It begins in the gritty back streets of Dengri, Mumbai in the 1950s.

Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar was born into a large Muslim family, the son of a police constable,

growing up in a poor but disciplined household. He was the third of 12 children, and early on,

he seemed like any other street kid trying to navigate the chaos of post-independence India.

But something inside Dawwood was different.

He had charm, street smarts, and a hunger for power that would soon outgrow the narrow lanes of Mumbai.

As the episode unfolds, we explore how young Dawood alongside his brother Sabir began hustling in the underworld.

They started small, pickpocketing, smuggling in gold, and running errands for older gangsters.

But their ambition quickly turned them into leaders.

By the early 1980s, the two brothers formed the D Company, a syndicate that would come

to control a vast criminal empire

stretching from India to Dubai, Karachi, and beyond. DeWood didn't just want power. He

wanted respectability, reach, and untouchability, and somehow he got all three. The podcast

transitions to his first major rise, the Turf Wars in Mumbai.

DeWood eliminated rivals, survived assassination attempts, and mastered the game of playing

both gangster and businessman.

He dressed like a movie star, socialized with Bollywood elites, and invested in legitimate

enterprises.

But the business of crime, smuggling, extortion, money laundering

drugs was always the engine. As law enforcement cracked down on local dons, the Woodwind

International. He relocated to Dubai, where he was allegedly protected by powerful patrons and

law enforcement officials. From there, he ran his empire like

...