Haji Mastan

Haji Mastan (1 March 1926 – 25 June 1994) was an organised crime gang leader, originally from Tamil Nadu and based in Mumbai. He was one of the infamous trio of mafia gang leaders in Mumbai for over two decades from the 1960s to the early 1980s, along with Karim Lala leader of the Pathan gang, and Varadarajan Mudaliar, another famous gang leader from Tamil Nadu in South India.

At his peak, Mastan operated a powerful smuggling syndicate in Mumbai and along the Gujarat coast and later diversified into film financing and real estate business.

Mastan was known to be a shrewd businessman and a cunning deal-maker. He is known to be the only Bombay don who ruled without sustaining an injury. His illegal smuggling business was not caught by the government or police during his lifetime. He always maintained friendly relations with the police and government officials and often promoted peace between rival gangs, and was good friends with Lala, Mudaliar, Hassan Patni and Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.

Very early in his career, Mastan realized the importance of being seen among famous personalities from politics and the film industry as a symbol of power. Therefore, he hobnobbed among the city's rich and famous and was frequently seen with Bollywood personalities at public functions.

Mastan was arguably the most influential mafia don of his time. He was also seen as a "style icon" by many due to his extravagant lifestyle including immaculate white clothes, white shoes, white Mercedes cars and expensive gold watches. Mastan flaunted an extravagant lifestyle to appear affluent and influential. His life served as an inspiration for the character Sultan Mirza in the 2010 Hindi feature film Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai.