Bamboo United and the Gangs of Taiwan

The Asian Crime Century briefing ten

The Bamboo United Gang (竹聯幫) held a Lunar New Year celebration dinner with 85 tables for around 1,000 people at the Marriott Hotel in Taipei in March, which has led to calls for the police to take action against such gatherings. Guests at the banquet were greeted by 170 young girls dressed in cheong sam dresses as well as a parade of luxury sports cars.

Following the extensive media coverage of the dinner, the National Police Agency was told by Premier Chen Chien-jen to implement measures to discourage such public events, which reflect badly on Taiwan and insult law enforcement authorities (a rather particular reference to ‘Loss of Face’ by the police). Premier Chen instructed the Ministry of Justice to instruct the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office to enhance efforts to contain organized crime, and said that the police should vigorously inspect businesses run by criminal gangs to determine any illegal activities and take swift action against the suspects. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an said that law enforcement authorities must not be challenged, and that he had instructed Taipei police to forcefully crack down on organized crime in the city as well as create a task force to draft concrete measures to discourage criminal gangs.

The Bamboo United Gang (竹聯幫) was established in Taiwan in 1956, largely comprised of many offspring of mainland Chinese who had fled from the communist forces in 1949. One group of Chinese exiles residing at Wing Wor Village on the outskirts of Taipei were repeatedly attacked and extorted by established local gangs, and so they grouped together to form the Chuk Luen Bong, literally translated as ‘Bamboo United Gang’ with the name derived from the bamboo groves that surrounded Wing Wor Village. The Bamboo United Gang were generally supportive of the Kuomintang and flourished. In the next several decades they developed working relationships with other organised crime groups, such as the Wah Ching in the USA, Yakuza groups in Japan, and various Triad societies in Hong Kong.

The Nationalist government involvement with the United Bamboo Gang centred on Vice-Admiral Wang Chi Li, head of the Intelligence Bureau of the Ministry of National Defence, who met with United Bamboo Gang leaders in Taipei in July 1984 and criticised overseas Chinese including Henry Liu (a naturalised US citizen) for their betrayal of Taiwan, which to the murder of Liu in California by members of the gang.

The most notorious member of the Bamboo United Gang is Chang An Lo, also known as the ‘White Wolf’. Chang was convicted of drug smuggling in the USA in 1985 and served ten years in prison. He fled from Taiwan in 1996 after being listed as wanted by the authorities, living in Shenzhen in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), He founded the China Unity Promotion Party in 2004, and since then has been a vocal supporter of the unification of Taiwan with the PRC. Chang returned to Taiwan in 2013 and remains an active supporter of the PRC, although he is suspected to use his political activities as a front for the Bamboo United Gang.

The influence of criminal gangs in Taiwan is extensive, with long standing fears of their political power. A poll conducted before elections in November 2022 found about 15 per cent of local councillors, 136 politicians, had a criminal record for crimes included kidnapping and coercion connected to Triad (secret society) activity.

Taiwanese Triads are likely to also be connected to the epidemic of people trafficking in Asia. Taiwan authorities say almost 5,000 citizens have been recorded travelling to Cambodia and not returning, and the Taiwan Police have identified at least 370 of them as being held against their will (although the real number is likely to be far higher). In November 2022, National Police Agency officials stated that ten suspects linked to two Taiwanese human trafficking rings that were trafficking people to Cambodia were members of the Bamboo Union, the Four Seas Gang, and the Heavenly Way Alliance, the largest organized crime syndicates in Taiwan.

China

The Hong Kong Police shut down 15 gambling dens and two brothels, discovered a storage centre for contraband, arrested 234 people, and seized HK$220,000 (US$28,039) worth of illegal narcotics, illicit cigarettes valued at HK$5.9 million and HK$2 million in gambling chips, police also seized HK$1.93 million in cash, weapons and two cars. The action was part of an ‘Operation Levington’, which is the code name for a multi-decade regular operation to raid and disrupt known criminal premises. The gambling dens and brothels were reportedly controlled by different gangs, including the Sun Yee On and 14K Triad societies.

Illustrating the continued threat of Triad society influence over children, the youngest suspect was a 12-year-old schoolchild who was among five minors recruited by a Triad group to carry out illegal debt collection harassment such as splashing red paint on premises, for which they were paid between HK$500 and HK$800 on each premises.

The Hong Kong Police recorded 2,554 reports of Triad-related crimes in 2022, up 35.3% from 1,888 cases in 2021. There were 1,761 cases in 2020 and 1,353 in 2019. The Police attributed the increase in Triad related crime in 2022 to an increase in serious gambling offences and cases that involved prostitution, vehicle theft, and deception, but this only describes the nature of the activity and does not explain why there is an increase. It is likely that with the greater emphasis on national security policing in Hong Kong there are less police resources deployed to harass and suppress Triad activity.

Japan

The Metropolitan Police Department arrested a Chinese Dragon member and three others from another gang in connection with a fight last year in a restaurant in a Tokyo skyscraper. The Police believe that the 42-year-old man is a senior member of the Chinese Dragon, a loosely organized crime group based in Tokyo. The other three arrested belong to Chukaryu, a similar group of mainly younger members based in Saitama Prefecture. The four suspects, along with a group of others, allegedly crashed a party held in October 2022 by members of the Chinese Dragon to celebrate the release of their former leader from prison.  This led to a fight involving around 100 people.

‘Chinese Dragon’ is a gang comprised primarily of second- and third-generation descendants of Japanese orphans left behind in China when Japan withdrew from the country at the end of World War Two.

Organised crime in Japan seems to be changing, with Yakuza gangsters become an endangered species. Yakuza membership has dropped from 70,000 in 2011, to a low of 24,100 in 2021. After presenting the police with a resignation letter from their Yakuza family, former members still have to live with the same restrictions for a probationary five years.

The decrease in Yakuza influence is being related to the increase in street crimes, frauds, murders and sex crimes in the past several years, which is having an impact on the sense of security of Japanese people. Specialised frauds have concerned the public and are often connected with the Yakuza, which have diversified their activities in response to increased law enforcement activities. Low-ranking members are increasingly engaging in petty predatory crimes, which may be more difficult for the police to connect to the Yakuza.

South Korea

The Korean National Police Agency will launch a special campaign running until July to clamp down on organized crime rings across the country, involving a total of 1,539 police officers in 320 teams at police stations nationwide. The police operation is driven by reports of organized gang members increasingly engaged in illegal business sectors, such as internet gambling and phishing scams. Three gang members were recently arrested on charges of extorting money from construction firms by threatening to obstruct their businesses.

Organised crime groups in South Korea have a relatively recent history, developing during the decades of industrialisation and economic growth in the country. In the 1970s, gangs in Seoul became more violent and criminal groups began to organise into “families”. In the 1980s, these “families” became national criminal organisations and some developed links with criminal organisations in Japan and the USA. The Korean authorities declared a “war against crime” in 1990, leading to the arrest of leaders of the major crime families and imprisonment for some of up to ten years. The organised crime situation deteriorated from 1990, when many of the imprisoned family leaders were released from prison. By 2000, the Korean prosecutor’s offices estimated that there were 404 crime families with around 11,500 members. Since then, Russian Mafia, Chinese Triads and Japanese Yakuza have been trying to extend their businesses in Korea, often engaged in drug trafficking as well as people trafficking.

Malaysia

Former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, age 75, has been charged with corruption after being accused of bribery and money laundering through the government Covid spending fund. Prosecutors have accused him of sourcing $51m (£42m) in bribes from companies who hoped to benefit from an emergency government spending programme. They have also alleged two instances of money laundering through the fund. He denies the allegations, which his supporters say are politically driven and come a few months ahead of state elections scheduled for July.  Mr Muhyiddin is now the second former Malaysian prime minister to face corruption charges, after Najib Razak was jailed to 12 years for corruption involving the state's 1MDB investment firm.

Pakistan

Retired Lieutenant General Faiz Hamid, former head of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), is accused of corruption according to the Interior Minister. Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Maryam Nawaz Sharif called Lieutenant General Hamid to be court martialled over his alleged role in bringing down her father and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government. In Pakistan, for retired army persons to be court-martialled, they must be reinstated into the service, following which a court-martial inquiry can begin against them. Given the power of the military in Pakistan, a court martial and trial seems highly unlikely.