My dad worked in Hong Kong in the 80’s he told me the apartment building he lived in was owned and controlled by the triads, he said apart from the occasional police bust (which was just for show) they were the best landlords he ever had
As I grow up and live in Hong Kong for 3x years, I can tell his stories and description about the triad is true. In fact, they are part of Hong Kong’s business ecosystem and well known among actors / actresses. It’s just rooted in Hong Kong for decades. Yet, of course he is only telling like 10% of that story, not mentioning the dark side and political influence of that.
Very true, I studied in HK and i atleast learnt about the triads controlling the restaurants in the streets. I honestly was expecting Jimmy to cover more of that since i obviously was just skimming on the tip of the iceberg
@@-grumpygold1155 i feel like jimmy would be very reluctant to go into detail of his former life. the way he described how he got out of gangsterlife already seems extremely murky and a bit too easy. it also contradicts his message at the end about leaving the triads: either through time in prison or by being killed. which neither happened to him. but maybe theres more information about bighead jimmy on the web to get a greater picture of his stories
Didn't the government use triad members to attack protesters in Hong Kong recently? There must still be connect tions between the two. I can't imagine the triad doing fa ours for the government for nothing.
Dinglshingle "final ways out" is what he says exactly, I interpreted it as it meaning the consequence of staying in the triad and not retiring, at least it seemed like that to me because of the wording he uses.
The Hong Kong movie industry was wild in the 80s and 90s. Andy Lau was forced to make a movie by triads at gunpoint. Carina Lau was kidnapped and extorted with nude photos. Jet Li's manager was a 14K and was murdered. It was crazy.
Hong Kong has always been notorious for gangs. It's no secret that the Triads controlled the movie industry. In his autobiography, Jackie Chan dedicates an entire chapter to gang activities and the things he went through. Enter The Dragon's extras in the movie was almost entirely made up of gang members. There's so many interviews and books by the American casts that talks about the shitshow that went on during filming, and the fights Bruce Lee had to put down. Bruce Lee himself grew up as a child star in Hong Kong. He was basically raised by gangs, until his father sent him to the United States.
Bruce Lee during his younger days, he got fight and trouble with a gangs. that's why his father sent him away. Actor like Michael Chan Wai Man, is openly high rank(No.2) guy in 14k gangs. And what even more dramatic is he once work as prison guard which then switched to police officer. Slowly has more and more connection and sliding towards gangs with his career background. He is also the champion of an Asian Kickboxing championship in 1970 and 1971. He also has another match in 1983 at the age of 38, that match available on youtube....lol There is also Charles Heung, movie producer, founder of China Star Entertainment Limited, produced a lot of HK movies. He is a well known big guy in triads, his father was a major general for KMT, who founded Sun Yee On. His brother succeed his father post after his father been exiled, but there is record in ROC government that him being marked as boss of Sun Yee On. (EDIT: The guy in this video that talk about his boss who looks like businessman, control by family, know his family blablabla, is this guy. 向(Xiang/ Heung) family) HK has a lot of triads member in entertainment industry, and outside of them, there is an actor, Simon Yam Tat Wah, who's father was a police corporal, died during operation. His brother, Peter Yam, is also a police, reached his highest rank as Hong Kong Deputy Commissioner of Police, until he retired in 2010.
I've heard stories that early HK superstar Jimmy Wang Yu was something of a high holler w/ the Triads back in the 60's, and one of the big reasons he spilt to Taiwan in the 70's was due to a falling out w/ them
This is one of the best episodes. Triads are rarely covered. This guy was not only a “Sun Yee On” Triad member but also a NYC Chinatown “Tung On” Gang member.
I think this guy was on one of China Mac's live videos that he aired while visiting his old hood in Chinatown. Mac was emphasizing his high degree of respect for this guy for some reason and I didn't understand why. Now, I know. He's a "Made Man."
The oath he talked about taking, The oath of Liu, Guan, and Zhang, is the oath of eternal brotherhood, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei made during the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history. I'm sure many people will know of the romanticized version of the historical events, Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Dynasty Warrior games. The part about protecting the country is probably from the origins of the triads. The triad's origins stem from patriotic secret societies dedicated to overthrowing the Manchus and the Qing Dynasty. And Emperor Guan, is referring to Guan Yu. About 300 years or so after his death, Guan Yu was deified and worshipped. In some Chinese business you can see small shrines dedicated to him. Guan Yu is also worshipped by both the police and triads.
To add on top of the "protecting country" part, a lot of Triad or Gang through out Chinese History were part of former government. Soliders and Officers of former dynasty would often gather and try to form a rebell militia group whose goal is to restore the former dynasty. Since they are rebels, it automatiaclly make them criminal in the eyes of government so a lot of their incomes came from secret supporter donation or criminal activities. Local people would support them, because more often than not they are only violent to governemnt, but do good deeds for locals. Just like any corporation, after a couple change of leadership, they starting to corrupt and turn into criminal gangs. A couple of the Triad group mentioned in the video, were actually started by former spy of Republic of China who got left behind after the China Civil War. There are also couple gangs who used to be soliders of People Republic of China.
@@alanyuen680 sun yeet an and 14k would be the front runner for Republic of China. Sun Yeet An's early founder was a high level intelligent officer for Republic of China. 14K leadership was over taken by an amry general of republic when they are retreating to Taiwan. Ciang Kai-Shek was also known to be part of Triad at early age and his political rise was back by shang hai triad. On People Republic of China, they aren't really triad, they are more consider was traditional gang. Groups of criminal forming an entity to profit from criminal crimes such as Big Circle.
I love his subtle deflection "When the soldiers in the other groups got in trouble, the worst that would happen is they would be killed. You go against the group and you're killed. My group never had that problem, no. Not at all. I just... I heard about these things. Yeah. I heard about them."
Yeah, as a HKer, I’m used to hear Cantonese accent with British influences because we used to be a British colony. His accent sounds "wrong" to my ears 😂
A friend of mine got mixed up in the world of Triads here in the UK during the late 1980s. He went missing for years without trace. None of his friends or family knew of his whereabouts. Some suspected he went to Hong Kong. He was eventually discovered under a bridge near Glasgow. They were only able to identify him through his dental records as bones and teeth were all that remained of him.
I am so sorry for your loss, it’s so incredibly sad that people fall through the cracks of the system and end up in violent circles. May he rest in peace, I hope you are doing well
What's funny is even though he tried to keep it vague, everyone who's semi-into Hong Kong movies has seen a member of the "Boss Family" he's referring to. It is almost universal knowledge that the guy who plays Chow Yun-fat's bodyguard in God of the Gamblers, among other movies, is one of the brothers who are leaders of the Sun Yee Ong gang. His son, presumably the future leader of the triad, is also an actor in the HK/Chinese movie scene.
@@jyaamein He must be referring to Jacky Heung, actor, martial artist and eldest son of Hong Kong actor-turned-producer Charles Heung (who is the tenth of the thirteen children of Sun Yee On founder Heung Chin) and popular Taiwanese actress Tiffany Chen (There is a strong rumor that Jacky would be Sun Yee On's future dragonhead in case his father is murdered, as his uncle and Charles Heung's younger brother Jimmy Heung passed away in 2014).
@@jyaamein Actor like Michael Chan Wai Man, is openly high rank(No.2) guy in 14k gangs. And what even more dramatic is he once work as prison guard which then switched to police officer. Slowly has more and more connection and sliding towards gangs with his career background. He is also the champion of an Asian Kickboxing championship in 1970 and 1971. He also has another match in 1983 at the age of 38, that match available on youtube....lol There is also Charles Heung, movie producer, founder of China Star Entertainment Limited, produced a lot of HK movies, he even cameo in some of them.... He is a well known big guy in triads, his father was a major general for KMT, who founded Sun Yee On. His brother succeed his father post after his father been exiled, but there is record in ROC government that him being marked as boss of Sun Yee On. The guy in this video that talk about his boss who looks like businessman, control by family, know his family blablabla, is this guy. 向(Xiang/ Heung) family. HK has a lot of triads member in entertainment industry, and outside of them, there is an actor, Simon Yam Tat Wah, who's father was a police corporal, died during operation. His brother, Peter Yam, is also a police, reached his highest rank as Hong Kong Deputy Commissioner of Police, until he retired in 2010.
FYI at 4:40 when he discusses monthly protection money, 20k a month per club - he's likely talking HKD - which is still $2600 USD, per month, per small club. You have to remember this is back in the late 80's, so 5k USD / Month is still ~11k USD now. He goes on to say one Large club is 100k/ - so $13k USD per month - so more than double that in today's $ for just one club / month. Hope that gives some perspective.
Thanks for the explanation. I did question that because it was a lot of money back then and would a club rake in that much per month. Considering that people made around $500/month back then, $2600 would be a lot.
Big heads gambling den in New York makes 50k usd per day. A 100k usd montly salary for a popular night club hong kong isn't unheard of. Jimmy bought a house and a Ferrari in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has some of the most expensive real estate in the world.
My grandfather was a Hong Mun boss. Chinese Freemasons. First in Hong Kong in the 70s, then in Vancouver in the 80s. In Hong Kong he has a street named after him in Hung Hom district. I remember his birthday parties were incredibly grand, with famous calligraphers writing blessings for him. I was a kid and didn't know what it was all about until much later when I started learning more about it. Very interesting.
@@KellyTheReiss Haha, yep. About 25 years ago we went on a family trip to Cuba and got the royal treatment by his Chinese Freemason contacts over in Havana. That was a fun surprise.
pretty nice that you could experience that without being apart of the work... now if you still aren't apart of it I'd say you really got yourself a good time.
@@jordanw8382is your father still alive? Did he direct you to a different profession? I saw earlier the average age of triads now is 54, their numbers are dropping every year, I think part of it is the youngers don't want the hierarchy, and there's less easy money around..
@@The_belligerant_servo_skull My grandfather passed away almost 20 years ago now. None of his own children, my uncles or aunts, or his grandchildren got involved in it. Ironically I worked for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for quite a few years and my specialty was Chinese organized crime where I had a special skill for knowing how these triad guys talk, the jargon and dialects and stuff. They're fewer in numbers but there are some very powerful people out there, some of the top drug traffickers and money launderers in the world.
For anyone interested, there is also a videogame where the developers put alot of work into making it somehow accurate on the same time keeping enough room for made up stuff. It's called "Sleeping Dogs", open world game with a Hong Kong Map (no islands, HK put together to one Map mostly still very accurate), a great Story of an undercover cop & great game play. The Story is ridiculously good & even if you not playing videogames, at least go watch the cutscenes/story here on RUclips.
@@lifearebennetitwant1007 you do realize that not only Chinese people live in nyc Chinatown? Like one of the most notorious gangs in nyc China town was btk which was all Vietnamese
@@jacobayers2391NY was a tough city back then. Mafia, Triads, Colombian cartels, Albanians, Vietnamese, Irish, Jews, Rusians, African-american, Latinos... Each ethnic group have their own problems 😂
@@jacobayers2391 His point is there isn't just one. Numerous cities around the world have a Chinatown, so if you want people to know you're talking about the NYC Chinatown you need to say that.
My father was involved with new york. He moved us all out to florida in the 90s. He was betrayed and they let him take us out of nyc and was exiled. I was too young to know anything, but I basically had 50 uncles and grew up in chinese restaurants. I am now a chef, and have nothing but respect for my fathers generation
As a former triad member as he said a higher level member, I'm 100% sure that he only said 2% of the truth, there is much more dark side of the triads in all southeast Asia, cold and brutal
@@sdqsdq6274there’s triad in America and Canada and they are left alone . That’s where most guns, drugs gambling is. They are pretty untouchable especially in Vancouver and other places. The ones they do take down are alway small gangs.. they don’t mess with high level- cause they also make a lot of money for the gov
When I was a teenager in northern NY state in a small town we had a really popular Chinese restaurant that was run by a family. One day 3 men from New York City came up, tied the family up in the middle of the night, took the old man down into the restaurant, stuck a gun under his arm and shot him in the chest, then hung his body in the walk-in freezer. Then they disappeared. The stories that came out after a few weeks were that the family was brought to the US by the Triad, and set up with the business, but the old man started buying from different suppliers which broke his deal with the Traid so they killed him. A couple months later an entirely different Chinese family was running that restaurant.
@@andreww5574 I would say most of them, at least the ones within driving distance of New York City. There's lots of them I would frequent that seemed like every couple of years an entire new family would be running it.
It's well known that majority of the extras on the Bruce Lee movie "Enter The Dragon" were Triads. There's many interviews from cast and crew detailing the many times Bruce was approached and asked to spar.
Well delivered doc. Goes to show that regardless of culture ALL gangs/families operate using the same base code. Glad this cat 'retired' and appears to be liv'n large.
In one of his videos he's wearing a Frank Mueller ($300k+). Not even sure which watch he's wearing in this one but I'm sure its worth a lot. Collecting $100k a month back in a days must have been nice if he saved/invested it.
@@nullnull403forbidden You seemed to have completely missed the point of my comment lmao, people casually calling a murdering scumbag a 'cat' and glad for them lol
@PogChamp! Don't get me wrong, I concur with your statement. But the time from back then and now is different. Nowadays, people who commit crimes are released regardless of how severe the crime is. It's a crazy world overall.
There's so much culture and history within the Triads. Such an interesting interview and knowledge from Bighead. I've heard all of his Chinatown Gang Stories youtube interviews as well.
Well we have one political party being very vocal about how blacks are free to do anything and won't be punish for it. So that is exactly what they are thinking.
@@theephantommenace: Obviously going viral cos of the Taiwan and mainland thing backing with or by the US. Even Donnie Yeh is now sitting at the State Council as an advisory... Nothing is an accident.
I remember I had problems with this Filipino kid who had ties with Born To Kill. I was in Bronx Science, Class of 1992. He was like maybe 170lbs and about 5'8", and I was just a 5'2" skinny filipino kid about 116 lbs. My brother's Asian friend (not sure if they were the Flying Dragons) put a stop to that dude's recruitment of kids into gangs. The 90s were some fucked up times. My school got more violent after I graduated, even for one of the smartest, nerdiest schools in NYC.
@@marvinbenjamin. you really don't want to mess with the BTK back then, they were known to have extreme ways of getting back at their foes, they doesn't rely on an honor system like the triads because the BTK gang was fresh off from war torn Vietnam, if you kill one they will kill you and maybe a few people you know
Triads have such underrated reputation in cinemas or pop culture compared to like the mafias or yakuzas. Triads have had presence in the West in 1800s and we didn't know about it until just recently. Probably a very very large portion of all Chinese immigrants to the western world from 1800s to the late 1900s had some connection with the Triads one way or another. They had their origins starting out by fighting the Qing dynasty and later the communists. Most gangs/mafias started out by just trying to break laws and get rich, but the triads were like a secret revolutionary organization which is what makes them so unique.
Some of the societies do have quite noble origins, but those days are long gone - they just became thugs and parasites like other organised crime groups
im not surprised by the secrecy. chinese are hella like this for the past 5 decades. when it comes to making money, its straight business, even the innocent families ones that arent in a gang, all they do is make money and cheat the tax system.
Triads were majority bandits during the China's dynasty; their goal was to robbed the rich people and roaming the country by being free. Kinda like an anarchy rebellion against the fascist emperor whom treated his citizens like peasants. Bandits didn't have laws, rules and disciplines within the group, in order to unify as one they have work together as a family then eventually become a triad.
What do you mean they are underrated? in the US maybe, not in Asia or Europe, even Canada knows them well due to the mass amount of Hong Kong immigrants. There are many movies about them - I particularly recommend Election and Election II by Johnnie To.
It's funny but also respectful, that even in a Mafia oath, the first thing they said was to protect the country... Thanks for posting this great interview and thanks to Jimmy for doing this interview.
It have it's historical reason. The Triads originally group of former Ming dynasty soldiers for defeating Qing dynasty in hundreds years ago. They just keeps the oath for hundreds of years. If triads do anything pro-government, they just do it for money lol
If i remember right that part of their oath is due to their origins being a revolutionary organization that started in the 1600's and fought against emperors at first hence "protecting the country"
They showed this special handshake in a Hk movie called “the triad” by Yum Tat Wa .. there is a scene of this said handshake ( also the last best Hk gang movie, all others sucks)
this handshake almost old like China，dockern at that time everybody is gangster。gang size is insane，without handshake you are unable to find out whos your people。Our founding father get lots of money from Hongmen to overthrow the Emperor and establishing a modern country。Sometimes gangs can even initiate a civil war。their power were just crazy。😮
How many parents leave their children, breakup the family, experience costly drug use, refuse to work harder to meet family demands, have no relations with their kids. Point is there's too many bad parents to follow this as a golden rule. Now people are inherently untrustworthy because simple friendships are built upon mutual value...not some real bond. People lose friends over the simplest things. Truthfully, trust nobody and allow yourself to be pleasently surprised when they have your back...
The best way to earn real bonds like love and friendship is to entertain them, then provide service, then provide monetary value in that order bc relationships are exchanges of value
It’s sad how organized crime seems to hack into some peoples need for purpose and connection, you can tell he found some sense of meaning and structure from his gang life. Hopefully we can someday find a way to get everyone out of that mindset and love a live they enjoy just as much but doesn’t harm others.
You're talking about churches, religious groups, businessmen.. and literally every manipulating aspect of factions in real life rite there 😂 stop pretending to be a by-stander!
@@Amgis9369 religion is a cult who's sole purpose is to recruit new members. Believing in Christ or Allah doesn't provide you with shelter or food or even money. Extorting a night club as a gang member does
They hire the triads to do stuff they can’t, it’s well documented that since the handover the party has payed triads to violently disperse protests and kill organisers.
@thulomanchay they do though. They can overrule the ruling by courts in HK, legislate laws without HK’s parliament, and the representatives in Olympics were granted because of the Basic Laws, whose power came from CCP.
Not really, HK accent usually got influence from British accent because HK used to be a British colony. His accent clearly was influenced by American accent like how he says the words “got”, “not”, etc.
The guy is quite engaging and has an interesting screen presence. Definitely could work in film as a "triads consultant" or an extra, even as a supporting actor, playing himself essentially.
Tbh those old hk movies from the 80s and 90s are basically what you described but with active gang members giving notes and actively acting in them. Entertainment (music, movies, clubs, etc) is one of the largest money laundering rackets the Triads have in hk
I remember everything he said! I was also born in Yau Ma Tei, and lived right next to the police station there for like 10 years during my elementary and middle school years. Always felt a sense of security but at that time as he says, corruption was rampant. This was 1980s.
He mentioned that the triads in HK do not work WITH HK police anymore like they used to be, it is strict now, the reason is that they work FOR HK police now, aka the biggest licensed traid in HK.
fax. Now the HK police is the biggest threat to freedom in HK. They are soldiers under the General aka the Chief Executive, who is in turn, under the boss CCP.
What about 721 Yuen Long attack in 2019? The triad members were working for HK police, and dozens of them beat passengers brutally. None of the police react to citizens calling for help, and nearly no one got arrested!
It wasn't just Yuen Long - there was massive collusion between the HK police and triads during the protests. There's plenty of evidence that they were used as a kind of paramilitary force against the protesters
13:14 (You do something they don't like, you will disappear forever) He istalking about the cops, not triads, didn't you get it? All triads listen to hkpolice now
The thing with gangs in Hong Kong now is that the fighting between gangs has never been more intense A news channel called ChannelCHK would show actual footage of conflict if anyone's interested
Well documented,coming from a person who joined the triads at the age of 14 ( through no fault of his own)Glad that he is able to relate his story.Always have been intrigued about the triads and their origin,which in this video was very insightful.
Before this video, all my info about the HK Triads are from Sleeping Dogs (the videogame) and hearing his interview, it seems the game got it pretty accurate in most cases. The iron grip on the entertainment racket, the many deaths that come with the business, they even got the rampant police corruption in HK correct. The only thing unrealistic about the game is the fact the bad guy behind everything actually gets locked behind bars in the end.
Great video, I use to live in Chinatown Manhatten 1988-96 and I've had some gang related experiences with Ghost Shadows and btk when I was 10-13years old. Hearing him tell these story's bring back memories
Do you remember a murder at a cinema where a teenager was shot and stabbed to death in the late seventies in New York ? Surname of deceased was Yuen had one younger brother and two younger sisters, he was between the age of 17/18. On his death.
@@conspiracy1914 How would you know if you truly understood everything though? Maybe you missed some deeper meaning behind it lol. (this is just a philosophical question, I don't actually care if you do/don't)
@@Puffy_Puff Oh Korea has a rich gang history but is rarely told outside of Korea. Korea was under Japanese imperial occupation which the allowed the Yakuza to control everything undisputed for a while. Which lead to Korean gangs to form a united front to drive out the Yakuza. They were the hard underdog but won out still, is one example.
Very interesting. As someone who has lived in HK for quite sone time i can attest that Triads are involved in so many aspects of daily life...i have seen many triad fights.
Temple Street in the 90s is no joke, second only to Kowloon Walled City. For those that do not know, it was several blocks of interconnected condos rampant with drugs / prostitutes / gambling. The Qing signed North of X to UK, then South of X to UK in two separate deals. But Kowloon Walled City was missed in either. So when Qing went down, it could not govern it, HK locals did not want to govern it, UK did not want to govern it. So it was basically a few blocks of lawless condos (search it up, looks crazy) where criminals can just avoid justice.
Never lie to each other , steal from each other , never take girls from your gang’s members, those are some words these younger gang members need to take it to heart 😂
I started out in a BMX gang when I was young. We used to find old bricks and bits of wood and make ramps to jump off on our BMX's. Eventually I had to give up that life because my wife threatened to leave me if I didn't change my ways.
I remember i was fascinated by the mafia triads and such. the movie Young And Dangerous was my favorite movie, it was base on this type of life style. i would ask people whos actually was part of it, to realized their connection is big what they do. every country as their own traids but some function in different way. some are almost no violence but operate base on money and international trade with other triads.
It's basically a triad propaganda recruitment movie glamorizing the triad life. like the guy said, the HK movie industry is basically a triad business arm.
What a life today a gangster has ?? !! Terrifying to end up dead or in prison for long time. Thank you for your video. Please do not be a gangster or member of a gang.
I am very glad he and other former gang members are daring enough to open up their gangster life to the public & even on internet through RUclips now, hopefully all these useful videos will deter more youngsters from joining gangs & touching drugs. Parents gave their life to raise the kids in the best they can but the best & minimal thing a kid can do to repay the parents is to behave good & not join any gangs to create any problems in societies. Anyway when I was young, I already heard many of the HK actresses & actors in the 60s to 80s were or used to be triad members. Now from what he mentioned, it’s a true hearsay then. Can’t really blame them for being a triad member as they probably can’t get a scene or spot or worst, maybe get threaten or beaten up if they aren’t a member, so can’t earn a living for being an entertainer.
I think it helps a lot that gang life, culture, and the way they operate is very different nowadays. Increased regulations, laws, and policing, I think have made gang operations that were once common, like what he’s described much much much harder nowadays. Its very difficult to move drugs, it’s very difficult to sell drugs, it’s very difficult to extort the general public. I think gangs have moved into different approaches, and different ways to get their operations going but their lives aren’t really as glamorous and as appealing as these old gangsters describe. An example would be the Yakuza, they’re effectively redundant today and their operations have been obliterated. They’re also culturally shunned by the general public now, and their lives are much much more difficult so it’s no longer possible to openly be yakuza either. A lot of the appeal, luckily isn’t there anymore.
Gangsters serve a purpose to the community and are just as necessary as anyone else. Everyone in this world has a role to play, and not all of them are "good guy " roles
@@privateuser7organized crime is not necessary. No doubt they sometimes do good things and provide a living for a lot of people, but that doesn't make them good.
@@jimmy22334people forget that drugs for example are a big part of the general economy. it’s sad that it’s the way that is is but it can’t be overlooked.
The HK police is now the biggest triad gang, they also act the same way. Any cop who speaks out against police over reach is treated as a traitor. Constable Tsui Bol Gol was framed as a rogue cop and murdered by accusing him of trying to murder other cops, is because he found out many police right after the 1997 handover, actually are communist party members, an even larger triad, and Tsui wanted to expose them. He was framed and killed as the result. HK mostly remember Tsui as a rogue cop. One of the actual rogue cops involved back then, li ka chiu, is now the chief executive of Hong Kong. .
Edison Chen voices one of the characters, Jackie Ma. He is a Hong Kong actor who got into a scandal and disputes with some actresses, some of the actresses were connected to the triads and they supposedly put a hit on him. He fled back to Canada till the situation cooled down.
China is in charge now, so you'll end up in some black site camp, and then you'll either slave away in hard labour, or you'll... be liquidated for your "resources" and disposed of.
that's because they are laundering money from it. But depends on which triad gang, the way they handle things is very different. Actors would be pretty much "kidnapped" or forced to do a film by the triads, sometimes even with guns drawn too
It is true even to this day, just recently the boss of a well-known Hong Kong entertainment company was sentenced to nearly 20 years in neighbouring Macao for money laundering. He has long been accused of being in a triad.
FYI the largest gang Sun Yee On owns a movie / entertainment company called China Star that’s also a reason why gang members are in the movies/ TV / entertainment business
Around 20 years ago we were having lunch at a seafood restaurant by the waterfront in a Hong Kong fishing village. It was at the time of the Chinese New Year. The most pathetic lion dance interrupted the calm nature of the village. Dodgy characters were performing the dance in a half arsed way. It was clearly a shake down exercise to get money out of the business people in the village. Our host was really pissed off about it.
@@TheodoreBrosevelt You must be very proud. I do see the resemblance. At least your kid turned out better looking than the dad. Thank god for small miracles eh?
My dad did some work for the Triads as a PI - assorted stuff. We ate at Triad establishments pretty often. Clean places. Great food. Friendly people. Years after he got a new job, the Triads got chased out of the west coast for the most part. The restaurants got dirty.
My dad worked in Hong Kong in the 80’s he told me the apartment building he lived in was owned and controlled by the triads, he said apart from the occasional police bust (which was just for show) they were the best landlords he ever had
i'd rather have a shitty landlord, than occasional police busts... wth
@@davidgork4185 they’re fake police busts tho. The police were probably just hanging out with the triads
@@davidgork4185mate, a shitty landlord can cause problems all year round - police bust are a problem if you are doing something problematic.
@@mlguy8376yeah if you haven’t done anything wrong you can just go “damn” and keep living there with little to no consequences
@@davidgork4185 That's because you've never had a shitty landlord and problems.
Now people will understand the reason old Hong Kong crime films are so good and realistic.
They're technically half-documentary 😅
I mostly blame censorship from the CCP for HK movie industry's current situation though.
Recommendation please 🥺🥺??
@@mgs2014 just search hongkong crime movie based in 70-90. Most of them is quite good
@@mgs2014 Search for movies with Andy Lau, Chow Yun Fat, Ekin Cheng, Tony Leung, and maybe Takeshi Kaneshiro in it. 1980s to early 2000s.
@@mgs2014 cage tiger
As I grow up and live in Hong Kong for 3x years, I can tell his stories and description about the triad is true. In fact, they are part of Hong Kong’s business ecosystem and well known among actors / actresses. It’s just rooted in Hong Kong for decades. Yet, of course he is only telling like 10% of that story, not mentioning the dark side and political influence of that.
Very true, I studied in HK and i atleast learnt about the triads controlling the restaurants in the streets. I honestly was expecting Jimmy to cover more of that since i obviously was just skimming on the tip of the iceberg
@@-grumpygold1155 i feel like jimmy would be very reluctant to go into detail of his former life. the way he described how he got out of gangsterlife already seems extremely murky and a bit too easy. it also contradicts his message at the end about leaving the triads: either through time in prison or by being killed. which neither happened to him. but maybe theres more information about bighead jimmy on the web to get a greater picture of his stories
Didn't the government use triad members to attack protesters in Hong Kong recently? There must still be connect tions between the two. I can't imagine the triad doing fa ours for the government for nothing.
Dinglshingle "final ways out" is what he says exactly, I interpreted it as it meaning the consequence of staying in the triad and not retiring, at least it seemed like that to me because of the wording he uses.
we can see that getting 5 bullets is close to being killed
The Hong Kong movie industry was wild in the 80s and 90s. Andy Lau was forced to make a movie by triads at gunpoint. Carina Lau was kidnapped and extorted with nude photos. Jet Li's manager was a 14K and was murdered. It was crazy.
Carina was raped and filmed to be extorted. The video made rounds. Not just nude photos. I heard Eric Tsang stepped in and 'settled' it.
Ya I remmeber hearing that.
Was Jet Li a triad?
@@TheSmartLawyer He wasn't. Just his manager.
@@TheSmartLawyerhe was from Beijing, so unlikely
Hong Kong has always been notorious for gangs. It's no secret that the Triads controlled the movie industry. In his autobiography, Jackie Chan dedicates an entire chapter to gang activities and the things he went through.
Enter The Dragon's extras in the movie was almost entirely made up of gang members. There's so many interviews and books by the American casts that talks about the shitshow that went on during filming, and the fights Bruce Lee had to put down. Bruce Lee himself grew up as a child star in Hong Kong. He was basically raised by gangs, until his father sent him to the United States.
Wonder if that's partly why Jackie Chan is so pro-CCP. No need to worry about gangs when mainland Big Brother is watching out for you
hk gangsters are clowns 5 v 2 and we wrecked them ez and they had weapons
谢谢科普
Bruce Lee during his younger days, he got fight and trouble with a gangs. that's why his father sent him away.
Actor like Michael Chan Wai Man, is openly high rank(No.2) guy in 14k gangs. And what even more dramatic is he once work as prison guard which then switched to police officer. Slowly has more and more connection and sliding towards gangs with his career background. He is also the champion of an Asian Kickboxing championship in 1970 and 1971. He also has another match in 1983 at the age of 38, that match available on youtube....lol
There is also Charles Heung, movie producer, founder of China Star Entertainment Limited, produced a lot of HK movies. He is a well known big guy in triads, his father was a major general for KMT, who founded Sun Yee On. His brother succeed his father post after his father been exiled, but there is record in ROC government that him being marked as boss of Sun Yee On.
(EDIT: The guy in this video that talk about his boss who looks like businessman, control by family, know his family blablabla, is this guy. 向(Xiang/ Heung) family)
HK has a lot of triads member in entertainment industry, and outside of them, there is an actor, Simon Yam Tat Wah, who's father was a police corporal, died during operation. His brother, Peter Yam, is also a police, reached his highest rank as Hong Kong Deputy Commissioner of Police, until he retired in 2010.
I've heard stories that early HK superstar Jimmy Wang Yu was something of a high holler w/ the Triads back in the 60's, and one of the big reasons he spilt to Taiwan in the 70's was due to a falling out w/ them
This is one of the best episodes. Triads are rarely covered. This guy was not only a “Sun Yee On” Triad member but also a NYC Chinatown “Tung On” Gang member.
There's a calmness is his accented English 🤭
I think this guy was on one of China Mac's live videos that he aired while visiting his old hood in Chinatown. Mac was emphasizing his high degree of respect for this guy for some reason and I didn't understand why. Now, I know. He's a "Made Man."
I heard his biggest idol was Don Cor Lee On
@@kcgfy81 You gonna get wok'd for that.
Agreed. I'm so tired about hearing about Italian Mafia those stories have been played to death now.
The oath he talked about taking, The oath of Liu, Guan, and Zhang, is the oath of eternal brotherhood, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei made during the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history. I'm sure many people will know of the romanticized version of the historical events, Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Dynasty Warrior games.
The part about protecting the country is probably from the origins of the triads. The triad's origins stem from patriotic secret societies dedicated to overthrowing the Manchus and the Qing Dynasty.
And Emperor Guan, is referring to Guan Yu. About 300 years or so after his death, Guan Yu was deified and worshipped. In some Chinese business you can see small shrines dedicated to him. Guan Yu is also worshipped by both the police and triads.
To add on top of the "protecting country" part, a lot of Triad or Gang through out Chinese History were part of former government. Soliders and Officers of former dynasty would often gather and try to form a rebell militia group whose goal is to restore the former dynasty. Since they are rebels, it automatiaclly make them criminal in the eyes of government so a lot of their incomes came from secret supporter donation or criminal activities. Local people would support them, because more often than not they are only violent to governemnt, but do good deeds for locals.
Just like any corporation, after a couple change of leadership, they starting to corrupt and turn into criminal gangs. A couple of the Triad group mentioned in the video, were actually started by former spy of Republic of China who got left behind after the China Civil War. There are also couple gangs who used to be soliders of People Republic of China.
Hey thanks @buttbutt for the interesting history!
@@haoye2413 Which groups are from Republic of CHina and which are are from people republic of China? Thanks
@@alanyuen680 sun yeet an and 14k would be the front runner for Republic of China. Sun Yeet An's early founder was a high level intelligent officer for Republic of China. 14K leadership was over taken by an amry general of republic when they are retreating to Taiwan. Ciang Kai-Shek was also known to be part of Triad at early age and his political rise was back by shang hai triad.
On People Republic of China, they aren't really triad, they are more consider was traditional gang. Groups of criminal forming an entity to profit from criminal crimes such as Big Circle.
It’s wrong to blur gang members faces.
As a Hong Konger, I can tell you that any Hong Konger(Born in the 70s-80s) can count at least 10 actors who are members of triads.
Is Jackie Chan a Triad? Or was he?
Andy Lau? Tony Leung?
Mui Yim Fong, Andy Lau, Heng Wa Kuang( Chair man of Sun Yee On) Tseng Chi Wai, Tung Guang Wing(is a big dog) etc etc
@@wp9342 Jackie Chen is a close friend of Sun Yee on boss Yeung Sou Sing and others
@@wp9342 jackie chan no his is documentez 13 dragons
I love his subtle deflection "When the soldiers in the other groups got in trouble, the worst that would happen is they would be killed. You go against the group and you're killed. My group never had that problem, no. Not at all. I just... I heard about these things. Yeah. I heard about them."
His accent is such an interesting mix of a true New York accent and non-native English speaker
Tofu English
Pretty much a Cantonese street accent
Yeah, as a HKer, I’m used to hear Cantonese accent with British influences because we used to be a British colony. His accent sounds "wrong" to my ears 😂
sounds like a very normal Hong Kong accent to me
@@d3generate804 with a strong influence from the US definitely. Not typical HK.
oooh I’ve been seeing videos on western and Japanese mafias for a while so I’m glad you guys are finally covering ones in HK
im ex triad member too im doing business with donald trump
Wow. You’ve made a dollar on this thread already...
(Slow clap)
the triads are more influential than those
@@AJ-iu6nw nah theyre not..they havent covered the mosquito mafia yet
Thanks for having Bighead on, Insider! And thank you all for showing love to Bighead and our channel! 👍
A friend of mine got mixed up in the world of Triads here in the UK during the late 1980s.
He went missing for years without trace. None of his friends or family knew of his whereabouts. Some suspected he went to Hong Kong.
He was eventually discovered under a bridge near Glasgow. They were only able to identify him through his dental records as bones and teeth were all that remained of him.
I still feel bad for the pain he had to endure.
Post news article
What was his name? What bridge? Which city?
Like he tried to join ?
I am so sorry for your loss, it’s so incredibly sad that people fall through the cracks of the system and end up in violent circles. May he rest in peace, I hope you are doing well
What's funny is even though he tried to keep it vague, everyone who's semi-into Hong Kong movies has seen a member of the "Boss Family" he's referring to.
It is almost universal knowledge that the guy who plays Chow Yun-fat's bodyguard in God of the Gamblers, among other movies, is one of the brothers who are leaders of the Sun Yee Ong gang.
His son, presumably the future leader of the triad, is also an actor in the HK/Chinese movie scene.
who's the son?
@@jyaamein He must be referring to Jacky Heung, actor, martial artist and eldest son of Hong Kong actor-turned-producer Charles Heung (who is the tenth of the thirteen children of Sun Yee On founder Heung Chin) and popular Taiwanese actress Tiffany Chen (There is a strong rumor that Jacky would be Sun Yee On's future dragonhead in case his father is murdered, as his uncle and Charles Heung's younger brother Jimmy Heung passed away in 2014).
@@jyaamein Jacky Heung, or Heung Cho
@@jyaamein Actor like Michael Chan Wai Man, is openly high rank(No.2) guy in 14k gangs. And what even more dramatic is he once work as prison guard which then switched to police officer. Slowly has more and more connection and sliding towards gangs with his career background. He is also the champion of an Asian Kickboxing championship in 1970 and 1971. He also has another match in 1983 at the age of 38, that match available on youtube....lol
There is also Charles Heung, movie producer, founder of China Star Entertainment Limited, produced a lot of HK movies, he even cameo in some of them.... He is a well known big guy in triads, his father was a major general for KMT, who founded Sun Yee On. His brother succeed his father post after his father been exiled, but there is record in ROC government that him being marked as boss of Sun Yee On.
The guy in this video that talk about his boss who looks like businessman, control by family, know his family blablabla, is this guy. 向(Xiang/ Heung) family.
HK has a lot of triads member in entertainment industry, and outside of them, there is an actor, Simon Yam Tat Wah, who's father was a police corporal, died during operation. His brother, Peter Yam, is also a police, reached his highest rank as Hong Kong Deputy Commissioner of Police, until he retired in 2010.
@@maviojordangomesrosa2467 Do you know why Charles Heung's wife hate comedy actor Stephen Chow so much?
FYI at 4:40 when he discusses monthly protection money, 20k a month per club - he's likely talking HKD - which is still $2600 USD, per month, per small club. You have to remember this is back in the late 80's, so 5k USD / Month is still ~11k USD now. He goes on to say one Large club is 100k/ - so $13k USD per month - so more than double that in today's $ for just one club / month. Hope that gives some perspective.
Thanks for the explanation!
Thanks for the explanation. I did question that because it was a lot of money back then and would a club rake in that much per month. Considering that people made around $500/month back then, $2600 would be a lot.
0
Big heads gambling den in New York makes 50k usd per day. A 100k usd montly salary for a popular night club hong kong isn't unheard of. Jimmy bought a house and a Ferrari in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has some of the most expensive real estate in the world.
"You are not facing jail time, you just disappear!"
Damn. Even the triad now fears the government. Pooh bear is scary ngl
"What do I have to do to leave...*actually*...nothing"
This is some great storytelling, and strangely sympathetic.
My grandfather was a Hong Mun boss. Chinese Freemasons. First in Hong Kong in the 70s, then in Vancouver in the 80s. In Hong Kong he has a street named after him in Hung Hom district. I remember his birthday parties were incredibly grand, with famous calligraphers writing blessings for him. I was a kid and didn't know what it was all about until much later when I started learning more about it. Very interesting.
Your family is really interesting!
@@KellyTheReiss Haha, yep. About 25 years ago we went on a family trip to Cuba and got the royal treatment by his Chinese Freemason contacts over in Havana. That was a fun surprise.
pretty nice that you could experience that without being apart of the work... now if you still aren't apart of it I'd say you really got yourself a good time.
@@jordanw8382is your father still alive? Did he direct you to a different profession? I saw earlier the average age of triads now is 54, their numbers are dropping every year, I think part of it is the youngers don't want the hierarchy, and there's less easy money around..
@@The_belligerant_servo_skull My grandfather passed away almost 20 years ago now. None of his own children, my uncles or aunts, or his grandchildren got involved in it. Ironically I worked for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for quite a few years and my specialty was Chinese organized crime where I had a special skill for knowing how these triad guys talk, the jargon and dialects and stuff. They're fewer in numbers but there are some very powerful people out there, some of the top drug traffickers and money launderers in the world.
For anyone interested, there is also a videogame where the developers put alot of work into making it somehow accurate on the same time keeping enough room for made up stuff. It's called "Sleeping Dogs", open world game with a Hong Kong Map (no islands, HK put together to one Map mostly still very accurate), a great Story of an undercover cop & great game play. The Story is ridiculously good & even if you not playing videogames, at least go watch the cutscenes/story here on RUclips.
That's a great game!
I played it back on 360 12-13 haven’t got it since
Honestly such a crime that game didn't get a sequel
The Chinese GTA, criminally underrated game.
@@H2ORaccoonthere are 2 sleeping dogs games one I believe in last 5-6 years
I could listen to Jimmy talk for hours. He's the real deal.
Wonderful storyteller, too.
You really never know about a culture til you see for yourself how things go. Insider definitely gave a great platform to be on.
Big head is legit and if any of y’all are interested in hearing more of his story go to Chinatown gang stories for a lot of great Asian crime stories
Don't forget forgotten streets ;)
It seems that you dont understand why the place is called Chinatown when you’re using a general term
@@lifearebennetitwant1007 you do realize that not only Chinese people live in nyc Chinatown? Like one of the most notorious gangs in nyc China town was btk which was all Vietnamese
@@jacobayers2391NY was a tough city back then. Mafia, Triads, Colombian cartels, Albanians, Vietnamese, Irish, Jews, Rusians, African-american, Latinos... Each ethnic group have their own problems 😂
@@jacobayers2391 His point is there isn't just one. Numerous cities around the world have a Chinatown, so if you want people to know you're talking about the NYC Chinatown you need to say that.
My father was involved with new york. He moved us all out to florida in the 90s. He was betrayed and they let him take us out of nyc and was exiled. I was too young to know anything, but I basically had 50 uncles and grew up in chinese restaurants. I am now a chef, and have nothing but respect for my fathers generation
thanks for talking about hong kong gangs as a gen-z hongkonger born and raised there no one really told us about the gangs in Hong Kong
same here
same here x2
Same here x3
An amazing storyteller, I could listen to him for hours... fascinating.
My takeaway is that Sleeping Dogs was basically a documentary :)
That game was so good, shame you don't see many people referring to it among the best in its genre.
@@antoniousai1989 Agreed. Here's hoping for a remake one day.
@@TheHouseSpeciaI it's been remastered
Your talking about the video game?
I have play it now
As a former triad member as he said a higher level member, I'm 100% sure that he only said 2% of the truth, there is much more dark side of the triads in all southeast Asia, cold and brutal
true, the triads operate much more brutally in their southeast asian branches
if he outs everything he ain't living no more, he told enough to keep it intriguing which is the purpose of this
OH yes. heard about how a famous actress was rape when she refused to work in a movie own the the triad
lol , even the mafia are afraid of triads , because they dont use guns , imagine getting chopped to pieces
@@sdqsdq6274there’s triad in America and Canada and they are left alone . That’s where most guns, drugs gambling is. They are pretty untouchable especially in Vancouver and other places.
The ones they do take down are alway small gangs.. they don’t mess with high level- cause they also make a lot of money for the gov
I worked for a Triad member in San Francisco and I sincerely believed he was just a businessman until I started noticing things.
When I was a teenager in northern NY state in a small town we had a really popular Chinese restaurant that was run by a family. One day 3 men from New York City came up, tied the family up in the middle of the night, took the old man down into the restaurant, stuck a gun under his arm and shot him in the chest, then hung his body in the walk-in freezer. Then they disappeared. The stories that came out after a few weeks were that the family was brought to the US by the Triad, and set up with the business, but the old man started buying from different suppliers which broke his deal with the Traid so they killed him.
A couple months later an entirely different Chinese family was running that restaurant.
That's fkn crazy.. Makes you think of the Chinese restaurants around the country and what % is controlled by Triads
@@andreww5574 I would say most of them, at least the ones within driving distance of New York City. There's lots of them I would frequent that seemed like every couple of years an entire new family would be running it.
easy way to launder money. flashbacks to all the Chinese restaurants i went to as a kid. who knew? wild
@@andreww5574almost all are owned by the triads or Chinese government
Old man's name was probably Fook Yin Wong.
It's well known that majority of the extras on the Bruce Lee movie "Enter The Dragon" were Triads. There's many interviews from cast and crew detailing the many times Bruce was approached and asked to spar.
Well delivered doc. Goes to show that regardless of culture ALL gangs/families operate using the same base code. Glad this cat 'retired' and appears to be liv'n large.
Charged with homicide and happy he's free? lmao
In one of his videos he's wearing a Frank Mueller ($300k+). Not even sure which watch he's wearing in this one but I'm sure its worth a lot. Collecting $100k a month back in a days must have been nice if he saved/invested it.
@@bobhill-ol7wp He's done his time and he should be free. He's not about that lifestyle no more.
@@nullnull403forbidden You seemed to have completely missed the point of my comment lmao, people casually calling a murdering scumbag a 'cat' and glad for them lol
@PogChamp! Don't get me wrong, I concur with your statement. But the time from back then and now is different. Nowadays, people who commit crimes are released regardless of how severe the crime is. It's a crazy world overall.
He is an OG - love hearing him tell stories
There's so much culture and history within the Triads. Such an interesting interview and knowledge from Bighead. I've heard all of his Chinatown Gang Stories youtube interviews as well.
Well we have one political party being very vocal about how blacks are free to do anything and won't be punish for it. So that is exactly what they are thinking.
He came a long way from Chinatown Gang Stories. From 480p quality videos to 1080p major news outlet videos lol
@@theephantommenace: Obviously going viral cos of the Taiwan and mainland thing backing with or by the US. Even Donnie Yeh is now sitting at the State Council as an advisory... Nothing is an accident.
I remember I had problems with this Filipino kid who had ties with Born To Kill. I was in Bronx Science, Class of 1992. He was like maybe 170lbs and about 5'8", and I was just a 5'2" skinny filipino kid about 116 lbs. My brother's Asian friend (not sure if they were the Flying Dragons) put a stop to that dude's recruitment of kids into gangs. The 90s were some fucked up times. My school got more violent after I graduated, even for one of the smartest, nerdiest schools in NYC.
Always a filipino story
The 90s in general was wild back then.
Why didn't carry a pistol on you.
A student in Stuy got shot in 92-93. He was in some gang but I don't know which one. He was nice to me. I wonder what happened to him.
@@marvinbenjamin. you really don't want to mess with the BTK back then, they were known to have extreme ways of getting back at their foes, they doesn't rely on an honor system like the triads because the BTK gang was fresh off from war torn Vietnam, if you kill one they will kill you and maybe a few people you know
Triads have such underrated reputation in cinemas or pop culture compared to like the mafias or yakuzas. Triads have had presence in the West in 1800s and we didn't know about it until just recently. Probably a very very large portion of all Chinese immigrants to the western world from 1800s to the late 1900s had some connection with the Triads one way or another. They had their origins starting out by fighting the Qing dynasty and later the communists. Most gangs/mafias started out by just trying to break laws and get rich, but the triads were like a secret revolutionary organization which is what makes them so unique.
Some of the societies do have quite noble origins, but those days are long gone - they just became thugs and parasites like other organised crime groups
im not surprised by the secrecy. chinese are hella like this for the past 5 decades. when it comes to making money, its straight business, even the innocent families ones that arent in a gang, all they do is make money and cheat the tax system.
I think the Triads were more low key. The Italian Mafia were around for longer and had a myth around them that the Triads dont have.
Triads were majority bandits during the China's dynasty; their goal was to robbed the rich people and roaming the country by being free. Kinda like an anarchy rebellion against the fascist emperor whom treated his citizens like peasants. Bandits didn't have laws, rules and disciplines within the group, in order to unify as one they have work together as a family then eventually become a triad.
What do you mean they are underrated? in the US maybe, not in Asia or Europe, even Canada knows them well due to the mass amount of Hong Kong immigrants. There are many movies about them - I particularly recommend Election and Election II by Johnnie To.
It's funny but also respectful, that even in a Mafia oath, the first thing they said was to protect the country... Thanks for posting this great interview and thanks to Jimmy for doing this interview.
Oh gimme a break! 😂 They also deal heavy arms with international terrorists and mafias, protect country.. my a**! 😂
It have it's historical reason. The Triads originally group of former Ming dynasty soldiers for defeating Qing dynasty in hundreds years ago. They just keeps the oath for hundreds of years.
If triads do anything pro-government, they just do it for money lol
@@COMPUTER.SCIENCE.like any criminal organisation ?
How much "protecting the country" they actually do is up for you to decide. It's a nice thing to say, though.
If i remember right that part of their oath is due to their origins being a revolutionary organization that started in the 1600's and fought against emperors at first hence "protecting the country"
6:59 This is really cool, I never knew or heard about showing your position in the Triad through a specific handshake.
They showed this special handshake in a Hk movie called “the triad” by Yum Tat Wa .. there is a scene of this said handshake ( also the last best Hk gang movie, all others sucks)
this handshake almost old like China，dockern at that time everybody is gangster。gang size is insane，without handshake you are unable to find out whos your people。Our founding father get lots of money from Hongmen to overthrow the Emperor and establishing a modern country。Sometimes gangs can even initiate a civil war。their power were just crazy。😮
His quote is very good: ''Don't trust anyone but your parents''
And even then, sometimes you can't even trust your parents
How many parents leave their children, breakup the family, experience costly drug use, refuse to work harder to meet family demands, have no relations with their kids. Point is there's too many bad parents to follow this as a golden rule. Now people are inherently untrustworthy because simple friendships are built upon mutual value...not some real bond. People lose friends over the simplest things. Truthfully, trust nobody and allow yourself to be pleasently surprised when they have your back...
The best way to earn real bonds like love and friendship is to entertain them, then provide service, then provide monetary value in that order bc relationships are exchanges of value
Even Santa
It’s sad how organized crime seems to hack into some peoples need for purpose and connection, you can tell he found some sense of meaning and structure from his gang life. Hopefully we can someday find a way to get everyone out of that mindset and love a live they enjoy just as much but doesn’t harm others.
@@Amgis9369 That works for some!
Lol good luck
We need God
You're talking about churches, religious groups, businessmen.. and literally every manipulating aspect of factions in real life rite there 😂 stop pretending to be a by-stander!
@@Amgis9369 religion is a cult who's sole purpose is to recruit new members. Believing in Christ or Allah doesn't provide you with shelter or food or even money. Extorting a night club as a gang member does
"You do something they (the cops) don't like, you will disappear forever"
Sounds like the cops became the new triads now
They're called CCP now xD
They hire the triads to do stuff they can’t, it’s well documented that since the handover the party has payed triads to violently disperse protests and kill organisers.
The Police Is Still The Biggest Criminal Organization To This Day.
@thulomanchayexcuse me?
@thulomanchay they do though. They can overrule the ruling by courts in HK, legislate laws without HK’s parliament, and the representatives in Olympics were granted because of the Basic Laws, whose power came from CCP.
Keep up the good work! This channel is amazing.
Most realistic as far as I can tell. I don't see lies or acting in his eyes
Mr. Tsui, you are the definition of Hong Kong accent
Not really, HK accent usually got influence from British accent because HK used to be a British colony. His accent clearly was influenced by American accent like how he says the words “got”, “not”, etc.
The guy is quite engaging and has an interesting screen presence. Definitely could work in film as a "triads consultant" or an extra, even as a supporting actor, playing himself essentially.
Helps accent is a distinct New York-British Commonwealth mix. Interesting
Tbh those old hk movies from the 80s and 90s are basically what you described but with active gang members giving notes and actively acting in them. Entertainment (music, movies, clubs, etc) is one of the largest money laundering rackets the Triads have in hk
I remember everything he said! I was also born in Yau Ma Tei, and lived right next to the police station there for like 10 years during my elementary and middle school years. Always felt a sense of security but at that time as he says, corruption was rampant. This was 1980s.
Incredible interview. Great speaker and amazing insight
He mentioned that the triads in HK do not work WITH HK police anymore like they used to be, it is strict now, the reason is that they work FOR HK police now, aka the biggest licensed traid in HK.
😂fact
fax. Now the HK police is the biggest threat to freedom in HK. They are soldiers under the General aka the Chief Executive, who is in turn, under the boss CCP.
You disappear when they dont like you. And you wonder who " they " are.
You can talk all you want but Hongkong is one of the safest cities in the world
@@jjsamuelgunn1136 not really. not compared to North Korea.
How he says most of the older generation triads have gone into being businessmen... So true.
What about 721 Yuen Long attack in 2019? The triad members were working for HK police, and dozens of them beat passengers brutally. None of the police react to citizens calling for help, and nearly no one got arrested!
😂😂😂 this ain’t about u bruh
It wasn't just Yuen Long - there was massive collusion between the HK police and triads during the protests. There's plenty of evidence that they were used as a kind of paramilitary force against the protesters
Gangs work for government in china and taiwan.
13:14 (You do something they don't like, you will disappear forever) He istalking about the cops, not triads, didn't you get it? All triads listen to hkpolice now
More likely they got into gang territory and the gov just tolerate them working towards common goal
Ohhh this is fascinating. Please do more of this series. It's gold!! 🥇🎉
The thing with gangs in Hong Kong now is that the fighting between gangs has never been more intense
A news channel called ChannelCHK would show actual footage of conflict if anyone's interested
Bro said “I heard they got killed” 💀
Well documented,coming from a person who joined the triads at the age of 14 ( through no fault of his own)Glad that he is able to relate his story.Always have been intrigued about the triads and their origin,which in this video was very insightful.
A connection to movies is quite realistic. The ability to launder money must be infinite. Tickets, concessions, set costs….
Before this video, all my info about the HK Triads are from Sleeping Dogs (the videogame) and hearing his interview, it seems the game got it pretty accurate in most cases. The iron grip on the entertainment racket, the many deaths that come with the business, they even got the rampant police corruption in HK correct. The only thing unrealistic about the game is the fact the bad guy behind everything actually gets locked behind bars in the end.
Great interview.
Hooked from the start.
Great video, I use to live in Chinatown Manhatten 1988-96 and I've had some gang related experiences with Ghost Shadows and btk when I was 10-13years old.
Hearing him tell these story's bring back memories
Do you remember a murder at a cinema where a teenager was shot and stabbed to death in the late seventies in New York ? Surname of deceased was Yuen had one younger brother and two younger sisters, he was between the age of 17/18. On his death.
@honchow6206 no I moved to America in 1988 and was 5 years old.
Excellent interview ~
Only people who was raised in Hong Kong will truly understand what this guy is saying. They should do one for South Korea too.
I don’t believe there’s a history of gangs in South Korea. If there is, still very far from 14k, United Bamboo… etc.
it seems I was also raised in hong kong. I understood everything he said
@@conspiracy1914 How would you know if you truly understood everything though? Maybe you missed some deeper meaning behind it lol. (this is just a philosophical question, I don't actually care if you do/don't)
@@dickurkel6910 i got what he said is what i mean.
@@Puffy_Puff Oh Korea has a rich gang history but is rarely told outside of Korea. Korea was under Japanese imperial occupation which the allowed the Yakuza to control everything undisputed for a while. Which lead to Korean gangs to form a united front to drive out the Yakuza. They were the hard underdog but won out still, is one example.
I don't know which insider series I love most but it's maybe how crime works
We need a part 2, 3, 4, 5…
師兄啲英文唔錯 btw搵咗好耐都冇香港comment
Very interesting.
As someone who has lived in HK for quite sone time i can attest that Triads are involved in so many aspects of daily life...i have seen many triad fights.
A Better Tomorrow is the greatest film of all time
The Triads aren’t just in Hong Kong. There are also triads in Guangdong, Macau, as well as diasporas of people where Chinatowns are prominent.
All over the mainland and the rest of the world
@@orangutanenthusiast5631 I guess so?But not Antarctica that’s for sure. Idk about Europe or Africa tho
@@Weeping-Angel all over Europe, they control a lot of the meth/mdma and traffic a lot of women mainly from the mainland.
Great interview
“A Man Who Never Eats Pork Buns, Is Never A Whole Man!”
Temple Street in the 90s is no joke, second only to Kowloon Walled City. For those that do not know, it was several blocks of interconnected condos rampant with drugs / prostitutes / gambling. The Qing signed North of X to UK, then South of X to UK in two separate deals. But Kowloon Walled City was missed in either. So when Qing went down, it could not govern it, HK locals did not want to govern it, UK did not want to govern it. So it was basically a few blocks of lawless condos (search it up, looks crazy) where criminals can just avoid justice.
And the neighbouring fruit market
Never lie to each other , steal from each other , never take girls from your gang’s members, those are some words these younger gang members need to take it to heart 😂
I started out in a BMX gang when I was young. We used to find old bricks and bits of wood and make ramps to jump off on our BMX's. Eventually I had to give up that life because my wife threatened to leave me if I didn't change my ways.
Great content!
For the specific mafia organization, there used to be a strong power dynamics between Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan.
bs
He is no scam.
He is correct.
I remember i was fascinated by the mafia triads and such. the movie Young And Dangerous was my favorite movie, it was base on this type of life style. i would ask people whos actually was part of it, to realized their connection is big what they do. every country as their own traids but some function in different way. some are almost no violence but operate base on money and international trade with other triads.
great movie
It's basically a triad propaganda recruitment movie glamorizing the triad life. like the guy said, the HK movie industry is basically a triad business arm.
What a well spoken funny guy , it’s very interesting when someone who knows how to tell the story well tells it
Please, Mr, Tsui, Review some Hong Kong Gang movie
What a life today a gangster has ?? !! Terrifying to end up dead or in prison for long time. Thank you for your video. Please do not be a gangster or member of a gang.
Man I’m hooked on this channel!!!😂😂😂
I am very glad he and other former gang members are daring enough to open up their gangster life to the public & even on internet through RUclips now, hopefully all these useful videos will deter more youngsters from joining gangs & touching drugs. Parents gave their life to raise the kids in the best they can but the best & minimal thing a kid can do to repay the parents is to behave good & not join any gangs to create any problems in societies.
Anyway when I was young, I already heard many of the HK actresses & actors in the 60s to 80s were or used to be triad members. Now from what he mentioned, it’s a true hearsay then. Can’t really blame them for being a triad member as they probably can’t get a scene or spot or worst, maybe get threaten or beaten up if they aren’t a member, so can’t earn a living for being an entertainer.
I think it helps a lot that gang life, culture, and the way they operate is very different nowadays.
Increased regulations, laws, and policing, I think have made gang operations that were once common, like what he’s described much much much harder nowadays. Its very difficult to move drugs, it’s very difficult to sell drugs, it’s very difficult to extort the general public.
I think gangs have moved into different approaches, and different ways to get their operations going but their lives aren’t really as glamorous and as appealing as these old gangsters describe.
An example would be the Yakuza, they’re effectively redundant today and their operations have been obliterated. They’re also culturally shunned by the general public now, and their lives are much much more difficult so it’s no longer possible to openly be yakuza either.
A lot of the appeal, luckily isn’t there anymore.
Gangsters serve a purpose to the community and are just as necessary as anyone else. Everyone in this world has a role to play, and not all of them are "good guy " roles
@@privateuser7organized crime is not necessary. No doubt they sometimes do good things and provide a living for a lot of people, but that doesn't make them good.
@@jimmy22334people forget that drugs for example are a big part of the general economy.
it’s sad that it’s the way that is is but it can’t be overlooked.
I only know son on yee from Sleeping Dogs and 14k. I loved that game. Beautiful but bittersweet and sad story.
*Yee On, not On Yee
@@tbmofoulprinceromero In Sleeping Dogs, the triads name were changed, Sun Yee On became Sun On Yee and 14K became 18K
The HK police is now the biggest triad gang, they also act the same way. Any cop who speaks out against police over reach is treated as a traitor. Constable Tsui Bol Gol was framed as a rogue cop and murdered by accusing him of trying to murder other cops, is because he found out many police right after the 1997 handover, actually are communist party members, an even larger triad, and Tsui wanted to expose them. He was framed and killed as the result. HK mostly remember Tsui as a rogue cop. One of the actual rogue cops involved back then, li ka chiu, is now the chief executive of Hong Kong.
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stop NS, the only criminals today in HK are people like u
Ohhhh..... My God.
As a HK citizen, we rarely hear about triads harming innocent citizen, normally the violence and crime are done towards other gangs.
The game called sleeping dogs was very much based off the irl triad gangs so it’s interesting learning of their lifestyle after playing the game
Great soundtrack on that one
@@choycejoyce4699 theme is iconic
The swearing is also 10000% legit
It had me dying
@@acutelilmint8035 💀 dogeyes W character
Edison Chen voices one of the characters, Jackie Ma. He is a Hong Kong actor who got into a scandal and disputes with some actresses, some of the actresses were connected to the triads and they supposedly put a hit on him. He fled back to Canada till the situation cooled down.
Is there a part 2 of the story ? Love it
Uncle has come along way from "Chinatown Gang Stories" 👊✊
13:20 You won’t face jail time, you’ll just disappear 💀💀
China is in charge now, so you'll end up in some black site camp, and then you'll either slave away in hard labour, or you'll... be liquidated for your "resources" and disposed of.
Ccp work
Hong Kong is a wondrous city. It’s very expensive to live in, there’s a serious problem with housing, but the atmosphere is spectacular.
Now I can't stop thinking of Michelle yeoh as a triad....😅
FYI, MICHELLE YEOH father is somewhat "high status" in Ipoh.
She’s Malaysian so even if she had connections, it would be indirect.
this is awesome. i know gangster life was also big in Singapore, at least in 80s and 90s.
I think those seniors that still in that life they operate overseas
My folks always told me the HK movie business had a lot of triads. Always thought it was rumors, but I guess it’s true.
that's because they are laundering money from it. But depends on which triad gang, the way they handle things is very different.
Actors would be pretty much "kidnapped" or forced to do a film by the triads, sometimes even with guns drawn too
It is true even to this day, just recently the boss of a well-known Hong Kong entertainment company was sentenced to nearly 20 years in neighbouring Macao for money laundering. He has long been accused of being in a triad.
Andy Lau himself said he was forced to make certain movies, as they were funded/controlled by triads back in the late 80s.
FYI the largest gang Sun Yee On owns a movie / entertainment company called China Star that’s also a reason why gang members are in the movies/ TV / entertainment business
So how was Bruce Lee involved with the Triads??
Very similar to Singapore. Back during those times. Small country but many gangs.
Sleeping Dogs got me hooked into knowing the Hong Kong triads
Around 20 years ago we were having lunch at a seafood restaurant by the waterfront in a Hong Kong fishing village. It was at the time of the Chinese New Year. The most pathetic lion dance interrupted the calm nature of the village. Dodgy characters were performing the dance in a half arsed way. It was clearly a shake down exercise to get money out of the business people in the village. Our host was really pissed off about it.
I've heard of him, he's the real deal
Now we just have to have heard of you to believe your comment is the real deal.
@@Tone2K I've heard of Alan Lai. Also the real deal.
@@Tone2K He's my son, so technically I made him.
@@senor_niceguy ..I heard of you as well. You’re the real deal
@@TheodoreBrosevelt You must be very proud. I do see the resemblance. At least your kid turned out better looking than the dad. Thank god for small miracles eh?
My dad did some work for the Triads as a PI - assorted stuff. We ate at Triad establishments pretty often. Clean places. Great food. Friendly people. Years after he got a new job, the Triads got chased out of the west coast for the most part. The restaurants got dirty.
Amazing thanks Insider for covering this story (:
Interestingly, both "Big Head" and "Jimmy" are names of main characters in two of the most well-known Hong Kong triad movie franchises.
They’re just common names.
The 70-90’s were the good ol’ days.
One of the best videos I have watched.
As someone who has been to Hong kong i can tell you he is not lying. He really got a big head