Four questions

CHAPTER EIGHT
Asian Organized Crime
Abadinsky, Organized Crime 10th ed.

Japan’s most popular television comic and host, Shinsuke Shimada, retired from the entertainment industry after admitting to extensive ties to the yakuza. His ties to organized crime were disclosed when a series of emails he sent to a yakuza boss were leaked to the media by another senior yakuza figure who had been the subject of derogatory comments made by the TV host. The scandal disclosed yakuza domination of the entertainment industry (Adelstein 2011).

This chapter examines the most prominent Asian organized crime groups–Chinese and Japanese.
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CHINESE ORGANIZED CRIME
Asian is an imprecise term that can include many diverse groups. In the U.S., 34 distinct ethnic groups make up Asian communities.
Secret societies have a long tradition in China, some dating back to the beginning of the Common Era.
Criminal organizations in China are referred to as “secret societies,” “black gangs,” or “black societies.”
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UNIQUE CULTURAL DYNAMICS
OF CHINESE SOCIETY
Born into a hierarchically organized society, Chinese see selves bound in a web of mutual obligate bonds.
Part of a latent organization formed by guanxi.
Gianxi embraces many concepts such as connections, networks, and patron-client relations.
Built on a series of dyadic relationships, some natural; others must be acquired, cultivated, and maintained.
Parallel of partito, discussed in chapter 5.
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UNIQUE CULTURAL DYNAMICS
OF CHINESE SOCIETY (CONT.)
Loyalty to family and friends is a moral imperative.
Qingqing parallels southern Italian famiglia.
Parental and filial obligations of reciprocity.
Resources are pooled. Each member must contribute. Family must provide each member with resources for living.
Pooling familial resources advances the business interests of overseas Chinese.
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Pronounced “shingshing”

UNIQUE CULTURAL DYNAMICS
OF CHINESE SOCIETY (CONT.)
In this setting, law is marginalized to a position well below mediative mechanisms in the social order.
Like famiglia and partito, guanxi and qingqing facilitate criminal organization.
Guanxi is global, providing a dynamic for international business, both legal and illegal.
Triads are a natural extension of these cultural attributes.
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TRIADS
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Triad symbol: Equilateral triangle representing heaven, earth, and man.
Members are assigned numbers based on their position: Members are 49. Enforcers, “Red Poles,” are 426. A leader, “Hill Chief,” is 489. Numbers always start with 4.
Ritualized dress and behavior. Secret hand signs and passwords; elaborate initiation includes recitation of 36 blood oaths, each ends with death penalty for violation; fee payment to sponsor.

TRIADS (CONT.)
Loose cartels of independent groups with similar structures and rituals.
Members choose their own criminal activities. Do not pay leaders unless leaders participate.
As in American Mafia and outlaw biker clubs, Triads have an associational hierarchy that does not exert vertical control over members’ criminal enterprises.
Leaders advance the influence of the organization for their own and the members’ benefit.
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TRIADS (CONT.)
1911: Qing (Ch’ing) dynasty ended; Dr. Sun Yat-sen, leader of new Republic of China. His successor, General Chiang Kai-shek, imposed a military regime with help from the secret societies, in particular, the Green Gang (Qing Bang).
1949: Mao Zedong defeated Chiang’s Nationalists. Mao sought to obliterate Triads.
Triad members fled to Taiwan where they were tightly controlled by the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang).
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TYPICAL TRIAD STRUCTURE
Leader is called Shan Chu; deputy leader is Fu Shan Chu; Below is Incense Master, Heung Chu; and Vanguard, Fin Fung.
Incense Master and Vanguard administer lodge rituals and vest, initiate, and order retribution. Only mature lodges have these positions. Members pay fee for services.
Ranks of officials: Red Pole (fighter), White Paper Fan (counselor), Messenger (liaison).
1990s: HK Triads invested in Western countries, as a hedge against uncertainty when HK would revert to PRC in 1997.
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HONG KONG TRIADS: UNITED BAMBOO
United Bamboo: strong ties to the Kuomintang Party.
Leader is wanted in Taiwan. Served prison terms in U.S. for drug trafficking. Lives in People’s Republic of China (PRC). Attractive ally to PRC and to dealmakers and smugglers.
Extortion, debt collection, gambling, prostitution, trafficking in persons, pirated movies, construction, bid rigging.
Coordinated efforts in various countries enable international drug trafficking, arms trafficking, alien smuggling, and financial fraud crimes.
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HONG KONG CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION: BIG CIRCLE
Big Circle: origins in Communist China’s Red Guards. Mao’s personal militia in Great Cultural Revolution. Revolution canceled, fled to HK.
Big Circle is not itself a Triad, but major bosses belong to Society of Tranquil Happiness Triad.
Very active criminal organization. Cells in Canada, U.S., Europe that are highly sophisticated in use of technology to thwart law enforcement.
Manufacture and distribution of counterfeit credit cards and other documents, drug trafficking, extortion, prostitution, gaming offenses.

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PRC AND HK TRIADS AFTER 1997
When HK reverted to the PRC, HK Triads were designated patriotic societies by the PRC in an effort to keep Taiwan-based counterparts out, fearing they would join forces with anti-Beijing liberals.
This definitional change allowed HK Triads to establish guanxi with officials and state enterprises, and gain access to business status and wealth.
It also helped them locate licit and illicit business opportunities on the mainland.
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TRIAD BUSINESS
Drug trafficking Triads expanded their operations during the Vietnam War.
Triads control prostitution in Singapore, HK, and Macau.
Macau-based Triads are part of the gaming industry.
Triads run VIP rooms inside casinos.
Recruit rich businessmen and government officials from Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and China to gamble.
Provide one-stop service to their clients, such as transport, escorts, accommodation, protection, sex service, and loans.
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TONGS
1848: Chinese laborers recruited to come to U.S. to work in gold fields in California, also railroads.
1860s: Chinatowns in Pacific Coast cities. 1882 Chinese Exclusionary Act.
Refuge in Tongs: business, fraternal, political groups; also licensed illegal businesses; nation-wide alliance.
1890-1930: Tong wars on East and West coasts.
Gambling (in particular Pai Gow), prostitution.
Mostly exploited their own communities.
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ASIAN GANGS
Many contemporary tongs are national, particularly the Hip Sing, On Leong, and Tsung Tin.
Some tongs are connected to Chinatown gangs such as Ghost Shadows and Flying Dragons in NY, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco.
1960s: American-born (ABC) and new immigrants “Fresh Off the boat” (FOB) formed gangs.
Changed from self-help to predatory.
Victimized tongs and local merchants. Extorted massage parlors, prostitution.
Last leg of heroin distribution.
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YAKUZA
Yakuza roots are in the Tokugawa Period, 300 years ago.
Japan united under a central system of government, Feudalism ended, and the samurai lost their role in life.
yakuza — masterless samurai, unscrupulous itinerant peddlers, professional gamblers, common criminals.
Yamagumi-guchi gumi dominates the industrialized, densely populated area from Kyoto through Osaka to Kobe, Tokyo, and most major centers in Japan.
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YAKUZA
By adhering to rules that preclude violence against police and innocent citizens, yakuza syndicates have been able to operate openly. Listed in phone book.
ya-ku-za: 8+9+3=20; a useless number in an old card game, “good for nothing.”
Elaborate tattoos and atonement finger joint amputation signify membership. Modern yakuza are innovative entrepreneurs, rather than “tattooed nine-fingered thugs.”
Born poor, went from juvenile delinquency to crime.
Long-standing links with ruling political parties.
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YAKUZA STRUCTURE
Pyramidal structure; 4 or 5 ranks.
Decisions that affect the whole organization are made by the boss and his senior executives. Routine day-to-day decision-making is decentralized.
Initiation is elaborate ceremony.
“Talent scouts” recruit young delinquents. Nowadays, computer and finance skills are prized.
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YAKUZA BUSINESS
Control most organized criminal activities in Japan, including drug trafficking.
Japan has a drug problem, especially amphetamines, which yakuza produce in clandestine laboratories in Japan.
At the center of the international sex trade (female, including children) bought and sold throughout Third World countries.
Control illegal gambling, practice extortion and loansharking.
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YAKUZA AND LEGITIMATE BUSINESS
Bankers sometimes dispatch yakuza to bankrupted businesses to confiscate property ahead of unsecured creditors.
White collar crime through infiltration of legitimate businesses.
Intimately involved in Japan politics.
Robin Hood image.
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