ORGANIZED

2. Howard Abadinsky ORGANIZED CRIME Eighth Edition

3. CHAPTER EIGHT ASIAN ORGANIZED CRIME

4. THE YAKUZA Japanese OC consists of boryokudan—“violent groups”—that have been in existence for about three hundred years. The yakuza—masterless samurai, unscrupulous peddlers, professional gamblers, and common criminals—eventually formed boryokudan. By adhering to rules of conduct that preclude violence against police and innocent civilians, yakuza syndicates have been able to operate openly and maintain high-profile headquarters.

5. Yakuza is derived from an old card game whose object was to draw three cards adding up as close as possible to 19 without exceeding it. Ya-ku-za represents the Japanese words for 8, 9 and 3, which total 20, a useless number. Yakuza means ‘good for nothing’.

6. The self- and public-images of yakuza differs from its U.S. counterparts: it doesn’t hide. Yamaguchi-gumi, for example, is in the phone book, publishes a member newsletter, and clearly marks its headquarters. In 1995, after an earthquake killed thousands, relief efforts established by yakuza proved superior to those of the government. (But the earthquake also let yakuza-controlled construction firms make huge profits.)

7. Unlike most OC groups, yakuza have a distinct ideological orientation: • ultra-nationalistic; • conservative on foreign policy; • vigorously anti-communist. • This endears them to right-wing politicians; yakuza are intimately involved in politics. • The relatively low rate of street crime in Japan largely results from a symbiotic relationship between yakuza and police.

8. Yakuza controls most OC activity, including gun trafficking, prostitution, drug smuggling, alien smuggling, gambling, extortion and, by infiltrating legitimate businesses, white-collar crime. Japan’s serious drug problem, especially amphetamine abuse, is escalating due to rising popularity of cocaine. Yakuza are at center of international trade in sexual slavery. Females, often children, are bought and sold throughout Third World.

9. Other yakuza criminal activities include: • Extorting from legal and illegal businesses. • Evicting homeowners on behalf of real estate • developers. • Retrieving damage payments for automobile • accident victims (on a contingency basis). • Informal handling of bankruptcies (bankers • dispatch yakuza to confiscate property ahead • of unsecured creditors).

10. TRIADS, TONGS, and ASIAN GANGS Triad refers to common Chinese mystical symbol representing heaven, earth, man. Triads are based in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, but influence is international. Authorities say there is no Triad network or central control. Cooperation between Triads is usually ad hoc, and limited to a specific opportunity for mutual profit.

11. Around 1900, tongs controlled gambling and prostitution in urban areas with significant Chinese populations. Tongs remain associated with gambling today. Many contemporary tongs are national in scope and connected to Chinatown gangs. A 1995 federal indictment revealed that New York’s Chinatown, largest in the U.S., was divided into fiefdoms dominated by tongs and affiliated gangs.

12. As with almost all OC groups before the onset of Prohibition, Asian criminal organizations have typically exploited only their own countrymen. This self-imposed operational limitation helped avoid serious law enforcement efforts. More recently, the extensive heroin networks of Chinese organizations have drawn intensive investigative efforts, particularly by the DEA. Chinese crime groups smuggle illegal aliens to work in garment-manufacturing sweatshops, particularly in New York and California.

13. The smuggled aliens are treated as indentured servants—forced to work below minimum wage to repay benefactors for getting them into U.S. Women are often forced into brothels. Today, most Chinese and Vietnamese street gang members know little or nothing about the tongs and Triads. These gangs draw on traditions of the Triads, and have Vietnamese or Chinese-Vietnamese (Viet Ching) members, usually heavily armed.