NCJ Number
130585
Date Published
1990
Length
218 pages
Annotation
This volume describes the history and current operations of the Triads, the ancient Chinese criminal societies that have spread worldwide in their operations, now control 90 percent of the world's heroin trade, and are increasingly involved in financial and computer crime.
Abstract
The Triads began as secret warrior societies that developed thousands of years ago to combat foreign invasion and imperial corruption. They have long thrived in Asia, using Hong Kong as a base for their activities. In recent years they have begun expanding their network worldwide, using the profits from drug trafficking to finance other criminal activities including smuggling, prostitution, and protection rackets. They have become powerful wherever large Chinese immigrant communities have arisen, including London, Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York and have supplanted the Mafia in many areas. They use secret rituals and initiation rites to bind members to the organization. The analysis concludes that their power is growing and that they are potentially the single most dangerous organized crime threat now facing the international community. Photographs, appended background information, index, and 23 references (Publisher summary modified)