Everything you wanted to know about the chinks, with lots of exibits from Martin Booth [The Dragon Syndicates]. I wrote this for my college course and would be interested to get the feedback of gangster geeks and bafoons like joker,,,,and Joker] It's not that conclusive but what would you give it, a hit, a miss, or a fourth base babe!

!Introduction = The triads, as a secret society and criminal fraternity, are second to none. Throughout history they have shown a ruthless and undeterred ambition to dominate any businesses they may be involved in, through opium trading in the early 20th century to illegal film making in the current day. Their motive is simple, to make as much money for themselves and their associates as possible. Friendship and respect for their brothers is important, power essential in order for everything to work accordingly, money the core reason for their criminal involvement, but most importantly, the tentacles in which to have a criminal empire that reaches around the globe internationally and therefore strengthening the corrupt empire they have. Throughout this report you will see examples of where the triads have tried as hard as possible to spread their wings as it were, loose affiliations but strong acquaintances.

Rather than start off with the obvious stuff such as the history of the triad gang, I’ll start off where the triads would, right in the heart of the gangland. Quoted by Joseph F. O’Brien in “boss of bosses” American mafia boss Paul Castellano once said of the triads, “you gotta be strong with the Chinese. They sense weakness, they get brave. You gotta push their skinny asses into a chair and stick your fingers in their face”. [Joseph F. O Brien 1991 p 72] Although clearly underlining the tenacious nature of the triads, this quote doesn’t really do their international [yet benign] vision of their world correct. Far from being cowards, the triads are benign because they would rather not bring attention to their criminal fraternity and international related crime syndicates. When uncovered by the police it is clear the triads are most certainly an active organisation and one that reaches the heart of the “ghetto”. They may not be as loud as Jamaican drug gangs but they make up for it in other departments, reaching places the Jamaicans could never reach.
Immigration
Immigration is one of the most paramount things the triads need to survive, and they deploy themselves in such away as to align themselves with the latest immigration patterns. For example, Manchester is known as a “dragon city” and other international hotspots are also given nicknames depending on their location. Without doubt there is a correlation between Chinese immigration in certain areas and the increase in triad criminality, for why wouldn’t there be? Like a flock of birds, wherever there is an opportunity to be disguised amongst fellow members of the same race or community, there is an opportunity to exploit one’s surroundings, whether it be in Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Singapore or London. In 1980 the Chinese population of Manchester was 7,000, and within ten years by 1990 this figure had rose to an astounding 35,000.

Recruitment
Recruitment is essential for the triads if they are to remain a potent force is the gang world and their rise to triad stardom can be seen through four stages. The key to any successful criminal society is the recruiting of junior members. Initiation fees are mandatory and the normal recruiting age is between 15 and 18. “49’s” is the common denominator for most triads but youngsters won’t be initiated to this stage until they have fully conformed with their junior “brothers” on things such as loyalty and bullying. This paints a rosy picture of youth triad activity but as the case of Li Man-Kit shows being young does not stop someone from committing crime. “ Li Man-Kit was a seventeen year old youth gang member and drug addict who had already been put on probation at the age of fifteen for robbery and having sex with an under age girl. During two years of intimidation, extortion and petty crime on a Hong Kong housing estate, he had forced others to join his triad society, demanded money with menaces, viciously assaulted youths younger than himself and, ultimately, forced a fourteen year old boy to swallow white powder on the pretext that it was a lethal dose of Heroin, then set his victim’s pubic hair alight. When sentenced to a youth detention centre, Li requested that the judge send him to an adult prison. The former sentence clearly constituted a loss of face”. [Martin Booth 1999 p 263]
Phase two of the initiation process is the membership of a street gang. Once in a gang the young triad most likely becomes a “49” [a basic low level triad who carries out dirty work for his masters] and then gets into the game of loan sharking, debt collecting, low level illegal gambling, vice and drug pedalling. Sometimes the young 49 will be obliged to carry out a “hit” and a chopper is a popular weapon of choice. [A Chinese meat cleaver] The “throwing star” [shaped like a Jewish star of David] is another weapon of choice and at close range can penetrate a car door panel although it is not like to pass through it. Only a few 49’s graduate to faze three on the triad criminal ladder. At stage three the triad becomes a “white paper fan”, “grass sandal” or “red pole”, with the latter being the promotion given to most 49’s. [Martin Booth, The Dragon Sydicates]. The triads income now rises rapidly and with hard work, determination and luck [along with not getting caught by the police} he is well on his way to getting on “the board of directors”. As the triad’s income grows, he increasingly has to cover his tracks, and opening up a small business, whether it be as a taxi driver or a restaurant is a good way of laundering money. By the time he is ready for the Fourth and final stage he is probably a well-established and shrewd businessmen, with a chain of men working for him.

Initiation
With more outward power comes more grace, and it this point the triad, still a criminal by all means will start to mix in higher social circles and may even give to charity. [Probably the only member of a specific gang whilst still active that still does so]. The correlation between business and triad involvement is rife in certain places. “it is estimated that 40% of all Hong Kong businesses have triad members amongst their directors and, at a minimum, 80% of all commercial real estate has dirty money as part of it’s financing package”. [Martin Booth, 1999 p 268].
According to Martin Booth “the Chinese criminal world is almost an impenetrable secret community on it’s own”, and without doubt the actual initiation process highlights this to great effect.

Although a triad may commonly dress in a Pierre Cardin shirt and drive an expensive car this is a world far away from the actual initiation that one-day in his life he took part in. “ At a ceremonial venue, a new candidate arrives barefoot with his hair tousled and his coat open. He is given five joss-sticks and recites Four ritual poems, repeating them after a sheung fu who acts as a herald”. [Martin Booth, 1999 p 133] Although this is just a snippet of what takes place you clearly get a picture of a Chinese ceremony-taking place in which rituals are partaken by the new gang member. Numerology and codes are used to keep initiates identity’s secret should the police ever get near the records of current day triads. Among the initiation oaths pledged is “I must never reveal Hung Society [the first triad society] secrets or signs when speaking to outsiders: If I do so I will be killed by a myriad of swords”.

Extortion
Extortion is a well-known triad crime activity and even powerful companies can feel the brunt of triad moneymaking activities sometimes. In the 1980’s an accountancy firm in London was targeted by the triads. The ultimatum was clear, pay a protection fee or your business will be ruined. The business refused and this is what happened. “The extortionists broke into the offices. They did not destroy computer records or dossiers, nor did they smash the furniture and fittings: instead they stole information which was then leaked back to the accountants clients. The confidentiality of the accounting firm was compromised, it’s clients moved to other, non-Chinese firms and the business was forced to close”. [Martin Booth, 1999 p 223]. ]

The Hong Kong construction industry has not escaped triad involvement and this is thought to the triad’s richest domain in the world. Another labour market in which the triads could be said to have a monopoly is Hong Kong’s highly lucrative and highly successful film industry. Numerous film producers, actors and directors have been tortured either for not participating in films or not doing what they were told by the triads. The triads have also been known to charge parking or delivery fees in streets they control, and even the production of the famous “cracker” series did not go unharmed after shooting in Hong Kong. Neil Macdonald, the production manager, was held hostage with the film crew held to ransom by triad member San Yee On. After the ransom was paid Yee On continued to demand “rent” on the street where the series was being filmed. This highlights the tenacity of the triads, willing to make a fast buck anywhere at any given time.

Case study’s
I have highlighted triad crime patterns and initiation but not yet the extent in which the crimes can cause devastation to people. This is a quote from a young man from Guangdong province. “ The hours I spent on board a smuggling ship were the most tragic hours of my life. On the ship, everybody cried at least once. We ate bad rice, drank water that was stained. We had to live a life of humiliation. That old run-down ship broke down often. The passengers were all nervous and scared. Once in a while, we would have to endure an uncalled-for beating. When the ship was in the Atlantic Ocean, two groups of passengers got into a bloody fight over food. The sailors had to stop it by wielding guns. The females were abused by the sailors, who used food to persuade them to have sex. The ma zhais also took the opportunity to rape the women, who ranged from 18 to 30 years old”. [Martin Booth, 1999, p 256] Such tales show that the triads are willing to do despicable things if necessary, and aren’t soft touches when it comes to their criminal enterprises.

Another example of triad brutality is this case of a club being attacked. “On 25th January 1997, thirteen revellers were seriously injured and seventeen burned to death when the Top One karaoke club in Prat Avenue, Kowloon, was set alight with a fire-bomb by a triad society seeking retribution against the one which owned it. In early March 1998, the flower city karaoke club in nearby Granville road was the target for a bomb containing sufficient industrial explosive to demolish the building in which the club was situated. It was intended as an attack on the San Yee On, which controls entertainment businesses in the Tsin Sha Tsui area of Kowloon. By chance it failed to explode”. [Martin Booth, 1999 p 230]. These examples of triad brutality show the triads are not to be messed about with when it comes to carrying out threats.

Internationalism
The international nature of triad activity is something you cannot get away from. In the Netherlands a new Chinese gang has emerged. “They concentrate on extortion and robbery, operating throughout the central European Economic Community [EEC] nations with their main base in Paris, and are considered the most potent of Chinese organised-crime threats. [Martin Booth 1999, p 281] However, there are some parts of the world the triads have yet to seize upon, such as Scandinavia, Denmark, Greece and Portugal. They are distinguished from ordinary gangs by their ritual, degree of organization, and order, and even in the places they haven’t yet reached; you could say the have a fan base all over the world. Societies known to have branches in the USA include the United Bamboo Society from Taiwan, the 14k, the Wo Shing Wo, the San Yee On, the Wo On Lok and the Wo Hop To [Martin Booth, 1999 p 309]. Although the international compounds of the triads is clear, this does not mean to say they’re not active in China. Between 1993 and 1995, violent crime rose in China by 16%, with robbery increasing by 15% and fraud by 27%, so clearly the harm the triads do transpires all over the globe.

History
The first known triad society was the Hung league, and the history of the triads is certainly intriguing. Opium and then Heroin have been the major international best sellers for the triads, whether it be selling them to foreign soldiers during the two world wars or their own people in drug houses and brothels. This article, published by the Sunday morning post [Hong Kong’s leading English paper] on the 13th December 1987 gives a good insight into the triads in a pre historic text and their battles with police. “Police are locked in a protracted was against triads where the battle lines rarely move. Advances and retreats are sometimes barely noticeable in this war of attrition, as each time an enemy pocket is overcome another trouble spot flares on the front. But a recent all-out assault on one gang has driven a salient deep into triad territory”.

Horse Racing
One possible triad plot to hit the headlines of late was the foiled “poison dart” sabotage at Happy Valley racecourse in Hong Kong”. A routine check of the race course found 12 sophisticated projectile devices embedded in the turf at the 6 furlong start at the city centre track”. This was to be used to potentially tranquilize horses enough to lose the race “ in a plot that has been linked to triad organised- crime syndicates”. [racingpost.co.uk]. The secrecy of this operation will of course probably mean no one is caught for this sabotage attempt and the very fact that triads use numerical codes to distinguish gang members goes to show the lengths in which they will go to keep their identities secret. Alleged members of triad gangs include the father of China sun Yat-Sen who is thought to have got his funding from triad business people. It is thought the reason Bruce Lee really moved to America was because triads in the Hong Kong film industry were controlling him, and Hong Kong movie star Chow Yun Fat was threatened by triads because of his relationship with a woman thought to be the girlfriend of a prominent triad. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triads]

Sociological approaches
Marxist approaches to the triads would reason that the triads exploit capitalist societies and fellow working class people for their own gains. In some cases in pre-communist China it was the state introducing laws for the triads, as corruption in the police force and government was so rife. “Following World War Two, the target of the West and the triads became communists again, and Chiang Kai Chek’s nationalist government campaigned to increase membership”. [http;//www.gangland.net/triads.htm]. In this case it may be worthwhile to look at other criminological approaches to the triads, in which case Robert K Merton’s theory of social structure and anomie may be more worthwhile to look at. Merton argues that deviance results from the culture and structure of society itself. He agrees that all members of society share the same values but states that because members come from different positions in society they use different means to achieve their goals. Using the U.S.A as an example, he uses the example of the “American dream” to describe how people aspire to better themselves financially and culturally. Merton outlines five possible ways in which the people of a society can achieve their goals: comformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion. The triads would be classed as being in the third and fifth terminologies as they have some comparisons and relations to ritualism, both literally and in the way in which they address society. They are linked to rebellion simply because they turn to anarchy to achieve their success goals. They reject the institutional means of gaining their success goals and turn to crime as a result. “Those who adopt this alternative wish to create a new society”. [Haralambos 1980 p 589] Merton argues “it is typically members of the rising class rather than the most depressed strata who organize the resentful and rebellious into a revolutionary group”.

Cohen’s argue that crime tends to be a collective response rather that an individual one. Cohen takes Merton’s theory one step further by stating that people work in groups collectively to achieve their goals, which could certainly be said of the triads. The fact that triad crime activity seems to be more predominant in inner city areas [though not exclusively] is illustrated by the “Chicago school” theory. This is an ecological approach, which refers to the relationship between organisms and their environment. It is very much a urban concept and it is argued that the growth of cities produced distinctive neighbourhoods. Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay divided Chicago onto five zones and found that delinquency steadily rose from zones one to five as you went further to the outskirts of the city. Basically they found that the more run down the area was in terms of things like immigration the more chance there was of crime occurring. This is a common conception people have throughout the world and there’s no doubt that triad seem to be more prevalent in certain areas than others.

Assessing The Triads
The overall impact of triad activity on society is hard to access. Durkheim argues that crime only becomes dysfunctional if it is unusually high or low. Triad crime could be described as neither apart from possibly in their homeland so in Western society it might be fair to say that triad crime is dangerous yet benign and behind closed doors. As noted, contrary to Robert K Merton, Cohen see’s deviance as a collective rather than an individual response. In this way you could link the triads upheaval against certain political rulers of China in ancient times with this theory, as collectively they joined together to commit crime for political opportunism. Theorising sociological theories and applying them to triads is both interesting and intriguing and certainly Merton’s theory of attaining goals through various means can certainly be applied to the triads who are among the most dangerous in doing just that.

Conclusion
So where does the future lie for the triads? According to Booth “Triads are embarking upon new crimes. Having successfully pirated computer software and wristwatches, and counterfeited credit cards, they are moving on to bigger things. Amongst these is manufacture of fake aircraft parts”. Booth also states that “there is an international reluctance to admit the potential of triad societies”, and “how far the triad syndicates will succeed in extending their tentacles into Latin America remains to be seen”. The word “tentacle” is one I used in my introduction because it sums up the way the triads operate. Certainly, based on how the triads grow as a group, the average bystander could predict a rise in triad activity in the inner cities and more large-scale drug dealers importing drugs to and from the continents. As China continues to grow as a country, i.e. more nightclubs being opened and therefore more prostitute hotspots, triad activity will grow. The average laypersons should certainly expect triad internationalism to increase and while the police make high profile attempts to crackdown on Jamaican drug gangs [which is another debate on its own] the triads will be lurking to take advantage and move into other areas. This is none so more highlighted than in Martin Booth’s The Dragon Syndicates and this book has been a great help to me in writing this report.







Bibliography
Martin Booth, The Dragon Syndicates [1999]
Haralambos: Sociology: Themes and perspectives [1980]
Joseph. F O’Brien “Boss Of Bosses” [1991]
The South China Morning Post 13th December 1987
Racingpost.co.uk
http;//www.gangland.net/triads.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triads
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