Taipei prosecutors indicted 36 alleged members of the notorious Four Seas gang (
Gang bosses Yang Kuang-nan (楊光南), Lien Cheng-yu (練成瑜) and Chou Hsing-hua (鄒興華) were among the names listed on the indictment list.
Prosecutors suspect the bosses helped gangsters run underground banks, futures markets and illegal casinos.
The gangsters were charged under the Organized Crime Prevention Act (
Prosecutors requested that the Taipei District Court sentence Yang and Lien to six years in prison while a five-year sentence was requested for Chou.
Prosecutors said the bosses were "clever gangsters" who live in luxurious residences around Taipei and associate with heads of companies and celebrities.
Prosecutors said the gangsters lent funds to white-collar individuals, but used violence to force them to pay back their debts.
Prosecutors said Lien is a low-profile gangster who worked behind the scenes.
He also said he was the main provider of funds for day-to-day operations.
Prosecutors said the indictments would deal a severe blow to organized crime.
Prosecutors said Lien is a shareholder in the local operator of US-based cable channel HBO.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
RSS