There is many misconceptions about most of the criminal
Groups in the world. What are the one that you know ?


For many, all the itialian groups are the Mafia:

-Mafia = criminal group from Sicily
- Cosa Nostra= american « mafia »
- Ndrangheta = criminal group from Calabria
- Camorra= criminal group from Naples
-Stidda= criminal group from Sicily

People think about the russian mafia:
- Should be called Bratva
- Vor y Zakone (thief in law) a specific criminal in the russian criminal world. Mostly like a made guy

People think all the chinese criminals are in the Triads

Triads: criminal groups from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan
-14K, Sun yee On, Bamboo Union, etc.

Mainland Chinese criminal groups or Chinese gangs:
-criminal groups from the mainland China but are not Triads. Many of those groups are very organized and worldwide just like the Triads.
- Big Circle gang

Chinese criminal group that started in the western world are called Tongs and not Triads.
- Many chinese that immigrate in the US and Canada started criminal societies to protect themself from racism.
Those groups are called Tongs and work most of like the Triads with some differences. Some Triads from China become member of Tongs societies in the US or Canada, or they join the Triads groups in America.
In Japan, not all japanese criminal groups are Yakuza.

-You have the emergence of some new groups called Hangure. They dont have all the strict rules of the Yakuza. They are what we could called organized street gangs.
- Bosozoku: japanese biker gangs

Crips and Bloods don’t bang the 6 and the 5.
With the emergence of Los Angeles and Chicago street gangs in many american states. The images of LA and Chicago started to get mixed in places like New York and the Southern states of the US.
Bloods and Crips are from Los Angeles and they bang the color Red and Blue. Only LA gang that rep the 5 is the Black P Stones.
Chicago gangs rep the 5point star for the People Nation and the 6 point star for the Folk Nation. In the past, most the gangs bang they own colors, but not its less common.

Bratva:
You could have in a Bratva group. A number of Vor y Zakone and the rest of the group are just criminal but are not Vor

Even if wikipedia call the big circle boys a triad. Many article are not calling them a triad:

From the website of the parliament of australia:

« The Big Circle Gang, which is sometimes referred to as a 'Mainland-based triad' is a relatively new group. This group initially consisted primarily of former Red Army Guards who left China for Hong Kong. Big Circle Gang members are particularly violent, specializing in armed robberies of jewelry stores in Hong Kong as well as in heroin trafficking. The Big Circle Gang is not technically a triad, but most Big Circle Gang members are also members of various triad societies. Johnny Kon, a former Big Circle associate and convicted heroin smuggler, testified that he helped organize a group of Big Circle Gang members into a tightly organized and disciplined group known as the Flaming Eagles which expanded from jewelry store robberies in Hong Kong to a world wide heroin distribution network. All of Kon's Big Circle associates were also members of other triads. »