Empire of Crime

by Tim Newark

  Despite this political mischief-making, the British slowly but surely began to clear up the Walled City. It began with successfully opposing the building of illegally constructed tower blocks on the edge of the slum. Then, when a building fell down or there was an outbreak of disease, the Hong Kong government would help to re-house the inhabitants. All of this was done without force, as the communists knew they could not be seen to oppose the humanitarian action of the British.

  In 1984, the British government under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration in which the ending of the lease of 99 years over the New Territories was extended to include Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. Britain agreed to hand over its last major overseas territory to the Chinese in 1997.

  Buoyed by her successful resistance to Argentine tyranny in the Falklands War of 1982, Thatcher had initially hoped to turn the prosperous colony into a democratic self-governing state like Singapore, but unrelenting communist Chinese opposition and the subsequent damage political uncertainty might do to the Hong Kong business community frustrated that. Instead, the ‘one country, two systems’ concept was agreed by both sides – an approach originally designed by the communists to deal with the nationalist enclave of Taiwan.

  With this agreement, the Walled City was no longer a political hot potato for the Hong Kong government and both communist Chinese and British agreed to its demolition. A series of successful police raids had broken the power of the Triads within the slum and, when the time came, there were no major demonstrations against its destruction. More than $HK2 billion was spent on compensating the residents and those businessmen who ran factories in the teeming slum. By 1993, the Walled City was ready to be knocked down. A year later, work had begun on transforming the site into the Kowloon Walled City Park. Remnants of the old Walled City, including its inscribed stone South Gate, are dotted around the greenery.

  If the handing over of Hong Kong to China in 1997 signified the end of the British Empire at the close of the twentieth century, the demolition of its Walled City marked the conclusion of its fight against organised crime throughout that dominion. It had been a long and highly determined crusade against the dark forces unleashed by its own frequently well-meaning policies. But nothing changed overnight and, although it is now no longer the responsibility of its colonial police, the trade routes established by that imperial global trading network will continue to be hijacked by crooks, gangsters, smugglers and narcotics warlords for many years to come – and in that battle the British still have a part to play.

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  NOTES ON SOURCES

  MUCH OF THE MATERIAL FOR this book has been uncovered from government papers in the British National Archives, Kew. The abbreviations of the principal collections are:

  CO – Records of the Colonial Office

  FO – Records of the Foreign Office

  FCO – Records of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

  WO – Records of the War Office & Armed Forces

  KV – Records of the Security Service

  MEPO – Records of the Metropolitan Police Office

  CRIM – Records of the Central Criminal Court

  HO – Records of the Home Office

  CAB – Records of the Cabinet Office

  PREM – Records of the Prime Minister’s Office

  CHAPTER 1

  The case of Mr Hartley, his trials and tribulations, is chronicled in several documents within the British National Archives, File FO 46/669, principally ‘In Her Britannic Majesty’s Court for Japan’, a signed statement by Hartley, dated 17 April 1890; Hartley’s ‘Claims against the Japanese Government’, 5 May 1890; and Hartley’s letter to the Marquess of Salisbury, 31 July 1897. Mr Bryce’s comments in the House of Commons report in The Times, 25 June 1886; see also ‘Importation of Opium into Japan’, The Times, 7 February 1879. Economist quote from James, The Rise and Fall of the British Empire (London: Little, Brown, 1994).

  Early Gladstone quote from Hansard record of House of Commons Debate on 8 April 1840, volume 53, cc749-837. The Times editorial quote, 3 December 1842. Lawson, Duff and later Gladstone quotes from Hansard record of House of Commons Debate on 10 May 1870, volume 201, cc480-524.

  Indian Royal Commission quote from lecture by John Richards, ‘Opium and the British Indian Empire: The Royal Commission of 1895’, Cambridge, 23 May 2001. See also Hanes and Sanello, The Opium Wars (London: Robson Books, 2003).

  CHAPTER 2

  Roos-Keppel’s four-page report of clash with Hakim Khan and his gang at Tarnab, dated 2 March 1911, from Liddel Hart Centre for Military Archives, King’s College London, File PP Donlea, Item 1. See also ‘Indian Frontier: 23 Outlaws Killed’, The Times, 2 March 1911, and Caroe, The Pathans (London: Macmillan, 1958). For gang raid on train, see ‘Train Attacked by Pathan Outlaws’, The Times, 22 December 1913.

  Two quotes on illicit arms trade quoted from T.R. Moreman, ‘The Arms Trade on the NW Frontier of India 1890–1914’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Volume 22, Issue 2, 1994. Basra shipping robbery recounted in letter of 28 May 1912 to British Consul in British National Archives, File FO 602/27. MacFarlane’s tale told in ‘Draper’s Adventures Among the Turks’, The Times, 7 December 1912. Further accounts in ‘Gun-Running in the Persian Gulf’, The Times, 30 December 1910, and ‘British Interests in the Persian Gulf’, The Times, 8 July 1911.

  Roos-Keppel’s letter to Secretary to the Government of India, from Camp Simla, 3 August 1909, including ‘Note on the Adam Khel Gun-Runners’ by J.L. Maffey, political agent, Khyber, contained in India Office Library & Records, File L/PS/7/230. Translation of Roos-Keppel’s notification to the Maliks, greybeards and men of the Para Chamkanni, 9 March 1899, in India Office Library & Records, File L/PS/7/113. Caroe quotes on Roos-Keppel in The Pathans (London: Macmillan, 1958). Keppel quotes on fighting gunrunners on Makran Coast from Keppel, Gun-Running and the Indian North-West Frontier (London: John Murray, 1911). Critical comments on expeditions against gunrunners, including that of Colonel Holdich, who served on the North-West Frontier, in Fraser, L., ‘Gun-Running in the Persian Gulf’, proceedings of the Central Asian Society, London, read on 17 May 1911. Roos-Keppel’s obituary in The Times, 12 December 1921.

  CHAPTER 3

  ‘Shipping Merchant’s Death’, The Times, 24 August 1918; ‘Miss Carleton’s Death,’ The Times, 13 December 1918; ‘Chinatown Opium Traffic’, The Times, 14 December 1918; ‘Carleton Inquest’, The Times, 24 January 1919; and several other articles covering the de Veulle trial, including ‘De Veulle Sent to Prison’, The Times, 8 April 1919. See also ‘West End Dope Parties’, News of the World, 15 December 1918; ‘Cocaine from East Africa’, The Times, 19 May 1919; ‘An Overdose of Heroin’, The Times, 27 January 1922. Delevingne quote from the chapter he wrote for Linstead, Poison’s Law (London: The Pharmaceutical Press, 1936).

  The criminal career of Won Tip is contained in several letters and documents in a Metropolitan Police File at the British National Archives, MEPO 3/430, including letter from Special Branch, dated 9 April 1927; Central Police Office Liverpool, 8 June 1927; Special Branch, 20 June 1927; Liverpool City Police, 14 July 1927; and the report by Chief Inspector H. Burgess, 8 December 1924.

  Chang quotes from News of the World, 30 April 1922, and British National Archives, File MEPO 3/469. For more details on Brilliant Chang and Chinatown drugs world, see Morton, East End Gangland (London: Little, Brown, 2000), Kohn, Dope Girls (London: Granta, 2001) and Berridge, V., ‘The Origin of the English Drug “Scene” 1890–1930’, Medical History, 32:51–64 (London: UCL, 1988). George Sims’s account of a London opium den reproduced in the Ashburton Guardian, Canterbury, New Zealand, 14 March 1919; see also Chrysler, White Slavery (Chicago: Alice Shellbarger Hall, 1911). Fu Manchu quote from Rohmer, The Mystery of Dr Fu Manchu (London: Methuen, 1913).

  Chinese accusation of British opium corruption, 1 May 1920, in British National Archives, File CO 873/301. Chinese imperial decree criticising Chinese governo
rs, 27 September 1910, in British National Archives, File FO 233/133, and Foreign Office report coming to similar conclusion in FO 881/8725.

  CHAPTER 4

  Russell Pasha quotes and details of life from his memoirs, Egyptian Service 1902–1946 (London: John Murray, 1949), Seth, Russell Pasha (London: William Kimber, 1966) and his obituary in The Times, 12 April 1954.

  Ministry of the Interior report on Cypriot drug dealers in Alexandria, 28 November 1928, in British National Archives, File FO 141/471/1, also contains case of Melissaratos and Loverdos, memorandum from Sir Malcolm Delevingne, 3 July 1928, and letter from Egypt’s supreme judge, Sir Wasey Sterry, 12 November 1928. Oriental Products Company smuggling case described in Cairo Residency Paper, 15 December 1928, British National Archives, File FO 141/471/2.

  CHAPTER 5

  Quotes from Anslinger and details of his life and career from Anslinger and Oursler, The Murderers – the Story of the Narcotics Gangs (London: Arthur Barker Ltd, 1962) and McWilliams, The Protectors – Harry J. Anslinger and the Federal Bureau of Narcotics 1930–1962 (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1990).

  Clash between British and Americans over opium smuggling from North Borneo to the Philippines described in several documents in the British National Archives, File CO 874/914, including letter from American chargé d’affaires to Lord Curzon; statement from US Secretary of War, 9 March 1921; letter from Sir J. West Ridgeway, Secretary of North Borneo Company, to Colonial Office, 13 April 1921; and letter from Governor of North Borneo, 9 April 1921.

  Tong description from Ashbury, The Gangs of New York (New York: Garden City Publishing, 1927). Canadian police reports on narcotics smuggling into Canada and US by Howe and Deleglise in early 1920s contained in British National Archives, File MEPO 3/425. FBI memorandum quoting Federal Bureau of Narcotics information on Diamond and Luciano visiting Germany in FBI files 39-2141 section 1. Reference to Del Grazio in ‘Seized in Germany on Narcotic Charge’, New York Times, 6 December 1931. For full details, see Newark, Lucky Luciano (St Martin’s Press: New York, 2010).

  CHAPTER 6

  Delevingne letter to Prince Charoon, 12 January 1927; Paskin’s letter to British North Borneo Company, 12 August 1927; Sir Edward Cook’s response, ‘Opium: Namazie and others’, 10 September 1927: all in British National Archives, File CO 129/502/9. Clementi’s telegram, outlining Hong Kong experiment, 12 December 1927; Cabinet meeting notes and Delevingne memorandum opposing Hong Kong Governor, 22 November 1927; Paskin notes on ‘loophole’, 11 October 1927: all in British National Archives, File CO 129/506/3. Delevingne and Clementi notes on opium to Macao in British National Archives, File CO 129/502/10.

  Clementi-Smith and Chinese Secret Society details in ‘Death of Sir Cecil Clementi-Smith’, The Times, 7 February 1916; ‘Secret Societies in the Malay Peninsula’, The Times, 28 July 1909; ‘Chinese Secret Societies’, The Times, 24 May 1889 and The Times, 11 June 1888; ‘Secret Societies in Sarawak’, Straits Times, 17 August 1889; and mention of Triads in The Times, 24 September 1889.

  CHAPTER 7

  Maurice Springfield quotes come from his privately published memoirs, Hunting Opium and Other Scents (Halesworth: Norfolk & Suffolk Publicity, 1966). Howard Humphrey case details, including his letter of 31 January 1923 to Chin See Mei in Osaka, Japan, and a Metropolitan Police CID report of 26 March 1923, are contained in British National Archives, File MEPO 3/1044; see also report in London Pall Mall Gazette, 15 March 1923. For an excellent recent study of the Shanghai Municipal Police, see Bickers, Empire Made Me (London: Allen Lane, 2003).

  Report on prostitutes and other vice contained in ‘Memorandum on moral situation which confronted Shanghai Defence Force during period of February–April 1927’ in British National Archives, File WO 32/2526. Early pornographic film description from Lee, The Underworld of the East (London: Sampson Low & Co., 1935). Reference to illicit drugs stored in French Concession in Shanghai Intelligence report April–September 1926, prepared in British Consulate-General, in British National Archives, File FO 228/3291. ‘Great World’ quotes from Sternberg, Fun in a Chinese Laundry (London: Secker & Warburg, 1965).

  Details of life of Fairbairn in Robins, Gentleman & Warrior (Harlow: CQB Publications, 2005). Fairbairn quotes from Shanghai Municipal Police, Manual of Self-Defence (Shanghai: Chinese Publishing & Printing, 1915) and Fairbairn and Sykes, Shooting to Live with the One-Hand Gun (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1942). Secret General Staff Intelligence report, Shanghai, entitled ‘Chinese Secret Societies and Political Organisations’, 18 March 1937, in British National Archives, File WO 106/5375. Description of Du from Auden and Isherwood, Journey to a War (New York: Random House, 1939). See also Martin, The Shanghai Green Gang (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996) and Fenby, Generalissimo (London: The Free Press, 2003).

  CHAPTER 8

  Accounts of assaults on Shanghai Municipal Police by Japanese in British National Archives, File FO 371/22075. Letter from Consulate-General, Mukden, 27 January 1939, describing Japanese drug smuggling in British National Archives, File FO 371/23584. Russell Pasha quotes on Japanese from his Egyptian Service 1902–1946 (London: John Murray, 1949). Quotes from Miner Searle Bates and American Consul on Japanese opium dealing in China from Brackman, The Other Nuremberg (London: Collins, 1989). Letter from British Egg Packing & Cold Storage Co., Shanghai, 24 October 1939, in British National Archives, File FO 371/24662; see also ‘Shipments Said “Hijacked” by Japanese Firm’, China Press, 28 October 1939.

  Account of SMP clashes with Japanese police in ‘Shanghai Despatch’, 7 November 1939, and assassinations in Shanghai, ‘Shanghai Summary’, 28 July 1941, British National Archives, File WO 208/246A. Harbin report on Chinese bandits/partisan raid on Noho, 28 November 1939, British National Archives, File FO 371/24697. Kedrolivansky case contained in secret memorandum, 28 May 1948, British National Archives, File KV2/2306. Shanghai intelligence report on crime and gambling in Shanghai, October 1940 – March 1941, British National Archives, File WO 208/246B. Fairbairn knife quote in his Get Tough! (Boulder: Paladin Press, 1974 [originally c.1942]). Details of Inspector Hutton’s torture and death in statement given by E.H. Aiers, personal assistant to the Commissioner of Police, Shanghai, to Major Stephen, Royal Marines, 2 October 1945, and other documents in British National Archives, File WO 325/58.

  Chinese gangs as part of anti-Japanese resistance in Malaya described in SOE Force 136 Memorandum, 14 August 1945, File WO 203/2545, and ‘Kuomintang Guerrillas in Malaya’, 18 June 1945, plus ‘Communist Guerrillas in North Malaya’ intelligence report, 23 July 1945, File WO 203/5553, both British National Archives. Information on Peter Dobree from his obituary in The Times, 19 November 2004. For an account of Force 136 and British wartime behind-the-lines activities, see Trenowden, Operations Most Secret (Manchester: Crecy Books, 1994).

  CHAPTER 9

  Gangoo’s story is told in the anonymously authored She Wasn’t Ashamed: Autobiography of an Indian Prostitute (Lahore: International Publishers, 1942). See also Banerjee, Dangerous Outcast (Calcutta: Seagull Books, 1998) and Peers, D.M., ‘Imperial vice: sex, drink and the health of British troops in North Indian cantonments, 1800–1858’ in Killingray, D. and Omissi, D. Guardians of Empire (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999).

  Government report on prostitution in India and Burma in ‘Extent, Distribution and Regulation of the “Social Evil’ in the Cities of Calcutta, Madras, Bombay and in Rangoon Town’ by E.C.S. Shuttleworth, District Superintendent of Police, Rangoon, November 1919, in British National Archives, File HO 291/122. Lieutenant Colonel Osmond’s letter to War Office, 6 November 1941, with supporting extract from letter describing prostitution in Singapore, in British National Archives, File CO 273/667/13. Report on enforced prostitution by Japanese Navy in Western Borneo by Captain J.N. Heijbroek, Dutch Intelligence Officer, 5 July 1946, in British National Archives, File WO 325/170.

  CHAPTER 10

  Accounts of Ang Bin Hoey in ‘General Review of the International Situation i
n Malaya’, HQ Malaya Command, Weekly Intelligence Review No. 27, based on information received up to 10 May 1946; telegram about attack on informant’s family, based on police report, 17 January 1947; ‘Secret Report on Triad, Ang Bin Hoey and Kuomintang in Malaya’, 22 January 1947, all in British National Archives, File CO 537/2139. See also ‘Chinese Gangsters in Malaya’, The Times, 15 September 1947 and Comber, The Triads (Singapore: Talisman Publishing & Singapore Heritage Society, 2009).

  Chin Peng quotes are from his memoirs in Ward, My Side of History (Singapore: Media Masters Pte Ltd, 2003). For story of Lai Te, see also Comber, Malaya’s Secret Police 1945–60 (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2008) and Mackay, The Malayan Emergency 1948–60 (London: Brassey’s, 1997). Onraet quotes from his memoirs, Singapore – A Police Background (London: Dorothy Crisp & Co., 1947); see also his obituary, The Times, 10 May 1952. Federation of Malaya Police quote in report of October 1957, includes also description of ranks inside Ang Bin Hoey, now in British National Archives, File FO 370/2504.

  CHAPTER 11

  Jack Morton quotes from his lecture ‘The Co-ordination of Intelligence in the Malayan Emergency’, copy in British National Archives, File KV4/408. Young’s publicity gaff covered in a series of telegrams, 31 January – 1 February 1952, in British National Archives, File CO 1022/105. Physical description of Young quoted in Comber, Malaya’s Secret Police 1945–60 (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2008).

  Reports of attacks on communist agent and Chinese detective from Special Branch Pan-Malayan Review of Security Intelligence, January 1953, in British National Archives, File CO 1022/210. Secret signals used in resettlement camps recorded in Malayan CID Secret Abstract of Intelligence for the period 16–31 January 1952, and captured MCP document on terrorism in Secret Abstract for 1–15 December 1951, both in British National Archives, File CO 1022/202.