In the 1970s and 1980s, many Punjabi families came to Canada to find work and start a new life. In the initial days, these immigrants had to face many difficulties from the locals. Especially in areas where the Punjabi community has found refuge, such as Toronto and Vancouver, they face constant opposition and harassment. At that time, the young Punjabi class started to unite for their security and survival. Many criminal elements emerged from these conflicts, and they soon formed criminal gangs.
According to media reports, Toronto’s Pep Avenue is considered one of the first safe places for Punjabi immigrants. When local residents started harassing the Punjabi community, some young people started trying to solve the problems. These young men took up arms to protect their communities and that was the origin of gangs. Soon these groups began to clash with the local mafia and other criminal gangs.
The story started on Papp Avenue and soon spread to cities like Brampton and Mississauga. These are the places where new criminal faces emerge and take their place in the criminal world.
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Bindi Johal and Tehelka of “Elite”
By the late 1990s, there was one name on everyone’s lips: Bindi Johal. Bindi Johal created a criminal organization called “The Elite” and caused a sensation in the Canadian criminal community. The gang became so powerful that it was accused of more than 30 murders. Johar’s gang committed many major crimes, including the murders of Dosanj’s brothers Ron and Jimmy.
The Dosanj brothers are also considered to be among the earliest organized Indo-Canadian criminals in Canada. Johar and his associates waged war against them. However, Bindi Johar’s story does not end there. In 1998, he was betrayed and killed by his close associate Bar Buttar.
The formation of the Brotherhood’s Keepers
Even after Bindi Johar’s death, the activities of the Indo-Canadian crime scene continue. Another dangerous group that emerged in the 2000s was the Brothers’ Keepers. Gavinder Singh Grewal founded the gang, which soon spun off from a gang called the Red Scorpions and developed into its own criminal organization.
A fierce gang war broke out between the Guardian Brothers and the Red Scorpions, in which many criminals and innocent people lost their lives. The gang’s power continues to grow in Vancouver and surrounding areas.
The Terror of Gangsters Goldie Brar and Laurence Bishnoi
In recent times, when news of the gang war started reaching Canada from Punjab, two of the most discussed names were Goldie Brar and Lawrence Bishnoi.
Goldie Brar, who lives in Canada, has been charged with multiple murders and crimes. His most famous case is the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, for which Lawrence Bishnoi is also said to be behind.
Lawrence Bishnoi, currently in jail in Gujarat, ran the network from Canada to India. His gang has also threatened Bollywood stars such as Salman Khan. The gang’s name also cropped up in the recent murder of NCP leader Baba Siddiqui.
Gang wars and a series of deaths
From the 1990s to the present, about 165 people have died due to gang wars in Canadian cities such as Vancouver, Brampton and Mississauga. Most of these gang members include young Punjabis who have chosen the path of crime either in the name of security or out of desire for money.
The real face of punjabi mafia
Initially, when the Punjab Mafia was formed, its objective was to fight for the safety and survival of the community. But gradually, the mafia became so powerful that its influence began to be felt in Canada’s criminal world. These gangs engage in drugs, murder, and many other criminal activities.
Groups like the Sangra gang, accused of more than 100 shootings during Vancouver’s 2009 gang war, also demonstrate the power of the criminal empire. The police have made many attempts to crack down on these gangs, but to this day they have not been completely eradicated.
Bind Bindi Johar and others
The expansion of Punjabi criminal gangs began in the 1990s, when Binder Bindi Johal first came to prominence. Bindi led an organized crime network that was established in Vancouver and became a symbol of Inca criminal culture as a whole. Bindi’s influence led to conflicts with other crime bosses of the time, such as the Dosanjh brothers, Robbie Kandola and Ranjit Cheema.
Led by Johar, the gangs built a criminal empire through drug trafficking, extortion and violence. Binder Johal was murdered in 1998 at the behest of his own organized crime associate, Bal Butar. Bar Buttar himself later became a victim of the attack but survived. Since then, Punjabi-Canadian gangs have embarked on a new phase of violence.
The post-Johar era and the rise of new gangs
After the murder of Bindi Johar, many new gangs emerged, one of the most famous being the Sangra gang. The gang, led by Udham Singh Sangera, is believed by Vancouver police to be responsible for more than 100 shootings during Vancouver’s 2009 gang war. The Vancouver Police Special Branch took tough action against them, but the gang’s influence is still visible today.
Guardian Brothers and the Red Scorpion
In the past ten years, the “Guardian Brothers” gang has grown rapidly. The gang was founded by Gavinder Singh Grewal. Most of its members and leaders were early members of the Red Scorpions, but they later formed their own gang. The Brotherhood of the Keepers gang targets remaining members of the Red Scorpions in several British Columbia cities.
Punjab mafia and allied gangs
The Punjabi Mafia was initially viewed as a liberal gang but has now become more nationalistic and extreme over time. The mafia is a loose alliance of various large and small gangs that sometimes cooperate and sometimes conflict with each other. These include the names of major groups such as Dosanjh, Johal, Adiwal, Cheema, Butar, Dhak, Duhre, etc. All of them are still active in Vancouver and remain part of Indo-Canadian criminal history.
Laurence Bishnoy and Goldie Brar
Over the past few years, Lawrence Bishnoi’s name has become prominent among criminal networks in Punjab and Canada. Bishnoi’s gang is trying to maintain its dominance in Punjab, Delhi and Mumbai. Bishnoi’s main associate, Goldie Brar, had spread his criminal activities from Canada. The gang is also accused of murdering Sidhu Moosewala.
Goldie Brar publicly admitted responsibility for the murder of Sidhu Moose Wala on social media. The murder was the product of a long-running gang war in Punjab in which Musewala was linked to the murders of Bishnoi associates Vikramjit Singh Midukhda and Gulal Brar.
Sampat Nehra, notorious gunman and close associate of Lawrence Bishnoi’s gang, was implicated in the murder of actor Salman Khan in the blackbuck poaching case Khan’s conspiracy. Lawrence Bishnoi, whose community considers the blackbuck sacred, has harbored a grudge against Salman Khan ever since he was convicted of blackbuck poaching in 1998. Lawrence had threatened to kill Salman Khan and as part of this conspiracy, Sampat Nehra was sent.
Nehra traveled to Mumbai in 2018 to scout Salman Khan. Nehra was later arrested in Haryana, after which it was revealed that the Bishnoi gang was plotting to kill Salman Khan.
Attacks on singers and blackmail culture
The Punjabi music industry has also been targeted by these gangs. Singers such as Parmish Verma and Karan Aujla became victims of this violence. Parmish Verma was attacked in 2018. The gang wanted to extort money from them.
These gangs have affected Punjabi society and its various sections. These include organized crime, personal rivalries and competition to demonstrate gang power, which has become increasingly complex over time.