The title is a line from the 1968 Rolling Stones song Sympathy for the Devil. The song references different historical events which are allegedly done in collusion with Satan, the singer.
This is the only line in the song which I cannot place in any sort of context. Do any historians have a clue what event this may refer to?
That line is a reference to these guys. The Thuggees were a religious cult that supposedly operated on the roads of India assassinating people in order to rob them, specifically by deceiving them and integrating into groups by posing as other travelers, and then killing them with a garrote. It was also alleged that these were all part of a an organized network.
I know it is thought that the word "Thug" in English comes from this group but unfortunately I don't know much more. I know I read an article months ago talking about the book the wiki mentions The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India (2002), but can't find it anywhere. The theory of that book from what I understand is that the Thuggees were basically a folk tale that the British Colonial Government took to be a real thing and tried to crack down on. Although there were highwaymen types on the roads the organized, religious part of it is just a story. Looking at the wiki now it seems that book's accuracy is being called into question.
I looked through the list of flaired users hoping to find someone who would be qualified to answer follow ups and maybe /u/JJatt could do it, but this is definitely what the line in the song refers too.