Black Scorpion- To Hell and Back: Based on the life of a reformed Criminal

Black Scorpion – To Hell And Back is a powerful true crime memoir that not only pulls back
the curtain on Mumbai’s underworld during its most violent & defining decades, but also portrays
how a hardened gangster reformed himself into a normal civilian.
At just sixteen, Shyam Kishore Garikapati seemed destined for honor & discipline – a brilliant
student, son of a respected bureaucrat & an NDA qualifier with dreams of joining Indian Air
Force. Instead of soaring in the skies, fate pulled him into blood-soaked gang wars of Mumbai in
1980s & 90s, an era ruled by fear & survival.
Feared by rivals, Kishore navigated inner circles of mafia legends, including Dawood Ibrahim,
Karim Lala, Chhota Rajan, Arun Gawli, Vardarajan Mudaliar & Abdul Kunju. He witnessed
history unfold from inside – fall of the Pathan gang, Dawood’s meteoric rise, & hidden truth
behind the Rajan-Dawood split that the world never heard.
From deadly alliances & covert operations to betrayals & ambushes, this book exposes the real
mechanics of organised crime – stripped of its glamour & myths. Kishore balanced loyalties like
a tightrope walker & lived by brutal underworld truth: “Jo tees paar kiya, woh Tees Maar Khan” –
who survived age of thirty are true greats. He plotted with Arun Gawli to challenge Dawood,
returned to D-Company when Gawli weakened & navigated gruesome deaths of allies – from
Abdul Kunju to Kim Bahadur Thapa.
The police named him “The Black Scorpion” – sharp, elusive & lethally intelligent. The infamous
JJ Hospital shootout, linked to Dawood, became a turning point that sent him to prison for a
decade. Even behind bars, his influence grew – until a transformative encounter with Kiran Bedi
in Tihar Jail ignited a journey toward reform.
More than a gangster biography, it is an unfiltered account of ambition, consequence, survival &
change – a rare insider’s truth about underworld & a man who walked into hell & lived to tell the
story.
This is the life of Shyam Kishore Garikapati.