The Crime Book

148 THE TRIADS

the chicken sacrifice omitted and

recruits required to suck only their

own blood from their finger.

The rise of the Triads

In 1916, following the death of the

Chinese Republic’s first president,

Yuan Shikai, China split into a land

of feuding warlords. In the ensuing

chaos, the Chinese people turned

to the Triads for protection and

stability. This led to a surge in

Triad power from the 1920s to the

1940s. Their hub during this period

was Shanghai, where the gangster

Du Yuesheng secured the city’s

opium trade by forcing “protection”

on local opium traders. Du bribed

French authorities $20 million (£180

million today), and freely smuggled

opium into Shanghai through the

French Concession area.

Du became the leader of the

100,000 member Green Gang, a

secret society originally formed in

the early 1900s by grain shippers

in Shanghai. The society soon

became corrupt and dominated

criminal activity in the city,

especially in the opium trade.

By 1923, the Kuomintang – the

Chinese nationalist republican

army – allied with the Communists

489: Dragon Head (“Mountain Master”)

The boss of the Triad

438: Deputy (“Deputy Mountain Master”)

The underboss, who leads the Triad if the Dragon Head

is incapacitated

415: Administrator

(“White Paper Fan”)

Advisor on financial and

business matters

49: Ordinary members (“49 ers”)

After passing the initation ceremony, a Blue

Lantern becomes a “soldier”

426: Enforcer (“Red Pole”)

A military commander

overseeing a group of 49ers

and Blue Lanterns

Uninitiated members (“Blue Lanterns”)

Individuals not yet regarded as

full members have no number designation but

are connected to a Triad gang

438: Operations Officer (“Vanguard”)

Assistant to the Incense Master

432: Liaison Officer

(“Straw Sandal”)

A coordinator between

different units

438: Ceremonies Officer (“Incense Master”)

Organizes new recruits and the

induction ceremony

The Rank Structure of a Triad Society

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149

Macau’s casinos became the

epicentre of the 14K Triad’s criminal

activity in the late 1990s following

the police crackdown on the 14K’s

activities in Hong Kong in 1997.

ORGANIZED CRIME

and ousted the warlords in an

attempt to reunite China. However,

the two former allies then turned on

each other and fought for political

control of the country.

The Green Gang entered the

battle in 1927, when it was recruited

by Kuomintang leader Chiang-kai-

shek to fight the Communists. In a

bid to protect their opium monopoly,

the Green Gang sided with the

democratic Kuomintang. On

12 April 1927, they conspired with

the Kuomintang to perpetrate the

White Terror Massacre, in which

they stormed Shanghai’s Chinese

section and butchered 5,000

Communists. To reward the Green

Gang for securing the city, Chiang-

kai-shek made Du a general. Du

later became an influential member

of the chamber of commerce, and

ironically, head of the opium

suppression committee. Naturally,

Du used his position to maintain

the Green Gang’s fortune by

reselling the opium confiscated by

the committee.

Du and the Green Gang suffered

a major blow in 1937 when the

Japanese invaded Shanghai. Du

fled, but returned when Shanghai

was liberated in 1945. However,

Wan “Broken Tooth”

Kuok-koi

Wan Kuok-koi was born in 1955 in

a Macau slum. As a teenager he

formed a street gang. He earned

his nickname “Broken tooth” for

an injury sustained crashing a

stolen car. He was initiated into

the notorious 14K Triad and rose

through the gang’s ranks until he

controlled the city’s underworld.

He gained a reputation for his use

of extreme violence. By the 1990s,

10,000 men were at his command.

Obsessed with his image, the

snappy dresser spent $1.7 million

(£1.3 million) to produce Casino,

a film about his life as a gangster,

starring Hong Kong actor Simon

Yam. Wan Kuok-koi was arrested

on 1 May 1998 as he watched

an advance screening of the

film. He was charged with the

attempted murder of Macau’s

Chief of police, Antonio Marque

Baptista, as well as with loan

sharking, money laundering, and

operating a gang. Sentenced to

15 years in prison, Wan Kuok-koi

continued to run his operations

from behind bars. He was

released in 2012 having served

his time, and in 2015, he joined

an important political advisory

committee along with other

powerful Macau businessmen.

his influence was significantly

reduced. When the Communists

seized power in 1949, Du fled again,

leaving his gang to their fate.

Modern activities

Because the Triads had supported

the Kuomintang when the

Communists seized power in 1949,

Chairman Mao Zedong began to

implement measures that drove the

Triads to the US, Taiwan, Canada,

and British-controlled Hong Kong.

Hong Kong in particular became

a hotbed for Triad activity, with

around 50 gangs operating on the

island. But in the 1970s, the British

government clamped down on the

Triads, and by 1997, the year in

which the island was transferred

back to Chinese rule, the number

of reported crimes perpetrated by

Triads in Hong Kong had been

reduced to 5–10 per cent of the

total. Many gangsters subsequently

moved their operations to Macau

and to southern China.

In the 1950s, the Triads

practically created the global market

for heroin, selling it to US soldiers

serving in Vietnam. However, in

more recent decades, they have

concentrated on human trafficking.

Poor Chinese families, who know

that they can earn up to 10 times

as much money in the US, make a

down payment to “Snake Heads” –

traffickers of illegal aliens – to

smuggle young males into the US.

These men are then forced to work

off the rest of the fee – typically up

to $40,000 – by labouring in

kitchens or in sweatshops for next

to nothing. Failure to do so

inevitably results in bloodshed. ■

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