Yogee Yamma was a confidence trickster who claimed to be a mystic. He was missing his left eye (which he left uncovered), and had dark hair and a beard.
Yamma was wanted in Illinois, Florida and New York on fraud and confidence charges. He also used the alias "Malor Moan". At some point, had served a two-year prison sentence in Leavenworth.
With his wife's aid, Yamma operated petty confidence tricks, including stealing from people during fortune-telling sessions. He would also use a mind-controlling gas to make people give him large sums of money.
Yogee’s scheme was discovered and his wife was captured by police while they were attempting to flee Dick Tracy'scity. Yogee was able to escape by using his gas on Dick Tracy. Mrs. Yamma turned against her husband and gave Tracy clues as to where Yogee’s underground laboratory was. Tracy found the laboratory where Yogee was keeping the chained Professor Roloc Bard, who had been forced to create the gas.
Tracy ambushed Yogee, but he escaped and flooded the hideout. Celebrating his escape with alcohol, Yogee accidentally killed himself when he set fire to his hidden supply of the unstable (and flammable) mind-control gas.
In the novel, Yamma is identified as a hypnotist and con man who was responsible for bringing Professor Roloc Bard to America. Yamma had forced Bard to develop a mind-controlling gas which Yamma then used on his victims. It was implied that Tracy had ended Yamma's criminal activities and Bard was freed from Yamma/s control.
IDW Comics[]
Dick Tracy: Dead or Alive[]
A character resembling Yogee Yamma was shown as part of a large gang in issue #2 of the comic book miniseries Dick Tracy: Dead or Alive published by IDW. However, the character in the comic book had both of his eyes and no scars on his face. This character was not shown being taken into custody after the villains' hideout was demolished, so his fate is unclear.
Notes[]
Yamma was described by several characters as "Hindu" or "Hindu-looking". However, Hindu is a religion, not an ethnicity. It is possible that Yamma was ethnically Indian, Pakistani, or from some other East Asian country.
It was unclear if Yamma had used his mind-control drug on his wife to influence her to marry him. If he had, their marriage would be of questionable legitimacy.
The character known as The Swami from the 1950s live-action Dick Tracy TV series had some traits in common with Yogee Yamma and may have been inspired by him.
