Little Caesar Of Richtown http://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/little-caesar-of-richtown... OUTLOOK MARCH 02, 2015 Little Caesar Of Richtown The book, despite its details, does not bring Salem to life, who remains �at, untouched. AMRITA SHAH MY NAME IS ABU SALEM BY S. HUSSAIN ZAIDI PENGUIN | PAGES: 270 | RS. 350 In the 1990s, Abu Salem spread terror in Mumbai through his extortion rackets. His particular targets were Bollywood and the construction industry. Nobody seemed too powerful or too well-connected for him to pursue. Directors Rakesh Roshan and Subhash Ghai escaped attacks and threats, music moghul Gulshan Kumar and builder Pradeep Jain were less fortunate. The killings and intimidation became so frequent and were carried out so publicly that ordinary people were fearful and the police were under unprecedented pressure to crack down. In 2002, Salem was �nally arrested in Portugal, where he was hiding. In 2005, he was extradited, arriving in India to a blaze of publicity. Salem, with his global connections, attractive partner (actress Monica Bedi), dapper makeover and involvement in the 1993 bomb blast was the face of the modern criminal lord. The media was understandably rapt. We saw Salem, modishly dressed, biceps on display, in handcuffs. We saw him squealing under narcolepsy. We heard about his passion for Bedi who, languishing in a woman’s cell, slowly distanced herself from him. We read about his love of fashionable clothes and of good food. We heard about an attempt on his life in jail. And through it all Salem, externally at least, conveyed the impression that he was in sleepwalking mode, as if none of this touched him in any way at all. Zaidi’s subject is In S. Husain Zaidi’s biography My Name is Abu Salem, we learn that vain, cruel, Salem came from a poor but respectable Azamgarh family. Like many sensuous, young men, he moved to Mumbai to make a living and came into contact with the underworld. Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Anis took him under his contradictory wing and Salem quickly demonstrated the ruthlessness and —capable of both resourcefulness that would facilitate his swift rise in the ranks of the D 1 of 2 02/19/2016 4:41 PM Little Caesar Of Richtown http://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/little-caesar-of-richtown... extreme passion as company. He was the �rst, says Zaidi, to hire a suspended cop as a well as callousness. shooter. He was also the �rst to introduce the concept of freelance killers: instead of maintaining a full-�edged gang, Salem would hire a destitute boy from his hometown for as little as Rs 3-5,000, lend him a gun and put him on a train home after the hit. Zaidi casts his net geographically wide—Dubai, Portugal, the United States—as be�ts the story of a global criminal. He provides insights into criminal life, and also the irony of Salem—once a scourge of the rich and famous—being forced to travel under false names and multiple identities. Zaidi’s subject is vain, sensuous, cruel (he called a victim’s wife soon after the murder to gloat), contradictory—capable of both extreme callousness towards his former wife and extreme passion for Bedi. The book, despite its detail on his life and career, does not bring him to life though. Salem remains �at, untouched, as he does in our view of him. However, we learn that Salem accumulated property worth Rs 5,000 crore in and around Mumbai. We also learn that the unprecedented terror spree that had Mumbai on its knees could be attributed to the megalomania of no more than one person—Salem. These facts should rob us of our sleep. READ MORE IN: AUTHORS: AMRITA SHAH PEOPLE: ABU SALEM TAGS: MUMBAI UNDERWORLD, MUMBAI UNDERWORLD: D COMPANY, BOMBAY BLASTS 1993 SECTION: BOOKS SUBSECTION: REVIEWS OUTLOOK 02 MARCH, 2015 POST A COMMENT 2 of 2 02/19/2016 4:41 PM.