Triads

The Triads are a form of Chinese mafia, involved with the heroin trade and later with money laundring and the metamphetamine and sex tourism industry of Thailand. The biggest Triads are Sun Yee On and 14K. Leaders are called Dragon Heads.

History of the Triads

1700s establishment of Triads in Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

1760's origin of the Tiandihui or Hongmen (Heaven and Earth Society), the Three Harmonies Society uses the triangle emblem.

1909 founding of Wo Hop To.

1911 overthrow of the Qing dynasty by Sun Yat-sen (Hongmen), the Hongmen turn to illegal activities.

1919 Wellington Koo, trained at Columbia University, represents China at the Paris Peace Conference. May Fourth movement. Hueng Chin founds Sun Yee On Triad.

1920s Warlord era with the Triads and Green Gang thriving from opium trade in Shangai.

1927-1949 Chinese Civil war. Autumn Harvest Uprising, led by Mao Zedong. White Terror massacre of communists.

1930 Chiang Kai-Shek (married to Soong Mei-ling, chairwoman of Fu Jen Catholic University) as leader of Republic of China. Founding of Wo Shing Wo and Shui Fong.

1931 Shangai divided into British, French and Japanese part. Heroin is produced in laboratories in Shangai and Tianjin China, overseen by the Triads.

1937 war between China and Japan.

1943 Mao Zedong rules as the dictator of communist China, modelled after the Soviet Union. The drug trade is ruled by the Triads.

1945 founding of 14K.

1949 Mao Zedong defeats the Kuomintang Army (KMT, the nationalists of Chiang Kai-Shek) in China, who move to Burma and Taiwan. The Chinese communists execute drug dealers and force addicts to be treated. Secret societies are suppressed. CIA funds the KMT to fight a guerilla war against communist China and organise the opium-heroin trade in the Golden Triangle zone. The Italian mafia sets up heroin labs in Sicily.

1951 Chiang Kai-Shek founds the Asian People's Anti-Communist League, supported by the Kuomintang party and Yakuza leader Yoshio Kodoma. Triads control Kowloon Walled City in Btitish Hong Kong. Chen Chi-li founds the Bamboo Union in Taiwan.

1958 'the Great Leap Forward', Mao industrialises the Chinese economy.

1970s rise of Tai Hurn Chang, founding of Ping On in Boston (ties to 14K).

1977 Charles Heung founds Win's Entertainment.

1980s Flying Dragons take over the heroin trade in NY.

1989 Tiananmen Square protests. 14K is active in heroin distribution in Netherlands and Belgium. Peter Chong leads Wo Hop To.

1997 Wan 'Broken Tooth' Huok-koi leads 14K. Charles Heung (Sun Yee On Triad family, Win's Entertainment, China Star Entertainment Group) launches the career of Jet Li.

2007 opening of MGM Macau. Gambling industry with Stanley Ho, jesuit trained daughter Pansy Ho, linked to Kung Lok Triad, Lawrence Ho (Citibank, Melco Crown with Packer family).

 

Mafia

Heroin

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