Sunday Dec 11, 2022

Karim Lala made Bollywood what it is today and his grandson continues his legacy

Karim Lala was an Afghan Pashtun who emigrated from Kunar, Afghanistan to Mumbai (then Bombay) in the 1920s. His family settled in one of the most densely populated and impoverished Muslim communities of Bhendi Bazaar in South Mumbai. Starting as an ordinary worker in the Mumbai docks, he later joined a gang of ethnic Pashtuns (called Pathans in India) who worked as illegal recovery agents for Marwari and Gujarati money lenders, landlords, and businessmen.[citation needed] These money lenders and landlords employed the burly Pathans whose tall imposing size and intimidating demeanor made it easy to recover money from defaulting debtors and evicting tenants and owners from prime properties in the expensive south Mumbai area. For over two decades, he was the leader of the dreaded "Pathan Gang" that operated in impoverished and crime-infested Muslim ghettos of South Mumbai like Dongri, Nagpada, Bhendi Bazaar, and Mohammad Ali Road. The Pathan Gang was involved in operating illegal gambling (satta) and liquor dens, illegal money recovery, illegal land evictions, kidnapping, protection racket (hafta), contract killing (supari), distribution of narcotics and counterfeit currency. Lala soon rose up the ranks to be the chief of the "Pathan Gang" that became notorious for contract killings, forced evictions from property, kidnapping, and extortion. The gang operated several "carrom clubs" that were a facade for illegal moneylending, gambling, and betting rackets.[citation needed] In the 1970s, Lala agreed to a pact with the other two ganglords, Haji Mastan and Varadarajan Mudaliar to divide Mumbai amongst themselves so that they could freely run their criminal activities without any conflict between each other. #mafia #facts #history #truecrime #truecrimecommunity #globalcrime #bollywood #bollywoodmovies #bollywoodactress #bollywoodhindinews

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