The Mèng Shétóu 孟蛇头

[slick!]

The Mèng Shétóu (The Mèng's Snakeheads)

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The Mèng Shétóu is an organized crime group majorly consisting of Chinese nationals and second and third generation Chinese-Americans with varying degrees of connections to the province of Fujian, along with a minority of members being from various other South-East Asian countries who either operate in Los Santos or internationally at the funding of the group. This group has operated under the jurisdiction of the Mèng family since their arrival in San Andreas in 2005, who were mainly responsible in the rise of human smuggling rackets which operated under the umbrella of the Los Santos Fukien Merchants Group. 

 

In recent years, the organization has diversified its itinerary of crime for the sole purpose of survival after multiple crackdowns by both host countries and South-East Asian countries on the growing illicit industry of human smuggling. The group's eye has turned to the art of extortion under the guise of the typically clean Fukien American Association, a benevolent society for specifically Fukien Chinese-American citizens, prostitution within the confines of Mèng-family managed hostess clubs and brothels, online and physical credit card scams and other forms of fraud, counterfeiting and tampering with legal documents and visas, tapping into the ever-growing market of organ harvesting and trafficking, and to compliment their human smuggling operation, the family has dabbled in smuggling back and forth along Pacific South Express cargo transport route, committing customs fraud on a small scale to import fake Chinese cigarettes, Chinese oil products, industrial materials and cheaply made textiles to American while exporting stolen American goods (such as watches, handbags, and other luxury items), cars, and other sought after American goods to Chinese and Thai ports. Most recently, however, they have expanded to simple drug-dealing as a way to reach ends-meet.

The Fukien American Association of the Greater Los Santos Area

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Ostensibly, the Fukien American Association exists to serve fellow Fukien immigrants in America as a non-profit benevolent association through a variety of annual cultural festivals, community-held fundraisers, financial assistance services for both families and business-owners, and English, Mandarin, and Fuzhou language classes for their community. While this may have been true in the Association's heyday, it now exists as little more than a legal façade for the more sophisticated rackets the Mèng Shétóu operate across Little Seoul and beyond. Many in the neighborhood remember when the organization was based in the old Chinatown of Los Santos - now Los Santos' neighborhoods of Pillbox Hill, Mission Row, and Textile City - in the days before the Stock Market Crash of 2008, which drove a majority of working class Fujianese and Chinese-Americans out of Los Santos' Chinatown due to the housing market crisis, which drove up the low-class area's cost of living while many were unemployed to an unbearable rate. This marked the great failure of the Association, which overspent trying to keep the cultural center alive, and ultimately drove itself out of a home, as well.

 

 

Unfortunately, since 2008's crisis, there has been no resurgence of a Chinatown in Los Santos due to the Chinese population's assimilation into the Little Seoul area, which has become a mixing pot for all Asians of the city. The Fukien American Association still trudges on, a shadow of its former glory as one of the great benevolent associations of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association. For now, it exists as a puppet organization of the Mèng family, whose patriarch, Mèng Chi-zhu, acts as its incumbent president, reigning since 2005.

 

History and Methods of Chinese Human Smuggling

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Organized Chinese human smuggling into the United States has been going on for more than four decades, its beginnings finding itself in the dawn of a diplomatic relationship between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America in 1978. Following the establishment of these relations, a mass immigration of Chinese nationals began to flood legal channels of entry into the United States, overwhelming the country entirely. This reaching of capacity, as a consequence, opened opportunity for illegal channels of entry into the United States to flourish, creating the dynamic of Chinese human smuggling gangs that is known today. 

 

There are numerous methods of human smuggling, which are often used in tangent with one another to facilitate journeys into the United States. The most recognizable strategy of Chinese human smugglers is the usage of fishing trawlers, cargo ships or freighters to smuggle people into the United States. Another, more indirect strategy is the transport of immigrants to either Mexico or Canada, depending on ease of access at the time, and illegally crossing the borders into the United States. Another, more expensive strategy is also employed to move people into the United States, by the use of forged or modified visas and passports, immigrants will fly into the United States via airlines.

 

This illegal channel of entry into the United States is only one portion of a large web of Chinese organized human smuggling, which spans across fifty-one countries around the world which are either connected to the direct transportation of people, the manufacturing of false documents used in less elaborate methods of illegal immigration, or both of these operations. For examples of other destination countries, the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Hungary, Italy, the Netherland, Mexico, Panama, and Canada have long been plagued by the overwhelming presence of large numbers of undocumented Chinese immigrants. Reportedly, at any given time, there are thirty thousand undocumented Chinese immigrant stashed away in safe houses around the world, awaiting entry into their destination countries. Countries used as stashing grounds or rest stops include Canada, Mexico, Suriname and in rare cases, Russia.

 

The Fate of the Smuggled

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Upon reaching American soil, the immigrants are rushed into safehouses, where they will be kept in unsavory conditions until they are able to pay off their debts owed to the smugglers. However, many of these undocumented immigrants are in this situation for a reason, and usually do not have the means to pay off their debts by themselves, so there are many methods employed by the smugglers to get their money's worth from each of their victims. One tried and true method for these smugglers is the usage and selling of the immigrants into forced labor, where they will work to repay off their debts to either a new employer or the smugglers themselves, there are many common place usages for this forced labor, such as unethical textile factories, other forms of sweatshops, agriculture, the service-industry, or otherwise. Often time, the immigrants are working for unfair wages, making it practically impossible to repay their debts to the smugglers while they still profit from the labor given. Another method takes a more violent turn, in which the smugglers will keep the immigrants within the safehouse as hostages, and will contact their victim's family and friends in both the destination and back home in China, and threaten and torture the immigrants until the debt is repaid by the family. After their release, the freed undocumented immigrant will often have to work to repay his/her family or friends. For the aware of the smuggled immigrants, they will have already had their debts paid by their family after they arrive, allowing them to simply walk free and begin repaying their debts to their families.

 

Although Chinese human smuggling has been occurring for over four decades at this time, the vast criminal empires it is composed of rarely reaches the public's eye. The one exception is made for a few choice cases in which the smugglers had taken risks, causing their operations to end up in typically fatal disasters. Such incidents include, but are not limited to;

 

- The Golden Venture Tragedy, when a freighter ship carrying 286 undocumented Chinese immigrants ran aground off the beach of New York City's Rockaway Peninsula on June 6, 1993. The death toll tallied up to ten dead, either by drowning or hypothermia, from those who had fled from the boat in an attempt to swim at the urges and demands of the smugglers on the boat, to try and flee from the law enforcement enclosing on the beached ship.

 

- The 2000 Dover Lorry Incident, where 60 undocumented Chinese immigrants were being transported from Dover, deeper into the United Kingdom. The immigrants were cooped up within the back of the truck for 18 hours, which resulted in 58 of 60 dying from asphyxiation.

 

- The 2004 Morecambe Bay Disaster, a cockling disaster in which 37 undocumented Chinese workers were picking cockles off Lancashire coast when the tide swept in, ending up in 23 of 37 drowning. 

 

The Mèng Shétóu's Role

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The Mèng Shétóu as an organization is expansive, with direct affiliates dotting themselves across the Pacific South Express cargo route, not only limiting their capabilities to the state of San Andreas. This loosely affiliated coalition forms the business relationship of the typical Chinese human smuggling operation, made up of recruiters, coordinators, transporters, document vendors, corrupt public officials, guides, crew members, and debt collectors. The Mèng family do not limit themselves solely to one role along the chain of affiliates they work with, typically taking the role of coordinator, transporter, document vendor, crew members and debt collectors, solely relying on the usage of China-based recruiters, transporters, guides and corrupt public officials to assist the operation along. The group usually funds their own operations, sometimes selling off space in their vessels to other investors with their own pool of recruitment of potential immigrants back home. 

 

OOC Section

As a faction, we reserve the right to character kill any individual who associates themselves with the organization, marked with either the joining of the faction script or posting on the faction thread. Any questions or concerns can be directed to either @slick! (slick#4451) or @Monad(Monad#3340) via a forum PM or a discord message. For general question about portrayal, our Discord contains various guides on how to accurately represent a character within our faction, for an invite, add either of us above and simply ask.

As a faction, our main priority is to portray an accurate depiction of a Snakehead gang based out of Los Santos. At it's current state, the faction has a very steep hierarchy, meaning you should not expect to push and shove your way to any form of power upon simply joining the faction, those who wish to seek that kind of roleplay, this faction isn't for you. At the faction's current state, there is no certain plans for its future, meaning you, as a member, may be able to shape it with your unique ideas, we promote more than simply the roleplay of human smuggling, as outside of that, your character is simply a normal human being doing morally bankrupt things. We expect a clear line of character development, a character with flaws and strengths which make sense to fit in with the faction. We, as a faction, expect coherence to the rules of the server, and those caught breaking it will receive a fair warning before they are eventually kicked at management's discretion.

Edited July 28, 2021 by slick!

[slick!]

Reserved

[slick!]

Reserved

[Gargam3i]

YEEEEEEEEEEEES!

Soooo fucking stoked to see this!!!! Knowing the people within this faction this is going places. Next upcoming stars right here! Remember who said it first! 

Edited December 17, 2020 by Gargam3i
Had to spam out a quick comment to get the first post!

[sage]

LET'S GOOOO

[Fluff]

[Rum]

B-E-A-UUUTIFUL

[F0r3sT]

LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[orca112]

[Matt.]

Best of luck.