Veerappan, if he knew how to put it, could claim to be a refugee in the war that short-sighted development unleashed on the environment. His grandfather, Muniya Gounder, was a Mettur Dam oustee from Oothanagere village, and moved to Gopinatham village in the 1930s. On his death, his two sons, Koose Munniswamy and Kiriya Ponnuswamy, inherited his land and augmented their income by shooting and selling the meat of the langur (called musiya in these parts). Munniswamy's three sons, Koose Madiah, Molakan Veerappan and Arjunan assisted him in poaching.

The area had a fair sprinkling of dacoits who would waylay pilgrims as they made their way to the temple in the M M Hills. Veerappan's father supplied rations to a dacoit called Maleyanoor Mamootiyan in the forests. The young Veerappan joined the gang, and uses the tactics he picked up from Mamootiyan. He first teamed up with another poacher, Sevi Gounder of Karangalur village, before setting up his own gang. Tusks brought more money than monkey meat and he moved on to elephant poaching.

The first case was registered against Veerappan in 1983, when he shot a forest watcher, Puttu, in Kodagu district. He then killed two of his own gang members who sold tusks and divided the proceeds between themselves.

His gang has posed a serious law and order threat to the government agencies since 1986. According to the officers of the Special Task Force, the gang has indulged in murder, extortion and kidnapping for ransom since 1986. It has killed 119 persons, 55 from Karnataka and 64 from Tamil Nadu. Among them are 32 police officers, 10 forest officers and 77 ordinary people. There are 135 cases of murder, kidnapping and extortion against the gang, 59 registered in Karnataka and 76 in Tamil Nadu. There is a long list of crimes committed by this gang (see Trigger happy ).