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Little is known about the Chinese triads, the world's most influential mafias. Thanks to exclusive interviews with key protagonists, this in-depth thriller investigation takes us right into the heart of the world’s most powerful criminal organization, to reveal its far-reaching influence on geopolitics and the economy.
In this episode, we follow "The Ciggy", a young member of the Bamboo Union triad who tells us about his entry into the mafia, his initiation, his first acts of arms and how he was attracted by the legendary history of the triads and some of its characters.
In this episode, we follow "The Ciggy", a young member of the Bamboo Union triad who tells us about his entry into the mafia, his initiation, his first acts of arms and how he was attracted by the legendary history of the triads and some of its characters.
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00:00It's 2 a.m. in Taiwan, the rebel island,
00:12which for years has lived under the threat of invasion from China.
00:26Holger Chen is a former member of a triad.
00:28As the organizations making up the Chinese Mafia are known.
00:34A reformed gangster.
00:39If China invades us, those goddamn mobsters will infiltrate everything
00:44and sabotage our military.
00:47They'll spy on our army for the Chinese Communist Party.
00:50I just know that's what's going to happen.
00:52I was scared.
01:21I thought I was going to die.
01:23I took three bullets.
01:25They went clean through me.
01:35It was a bamboo union member who shot me.
01:40I could have killed the guy.
01:53As for the instigator of that contract killing,
01:56I hope the police catch him.
01:58One day I spoke out about the fact that he's in the pay of the Chinese Communist Party.
02:14Holger suspects the head of the bamboo union,
02:17his former triad, of trying to silence him.
02:19I have absolutely nothing to do with the shooting of Holger Chen.
02:27He doesn't even deserve to be killed by me.
02:29This would not be the first time that the triads have meddled in politics.
02:42And their ambitions are not restricted to Taiwan.
02:45Since their creation, the triads have poisoned Chinese society,
03:14to the point of challenging those in power and forging alliances with them.
03:22They brought down the last Chinese empire,
03:25and their ranks have included the father of modern China.
03:27Recently, in Hong Kong, they savagely attacked pro-democracy protesters.
03:46I can't tell you anything, obviously.
03:47Little is known about the triads,
03:58the world's most influential organized crime syndicates.
04:02If the gang survives, we survive.
04:07The triads seek a foothold on every continent,
04:11from the smallest islands of the Pacific,
04:13to the megacities of the West,
04:22which they flood with a deadly drug.
04:28Whichever powers they serve,
04:30they have but one cause.
04:33Their own,
04:35and their insatiable thirst for money and power.
04:37This is their story.
04:59The Chinese mafia has long been engaged in drug and people trafficking,
05:04illicit gambling,
05:05money laundering,
05:06and counterfeiting.
05:10Constantly adapting,
05:11it also excels at cybercrime and financial crime.
05:33It's made up of several triads,
05:35whose strongholds are located on the fringes of China.
05:41The largest are the Sun Yeon,
05:44and the 14K in Hong Kong.
05:49While the Bamboo Union,
05:50and the Celestial Alliance,
05:52are based in Taiwan.
05:53This 56-year-old man,
06:13a.k.a. Iron Tyrant,
06:15is the newly appointed head of the Celestial Alliance.
06:18Currently the world's most powerful triad,
06:21it has tens of thousands of members.
06:28For the first time in its history,
06:31the organization has agreed to be filmed.
06:32Does Iron Tyrant see this as an opportunity to flex his muscles?
06:40Or is he hoping to make his mark in his men's presence as a modern man and open communicator?
06:47Tonight, at his headquarters,
07:00he has brought together his board of directors.
07:02These godfathers head up some of the triad's 300 branches,
07:10in Taiwan and abroad.
07:21As well as its criminal activities,
07:22this empire controls factories,
07:24banks, media outlets,
07:26nightclubs,
07:27and countless companies.
07:32Where are you from?
07:34Every month, I have a place.
07:36I have a lot of f*****g.
07:38rontyrant has agreed to share his story and some of his plans as the Triad's new boss.
08:02With the proviso that we do not mention any criminal activities that could land him in trouble
08:07O que é o que é o que é o que é o que é?
08:37O que é o que é?
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13:29O que é?
13:31O que é?
13:33Mas os britânicos finalmente percebem que os ambições de triad não foram restringidas para a droga de droga.
13:46Eles não pagaram atenção para os triad membros, até que, eventualmente,
13:50houve um parque de restos que enfrentaram os britânicos vivos nessa área.
13:55Eles começaram a analisar o problema dos triads em Hong Kong.
13:59Então, basicamente, foi o início para criminalizar triad membros e atender triad reuniões em Hong Kong.
14:08By the start of the 20th century,
14:22os triads eram poderosos para mudar o curso da história da China.
14:29Eles ofereceram decisivo financeiro apoio
14:32para o movimento nacional contra a Qing dynastia.
14:35Se inscreva no canal!
14:37Se inscreva no canal!
14:38Se inscreva no canal!
14:40O que é duas vezes?
14:41Então, o movimento acionou o tríade da Hong Kong.
14:47Sun Yet Sen.
14:49Se inscreva no canal!
14:52Ele era um dos homens das sim.
14:56Se inscreva no canal!
14:58Alguém!
15:00Cold Time!
15:01In 1912, com a Qing derrubada, Sun Yat-sen
15:09founded the Republic of China,
15:11then distanced himself from the Hongmen.
15:17In Chinese, we say,
15:18when the birds are gone, the bow is stored.
15:23In other words, you hide the bow used to kill the birds.
15:27So when it was necessary to lie low,
15:30that's what they did.
15:31So when it was the same,
15:32it was the same.
15:38Even so, the triads acquired sufficient prestige
15:41to recruit all those who agreed to serve them
15:43in exchange for protection.
16:01Look at me. I'm a puny guy. I can hardly defend myself.
16:13One day, at junior high, some kids held me up with a BB gun.
16:30A bit like now, only we have real guns.
16:38I was scared.
16:43My friends heard about it.
16:44We went back the next day and beat the crap out of them.
16:57With that gang, little by little,
17:01we started beating up anyone who picked a fight with us.
17:03That's when I started mixing with people in high places.
17:18The Sigi, as he is known, joined the Bamboo Union,
17:20one of the Taiwan-based triads, at age 15.
17:22First, he was initiated in a small neighborhood temple
17:30run by his first godfather.
17:32Belief is what underpins the gangs.
17:35For me, everything is connected.
17:38My initiation ceremony involved praying together
17:43and swearing an oath of allegiance.
17:49Unchanged since the beginnings,
17:51the triad's oath consists of a promise of absolute loyalty.
17:55Those who waver will be run through by a myriad of daggers.
18:03It's a lifelong commitment, in theory.
18:08It's a lifelong commitment.
18:09It's a lifelong commitment.
18:11It's a lifelong commitment.
18:13It's a lifelong commitment.
18:15Holger Chen split from the Bamboo Union,
18:18which he had joined in his youth.
18:26Those people don't want to obey the law,
18:29so the bosses can't impose too many rules.
18:32They use beliefs instead.
18:35Their aim with these oaths is to recruit and control youngsters.
18:41Each boss makes up his own rules.
18:44The fact is, you join a mafia because the godfathers look rich,
18:49classy and powerful.
18:51That was my case.
18:57Following his initiation,
18:58the Siki joined a minor branch of the Bamboo Union,
19:02which rules over a neighborhood of Taipei, the capital.
19:05We hang out together every day.
19:10My gang brothers are like family to me.
19:13Our rule is, when there's an interesting job, we discuss it together.
19:19We always think as a gang because we don't really have personal interests.
19:23If the gang survives, we survive.
19:25If the gang makes money, we do too.
19:26If the gang makes money, we do too.
19:27The Siki started out on a long time.
19:29The Siki started out on a long time.
19:31The gang brothers are like family to me.
19:33The gang brothers are like family to me.
19:35Our rule is, when there's an interesting job, we discuss it together.
19:39We always think as a gang because we don't really have personal interests.
19:43If the gang survives, we survive.
19:47If the gang makes money, we do too.
19:49The Siki started out under the orders of this brother, who runs a pawnbroking business,
20:00one of the Triad's traditional activities.
20:10The first time I made money, I was young.
20:14I was sent to recover a debt.
20:24The debtor wasn't home.
20:26He must have been in jail.
20:30There was just his old mom and his little girl.
20:33What could I do?
20:37At the time, I felt bad for them.
20:39And I did not manage to get the money.
20:44But I did the week after.
20:46They gave me a hundred dollars.
20:49That was my first experience.
21:04The only real rule of the Triads of yesterday and today is...
21:07to make as much money as possible, by all possible means.
21:17And when it comes to money making, one man stands out.
21:21Big Ear Du and his Green Gang are idols.
21:32When I was a kid, we collected everything we could about them and their activities.
21:37Do Yusheng, a.k.a. Big Ear Du, ran the Green Gang, the main triad of the 1920s.
21:57It was the master of Shanghai, China's largest city.
22:00Nicknamed Sin City, it was partially controlled by the British and French at the time.
22:15Big Ear Du is a role model.
22:18We can learn a lot from the way he managed his affairs.
22:33We would listen to the godfathers talk about him.
22:36It made us want to follow his example.
22:38But if you did the same thing now, you'd be put away for life.
22:50From a poor family, Du started out in the flourishing industry of prostitution and brothels.
22:57In this poverty-stricken country, young girls were sold by their parents.
23:05Girls like Yin Bao Tzu, a prostitute at nine, dead from exhaustion at 18.
23:14Du amassed his wealth mainly through the trade of opium, to which millions of Chinese were addicted.
23:19His influence in the underworld led to his appointment as the French concession's chief of police.
23:35In 1927, he acquired the only thing he still lacked, a prominent political role.
23:41In the blue-collar city of Shanghai, a new force emerged, the Communist Party.
23:46Big Ear Du feared he would lose his grip on the workers.
23:58When they went out on strike, he offered his services to the new leader of China, Sun Yat-sen's successor.
24:07President Chiang Kai-shek feared the Communists as well.
24:10On April 12th, 1927, the Green Gang butchered 5,000 workers.
24:19As a reward, Big Ear Du became a key player in Chiang Kai-shek's regime and president of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
24:28Now, at the height of his fame, he was described as a blend of Al Capone and Rockefeller.
24:33But the massacre had unforeseen consequences.
24:34But the massacre had unforeseen consequences.
24:36The massacre had unforeseen consequences.
24:37The massacre had been a key player in Chiang Kai-shek's regime.
24:38As a reward, Big Ear Du became a key player in Chiang Kai-shek's regime and president of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
24:43Now, at the height of his fame, he was described as a blend of Al Capone and Rockefeller.
24:48But the massacre had unforeseen consequences.
25:09Decapitated, the Communist Party chose a new leader, Mao Zedong.
25:16Relying no longer on the workers, but on the peasant masses, it seized power in 1949, after 20 years of war.
25:37In Shanghai, the last procession of a triad on Chinese soil was filmed.
25:42The triads were now in danger from the communists.
25:49Big Ear Du and the Green Gang fled in haste, along with Chiang Kai-shek and his two million supporters.
26:07Big Ear Du and the Green Gang
26:09Big Ear Du and the Green Gang
26:12Big Geanga
26:14Big Ear Du and the Ghost
26:15Big Ear Du ennit
26:16Big Ear Du
26:18Big Ear Du
26:20Big Ear Du
26:22Big Ear Du
26:24A CIDADE NO BRASIL
26:54A CIDADE NO BRASIL
27:24A CIDADE NO BRASIL
27:26A CIDADE NO BRASIL
27:28Chiang Kai-shek needed to impose his dictatorship on the local population.
27:33Once again, the Green Gang offered him their expertise.
27:37The White Terror left 30,000 dead.
27:40Big Ear Do died soon after, and the Green Gang became part of the state apparatus.
27:54In the early 60s, inspired by the Green Gang, Mainlanders' children formed their own triad.
28:09A bright student, but lost in life, White Wolf joined them.
28:23I started mixing with those people.
28:30Have you seen the movie A Brighter Summer Day?
28:33I joined the Bamboo Union.
28:45Why does anyone join again?
28:48I'll sum it up in a few words.
28:49Young girls want to be beautiful, and boys want to be brave.
28:57Simple as that.
28:58Poole was our main form of entertainment.
29:11One day, a police officer struck a Bamboo brother.
29:16I rushed at him and stabbed him with my knife.
29:22Later, when I was incarcerated in the United States,
29:26they couldn't believe their ears.
29:28Over there, you get at least 10 years for stabbing a cop.
29:31Attempted murder.
29:33You can imagine their faces when I said I'd paid a $100 fine.
29:36As a child of the Mainland elite and a Bamboo Union member,
29:43White Wolf enjoyed a degree of impunity.
29:47His feet of arms got him noticed.
29:50While still a student, he climbed the ranks of the triad,
29:54which still only had a few dozen members.
30:00I started managing poker tables.
30:03Making money.
30:10On my first day, I made $300.
30:15Which was more than my parents earned.
30:18And that's how I got into it.
30:19And that's how I got into it.
30:32Hi. We're standing on a Chinese junk in the harbor,
30:35one of the most unusual, and in some ways,
30:37one of the most important cities in the world.
30:40Hong Kong.
30:41An exciting and swollen city.
30:42Chinese with a British accent.
30:43Chinese with a British accent.
31:00My parents suggested my uncle adopt me and put me up in Hong Kong.
31:05I was thrilled.
31:06I imagined Hong Kong as a fabulous place.
31:19But the fact is, he lived in a shack.
31:23In the 1960s, Lee, a.k.a. The Rascal, fled the poverty of Communist China.
31:34He ended up in a huge shantytown on the outskirts of an unfamiliar megacity.
31:38It was home to new arrivals, as well as long-term residents, who were not phased by anything.
31:58The rats were as big as cats.
32:03The triads took advantage of the disoriented refugees.
32:06Following their flight from China in 1949, Hong Kong became the triad's second stronghold after Taiwan.
32:14The most promising as well.
32:16The British colony was more permissive than the Taiwanese dictatorship.
32:21Overwhelmed, the Royal Hong Kong police abandoned the Chinese population of the city's outskirts to the triads.
32:27He sent them in the arm, and he's run off to the right.
32:33Sergeant!
32:35Let's get these people off the street.
32:37Lee joined his neighborhood's dominant gang, the 14K.
32:40My bosses told me the triads were anti-Manchurian. It's an old story.
32:54All I cared about was eating, drinking and having fun. Being a perpetrator rather than a victim.
33:09I didn't give a damn about overthrowing the Qing and restoring the Ming to power.
33:14Li, the rascal, was put in charge of selling the triads' heroin.
33:24I had my own stall.
33:27I injected my customers.
33:28Eu coloquei meus clientes.
33:32Era R$0.20 a shot.
33:34Pessoas reuni-se.
33:38A single syringe, a needle,
33:39for dozens de pessoas.
33:41É como foi.
33:53Depois de um tempo,
33:55nós começamos a gestionar os braços, também.
34:04Nós falamos,
34:05R$5.00 a trick.
34:10Nós pensamos que a organização era ótima.
34:16Meu irmão disse que o 14K é o grande líder
34:19era um militar,
34:21um anti-comunista militar.
34:25Ele disse que o 14K é sempre falado.
34:28Esse é o grande líder,
34:30General Kut.
34:33A former ally de Chiang Kai-shek,
34:35ele fundou o 14K em 1945.
34:38Ele controlou e manage these secret military groups,
34:46who see Hong Kong as a base
34:48and wait for the time to, you know,
34:51to go back to China and compete with the communists.
34:54With this in mind,
34:56the 14K organized guerrilla training
34:58in the jungles of Southeast Asia
35:00and offered its services to the CIA.
35:02Their endeavor failed.
35:04When Kut died,
35:06and that became a problem
35:08because they couldn't find a legitimate successor
35:12and eventually they just become disorganized
35:16and they just break down from the 36 branches
35:21to numerous more 14K groups.
35:25The 14K then decided to stick to its criminal activities.
35:37Its links with the Golden Triangle enabled it to dominate the trade of heroin,
35:43to which 10% of all Hong Kongers became addicted.
35:58While Lee the Rascal sold the drugs,
36:00Lao, AKA the Bruiser,
36:02was one of the heavies
36:03who stopped rivals muscling in on this lucrative trade.
36:13There are several types of gangsters.
36:23The slick types,
36:24who wear luxury brands and like to look good.
36:30And the tough cookies.
36:34Little by little,
36:35I became a bad guy.
36:43Lao saw a formidable rival try to move in on his turf.
36:51They ambushed me.
36:56They wanted to take me out.
37:01We fought with bottles fashioned into blades,
37:03which sink into your flesh.
37:10I wasn't at war with them.
37:13They were simply targeting my gang.
37:16In our neighborhood,
37:17the Sun Yion only had two bases,
37:19but they were super solid.
37:31The Sun Yion was founded by the Hung,
37:34a wealthy family who had fled Communist China.
37:37Its boss was a discreet man known as the Dragon Head.
37:43He was assisted by his young brother, Charles,
37:46the respectable face of the family.
37:48The interesting thing about the Sun Yion is that they adopted a heredity system.
38:02That is something quite different from the other trade society.
38:09Initially, the triad ruled over the countless coolies,
38:11who were ubiquitous in the British colony.
38:20Its leaders then set their sights higher than turf wars over drug territory and other ordinary criminal activities.
38:25In the 70s and 80s, as Hong Kong grew, so did the opportunities.
38:33And they took full advantage of these.
38:35With their reputation, it's easier for them to recruit more and more new members.
38:47And also, the manpower actually is the most important resources for most of the triad societies.
38:52Because this is not only for, you know, having people to exercise violence,
38:57but also to operate different legal or illegal businesses.
39:07Hong Kong became a golden goose for the triads.
39:12The city's nightlife scene was theirs.
39:15They ruled the city by day as well.
39:17Buying up businesses, engaging in real estate fraud, and large-scale smuggling.
39:40An estimated 500,000 people out of a population of 4 million worked in some capacity for a triad.
39:46The Sun Ye On alone had some 100,000 members.
39:55Basically, at that time, as Hong Kong are living in Hong Kong,
39:59since you get up in the morning, when you enjoy your coffee in a tea restaurant,
40:04the restaurant is likely operated by the triad members.
40:08And also, when you get on the minibus, the routes can be controlled by the triad members.
40:12And when you're after work, when you go for a movie that can be produced by the triad members.
40:18So basically, every aspect of your life is all related to triads.
40:24The owner of the city's largest newspaper, the Oriental Daily, was also a harrowing trafficker,
40:34who had no qualms about having a vendor of a rival newspaper killed.
40:38The triads were ruthless. Those who refused their demands risked being killed, or like this storekeeper, having their daughter kidnapped.
40:54Fresh out of police academy, Britain Martin Purbrick arrived in Hong Kong in the 80s when London decided to expand the colony's police force.
41:13The police in Hong Kong were institutionally corrupt, that was quite clear.
41:28Or most officers, in some sense, at senior and a junior level, were accepting money, bribes, from criminals.
41:36And that inevitably means triad society members.
41:46There are so many people, and so many different businesses, that you only have to walk about 50 yards to see just about every spectrum of life going.
41:53Whenever a police car turned up at the drug stall, my boss would say to me,
42:08Hey, Li, it's time to hand out the cash and appease the demons.
42:17Many police officers of Chinese descent belonged to triads.
42:20Whether he's involved. I don't know, Steve. I don't know. There may be.
42:25Le Seigne-On was protected by police chief Lu Li, himself one of its leaders.
42:36It's not that common for people just to offer you a bribe.
42:41People will cultivate you as a friend.
42:44And from that relationship, give you some inducements, benefits.
42:53If you hear anything, let me know.
42:55Yeah, sure.
42:57Anywhere I have your phone.
43:00It can be girls, drugs, entertainment, free drinks.
43:04These things can start at a low level and then build up to a point where suddenly you become obligated to someone.
43:15The anti-triad bureau was set up, headed by a seasoned police officer.
43:33Before we go there. These are me.
43:37Um, this is the, some of the ones, in fact, they're not all we've managed to see here in the bureau in the last three months.
43:44Now some...
43:46He resigned shortly after this film was made, when it was discovered that he was working for the triads.
43:50These are specifically manufactured.
43:54No.
43:56The situation in this case is that...
43:58The British authorities were overwhelmed by a problem that was no longer restricted to Hong Kong.
44:03One day, the American Drug Enforcement Agency, the DEA, informed the investigators that a Hong Kong triad was smuggling large quantities of heroin into the States.
44:14And that they suspected the involvement of another triad in the U.S., a comparatively unknown Taiwanese organization.
44:24The consignment has been delivered in San Francisco.
44:31It was delivered this morning in San Francisco.
44:33A man known as White Wolf happened to live near San Francisco.
44:48This bright student had come to the U.S. to study at one of the West Coast's top universities.
45:04An unusual occurrence in the rough world of the triads.
45:06In fact, White Wolf had become one of the Bamboo Union's leaders.
45:18In charge of a hundred or so of its members, he was tasked with extending the triad's influence in the States.
45:24He bought a restaurant, which became a distribution hub for heroin from the Golden Triangle.
45:43Some people were envious.
45:48Some people were envious.
46:02The Hua Qing gang showed up.
46:05We had a gunfight.
46:07To be honest, those guys were all right.
46:10They got arrested.
46:11But at the hospital, they didn't report me.
46:19And we ended up becoming brothers.
46:26White Wolf forged an alliance with this local organization active in California's Chinatowns.
46:41He was following a long tradition.
46:47The triads established roots in North America in the 19th century, with the first wave of immigrants fleeing poverty and war.
46:56They smuggled in, then provided jobs and protection to the Chinese, who mostly kept to themselves.
47:04The triads also supplied these men with prostitutes, virtual slaves.
47:11Over the following decades, the triads' presence in America's Chinatowns increased with the growth of the Chinese diaspora.
47:26The 14K and the Sun Yeon put down roots in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, followed by the Bamboo Union.
47:39Taiwanese politics caught up with White Wolf during his American adventure.
47:42One day, in 1984, one of the Bamboo Union's best hitmen came calling.
48:00One day, in 1984, one of the Bamboo Union's best hitmen came calling.
48:15He disappeared one morning.
48:18Every day, he'd get up and play the guitar.
48:20But that morning, it was very quiet.
48:32Not far from San Francisco, Henry Liu, a Taiwan-born writer and regime critic, was assassinated.
48:38I read the papers and understood what had happened.
48:56Under pressure from the U.S., furious the murder had been committed on its soil, the killer was arrested on his return to Taiwan, as was Bamboo Union's boss Dry Duck.
49:15The two men were paraded like common criminals, but the triad had taken precautions.
49:30I said to the boss, Dry Duck, make sure no one tries to eliminate you.
49:35He told me he'd thought about that and had made a tape recording.
49:42Basically, they called in the boss, Dry Duck, and said to him,
50:08deal with that guy.
50:15I warned the Taiwanese government, we know everything.
50:21We've got a tape, and we'll use it if we have to.
50:29The tape, which White Wolf handed over to the American police, also revealed that the Bamboo Union had been tasked with suppressing opposition to Chiang Kai-shek's successor.
50:38He was under threat by a democratic movement.
50:47At its height, the triad had some 40,000 members.
50:54Dry Duck's style was just like big-eared deuce.
50:58Those in power wanted to buddy up to him.
51:00He had Dim Sum with the president's brother every week.
51:03The Bamboo Union basically ran Taiwan.
51:13In Taiwan, these revelations shook the country to its core.
51:18The Secret Service bosses who had investigated the murder of Henry Liu were arrested.
51:22The regime teetered and promised free elections.
51:35The Bamboo Union had unintentionally toppled the dictatorship founded by Chiang Kai-shek, the triad's traditional ally.
51:41Senior members were jailed, as were small-time, Taiwan-born gangsters who were arrested in a major sweep targeting the Mafia.
51:58When the Bamboo Union got arrested, they had each other's backs, whereas we small local gangs were on our own.
52:15We had to protect ourselves in jail, build our own organization.
52:26This later enabled us to extend our influence to every corner of Taiwan.
52:30This new triad went by the name of the Celestial Alliance.
52:41It was less political and more violent than the Bamboo Union, which it decided to take on.
52:55Back in the United States, White Wolf extended his network to New York.
52:58But the police had been watching this strange Chinese man who had given them the tape ever since the murder of Henry Liu.
53:12In New York, the mobsters from Fujian ended up joining the Bamboo Union.
53:18They did a drug deal.
53:20I wasn't there, but I was implicated in it.
53:24And I got ten years.
53:25Locked up with Italian godfathers, Black Panthers and Hezbollah militants, White Wolf had time to plan his revenge.
53:41Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, the triads were riding high, including on the silver screen.
53:59They had laid their hands on Hong Kong's booming movie industry, which generated sales of $1.5 billion that year in 1992.
54:14Charles Hung, brother of the Sun Yeon's boss, dominated the sector.
54:21A huge kung fu fan, he sometimes played supporting roles in his own movies.
54:36I worked on a project or two for the Wins production company.
54:51Charles Hearn knew what good movies are, and he was a good producer.
54:56They never made a cheap movie.
55:03Action!
55:05All their movies had big stars.
55:09For the triads, cinema was not only a source of financial gain, but also a powerful tool for communication, on a scale unprecedented for a criminal organization.
55:28I'm sure it made youngsters want to be gangsters.
55:43So they copied their look, their way of speaking.
55:47All of that came from the movies.
56:01Real-life violence inevitably caught up with the movies, when the Sun Yeon's saw its preeminence challenged.
56:07It created a lot of jealousy and envy amongst other triad members, and they wanted to jump in because, you know, from their point of view, making a movie is easy, making money with movies is very easy.
56:26If a mobster shows up and says, you're acting for me tomorrow, you cannot refuse, or you'll get his gun out.
56:34It was easy for them to hire actors.
56:38You dare not refuse, plus you accept a lower fee.
56:42Some don't even pay you once the movie is made.
56:46What can you do?
56:48They kill you.
56:49Not the other way around.
56:57And a famous actress was abducted and photographed naked for turning down a movie.
57:02For the same reason, the biggest star of the time was slapped by a 14K producer, who was then murdered.
57:18Charles Hearn immediately tried to control the situation and try to make peace, right?
57:25Although, you know, things didn't go the way they wanted.
57:27And so began a cycle of vengeance and violence which shocked Hong Kongers.
57:34In 1992, for the first time ever, the triads were faced with a protest whose members dared speak out against them.
57:51The British authorities were forced to take action.
58:04In Hong Kong, as in Taiwan, the growth of democracy threatened the triad's grip.
58:21They would have to adapt and enter into an alliance with their old enemy, the Chinese Communist Party.
58:30Theches were living the秘話 with their child whose minions were suspected by death.
58:32The British authorities did not stop obviously from this, but their employees suffered in this room anymore.
58:36suddenlike crisis.
58:37So we must pass this trigger.
58:39He was a bulky device with Russkl
58:48Tchau.
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