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Howard Abadinsky
ORGANIZED
CRIME
Eighth Edition
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CHAPTER
EIGHT
ASIAN ORGANIZED CRIME
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THE YAKUZA Japanese OC consists of
boryokudanviolent groupsthat have been in
existence for about three hundred years. The
yakuzamasterless samurai, unscrupulous peddlers,
professional gamblers, and common
criminalseventually 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.
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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.
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The self- and public-images of yakuza differs
from its U.S. counterparts it doesnt
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.)
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• 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.

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Yakuza controls most OC activity, including gun
trafficking, prostitution, drug smuggling, alien
smuggling, gambling, extortion and, by
infiltrating legitimate businesses, white-collar
crime. Japans 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.
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• 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).

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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.
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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 Yorks Chinatown, largest in the U.S., was
divided into fiefdoms dominated by tongs and
affiliated gangs.
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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.
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The smuggled aliens are treated as indentured
servantsforced 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.
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