By Bryan Harris
South China Morning Post
January 12, 2014
Hong Kong is home to a handful of organised crime syndicates.
Paramount are the 14K and the Sun Yee On triads, arch-rivals with a propensity towards violence.
Triads have their roots in dialect groups, trade guilds or political movements, but are now responsible for much of the region's drug trafficking and vice establishments.
With about 55,000 members worldwide, the Sun Yee On is said to be the most organised and wealthiest triad society.
Founded by Hokkien immigrants from northeast Guangdong in 1919, the triad exerts considerable sway in its traditional stronghold Tsim Sha Tsui East, as well as in Tuen Mun and Tseung Kwan O.
The 14K was founded in Guangzhou in 1945 as an anti-communist taskforce. In 1949, it relocated to Hong Kong following the Nationalist defeat and today exerts influence predominantly over West Kowloon, Yuen Long and Kwun Tong.
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