He Ain't a Heavy, He's My "Mosquito Brother"

[Mulboyne]

[floatr][/floatr]TaiwanNews: Sea of mobsters send off chief
The funeral for veteran Taiwanese mobster Hsu Hai-ching created serious traffic jams in Taipei yesterday as an estimated 10,000 people from different walks of life turned out to pay their last respects to the man better known as the "Mosquito Brother." Among the mourners to crowd around the Taipei First Municipal Funeral Home were organized crime figures from Hong Kong, Macau and Japan, local entertainers and city politicians...The overseas contingent included representatives from Japanese crime syndicates Yamaguchi-gumi and Sumiyosikai...Noguchi Matsuo, the leader of Sumiyosikai known to Hsu for over 30 years, told local reporters: "Although 'Mosquito Brother' looked quite small in appearance, he was an open-minded person. He was just like another father in Taiwan." Sumiyosikai [members]...includ[e] a number of Taiwanese who hail from Tainan in southern Taiwan. Because there have been long-standing feuds and hostilities between the gangs, Noguchi was tightly protected while he stayed in Taiwan. Local media reported that the gang leader was escorted by 30 bodyguards at all times, and he moved around between different rooms at night to keep his whereabouts a secret.
SBS: Gands Send Off Crime Boss
...Mr Hsu started his gang business in a Taipei market and built up links with political figures when he was elected as a deputy of the city council. For decades, he was involved in Taiwan's fruit exports to Japan and ran a range of businesses from hotels to nightclubs. With his seniority in the gang world, he reportedly gained respect by preventing many gang wars through personal intervention.

[Mulboyne]

I wonder whether this chap was allied with the yakuza:

China Post: Taiwan's Bamboo Union gang boss dies of cancer

The boss of Taiwan's largest gang who was convicted in a high-profile political murder plotted by a military intelligence chief in the 1980s has died of cancer in Hong Kong. Chen Chi-li, head of the Bamboo Union gang, died of pancreatic cancer at a Hong Kong hospital Thursday night at the age of 64, according the Central News Agency. Chen was convicted and given life by a Taiwan court for murdering Chinese-American writer Henry Liu in San Francisco in 1984. The court determined that Chen acted on the order from military intelligence chief of the time, Wang Hsi-ling, who wanted Liu dead because of a controversial biography he had written on then President Chiang Ching-kuo.

Wang recruited the gang boss and two of his lieutenants and gave them brief training for the assassination. Wang and Chen's lieutenants were also convicted. Chen hadn't served less than seven years in prison before he was released in 1991, after his sentence was twice commuted in line with two nationwide amnesty programs. But in 1996 he fled to Cambodia after he was accused of being involved in a scam, and had never returned.

Taipei's representative office would offer help to Chen's family to take his body back to Taiwan, according to the CNA. Media reports speculated that the Bamboo Union would hold a high-profile funeral for Chen in Taiwan. Police in Taiwan have formed a task force to monitor the possible impacts of Chen's death on the local gang world, said Kao Cheng-sheng, deputy director of the Criminal Investigation Bureau. The task force consists of officers from northern Taiwan where the Bamboo Gang is most active, the official said.

Here's an interesting comment from a Taiwanese gangster-turned-preacher:

Lu also taught himself English and Japanese because, in his words, "all professional hit men speak Japanese and English"

[kurohinge1]

. . . Noguchi Matsuo, the leader of Sumiyosikai known to Hsu for over 30 years, told local reporters: "Although 'Mosquito Brother' looked quite small in appearance, he was an open-minded person."

I'm sure the "vertically challenged" will appreciate that stereotype . . .