Triads

 

The Triads are a complex group of underground criminal societies currently based in Hong Kong, whose network stretches across mainland China, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. The Triads also operate in the Chinatown areas of many major cities across the world, from North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand to South Africa. Like the Mafia, the main business interests of the Triads include drug trafficking, gambling, prostitution, money laundering, theft and many other forms of crime. In recent years, the Triads have become involved in piracy and counterfeiting of CDs, DVDs, computer software and other products. The gangs’ speed in understanding and adapting fast-changing technology to their own ends has resulted in substantial profits for their members, and it has become more and more difficult for police to track them down.

 

Violence and Extortion

Triads have a long history, beginning in the late eighteenth century, when a society called the Tian Di Hui was set up in China. The members of Tian Di Hui, which means Heaven and Earth Society, were dedicated to the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty, and wanted to install a Han Chinese ruler in place of the Manchu emperor that led the dynasty. The society soon became popular and spread to many regions in China, spawning new societies, many of which used the symbol of the triangle to illustrate their names. These names often consisted of three parts (for example, the Three Harmonies Society, whose three elements were heaven, the earth and human beings). Eventually, the existence of these societies became known to the British government in Hong Kong, who called them ‘Triads’, referring to the use of triangle in their imagery.

The Triads slowly developed from a political group, with moral beliefs and aims, to an underground criminal organisation. This development took place over centuries, and at first the change was imperceptible. During this time, the Qing Dynasty was overthrown in China, which was in some ways a victory for the societies, but from 1911, some members, particularly those of the Hung Clan, found themselves without a political purpose. Having lived for years as outlaws, many of them were unable to adapt to ordinary life as citizens, and therefore began to form underground groups with a criminal, rather than political purpose. This was because they no longer received donations from the general public, but had to fund the organisations themselves. Instead, they began to extort money from ordinary people through violence and intimidation. Little was done to ban their activities, since the general population were so afraid of them.

 

Crackdown on crime

This bullying reached a peak in the early part of the twentieth century. However, in 1949, the Communist Party of China took control, and there was a crackdown on organised crime across the entire country. The Triads found it difficult to operate within their usual territories in China and were forced to move to Hong Kong, which was ruled by the British at that time. Here, they began to prosper, dividing the different areas of Hong Kong between the various ethnic groups, and operating a system whereby each area was controlled by its own branch. There were initially eight main groups: the Luen, the Yee On, the Fuk Yee King, the Sing, the Chuen, the Tung, the Rung and the Wo. This setup persisted into the 1950s, and the Triads became more powerful than ever in the 1960s and 1970s. During this time, the Hong Kong police began to collude with the Triads, leaving it to the thugs to control their regions as they thought fit, in return for a quiet life and, in some cases, a share of the profits. However, in 1974, after years of criticism, an independent commission was set up to stamp out police corruption, which did a great deal to limit the Triads’ activities, especially in big business. The gangs were forced to take control of other areas of the economy, and began to operate in secret, conducting nefarious business dealings in areas such as entertainment, especially cinema.

Today, it is estimated that there are over fifty Triad groups in Hong Kong, including the Sun Yee On, the Wo Shing Wo and 14K. In general, they operate on a small scale, wielding power over small areas such as a street, a building, a market or park. Their organisation is complex, and in many cases there is no one overall leader, a situation that often helps them evade prosecution by the police. In some areas, small groups are formed as subsidiaries of larger groups (for example, the King Yee is a subsidiary group of the Sun Yee On), but these small groups do not necessarily take orders from the central group. A great deal of violence takes place among Triad members of different groups, but unlike the Sicilian and American Mafia, it is comparatively rare for Triads to involve outsiders, or the general public, in their gang warfare.

 

Hanging the Blue Lantern

In modern times, few Triad gangsters earn their entire living from their illegal business activities as part of the clan, so the structure of the groups has become quite flexible. A Triad leader, or ‘Red Pole’, will have a small group of around fifteen men at his command, but most of these will be working in different fields as well as conducting Triad business. There is a traditional structure within the Triad group, consisting of the Mountain Master at the top; under him, the Vanguard, The Deputy, The Ceremony or Incense Master and, under them, the Advisor, or ‘White Paper Fan’, the Fighter or ‘Red Pole’, and the Liaison Officer, or ‘Straw Sandal’. At the bottom are the Ordinary Members and the Temporary Members. However, in many cases, this structure is modified, and in some cases, ignored altogether, to prevent the police finding the kingpin of the operation. In a further effort to make the activities of the organisation impenetrable to outside observers, a series of coded numbers are used to identify ranks within the Triad structure: for example, the code 49 denotes an Ordinary Member of the group, whereas the code 489 denotes the Mountain Master. Some of the codes are now well known, having been used in the press and in films, so much so that the code 25, used to denote the ‘spy’, or undercover member of the group, has come into common parlance in Hong Kong, and is used to signify a traitor.

The once complex ceremonies and procedures used to initiate new Triad members have also been simplified in recent years. Today, the most common one is ‘Hanging the Blue Lantern’, in which the initiate gives an informal verbal promise to obey the leader. Also, the notion of moral duty and responsibility has changed within the Triad underworld; whereas in the past, a Triad member was expected to demonstrate his commitment to the group, whether or not it was in his personal interests to do so, today there is less onus on him to do so. In many cases, Triad members change their allegiances to suit their own ends; and this has resulted in an overall decline of the individual organisations, which can no longer rely on the loyalty of their members.

 

The Triads today

Currently, Triad groups are thought to exist in the Chinatowns of New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Seattle, Toronto and among other cities in North America. New Triad groups are also said to be moving into Amsterdam, London, Manchester, Dublin and Belfast, where much of their activity centres on the smuggling of East Asian illegal immigrants into Canada, the USA and the UK.

Today, the Triads are still powerful in Hong Kong. There have been several initiatives by the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau (OCTB) to try to combat the problem. Together with the Criminal Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Bureau, Commercial Crime Bureau, Customs and Excise Department and Immigration Department, the OCTB work to identify the leaders of the gangs and the territories they cover, to limit the expansion of the criminal network.

Since the police have not been given adequate authority to investigate matters under the law, a series of special Ordinances have been issued that are directly aimed at the Triads. It has now become a crime to manage a Triad organisation, with a punishment of up to fifteen years’ imprisonment and a fine of one million Hong Kong dollars. Membership of a Triad group carries a penalty of three to seven years’ imprisonment, and there are also fines for this, ranging from 100,000 to 250,000 Hong Kong dollars. In addition, a Witness Protection Unit has been formed to encourage the public to report serious criminal activities by Triad gangs. In recent years, there have been a number of scandals regarding high-level police corruption among officers working with Triad groups in Hong Kong. However, from the late 1990s to the present day, the proportion of Triad crimes in the city – at around three per cent of all crime – has remained fairly steady.