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Wo Shing Wo

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Wo Shing Wo
Founded1930 (1930)
Founding locationSham Shui Po, Hong Kong
Years active1930–present
TerritoryHong Kong, Macau, People's Republic of China, and Chinese communities globally
EthnicityMajority Chinese and Vietnamese, Minority Thai, Korean, British, and American[1]
MembershipUnknown
Criminal activities
AlliesBig Circle Gang
Rivals

Wo Shing Wo or WSW (Chinese: 和勝和; Jyutping: wo4 sing3 wo4) is the oldest of the Wo Group triad societies, and is the triad with the longest history in Hong Kong. According to the Hong Kong police, the triad is involved in extortion, drug trafficking, gambling and prostitution.[2]

Wo Shing Wo was established in Sham Shui Po in 1930. While maintaining its traditional stronghold in Tsuen Wan, it has extended its influence to Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok. It also operates in Tai Po, Sheung Shui and Fanling.[3][4] The group continues to use the old Hongmen Secret Society initiating ceremony for newly recruited members.[citation needed]

History

Early

The Wo Shing Wo triad was established in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong in 1930. Like most Chinese triads, the organization's roots date back to secret societies founded during the Ming and Qing dynasties. During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong from 1941 to 1945, the Wo Shing Wo collaborated with the occupational government.[5] Due to the post-World War II continuation of the Chinese Civil War, numerous refugees from China fled to Hong Kong, many of whom were recruited into the Wo Shing Wo. By the 1950's, the total Wo Shing Wo membership had expanded from roughly 15,000 to approximately 70,000. [citation needed]

Modern

In 1989, Wo Shing Wo became the centre of media attention after the terrorist attacks on the Indonesian coast bordering the South China Sea. In 1995, a young member of London's mainly Filipino Wo Shing Wo killed Philip Lawrence, a school headmaster.

As the United Kingdom prepared for the handover of Hong Kong back to the People's Republic of China, Wo Shing Wo redefined their organisation to prepare for their murky operations in mainland China. WSW split into six separate regional forces in Hong Kong—500 fully armed members in North Territories, hawkers in Sham Shui Po, love hotels in Jordan, with groups in Tsuen Wan, Wanchai and a new branch across the border in Shenzhen (1997).

In 2001, Wo Shing Wo traded drugs in discos and bars with Judi Fong and religious communities,[citation needed] promising that drugs can enhance religious experiences through visions and hallucinations. By 2005 WSW has become Hong Kong's No.1 drug trafficker.[citation needed] WSW's drug dealing activities and key criminal activities spread to China, Japan, Thailand and Australia. WSW is involved in various criminal activities and some of Hong Kong's politicians and businessmen are suspected to be supporters of the Triad group. WSW is split into two main forces, one based in Macau and another in Shenzhen. WSW began to emerge in Europe.

By 2006 Wo Shing Wo has control over the secondhand market in Hong Kong, including mobile phones, electronic appliances, stolen cars and exchange of weaponry at Mong Kok.[citation needed] Wo Shing Wo members are attacked by members of Wo on Lok. Firearms are used and many are hurt.[when?] Wo Shing Wo raises crime rate in Chinatown, London, United Kingdom.

In 2014, the Triad was thought by police to be responsible for the brutal stabbing on 26 February of Kevin Lau, a journalist known for his tough reporting on China, who had been fired from his position as the editor of the Ming Pao newspaper.[6] The attack took place three days after thousands of people had demonstrated for press freedom, as a result of the dismissal[7] and was carried out by an assailant riding pillion on a motorbike, which had been stolen in Fanling.[4][6]

Minibus racket

From 2006 to at least 2010, the group controlled three red minibus routes and was extorting at least HK$14 million a year as protection fees from 30 drivers. Former group Dragonhead "Broken Mouth Bun", who, police say, is the leader of the group running the Tsuen Wan – Kwun Tong route, was arrested and bailed on 21 March 2010 in connection with the scheme. On each route, about 30 drivers pay at least HK$10,000 a month as a "protection fee" to the Wo Shing Wo. The WSW then make sure no other driver could run the routes, leaving the drivers able to earn HK$10,000 and HK$20,000 a month. Three other minibus routes running between Tsuen Wan and Kowloon East – Choi Hung, Tsz Wan Shan and Ngau Tau Kok – are controlled by another Wo Shing Wo leader.[2]

International activity

Australia

A 1992 internal report by the Asian division of the Victoria Police documented Wo Shing Wo activity in Melbourne.[8] The group is involved in the importation of heroin into Australia from Southeast Asia, as well as illegal gambling, illegal prostitution, extortion, immigration malpractice and money laundering.[9] Chinese criminal groups are the primary wholesalers of heroin in Australia; street-level distribution in Melbourne is mainly outsourced to Vietnamese and Romanian groups.[10]

Belgium

The Wo Shing Wo has a presence in Antwerp, where it is active in heroin trafficking, money laundering, gambling and illegal workshops. The group also uses Belgium as a transit port for illegal immigrants.[10]

Canada

The Wo Shing Wo was established in Toronto in 1930 as an international branch of the Wo Hop To, which had been founded in 1908.[11][12] The Wo Shing Wo and most other triad groups in Canada utilize Vietnamese street gangs to undertake their street-level drug dealing.[13]

France

The Wo Shing Wo is among five triad groups active in France. These gangs cooperate with Albanian and Turkish groups in the importation of heroin from the Golden Triangle.[10]

Ireland

The Wo Shing Wo is active in Dublin and Cork. Triads gained a firm foothold in Ireland in the 1980s, when large numbers of Chinese restaurants opened in these cities.[10] Leaked diplomatic cables obtained by the Irish Independent in 2011 included intelligence reports by the Garda Síochána (Irish police) on Chinese organized crime in the country, specifically the activities of the Wo Shing Wo and their rival 14K. The reported criminal activities of the triads included the trafficking of women and children from China into Ireland, involvement in casinos, and money laundering. Gardaí also reported a great deal of interaction between the Chinese gangs operating in Ireland and Scotland.[14] In March 2002, four self-confessed Wo Shing Wo members were deported from Ireland after being involved in several assaults and robberies in Dublin.[15] Eight people believed to be working for the Wo Shing Wo, including a senior member of the gang, were arrested after local gardaí and members of the Garda National Drug Unit raided cannabis-growing operations at two homes in Drumshambo, County Leitrim in March 2009.[16] In November 2012, 113 mostly Chinese and Vietnamese nationals were arrested in raids on 236 properties, suspected of growing, smuggling and selling cannabis in Ireland. Many of those arrested were believed to be connected to the Wo Shing Wo and operating under the orders of gang leaders in the UK.[17]

Netherlands

The Wo Shing Wo branch in the Netherlands was founded and primarily operates in Rotterdam. In the 1970s, the group battled the 14K and Ah Kong for control of the heroin trade in Amsterdam.[18] In addition to heroin trafficking, the group also operates gambling, prostitution, money laundering, loan sharking, robbery, extortion and human trafficking. The Wo Shing Wo has more recently also closely cooperated with the 14K.[19]

South Africa

Since the mid-1980s, the Wo Shing Wo has been one of four Hong Kong triad groups operating in South Africa, predominantly in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Acting independently from the Hong Kong branch, the group's activities in the country include fraud, drug trafficking, firearms smuggling, extortion, money laundering, prostitution, illegal gambling, the smuggling of illegal immigrants, tax evasion, and the large-scale importing of counterfeit goods.[20] The Wo Shing Wo was formerly heavily involved in the illegal harvesting and exportation of abalone (in 2000, the estimated gross income from the illegal exportation of abalone to Hong Kong was US$32 million).[10]

United Kingdom

See also: Triads in the United Kingdom

The Wo Shing Wo operates in London, Manchester, Portsmouth, Birmingham, Liverpool and Glasgow. Authorities believe the Wo Shing Wo is the largest triad group in the country.[21] Beginning in the late 1980s, the Wo Shing Wo has been involved in the distribution in the United Kingdom of heroin and counterfeit goods from Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. The group has also been involved in conflicts with rival triad gangs over control of the stores selling pirated videos originating in China.[10] The Wo Shing Wo in Scotland has cooperated with the 14K in cigarette smuggling.[22]

Restaurant owner and alleged Shui Fong "white paper fan" (business adviser) Philip Wong was murdered by a gang of contract killers armed with machetes in Glasgow on 9 October 1985. It is believed Wong was murdered after refusing to do business with the Wo Shing Wo who wanted a share of his lucrative Chinese video rental business.[23] Three men wanted for the murder have never been traced.[24] In February 1999, Wo Shing Wo member and former Glasgow brothel manager Tony Yeung was jailed for his part in a multi-million-pound fake credit card scam.[25] Wo Shing Wo footsoldiers ambushed 14K members in a machete attack on Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street in July 2003 in a dispute over the control of protection rackets.[26] Wo Shing Wo members Jerome Castrillo, Ryan Parker-Saunders, Yu Xiang Liu, and Cho Wei Leong were convicted of the November 2007 murder of drug dealer Michael McGrath at the Old Bailey in November 2008. McGrath had allowed the gang to stash crack cocaine and heroin at his Carshalton home but was beaten to death after he began helping himself to the drugs.[27] In January 2013, four men – Yik Fung Ng, Hiu Nelson Yeung, Chiu Yuen Li, and Siu Hung Yeung – associated with the Wo Shing Wo but who denied being members of the group were convicted of violent disorder following a street fight involving up to thirty men in Manchester's Chinatown in June 2010. During the trial, it was alleged that one side of the conflict included Wo Shing Wo members and associates who had bullied young men who socialised in Chinatown into paying to join their ranks, and that the violence erupted because a group of young men had refused.[28]

Dragonhead

The Wo Shing Wo dragonhead is elected every two years.[2]

Dragonheads of Wo Shing Wo

  • 'Inch Brother' (real name: Cheung Chung-wing), born 1974. In office: 2016-unknown (currently is considered as a fugitive by HKPD)[29]
  • 'Shanghai Tsai' (Shanghai Boy) (real name: Kwok Wing-hung). Dates unknown. Became widely known in March 2012, after it was revealed that he attended a dinner with some election aides of Hong Kong Chief Executive candidate CY Leung.[30]
  • 'Broken Mouth Bun' (real name: Poon), born c. 1962. In office: 2008–2010;
  • 'Shu Tsai' ('Tsai' = 'boy'). In office from 2010.

References

  1. ^ SCMP - Gang warfare fears after temple street brawl
  2. ^ a b c Bus drivers milked for millions by triad, police say, SCMP by Clifford Lo. 23 March 2010
  3. ^ Officer lifts lid on workings of the underworld by Yvonne Tsui, 16 October 2009.
  4. ^ a b Kevin Lau out of intensive care as police make breakthrough in attack case, SCMP, 28 February 2014
  5. ^ Purbrick, Martin (2019). "Patriotic Chinese Triads and Secret Societies: From the Imperial Dynasties, to Nationalism, and Communism". Asian Affairs. 50 (3): 305–322. doi:10.1080/03068374.2019.1636515. S2CID 199953554.
  6. ^ a b BBC - Hong Kong news editor Kevin Lau improving after attack
  7. ^ Newsstream - Outrage in Hong Kong after editor attack
  8. ^ CHAPTER 4: Chinese Organised Crime in Australia
  9. ^ Gangland Australia
  10. ^ a b c d e f Berry, LaVerle B.; Curtis, Glenn E.; Elan, Seth L.; Hudson, Rexford A.; Kollars, Nina A. (April 2003). "Transnational activities of Chinese crime organizations" (PDF). Library of Congress. Retrieved 13 October 2019. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  11. ^ Routledge Handbook of Criminology
  12. ^ Chinese Gangs and Canadian Real Estate, The Odd Correlation
  13. ^ Canadian Organized Crime
  14. ^ Chinese Triad gangs trafficking women into Ireland for sex industry – cables
  15. ^ "Triads leave their deadly mark on the streets of Dublin". The Guardian. 3 August 2002. Archived from the original on 11 May 2023.
  16. ^ Eight held as gardaí find drug farms in houses
  17. ^ Ireland: Crackdown arrests 113 during triad gang raids; pot growing facilities seuzed in historic raid
  18. ^ Triad Boss: Chung Mon
  19. ^ V.4. De Chinese georganiseerde criminaliteit in Nederland
  20. ^ Triad Societies and Chinese Organised Crime in South Africa
  21. ^ Gangland UK
  22. ^ The Politics of Cross-border Crime in Greater China
  23. ^ Cops launch new hunt for Triad machete gang – 30 years after Chinese businessman was hacked to death in Glasgow
  24. ^ DEADLY VENOM OF THE SNAKEHEADS; GANGS OF SCOTLAND: PART 3: Frenzied machete attacks are the punishment of choice for the secret mobster of the triads.
  25. ^ Britain's sex slave trade booms
  26. ^ TRIADS IN TURF WAR; Battle for control of city.
  27. ^ "Schoolboy in triad gang jailed for manslaughter". The Guardian. 22 December 2008. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019.
  28. ^ Five men sentenced over Chinatown ‘Triad gang’ street brawl
  29. ^ The Standard HK: Ex-triad chief on run for bid to recruit cop
  30. ^ Leung aides 'had dinner with ex-triad chief', The Standard, 7 March 2012

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