The Underworld Podcast - The Punjabi Indian Gangster Rapper Killed in a Gang War: Moosewala

Episode Date: June 28, 2022

Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, better known as Moosewala, was on the cusp of becoming a global superstar. Racking up billions of views on youtube, the Punjabi rapper heavily influenced by Tupac had blown up since arriving in Canada as an international student in 2016. His lyrics about gangsters, guns, and everything that went with it in rural Punjab struck a cord with listeners around the globe. But he wasn't without controversy, sometimes running afoul of the law in India, his shows erupting in violence in Canada. And rumors followed of his involvement in a growing gang war in northern India. And then he got gunned down a month ago in a professional, highly coordinated hit. In the weeks that follow, there will be facebook posts from gangsters claiming credit, big arrests, interrogations, even a shooter caught hiding out with religious pilgrims, and what begins to unravel is a complex web of a gang war ranging from Canada to India that has a man with 700 soldiers at the center of the assassination of a rap superstar turned politician on the cusp of global superstardom Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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our expanding lineup is built to deliver. Visit CabotaUSA.com or your local Cabota dealer today to learn more. Go to Cabota USA.com flashed disclaimers for full disclaimers. May 29th, 2002 in Punjabi, India. Shubdip Singh Sidu is riding high. Known as Musiwala, the 28-year-old Punjabi rapper's most popular music video, so high, has just hit 500 million views. And he's also just released a haunting new music video for his track The Last Ride,

in homage to his favorite rapper and main influence, Tupac Shakur. It's a fitting. tribute full of gangster talk guns and a hearse with his patented Punjabi singing and lyrics mixing with a thumping West Coast rap bass line. Kind of bangs, like for real. In only five years, he's gone from an international engineering student in Ontario, Canada, to a global sensation, racking up billions of YouTube views, hitting the charts, and selling out shows in multiple countries. He's even been co-signed by the Prince of Canada himself, Drake. But he's not without controversy. He's had a number of warrants out for his arrest in India, and his shows in Canada

have been marred by violence. And things aren't all good on the home front. There's a reason he raps about guns and death and gangster shit. In his home state of India's Punjab, there's gang wars raging, and not a small amount of speculation that some of his people, the people close to him, are involved. That's one of the things his fan base loves about him, actually. He brings the reality of the underworld of rural Punjab, no stranger to violence, out in his lyrics. He's actually gotten him in trouble with the authorities, but we'll get to that in a bit.

His father would later say he's also been receiving extortion threats from a bunch of northern Indian gangsters, some real bad and well-known thugs. He leaves his house at 4.30 p.m. that day, and he's riding with his cousin and a neighbor, and he's going to see his aunt in a village maybe an hour or 90 minutes away. He elects not to go in his bulletproof ride,

and he also isn't traveling with the bodyguards he's been assigned by the state. Actually, only a day before, he saw his bodyguard count reduced from four to two due to some political maneuverings. His father and the two leftover commando bodyguards are following behind in a different car. When Musi Wallet doesn't realize is that he's had hired killers following him for months, waiting for the right opportunity, surveilling him, casing all his locations. One of these recon guys calls up the ganglors. calling the shots and lets him know that Musi Walla's looking vulnerable, and that ganglord then tells his shooters to make their move.

About an hour after he left, just when Musiwala and crew pull into his aunt's village, a car pulls in front of him. Then another car pulls behind him right away, boxing him in. There's nowhere to run. There's four men in each car, and they're all shooters. One of them jumps out in front of Musiwala's SUV and starts lighting it up with an AN-94 Russian assault rifle. Musiwala fires back with a pistol, but he can't do much. The shooters unleash hell, lighting up the car 30 times.

Musiwala is hit 19 times. His other two passengers wounded. The gunmen check to make sure he's dead, then speed off. His father gets there shortly after and tries to bring him to the hospital, but he's already dead. Protests follow. People are angry all over the country, and superstars all over India and even Drake offer condolences. In the weeks that follow, there will be Facebook posts from gangsters claiming credit, big arrests, interrogations, even a shooter caught hiding out with religious pilgrims.

And what begins to unravel is a complex web of a gang war raging from Canada to India that is a man with 700 soldiers at the center of the assassination of a rap superstar turned politician on the cusp of global superstardom. This is the underworld podcast. Guys, we are back. I am your host Danny Gold, along with my co-host, Sean Williams. We are two journalists that have worked all over the world, and every week we bring you stories of global organized crime and all the fun stuff that goes with it while teaching

you not to claim responsibility for felonies you've committed on Facebook. Or claim responsibility on Facebook or felonies you've committed. Don't do either one of those. As always, patreon.com slash the underworld podcast to keep us afloat. There's merch at underworldpod.com slash merch. sponsorships, tips, all that, the Underworld Podcasts at gmail.com. I am once again not spending

my summer overlooking the Mediterranean, so that means we need to actually get those numbers up. And Sean, I mean, you've been on like, what, 15 vacations since we started this summer. Something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, also you did some great bonuses, you know, getting to the bottom of who killed that narco monkey.

Narco monkey, that's a real thing that exists. And you just are about to do an interview with a hot money podcast team, you know, for the price of one cup of coffee, you can keep us going before I give up on everything and get these awesome bonus features. And we're on the Instagram, YouTube. One of these days, maybe we'll even get someone to start a TikTok because I just, I can't be bothered to get involved with more, you know? No, no, Jesus. I can't even do with Twitter, man. It's making me need another holiday this week. Yeah, we've got loads of stuff. I mean,

I've got a big story coming out about Vladimir Putin, you know, Nazis, a double agent, gangster pimp guy coming out in a couple of days when we're recording this. So yeah, we'll probably do a little follow up on that. There's this parrot smuggler thing in Berlin, investigative reporters, internet scammers. I don't know. The Patreon's moving almost as much as my roller case these days. So, yeah, we've got stuff going on. Yeah, yeah. So Mousi Walla, right? This is a crazy story. I had seen, I think, a couple of news reports on it, but a couple people reach out on the Patreon and IG about the killing right when it happens. And you know, when the Six got himself starts tweeting about it or Instagram about whatever he did, you know it's time to get involved.

So we've done some stuff before, I think, on the Mumbai underworld, D Company was one of our first episodes that Sean did. And Sean, you've been reporting there in real life, right? Like in India on gang shit there. Yeah, it was a fun time. God, that's a long time ago now. I was in Mumbai for like a month, ages and ages back doing some stuff on D Company. found some guy that was like an out-of-work hitman that kind of just sat around because no one wanted hitmen anymore they were doing all like internet scams that's pretty sad right

um that's how it's how it goes these days yeah yeah um but yeah we need to do more about india there's so much shit going on i didn't know anything about this or either so um yeah i'm i'm keen on this one and and it does get a lot of attention i think both in bollywood and gangland circles the the mumbai stuff and of course you know i am unapologetically a fan of of Shantaram, so that's going on. But the northern Indian underworld, and that around the capital city of New Delhi, I don't think that gets nearly enough attention,

at least in international circles. So it was interesting to learn about it through this assassination, essentially. And we did a wild story on the wild Indo-Canadian gangs of Syria and Vancouver, where there's a big connection to the Punjab community. And I actually, I thought this would involve some of that, but it's only loosely connected,

but definitely go back and listen to that episode on Vinny Joe Hall. And of course, I think I've been promising some folks. We're going to do a second episode on brothers keepers and all that sort of United Nations gangs in Vancouver, which I think has a lot of that as well. So Mousi Walla actually, he didn't really come up in Canada, right? He didn't go to Canada until he was an adult in 2016. And he went to Brampton, Ontario, not Vancouver or Surrey. He's born in 1993 in Punjab, India, in the Musa village in Mansa district, and his name is actually a tribute to his village.

His dad was a labor or a small farmer. He owned about three acres of land, and he was also in the army at one point. He's basically a farmer, and his mother, she eventually gets elected as a local leader in their village, but not until 2018. But he grows up in a rural area in the farmlands, and that's an important part of who he is and what his music is all about. Here's a quote from a BBC article. His songs offered unvarnished commentary on the dark underbelly of the rural heartland, where drugs, crime, and corruption often make headlines. Yeah, and Waller's like somebody in charge of something, right?

Like the boss, I think, but Punjabi listeners, feel free to leave angry comments. Wherever you find this podcast. Yeah, and wherever my pronunciation is off, because, you know, it's going to be. And personally, though, I love me some, like, dark underbelly of the rural heartland, give me that winter's bone shit. But I just want to add to, we use the ton of sources from the Indian media, the English language sources there. The Hindustan Times, the quint, the print, India Tribune, all that.

The source list, as always, will be up on the Patreon. So yeah, his music, it's actually, it's really interesting. It's all in Punjabi, even though the song titles are in English. And it kind of blends this traditional Punjabi pop influence with just straight up West Coast bass lines and hip-hop. So the sound, you know, it does that. And the lyrics, too. It's kind of got these 90s-era G-funk beats a little.

It kind of reminds me, if you ever heard the Nas track, get down, there's a part when he switches up to this West Coast beat, and it sounds a lot like that. And he's got this haunted way of singing and rapping. It just goes really well together. It's kind of fire, and there's a reason that Drake co-signed him. So the lyrics and music videos, they combine this influence too. You know, it's all about big black SUVs, guns, money.

I think he's got an AK-tatted on his own. and dollar signs too, and northern India, Punjab, Delhi, all that, apparently has a really bad violence problem, gangs, crime. It's not just in the cities, a big part of it is in rural areas too. And he was apparently one of the first musical artists from the region to really go into that and combine this, you know, the hip-hop world with the Punjabi influence. And it made him into a fast-rising global superstar. And I kind of wanted to go into a little bit of that just to show the significance of him

getting killed before going at the details of this gang war. Here's a quote from the BBC again. Punjab has always had an unsavory side involving gritty gangster lore of big bosses, godfathers, their middleman and thugs. The violence experts say largely stems from turf battles between them. Underlying issues like corruption and rising unemployment have strengthened their reign over the state cities and villages. These gangsters also have a huge cultural footprint.

The intertwined nature of the music industry and gang-related crimes in Punjab is largely accepted as common knowledge, says Revenra Singh Robin, a senior journalist in Amritsar City. And here's a headline in a lead from an outlet called The Scroll, How Sidu Muswalah's celebration of rural life want him legions of fans in Punjab and far beyond. The rapper gave voice to the dreams and predicament of young people living through an agrarian and social crisis. Wow. And, yeah, generally I kind of shy away from anything that, that, I feel like overly intellectualized the stuff like this, but it's pretty interesting. You know, it wasn't just guns and violence. He did a lot of, quote, putting the focus on the burning issues of an aguarian society

in the throes of transition. Okay. Yeah, calm down, pitchfalk. I mean, it's, it is, it is fascinating to see it described that. Yeah, man. I mean, it kind of, like, to give a shout to one of my favorite books ever, like, behind the Beautiful Forever's as well by Catherine Boo. It's about this kind of small time political corruption, stuff that goes on not just in the cities, but the rural areas of India.

And I would recommend anyone read that. But moving on. Yeah, I haven't, but I want to now. And, you know, India, of course, had those massive farmer protests a few years ago about new agricultural laws that were going to screw over the farmers. And Poohobab has a huge agricultural industry. And Musi Walla was one of the first artists to really give full-throat support to it. He even released a movie about farmers. The poster is him riding.

on a tractor doing a wheelie with big speakers on the back, which is, you know, that's pretty sick. It's the guy who Bubba Sparks could have been, I guess. You know, I was going to make a Bubba Sparks reference here, and I didn't know if people would get it, but I'm really glad that you did. Oh, I drop my... You, Bubba Sparks, I mean, some of those,

when deliverance came out, like, there were some bangers on them. It's not bad. It's not bad. No, it wasn't. He had the Timberland Beats. Like, it was legit. It was definitely, there's going to be a lot of people Googling Bubba Sparks after this. Sparks has three Xs at the end, but I'm telling you. It goes.

So, yeah, he spoke up in favor farmers a few times. He was actually something of an environmentalist, too. There's big problems there with pesticides and cancer rates and all that. And it all factors in when he goes back to India and gets involved with politics. But we'll get to that in a bit. But back to his life. Born in rural Punjab, India, son of a farmer, we don't know too much about how he grew up, but he ends up getting a degree in electrical engineering.

Then he moves to Canada. Brampton, Ontario, right outside Toronto. He's an international student. While in Canada, he starts making music. And his blend of hip-hop with Punjabi influence, he releases this track, this first track in 2017. It's called, of course, G-Wagon. And he also penned some lyrics

for a popular Punjab Canadian artist called Ninja. And then his first track to blow up is called So High. And it now has 530 million views on YouTube. So, yeah, I can also confirm that it's hard as shit. like it bangs. I just wait for that annoying thing. No, leave that European siren in, man.

I hope that Dale, leave that in. I was going to say, like, I've been listening to loads of his stuff today, and I didn't know much about him, but yeah, I can confirm that so high is an absolute tune.

Yeah, his stuff, his stuff, it goes, man. You know, it really does. Yeah. And from there, like, it's just straight running, right?

He gets huge, really, really quick with fan bases in India, in the UK, Canada, New Zealand, the U.S., and in no time, he's the biggest figure in the Punjabi hip-hop scene, which, you know, it sounds kind of ridiculous to say that, but Punjabis are a large ethnic group. I think there's something like $125 million across the world. He charts in the UK and Canada,

and by the time he's murdered, he's released three albums and 60 singles in his four-year run. But again, maybe we should just focus on the Punjabi audience for this show then. I'd love to. But he's not without controversy. Like I said, earlier, we got into the whole gangland scene of Indo-Canadian Punjabi's in the episode on Benny Joe Hall, and some of that stuff follows Moose around. In 2019, he's banned from a festival in Surrey because of concerns about violence. The Canadian police had advised the festival organizers to drop him because at some of his previous concerts, there had been incidents like a stabbing in Surrey banquet hall and a shooting in Calgary, and the festival organizers

in response, they say it's racist and call Moose the Drake of Surrey. I've also seen him call the Tupac of Punjabi. And he always talked about Tupac is a huge influence. So you can kind of hear that in his music too. Yeah, I don't know. Like the Biggie of Brampton or the Mobb Deep of Mrs. Salga? We're missing any? The Nars of Newfoundland.

That's not bad, man. All right, cool. That's not bad at all. I've got that music gig sometime. You got a gift. Yeah, he also stirs up some trouble in India. In 2020, 2020, 2021, you know, he's huge now. He moves back to India and gets involved in

politics. His mother had run for a political position in, like, in his village in 2018 and won. It's a pretty small position, though. I think she won by like 600 votes. Meanwhile, while living there, he gets charged with a bunch of crimes. He has legal cases against him for using guns, violating curfews, and for his lyrics for promoting violence and disobedience to peace, things like that. He has this weird relationship with the police. There's also a viral video of him with police at a firing range being taught to fire in AK-47, and that gets him in the cops in trouble as well. When he came home, he joins the Indian National Congress Party, and he runs to be a member of parliament in 2022, but he actually loses despite his superstardom

and releases an angry song calling the people who didn't vote for him traitors. And there's actually a conspiracy theory I've seen about the government letting Moussi get killed because he was this famous Punjabi Sikh who was advocating for their rights, and every so often he was doing so in a militant fashion. And as we'll discuss in a minute, you know, that's, that's, that's been an issue there for decades. You know, now there's absolutely no evidence of this conspiracy at the moment, but it's indicative of the mind state and why he was such a rallying point. Without getting too far into it, I do get a little deeper in the Bindi episode.

And this is actually from that, it's from a 2020 academic paper called the Legacies of Bindi Joe Hall, the contemporary folk devil or sympathetic hero. Quote, Sikhism was founded in the 16th century northern India as the distinct religion from majority Hindu and Muslim population. While living relatively peacefully, Sikh warriors emerge in the 17th century to fight against the reigning Mughal Empire and their often violent campaigns of forced conversion to Islam. This signified the transformation of Sikhs from a passive and relatively peaceful religion to that of the religious warrior or soldier.

The image of the warrior Sikh became an important symbol that has been appropriated by some when perceived cultural and religious threats arise. And then... Ambition comes in all shapes and sizes. At First Citizens Bank, we roll with your goals because we're built for what you're building. Fit for your ambition for Citizens Bank. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th,

the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th, and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19, Tickets on sale now at Yamava Theater.com, only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary. U.N. must be 21 to enter. You know, in the 80s, there's something called the Khalistan or Kalistani movement, which was Sikhs advocating for a separate state in Punjab, state, India, because they were a marginalized group. And it led to violence and attacks by both the government on Sikhs and the Sikh groups, including the assassination of Indira Gandhi and brutal retaliations against that. that was at the high point as well. And Moose had made reference to it in some of his music.

Yeah, I guess it's probably worth saying as a counterpoint because in my experience of a cricket Twitter, Indian social media is a vibe man. So one of India's longest serving leaders is Mamahan Singh, who's a Punjabi Sikh. And yeah, I guess if minorities are getting screwed in India, it's definitely the Muslims. But tough history, and I'll just throw in the Amritsar massacre

if I'm going to take my routine, dump on the Brits as well. Yeah, and there was the Golden Temple thing, right? I think Indira Gandhi ordered that where they went in and killed a bunch of people. Not great. So, yeah. I mean, if you want more about this or an actual, like, non-service level understanding, like, go read a book, you know? Seriously, I mean, don't, don't, we're not going to give it to you.

Definitely read books on the issue and brush up on that. But let's talk about gang wars in Punjab and some of the kingpins, including those who allegedly killed Musiwala. The gang at the center of the Musuwala killing is the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, headed by Lawrence Bishnoi, and this guy is a gang lord, even though his real name's Lawrence. So, yeah, there we go. He has reportedly 700 soldiers under him, and they do your run-of-the-mill extortion, bootleg liquor sales, fun things like that. This is from the print in an article about deadly prison gangs since Bishnoi is actually locked up and has been since 2017. quote, these gangs extort money from their targets by killing their close aids, blackmail them by showing videos of their shootings, and issue threats through social media profiles.

Oh, yeah, we're going to get to that. Don't worry. Continuing. They mostly target builders, businessmen, and contractors, and those with illegal money, who are already vulnerable. Saddam Alias Garry, a sharpshooter who ran an extortion racket, showed his victims videos of his shootings to scare them. They also gunned down associates of businessman and property dealers to send

a warning to the main target, another senior police official said. I kind of like the language they used too. Like, um, you know, shooters, they call them sharpshooters, like the higher assassins and AIDS. Like they call everyone an aide, like someone who's like, you know, close to somebody or a business partner is an aide, which I thought was, was interesting. And these gangs, they also, they're involved with like illegal liquor. There's, there's money laundering, extortion involved in the music industry and something called Kabati or Kadabi. Ah, that's cool. Kabati's, so Kabadi is this game? where you have to, it's like rugby, but you have to hold your breath, or you have to say

kabadi while you're, like, running past people or something. You have to always be saying the word kabadi while you're running around. You can't like, take a breath. Get the fuck out of here. Yeah, man, it's true. I don't know anything more than that, so I'm going to need to do a bit of Googling, but that's, you just, like, have to yell the word. How do you get, like, can't, like, penalize for that. Yeah, it's like, get the fuck out of here. Yeah. That sounds awesome. I want to gamble on that. I can't get back in gambling. Actually, Moving on, Patreon.com, which that's the Odieworld podcast. So I can get into gambling on Kabadi.

Let's make it happen. One interesting note is that a lot of these gangs, at least the ones involved here, what's going to play a very big role in their story, and this story as well is that they're involved with student politics. Or they kind of get their main starts in these university political battles that have rival candidates getting beat up and shot at and sometimes murdered, which is wild. Because I kind of feel like, I mean, in the U.S.,

Nobody really gives a shit usually about student politics on that intense of a level. I mean, I guess back in the day you had the SDS and things like that, and there's still a lot of cultural war BS on them now, but not to the level where, like, gangsters are involved or where people get, like, marked, you know? Globally, I guess, lots of radicalism and stuff like that comes out of university politics sometimes. I mean, I guess in England, maybe it's a little different, Sean. Yeah, I mean, when I was at uni, we were just slinging Molotovs through MP's, like, windows and tearing down statues, and it was all masks and tear gas and shit.

Nah, I mean, we were just getting, we were just getting messed up on drugs and alcohol. But interesting parallel, I mean, here to the Nigerian gangs as well, they came straight off the campuses. So, yeah, I mean, I guess we're just, I don't know, small fry compared to these fellas. Well, I guess I'm conflating two things right, too. There's, like, actual political violence,

and then there's, like, gangsters doing this stuff. So, yeah, they were more on the, on just being straight up gangsters on that tip. But yeah, you know, I digress. And the best write-up I found of Bishnoa's life is from the Hindu.com. He's born in 1992, and he actually gets educated at, like, a convent boarding school. His family had a decent amount of money, especially for rural Punjab. They're from a really small sleepy village, but it's a well-to-do family known for, quote, good conduct and affluence.

There's Zamindars, I guess, which is a landowner. So he's a nice, well-behaved boy in the village, like, you know, who is. but then he heads to the city and he gets really into sports, primarily running the 1500 meter race. And he starts to train at Punjab University. He ends up befriending some kids who were also in sports, you know, bodybuilding all that, many of whom's parents were cops. And from there they start to form like a little gang with his brothers, his cousins, his friends, and all that. And they're doing the little crimes here and there.

And one of his boys who goes by the name of Robin Brar, he runs for student elections at the student organization of Punjab University, or I think Sopu is what they call it. in 2008. Bichneux really wants him to win. So he threatens bars opponents. Then he shoots him and he gets locked up for two months. And while in jail, he starts networking with real career criminals

and armed smugglers and all that. Yeah, I mean, firstly, it's pretty depressing that we're doing full bios of gangsters that are like way younger than us. But, I mean, like, he's got to be the first gangster on his show, Sportal Choice was middle distance running. I mean, that's pretty weird. All his mates are like lifting,

weights and playing cricket, he's doing laps. Yeah, a bit of a dark horse. Yeah, but fast, you know, you can make those getaways. Well, yeah, if your mates are shooting all the competitors, and I guess it's all right. Yeah. He gets out of jail, his friend loses the election, he then shoots the winning candidate's brother and gets locked up again, and continues connecting with more criminals, and this kind of starts this pattern. Basically, he gets into fights at his university or other universities, does short-term jail stints, meets other gangsters, makes deals, networks, all that. He actually then runs for election himself in the soap who loses, beats and breaks the legs of his rival, gets locked up again, gets out, goes and fights people

at other colleges. He runs again in 2011 and he wins. But like, I'm sorry, bro, but if you care that much about student politics, like you're a dork, that's a Melissa Simpson-ass gangster right there. Bleeding gums, Bishnoe. Yeah, and I think, you know, the whole thing with him doing all these crimes and getting out, I think that kind of alludes to what you were saying with the corruption. I think also that mention of all his friends' parents being cops. So I think there's a lot of bribery or just like being in the know, having money and getting out after committing crimes. By this point, his gang is really growing and he's making enemies all over and getting a reputation. In 2012, he gets out of university, but his gang still has beef all over and they start getting more and more weapons to protect themselves.

And he still maintains control over university politics. You know, he's putting up his fellow gang members as candidates for elections. in 2013, he guns down a guy who defeats his friend in an election. I think it was a municipal one at that point, not even a student one, and he goes on the run. Shortly after, his cousin, who's involved in the illegal liquor deal situation, he gets murdered and Lauren starts going after everyone involved. Illegal liquor is actually a big business there, by the way. And here's a write-up of his next few years from the Hindu.

Quote, according to the police, in the summer of 2014, Bichneau had his first armed encounter with the police. On their way to visit the Salazar Balaji Temple in Chiru Rajasthan, Bichner and his gang rammed through the barricades of a checkpoint and opened fire at police personnel. They were intercepted later and sent the jail. Over the next three years, the police say, he spent time plotting the murder of his rivals,

escaping police custody, and hatching the execution of witnesses who had decided to testify against him in court. Yeah, I mean, okay, a couple of things here. Firstly, this guy, he's a total nerd. He can't get anyone to be his friend. He's going around beating everyone up, going to give votes like the B-student, Big Dog.

And then also, these quotes are from the police. Like, they're saying he's just openly plotting the murder of his rivals. Like, maybe he should be keeping him in prison. They're like, yeah, he got away with the law and we couldn't really hold him down. He just keeps, like, writing all these charts, like, crossing people's names off. So, yeah, he's getting huge. He's now operating in Delhi, which is, you know, in New Delhi, India's capital. And the whole metro area is a population of, like, 30 million.

So, I mean, there's money there, right? He starts working with like real deal Mafias, bigger bootleggers. He's the arrested though in 2017, but that doesn't slow him down. Says media outlet, the prince. Bichnoy would call up his associates outside the prison to order hits on rivals,

demand ransom from musicians and sports personalities, and make plans to escape from jail for some of his friends, the source said. I mean, these police, Jesus Christ. He currently has 20 cases registered against him, including attempt to murder, extortion, snatching. I don't even know what snatching is. carjacking in other cases under the arms act.

To give an example of how big he is and how wild, there's this 2018 story involving huge Bollywood star Salman Khan, who was one of the biggest actors or was, is, I don't know, in India, right? He's big. So decades ago, I think in the late 90s, Khan kills an Indian antelope known as the Black Book,

which is illegal to do. It's poaching. And this particular animal is held sacred by some Hindu, Indian, and Nepali villagers. It's held especially sacred among the Bishnoi community, which Lawrence is a part of. I guess the Bishnoys are like a sect or a clan anyway. And the Black Book is particularly revered by them.

Khan killing this envelope was, I mean, it is a huge story. It's still in the courts like decades later because of appeals. At one point he gets a five-year jail term, which gets appealed. He gets found innocent, then guilty, appeals. Serves a few weeks at a few days here and there. Bishnoy was so pissed about it that him and an associate made a rather serious death threat against con. Like one of his lieutenants actually apparently was actively plotting it out when he was caught and then it turns up in the interrogation.

Yeah, man, Samun Khan is massive in India. He's like the Tom Cruise of India. And he's got previous too. I think if I'm not wrong, he ran someone down in his car while he was high or drunk or something and he managed to get off a bit like this shooting. I'm sure that's correct. There's no slander in podcast in anyway, right? Yeah, quite a few controversies, but like that's a pretty wild controversy for it, for, for. an actor, like illegal poaching, you know? That's nuts. I think Bishnoi might be a cast, actually, technically, but I'm not sure. Again, yeah, people could be. It seemed like a movement at times. You know, I couldn't lock down the specific cast.

So, yeah, the guy's got shooters, says the print, quote, these gangsters mostly use rifles to carry out high-profile murders. The Bishnoi gang is known to shower bullets at the target. They carry out these killings for two motives, eliminating rival gang members, which, I mean, yeah, and to send a message to potential rivals and others from whom they want to extort money. The idea is to make it look gruesome.

They then claim responsibility on social media to establish their power, the deadly police source said. The Delhi police source said. I feel like they should be a catchphrase about this social media stuff somewhere. Yeah, yeah. Underworld.com. Don't Instagram your crimes. Nice.

Because gang, they also make a lot of money, like I said, from the Punjabi pop music scene and from Kadabi, Kabadi, which is what is the guy? Kabati, yeah. It kind of reminds me of the early rap scene, you know, when you had all sorts of gangsters and crews running labels and using it to wash profits, extorting artists and all that.

That was like a big thing in the 80s and 90s, and who knows, maybe it still is. So where does Musuala come into all this and how does he end up mixed up in it? Actually, I should point out that his family has denied he had any connection to organized crime, and his father claims Vishnoi and Ka were making extortion attempts on him and that he wasn't actually involved in the gangster life.

But, you know, this is becoming the accepted story, the story I'm about to tell right now, both from the police and the media, and there's a lot of evidence that points to it. The Bishnoi gang, they've been fighting a turf war over the last few years with another gang called the Davinder Bombia gang. And that's involved a lot of tip for attack killings. Here's like some sample quotes from the Hindustan Times. He had killed brought to revenge the murder of Lavi Diora, then Bambia Group, associate was killed by members of the Bishnoi gang at a fair in Kat Kapoor in 2017.

In response, the Facebook page in the name of jail gangster Lawrence Bishnoy, threat and retaliation and bloodshed on the streets, to avenge Gurlau's murder, the Bishnoi group killed a former student leader, Rajit Singh-Rana in Mooksar in October, and Faridate Youth Congress President Gerlau Singh to Halwan in February this year. Whoa, don't. And these aren't even the murderers that are at the center of this gang war, right? now. So two of the men that that are killed in this tip or tat thing are really close associate to Bishnoi, including the political leader of a youth wing of the party that beat out Mousa

in the election and the brother of Bishnoi's main lieutenant, a man by the name of Goldie Brar. Goldie's brother was killed in that situation, you know, and then the political in 2020, and the political leader is called in 2021. The Bambia group actually claimed responsibility for some of the murders on Facebook. And Goldie's actually based in Canada. He's wanted for a lot of crimes in India, but he's been in Canada since 2017, and he went there on a student visa. And the weirdest thing, like, I can't pin down where he is or what's going on.

I think he's just free in Canada or in hiding there. Like, I couldn't find any info on his whereabouts. I don't think he's locked up, though India is filing, like, there's an Interpol red notice, and they're filing extradition orders because he's wanted for a ton of crimes there. And there's a Facebook post going around from Gold of his account,

allegedly, claiming responsibility for the killing of Mousiwala and saying it was motivated by revenge. Goldie was apparently the one task with arranging the hit on Musiwala since he was in Canada, and he was using WhatsApp calls, which apparently make it harder for the Indian police to tap his calls. Yeah, I mean, we get accused of, like, being too soft on crime on this podcast, but maybe we can actually find Goldie. Have we got the power to do that these days? Do we have the listeners?

Can we find this guy? I don't think I want to get wrapped up in Northern Indian Gang War. That's something you can involve with. Wait, do we, I get in cues to being too hard on it sometimes because, uh, you, we need to accuse of being too soft too? Uh, yeah, too soft. No, we're, we're friends with gangsters, apparently.

It's according to the ones I've seen in the last few days. I mean, we do have that trip to Portugal that, uh, hopefully kicks off. Where's my, where's my man at? However, man, I'm trying to get in contact with you. Anyway, according to these guys in the Bishnoi gang, Musi Walla's name comes up in the investigations of these murders, which, again, not proven. And because he was rich,

famous and connected, the police don't follow the leads. Now, according to the prince, Musi Wollogh's manager is a quote, Shangon Preet was named in this killing, but is said to have fled the country and is believed to be in Australia currently. Shangon Preet had reportedly arranged for the stay of the shooters,

who were allegedly working for Lucky Patea, a leader of the Bambija gang. Devinder Bambia, the gang's founder, and whose name it still goes by, was killed in an encounter in 2016. So the catch was up to speed, Tiff attack killings between two gangs were on over turf,

one of the gangs claims Musiwal and his manager are involved, so they target him. Though a friend told the prince, the whole thing was over extortion, but I guess, you know, the evidence is pointing to now. So an article in the print again reads, Satchin Tapan Bishnoi, a cousin of Kuldi Bishnoi, had said in an interview with News 18 that he had killed Muswala with his own hands, claiming that the Punjabi singer had given shelter and financial support to Meduker's killers. and that's the youth politician that was popped. You know, this is, I don't know. I mean, I don't, I can't, I wasn't able to really look into all these, all these various

media outlets in India and whether they're, you know, a version of like the Daily Express or whether they're, they're legit. These guys, like, they're not just Instagramming their crimes. Shirts available at underworldpod.com.com slash march. Don't Instagram your crimes. They're, they're like fucking Facebook posting their confessions and like giving interviews to news outlets on their motivations. Look, and again, I don't know the repercussions.

some of these outlets, like, could it all be nonsense? Maybe. But these guys are definitely out there wilding, just straight up like, I did this thing all over social media without a care about the police at all. Man, I mean, it doesn't sound like they need to have much of a care about the police, to be honest. But yeah, this is straight up trap stuff. Like, it's pretty crazy. It's pretty wild.

So, yeah, the Bishnoi Goldie Braggang decides Moosewala has to die, and they really meticulously plan it. I mean, this is a professional operation. They actually have what they call a sharpshoer on it. six months before, but he can't get to Musiwala because he's too protected. So eventually they send a number of shooters there. They have recie teams, all that surveilling his home. They're doing legit recon.

There's hideouts. Some of the different groups don't know each other. It's real professional shit, like not sloppy gang hit stuff. And at this point, they're staying right near the village too. On the day he got hit, May 29th, they actually get word that he's vulnerable. Moose had had four bodyguards, commandos, it says, assigned by the government to protect him. But literally a day before, the government decides to scale back protection of about 400 VIPs, they claim, to get rid of this culture of VIPs getting special treatment. Yeah, solid logic there.

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Working at Zootopia 2 Now available on Disney Plus rated PG I mean, you know, if you're a rapper involved in this stuff, you should have your own security so his security detail is cut from 4 to 2. It was also the opposing party that he ran against that did this.

So, of course, you know, this feels the theories. And on that day when he's driving to his aunt's house, he's in a car without his bodyguards and the two group of shooters, they block him in and they just light up the car. That's from the cold open. Strangely, like neither his cousin or neighbor in the car were killed.

You know, they were wounded despite there being 30 shots fired and 19 hitting moose, which kind of, I don't know, maybe these guys really were sharpshooters, but that kind of sticks my antenna up a little bit. His dad followed behind him. He actually recovers the body, and he does take him to the hospital,

but it's too late. And the reaction, you know, is crazy. According to the BBC, quote, the murder has whipped up a political storm in the state, with opposition leaders criticizing the government. The state police claim that a Canada-based gangster claimed responsibility for the attack. Mousie Wallace family has denied this,

and criticized the police for not doing its job properly. In the middle of all this, protests erupted in several parts of the state as the singer's fans and supporters took to the streets, prompting the government to appeal for calm. The state's chief minister has now ordered a high court-level investigation into the case. Police have arrested, I think, 20 or so guys. They're all connected to these gangs. You know, they found grenades, grenade launchers, electric detonators,

assault rifles at one of the hideouts. And allegedly a message from one of the shooters to Goldie Brer, saying the deed is done. And that's kind of where we are right now. You know, Goldie's in the wind. Bishnoi's locked up and has been for years, but still not cooperating. And the family says that he currently can't find a lawyer.

Meanwhile, Mouss-Wala's family says Bichnoy is just a pawn, and they're alluding to a bigger conspiracy. And in Mousalala's last video released when he was alive a month ago or so, which was called The Last Ride, which makes all the reference to the Tupac. It contains the line, the funeral will happen in youth referring to himself. Musuala, you know, actually there was a song just released after his death that has now been banned from streaming platforms in India because it has militants Sikh lyrics and addresses issues like the killing of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, which was done by a Sikh terrorist, the attack on the Sikh Golden Temple by the Indian government, the release of Sikh political prisoners. He was going after the AAP party for fighting with his people. It's demanding sovereignty for Punjab, which, you know, all this is going to feed into the theories that he was silence when I think the most obvious answer.

is that, you know, this is part of this gang war. Yeah, man, for real. This is like, I mean, you know, we're not, we're not going to condone those kind of like communal violence lyrics, but I've been listening to this guy all day. People should check him out. Boy, has skills. Like, he was, he's got decent tunes behind him.

No. Yeah. Yeah, he's a really talented musician. I kind of like, you know, the singing that goes with it, it just feels haunting to me. So when you're talking about, you know, gang warfare and death and all that, I think it really goes with it well. Um, I honestly think it gave him another six months a year. He would have been collaborating,

you know, with like with, with Drake, with other, with other rappers too. And, uh, it would have been, it would have been something. But yeah, anyway, you know, let us know if we, if we, if we got some things wrong about, about Sikh history and everything else. Um, I know, you know, my dude, uh, at six buzz, one of these guys who really documents the, um, I want to get his Instagram name right, because he's, uh, he's filming on some stuff right here. And he really documents, though. the gang wars that are going on, which are all over the world. You know, there's killings in Thailand, too. This is the Indo-Canadian gang wars, which are really wild, and his accounts is great.

And he was going to send me some stuff, but I think he got too busy. It's, yeah, six, six I-Xedemics TV. Interesting, dude. Anyway, Patreon.com, so that's the Underworld podcast. If you yell at us there, we'll actually take what you have to say seriously. Merch, all that. Hit us up, tips, ads, sponsor. sponsorships, invitations to visit you if you're on the Mediterranean coast, the Underworld

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