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CHINESE TRANSNATIONAL ORGANISED CRIME: THE RISE OF CRIMINAL CHINESE DIASPORA by Randolph Finkenbauer, Ph.D. International Center National Institute of Justice I. Organisational Structure The organizational structure of Chinese organized crime in the United States is quite complex. Broadly defined, there is a great variety of Chinese criminal organizations. These include gangs, secret societies, triads, tongs, Taiwanese organized crime groups, and strictly US-based tongs and gangs. According to Ko-lin Chin, the foremost academic expert in the U.S. on Chinese organized crime, there is no empirical support for the belief that there is a well-organized, monolithic, hierarchical criminal cartel called the “Chinese Mafia.” Chin says: “My findings do not support the notion that a chain of command exists among these various crime groups or that they coordinate with one another routinely in international crimes such as heroin trafficking, money laundering, and the smuggling of aliens” (1996:123). One of the structural characteristics that makes Chinese organized crime different from other forms is the relationship between some of the street gangs and certain adult organizations. The latter are called tongs. Tong-affiliated gangs, like the Wah Ching, have an ah kung (grandfather) or shuk foo (uncle) who is their tong leader. The top gang position is the dai-dai lo (big big brother). Communication between the tong and the gang occurs principally between these two individuals. Below the dai dai lo in descending order are the dai lo(s) or big brothers, the yee lo/saam lo (clique leaders), and at the bottom the ma jai or little horses (sai-lo). There are a variety of norms and rules that govern the gangs. These include respecting the ah kung, beating up members of other gangs on your turf, not using drugs, following the orders of the dai lo, and not betraying the gang. Rules violators are punished, sometimes severely, such as through physical assault and killing. II. Violence Our research and our interviews with various experts confirm that violence is a defining characteristic of Chinese criminal gangs. Use of violence within the group and against other organized crime groups is very prevalent. Disputes over territory and criminal markets among the gangs are typically resolved using kong so, a process of peaceful negotiation. When this does not occur, however, the resolution is usually a violent one, in which guns are used against rival gang members. Law enforcement authorities believe that an escalation of gang violence has taken place in recent years and to gangs involvement in alien smuggling activities. Based on his research, Chin concludes the following with respect to Chinese gang violence in general: The capacity for violence appears to be one of the key defining characteristics of street gang culture. Its employment, however, is shaped and determined by a cluster of constraints related to profit generating goals. Violence between and among gangs is regulated through an agent or ah kung who attempts to channel aggressive behavior in ways that effectively maintain gang coherence. Gang coherence in turn supports the gang’s involvement in extortion activities and in the provision of protection services to organized vice industries in the community (Chin, 1996:138). The gangs are violent, but their use of violence is not very sophisticated nor specialized. It is not the systematic use of violence (including threats) to protect and gain monopoly control of criminal markets that is associated with mature forms of organized crime. Instead it is more likely to be random street level violence, with guns, employed by anyone in the gang. Sometimes this violence is sanctioned and sometimes not. III. Economic Resources Understanding alien smuggling to be the illegal movement of migrants across national borders, and human trafficking to be migrant smuggling that includes coercion and exploitation, the Chinese gangs are extensively involved in both types of activities. Indeed, these criminal activities, along with kidnapping, are the main transnational crimes of the Chinese diaspora gangs. Their dominance is related to Fujian Province being the principal source of Chinese being smuggled and trafficked into North America. On the domestic scene, their main criminal activities in Los Santos’ Chinatown are extortion and gambling. Each Chinese gang dominates these crimes in their particular Chinatown neighborhoods. The professionalism and sophistication of the criminal groups are quite low, again as compared to more mature forms of organized crime. This may be due to their being generally much younger than, for example, LCN or Russian organized crime figures. In his research, Chin (1996) found that Chinese gangs were quite active in legitimate businesses in New York City’s Chinatown. For example, they owned or operated restaurants, retail stores, vegetable stands, car services, ice cream parlors, fish markets, and video stores. On a higher, more professional level, they also owned or operated wholesale supply firms, factories, banks, and employment agencies. In addition, on the West Coast Chinese gangs are believed to have penetrated the entertainment industry. IV. San Andreas Analysis on Chinese Diaspora (Geo-focus Little Seoul) The majority of the Chinese-American population of more than 400,000 in Los Santos County lives within the Las Colinas Valley, which is particularly noted for cities that have a large Chinese-American ethnic plurality. The following cities have the highest percentage of Chinese-Americans in Greater Los Santos. Traditionally centered in San Fierro and Chinatown Oakland, the suburbanization of the Bay Area's Chinese-American population has resulted in significant concentrations in the southwestern East Bay, eastern Peninsula, and northern Santa Clara County. Chinese enclaves have also formed in many of these cities, in a similar manner to that of Southern San Andreas' Las Colinas Valley. One of the most populated Asian American communities in Los Santos is Koreatown. Similar to Downtown, Commerce holds a high dense population of people living very close to each other. Statistics show that 6% is African-American, 19% is Hispanic, 25% is Caucasian, 48%, is Asian-American while the last 2% is Other. Even thought the design behind Koreatown was to be a Korean-dominated ethnic enclave, a vast majority of Chinese American families also reside in Little Seoul due to the language similarities, traditions and customs. IV.(a) Wah Ching of Little Seoul The term Wah Ching simply implies Chinese youth, meaning any gang that has influence from a tong (gathering hall) is considered "Wah Ching" such as Jackson Street Boys, Ghost Shadows, Chung Ching Yee, Joe Boys, Black Dragons Gang, and more, importantly being of course earlier Wah Ching cliques from all sides. Today, modern terms have changed where Wah Ching gangs that have influenced themselves different are due to a shooting in a pool hall in the 1990's where an Asian Boyz member, "Lea Mek" was gunned down by an unknown side Wah Ching gang member named Chieu Luong Yang. Due to this incident, Asian Boyz gangs mostly kept the blue rags and consolidated under the African-American Crip movement. In retaliation after the 1990's, active Wah Ching sides in Los Angeles kept red rags but never claimed to be Bloods, only in retaliation to identify who was part of Asian Boyz cliques or who was Chinese youth. Despite Wah Ching meaning Chinese youth, multiple, if not more, are minority East Asians such as mainly Vietnamese, and Hmong, Laos or Cambodian. Today, modern Wah Ching sides in Los Santos and Asian Boyz gangs (Exotic Families, Long Beach ABZ, Tiny Raskal Gang), Vietnamese gangs (Viet Boyz 2202, Insane Vietnamese), Hmong (Menace of Destruction) Korean (Korean Gangstas, Korean Playboys), Filipino (Satanas), Samoan/Tongan (Sons of Samoa, Tongan Crip) cliques get along really well and are not rivals. Today, most East Asian, South East Asian and Pacific Islander gangs get along due to them being outnumbered by Hispanic, Black and White gangs. This unity was formed inside in multiple high profiled state prisons in San Andreas under the API car, (Asian/Pacific Islander group). In 2001, a 17–year–old Wah Ching member, who was an advanced placement student at Diamond Bar High School, shot and killed two members of the rival San Gabriel Killas (SGK) while attending a football game. On December 2005, a 20 year old Wah Ching member murdered a Chicano man with unknown gang affiliation by running over him with a car in front of his house. He repeatedly backed over the man with the car while holding down the car's horn to ensure that neighbors in the area saw the act. On June 2, 2007, Anh Duoc Nguyen, a member of Monterey Park-Side Wah Ching shot at five people in Westminster's Bowling Green Park, severely injuring one. The shootout was believed to be motivated by the fact that one of the victims changed his Myspace page bio to read "garden gang". Sometime in 2009, a 14 year old member of Ocean-Side Wah Ching got into an argument with members of a rival Hispanic gang. During the argument, police report that one of the Hispanic gang members called the Asian teen a "Chink", and told him to "Go back to China". The Wah Ching gangster responded to the racial slur by pulling out a .45 caliber pistol and shooting the rival gang member.