now people use thugs to mean big buddies (often armed, or linked to mafias of gangs).
But the origin of the word Thugs is oriental: it belonged to The Order of the Thugs, a very secretive group controlled by black lodges, where indivduals were mind-controlled with drugs and torture to become selfless assassins. Rulers were killed by these assasins of the Order of the Thugs. They are not amateurs. They manage to get information through mediums from the souls of the VIPs they killed, this mediumnistic info helsp the black lodges to know exactly what must be done in order to spread their influence and make the future the way They want it to be.
We can also see a connection between hashich and Haschichins, or Assassins, in the antique MidEast. History only knows the tip of the iceberg of these groups.