82123
I don't see why not. From what I know, they can control a lot of things.
After all, you've got American mafias that somehow got themselves on TV without being arrested to high heaven, so. -shrug-
oh, that's why I need this binary mind // ⌘
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
Normally, Triad smugglers prefer to carry small, light, and high-value goods. For instance, a big drug shipment would be fifteen kilos, and a human trafficking run will carry half a dozen 'passengers'. Otherwise, you're putting too many eggs in one basket, and attracting too much attention to yourself. As a result, smuggling craft tend to be small and fast, and bigger-budget groups tend to branch out to light aircraft. Alternatively, they'll stow their cargo aboard large craft owned by legitimate, unrelated businesses - it makes for good cover.
However, big smuggling ships like the kind you describe are far from unknown. One of the most (in)famous is the Xing Da
, sunk off Bermuda in 1997.
edited 28th May '12 5:32:08 AM by Iaculus
What's precedent ever done for us?
Short Answer: Pretty much anything.
Long Answer:
Not much really.
Despite the rather fearsome reputation the Triads have gained over the years, it is essentially a criminal organization that exsists in the fringe.
Their profit engines are the typical drus, protection, prostitution and the rest of the standard criminal practices.
As their traditional "base" is Hong Kong, you can add being a massive pirating pain and intimidating bully to the Hong Kong cinema industry. Traditionally.
Frankly, with piracy going digital and world wide, this is everyone's game.
Theoretically they could keep using their numbers (swelled by the ranks of poor in Hong Kong, a land traditionally w/o minimum wage laws) to harass companies that don't cater to their whims, intimidate starlets into bedmates for Triad bosses and other douche bag behaviour but it has its limits.
If they cause too much trouble, the authorities will step in (and since CHINA is in charge) and crush them (mercilessly)
OK, I just thought I'd ask how plausible it is for a Chinese Triad boss to own, for example, a cargo ship, or even an entire shipping company, perhaps in a place like Hong Kong. I haven't been successful doing research on Google, so I'm here.