Asian
Criminal Enterprises
Asian criminal enterprises have been operating in the U.S. since
the early 1900s. The first of these groups evolved from Chinese tongs—social
organizations formed by early Chinese-American immigrants. A century
later, the criminalized tongs are thriving and have been joined by
similar organizations with ties to East and Southeast Asia.
Members of the most dominant Asian criminal enterprises affecting
the U.S. have ties—either directly or culturally—to China,
Korea, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.
Other enterprises are emerging as threats, however, including groups
from the South Pacific island nations.
These enterprises rely on extensive networks of national and international
criminal associates that are fluid and extremely mobile. They adapt
easily to the changes around them, have multilingual abilities, can
be highly sophisticated in their criminal operations, and have extensive
financial capabilities. Some enterprises have commercialized their
criminal activities and can be considered business firms of various
sizes, from small family-run operations to large corporations.
Asian criminal enterprises have prospered thanks largely to the
globalization of the world economies and to communications technology
and international travel. Generous immigration policies have provided
many members of Asian criminal enterprises the ability to enter and
live on every populated continent in the world today undetected.
There are two categories of Asian criminal enterprises. Traditional
criminal enterprises include the Chinese triads (or underground societies)
based in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau as well as the Japanese Yakuza
or Boryokudan. Non-traditional criminal enterprises include groups
such as Chinese criminally influenced tongs, triad affiliates, and
other ethnic Asian street gangs found in several countries with sizeable
Asian communities.
Asian criminal enterprises conduct traditional racketeering activities
normally associated with organized crime: extortion, murder, kidnaping,
illegal gambling, prostitution, and loansharking. They also smuggle
aliens, traffic heroin and methamphetamine; commit financial frauds;
steal autos and computer chips; counterfeit computer and clothing
products; and launder money.
There are several trends among Asian criminal enterprises. First,
it is more common to see criminal groups cooperate across ethnic
and racial heritage lines. Also, some gangs and criminal enterprises
have begun to structure their groups in a hierarchical fashion to
be more competitive, and the criminal activities they engage in have
become globalized. Finally, more of these criminal enterprises are
engaging in white-collar crimes and are co-mingling their illegal
activities with legitimate business ventures.
In the U.S., Asian criminal enterprises have been identified in
more than 50 metropolitan areas. They are more prevalent in Boston,
Chicago, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York,
Newark, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington,
D.C.
How We Combat Asian Criminal Enterprises
The FBI participates in different working groups and initiatives to combat
Asian organized crime on an international level:
- The FBI/National Police Agency of Japan Working Group meets
annually to discuss ongoing investigations and policy matters for
sharing intelligence, interagency investigative support, and FBI
extraterritorial operations in Japan.
- Project Bridge is a working group under Interpol
to help member countries coordinate investigations and information
sharing between police agencies to fight Asian-alien smuggling
syndicates.
- The Interagency Working Group on Alien Smuggling coordinates
policy discussions and examines investigative issues relating to
alien smuggling and the trafficking of women and children. It is
sponsored by the National Security Council’s Special Coordination
Group on International Crime.
- The International Asian Organized Crime Conference meets
annually, bringing together law enforcement agencies from around
the world to discuss new trends and exchange ideas on combating
Asian organized crime.
- The Canadian/United States Cross-Border Crime Forum addresses
cross-border crime issues and effective coordination between the
U.S. and Canadian law enforcement.
- The International Law Enforcement Academy in Bangkok,
Thailand, is run with assistance from the FBI and Australian
federal law enforcement agencies. The academy provides training
to law enforcement agents from several Southeast Asian countries.
Organized
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