Federal prosecutors say a jailed Indian gang boss used smuggled phones to run a global crime network that reached into California and even a Canadian assassination.

Story Snapshot

• Three indictments in Los Angeles charge 37 people tied to India-based crime syndicates, led by the Bishnoi organization.
• Prosecutors link the network to the 2023 killing of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Canadian temple.
• Officials say jailed gangsters directed hits, shootings, and drug smuggling from inside Indian prisons using contraband phones.
• Canada has labeled the Bishnoi Gang a terrorist group, while Bishnoi himself denies all allegations.

What Prosecutors Say Happened in “Operation Hard Ball”

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles unsealed three indictments that target 37 people tied to three India-based transnational crime groups, including the Bishnoi organization. They describe a far-reaching network that mixed extortion, shootings, and large-scale drug smuggling across the United States, Canada, and Europe. Officials say this crackdown, called “Operation Hard Ball,” followed a long investigation into Indian-linked gangs that were already blamed for terrorizing immigrant communities in California.

Prosecutors say the heart of the case is the Bishnoi enterprise led by 33-year-old Lawrence Bishnoi, who is locked in an Indian prison. Despite that, they claim he still managed to run a global syndicate using contraband cellphones and encrypted messaging apps to reach lieutenants abroad. Court documents accuse him and his aides of ordering targeted killings, kidnappings, drug trafficking, and cross-border extortion that stretched from Punjab to British Columbia to California.

The Link to the Nijjar Assassination and Canadian Terror Listing

One of the most explosive claims is that Bishnoi and his North American lieutenant, Satinderjeet “Goldy” Singh, ordered the June 2023 assassination of a Sikh religious and political leader outside a temple in Surrey, British Columbia. The indictments refer to the victim only by initials, “H.S.N.,” but media reports identify him as Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent figure in the Sikh diaspora. Prosecutors say two gunmen carried out the hit after getting orders relayed from Bishnoi’s prison cell.

Canadian officials later pointed to this pattern of violence when they formally listed the Bishnoi Gang as a terrorist entity. Canada’s description of the group focuses on extortion and shootings that target South Asian communities in places like Metro Vancouver and Brampton. That terrorist label now hangs over the Los Angeles case and shapes how the public sees the accused, even though the U.S. indictments focus on racketeering, murder, and drug crimes rather than formal terrorism charges.

How the Network Reached California Communities

Reporting from California shows how this global network allegedly hit everyday people on U.S. streets. Federal investigators say Bishnoi’s crew used WhatsApp and Signal messages from U.S.-based members to send threats to business owners and families in India. If victims did not pay, gang members in India were allegedly sent to shoot at homes, shops, or cars linked to those families. This created fear that crossed oceans and made many immigrants feel that local police could not protect them.

In separate cases, California officers and federal agencies have tied Indian-based gangs to a series of shootings over the last few years, including killings in Stockton and extortion-linked attacks around the state. One federal case described Bishnoi gang members stealing more than 1,100 pounds of cocaine from rival traffickers between 2024 and 2025, then moving drugs north in long-haul trucks to Canada. The Los Angeles indictment charges Bishnoi and several others with racketeering, extortion, and distributing cocaine and methamphetamine, painting a picture of crime that funds violence abroad.

What We Still Do Not Know—and Why People Are Wary

For many Americans, this case feeds a broader worry that distant elites and shadowy networks play by different rules than everyone else. The government says it has tied 37 defendants to a foreign gang and a political assassination, but it has not yet shown the full evidence chain in public. Key details, like the actual phone logs, wiretaps, and ballistics reports that link each person to Nijjar’s killing, remain sealed or summarized rather than laid out for citizens to judge.

RELEASE FROM UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’s OFFICE

‘Operation Hard Ball’

Bishnoi, Dhanda & Bhagwanpuria Gang Members Arrested

International Crackdown on
India-Based Organized Crime Gangs Results in 24 Arrests in U.S., Canada, and Europe

Law enforcement in the United States,… pic.twitter.com/VxZNJxij62

— Siddhant Mishra (@siddhantvm) July 7, 2026

Lawrence Bishnoi has denied all allegations, and his lawyers have questioned Canada’s claims, saying they need to see real proof. India’s own foreign ministry has publicly complained that Canada has not shared full evidence behind its accusations, adding to mistrust on both sides of the border. At the same time, media outlets have used words like “murderous” and “barbaric” to describe the Bishnoi gang, which can make many people assume guilt before any trial is complete.

Why This Case Matters Beyond One Gang

This Los Angeles case fits a wider trend in how the U.S. government is now treating transnational organized crime. Federal agents are using racketeering laws more often against nontraditional gangs from places like India, Venezuela, and Central America, arguing that they exploit immigration routes, digital tools, and weak borders to build cross-continent networks. For citizens, this raises two hard truths at once: violent foreign gangs can reach into local communities, and the same government that often fails on basics now claims sweeping power to fight them.

Sources:

cbsnews.com, nypost.com, calmatters.org, latimes.com, en.wikipedia.org, foxla.com, justice.gov, facebook.com, bbc.com