It must be said that in the dazzling and bizarre underworld of Hong Kong Island, there are numerous triads with impressive-sounding names, such as Sun Kee, Wo Kee, 14K, and the Number Gang...
They sound imposing, but in the eyes of ordinary citizens they are even more ferocious, as if they hold the power of life and death over the entire Hong Kong Island.
In later generations, most people in mainland China learned about these triads from numerous Hong Kong films and TV dramas. In particular, many teenage boys who watched Hong Kong films such as "Young and Dangerous" were influenced by them and were quite fascinated by these triads in Hong Kong, and even began to imitate them.
But what is the actual living condition of triads on Hong Kong Island?
Generally speaking, on the streets of Hong Kong Island, you can often see them fighting each other in the street over parking fees for a few streets, protection money for takeaway stalls, or the "management rights" of a brothel or individual prostitute. They are so fierce that they dare to fight each other with knives and swords, shouting and cursing, making a huge commotion.
This is what is called "fighting for territory." It looks exciting and passionate, but in reality... it's just so-so. All the territories combined are not even as big as a random town in the interior.
As for those who are even bolder, they simply get involved in the shady drug trade, using violence and bloodshed to build up a certain "order" in the underworld.
However, in the eyes of the truly top-tier wealthy, these so-called "characters" and these "fierce men" who fight to the death are nothing more than a laughable game of chickens fighting each other.
The territories they seized and the petty profits they fought for were as insignificant as ants compared to the massive industries like real estate, finance, and shipping, which often amount to hundreds of millions.
These wealthy Chinese are the ones who truly control the city's lifeline and source of wealth.
Take the Landmark Group, which Lin Huowang now controls, as an example.
This behemoth owns a vast number of office buildings, shopping malls, luxury residences, hotels, and large-scale construction sites in the most central location of Hong Kong Island.
These properties alone constitute the core carriers of commercial activities on Hong Kong Island.
How many triads rely on opening nightclubs, saunas, arcades, and bars on these turf?
How much of the "parking" and "site security" work comes from Hongkong Land's property management?
How many construction sites have their sand, gravel, transportation, and even some labor subcontracting done indirectly through companies with ties to associations?
It is no exaggeration to say that at least 80% of the triads on Hong Kong Island rely directly or indirectly on the "niche" created by Hongkong Land Group and its vast industrial chain to ensure that their members have a stable livelihood.
Those triad leaders and bosses who look so powerful in Hong Kong movies are, in Kobayashi Tenmoku's entire Landmark Group system, even an ordinary department manager is someone they have to curry favor with.
Or rather, the leaders of these triads would try every means to bribe and curry favor with the project managers of the Hongkong Land Group in hopes that their triads could get more stalls and locations.
As for wanting to see Kobayashi Tenno? Please! These lowlifes don't even have the right to see Gao Qiaohao, let alone Kobayashi Tenno.
Similarly, the influence of extremely wealthy families like the Huo family, which control important ports and some real estate, also extends to the social forces that depend on them for survival.
Therefore, people like them may never bother to have any direct involvement with any gang, and may never even have had a private meeting with any gang leader.
However, their social standing is far beyond the reach of these gang leaders, who need to go to great lengths to curry favor with them.
But it is precisely this absolute power that controls the city's economic lifeline that forms an invisible yet indestructible protective barrier.
No matter how prestigious a gang is or how arrogant its leader is, they all understand one ironclad rule: to provoke a top tycoon like Kobayashi Tenno is tantamount to digging their own grave and courting their own destruction.
Therefore, ever since Kobayashi Tenmoku rose to fame in Hong Kong, his name has become a taboo in the Hong Kong underworld that no one dares to touch.
He didn't need to control the gang, yet no one in the gang dared to show him the slightest disrespect or overstep their bounds.
This is capitalist society, and this is the power of money.
Not to mention, people like Run Run Shaw, who possess legitimate British knighthoods or are members of the Hong Kong government, are not people these triads dare to provoke.
As 1977 drew to a close, the landscape of Hong Kong's triads, having experienced the turmoil of the early 1970s, such as the death of Ge Zhaohuang and the strong crackdown by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in its early days, was undergoing a period of reshuffling and relative stability.
Established powerhouses like Sun Yee On (backed by the Heung family) and Wo Hop To (Hutchison Whampoa) still have deep roots.
Although the 14K is relatively loosely organized due to historical reasons, it has many branches and a large number of members, and its influence is considerable in areas such as Yau Tsim Mong.
Number gangs (such as Jingyi, Tongxinhe, etc.) have also occupied territory in many districts due to their strict gang rules and ruthless style.
In addition, organizations such as the United Press International and Fuk Yee Hing also have a certain influence.
As mentioned earlier, the main sources of funding for these societies are closely linked to real estate, nightclubs and entertainment venues, gambling dens, transportation, and even smuggling and drugs.
The focus of their competition is often on specific "locations" and "territories" that can bring in a stable cash flow.
However, at the top, they all knew very well that the real "big money backers" were the top tycoons like Kobayashi Tenno and the Huo family, who controlled the foundation of the city's economy.
A little bit of money that slips through the fingers of a wealthy person is enough to support a branch of a criminal organization.
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