BACKGROUND….HOLD…HOLD….HOLD FOR SENTENCE TOM
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HOLD FOR SENTENCE TOMORROW
FRIDAY
Triad Supergrass George Cheung will be sentenced tommorrow (Fri)
at 10am at the Old Bailey.
Britain’s first ever Triad supergrass has proved a complete
disaster for Scotland Yard.
So far taxpayer’s have paid out an
estimated 2.
5 million pounds – but not one conviction of significance
has resulted.
Police were convinced that George Cheung, 27, a self confessed
hit-man for the Chinese mafia could help put 10 leading members
of the oriental secret society behind bars.
For years British police had tried to break the wall of silence
that surrounded the activities of the Chinese gangsters, who with
over 7,000 members are the biggest organised crime syndicate in
Britain.
‘In every town or village that has a Chinese restaurant or take
away you will find Triads,’ a detective said outside court.
Cheung appeared to be the breakthrough police were looking for.
Before him the cultural differences and the suspicion the
Chinese community had of British police proved impossible to
break down.
Cheung was arrested for the shooting of a rival gangster
Ying Kit Lam, 31.
The evidence against Cheung was overwhelming and he agreed
to turn Queens evidence in return for a reduced sentence.
Cheung then became the first Triad to betray his blood
vows and reveal the secrets of the world’s most ancient criminal
organisation.
Mr.
Martin Heslop, prosecuting, heralded Cheung as a major
success story for British police.
He told the jury at the beginning
of the trial that here was a man who would for the first time
‘lift the veil of secrecy’ surrounding the Triads and give a
‘unique picture’ of the way they operate in this country.
He added that Cheung had put his life in grave danger and
Triad members would be out to kill him.
At all times during the trial Cheung had two policemen specially
detailed to protect him.
He was also kept in a special ‘supergrass
suite’ away from normal prisoners.
But Cheung failed to convince an Old Bailey jury during a six
week trial that he had been ordered to shoot a rival gangster by
six alleged Triads, who sat in the dock.
Following the jury’s rejection of Cheung’s evidence the
Crown Prosecution Service after consultations with the police decided
to throw in the towel.
Charges against three other alleged Triads were dropped.
Extradition proceedings against one of the alleged heads of
the organisation who had flown to Canada shortly after the shooting
of Lam were abandoned.
Detectives will have to honour their pledge to protect Cheung for
life.
He has been promised a new identity and to be relocated at a
secret address in case any Triad decides to seek revenge.
At one time is was believed that a 100,000 pound contract had
been put on his head.
The estimated costs involved in trying to bring Triads to
justice are made up as follows.
The 6 week trial – 1.
5 million pounds.
A two week old style
committal at Bow Street magistrates court – 500,000 pounds,
the police investigation which included trips to both Canada
and Hong Kong – 350,000 pounds and security measures taken to
ensure the safety of Cheung – 150,000 pounds.
The police put their faith in a man who the defence claimed
during the Old Bailey trial was mentally unstable.
Mr.
Jonathan Goldberg, QC, defending, tried to get the case
halted after claiming that diaries written by Cheung after his
arrest proved he was ‘mad.
‘
But Judge Bruce Laughland QC ordered that the trial should
proceed saying: ‘There is nothing that leads me to believe that
Cheung is not a competent witness.
‘
Mr.
Goldberg insisted that the diaries written by Cheung showed
he was suicidal and suffering from depression.
Counsel pointed out
that Cheung made one entry which read: ‘I am going crazy.
‘
To the casual observer Cheung cut a strange figure for
what the prosecution claimed was a cool, calculating assassin
for one of the world’s most feared criminal organisations.
He is slightly built, only 5ft 4ins tall and wears thick lense
glasses which earned him the nickname ‘Specky.
‘ He sports a short
spiky haircut and palid spotty complexion.
The defence constantly tried to provoke him by pointing how
he suffered from acne and his scruffy appearance menat he was
unsuccessful with women and forced him to use prostitutes.
Stuttering and obviously embarrassed as his inadequacies were
put on public display he seemed more misfit than hitman.
He told how he was born in Leicester to Chinese parents who
owned a Chinese takeaway.
He said he felt neither British nor Chinese.
‘The Chinese treat me as English and the English treat me as Chinese,’
he said.
Joining the Triads gave him what Triads call ‘face’ – the
respect and status he had been looking for.
He became a bodyguard for a senior gangster called a ‘Dragon
Head.
‘ He told how he travelled the length and breadth of the country
extorting money from businessmen and attacking those that had crossed
his bosses.
He revealed how he slashed one man’s face with a double bladed
knife to ensure he was permanently scarred and how he travelled to
Scotland to give a shop owner a ‘good hiding’ and to Cardiff in
Wales to attack a video shop owner.
Cheung told he became an expert in the martial arts and could kill
a man with his bare hands.
The court heard that he also had an
obsession with guns from a young age and became a crackshot.
The most worrying part of his evidence was his revelation of
the terrifying stranglehold the Triads have in this country.
Milions of pounds are being made by the Oriental Warlords from
extortion, drug cartels, prostitution and gambling, the court heard.
But police fear an explosion of Triad activity in Britain as more
and more flee Hong Kong in the lead up to the 1997 hand over to China.
There are an estimated 150,000 Triads operating in Hong Kong.
They outnumber the police there nearly five to one.
British detectives believe that because of our close links with
Hong Kong many will come to Britain and vicious gang wars will
explode on to our streets.
‘Trouble may not just affect the Chinese community.
The Triads
are bound to tread on the toes of our native criminals and all hell
could be let loose,’ a detective said outside court.
Last September at Southwark Crown Court Passport officer David
Lynch, 23, was jailed for 3 years for issuing over 100 British
passports to Triads in Hong Kong.
He claimed the Triads terrorised him into helping them.
The cold blooded sadism the Triads unleash on anyone who
crosses them puts the Triad brotherhood in the same league as the
world’s most feared criminal organisations, the court heard.
Many Vietnamese, who have settled in this country have joined
the Triads, bolstering their numbers.
The shooting Cheung carried out in broad daylight on the
streets of London is a frightening example of what the future is
likely to hold.
The victim, a Triad gang leader came to Britain from Hong Kong
using a false passport.
He knew his millionaire lifestyle would
come to an end once China took control of the colony, the jury heard.
His aim was to take over the Shui Fong Triads, one of the three
Oriental secret societies that control the Chinese community in
this country, the court heard.
The other two are the Wo Shing Wo and the 14K.
The leaders of the Shui Fong triads in Britain decided to
teach Lam a lesson and ordered Cheung to cripple him.
Ying Kit Lam, 31, was gunned down in London’s Chinatown on
September 7 last year.
He was shot four times by Cheung, 27, in
the back.
The hit man’s instructions were to smash his backbone
so that Lam would never be able to walk again, the court heard.
Fortunately the bullets missed the spine but Lam was
severely wounded and is now recovering back in Hong Kong.
‘Lam shot not to kill him but to cripple him and horrifically
it did.
It was to provide a warning to others who might have desires
to take over the Shui Fong,’ said Mr.
Heslop.
Cheung was arrested soon after the shooting of Lam.
He had travelled to a safe house in Manchester, which is the
Triad capital of Britain.
Twice while being held in custody Triad gang bosses tricked
their way into prison to visit him.
They warned he would be killed for breaking his vow of
silence.
Opening the case Mr.
Heslop said that Cheung’s evidence painted
a ‘frightening picture’ about Triad activity in this country.
He told the jury: ‘Their criminal activities extend throughout
the whole Chinese community across the length and breadth of
England, Wales, Scotland and the Channel Islands.
The extent of their criminal activities ranges from
extortion, protection rackets, through violence to illegal
gambling and drug trafficking.
‘
Counsel went on: ‘So strong is their loyalty and fear of
retribution that few, if any, have ever before been prepared to
assist the authorities.
‘
Cheung, whose father is a Triad told the court how he travelled
the country on his bosses’ orders maiming and slashing people who
had annoyed the Chinese crime lords.
The supergrass revealed in court that nearly every member of
the Chinese community is forced to join the Triads.
‘My father is a member.
Many like my father are not violent
criminals.
It just makes it easier to get on in life if you are
a member,’ Cheung said.
Det.
Con.
Stephen Fayle of the Metropolitan Police Chinese
section told an Old Bailey judge in a previous Triad case:
‘Many Chinese people, businessmen and workers become members
for their own protection.
They join so they can seek help from
the Triad leaders.
The Chinese particularly male workers, are
put under a great deal of pressure to join.
Many are just ordinary
businessmen who are coerced into joining by the leaders who control
the Chinese community.
‘
Cheung revealed the ancient blood letting initiation ceremony he
was put through on joing the Triads.
He said it took place in the
basement of a Chinese restaurant in Greyhound Road, Fulham, London.
He told how he and 10 others were stripped down to their underpants
during the 2 hour ceremony that took place in front of an altar.
Ancient Chinese oaths were repeated as incense burned.
They were forced to drink their own blood as they promised never
to break their vow of silence.
Cheung told the court: ‘I could not understand the oaths I
was told to repeat because they were in an old traditional Chinese
dialect.
I was later told that the oaths were: never betray a
brother Triad, never steal from a brother and never commit adultery
with a brother’s wife.
If we broke these oaths I was told I would
be killed or crippled,’ he said.
He revealed that the Triads see themselves as a big family.
A senior triad is called a Dai lo (big brother).
The head of
the crime organisation, like Ngau Kor, is called a grandfather.
‘The Shui Fong bind themselves together with secret rituals
and ceremonies.
It involves a rigid hierachy from the senior
bosses to the new recruits.
They are bound by oaths of secrecy
and loyalty.
‘If the allegiance is broken the penalty is death.
Those involved
in the criminal activities reap the rewards of the terror they instill
in the Chinese community,’ said Mr.
Heslop.
Cheung revealed to the court that the colour red was very
important to the Triads.
The sign of the red dragon was a symbol of
the brotherhood of Triads.
Certain numbers also held a mystical significance especially
36.
Triads were given numbers to show their rank.
Cheung was number
49 one of the lowest orders in Triad society.
He joined the Shui
Fongs in March 1990 for his own protection after being threatened
by other Triad gangsters, he said.
Cheung told the court: ‘Everything I did was because I was
ordered to.
I had sworn allegiance to the brotherhood and felt
loyalty towards them.
‘
The word Triad stands for the triangle made up between
man, the earth and the heavens.
The Triads were formed in 1686
when the Ming Dynasty was overthrown by the Chings.
Monks loyal to the Mings formed an underground
organisation and became experts in martial arts.
They were betrayed
by one of their number and slaughtered.
Only five escaped and they
were the first to call themselves Triads.
Originally it was an
honourable society but over the years became corrupted.
ENDS
LLLL
