Here are some of the world's most notorious gangsters, and you can identify the largest East Asian gang organization one by one: Yakuza

An East Asian gangster with a centuries-old history. It can be open in Japan. The godfathers were democratically elected and made public at a press conference. There are currently about 100,000 members, and the three largest gangs are the Yamaguchi-gumi (26,000 members), the Inagawa Kai (8,300 members), and the Sumiyoshi Kai (8,200 people). Annual revenues of more than $100 billion, 35 percent of which come from drugs, and 20 percent are legitimate income from legitimate investments.

If someone picks quarrels and provokes trouble on the streets of Japan, then the first to arrive is not the police, but the members of Yakuza who arrive. They will use the most brutal means against the troublemakers to maintain order on their own turf; If a murder is committed, Yakuza will also go out of his way to investigate the truth like the police and then hand over the murderer to the real police. In return, every time before the government's crackdown, senior members of Yakuza will recuse themselves in advance. Considering the face of the police, they usually leave a few guns for the police to "confiscate".

Yakuza has a good relationship with the political circles, and behind every election, there are funds and votes from Yakuza. Therefore, when the godfather of the Yamaguchi gang was imprisoned for murder, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi and two former ministers jointly bailed him out. This incident shocked the world, but the Japanese are accustomed to it. In 1975, Japanese police found a huge photograph of a godfather of the Yamaguchi-gumi in the home of a godfather who was drinking with then Prime Minister Masahiro Ohira.

Yakuza and the authorities are not completely free of conflicts. When Godfather Takatsuro died of a heart attack, the Yamaguchi-gumi decided to hold a traditional Buddhist funeral in public, despite repeated persuasions from the police. In retaliation, the police arrested nearly 900 members of the Yamaguchi-gumi. But on the day of the funeral, 1,300 followers from all over the country gathered in Kobe. About 800 riot police officers wearing steel helmets and shields stood by, while another 500 searched airports and train stations to check everyone who attended the funeral, including Japan's number one star, Ken Takakura. Ken Takakura became famous for the Yakuza film "Abashiri Prison" and played Takaoka Katsuro himself in "Three Steps to Takaoka Life".

After the funeral, 108 senior members voted for Masahisa Takenaka to succeed him as godfather. However, the second boss, Hiroshi Yamamoto, refused to cooperate. He held a press conference in which he told the Japanese people that the time had come to fight for the truth, and officially announced: "I cannot agree with Takenaka to be the godfather of the Yamaguchi-gumi, and this is my sincere final decision." ”

Two months later, Yamamoto and 18 other senior members formed the "Itiwa" gang, which took half of the Yamaguchi-gumi. In order not to let Hiroshi Yamamoto's limelight overwhelm him, Masahisa Takenaka held a more solemn inauguration ceremony. More than 300 members participated, all in black suits, white ties and gold-plated gang crests. In a Japanese-style hotel, the widow of the former godfather solemnly handed over to the new godfather a dagger that symbolized supreme power.

It's very difficult to survive in a yakuza in Japan. In June 1993, Masayo Komiya, a leader of the Inagawa Kai, shot himself because he was unable to complete the fixed amount of protection money allocated by the organization. Before committing suicide, he called * and said, "It's better to die than to be disgraced by being fired from the organization for not being able to borrow money." Three weeks later, one of the leaders of the Yamaguchi-gumi committed suicide by drinking a bullet for the same reason.

The most arrogant drug cartel: Medellín

Pablo Escobar was named one of the seven richest people in the world by Fortune magazine, and his private army of 40,000 people was well-armed; His plane is called "Skylark". Originally belonging to the Colombian Navy, the combat helicopter was equipped with multiple rocket launchers and Sidewinder missiles, and was known as the "air tank". Escobar dispatched three fighter jets to make a forced landing of the Skylark at his airfield, which became his personal plane.

Escobar is the most arrogant drug lord of all time. The police who arrested him were shot dead within three days; The judge who tried him, after his wife was *, the bra and panties covered with * were sent to the judge's office; The Colombian attorney general, who wanted him, was arrested by him with a reward of $100 million, and finally died on the streets. In 1987, his brother Ochoa was arrested. The president of the Supreme Court of Colombia, who was in charge of the trial, resigned, and the Minister of Justice had to cancel the arrest warrant.

But in the eyes of the locals, Escobar is a hero. "The Colombian people have finally taken up a powerful weapon against US imperialism, and we are not responsible for the 25 million drug addicts in American society!" Escobar said this in an interview with the media.

The U.S. government has always wanted to get rid of Escobar, and it's not easy. In March 1984, under the command of the US affairs adviser, 5,000 Colombian government troops took the Hercules transport plane to the nest of the Medellín group. With air support from dozens of American-made F-16 fighter jets and Apache helicopters, 150 drug traffickers were killed and thousands were taken prisoner.

However, Escobar's counter-attack was also unusually sharp. Just one month later, the Minister of Justice Lara, Colombia's anti-narcotics commander, was shot dead. In May, more than 50 drug traffickers simply stormed the building of the Colombian Ministry of Justice in an attempt to kidnap senior officials of the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Prosecutor's Office and the Anti-Narcotics Police, who were in session. More than 400 military and police officers resisted vigorously, and the two sides formed a stalemate for a while. Subsequently, 300 drug traffickers carrying surface-to-surface missiles came to reinforce them. The fighting continued until late at night, when the Colombian Defense Forces joined the fighting, and the drug traffickers left with 5 judges and 1 police chief, leaving behind the bodies of 34 policemen and 11 judges.

In 1989, NASA used the most advanced "Roc" reconnaissance satellite and thermal imaging camera to determine the exact location of the Medellín group, and the Colombian government launched the largest anti-narcotics operation in history: 200 U.S.-trained special forces personnel directly parachuted into the tiger's den, thousands of officers and soldiers of the elite 14th Brigade of the Wehrmacht surrounded the left and right sides, cut off the land and sea escape routes, and finally formed a bomber group of 50 F-16 fighters to carry out a devastating bombing of the Medellín base until it was razed. However, Escobar and his men miraculously escaped and continued to entangle with government forces.

In 1991, the Colombian government accepted Escobar's three offers: the legalization of his personal property; punishing police officers who have violated the human rights of drug traffickers and their families; A specialized prison guarded by regular troops was built to ensure their safety.

Gangsters fattened at the border: Mexican gangsters

In May 2003, United States Customs found 80 smugglers from Mexico in a truck, 18 of whom had suffocated to death. Something like this happens every day, with "snakeheads" from all over the world flocking to the Mexican border. Those people of all colors who cherished the American dream tirelessly broke through the hurdles again and again, and were expelled again and again. Statistics tell them that if they hadn't died on the way, they would have risked an average of seven times to enter wealthy America.

Drug trafficking is a fixture on the U.S.-Mexico border, with more than $10 billion of drugs entering the U.S. every year.

Kidnapping is a traditional game of Mexican gangsters, and the kidnapping here is second only to Colombia and ranked second in the world. The most wanted criminal, Calletri, who was arrested in 2000, has done more than 20 major cases alone, from the owner of the Chrysler automobile company in Mexico to the president of the President Hotel Group. Even foreign ambassadors could not escape the looting. In November 2002, King Carlos of Spain paid an official visit to Mexico. On the way to meet the king at the airport by the Spanish ambassador to Mexico, the mob ransacked the car with the Spanish flag and diplomatic plates. The Spanish embassy in Mexico said afterwards that they did not plan to report the incident to the police because "it is a pure waste of time and will not lead to results".

Culiacán, Guadalajara, Juarez, Matamoros, Sonora and Tijuana – Mexico's six major gangster families who collectively control the 3,200-kilometer border with the United States are overwhelmed. Drug traffickers and organizers of illegal immigrants alike are happy to gather around them and share the bounty of the scraps.

The Mexican government did not sit idly by, and they have hired two "mafia nemesis" as advisers. One is former New York Mayor Giuliani and the other is former Palermo Mayor Leoluca Orlando. But what is the result? Giuliani, who received $4 million in consulting fees, believes that the first results will be at least three years away

Benefiting from the end of the Cold War: Russian gangsters

After the end of the Cold War, Russian gangsters were finally free to compete with their foreign counterparts. The two sides cherish each other, and there is a sense of seeing each other and hating each other. Attempts by Russian gangsters to supply weapons to Nigeria, buy drugs from Colombia, launder money with the Italian mafia, and exploit the market with Japan's Yakuza have been a lingering nightmare for the U.S. government. The director of the FBI believes that Russian gangsters have replaced the former Soviet army as a new threat to the European and American security system.

Inside Russia, the gangsters control everything. Toktakhonov, the "Godfather of Sports", not only won the pairs championship at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, but also reached out to the tennis world. Kafelnikov, Safin and Kournikova openly admitted to being friends with the "godfather of sport", but all declined to go into details. Ku "Spice Girl" explained: "I'm a Russian, and I'm going back there." "The living can only be silent, and the sports people who dare to talk about the details are dead. In 1996, the general manager of Spartac's professional hockey club was shot dead. In less than a year, the head of the Russian Ice Hockey Association went to hell. Two months later, the general manager of Spartak Moscow also met with Hades.

Online selling* is a sign that Russian gangsters have entered the information age. In international marriage websites, although there are certainly women from good families, if the marriage seeker is too glamorous and moving, it is likely that there is another mystery. Russia's Pravda newspaper says that 70 percent of cross-border marriages are controlled by Russian gangsters, and a bride who marries to the United States will get her sisters over to explore the local market once she is familiar with the local environment. Whether this is true or not is unknown, but on Russia's largest international marriage website, there are indeed many girls with bright eyes and bright teeth. If you're willing to pay $2,000, the site can arrange a "special" blind date trip for you.

The capital of crime - St. Petersburg

Russian President Vladimir Putin spent $1.5 billion to celebrate the "300th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg", and the heads of state of 44 countries also came to cheer. But in the eyes of locals, it is a "crime capital".

In a new round of conflict in 2000, Baltic Oil Company President Kalush was killed in broad daylight in the city center, while Walsman, 35, the number two man at Russia's largest brewery, was killed on his doorstep by mysterious professional gunmen. In 2002, the St. Petersburg police seized more than 2,000 weapons, including more than 100 grenades and 21 machine guns. According to local media, what the police seized was "not even the tip of the iceberg" compared to what the gang held.

In this crime capital, it seems difficult for officials to be spotless. Legend has it that the mayor of St. Petersburg, Vladimir Yakovlev, won two re-elections with the support of the gangsters. Even Putin, a president known for his innocence, seems to be inseparable. According to Newsweek, U.S. and European intelligence officials suspect that the Russian-German real estate development company in St. Petersburg, which Putin served on the advisory board of St. Petersburg when he was deputy mayor, is involved in money laundering by the underworld. Although there is no evidence that Putin has benefited from the company, the pervasive smell of gangsterism can still be smelled in these clues.

The notorious Chinese gangster: the Big Circle Gang

The first Chinese gangsters, known as the "Chinese Heroes", had the right to be proud and had no choice but to unite against the local underworld in the face of police indifference.

The first Chinese gangster to appear in the police archives was the ABC (American-bornChinese) organization in New York'Chinese s Chinatown in the 70s of the 20th century. The ABC fought a three-year war with the mafia, which cost the Gambino family 37 of its right-hand men. According to an FBI tapping of Paul Gambino, the godfather thought the mafia could no longer control Chinatown and might as well give up. In this way, the ABC "liberated" Chinatown and gained a reputation in the underground society.

After losing a common enemy, the ABC began to fight internally, and the civil war lasted for 10 years, until 1985, when the American police successfully went undercover and threw all the bosses into prison in one fell swoop, and Chinatown regained its tranquility. But peace is short-lived, and conflict is the eternal theme. The failure of the ABC has provided an opportunity for another large circle of Chinese gangs to rise rapidly, and smuggling and high-tech crime have become the new oil and water in Chinatown.

The Big Circle Gang is only a gangster in the initial stage, without a strict organizational structure, and most of the core members have military backgrounds. The Big Circle Gang first became famous in Hong Kong, and then moved to North America and Australia with the wave of immigrants from the mainland.

In the early 80s, the standard equipment of the Big Circle Gang was the "Black Star" (May Fourth pistol). Despite the Blackstar's poor directivity (20 centimeters off from a distance of 25 meters) and a poor grip angle (the muzzle of the gun is held downwards normally, so the wrist should be held upwards), it is extremely penetrating, making it extremely suitable for close-range combat in the gangsters. At that time, the body armor of the Hong Kong police, when encountering the "black star", was definitely a shot and a hole. Therefore, experienced Hong Kong police officers will turn around and run when they see the "black star".

Canada is also the sphere of influence of the Big Circle. On the list of the local Organized Crime Investigation Bureau, the Big Circle Gang has surpassed the Lotus Gang and the Vietnamese Gang in Hong Kong and Taiwan to become the boss of the Asian gang. Together with the local Hell's Angels, it controls half of the wholesale drug market.

The Big Circle Gang is also well-known in Australia. In 2002, Australian police uncovered a drug trafficking case involving hundreds of millions of dollars, and found that 10 members of the Big Circle Gang were involved. Not only did they drive the Vietnamese "5 T" out of Australia's Chinatown, but they also launched a new round of the Opium War against local whites.

The brains of the underworld: the American Jewish Gang

Behind every successful man, there is a Jewish think tank. George W. Bush's think tank was Deputy Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz, while Luciano's Jewish think tank was Meyer Lansky, the only foreigner who could attend the mafia's national convention. Although he did not have the right to vote, the Italian godfathers held him in great esteem, as Lansky not only had brains, but also controlled the mafia's finances.

Lansky and Luciano's friendship dates back to childhood. When Luciano collected protection money from the Jewish child, he was answered, "Stuff your protection money into your *, I don't need it." "They have since become friends, and apart from the same ambition and violence, they are both calm career criminals. In the twenties of the twentieth century, Luciano and Lansky started the "Seven Syndicate", which monopolized the moonshine market in New York. In order to maintain his friendship with Lansky, Luciano even went so far as to kill his godfather, Massella.

Under Lansky's plan, Luciano gradually transformed the mob mafia into a well-organized, modern society. When Luciano was imprisoned, Lansky managed to rescue him; When Luciano was exiled to Sicily, Lansky became his representative in the United States.

However, the friendship between the godfathers was built on strength. Although Luciano in Sicily still had a strong influence, remote command was not always as good as being in person, and Lansky began to quietly develop his own power, an important step was to invest in the establishment of Las Vegas.

The suggestion was made by Benjamin Siegel, Lansky's childhood comrade-in-arms; It was Lansky, who was accustomed to being behind the scenes, to pass the recommendations of the Mafia National Council. In 1943, Siegel began building its first casino, the Flamingo Hotel, in the desolate town of Las Vegas. However, in 1946 the opening of the hotel was a complete failure, and $6 million went down the drain. To make matters worse, Siegel's girlfriend, Virginia Hill, has $500,000 more in her account in Switzerland. This outraged Lansky and the mafia. On the one hand, he sold the bankrupt hotel for $50,000 and sent out the creditors; On the one hand, the committee passed the death sentence against Siegel.

Two years later, the inn reopened. After a previous failure, the opening was a huge success, earning $1 million in its first year. In the 40s of the last century, this was equivalent to a year's income from the New York mafia. The number of golden egg-laying hotels grew, and by the '60s, Lansky and his Jewish gang had 17 casinos in Las Vegas, compared to 11 by the Mafia.

Lansky is also distinguished by the fact that he has always been hiding behind the mafia. He has a share of all the income of the mafia; And the blows from the government and the police all fell on the back of the mafia.

Arrogant Canadian gangsters: Angels of Hell

In the '60s, a group of American hippies roaming around on high-powered motorcycles coined the term. Dressed in black leather and bearded, fat, rude, and never shower-wearing, these fat, rude, and unbathing creatures made their way through North America, frightening many quiet towns and towns, and attracting admirers. In the 80s, tired of wandering, the "angels" formed the Hell Angels gang in Canada, which has now grown to become Canada's number one gang. Headquartered in Montreal, it has about 40,000 members and is mainly engaged in drug trafficking.

In 1995, a turf war broke out between the Hell's Angels and another gangster, the Rolling Stone Machine, in Quebec. The conflict lasted for 7 years, and a total of 160 people from both sides went to hell amid the murders and revenge you went back and forth. In response to growing civilian discontent, the Canadian police launched Operation Spring 2001. More than 2,000 police officers arrested more than 100 "angels" overnight. The police have hinted that if the fighting continues, they will take tougher repressive measures. The call for peace had an effect, and on the afternoon of 26 September 2001, the parties held a closed-door meeting in a court in the province of Quebec. It was quiet and safe, no one could bring a gun into the courthouse, and the police anti-crime team would not patronize the courthouse. Maulis Butcher, the godfather of the Hell's Angels, and Fred Temo, the boss of the Rolling Stone Machine, each with three assistants, reached a historic settlement in a solemn court. A spokesman for the Quebec Ministry of Security later confirmed the information, but stressed that the rapprochement between the two sides would not affect the police's response to the violence. Since then, however, the Canadian police have not carried out a large-scale anti-crime operation.

Triad criminal activities threaten the whole world

The Hong Kong gang triad is considered the largest and most feared organized crime gang in the world. The illegal activities of this secretive, well-organized gang with tentacles around the world include drug trafficking, extortion, pornography, kidnapping, smuggling, counterfeiting and fraud of all kinds, video piracy, usury and gambling. According to an estimate by a Western expert and writer, the triad handles 90 percent of the world's heroin trade. Because of the high degree of secrecy in which the gang operates, it is difficult to distinguish between hearsay and fact when examining the scope and extent of its activities. But Martinbooth, the author of TheDragonSyndicate, tries to dig deeper into the triad's gang culture. Citing UN sources, he said that triads are known to be gangsters that pose the greatest potential threat to the world.

It's been there since ancient times

The origins of triads can be traced back to the power of folk gangs in ancient Chinese feudal society. In his book, Booth argues that the first "formal" triad organization emerged in the ninth century AD. At the time, such secret gangs mainly provided protection for wealthy families. The name "triad" is believed to represent the harmony of heaven, earth, and man.

In the early days, secret gangs developed members on the basis of clan alliances, mutual protection, and repayment of private debts or favors. The triad grew on the basis of this gang and continued to exist and continue as a subcultural organization for centuries. In the 19th century, however, the Chinese imperial court began to adopt a policy of killing and killing the secret non-governmental gangs.

All over the world

As the Chinese continued to migrate to the rest of the world, the triad grew in power on a global scale. Triads have taken root in many countries, including the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia and the United States, and in Hong Kong alone, there are 50 gangs belonging to triads. There are currently said to be 4 triad gangs operating in the UK, the largest of which is called 14k.

And in China, the power of the triad has also increased in recent years. In early 2004, the Chinese Government launched a campaign against organized criminal gangs, reportedly arresting thousands of people believed to be members of triads.

In other countries around the world, the local police also find it difficult to deal with the triad forces that have infiltrated local society, as the group usually operates only within the Chinese community. Triad victims are often afraid to report to the local police because they are afraid, and witnesses to the incident, even if they have provided testimony to the authorities, often withdraw their testimony closer to the court session.