His in-depth research on the Mumbai mafia has been used by international authors, including Misha Glenny in McMafia and Vikram Chandra in his book Sacred Games.

His 2002 book Black Friday detailed the 1993 Mumbai bombings, an attack consisting of thirteen explosions that killed 250 people.

[15][16] Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani of Excel Entertainment are making a web series titled Bambay meri jaan, an adaptation of Zaidi's book.

[17][18][19] Shah Rukh Khan's production house Red Chillies Entertainment released a Netflix film titled Class of '83, starring Bobby Deol and directed by Atul Sabharwal, based on Zaidi's book of the same name.

[22][23][24] Matchbox Pictures has acquired the filming rights[25][26][27] to journalist Jigna Vora's book Behind Bars in Byculla: My Days in Prison, co-published by Penguin Random House and Blue Salt.

Directed by Kanwal Sethi and produced by Mohit Chhabra and Ajay Rai, it was written by Zaidi and stars Mouni Roy and Purab Kohli.