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Yakuza, also known as Gokudo, are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them <i>boryokudan</i> ('violent groups'), while the yakuza call themselves<i>ninkyo danta</i> ('chivalrous organizations').<br/><br/> Although yakuza membership has declined following an anti-gang law aimed specifically at yakuza and passed by the Japanese government in 1992, there are thought to be more than 58,000 active yakuza members in Japan today.
Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s was troubled by powerful criminal gangs run by ruthless godfathers, the most powerful of who were Du Yuesheng, known as Zongshi or 'The Boss' of the Green Gang and the Shanghai underworld; Zhang Xiaolin, also a powerful Green Gang leader; and Huang Jingrong, the highest-ranking Chinese detective on the French Concession Police (FCP) and one of Shanghai's most important gangsters.<br/><br/> Their empires included drugs, protection rackets, smuggling and prostitution.
Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s was troubled by powerful criminal gangs run by ruthless godfathers, the most powerful of who were Du Yuesheng, known as Zongshi or 'The Boss' of the Green Gang and the Shanghai underworld; Zhang Xiaolin, also a powerful Green Gang leader; and Huang Jingrong, the highest-ranking Chinese detective on the French Concession Police (FCP) and one of Shanghai's most important gangsters.<br/><br/> Their empires included drugs, protection rackets, smuggling and prostitution.
Born in 1868 in Suzhou, his father was a constable in Suzhou before the family migrated to Shanghai to open a teahouse. During his childhood, Huang contracted a bad case of smallpox. While his subordinates called him 'Grand Master Huang', behind his back everyone called him 'Pockmarked Huang'.<br/><br/> Huang went to work at his father’s teahouse, which was not very far from the Zhengjia Bridge near the French Concession. The bridge in those days sheltered a large population of hustlers and crooks. Huang Jinrong fitted right in, and organised many of them into a gang who later became his sworn followers. Aged 24, Huang passed the entrance exams and entered the French Concession police force, the Garde Municipale in 1892. Being strong, brash and capable, he did very well and became a detective in the Criminal Justice Section (Police Judiciaire).<br/><br/> With the exception of a brief sojourn to Suzhou, Huang served continuously in the Police Judiciaire for twenty years until his retirement in 1925 after several major scandals rocked the department. Although associated with gangs such as the Big Eight Mob, his public profile was always aligned with the police.
Zhang Xiaolin was one of the "Three Shanghai Godfathers" and, along with Du Yuesheng, was a leader of the Shanghai Green Gang. In 1939, with the Japanese capture of Shanghai, he was appointed puppet governor of Zhejiang. He was assassinated in 1940.
Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s was troubled by powerful criminal gangs run by ruthless godfathers, the most powerful of who were Du Yuesheng, known as Zongshi or 'The Boss' of the Green Gang and the Shanghai underworld; Zhang Xiaolin, also a powerful Green Gang leader; and Huang Jingrong, the highest-ranking Chinese detective on the French Concession Police (FCP) and one of Shanghai's most important gangsters.<br/><br/> Their empires included drugs, protection rackets, smuggling and prostitution.
Du Yuesheng (Tu Yüeh-sheng), commonly known as 'Big-Ears Du' (1887–1951) was a Chinese gangster who spent much of his life in Shanghai. He was a key supporter of the Kuomintang (KMT; aka Nationalists) and Chiang Kai-shek in their battle against the Communists during the 1920s, and was a figure of some importance during the Second Sino-Japanese War.<br/><br/> After the Chinese Civil War and the KMT's retreat to Taiwan, Du went into exile in Hong Kong and remained there until his death in 1951. According to a contemporaneous description:<br/><br/> Du Yuesheng is short and slender, with long arms, a shaven head, large yellow teeth and large ears that stick out. He is always accompanied by armed bodyguards, and his home is a fortified drug depot, well stocked with guns and ammunition. Upon entering, the visitor finds the entrance hall lined on both sides with stacks of rifles and sub-machine guns. The house has three floors - on each floor he keeps one of his three wives. He speaks no foreign languages, yet is always keen to meet people of all nationalities, for he gleefully collects gossip and information, no matter how seemingly trivial.<br/><br/> Du employs four bodyguards: an ill-tempered blacksmith called Fiery Old Crow, a gardener, a former waiter from the Shanghai Club who speaks English and a former chauffeur from the American consulate called Stars & Stripes. Du never goes anywhere without being accompanied by two carloads of armed men. If going out on the town to teahouses and nightclubs, one car always goes ahead to check the place out first. Du follows in his bullet proof car with a second car full of his enforcers. Only when his men have surrounded the car door does he get out. Once inside the club, his guards all sit around him with their guns in plain sight to everyone.
Born in 1868 in Suzhou, his father was a constable in Suzhou before the family migrated to Shanghai to open a teahouse. During his childhood, Huang contracted a bad case of smallpox. While his subordinates called him 'Grand Master Huang', behind his back everyone called him 'Pockmarked Huang'.<br/><br/> Huang went to work at his father’s teahouse, which was not very far from the Zhengjia Bridge near the French Concession. The bridge in those days sheltered a large population of hustlers and crooks. Huang Jinrong fitted right in, and organised many of them into a gang who later became his sworn followers. Aged 24, Huang passed the entrance exams and entered the French Concession police force, the Garde Municipale in 1892. Being strong, brash and capable, he did very well and became a detective in the Criminal Justice Section (Police Judiciaire).<br/><br/> With the exception of a brief sojourn to Suzhou, Huang served continuously in the Police Judiciaire for twenty years until his retirement in 1925 after several major scandals rocked the department. Although associated with gangs such as the Big Eight Mob, his public profile was always aligned with the police.
Du Yuesheng (Tu Yüeh-sheng), commonly known as 'Big-Ears Du' (1887–1951) was a Chinese gangster who spent much of his life in Shanghai. He was a key supporter of the Kuomintang (KMT; aka Nationalists) and Chiang Kai-shek in their battle against the Communists during the 1920s, and was a figure of some importance during the Second Sino-Japanese War.<br/><br/> After the Chinese Civil War and the KMT's retreat to Taiwan, Du went into exile in Hong Kong and remained there until his death in 1951. According to a contemporaneous description:<br/><br/> Du Yuesheng is short and slender, with long arms, a shaven head, large yellow teeth and large ears that stick out. He is always accompanied by armed bodyguards, and his home is a fortified drug depot, well stocked with guns and ammunition. Upon entering, the visitor finds the entrance hall lined on both sides with stacks of rifles and sub-machine guns. The house has three floors - on each floor he keeps one of his three wives. He speaks no foreign languages, yet is always keen to meet people of all nationalities, for he gleefully collects gossip and information, no matter how seemingly trivial.<br/><br/> Du employs four bodyguards: an ill-tempered blacksmith called Fiery Old Crow, a gardener, a former waiter from the Shanghai Club who speaks English and a former chauffeur from the American consulate called Stars & Stripes. Du never goes anywhere without being accompanied by two carloads of armed men. If going out on the town to teahouses and nightclubs, one car always goes ahead to check the place out first. Du follows in his bullet proof car with a second car full of his enforcers. Only when his men have surrounded the car door does he get out. Once inside the club, his guards all sit around him with their guns in plain sight to everyone.
Du Yuesheng (Tu Yüeh-sheng), commonly known as 'Big-Ears Du' (1887–1951) was a Chinese gangster who spent much of his life in Shanghai. He was a key supporter of the Kuomintang (KMT; aka Nationalists) and Chiang Kai-shek in their battle against the Communists during the 1920s, and was a figure of some importance during the Second Sino-Japanese War. After the Chinese Civil War and the KMT's retreat to Taiwan, Du went into exile in Hong Kong and remained there until his death in 1951.
This early 20th century image depicts a placid scene on Pell Street. But not far from the Chop Suey restaurant at no. 36 stood no. 15, home base for the notorious Hip Sing Tong, one of the ruthless Chinese-American criminal associations that fought for control of Chinatown and the booming opium trade in the neighborhood’s early days. Hip Sing and similar tongs formed in New York, San Francisco, and other major cities to protect Chinese immigrants from the racism and exploitation they encountered upon arriving in the U.S. in the late 1800s. But they also became violent gangs that ran prostitution rings, gambling dens, and drug rackets.