ERRI EMERGENCY SERVICES REPORT-EmergencyNet NEWS Service-Tuesday, December 23, 1997 Vol. 1 - 357
Chinese Triads; An Update
By Steve Macko, ERRI Crime Analyst
Triad societies, with a tradition of secret lore and initiation rituals dating back to the 17th century, have long dominated the underworld of Chinese communities around the globe. Based on sworn brotherhood and built on kinship, triads have been involved in a wide range of criminal activities.
Reputed to be among the most dangerous of organized crime organizations, triads prey upon Chinese communities, employing fear and intimidation tactics more often than physical violence. The triads stock-in-trade is smuggling, drug trafficking, and control over local bus routes, fish and produce markets, and karaoke bars.
Mark Ford McNichol, a senior detective with Hong Kong's organized crime and triad bureau, says the groups share qualities with other so-called mafias, but there are differences as well.
McNichol said, "Triad societies occur anywhere there is a Chinese community. Historically, that has been the case for three-thousand years. However, when compared to other organized crime groups, for example the mafia and the Russian organized crime syndicates, they are much less violent, much more subtle in their methods of operation."
Police officials note tighter anti-crime laws have been responsible for a recent drop-off in the overall crime rate in Hong Kong. They believe triads have turned some of their attention north of the border, to southern China.
As in Russia, the birth of free enterprise and the disappearance of state control over daily life in China have nurtured more opportunities for organized crime. But that is where comparison with the Russian mafia ends.
Unlike their flashier Russian counterparts, Chinese triads prefer to do their work more quietly, sometimes using highly placed members in financial institutions or even government.
Former head of the Hong Kong police criminal intelligence bureau Stephen Vickers, now a managing director of the worldwide risk management firm Kroll Associates, says southern China is ripe for triad activity.
Vickers said, "I do not think they focus themselves geographically. I think they focus themselves almost by profit center, in business terms, which is probably the best way to describe them. And I would personally suspect that southern China and Hong Kong represent great sources of revenue. They make a lot of money from illegal smuggling from Hong Kong into China and have done so for many years. If this economic aspect continues, then these people will continue to make money."
Though triads do not generally represent tightly unified crime organizations, Mr. Vickers believes the larger chinese groups such as the "Sun Yee On" triad society, have grown increasingly more sophisticated, and are moving into bigger business ventures.
"From a multi-national's (multi-national corporation's) perspective, triad activity has not affected them greatly," Vickers said. "However, over the last three or four years we have seen a fairly-insidious rise in upper echelon triad activity, which has affected business. Specifically, we have seen leakages of key information, leakages of key tender documents and the like. And these activities can affect, particularly, foreign multi-nationals."
Police estimate there are as many as 50 triad societies in Hong Kong, the largest being the "Wo Sing Wo" and "14-K". While they have loose affiliations elsewhere in the world, Mr. Vickers does not express great concern.
Vickers said, "There is a huge amount of paranoia in the West that they are about to be invaded by hordes of triads from Hong Kong. That is not going to happen. Those people who are going to go -- have gone already. Many of the others could not go, for various immigration and other reasons. I think that people should be really clear and realize that that is not a major issue."
While law enforcement officials note the triads have key connections in the United States, particularly California and New York, and in such European capitals as Amsterdam and London, there is little prospect of the West being overrun by triad gangs.
(c) Copyright, EmergencyNet NEWS Service, 1997. All Rights Reserved. Redistribution without permission is prohibited by law.
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