Triad

:For other meanings of Triad, see Triad (disambiguation)

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Triad is a collective term that describes many branches of an underground society and organizations based in Hong Kong and also operating in Mainland China, Macao, and Chinatowns in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. The term does not carry capital letters.

Related Topics:
Hong Kong - Mainland China - Macao - Chinatowns - Europe - North America

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There are about 50 triad groups that are active in modern Hong Kong; many of them are no more than small, local street gangs. The larger groups, including the Sun Yee On, Wo Shing Wo and 14K, are syndicates of sophisticated criminals, mirror images of such similar western empires of crime as the mafia.

Related Topics:
Sun Yee On - Wo Shing Wo - 14K - Syndicate - Mafia

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Their activities include drug trafficking, money laundering, illegal gambling, prostitution, car theft and other forms of racketeering. A major source of triad income today comes from the counterfeiting intellectual property such as computer software, music CDs and movie VCDs/DVDs. They also trade in bootleg tobacco products and part of the proceeds is thought to go to terrorist organizations.

Related Topics:
Drug trafficking - Money laundering - Gambling - Prostitution - Racketeering - Counterfeit - Intellectual property - Computer software - Music - CDs - Movie - VCD - DVD - Bootleg - Tobacco - Terrorist

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