Product Description

With unflinching candor, Martin Booth -- Booker Prize nominee and author of the critically acclaimed Opium: A History -- here unfolds the full story of the Chinese Triads, which, according to UN sources, now pose the greatest potential criminal threat the world has ever known. From San Francisco to Amsterdam to Bangkok to Johannesburg, everywhere, everyday, the Triads are turning crimes like extortion, gambling, international prostitution, illegal immigrant smuggling, money laundering, fraud, corruption, arms, and narcotics into vast profits. This comprehensive history of the Triads traces their evolution over more than two thousand years from obscure parochial Chinese brotherhoods to an international criminal organization. It examines the archaic quasi-religious rituals that have for centuries bound the members of this now global fraternity. It recounts the exploits of patriots and outlaws. It explores the Triads' instigation of the Tong Wars in America, their collaboration with the Allies against the Japanese in Malaya, their collusion with the CIA in Vietnam. It chronicles their escalation of the heroin trade to Europe and the United States. It shocks, and it compels.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #196250 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

From the Back Cover
According to UN sources, the Triads pose the greatest potential criminal threat the world has ever known.

Over the last three centuries, wherever the Chinese have emigrated, they have taken their outlawed secret brotherhoods. Bound by archaic oaths, the Triads demand absolute loyalty, exacting brutal retribution from transgressors and opponents alike. Few have ever infiltrated their ranks; fewer still have survived to tell the tale.

Now internationally recognised Oriental expert and bestselling author Martin Booth tells the full, incredible story of the Triads - from their beginnings over two thousand years ago to the unrivalled criminal empire they operate today. Here he explains their rituals and mythologies, identifies the key figures and, perhaps most disturbingly of all, reveals how the Triads' interests have extended beyond the more 'traditional' realms of extortion, narcotics, prostitution and money laundering to include hi-tech computer crime, arms dealing, blackmail and politics. Today, their insidious influence transcends national and international boundaries to encompass the globe.

About the Author
Martin Booth
Martin Booth is an internationally known, Booker Prize short-listed novelist and writer. He is considered an authority on the history of Chinese organized crime syndicates and the international opiate narcotics trade. His Opium: A History is regarded as the definitive book on the subject.

Customer Reviews

Something most of us know virtually nothing about
Martin Booth's book on the Triads and their development over the last three hundred years or so makes quite an intriguing read. He starts off with recounting the `ancient' history of the Triads and why they came about in the first place. He then follows the main factions through the course of history right into the 1990's. There is a chapter, where Booth recounts the entire initiation ceremony into a Triad Society - this is supposed to be kept secret on the penalty of death - yet he must have found someone who was happy to run that risk. There is also quite a bit on the various business interests of the Triads in the 1990's and if you lived in Hong Kong for any time, you will find some of these not quite unfamiliar. Excellent book. I can only recommend it.

The definitive history of the Triad organisations
In this book, Booth deals accurately and concisely with the vast quantities of information that exists on the subject of Chinese organised crime. Most impressively, Booth charts the history of the Triads from their origins as a revolutionary group and their forebears, through the warlord period and right up to the present day. He deals well with the causes of the Triads move towards organized crime and does not lose himself in the internicene politics and infighting that makes the Triad world so confusing to most westerners. That said, his decision to avoid the use of 'pigin' chinese spellings when and wherever possible may prove some small difficulty to those westerners who are not as familiar with the traditional spellings. This is, however, the only possible flaw (and one which, to me, is of little importance) in an otherwise excellent work.

well researched, quite frankly, a great read.
having read other Martin Booth books, fiction and non-fiction, this is also another gem, the author has intimate knowledge of Hong Kong having grown up there,speaking Cantonese, and he has written an amazing history.
Fascinating.