Crawford Market is a historic market in Mumbai that serves as a recurring landmark in the book, anchoring the city's geography, its colonial past, and the criminal underworld that operates within it. The market is the site of the Mumbai Police Headquarters' Crime Branch office, where Jenabai Daaruwali, a powerful woman of the underworld, goes to negotiate with a senior officer on behalf of a young Dawood Ibrahim. It also functions as a geographical reference point, helping to define the boundaries of Dongri and connecting the city's various neighborhoods, from the graveyards of Bada Qabrastan to the slums of Sion-Koliwada.

A Landmark of Colonial and Criminal Geography

Crawford Market is situated in the heart of Mumbai, a stone's throw away from Dongri, a neighborhood that was initially part of the original island of Mumbai. The area's history is tied to the city's transformation in the mid-1700s, when the Dongri hills were levelled as part of a plan to merge the seven islands of Mumbai. After the hills were levelled, the low-lying patch of uneven land between Crawford Market in the north and the reclaimed lands of Kamathipura in the south came to be called Dongri. This places Crawford Market at the northern edge of a district that would become a hub of Muslim life and, later, a center of the city's underworld. The market's name itself is a British legacy, a throwback to the mid-nineteenth century when the British put Mumbai on the trade route by linking the city with a network of railheads. This colonial infrastructure, which includes the nearby Marine Lines station, helped shape the city's layout and the flow of goods and people through it.

The Seat of Police Power

The market is also the location of the Mumbai Police Headquarters, which houses the Crime Branch office. It is here that Jenabai Daaruwali, a woman of considerable influence in the underworld, makes a trip to meet one of the most reputed and distinguished senior Crime Branch officers. The officer, tall, burly and well-built, was considered a taskmaster in his time, and Jenabai had always maintained cordial relations with him as an informant. When she arrives, the officer is surprised to hear of her visit and asks a constable to call her in. This meeting is a pivotal moment, as Jenabai seeks to use her connections to help a young Dawood Ibrahim, who is in trouble with the law. Her ability to walk into the police headquarters and negotiate with a senior officer demonstrates the blurred lines between the criminal underworld and the state, a theme that runs throughout the book. The market, a place of commerce, thus becomes a stage for the exercise of power, where the fate of gangsters can be decided.

A Reference Point for the City's Underbelly

Crawford Market serves as a geographical anchor for the book's exploration of Mumbai's criminal geography. It is used to define the boundaries of Dongri, a neighborhood that is choc-a-block with rickety, old buildings and is primarily dominated by Muslims. The market is also a point of reference for other locations in the city's underbelly. For instance, Sonapur Lane, a slum near Reay Road station, is described as a nesting ground for crime and disease, and its name, which refers to 'death' or 'sleep' due to the Muslim graveyards in the vicinity, contrasts with the bustling commerce of Crawford Market. Similarly, the Sion-Koliwada slum, infamous for its illicit hooch distillery and later a drug den under Mahalaxmi Papamani, is part of the same urban landscape that Crawford Market anchors. The market, with its colonial history and its role as a center of trade, stands in stark contrast to these marginalized spaces, yet they are all connected by the same city and the same networks of power and crime.

A Nexus of Trade and Power

The market's role as a center of commerce is echoed in the book's depiction of the city's illicit economies. The book describes how prohibition, introduced in Bombay on 1 August 1939, led to clashes between groups for and against it, and how the enforcement of the law was diverted when the Second World War broke out. This historical context explains the rise of bootleggers and smugglers who operated in the shadows of the city's legitimate markets. Crawford Market, as a symbol of legitimate trade, stands in contrast to the illicit flows of gold, silver, and electronic goods that were smuggled into Mumbai by figures like Haji Mastan, who started as a coolie at the docks and went on to form one of the most formidable gangs in the city. The market thus represents the formal economy that the underworld both parasitizes and mirrors, a place where the city's wealth is on display, even as it is being siphoned off by criminal networks. The book's narrative, which moves from the graveyards of Bada Qabrastan to the slums of Sion-Koliwada, uses Crawford Market as a fixed point in a city that is constantly shifting, a reminder of the enduring structures of power that shape the lives of its inhabitants.