Controversy as Taiwan's Bamboo Union Triad Expected to Vote for New Boss

TaiwanPlus News

One of Taiwan's biggest gangs, the Bamboo Union, is expected to choose a new leader after its last boss died in February. Police are on alert, but there's political fallout too after the gang's senior members, including the infamous "White Wolf" Chang An-lo, planned to meet at a restaurant in the Legislative Yuan.

Transcript

00:00Tension builds outside the headquarters of the Chinese Unification Promotion Party.

00:06Dozens of police stand guard as news cameras roll.

00:09All are wondering the same thing.

00:11Will party leader and organized crime figure White Wolf show up?

00:24With his support for Taiwan's unification with China and his underworld ties,

00:29White Wolf, real name Zhang Anle, is used to the attention.

00:33He's known for his high rank in one of Taiwan's biggest gangs, the Bamboo Union,

00:37and for his ten-year stint in a U.S. prison for drug smuggling.

00:41But there's a new controversy around him and his associates

00:44that has powerful people trading accusations and police across greater Taipei on alert.

00:50Exactly what happened is unclear,

00:52but the rumor is that White Wolf and other bosses in his triad

00:55met Tuesday to vote for a new leader after their chief boss's death in February.

01:00The original venue, a restaurant inside the legislature.

01:04White Wolf himself says the gathering was for some old friends catching up,

01:08none of the rumored gang business.

01:17The government abruptly shut the restaurant down for the day, forcing a change in location.

01:22But just the idea of a gang choosing its next leader inside the halls of power has caused an uproar.

01:28Some in the Democratic Progressive Party have accused Speaker Han Kuo-yu of enabling organized crime.

01:34But some in Han's party, the Kuomintang, say the restaurant is open to all.

01:39As that argument plays out, the questions become when and where the gang's election might take place.

01:44Police have spread out.

01:46But supposed plans have come out only to be canceled more than once.

01:50So far, White Wolf has been silent.

01:52And the reporters gathered outside the headquarters of his pro-China party,

01:56hoping for answers, left disappointed.

02:08Police say they're still ready to pounce whenever the gang does hold a vote.

02:21But organized crime runs deep in Taiwan.

02:24In the roughly 70-year-old Bamboo Union Gang, police face a persistent opponent.

02:30Andy Xue and John Ventriest for Taiwan Plus.

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