Karachi, New CEO: Shakeel 12.Rise of the Minions 13.Shocking Bollywood 14.Peanuts That Proved Costly 15.Clandestine Coups 16.Tech That 17.Close Shave 18.The Art of Survival 19.Post 9/11 20.Not so Chori Chori Chupke Chupke 21.‘Judge’ Dawood 22.Carnival of Spies 23.Detained in Lisbon 24.The White Kaskar 25.Global Terrorist 26.Salem Extradition 27.Boucher’s Botched Attempt 28.The Big D Makes the Forbes Cut Epilogue Sources Index Acknowledgements Foreword I first met S. Hussain Zaidi in the winter of 1997, when I had just begun writing a novel about the Mumbai underworld. I desperately needed help, and was lucky enough to have a sister who knew Hussain through their shared profession of journalism. So I met up with him at the cheerfully-named Bahar restaurant in the Fort area of Mumbai. I asked questions, and Hussain told me stories about greed and corruption, about shooters and their targets, and despite the chill that passed over my skin, I was aware of a rising swell of optimism—this guy was really, really good. I didn’t know that day that S. Hussain Zaidi would become a friend, an extraordinary inside informant about matters relating to crime and punishment, and my guide into the underworld. But that is exactly what happened. Over the next few years, as I wrote my novel, Hussain generously shared with me his vast knowledge, his canny experience, and his host of contacts. I can say with certainty that I would not have been able to write my book without his ever- ready help and advice. It makes me very happy that Hussain has finished his magnum opus, Dongri to Dubai, so that the general reader can now benefit from his expertise. This book does much more than narrate the saga of one man’s rise, it brings alive the entire culture of crime that has grown and formed itself over the last half century in India. And as much as we like to distance ourselves by pretending that the underworld exists quite literally under us, beneath us, the truth—as Hussain shows—is that we mingle with it every day. The influence of organised crime reaches into the economy, our polity, and everyday life. Yet, our knowledge of the intentions and operations of the players on all sides of the law is mostly a mixture of legend and conjecture. Our histories begin with a few names—Haji Mastan, Varadarajan, Karim Lala — imbued with dread, and continue with still others —Dawood, Chhota Rajan, Abu Salem—haloed with matinee glamour. What we have lacked is a narrative that provides both detail and perspective, that lays out the entire bloody saga of power-mongering, money, and murder. Dongri to Dubai is that necessary book, and more. It gives