On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we get criminal and talk about the history, crimes, structure, and initiation ritual of one of the most powerful criminal organizations on the planet—the Chinese Triads. The Triads started as secret societies bent on overthrowing and reinstating particular Chinese emperors hundreds of years ago. They were patriotic at heart and weren’t criminal gangs by any typical standard. However, with the British taking over Hong Kong and ruling opium and prostitution illegal, they morphed into the seeds of the organized crime groups they are today.

After the purges of Mao and World War II, the Triads emerged in a form similar to what we see today. At their height, there were as many as 60 triads in the city of Hong Kong alone. Now, they have spread through every country with a large Chinese population, including the US, UK, Australia, South Africa, and even Canada.

The Triads are unlike other big organized crime groups like the Yakuza or the Italian Mob in that they don’t require the lower level members to get permission from higher ups to commit crimes. They also don’t kick a percentage of their earnings up, either. Instead, each Triad group is comprised of dozens of smaller criminal gangs but bonded by an oath to support each other, even at risk of death. This way, though there is no money swapping between members necessarily, they have each other’s back through gang wars and any other trouble that comes their way.

Their members get very interesting titles like Dragon Head, Incense Master, and White Paper Fan, and they all have code numbers that line up with the numerology in the ancient I Ching.

So what crimes do they commit? For one, counterfeiting. They are said to be among the best in the world, ranging from money to purses and shoes and even DVDs and software piracy. In fact, with the support of North Korea, their massive flooding of the banks with fake US $100 bills is what lead to the redesign of the currency a few years ago. They also are the masters of the world’s opium, human trafficking (both as sex slaves and slave labor). In fact, they claim 100,000 Chinese are smuggled into the US each year to pay off debts by working in sweatshops on the West Coast.

What are the four major Triads in existence today, and where do they operate? How do these four go to war, and what do they each specialize in? What are the smuggling trips inside of shipping containers like for those who come to America through Triad channels? How many members of the Triads are there in the world? Why do they typically kill with knives and swords instead of guns? Listen, laugh, learn.