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Korean Playboys (KPB)


DeadPlaya

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Korean Playboys (KPB) was, in it's heyday, a name that carried weight in Los Santos' Koreatown. The gang was formed in the late 1960's and early 1970's, a time where many South Koreans fled Park Chung-hee's dictatorship and found refuge in the American Pacific and settled in major urban centers such as Seattle, Portland, San Fierro and Los Santos. In the late 90's and early 2000's, many have said it unequivocally controlled Koreatown. 

 

Throughout the 1970's, Los Santos' Koreatown began experiencing a time of urban decay but crime rate remained rather low while violent crimes, such as sexual assault and homicide were atypical until the late 80's. Crime largely began affecting K-Town once the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980's began enveloping the nation's inner city ghettos. As street gangs such as the Bloods, Crips and various Sureño sets became more and more enamoured in the distribution of narcotics, the multi-generational community of Korean Americans created their own crews and criminal groups. These groups were allegedly created for the protection of the Korean and Korean American community from the disastrous influx of narcotics but the sad reality is that the real reason was a far simpler one: greed. Most of these groups' first initiative was the brutal beatdown, robbery or in rare cases homicide of nearby rival, already established crews. Then, these criminal entreprises would simply take their place. During this time, Koreatown became home to a series of brutal turf and gang wars that led to the death of numerous gang members and civilians alike.

 

In 1991,  there was growing resentment and violence between the African-American and Korean-American communities. Racial tensions had been simmering for years between these groups. Many Korean shopkeepers felt exhausted and afraid due to the constant targeted harrasment, shoplifting, theft, violence or threats from their black customers or neighbors. Many African-Americans on the other hand were angry as they felt routinely disrespected and humiliated by the Korean storeowners. They still viewed the area as their neighborhood and felt as fi the Korean Americans had invaded it to make a living, disrespecting the local culture in the process. Neither group fully understood the extent or sheer enormity of their cultural differences and language barriers, which further fueled tensions.

This all climaxed during the famous Los Santos riots of 1992. As rioting spread to Koreatown, it left ruins in it's place. Of the $850 million worth of damage done in LS, half of it was on Korean-owned businesses because most of Koreatown was looted and destroyed. The lack of law enforcement forced Koreatown civilians to organize their own armed security forces to defend their business from rioters. A little known fac is that one of KPB's more prominent members at the time, now known as OG Chin, helped organize a team of the now famous "rooftop koreans". His brother-in-law owned a local gun store and KPB helped muscle and safe passage to nearby civilians. It's rumored that many of the militia men were KPB members. By the end of the rioting, KPB and other criminal Korean gangs solidified their chokehold on Koreatown and with the pro bono help they provided afterwards, they became endeared to the local populace.

 

Following the riots of '92, Korean Playboys entered it's golden era. They controlled most of K-Town's open air drug market, illegal gambling operations and prostitution rings. Moreover, a tight-knit group of KPB individuals, known collectively as the "Midnite Crew", is the alleged perpetrator of dozens of armed robberies. Most, if not almost all, were done on rival gang's stash houses both in the peripheries of Koreatown as well as Vespucci, Strawberry and on rare occasions even as far as Rancho. During this time, the gang operations were no secret to the authorities but in a ten year period less than six high-profile arrests were made. Of those that were made, many of the alleged perpetrators stone-walled the authorities and refused to cooperate, crippling any further investigation up the ladder. While Korean gangs in general tended to avoid open conflict and/or turf wars, KPB's most famous rivalries of the 1990's has to be the Asian Boyz gang. This conflict is compared by some to the famous ABZ vs. Wah Ching war of the early-to-mid 1990's, but this may be an exaggeration. That said, there have been a number of murder convictions , all related to the on-going gang war, on both sides. The summer of 1994 was especially bloody, as more than seven people were murdered in a 12 week period. Although the Los Santos Police Department dramatically increased policing Koreatown, as well as places KPB members were known to frecvent, few further arrests were made and even fewer even made it to court. This discipline and faith is believed to be one of the reasons for the gang's incredible, altought admittedly short success. 

 

Starting with the late 2000's, the dynamic in Koreatown began to change. While the number of ethnic Koreans began to drop some time in the 1990's, Hispanics were gaining the lead on all other races. Today, a third of Koreatown is Asian while over half is Hsiapnic. At the same time, it's assumed that many of the Korean criminal gangs that were so prominent just a decade before began fizzling out of relevancy. Many of the shot callers turned to legit sources of income while the younger gang bangers moved out or in rare cases, returned to school. Arrests in the area were comparatively low, if Los Santos' rates are considered. Another phenomenon that has to be noted is the gradual take-over of hispanic gangs, most notably Mara Salvatrucha 13. Many separate sets began encroaching the 2,7 sq mi neighborhood and by the late 2010's controlled the majority of drug trafficking. While this takeover has been mostly peaceful, there have been some stabbings and a handful of shootings attributed to the ensuing conflicts. That said, violent crime rates have remained comparatively low.

 

Recently, authorities have been puzzled by the seemingly random resurgence of KPB activity. Walls that haven't seen Korean Playboy tags in decades are now plastered in gang affiliated ink while reports of theft, extortion and drug trafficking in the area have been piling up for almost two years. In early 2019, the Los Santos Police Department carried out an arrest warrant on a 19 year old Timothy Park. The following search uncovered almost half a pound of metamphetamine and over one hundred MDMA/Ecstasy pills of different shapes and sizes. It's been rumored that Park had been cooperative and was in the process of testifying against the gang. Nevertheless, Timothy was found dead two days after posting bail in his girlfriend's home in Mirror Park.

While an official answer is yet to have been made, there have been theories that some veteran members and their associates, after failing to acquire the money, life, success or respect they wished to acquire legally, have decided to return to the streets. Others have speculated that simply, they never left. 

 

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Timothy Park, 2019

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