Asian Gangs in North America. Fully cited. References included.

The on-going problem with violent crimes committed by Asian gangs in North America has escalated over the past decade. When people hear of the term Asian gang, most people associate it to organized crime, which isn't completely correct. When using the term Asian, this includes many ethnic groups such as Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese to just name a few. According to "Asian Gangs: A Bibliography" by Bihn P. Le (1999), Asian gangs are a relatively new phenomenon in which members do not respect the law, the lives of their victims, or even their own lives while terrorizing the Asian-American communities. As the immigration trends continue, the problems with Asian gangs can only get worse.

Chinese crime syndicates trace back to the 17th Century where the Triads were responsible for resistance groups in China (Kaihla, 1991). Buddhist monks in China formed to overthrow invading Mongolians who threatened the Chinese Ming Dynasty.

List of criminal gangs in Los Angeles, California

Image depicting member of MS13 gang. Work of the F...

Crip handsign.

The Triad name was taken after its symbol, the triangle, which represented the three fundamental elements of the universe; heaven, earth, and man. The revolutionary efforts of the 17th Century monks failed, but the secret association remained and developed into a feared criminal group. Following World War II the Triads began their move into North America (Kaihla, 1999).

The first sign of these gangs were reported in San Francisco in the mid-19th Century. Many Asian immigrants arrived to work on the gold rush that was taking place in California at that time. Later, it was the construction of the transcontinental railroads and the mining boom that lured the masses of Asian immigrant to North America (Zhu, 1997). With this happening many new Asian immigrants moved into San Francisco's Chinatown, and area of the city that was centrally located and consisted of lower income housing. Since then this area in...