View source for Sun Yee On

{{Short description|Triad (organized crime syndicate)}}
{{EngvarB|date=February 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2016}}
{{Infobox criminal organization
| name = Sun Yee On
| image = 
| image_size = 175px
| caption = 
| founded = {{start date and age|1919}}
| founding_location = [[British Hong Kong]]
| years_active = 1919–present
| territory = [[潮汕地區]] [[Chaozhou]], [[Mainland China]], [[Hong Kong]], [[Mainland China]], Japan, France, South Africa, United Kingdom, India, Thailand, Korea, Colombia, Canada, United States, Australia, [[Central America]]
| ethnicity = Chinese
| membership = 25,000<ref name = "Lantern">{{cite web
| url = http://www.illuminatedlantern.com/cinema/archives/triads.php
| title = Illuminated Lantern
| access-date = 28 May 2006
| archive-date = 18 April 2012
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120418114933/http://www.illuminatedlantern.com/cinema/archives/triads.php
| url-status = dead
}}</ref>
| activities = [[racketeering]], [[counterfeiting]], [[extortion]], [[drug trafficking]], [[money laundering]], [[murder]], [[illegal gambling]]
| allies = [[Wo Hop To]], [[Wo On Lok]], [[Albanian mafia]], [[Camorra]], [[Serbian mafia]], [[American Mafia]], [[Sinaloa Cartel]]
| rivals = [[14K Triad|14K]], [[Wah Ching]], [[Wo Shing Wo]]
}}
{{Chinese|t=新義安|s=新义安|p=Xīnyì'ān|j=san1 ji6 on1|y=sàn yih òn|vie=Tân Nghĩa An}}
'''Sun Yee On''' ({{lang-zh|t=新義安|j=san{{sup|1}} ji{{sup|6}} on{{sup|1}}|cy=sān yih ōn}}), or the '''New Righteousness and Peace Commercial and Industrial Guild''', is one of the leading [[Triad (organized crime)|triads]]<ref name = "Asiaweek">{{cite web
| last = Davies
| first = Anthony
| date = 25 August 1995
| url = http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/95/0825/feat1.html
| title = Asia Week
| access-date =28 May 2006}}</ref> in Hong Kong and China. It has more than 25,000 members worldwide.<ref name = "Lantern"></ref>
It is also believed to be active in the UK, the United States, France, and Belgium.<ref name = "Lantern"/><ref name = "Transnational">{{cite web
| url = http://www.transcomm.ox.ac.uk/traces/iss2pg1.htm
| title = Transnational Communities Programme
| access-date = 28 May 2006
| archive-date = 8 March 2012
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120308025407/http://www.transcomm.ox.ac.uk/traces/iss2pg1.htm
| url-status = dead
}}</ref>

== History ==
[[File:Sun Yee On Triad (2018 - updated).png|thumb|300px|Map of countries with branches or operations of Sun Yee On reported by law enforcement or in the news.]]
Sun Yee On was founded by {{ill|Heung Chin|zh|向前}}, originally from [[Chaozhou|Teochew]] (Chaozhou), in 1919.<ref name="Dannen">
{{cite magazine
 |last        = Dannen
 |first       = Fredric
 |date        = July 1997
 |url         = http://www.copi.com/articles/triads2.html
 |title       = Partners in Crime: Part 2
 |magazine    = The New Republic
 |access-date = 28 May 2006
 |url-status  = dead
 |archive-url = https://archive.today/20130215182401/http://www.copi.com/articles/triads2.html
 |archive-date = 15 February 2013
 |df          = dmy-all
}}</ref> ''Yee On'' ({{lang-zh|t=義安|j=ji{{sup|6}} on{{sup|1}}|cy=yih ōn}}) is a historical name for [[Chaozhou]]. Mainly through ethnic Chinese diaspora, it is thought to extend to the United States, Canada, Thailand, Australia, South Africa and Central America.<ref>Shanty, Frank; Mishra, Patit Paban [https://books.google.com/books?id=-L8B8ydtHZ4C&dq=%22sun+yee+on%22&pg=PA465 ''Organized crime: from trafficking to terrorism''], pg xvi, Volume 2. {{ISBN|1576073378}} ABC-CLIO (24 September 2007)
</ref> Chin was deported to Taiwan in the early 1950s.<ref name = "Dannen"/> His eldest son, Heung Wah-yim, who ostensibly worked as a law clerk, allegedly took over Sun Yee On in his place.<ref name = "Dannen"/> The triad is also noted as being founded by "[[Teochew people|Teochew]] and [[Hoklo people|Hokkien]] immigrants" to Hong Kong.<ref>[https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1157245/bitter-power-struggle-election-looms-wo-lok-triad Bitter power struggle as election looms for Wo On Lok triad], SCMP, 24 February 2013</ref>

=== 1980s spill ===
In February 1986, a former Hong Kong police officer, Anthony Chung, who had become a member of Sun Yee On, asked the police for protection.<ref name = "Dannen"/> He identified Heung Wah-yim as the leader of the triad, and this led to the police arresting eleven members of the Triad on 1 April 1987.<ref name = "Dannen"/> Whilst searching Heung Wah-yim's law office, they found a list of 900 numbered names, which appeared to be a membership list of Sun Yee On.<ref name = "Dannen"/> In October, Heung Wah-yim was brought to trial, along with five accomplices who all pleaded guilty.<ref name = "Dannen"/> Heung Wah-yim professed his innocence throughout the trial, claiming to be the president of a local chapter of the [[Lions Club]] and that the list found in his office consisted of potential donors.<ref name = "Dannen"/> Chung and another former member were the main prosecution witnesses.  On 20 January 1988, the jury found five of the defendants guilty, including Heung Wah-yim who was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, acquitting the sixth.<ref name = "Dannen"/>

=== 2000s ===
The triad operates several [[prostitution|vice establishments]] in [[Tsim Sha Tsui]] and [[Yau Ma Tei]], or at least did in November 2010 when a 29-year-old alleged office-bearer or "red pole" of the triad, named "Sai B" Chan, was arrested for vice offences and [[money laundering]].<ref>[http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=11&art_id=105182&sid=30384031&con_type=1&d_str=20101122&fc=1 "'Guru of brothels' busted on $380m laundering rap"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125214155/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=11&art_id=105182&sid=30384031&con_type=1&d_str=20101122&fc=1 |date=25 November 2010 }}, ''The Standard'', 22 November 2010</ref>

Lee Tai-lung ({{zh|t=李泰龍|labels=no}}), a Sun Yee On boss in Tsim Sha Tsui, was murdered in front of the Kowloon Shangri-La hotel on 4 August 2009 by members of the [[Wo Shing Wo]] gang. It was supposedly a revenge attack ordered by Leung Kwok-chung, a senior member of a Wo Shing Wo crew in [[Tai Kok Tsui]] who was injured by Lee during a bar fight in July 2006 in Prat Avenue.<ref>Lee, Diana (13 January 2011). [http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=4&art_id=106993&sid=30899729&con_type=1&d_str=20110113&fc=7 "Brutal slaying seen as triad revenge"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021064852/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=4&art_id=106993&sid=30899729&con_type=1&d_str=20110113&fc=7 |date=21 October 2013 }}. ''The Standard''.</ref><ref name=scmp20120119clifford/> Following Lee's death, three of his former followers stepped in to defend his lucrative entertainment empire from other triads. In 2011(?), Lee's three followers were tracked by "Ko Tat", another "red pole" in [[Wan Chai]], who failed to spread his influence across the harbour. Tai Hau, leader of another Sun Yee On faction active in [[Tuen Mun]], tried to encroach upon Lee's West Kowloon and Tsim Sha Tsui operations. His attempts were thwarted by an undercover police operation, as a result of which 222 people were arrested in January 2012. The [[Hong Kong Police Force#Crime Wing|Organised Crime and Triad Bureau]] suspects that "Ko Chun" may be the latest kingpin of Lee's original turf.<ref name=scmp20120119clifford>Lo, Clifford; Cheung, Simpson (19 January 2012). "Forget blood, it's all about the money", ''South China Morning Post''</ref>

On 22 March 2012, police arrested 102 members of Sun Yee On in [[Shenzhen]], China.<ref>[http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20120328000034&cid=1103 100 members of Hong Kong triad arrested in Shenzhen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141228211427/http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20120328000034&cid=1103 |date=28 December 2014 }}, ''wantchinatimes''</ref>

== In popular culture ==
* In the [[anime]] adaptation of ''[[Black Lagoon]]'', the [[Thailand|Thai]] branch of Sun Yee On, led by a man named Wan, is based in the fictional city of Roanapur and competes with the other organized crime syndicates in the city like the [[14K (triad)|14K]].
* The 2012 video game ''[[Sleeping Dogs (video game)|Sleeping Dogs]]'' focuses on Wei Shen, an undercover police officer transferred from [[San Francisco]] to [[Hong Kong]] and the [[Hong Kong Police Force|HKPF]] as part of a joint operation to infiltrate the "Sun On Yee", inspired by the Sun Yee On, and eliminate or incarcerate their most powerful members.

==See also==
* [[Charles Heung]] and [[Jimmy Heung]] are Heung Chin's other sons and involved in activities outside of Sun Yee On.

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{Organized crime groups in Asia}}
{{Organized crime groups in the United States}}

[[Category:Organized crime groups in China]]
[[Category:Organised crime groups in Hong Kong]]
[[Category:Triad groups]]
[[Category:Gangs in Belgium]]
[[Category:Gangs in England]]
[[Category:Gangs in France]]
[[Category:Gangs in South Africa]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1919]]
[[Category:Philippine drug war]]
[[Category:Chaozhou]]
[[Category:Gangs in South Korea]]
[[Category:Organised crime groups in South Africa]]