During our period, Shanghai was a hotbed of criminal activity, and much of that criminal activity was orchestrated by the various "Color Gangs" of local toughs who adopted both traditional and Western style organizations, clothing, and equipment as the need suited.
A huge percentage of the population of Shanghai seems to have been involved in organized crime on some level or another. Exact numbers are not known, but we do know that virtually every beggar, for example, paid dues to the various crime families. We also know that most shopkeepers paid protection money, and that many had been doing so, in the form of tributes and tithes, for centuries at this point. These ordinary, innocent people aside, there were certainly thousands of dedicated gangsters, besides. There we so many of them, and they had become such an integral part of the city, that during the battles for Shanghai in the 1930s and 40s, the Nationalist Government frequently hired out the gangsters as auxiliary soldiers.
The largest and most powerful of the various gangs was the notorious "Green Gang" lead by Du Yusheng, more commonly known as "Big Ears Du." Through first allying with and then, gradually eliminating his competitors, Du had become the leading mob boss in Shanghai by the mid-1920s. Ruthless and cruel, he was nevertheless a popular folk hero among the poor of Shanghai, and many anti-foreign agitators saw in Du as an avenger, meeting out punishment on the enemies of the Chinese way of life. To Du's credit, he also consistenly avoided the efforts of the Japanese to buy his loyalty, and he remained a staunch opponent of Japanese expansion in China throughout the era, even directing armed resistance by the gangsters of Shanghai against invading and occupying Japanese troops.
Du's main lines of interest included smuggling, prostitution, and Opium. He was, however, heavily involved in just about every possible criminal enterprise imagineable. With connections to the elites of Shanghai Society, he was also, it seems, almost untouchable. Nevertheless, he found formidable foes in the Shanghai Municipal Police, who were the most frequent foil to his operations in the International Settlement.
-- Edited by Doc Twilight on Wednesday 9th of September 2009 01:05:09 AM
-- Edited by Doc Twilight on Wednesday 9th of September 2009 01:11:07 AM
