All language subtitles for Lords.of.the.Mafia.with.Robert.Stack.S01E02.Chinese.Triads.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

They were forced into
existence by warring dynasties

and driven underground
to grow in power.

For centuries, their
global reach has increased

through fear, symbolism,

blood rights, and secrecy.

There is no criminal
act so despicable

in which they do not
eagerly participate

if an illegal
profit can be made.

Use their name with caution.

It is Triad.

Back at a time
when nomadic tribes

still roamed North America

an already ancient
civilization on the other side

of the globe was giving birth

to a sophisticated organization.

In recent years,
this organization

has grown into a global network,

controlling the lives
of millions of people

by terror and intimidation.

Today we know them
as the triads...

but it was in the 17th century

that the true triad
societies began to establish.

They were born out of a struggle

between two dynasties
battling to control China,

the ruling house the Ming
found itself under attack

and eventually overthrown
by the rival Ching empire.

Among those who came to the aid

of the doomed Ming
were the Shaolin monks.

The same order made famous

by the television
series "Kung Fu."

The Shaolin's abilities in
martial arts were so fearsome

the Ching ordered
them to be destroyed.

The monastery was burned in
the entire Shaolin community,

so one story goes, was killed

with the exception of
a small group of monks.

It was told they
went underground,

formed secret societies
built around patriotism

as well as a severe
code of loyalty

to other members of the group.

In this earliest form,
they were groups of people

who came together for
mutual interest for business

or simply family or clan ties.

They were anything but criminal.

This is what sets
the triads apart

from other organized
crime gangs.

For centuries, they were
and remain of this day

an integral part of Chinese
history and heritage,

often doing a lot of good
in Chinese communities,

both in China itself
and in other nations

as the Chinese spread
around the world.

The descent into criminality
started taking place

over a number of centuries
after they became outlaws.

The triads played an
extremely active part

in the politics
of ancient China.

From time to time, Chinese
dynasties are either overthrown

or created with triad help.

The emperors would use
them as guerilla fighters

or a secret service.

This intermingling of
politics in society

formed an important foundation
in triad development.

To understand it,
we need to look at

how triad societies
actually work.

Retribution against
their own members

or others for
minor infringements

is often swift and
brutal, but seldom fatal.

It's been said a dead
man is forgotten,

but a crippled man is
an example forever,

especially when he
undergoes a chopping.

As disorganized and random
as this attack seems,

centuries of rituals
are still adhered to

and the power structure
is steeped in tradition.

The triad family tree can
change from order to order.

It essentially sees
the dragon head

or leader at the
top of the society.

He may have made the optional
posting of a deputy leader.

Then come the other
ranking officials

such as the incense master

who is in charge of
the rites department.

The red poles is a strong
arm man of the society

responsible for leading
the fighting sections

during warfare.

The grass slipper carries
a title of messenger,

but his importance may
be better expressed

as liaison officer
between societies.

Ordinary members or soldiers

make up the bulk of the members.

Finally, the blue
lanterns are members

who have not yet
taken their oaths.

This title comes
from the tradition

of hanging a blue lantern when
there is death in the family.

But in this sense,
they're reborn as triads.

Each area of rank is
assigned a number.

The significance of
many remains obscure.

It's suspected they
have close connections

to Chinese numerology.

Perhaps the most
straightforward meaning

is that of the ordinary
member who takes number 4-9.

When multiplied they equal 36,

the number of oaths sworn
to become a recruit.

Although now simplified,
these original 36 oaths form

just a part of an
initiation ceremony,

which would take several days

and required the offering
of total loyalty.

I
shall not disclose

the secrets of the
family, not even

to my parents, brothers or wife.

I shall never disclose
the secrets for money.

I'll be killed by myriads
of swords if I do so.

I must never cause harm

or bring trouble to
my sword brothers

or incense master.

If I am arrested
after committing an offense,

I must accept my punishment

and not to place the blame
on my sword brothers,

if I break this oath,
I will be killed

by five thunderbolts.

One man who has
made the study of triads

almost a life's work, the
British author Martin Booth.

Concern for his
safety is so great

that we are only able to
briefly glimpse the man himself

and his location
must remain secret.

He says even before the triads
move into global criminal

activity, they brutally enforce

the loyalty of their membership.

Triad oaths, if
they're broken,

are usually met by a severe
physical form of retribution.

Quite often the murder of
the perpetrator of that

or the breaker of that oath.

Traditionally this is caused by,

they would call
it a thousand cuts

or a hundred cuts depending
on which society you are in.

It basically means that
you would be attacked

with something resembling
a meat cleaver if you like,

but very sharp and you would
basically be hacked to death.

The name triad
itself is actually

an English term derived
from interpretation

of the earliest triad symbol

that of the Hung League.

This is a rubric of
the three society names

of Heaven, Earth, and man.

Hence the three cornered

or triangular symbol
which gives us the name.

A fascinating sideline
to this history

is a design found in
many Western homes,

the willow pattern that
adorns so many pieces

of fine China is thought
to actually be triad based.

The original story
of two young lovers

fleeing a cruel Mandarin father

only to be eventually
caught and killed

is an invention to
explain a design

that has a much deeper meaning.

This deeper and spiritual
meaning is for the Hung brethren

from the original
surviving Shaolin monks.

Scholars believe
the design was made

to encourage each other
in a time of persecution.

The three figures on the
bridge are not two lovers

being chased by a Mandarin,
but three Shaolin monks.

The burning of the house
and the false story

actually represents the
burning of their monastery.

The doves the gods turn
the dying lovers into

represent the soul
of the Hung hero

making his journey to paradise.

It was from this
ancient and mystic past

that the modern triads emerged.

They traveled with the
massive Chinese diaspora

of the 1840s and 50s as gold

lured huge numbers of
Chinese to the United States.

With the Coolies
came the triads,

and with big money to be
made, triads began to emerge

as something far more sinister
than benevolent societies.

However, it needs
to be understood

that these triad societies
are very much a part

of everyday Chinese culture.

If you look at Chinese
communities in California

or Australia in the last
century, the triad societies,

while criminal in Western eyes

actually did a lot of good work

for people in those communities

who are often racially
abused and socially shut out.

Mark Craig is a former
law enforcement officer

with wide experience in
the Asia Pacific region.

He says traveling with this
cloak of respectability

allowed the triads to prosper.

They moved into
criminal activity

in a big way in
revolutionary China

before, during, and
after World War II.

Triads have been abroad
probably around about the time

of the major Chinese diaspora,

which is let's say
around 1840, 1850.

They traveled to South Africa,
Canada, America, Australia,

around about the time
of the gold rush.

That's when we probably
first saw triads

internationally dispersed.

Now, in terms of criminal
activity of any significance,

it probably wasn't until
post Second World War.

When China descended
into the chaos,

which came with Sino
Japanese War, World War II

and the Revolution,
the triads were there.

They often played both
sides off the middle,

always looking for power,
influence and money.

While some triads society
sided with the communist forces

of Mao Tse-Tung, others
took the opposite position.

Some worked directly
for the Japanese

and still others worked as part

of a complex intelligence
network within occupied China

during the Second World war.

But as the war came to an end,

the communist Chinese took
control of the mainland.

It was a hardcore
triads who went

with Chiang Kai-shek
into Taiwan,

a British colony of Hong Kong,

both of which were
to become the locus

of triad activity worldwide.

It was to be in the turbulent
Asia post World War II,

that the triads began to
indulge in criminal activity

of any real significance.

Triad groups such as the
United Bamboo Gang emerged

in Taiwan in the early 1950s.

They were mainly the sons

of prominent national
leaders like Chiang Kai-shek.

The mid fifties also saw the
emergence of the 14K triad,

which to this day remains one

of the most powerful
in the world.

The K in 14K stands for carat,

the late 80s it had 30,000
members in Hong Kong alone.

From San Francisco to
Sydney it is this name

that is synonymous with triad.

The San Yee On was
founded in 1921

and is said to be
the most conservative

and traditional or
the Hong Kong triads.

Still using ceremonies like the
36 oaths we've already seen.

San Yee On initiation
can still also involve

cutting the throat of a chicken,

collecting the blood
in a cup to be mixed

with Chinese wine and
blood from recruits.

This is then called red flour
wine, which initiates drink

to bind them to the
society forever.

The 1950s and 60s was a
time for consolidation

of triad power in Asia

and in some parts of
the United States.

They moved into almost every
area of organized crime

from prostitution
to people smuggling,

extortion and drugs.

But all the while they continued

to back up their power
in the political arena.

One man who experienced his
firsthand in a most brutal way

is former Hong Kong Police
intelligence officer

Colin Lamont.

Under growing anti
British gang pressure

Lamont was almost killed when
a triad-masterminded bomb

he was attempting to disarm

went off with
fatal consequences.

They started putting a couple

of hundred bombs out at night.

A percentage of them were real,

a percentage of them were fake,

but they slowed everything
down just the same

'cause you didn't know
until you'd got them open,

whether they were real or not,
there were teams of police

and as you could appreciate,
very few experts.

But these were
homemade bombs anyway,

so there was no
manual to tell you

to move the red
button to the left.

You had to really discover it

as you were opening
it, just how it worked.

And try and second guess
and be a jump ahead.

And the one that got me
on September 3rd, 1967,

was one armed with
a timing device.

So it wouldn't really have
mattered if what had happened,

I was standing or kneeling
over the top of it one minute.

Got a premonition if you like,
that something was wrong.

Took a step back and it blew.

Three plugs of gelignite
went up to five feet away.

Oh yes, I was lucky to survive.

There was a fire officer,

three stories up and
75 feet up the road

who stuck his head out
to see how I was doing.

And he was killed with
a flying fragment.

Others were injured

and I was unconscious for
a couple of days after

I'd run around the street
giving orders in shock

and then eventually
hospitalized.

We believe too that there
was a certain amount of,

there was a criminal element
involved in that, obviously

because disruption of the colony

served the interest of crime.

For police with
Hong Kong Street experience

like Colin Lamont seeing triad
victims maimed by choppings

but left alive was an all
too common occurrence.

The reality is
that you didn't see

the sort of overt
machine gunning of
people in the streets.

that we, you know, all know
about from Al Capone days

and "Untouchables" movies.

The idea of driving around
with somebody on the sideboard

with a machine gun blasting,
you know, shop front

isn't part of the
Chinese culture.

People hobbling around victims

and still alive are a constant
reminder in the village

that that's what happens to you

if you don't do
what the triads say.

And certainly the
mafia idea of omerta

of, you know, you just
don't talk about it.

That's an important part of it.

No one will tell you the
innermost secrets of the mafia,

the triads or for that
matter, I guess, the masons.

The whole idea of secrecy
is all part of it.

And that's part of
their defense I suppose

is that they've got
everybody scared witless

so that they're not going
to have to worry about

anybody really talking
to the authorities.

Sergeant Dan Foley
of the San Francisco Police

gang task force has firsthand
experience of the brutality

and changes in attitude
to some of the old ways

of triad conduct.

In the case of a
loan shark victim

or somebody that
owes a triad a favor,

they would most likely
main that person

in order to collect the
money eventually from them.

But on the other side,
when there's enemies

and they're trying
to take control,

they would prefer
killing the individual

because leaving
that person alive

will make that
person more powerful.

So enemies, they want to kill,

victims, they want to
be examples to others.

But with
growing experience,

the San Francisco Police gang
task force were able to react

to now familiar patterns of
organized criminal behavior.

As we look back in the
history of San Francisco,

there's been a lot of
activity involving triad

or secret society
operations for many years.

But as of recently,
as early as 1989

through about
1992, an individual

by the name of Peter
Chong came from Hong Kong.

He's a member of
the Wo Hop To Triad.

He was able to organize
independent gangs

within San Francisco to attack

and take control of
Chinatown from the gang

that had controlled it for
many years, which was Wa Ching.

As a result of that,

there were numerous
murders on both sides.

There were arson fires

and some very serious
crimes that occurred.

Recruitment of young
people to commit robberies

to further the activities
of the Wo Hop To

in trying to build a base here.

When Mr. Peter Chong
came to San Francisco

after traveling around
the United States,

we in the San Francisco Police
Department gang task force,

along with other
federal agencies

as well as state agencies
recognized what was going on.

We were able to deal
with it fairly quickly.

Within two to three years,

the whole organization
was brought down.

Mr. Peter Chong had fled
to Hong Kong, then Macau

and is now being brought back

to stand trial federally
along with other people

that were leading
the organization.

The big time though
was just over the horizon.

The triads burst onto the
international drug scene,

largely through the
efforts of one man,

the sinister and clever gang
leader who realized it was time

to take a far more business-like
interest in the drug trade.

The triads
really came into big money.

They really hit the big time

when the international
heroin trade started up

and they were
immensely important

in the establishment of that.

A Chinese, a Hong Kong
Chinese called Ng Sik-ho

was nicknamed Limpy Ho
because he walked with a limp,

was probably the most important.

He and two others, two other men

were the most important in
establishing heroin trade

in the world and Ng Sik-ho
was the most important one

where Europe and
certainly the East Coast

of North America is concerned.

He was the first triad to
go at the heroine industry

with a businessman's eye.

His organization was
exceedingly good.

His network of couriers, if
you like, was exceedingly good.

He struck up an
alliance in Amsterdam

with the Chinese
triad group there.

And he and they together
more or less set up

the heroin trade
as we know today.

Limpy
Ho was eventually

to be successfully charged
along with his wife,

a major breakthrough
for Hong Kong police.

This time what he had set in
place was bringing in billions.

It's been said if it's
heroin, it's got to be Asian.

Thoroughly organized
Hong Kong triads

and to a lesser extent,
Vietnamese and Taiwanese gangs

control the heroin trade

because a majority of
heroin source plant opium

is grown in the golden triangle

of Laos, Burma, and Thailand.

This is where this
load came from.

420 kilograms of heroin,

one of the biggest hauls
in Hong Kong history.

It was bound for
the United States,

Canada, Australia and Europe.

To snare this catch
the Hong Kong police

spent six months investigating
a local drug consortium.

It was found hidden
in 30 travel bags

in this house on mainland China.

Also seized were automatic
weapons and police scanners.

Hong Kong was founded
on the drug trade.

In the past it was
opium for China,

today it's heroin for the world.

It's all controlled by a
strict corporate strategy,

a business plan that takes
a profit at every level down

from the major importer to
the street level dealer.

And this profit is amazing.

A farmer in Burma may
be paid $25 US dollars

for a kilogram of opium.

By the time the product
hits American streets,

it's worth over 1500
times that amount.

Almost no other product
enjoys this ratio to market.

This is why the drug
trade is believed

to be the third most lucrative
business on the planet.

Right behind the
international money trade

and the oil business.

Triads are good businessmen.

They understand that
to be successful,

you first monopolize the
product and its distribution,

then you brand it with
a marketable image,

at the growing heroine chic,

making the drug appear
mainstream and recreational.

Then you expand market
share, which is exactly

what they did here in
Oakland, California.

But in a spot check
on a container ship
from the Far East,

a drug dog uncovered
480 kilos of pure heroin

disguised as birthday presents.

Happy
birthday, heroin.

All but a small
amount of the drug was removed,

then began an elaborate
surveillance operation

with 100 undercover officers.

A US customs helicopter
shadowed a truck

which picked up the
shipment and headed

for a warehouse
near San Francisco.

We're as
low as we're gonna go.

If we stay down here
and stay orbiting,

they're gonna go ahead and
spot us in a few minutes.

When a suspect spotted a
remote control hidden camera,

the police moved in.

Three men are now
serving long sentences.

It's a sad indictment
that globally

human beings spend more
money on drugs than on food.

For the triads it's been
a formula for success.

The enormous cash flood

provided by the international
drug trade financed the triads

even deeper into other
criminal activities.

By now, they were well
entrenched outside of China,

throughout Asia and on the West
Coast of the United States.

The main locus of triad
activity in the world

when we talk
specifically about triads

and not Chinese organized crime,

'cause there's a
distinction, is Hong Kong.

Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Activities are based on
geographical disbursement.

So there's always going
to be fighting for turf,

for example, this
is a typical triad

fighting implement right here.

This is a sort of a,
well, it's a food chopper,

and the triads actually
fight with these

and they undertake
what's called a chopping

where they attack people

and they hack them
with these things.

These are razor sharp.

In places like Hong Kong,

it's very difficult to
get hold of a firearm.

So violence with a firearm
is not so frequent.

So that's why we see resorting

to this kind of
traditional weapons.

Internationally, it's
a little bit different.

Gang wars have spilled
over very significantly,

into the United States.

We only have to
look for example,

at the Labor Day massacre
of 1977 in San Francisco.

That became known as the
Golden Dragon massacre.

That was particularly nasty.

What happened there
is that a new group

of Hong Kong
immigrants had legally

come into the United States.

Some members had formed a
gang called the Joe Boys.

They did not respect
the established

order within the
Chinatown community.

They did not listen to
the established elders

and what the Tong said,

they were going to
start their own gang.

Now of course, there's only
so much turf to go round.

They burst into the restaurant,

had automatic weapons
and handguns, let go...

didn't hit one gang member,

but killed five innocent people,

four of whom were
Japanese law students

celebrating a graduation.

The other was a
waiter who happened

to be coming down the stairs

and as he came down,
they stabbed him.

I think they stabbed
him in the throat.

As a result of that
particular altercation,

the San Francisco
police established

what is still in existence
today, the gang task force.

And they were
instrumental in actually

cleaning up Chinatown.

So how does a
petty triad gang leader

make his way up in the world?

His choices are varied with
a common theme of crime.

He may choose to
move into thuggery

or he can collect
gambling debts, provide
transport couriers

for drugs or even
supply security.

Or he may want to
start his ascent

in petty extortion running
young girls as prostitutes,

recreational gaming
and street traders.

Or if tough and smart enough,

gang rivalry may be his choice.

He'll settle inter gang
disputes over territory

and organize muscle for fights.

A favorite and simple technique

of recovering bad gambling debts

used by the triads is
called ATM extortion.

A method where even
an empty account

can produce cash on demand.

Hi, Kim.

Hello. Look, two more weeks.

I have your money.

Wrong answer, Kim.

I swear, I have the money.

Wrong answer, Kim.

Let's go to bank
and make a draw.

My, my account is
empty. I have nothing.

Ah, you in a
very bad jam, Kim.

Now get our money please.

I, I told you it's all gone.

But two weeks and I
know I have enough.

Ring your mother, your father,

your uncles, your grandfather.

Don't care. Tell them
to transfer the money
in your account.

I, I don't think-

Does your mother love you?

What?

Or she like to see her baby

sent back to her
piece at a time?

What do you think? Huh?

Hand first, foot maybe, nose.

All right. All right.

Father, I'm in serious trouble.

So, your mother does love you.

- That's my uncle.
- Whatever.

See you next month.

Oh, this your receipt,
account balance zero.

The legend of triad
brutality continues to grow.

They are now well known

and feared well outside
of the Chinese community.

They originally came
from Canton or Guangzhou

and they were red guards

or former red guards now that
were incarcerated in various,

so-called gulags
or concentration
camps around Canton.

Some were freed, others escaped

and made their way to Hong Kong.

There they had a commonality
between each other

and soon became
referred to as the boys

from the big circle,
i.e. the circle

of concentration
camps around Canton.

This was a term that they
didn't give themselves,

but other people, like
the law enforcement people

gave to them.

Very quickly they
organized themselves

and they specialized
in the armed robbery

of jewelry stores
in broad daylight.

They would use
automatic weapons,

AK47s and hand grenades.

They didn't care
who got in the way.

Very quickly the triads
realized they had a problem

on their hand because
the whole crime thing

is territorial in Hong Kong.

It's all divided and
you just can't go

into somebody else's area and
commit these kind of crimes.

But the Dai Huen Jai didn't care

and they actually took them on

and had the triads kind
of beating a fast retreat.

Anyway, from there
in the seventies,

the Dai Huen Jai evolved

into a very, very
powerful crime group,

established a good
core source of funds

and migrated to the United
States, Canada, and Europe.

In Canada today they are deemed

the number one threat
to law enforcement.

They maintain an organization

of 1000 strong
across the country.

Now, where they differ from
other organized crime groups

is they operate in
cells of about 10.

And they base their
whole structure on
something not unlike

a terrorist organization
such as the IRA.

In other words, it's
wholly compartmentalized.

So if somebody is caught

or does in fact
become an informer,

there's not much
they can give up.

The illegal immigrants
coming from places

like Fujian and Jiujiang
province moving into Europe

very quickly became inducted

into these established
Dai Huen Jai groups.

So what law enforcement now
took talk of as second and third

generation or second and
third waves of Dai Huen Jai.

Anyone who betrayed
a triad or took them on

met an organized retaliation

dealt swiftly and brutally.

Oh, they're organized and
they are loyal to each other.

They have the same
sense of cohesion

that the mafia has in Italy

and the IRA used to have
in Ireland, the rest of it.

And if they have to
do a piece of work,

that is, if they
have to kill somebody

in order to protect the group,

they will do so
without hesitation.

The ruthless
efficiency of the
triad organization

has continued to place
it at the forefront

of global organized crime.

In the eighties and nineties,

new opportunities
presented themselves.

The staple
business, for example,

let's look at Sun Yee On Triad.

In Hong Kong, they controlled
the entertainment industry,

from making movies right down
to the local Karachi bar.

Of course prostitution,
all the vice industries

are the staple of all the triads

and all the Chinese
crime groups that operate

at that sort of
basic crime level.

When we get up into the more
sophisticated operations,

We're certainly talking
about narcotics importations,

arms trafficking and
the big one for the last

sort of 15 years is
people smuggling.

That's a multi-billion
dollar industry.

Australian police
commissioner Peter Ryan

was trained by Scotland
Yard and the FBI.

Running one of the
largest police forces

in the Southern Hemisphere,

Commissioner Ryan says
he has no illusions

about triad involvement
in the people trade.

We are so close
to other countries

which have enormous
population, billions of people

or hundreds of
millions of people

who are living in
impoverished state

or they are under a
pretty strict regime

and they want to escape.

Therefore, anyone
who wants to escape

can find anybody
to transport them.

And certainly we've
experienced here in Australia

a large increase in
the number of ships

and people coming in
by legitimate means

through the airports of people
who are illegals in one form

or another, and who want to
make Australia their home.

In Australia
arriving illegal immigrants

from Asia have become
a familiar sight.

These boat people are often

exhausted and
desperate families.

But recently authorities
couldn't believe
it when a boatload

of the healthiest
refugees they'd ever seen

arrived in a rusting
hulk fitted out

with highly sophisticated
navigation equipment.

It turned out that these 139
refugees could have posed

a very real threat
to national security.

In some cases it's
been discovered recently

that some of the people who've
been traveling here on ships

have been brought
by one particular

organized crime syndicate
to do two things.

First of all, they
do it for money,

but secondly, to
boost the numbers

of the triad members
here in the country

so that they could outnumber

the next biggest
triad organization.

So it is becoming
a problem for us,

but it's one where we are having

quite a large degree
of success as well.

For example, the
crime groups operating

out of southern China in
connection with triads in Taiwan

and Hong Kong have smuggled
throughout the 1980s

100,000 people per annum
to the United States alone,

at an average charge
of 35 to $50,000.

As you can understand,
it's big money.

Mark Craig's
experience with triads

had left him in no doubt as of
their capacity for brutality.

He tells a chilling story
of how close death can be

in dealing with gang members,

particularly for courageous
officers who work undercover.

I have a friend with the New
York City Police Department,

a Chinese American, and
he spent a couple of years

undercover in a particular
Chinese organization

in Manhattan.

Anyway, one day he was
bringing in two out of town

criminals from a different
organization into New York.

They were in the
out of town car,

so it had out of town
number plates obviously.

Anyway, a traffic
cop stopped the car

and spoke to the driver

and made some disparaging
comment in terms
of his ethnicity.

Evening, gentlemen,

you realize you're
doing 65 in a 55 zone?

License and registration please.

You gentleman off to a
Chinese tea party are you?

Went back
to his vehicle to,

I guess to get
his citation book.

The out of
town triad gangster

became extremely agitated

by the police officer's
negative comments.

He drew a pistol

and wanted to kill the officer.

The undercover policeman
thought quickly

and removed the threat.

Mark Craig recalls
the officer's words.

"If anybody's gonna
shoot this cop, it's me.

You're in my town.
You are insulting me.

Well, I'm gonna lose face
here. I'm gonna shoot this cop.

Okay?

But I'll do it when I'm ready.
And now's not the time."

Hey gentlemen, try to
take it easy tonight.

Thank you very much.

And so the whole thing
was cooled down and went on.

So just how do law enforcement
agencies here and worldwide

deal with such a strong

and ferocious network of evil?

Almost impossible to penetrate,

the individual triad
gangs are also moving

more and more into
legitimate business,

owning their own banks

and often having budgets bigger
than some entire nations.

Here we see a police operation

about to hit the
streets of Hong Kong.

Customs officials are moving
out to raid the territory.

Tonight's target are the young
hawkers of pirated music CDs.

There are many arrests of
hawkers as young as 12.

They're often used as expendable
workers by the triads.

Any tourist who's been to Hong
Kong knows that when it comes

to counterfeiting, the
Chinese are hard to beat.

Music CDs and computer
software expertly copied

and often undetectable
from the original

except for their low price
turn over multi-millions.

The average careful
tourist can avoid

becoming a part of
the pirating problem.

But a more sinister
trade in recent years,

catching many, is the
cloning of credit cards.

They are surprisingly
easy to forge.

Magazines brazenly
advertise the equipment

needed to create the cards.

All you then need is a
current credit card number

obtained from someone's card
without their knowledge.

A nasty surprise is
when they get the bill.

China is attempting to crack
down on this billion dollar

cloning industry that also
includes a perennial favorites

of Rolex watches and Gucci bags.

But it's a tough battle.

This raid netted the triad
operating the hawkers.

He was arrested and
he's not worried

as long as there's
big money to be made.

A fine of a few hundred dollars

will only have these criminals

laughing authorities
in the face.

But the smiles of
contempt can also turn

to exclusive
expressions of outrage.

Hong Kong recently saw arson
attacks on six government

vehicles in revenge for the
jailing of a triad leader.

Hong Kong has the toughest

and most comprehensive
laws against triads.

The specifically tailored
Societies Ordinance Law

and the Organized and
Serious Crimes Ordinance

enhances a police's
ability to investigate

triad related offenses.

Triad membership or merely
claiming to be an office bearer

for the triads, makes the
offender liable for a fine

of 1 million Hong Kong dollars
and 15 years in prison.

Like crime
investigators worldwide

Commissioner Ryan says
that organized crime gangs

like triads have evolved

into incredibly
complex organizations.

They have tentacles
into legitimate business

and share methods of operation

with other international
crime gangs.

Organized crime generally,

and it's very
difficult to pin down

in terms of who is
masterminding what.

Most of them have branched
out into other activities

which provide a legal
or semi-legal framework.

As we all know, a lot of Russian

organized crime gangs
actually own banks.

They own investment and money
laundering organizations

which appear to be
legitimate on the surface,

but in fact are just a
conduit for drug money

or drug running or whatever.

There are
signs that major inroads

have been made against
the triads in many areas,

but law enforcement officers
once found it almost impossible

to penetrate the
triad societies.

One major reason for
this was their ability

to melt into a community
and to terrorize people.

While strutting the
international crime stage

triads continue to
stand over members

of their own communities.

The kidnappings for ransom

and murder that take
place around the world,

predominantly within the
Fujianese illegal community.

Now, the gangs that have
sprung up in these communities

like the Fuk Ching Gang in
New York City, for example,

who maintain a
hardcore membership

of 500 gun-carrying people.

These gangs have
made their big money

through people smuggling
and narcotics importation.

Now to furnish their cash flow

they engage in
kidnapping for ransom.

Now, there's one particular
case that springs to mind

that involved a group
called the Flying Dragons.

What they did in this
particular instance,

they kidnapped three
people, all separately,

all unknown to each
other, all randomly.

Had the particular victims
place a phone call back to China

under duress, extreme
torture as a matter of fact,

seeking $36,000,

36 being a significant
number in triad mythology.

So what they're doing,
they're sending a signal

to the family in China that
you're dealing with triads.

In this particular
case, the poor family

couldn't come up with
more than $5,000.

So what they did on a
subsequent phone call,

they took a Chinese meat
cleaver, not unlike this one,

and removed her small finger.

Unfortunately, the family
could not raise any more

as it turns out, and they
ended up murdering her,

after torturing
her for two weeks.

Ultimately,
the experts are unanimous

on one point we
will probably never

be able to stamp out the triads.

A recent report states that
worried Chinese authorities

believe there may be as many
as 150,000 criminal gangs

with over one and a half
million gang members

connected to large syndicates
now operating in China.

However, 1998 saw
a world-leading

3,500 criminal executions
carried out there.

Harsh steps to discourage the
rising flood of criminality.

Police commissioner Peter
Ryan says anti-crime forces

around the world are now
enjoying more success,

but admits it's never
time to be complacent.

I'd rather not say
we were losing the war

or winning the war, but to
say that we're keeping abreast

of the changes in
organized crime league,

people who are behind it.

We've had some very, very
significant seizures of heroin,

particularly only last
year we seized a ship

carrying somewhere in the region
of 400 kilograms of heroin.

Street value of nearly $500
million or thereabouts.

We've seized a number of
ships carrying people.

We've caught people
coming in at the airport.

We've disrupted money
laundering chains

and we've arrested quite
a few senior gang leaders.

So we're on top of these people.

But the problem with
it is, of course,

that organized
crime always finds

a new outlet for its activities.

No matter how careful
we are, no matter

how good the police
are to track them down,

the moment we're on their tail,

they move on to
another enterprise.

They have far more money
than law enforcement.

As you know, many of these
major international gangs

have got more money than
many countries have.

So they can very quickly
change their activity

from one activity to another.

As long as there is a
criminal dollar to be made,

they will pursue it
with a ruthlessness

matched by few other
crime syndicates.

Global criminals
continue to evolve

and change faster than
we can move against them.

However, no one is
throwing in the towel.

It is of course
right that Western governments

and indeed Eastern governments,
Chinese government,

the Taiwanese
government should act

against organized criminals.

They undermine society.

Having said that,
the Chinese triads

are a fascinating difference.

You can't say that the mafia
are a part of Italy's heritage

or the Cosa Nostra is a
part of Italy's heritage.

But you can say that
Chinese secret societies

are integral to Chinese society.

They have their roots in
the culture of that country.

For centuries,
they were accepted.

And in some Chinese
communities to this day,

even though they may be
parasitizing that society

by demanding protection
money and so forth,

they may also be benefiting
that society in some instances.

To criticize the triads

as criminal gangs
is right today.

But you have to realize

that historically they
weren't criminals.

They were often outlaws,

but they played an important
part in the foundation

and development of
Chinese history.

You can't
even eradicate triads

in their own home
turf Hong Kong.

That will never happen,
even though it's been

illegal, for example, in
Hong Kong to be a member

of a triad since at least 1840,
it hasn't been eradicated.

And I don't think within
the West we have any chance

of eradicating
foreign-based crime groups

such as these different
Chinese groups

because they are far
too sophisticated

and we actually know
very little about them.

Well, I think what
they're finding,

the myth that this
secret society that
no one will cooperate

with law enforcement, namely
the victims won't cooperate,

or their own individuals will
not cooperate, has been false

because we've gotten
great cooperation

through witnesses
in the community

and outstanding cooperation
from their own members

who find themself
having a problem

with particular cases and are
willing to give up everybody.

So as law enforcement and
community start understanding

that these are just people

and they're criminals,

and we can have
an impact on them

and through mutual
cooperations with countries,

if we can't get 'em
here, they may be able

to get 'em someplace else
and put 'em out of business.

So now, after
centuries of battle

against a sinister network
of crime and murder,

the war is set to continue
well into the new millennium.

As long as the triads
can continue to adapt

and refine their highly
efficient and ruthless network,

law enforcement officers admit

they will never be
totally destroyed.

That does not mean defeat.

It means we'll just have
to continue the fight

against what remains as the
world's largest crime syndicate.

I'm Robert Stack,
thanks for joining us.