UC-CCJE____________________________Organized Crime Investigation____________________________50
Lesson A-13  ASIAN ORGANIZED CRIME
Asian OCGs are behind a number of serious
crimes with an impact felt on a global level. Criminal
activities are not limited to Asia itself but are carried
out in countries all over the world. Major activities of
these criminal gangs include drug trafficking, human
smuggling, money laundering, illegal gambling,
extortion and kidnapping.
There are many aspects of Asian OC that pose
specific challenges to police – for example, the
culture, language and structure of the crime groups.
YAKUZA
Many have heard of the Italian mafia, but what
about the Yamaguchi-gumi, Kazuo Taoka, Hideomi
Oda, and their yakuza.
Yakuza ( ヤ ク ザ ), aka gokudō ( 極 道 ?), are
members of transnational OC syndicates originating
in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request
of the police, call them bōryokudan (暴力団, ‘violent
groups’), while the yakuza call themselves ninkyō
dantai (chivalrous organizations). The yakuza are
notorious for their strict codes of conduct and
organized nature. They have a large presence in the
Japanese media and operate internationally with an
estimated 102,000 members.
The Yamaguchi-gumi is the largest boryokudan
(violent groups) that constitute Japanese OC. The
Yamaguchi-gumi (gumi means ‘group’) is a criminal
organization that dominates the industrialized,
densely populated region extending from Kyoto thru
Osaka to Kobe, as well as Tokyo and most other
major centers in Japan. These organizations have
been in existence for about 300 years and have their
roots in the Tokugawa period (1600-1867), when
Japan united under a central system of government.
With the end of Japanese feudalism, samurai
(knights) lost their role in life, and many roamed the
country-side as freelance mercenaries.1 The yakuza
– masterless samurai, unscrupulous itinerant
peddlers, professional gamblers, and common
criminals – eventually formed structured groups
called boryokudan. Under the leadership of their
kumi-cho (boss), they are able to exert control over
sections of Japan’s urban areas. By adhering to rules
of conduct that preclude violence against the police
and innocent civilians, yakuza syndicates have been
able to operate openly, with high-profile
headquarters. Yakuza “crime control” is believed to
be at least partly responsible for Japan’s low crime
rate.
The term yakuza is derived from an old card
game wherein the objective was to draw 3 cards
adding up as close as possible to 19 without
exceeding it, similar to our game of ‘21’ or blackjack.
“Ya-ku-za represents the Japanese words for 8, 9, 3,
which total 20, a useless number. Literally, yakuza
means ‘good for nothing’. 2 Like many of their
American counterparts, the yakuza members “were
born into poverty and graduated from juvenile
delinquency into OC”. 3 The Al Capone of Japan,
Kazuo Taoka, was born into a poor family, just like
Capone. He began his criminal career as a bouncer
in Kobe, much as Capone filled this capacity in
Brooklyn before going to Chicago. Taoka played a
Abadinsky / 2010
major role in the mob conflicts of the day, and both
men rose to prominence because of their penchant
for violence and talent for organization. When Taoka
died of a heart attack at the age of 98 in 1981, his
funeral was attended by more than 1,200 yakuza.
“Taoka’s friendships and contacts extended to the
highest levels of government, with two former prime
ministers … among his friends. That kind of
relationship reflected not only Taoka’s personal
success but also historic ties between gangsters and
prominent government figures”.4
Similar ties were forged by Susumu Ishii, boss of
Japan’s third-largest crime group, the Tokyo-based
Inagawa-kai. Before he died of natural causes in
1991, Ishii was involved with the world’s largest
brokerage houses, from whom he received $2.3
billion in loans and loan guarantees. 5 He had
invested heavily in real estate and stocks: His
portfolio was estimated to be worth more than $1
billion. When he died, 4,000 attended his funeral. In
1992, it was revealed that one of the most powerful
political figures in Japan, a high-ranking governing
(Liberal Democrat) party official, had business and
political ties to Ishii; the politician’s parliamentary
colleague is, in fact, a former yakuza member. 6
Executives of Japan’s most profitable retailer paid
gangsters (sokaiya) to ensure that the firm’s
stockholder meetings would not be disturbed – this is
a standard, albeit now illegal, practice in Japan. A
police raid on the offices of the Mitsubishi Motors
found evidence of a continuing relationship between
sokaiya and the company.7
Yakuza Structure
The boryokudans “form closed societies in their
individual groups, but the groups are interlinked
through a widespread underworld syndicate”. 8
Yakuza syndicates in a particular area often form a
confederation for intergroup conflict resolution.9
Boryokudans distinguish between members
(kumiin) and associates (jun-kumiin) who have
not been initiated into the secrets of the
organization by way of an elaborate sake
ceremony, and are therefore at the bottom of the
yakuza world. Rising in the ranks [of this
pyramid-shaped organization] depends on the
amount of money sent up to superiors in the
organization, and one’s share of profits is in order
of rank, with the boss [kumicho] getting about
half. There are a variety of ranks and titles in the
various yakuza groups [saiko-kanbu, senior
executives, one of whom may act as an
underboss; kanbu, executives; kumiin, soldiers;
jun-kosei-in, trainees]; these establish the status
and power hierarchy and the order of authority
within the family group. On occasion when a
follower reaches a certain status in the hierarchy
[usually a senior executive], he is given
permission to train his own followers and become
a small boss [while still remaining a senior
executive]. He announces the name of his own
family and, in accordance with his prestige, he is
permitted to call himself either the boss of “a
branch of the family” or boss of “a whole family.”10
 UC-CCJE____________________________Organized Crime Investigation____________________________51
Decisions that affect the organization as a whole Resignation or expulsion is accomplished with a
are made by the boss and his senior executives, homojo or “red letter” to all members of the
while routine day-to-day decision making is boryokudan, which signals that the person is no
decentralized. Yakuza discipline and obedience is longer a member.17 Tattooing was originally used by
exemplified by the requirement that a low-ranking authorities to make it easier to recognize outlaws and
member can be called upon to take the place of a has become a tradition among the modern outlaws of
boss who has been implicated in a crime, even if this the yakuza.18 Expulsion is considered a more serious
means a prison sentence. His family will be supported punishment than yubizume: former yakuza are not
during this incarceration. 11 2003 reports, however, permitted to practice any illegal trade under penalties
that because too many yakuza were underreporting that include death; to do so as unaffiliated criminals
their income, during the 1970s payments passed on would also make them quite vulnerable. Yet prior
to the boss became a fixed amount.12 yakuza membership means they are virtually
unemployable in the legitimate sector. After a period
Initiation into a boryokudan involves elaborate
of time, expelled members who have conducted
ceremony: At the front of a banquet hall is a simple
themselves honorably may be given an opportunity to
wooden altar laden with sake and food, offerings to
rejoin.19
the gods of Shinto. Behind the altar are banners with
the names of the sun goddess, the patron god of The self-image of the yakuza stands in contrast
warriors, and another associated with the imperial to that of their American counterparts. The
household. Recruits dressed in kimonos sip sake and Yamaguchi-gumi, for example, is listed in the
are given their regalia, a sword, a map of the group’s telephone book and publishes a membership
turf, seals, and some swathes of cotton. There is a newsletter, and its headquarters are clearly marked
short address by the boss, and the new members for all to see. Group members typically wear lapel
accompany kimono-clad women for some less formal pins that designate their boryokudan. The logo of the
drinking.13 Yamaguchi-gumi, for example, a golden diamond-
shaped design, appears on their headquarters
World War II served to delineate yakuza groups,
building in Kobe, on lapel pins, and on members’
a situation that closely parallels that of the “old” and
business cards. Movies that portray yakuza as noble
Nuovo Mafia in Sicily. After Japan’s defeat, the new
gangsters are popular in Japan, and the yakuza are
yakuza that emerged was populated by unemployed
influential in the Japanese movie industry. In 1981,
returning combat veterans and was far more violent
when Masahisa Takenaka was installed as the head
and materialistic than their prewar predecessors.
of the Yamaguchi-gumi, the event was seen on
Abandoning many yakuza traditions, they emulated
national television. His funeral in 1985 was also
American gangsters in dress, often using firearms
telecast—Takenaka was gunned down by rival
obtained from American GIs in place of a traditional
members of his boryokudan. When a rival for
samurai sword. The “new yakuza” entered a
leadership seceded from the clan, he announced it at
burgeoning black market that included trafficking in
a news conference at one of Kobe’s leading
amphetamines whose use had been promoted by the
restaurants. With 18 top lieutenants, he formed the
military and among industrial workers during the war
3,000-member Ichiwa-kai.20
to boost productivity.
In 1999, Tokutaro Takayama, then 71, god-father
Beginning in the 1950s, Japan experienced
of the Aizu Kotetsu-kai boryokudan, was interviewed
remarkable economic growth to which these postwar
by reporters at his private office just outside of Kyoto,
“economic mobsters” responded with expansive
surrounded by surveillance cameras and bodyguards
international connections that extended to Hong
with missing pinkies. He decried the state of yakuza
Kong, Southeast Asia, Russian Asia, Australia, and
in present-day Japan: “Today, they don’t care about
Latin American countries with large numbers of
obligations, traditions, respect and dignity. There are
Japanese immigrants. 14 Economic growth fostered
no rules anymore”. 21 Similar sentiments could be
development of an entertainment industry that
uttered by the elders of America’s OC Families.
included gambling and commercial sex — yakuza
Takayama’s view is supported by the 2007 slaying of
business — and the need for construction and
the mayor of Nagasaki by a member of a local branch
waterfront labor whose supplies were controlled by
of the Yamaguchi-gumi who confessed to the police.
yakuza firms. Boryokudan membership burgeoned,
Police were unable to determine a reason for the
reaching a peak in 1963 of more than 180,000
murder.22
members; so did competitive violence.15
Emerging out of the new postwar order, the
Present-day yakuza view themselves as modern
22,000-strong Yamaguchi-gumi, headed by Nobura
samurai and maintain exotic rituals, including
Yamaguchi who died in 1946, was the most powerful
extensive tattooing that often covers their bodies from
of the boryokudan. Yamaguchi was succeeded by
necks to ankles, and clipped fingers that have been
Kazuo Taoka and then Yoshinori Watanabe (1941)
self-amputated with a short sword in a ritual —
who established a structure along feudal lines
yubizume — that serves as a sign of contrition for
headed by a supreme boss (kumicho) aided by his
mistakes. The amputated top of the smallest digit is
senior advisor (saiko komon), with chief lieutenants
placed in a small bottle filled with alcohol with the
assigned to head the various groups affiliated with the
person’s name written on it; it is sent to whomever
Yamaguchi-gumi. Watanabe’s home in Kobe, a city
one is asking for forgiveness, typically a boss.
about 275 miles southwest of Tokyo, also serves as
Though not obligatory, the tattooing indicates the
the group’s headquarters. The heavily guarded
ability to withstand pain and commitment to the
residence takes up a full city block in an upscale
yakuza life. Yakuza members, in addition to tattoos
neighborhood. Steel doors are illuminated with
and clipped fingers, display other “trademarks” such
floodlights and monitored by video cameras;
as dark glasses and flashy suits.16

Abadinsky / 2010
 UC-CCJE____________________________Organized Crime Investigation____________________________52
bodyguards are quick to challenge unknown visitors.
Watanabe is reputed to get $1 million a month in
tithes from his top aides and has been moving the
group into areas of legitimate business such as
construction.23 “Not since the days of Kazuo Taoka
has there been a yakuza boss as powerful as
Wantanabe”.24 Late in 2004, Watanabe, believed to
be in poor health, announced his retirement and was
replaced by his second-in-command.
About 60 percent of the estimated 85,000 yakuza
are affiliated with one of three groups: the
Yamaguchi-gumi, Sumiyoshi-Kai, and Inagawa-Kai.
Yakuza share similar backgrounds. In sharp contrast
to Russian OC and reminiscent of the early days of
American OC, yakuza are typically lower working
class, high school dropouts, with one or two parents
of Korean or Chinese extraction—marginalized
persons witha history of juvenile delinquency. 25 An
estimated 75 percent of the Yamaguchi-gumi are
ethnic Koreans or burakumin, descendants of
outcasts — Japanese “untouchables” — who have
been subjected to generations of discrimination
because their families are associated with “dirty”
occupations: butchers, tanners, and grave diggers.26
In Japan, OC is an equal opportunity employer.
Recruitment is accomplished by ‘talent scouts’
who scour hangouts most likely to attract young
delinquents, who are given pocket money and
employed in various errands as they are drawn into
their mentor’s circle. Due to increased involvement in
white-collar crime, yakuza also welcome persons with
financial and computer skills. Each recruit has a
mentor, and yakuza apprenticeships range from six
months to three years during which the apprentice
lives in the house of the boss or other ranking
member, performing housekeeping and other chores
while learning yakuza protocol; learning includes
being hit for committing an error.27
In contrast to most OCGs, the yakuza have a
distinct ideological orientation — ultra-nationalistic,
conservative on matters of foreign policy, and
vigorously anti-communist. This has endeared them
to many right-wing politicians, and yakuza are
intimately involved in the politics of Japan. The
relatively low rate of street crime in Japan is often
ascribed to a symbiotic, love/hate relationship
between the yakuza and the police. 28 The police
share the political views of the yakuza and historically
have done little against them — police raids are often
publicity stunts. The yakuza reciprocate by keeping
OC under control. In 1995, when leaders of the
Pacific Rim countries met in Osaka, the Yamaguchi-
gumi, like others concerned with the city’s image,
explained through a spokesman: “All members of our
group want to do our part for our country. So we
agreed to exercise self-control over our
businesses”.29
The yakuza are also concerned about their public
image: When famed Japanese film director Juzo
Itami (Tampopo; A Taxing Woman) portrayed them in
an unflattering manner in film, he became the victim
of a knife attack by assailants who slashed his neck
and face.30 In 1995, when a devastating earthquake
hit Kobe and killed 5,500 people, the relief efforts
established by the Yamaguchi-gumi proved superior
to those of the government. This was seen as a way
of blunting the high-profile police campaign against
Abadinsky / 2010
the group.31 The earthquake also provided a vehicle
for Yamaguchi-gumi controlled construction firms to
increase their wealth; they threatened rivals so that
they did not submit lower bids and collected
“greetings fees” as insurance against construction
site disruptions.32
An internal rebellion by the Ichiwa-kai against the
Yamaguchi-gumi resulted in a great deal of violence,
and it caused headlines in Hawaii. Though
Yamaguchi-gumi loyalists had numerical superiority,
the Ichiwa-kai had seized most of the organization’s
arsenal. Desperate for firepower, Masashi Takenaka
(brother of the slain leader and his replacement as
head of the Yamaguchi-gumi) and two of his ranking
officers attempted to exchange large quantities of
amphetamines for military arms in Honolulu, but they
were caught in a DEA undercover sting. A DEA agent
told Takenaka that the weapons would be delivered
to Japan aboard a US Air Force plane to avoid
scrutiny by Japanese authorities—Japan has strict
gun-control laws.33 By the end of 1988, the war had
left twenty-five dead and seventy injured and had led
to a significant increase in Yamaguchi-gumi
membership. According to Japanese law
enforcement officials, tough police crackdowns “may
have worked to the syndicate’s benefit, putting many
smaller gangs out of business or forcing them to seek
Yamaguchi-gumi protection”. 34 An anti-yakuza law
enacted in 1992 designates the seven major yakuza
syndicates as dangerous entities whose members
have diminished legal rights. Yakuza have held public
demonstrations against these laws.35
The Yamaguchi-gumi was able to lure back many
defectors, and other Ichiwa-kai members found it
difficult to operate without the established reputation
of the Yamaguchi-gumi. This points out that this
exemplifies the need for an OC group to have a
‘brand image.’ The remnants of the Ichiwa-kai
eventually disbanded.
Yakuza Business
Yakuza groups control most organized criminal
activity in Japan, including gun trafficking, drug
smuggling, alien smuggling, prostitution, illegal
gambling, extortion, and white-collar crime through
infiltration of legitimate businesses.36 At one time the
yakuza were largely local crime rings that controlled
neighborhood card games and brothels. “As Japan
grew into the world’s 2nd-largest economy, the
yakuza, too, grew increasingly sophisticated and
business minded. A handful of super syndicates
expanded nationwide, gaining political access and
influence over the entertainment and construction
industries”. 37 They are widely reputed to control
Japan’s busy ports and, in cooperation with violent
Chinese ‘snakehead’ groups, traffic in amphetamines
smuggled in from the People’s Republic.38 Japan has
a serious drug problem, particularly the abuse of
amphetamines, which the yakuza also produce in
clandestine laboratories in Japan, the Philippines,
and Korea. In 1994, a yakuza subgroup boss pleaded
guilty in Hawaii federal court to importing and
distributing methamphetamine and was given an 11-
year sentence. At times, the yakuza have been big
news in Hawaii because of their involvement in
methamphetamine trafficking, gambling, and
prostitution on the islands. More recently they have
been linked to the importation of cocaine, which is
growing in popularity in Japan.
 UC-CCJE____________________________Organized Crime Investigation____________________________53
In 1994, it was revealed that the yakuza have
close financial ties to the banking industry, which
provided funds for the gangsters to invest in real
estate. When property values deteriorated as a result
of a market downturn, financial institutions found
themselves holding many bad loans; efforts to collect
proved dangerous—one banker was shot to death,
and fire-bombings and cut telephone lines became
frequent. In 1997, a securities executive was slashed
to death as he walked home. 39 Banks in Japan
frequently designate certain employees to deal with
the yakuza, and the yakuza have played havoc with
efforts to clean up the banking mess that is the heart
of the Japanese economic downturn. Fear is
widespread, making it difficult for banks to collect bad
loans. American companies buying distressed
Japanese firms often have written clauses that nullify
contracts if they discover yakuza involvement.40
The yakuza are also at the center of an
international trade in sexual slavery: females, often
children, bought and sold throughout Third World
countries. Yakuza helped popularize the Southeast
Asian “sex tours” (Kisaeng parties) favored by
Japanese businessmen. These women and children
also serve in the yakuza-dominated sex
entertainment centers of Tokyo.
Rounding out yakuza criminal activities are
extortion from both legitimate and illegitimate
entrepreneurs, intimidation, and the evicting of
people from their homes on behalf of real estate
developers — Japanese law makes it virtually
impossible to evict tenants. 41 Automobile accident
victims will sometimes hire yakuza to retrieve
damage payments on a contingency basis.42 Japan
has relatively few lawyers and “Japanese courts are
notoriously slow and indifferent to the complaints of
individuals. The yakuza have taken on the role of
lawyers-cum-negotiators.” 43 Similarly, most
Japanese bankruptcies are handled informally by
yakuza-backed “adjusters,” and the police are
reluctant to intervene in what they consider civil
matters. Bankers sometimes dispatch yakuza to
bankrupted businesses to confiscate property ahead
of unsecured creditors.44
Police crackdowns on yakuza business interests
and a downturn in the Japanese economy has
affected OC. When the easy money was plentiful,
yakuza “stuck closely to their own turf and honored
hierarchy as if it were life itself. Things were so
simple, in fact, that using a little muscle often meant
little more than, say, depositing a dead cat on the
doorstep of a landlord being pressured into selling a
coveted property”. 45 With business expense
accounts slashed, yakuza-controlled bars and
nightclubs began hurting, and the gangsters have
become more competitive and more violent.
Members are having a more difficult time paying
monthly honorariums to their leaders, and discipline
has lapsed. Public bombings and shootings —
traditionally an anathema to the image-conscious
yakuza— have become more frequent.46 In 1997, the
Yamaguchi-gumi second-in-command was shot to
death at a Kobe hotel by four gunment. In 2001, at a
Sumiyoshi-kai funeral in Tokyo, two men laying white
chrysanthemums on the altar suddenly pulled out
handguns and killed two of the boryokudan bosses.
Two days later, another ranking member of the
Abadinsky / 2010
Sumiyoshi-kai was shot to death in the doorway of his
flat.47
And the yakuza have not been without
competition. In some areas, such as Tokyo’s
Kabukicho entertainment district, gambling and
prostitution are controlled by snakeheads, who are
considered more ruthless than their yakuza
counterparts and who often use guns smuggled in
from the People’s Republic. They are particularly
active in the smuggling of Chinese immigrants into
Japan and the United States.48
TRIADS, TONGS, AND ASIAN GANGS
Secret societies have a long history in China,
some dating back to the beginning of the Common
Era. 49 An important part of these societies are the
Triads and their American offshoots—tongs and
Chinatown gangs. Before we can understand the
qualities of these groups, we need to explore the
unique cultural dynamics of Chinese society in which
loyalty to family and friends is a moral imperative.50
Any member of the Chinese community is part of
a latent organization because of the existence of
guanxi, a phenomenon that parallels partito,
discussed in Lesson 2.1: “Chinese are born into a
hierarchically organized society in which they never
see themselves or others as free individuals, but as
bound to others in an ever expanding web of social
relations bearing mutual obligate bonds of varying
strength.” The Chinese guanxi “embraces many
concepts, some familiar to Westerners, such as
connections, networks, and patron-client relations.”
They are built upon “a series of dyadic relationships,
some that are naturally present and others which
must be acquired, cultivated, and maintained”.51
The Chinese concept of qinqing parallels that of
the southern Italian famiglia. Family, the primary and
most important group to a Chinese individual, “serves
as the crucible for formation of the ideals of
harmonious social relations and the model for social
interaction. It is an association composed of parental
and filial bonds carrying the strongest obligations of
mutual reciprocity (qinqing).” Family resources “are
pooled and shared according to apparent or
expressed need. Each member is obligated to
contribute to the family as able and the family is
obligated to provide each member with the resources
for living”. 52 Pooling of familial resources has
advanced the business interests of overseas Chinese
in the many communities they have settled.
In this cultural setting, law is marginalized,
relegated to a position well below mediative
mechanisms within a particularistic social order of
human relationships. 53 Like famiglia and partito,
these cultural manifestations, although not ipso facto
criminal, facilitate criminal organization. Of particular
interest are persons of Cantonese and Fukienese
heritage, who as immigrants thruout the world were
subjected to pernicious discrimination to which they
responded by relying on cultural attributes that
provided great advantages in business, both legal
and illegal. And guanxi is global, providing a dynamic
for international business, both legal and illegal. The
Triad phenomenon is a natural extension of these
cultural attributes.
TRIADS
 UC-CCJE____________________________Organized Crime Investigation____________________________54
Triad is one of many branches of Chinese
transnational organized crime organizations based in
Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and also in countries with
significant Chinese populations, such as the United
States, Canada, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Singapore,
Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the
United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, France,
Spain, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Despite its enormous population, China has only
about 150 surnames representing different clans that
often have their own mutual-aid associations. In times
of unrest, many people with different surnames
formed brotherhoods for protection, using secret
oaths and rituals to substitute for familial ties. These
secret societies practiced armed robbery, ransom
kidnapping, and piracy. In 1821, the principal of an
Anglo-Chinese college wrote the first systematic
account of these secret societies that he called
“Triads”.54 A political dimension was added when the
Quing (or Ch’ing) dynasty, established by the
conquering Manchus (from Manchuria) in 1644,
attempted to wipe out the Triads.
The term triad refers to the Chinese societies’
common mystical symbol: an equilateral triangle
representing the three basic Chinese concepts of
heaven, earth, and man. Triad members are
assigned numbers based on their position. For
example, enforcers or “Red Poles” are assigned
number 426; an ordinary member is a 49; a leader or
“Hill Chief ” is 489. Based on ancient occult
numerology, assigned numbers always begin with a
4.55 These groups, based in Hong Kong and Taiwan,
engage in highly ritualized dress and behavior —
secret hand signs, passwords, and blood oaths are
used in elaborate initiation ceremonies. The initiation
ceremony includes the recital of the Triads’ 36 oaths,
each of which ends with the death penalty for its
violation. For example: “If I am arrested after
committing an offense, I must accept my punishment
and not try to place blame on my sworn brothers. If I
do so, I will be killed by five thunderbolts”. 56 The
ceremony may take six or seven hours.
In contrast, Johnny Kon, the man who would later
emerge as head of the powerful Big Circle (discussed
later), recalls his initiation into the Green Gang (Triad)
in a Bangkok hotel room in 1969. Instead of an
elaborate ceremony, in the presence of his Green
Gang mentor, Kon handed a cup of tea and an
envelope with $108 to a ranking member, stating in
Shanghai dialect: “If you accept me, I’ll be very
happy.” The man placed the envelope in his jacket
and responded: “Never tell secrets. Never betray
anyone. If ever your brothers need help, never refuse
them.” “Thank you master,” Johnny responded, and
they adjourned to a celebratory meal at a Chinese
restaurant. His subsequent admission into another
(Red Gang) Triad, however, in addition to the
ceremonial $108, was replete with 36 oaths, the
decapitation of a live chicken, and the drawing of
blood from his finger. 57 In any event, membership
requires a sponsor who is a ranking official of the
Triad.
Fenton Bresler, testifying before the President’s
Commission on OC, points out that each triad has its
own triangular flag and territory. 58 “If I want to
become a new Triad head, I have to ask the original
guy back in Hong Kong or Taiwan to give me a flag
Abadinsky / 2010
which means I can bring it over and that means this
is my territory. … It authorizes for me to go to the new
town and organize my branch.” Although each Triad
affiliate boss is theoretically independent, that is, has
his own flag, he is really only semi-independent.
Spiritually he is linked with the old country.
Martin Booth (1990: 33–35) presents the typical
structure of a Triad lodge. Each has a hierarchy that
determines its activities:
The leader is called the Shan Chu, and there is
a deputy leader, the Fu Shan Chu. Below them
come the Heung Chu, or Incense Master, and
the Fin Fung, or Vanguard. These two officers
administer the lodge rituals and have the power
to invest, initiate, and order retribution against
the members. Beneath them are a number of
departmental heads responsible for the
everyday running of the society and of any sub-
branches, each of the latter having an internal
structure similar to that of the main lodge except
for the Incense Master and Vanguard. These
are only found in principal lodges and their
presence is a sign that a lodge has reached
maturity and achieved power in its own right.
Sub-branches are controlled by a leader, the
Chu Chi, and his deputy, the Fu Chu Chi. Some
lodges also have a treasurer, but this is
comparatively rare. All Triad officers are
appointed for fixed periods and are elected by
lodge members. Initiate members are required
to pay an entrance fee. They must also obtain a
sponsor, to whom further fee is payable—often
far in excess of the entrance fee. This is a
private arrangement and is only reached after
the initiate’s credentials have been thoroughly
checked by the Incense Master and the
Vanguard. A sponsor must also be found, and
paid for, when a member seeks promotion
within the lodge. All monies earned by an
individual society, from whatever source, are
deposited in the central lodge fund.
Embezzlement is not uncommon and has
caused major rifts in some societies, sometimes
leading to violence.
Within each society there are four ranks of
officials. The first is the Hung Kwan, or Red
Pole, who is a fighter and is responsible for
discipline. The Paz Tsz Sin is also known as the
White Paper Fan and occupies a position similar
to the consigliere in the Mafia. The Cho-Hai or
Messenger is a liaison officer who acts as a go-
between in lodge affairs and as a representative
in its dealings with the outside world or with
other lodges.
The Quing dynasty ended in 1911 with the
success of Dr. Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925). His
successor, General Chiang Kai-shek, possibly a
Triad member himself, imposed a military regime with
help from the secret societies, in particular, the Green
Gang (Qing Bang), a Triad that Bertil Lintner (2002)
refers to as China’s first modern secret society. Mao
Zedong and his Communist revolution, often aided by
Triads, ousted Chiang from the Mainland and, in
1952, moved to obliterate the secret societies that
were seen as competitors to the Communist Party.
Among the victims was the Green Gang that had
virtually ruled the city of Shanghai. Triad members
 UC-CCJE____________________________Organized Crime Investigation____________________________55
who fled to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek were tightly
controlled by the Kuomintang, his Nationalist Party,
and were unable to expand their criminal operations
on the island (Chin 1990). Driven out of the mainland
and into Hong Kong, the leaderless “Greens”
survived in small pockets and their power was
eclipsed by the 14K.
The 14K was founded in 1947 by a Kuomintang
general who fled with hundreds of his followers to
Hong Kong after the Communist victory. The Triad
has branches throughout the world, but they are not
connected to each other through an overarching
hierarchy.59 According to Yiu Kong Chu (2005), the
14K is less organized than most other Triads, with
subgroups forming separate societies. Reputed to
have as many as 30,000 members in Hong Kong (the
former colony has a population of 5.6 million), and
about 10,000 in Taiwan, in the nearby former
Portuguese colony of Macau (population over
500,000), 45-year-old Wan Kuok-koi (“Broken Tooth
Koi”) headed the local 14K. When the colony was
under the Portuguese, he directed a violent conflict to
control the lucrative gambling business that accounts
for more than 40 percent of the enclave’s economy.
Wan financed a film on his exploits and in a
promotional interview promised to wipe out an
opposition group. Less tolerant than their Portuguese
predecessors, the People’s Republic imprisoned
Wan Kuok-koi in 1999.60
Although most Triad societies are based in Hong
Kong, Taiwan, or Macau, their influence spans
international boundaries with members located in
virtually every country that has a sizable Chinese
community. Triads, which collectively have an
estimated worldwide membership that exceeds
100,000, are fluid associations of ethnic Chinese
criminals and quasi-legitimate businessmen involved
in an array of criminal enterprises. Most of the
approximately fifty Hong Kong Triads have evolved
into loose-knit groups operating and cooperating with
each other on the basis of personal introductions and
mutual interests. While they are traditional secret
societies, Triads are best described as loose cartels
made up of independent groups that “adopt a similar
organizational structure and ritual to bind their
members together.61 Triad leaders do not dictate to
members what criminal activities they should pursue,
and generally do not receive monetary benefits
unless they are directly involved with the actual
criminal enterprise. As in American Mafia Families
and outlaw motorcycle clubs, Triads have an
associational hierarchy that does not exert vertically
integrated control over the members’ criminal
enterprises. Instead, leaders “devote their time to
advancing the influence of the organization for the
benefit of themselves and their members. When
control is exercised it is to mediate a dispute or
ensure the loyalty of a member.” Furthermore, “triad
members are not solely dedicated to criminal pursuits
and are found in virtually every occupation and
profession”. 62 At the international level in drug
trafficking, Chinese syndicates, whose members do
not necessarily belong to a Triad, will come together
for a particular enterprise and then reconfigure at a
subsequent time for a new venture.
The major Triads like 14K, Sun Yee On, and
United Bamboo, based in Taiwan, have autonomous
Abadinsky / 2010
branches extending worldwide that help to facilitate
transnational criminal activities. In the 1990s, Hong
Kong Triads strengthened their presence and
relationships in Western countries by making
investments in legitimate businesses as a hedge
against the political, economic, and law enforcement
uncertainties in the wake of Hong Kong’s reversion to
China in 1997. The 14K and Sun Yee On have made
substantial property investments in Canada, and the
14K is reportedly the fastest-growing Triad in
Canada. But, contrary to expectations, there has not
been a mass Triad migration to Western countries;
instead, they have increasingly entered the booming
Chinese market.63
United Bamboo was established in Taiwan in
1956 and maintains strong ties to the Kuomintang
Party. Although it was reputed to have only about one
hundred members as late as 1970, the organization’s
size and sophistication have since increased
notably.64 The reputed leader of the United Bamboo
is a wanted man in Taiwan who served several prison
terms in the United States for drug trafficking.
Nevertheless, he resides in Shenzhen, China, just
north of Hong Kong. His activities might be anathema
to officials in Taiwan and even in Beijing and
Shenzhen, but his ties to Taiwan and to potential
dealmakers and smugglers abroad make him a
potential ally to the rich and influential. His politics—
reunification of Taiwan with China—make him an
attractive ally to Beijing. His presence in China
highlights the ties between OC figures and the
Communist Party. 65 Through the use of Triad
members, Communist China “has extended its
influence of North America’s ethnic Chinese
communities,” and the “Donorgate” scandal of 1996
revealed that Beijing was using underworld figures to
funnel money to a presidential candidate in the United
States.66
At the top of the hierarchy of United Bamboo in
Taiwan is an Ultimate Leader, an Ultimate Enforcer,
an Ultimate Superintendent who oversees members
and their activities, and an Ultimate Executive who
operates organization businesses. There are
reportedly more than sixty Taiwan branches, each
with a Branch Leader, Deputy Branch Leader, and
“brothers” or members. Some branches have other
positions such as enforcer, communications officer,
war officer, and internal regulator. There are neither
specific requirements nor initiation ceremonies for
membership. One becomes a member after hanging
out and being introduced into the branch by a friend.
Members of United Bamboo are heavily armed and
engage in a plethora of business activities including
extortion, debt collection, gambling, prostitution,
trafficking in persons, and pirated movies. With a
burgeoning of the economy, they branched out into
construction and bid rigging.67
It is not unusual for different Triads to work
together where there is a specific opportunity for
mutual profit. Hong Kong police, however, maintain
that there is no international Triad network or
centralized control over cross-border activities, such
as drug trafficking or alien smuggling, between China
and Hong Kong. Police state that most cooperation in
such criminal enterprises is more ad hoc. That is,
criminal groups from mainland China, typified by the
Big Circle (Dai Huen Jai) and the Fuk Ching, have
 UC-CCJE____________________________Organized Crime Investigation____________________________56
cells operating in countries around the world that
cooperate with one another on an ad hoc basis to
conduct far-reaching criminal schemes. These
criminal cells typically operate autonomously with no
known central authority controlling them. Cell leaders
use their extensive connections to arrange complex
criminal operations that require a high degree of
organization and planning. Coordinated efforts of
members in various countries enable them to carry
out international drug trafficking, arms trafficking,
alien smuggling operations, as well as a variety of
more sophisticated financial fraud crimes. Most
smuggling organizations such as the Fuk Ching are
based in China’s southwestern Fukien province
whose residents have a history of overseas travel.
The province’s coast and harbors provide easy
access to shipping.68
The Big Circle (Society or Brotherhood) has its
origins in Communist China’s Red Guard, Mao’s
personal militia established to enforce the “Great
Cultural Revolution.” When the Revolution was called
off three years later, many of the paramilitary Red
Guards fled to Hong Kong, but maintained
camaraderie as the Big Circle —from their red
armbands— and engaged in well-planned robberies,
particularly of jewelry stores. As a result of their
relationship with a leading Triad member in Hong
Kong, the major bosses of Big Circle were initiated
into the Society of Tranquil Happiness (Triad) and, in
a short time, became one of the most active Asian
criminal organizations in the world. Thus, although
Big Circle is not itself a Triad, many of its members
belong to Triads “in the typical pattern of overlapping
membership among Chinese groups”.69
By the early 1990s, the Big Circle had established
criminal cells in Canada, the United States, and
Europe that are highly sophisticated in their use of
technology to thwart law enforcement. Known
primarily for the manufacture and distribution of
counterfeit credit cards and other documents, this
group has also been involved in drug trafficking,
extortion, prostitution, and gaming offenses.70
A report prepared by the U.S. Library of Congress
points out that even when they are part of a specific
organization, Big Circle members usually operate in
small cells or partnerships that are often dissolved at
the completion of a particular goal.71 In other words,
Big Circle cells exhibit structural fluidity and flexibility,
and it is not unusual for members and associates to
conduct “numerous dissimilar criminal activities, often
with different groups simultaneously, be they
ethnically homogeneous or heterogeneous.” Instead
of an overarching pyramid, “Asian OC groups are
organized more as autonomous mini-pyramids, with
small cells and mini-bosses dictating the actions of
only their particular cell”.72 Cells located in different
countries provide important networking capabilities,
contacts they can trust and do business with on a
transnational level.
The drug trafficking Triads expanded their
operations during the Vietnam War, when thousands
of GIs were attracted to the potent heroin of
Southeast Asia. When the Americans withdrew from
Vietnam, Triads followed the market and
internationalized their drug operations. Many soldiers
were stationed in Europe, so a major Triad
marketplace developed there, with operations
Abadinsky / 2010
headquartered in Amsterdam. Many of the younger
members are involved in the martial arts and martial
arts schools are often controlled by Triads. In British
Hong Kong, membership in a Triad was a criminal
offense. In the Hong Kong controlled by the People’s
Republic, there have been reports of ties between
Triads and members of the Communist Party, and
Triads have moved beyond Hong Kong into several
mainland cities.73
TONGS
Chinese were originally brought into the United
States after 1848 to work in the gold fields,
particularly in those aspects of mining that were most
dangerous because few white men were willing to
engage in blasting shafts, placing beams, and laying
track lines in the gold mines. Chinese immigrants also
helped build the western railroad lines at pay few
whites would accept—“coolie wages.” After their work
was completed, the Chinese were often banned from
the rural counties and by the 1860s were clustering in
cities on the Pacific coast where they established
Chinatowns.
The first significant piece of prohibitionary drug
legislation in the United States was enacted by the
city of San Francisco. The primary event that
precipitated the campaign against the Chinese “was
the sudden onset of economic depression, high
unemployment levels, and the disintegration of
working-class standards of living”. 74 Depressed
economic conditions and xenophobia led one
western state after another to follow San Francisco’s
lead and enact anti-Chinese legislation. 75 Anti-
Chinese efforts were supported and advanced by
Samuel Gompers (1850–1924) as part of his effort to
establish the American Federation of Labor. Chinese
served as scapegoats for organized labor that
depicted the “yellow devils” as undercutting wages
and breaking strikes. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion
Act banned the entry of Chinese laborers into the
United States. (It was not until 1943, when the United
States was allied with China in a war against Japan,
that citizenship rights were extended to Chinese
immigrants and China was permitted an annual
immigration of 105 persons.)
Chinese became the targets of abuse and
random violence and found refuge in urban areas
where they established “Chinatowns” and formed
mutual aid societies and tongs. “Tong is an
Anglicization of the Mandarin word tang. This in turn
translates as ‘hall’ or ‘lodge,’ but it usually refers to
the organization itself, not the building it might meet
in”.76 Tongs were first established in San Francisco
in the 1850s as benevolent societies. 77 Some
Chinese immigrants, like Sicilian immigrants who had
been mafiosi, were Triad members at home. In the
United States they engaged in organized criminal
activities, particularly opium trafficking, prostitution,
gambling, and extortion. Many of these men joined
tongs that have been able to transcend the worlds of
legitimate business and crime. Because tong
members’ primary loyalty is to each other, if a
member is involved in criminal activity, “the others are
pledged not to turn him into the police”.78 At the turn
of the century, “fighting tongs,” patterned after Triads,
controlled large-scale vice operations—gambling and
prostitution—in urban areas with significant Chinese
populations.
 UC-CCJE____________________________Organized Crime Investigation____________________________57
While most tongs were business, fraternal, or
political in character, the “fighting tongs” licensed
illegal businesses and were part of a tight-knit
nationwide alliance. A purely local dispute between
fighting tongs, therefore, “could and often did
precipitate a fight between affiliates in every U.S.
Chinatown”. 79 During the last decade of the
nineteenth century and the first two decades of the
twentieth, tong wars occurred on the East and West
Coasts. In New York in 1909, a “tong war” between
the On Leong (“Peaceful Dragon”) and Hip Sing
(“Prosperous Union”) claimed an estimated 350 lives.
As the importance of gambling and house prostitution
in Chinatowns declined following World War I, vice
entrepreneurs discovered the profitability of tourist
enterprises, and restaurants replaced the brothels
and gambling halls. Nevertheless, the struggle
between the On Leong and Hip Sing to control vice
operations in New York’s Chinatown continued into
the 1930s. Contemporary tongs such as the Hip Sing
and the On Leong have dropped the term from their
names because of its association with “tong wars”.
Nevertheless, these tongs continue to be
associated with illegal gambling. In 1988, for
example, federal agents raided the Chicago
headquarters of the On Leong, where they found
evidence of extensive commercial gambling,
including more than $320,000 in cash and records
indicating extortion from local Chinese merchants. A
1990 indictment accused the Chicago On Leong and
affiliates in New York and Houston of being a key part
of a gambling operation that netted $11.5 million.
Gambling, in particular Pai Gow, an ancient Chinese
domino game, was available from 9:30 a.m. to 7:00
p.m., seven days a week, at the On Leong Chicago
headquarters, which was subsequently forfeited to
the government. In 1994, Chicago On Leong officers
were found guilty of running gambling operations,
making payoffs to the police, and paying street taxes
to the Outfit.4 They also bribed a state judge to fix a
murder case involving three members of a New York
Chinese gang brought to Chicago to kill a
troublemaker.80
“Important tong members have a network of
social contacts thru-out the country that often provide
them with considerable help in carrying out complex
criminal schemes or avoiding justice.”81
ASIAN GANGS
Many contemporary tongs are national in scope,
particularly the Hip Sing, On Leong, and Tsung Tsin,
and some are connected to Chinatown gangs such
as the Ghost Shadows and the Flying Dragons in
New York, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco.
Dating back to the 1960s, these gangs consist of
American-born Chinese (ABCs) whose self-declared
mission was to fend off attacks by non-Asian
outsiders. At the same time, new immigration laws
resulted in a large influx of youths from Hong Kong.
Some of these FOBs (fresh off the boat) became
alienated from school, found little economic
opportunity, were beyond family control, and began
to form their own gangs.82 The result was an upsurge
of violent street crime in communities that heretofore
had been relatively crime free—“the gangs
transformed themselves completely from self-help
groups to predatory groups”.83 “They terrorized the
Abadinsky / 2010
community by demanding food and money from
businesses and robbed illegal gambling
establishments. When the youth gangs began to
‘shake down’ merchants and gamblers who were
themselves tong members, the tongs decided to hire
the gangs as their street soldiers to protect
themselves”. 84 “Wherever large sums of money
exchanged hands, the gangs sought a slice of the
action. Counterfeit handbags did not originate with
the gangs, but they soon began getting a cut.
Massage parlors and prostitution rings offered
another revenue stream. By the mid-80s, ‘China
White’ [heroin] was added to the list”. 85 The gangs
served as the final leg of a heroin distribution network
that started in the Golden Triangle.
Youths involved in these gangs were sometimes
as young as 13, although established gang leaders –
often martial arts masters – were normally in their
thirties. Each gang typically had twenty to fifty
members. As opposed to outlaw motorcycle clubs
and Mafia groups, Chinese street gangs made great
efforts to attract potential members and sometimes
coerced others into joining. “Sometimes the dai lo
[street boss] stages an incident in which he appears
to be rescuing an innocent teenager from a gang
beating, earning the victim’s gratitude and
admiration. This is followed by gifts and exposure to
attractive women and the promise that no one will
ever dare to bother the victim again if he joins the
gang. He will have instant respect on the streets”.86
“Once a youth decides to join the gang, he goes
through an initiation ceremony that is a simplified
version of the Chinese secret societies’ recruiting
rituals. The youth takes his oaths, burns yellow paper,
and drinks wine mixed with blood in front of the gang
leaders and the altar of General Kwan, a heroic figure
of the Triad subculture”. 87 Members often dress in
black outfits and sport exotic tattoos – dragons,
serpents, tigers, and eagles. The gang becomes a
substitute for the member’s family. “They are not
youth gangs in the usual sense but, rather, a young
form of OC”.88
Although not all Asian gangs have a tong
connection, some have formed around a tong
member, typically a martial arts master who helps
train the members, and they may be used by the
tongs to provide security for gambling operations:
“The On Leong Merchants Association uses the
services of the Ghost Shadows street gang; the Hip
Sing tong is allied with the Flying Dragons; and the
Tsung Tsin Association is connected to a gang called
the ‘Tung On Boys’”.89 In some instances Chinatown
gangs have become inseparable from certain tongs,
linked through certain tong members and gang
leaders. If a tong needs help from its affiliated gang,
the message will be conveyed to the Dai Dai Lo (“Big
Brother”) by the Ah Kung (“Grandpa”). A Dai Dai Lo
may also be an officer of the affiliated tong. Likewise,
the highest leaders of the gangs have served as
officers of the affiliated adult organizations.90
A 1995 federal indictment revealed that New
York’s Chinatown, the largest Chinese community in
the United States, was divided into fiefdoms under
the domination of tongs aided by their affiliated
gangs: the Tsung Tsin and Tung On tongs with the
Tung On Boys; the On Leong tong with the Ghost
Shadows; and the Hip Sing tong with the Flying
 UC-CCJE____________________________Organized Crime Investigation____________________________58
Dragons. Through this arrangement protection
money was collected from virtually every Chinatown
business, legal or illegal; the latter included 24-hour
gambling dens. In addition to the tong leaders, two
Chinese American police officers were indicted for
providing information about police investigations and
planned raids on gambling houses and brothels; they
also engineered raids on competing casinos.91
In San Francisco, a researcher found that a
majority of Chinese/Vietnamese street gang
members in the nine groups she studied knew little or
nothing about the tongs and Triads. 92 Ties that
existed between the two groups were based on
associations of individuals, not organizations —that
is, gang members connected to particular tong
members. Another researcher points out that
certain tongs have needed gang members “to ensure
the smooth operation of the gambling houses; they
needed guards, escorts for gamblers with large sums
of money, lookouts for police raids, and especially
people to collect gambling debts.” 93 The tongs “do
not have direct control of gangs nor are the
arrangements permanent. Tong members often use
certain respectable gang leaders as liaisons between
the tong and the gangs in order to carry out specific
criminal activities. More often than not, the average
gang member is not aware of the particulars of this
connection”.
Although these gangs draw upon the traditions of
the Triads, particularly the ceremonial aspects of
initiation, they have many members who are
Vietnamese (of Chinese ancestry); the latter are
apparently favored because of their reputed ability
with firearms. There are also mixed gangs of
Vietnamese and Chinese-Vietnamese (Viet Ching,
ethnic Chinese born in Vietnam), who are usually
heavily armed. They operate mainly in California but
also reach into Vietnamese and Chinese
communities in other locales. One such gang was
founded by a member of (New York) Chinatown’s
Flying Dragons, David Thai, who was born in Saigon
in 1956 and arrived in the United States in 1976.
As a Vietnamese, Thai was consigned to a
smaller unit known as the Vietnamese Flying
Dragons. Dissatisfied with his lesser status among
Chinese criminals, Thai attracted adolescents who
were recent immigrants from Vietnam, offering them
a place to live and employment, slowly forming his
own gang, which became known as the Canal Boys
—their headquarters was on Chinatown’s Canal
Street. They asserted their territoriality by extorting
money from the local Canal Street merchants.
In 1989, Thai formed a confederation of
Vietnamese gangs in the New York City metropolitan
area and adopted the name Born to Kill (BTK), a
slogan that often appeared on the helmets of
American GIs. Thai was the leader, Anh hai, and the
constituent gangs were headed by a dai low. Each
BTK member signed a paper agreeing to abide by the
group’s rules, which included a vow of secrecy and a
requirement to clear all planned criminal activity with
his dai low. Members were tattooed with the initials
BTK, a coffin, and three candles, signifying that they
do not fear death.94
Because they were viewed as interlopers and left
out of the criminal power structure in Chinatown,
Abadinsky / 2010
there was nothing to restrain the BTK who victimized
massage parlors, bars, and tong gambling dens. In
broad daylight and in front of numerous witnesses,
two Flying Dragons who had insulted David Thai were
shot to death. BTK members subsequently killed two
Ghost Shadows at their hangout and, on orders from
David Thai, a BTK member blew up a police van in
front of an NYPD precinct house. 95 The ultimate
insult, however, was Thai’s 1990 refusal to meet with
Chinatown’s “godfather,” the venerable Benny Ong,
leader of the Hip Sing tong. This loss of face brought
swift retribution—Thai’s closest associate was
gunned down, and at the funeral gunmen sprayed
automatic fire at the mourners. Shortly afterward,
three BTK members were slain execution style. This
did not stop the BTK from committing a string of
armed robberies in New England, the South, Canada,
and anywhere else Asian businesses could be
victimized. In Georgia they seriously wounded a
jewelry store owner who had resisted. The arrest of a
BTK member involved in the Georgia robbery led to
an extensive interagency investigation and the
successful prosecutions of the gang’s leadership.96
The Vietnamese avoid the territoriality that
characterizes other similar crime groups, a lesson
they learned from the Vietcong, who routinely
changed their unit designations to confuse American
intelligence. In California, Vietnamese gangs, whose
members often sport round, deep cigarette burns or
blue dragons tattooed on their forearms, have been
active in the armed robbery of computer chips, which
are often smuggled to the Far East only to wind up
back in computers lawfully imported into the United
States.97
Founded in 1987, the Green Dragons, a Chinese
gang based in Queens, New York, were enemies of
the BTK. The group was made up mostly of recent
immigrants from Fukien province on China’s
southeastern coast. Their leader was ambushed in
1989 by rivals and subsequently returned to China.
Day-to-day leadership was assumed by Taiwan-born
Chen Chung, who was barely out of his teens. The
Green Dragons had a clearly defined hierarchy that
exacted complete obedience from subordinates. An
order to kill would be carried out even in the absence
of an explanation. Without any ties to the tongs, and
with only about two dozen members, the Green
Dragons successfully moved the extortion practices
of Chinatown into Queens. They were a particularly
vicious group of criminals, murdering rivals and
innocents alike. A joint NYPD-FBI investigation using
wiretaps led to arrests of the gang leadership in 1990.
They were prosecuted at the same time and in the
same federal courthouse in Brooklyn as the Born to
Kill defendants. On another floor, John Gotti was
being tried; his trial garnered the media attention. Like
Gotti, Chung and six of his Green Dragons received
life without parole.98
As with almost all organized criminal groups
before the onset of Prohibition, Asian criminal
organizations have typically exploited only their own
countrymen and were therefore able to avoid serious
law enforcement efforts. In more recent years,
however, the extensive heroin networks of Chinese
organizations have drawn intensive investigative
efforts, particularly by the DEA. In 1989, for example,
Johnny (“Onionhead”) Eng, head of the Flying
 UC-CCJE____________________________Organized Crime Investigation____________________________59
Dragons, was arrested in HongKong and extradited
to the United States for masterminding the
importation of 400 pounds of heroin. At the end of
1992, Eng was convicted in Brooklyn federal court,
and in 1993 he was sentenced to 24 years in prison
and fined $3.5 million. The efforts of the DEA,
however, have been hampered by a lack of Chinese-
speaking agents. In New York, Chinese
organizations — not necessarily tied to Triads or
tongs — sell their highly potent Southeast Asian
“China White” directly to wholesalers from black and
Latino groups.
Chinese crime groups are involved in smuggling
illegal aliens for employment in garment-
manufacturing sweatshops, particularly in New York
and California. The aliens are treated as indentured
servants—forced to work at below minimum wages to
pay back their benefactors for getting them into the
United States. Women are sometimes forced into
brothels. In 1993, as a result of the seizure of a
steamer with almost three hundred Chinese aboard,
it was revealed that the Fuk Ching gang is a major
player in the smuggling of illegal aliens. The leader of
the Fuk Ching, Guo Liang Chi (Ah Kay), often relayed
orders to New York by telephone from his fortress-
like headquarters in China’s Fujian province. He was
eventually arrested in Hong Kong as a fugitive from a
murder charge in the United States.99
In 1996, in a scenario reminiscent of recent
traditional crime Family betrayals, the four top leaders
of the Ghost Shadows became government
witnesses, all but demolishing the gang. The
Racketeer and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute
(discussed in Unit 3) prosecutions eventually
decimated every Chinatown gang and the top
leadership of the tongs.100
Meanwhile, gambling and heroin, the economic
lifeblood of the gangs, began to dry up. Atlantic City
casinos offered major entertainment and cheap bus
rides; the Colombians offered cheaper heroin. In a
manner reminiscent of the Irish and the Jews, the
once readily available cohort of potential members
also began to dry up, the result of education and
legitimate opportunity.101
Abadinsky / 2010
SUMMARY
 The term Asian encompasses many unrelated
groups, and Asian OC includes yakuza, triad,
and tong with their affiliated gangs.
 With elaborate tattoos and clipped fingers,
yakuza have a long history in Japan and view
themselves as more samurai than criminal.
They help “police” entertainment districts,
keeping the level of street crime very low.
 With business cards and clearly marked head-
quarters, yakuza differ from other OC groups in
that they are ideological. Their right-wing views
endear them to some in politics and law
enforcement.
 Yakuza activities include gun trafficking, drug
smuggling, alien smuggling, prostitution, illegal
gambling, extortion, and white-collar crime
through infiltration of legitimate businesses. As
with OC groups in Italy and Russia, yakuza
also offer a shadow system of justice.
 Most Triad societies are based in HongKong,
Taiwan, or Macao; their influence spans
international boundaries with members located
in virtually every country that has a sizable
Chinese community.
 As in Italian American crime Families and outlaw
motorcycle clubs, Triads have an associational
hierarchy that does not exert vertically
integrated control over the members’ criminal
enterprises.
 Triads located in different countries provide
important networking capabilities, contacts
they can trust and do business with on a
transnational level.
 American offshoots of Triads, tongs are often
national in scope, particularly the Hip Sing, On
Leong, and Tsung Tsin, and some are
connected to Chinatown gangs such as the
Ghost Shadows and the Flying Dragons in New
York, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco.