It was the 50 seconds of 'intense violence' that saw a bloody gang feud between rival factions of 'Triads' explode on the streets of Manchester's Chinatown. When the dust had settled six men were seriously injured, with two left fighting for their lives in intensive care.
The ferocious 30-man battle was sparked by a stand-off in the K2 karaoke bar on George Street in the early hours of October 16, 2010. And it helped shine a light on the shadowy underworld of Chinese organised crime and its influence in Manchester.
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The Triads have been described as one of the world's biggest and most feared organised crime networks. They have their roots in secret societies formed to overthrow the Qing Dynasty in the 1760s.
But, by the 20th Century, they had grown into a global criminal syndicate. They are known to be involved in people smuggling, prostitution, drugs, counterfeiting, extortion, kidnapping, loan sharking and gambling.
But the highly secretive and closed nature of the Triads means it's difficult to establish the full extent of their wrongdoing. And it also means, in the UK at least, that the various factions have a much lower profile than other organised crime groups.
Occasionally however the Triads do hit the headlines. In 2013 police launched an appeal after a Triad gang member went missing from Clayton.
It came after police received several calls from an anonymous man on a poor line, saying he was near Aldi on Hyde Road and that he was in danger. Speaking at the time Supt Alex Millett from the Serious Organised Crime Group said: "[The missing man] is part of a well-known Triad group and we are aware that he has been involved in criminality in the area. However, this does not change the fact that he has disappeared and we are concerned for his welfare."
And, in 1996 four Triad gangsters from Greater Manchester were jailed for life for the cold-blooded execution of a Chinese student. Eddie Hui, 28, was gunned down while working in his uncle's chip shop in Glossop.
A court heard he was targeted after he beat up one of the gang. A 2012 study by former GMP Detective Superintendent turned criminology lecturer Jack Dees gave an indication of the Triads' influence in Manchester.
It detailed how in October 2004 a young man was found dead in Chinatown, in a killing later dubbed the 'DVD murder'.
It was said the victim was a Triad member who had travelled to Manchester for a pre-arranged fight, before being ambushed by another gang. Police raids carried out as part of the investigation later uncovered thousands of DVDs, some still in packaging bearing Chinese postal marks.
Mr Dees' study concluded that Chinese organised crime was 'durable, flexible, well resourced and well established... and a major threat to the UK economy and human rights'.
Around the time of the George Street brawl there were said to be two major Triad groups operating in Manchester - Wo Shing Wo, the largest faction in the UK, and the rival 14K, mainly based out of Liverpool. It was said that the Wo Shing Wo bullied and pressurised young men who socialised in Chinatown into paying to join their ranks.
But when one group, who police suspected may have been linked to the 14K, refused, violence erupted. A trial at Manchester Crown Court heard that as the brawl spilled out onto the road outside the karaoke bar, the alleged leader of the Wo Shing Wo shouted 'I've run the streets of Manchester for over 10 years – who do you think you are?'
Grainy CCTV footage shows the two groups squaring off on the pavement. The brawl that followed lasted just 50 seconds, but during that time members of the two groups kicked and punched and charged at one another in the path of moving traffic, six men were stabbed or slashed, one was attacked with a crook-lock, and another was hit a 'glancing blow' by a 4x4.
One of the men knifed in the battle was treated in a high dependency unit, another suffered internal bleeding and was left critically ill.
Opening the case Rick Holland, prosecuting, said: "Chinatown is rightly regarded as a flourishing asset to this city – however some little time ago it was the venue for a pitched battle between two groups of men who engaged in a short-lived but ferocious episode of violence that left six seriously injured."
Four men from Greater Manchester were later jailed after being found guilty of violent disorder. They fought on the Wo Shing Wo side of the brawl, but denied being Triads.
A restaurant worker from Merseyside, who claimed he and his pals were being bullied by the Wo Shing Wo, was convicted of violent disorder and possessing a bladed article in the same trial and also jailed.
Sentencing the men, Judge Andrew Blake said: "Quite what it was all about perhaps only those involved truly know. It may have been an old-fashioned turf war; it may have been a generational thing; or it may have been an eruption of anger by the old guard against those who proved unsusceptible to attempts to recruit them."
While the true nature and influence of Manchester's factions is shrouded in uncertainty, organised crime groups identifying as Triads remain a formidable influence in organised crime globally.
The Hong Kong faction of the Wo Shing Wo is reputed to have thousands of members.
The 2020 Euros saw international law enforcement agencies, in 28 countries including the UK, cracking down on Triad income streams, with Hong Kong-based suspects alleged to be at the heart of cross-border, illegal activity around sports betting.
Interpol said: "While most of us were watching the UEFA European Football Championship as simple fans, hundreds of specialized officers across 28 countries were targeting organized crime groups looking to earn millions from illegal gambling and related money laundering activities.
"INTERPOL’s Operation SOGA VIII (short for soccer gambling) led to thousands of raids and the arrest of some 1,400 suspects across Asia and Europe. Authorities seized USD 7.9 million in cash, as well as computers and mobile phones connected to nearly USD 465 million in bets.
"Hong Kong Police detained more than 800 suspects, including the alleged kingpin of a triad-controlled bookmaking syndicate, seizing nearly USD 2.7 million in cash and records detailing hundreds of millions in bets, making it one of their most successful operations against illegal gambling ever."
Speaking of that operation, Wong Wai, Head of Hong Kong Police’s Organized Crime and Triad Bureau and Chairman of INTERPOL’s Asia-Pacific Expert Group on Organized Crime, said: “Our collective experience helped us anticipate links between betting syndicates and their illegal counterparts during Euro 2020. This, ultimately, led us to organized crime groups acting on a global scale and generating huge profits."
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