Police have charged 19-year-old Chen Ming-teh (3祟?w) and four other students with hooliganism, assault and murder for their involvement in the gang battle in Tienmu on early Saturday morning that left 19-year-old Lu Ling-wei (呂-滶? dead and two other students critically wounded.
Police invoked the Anti-Hooligan Law (2梒揖Кo條例) in filing charges against the gang members, and are continuing with their search for a man called "Hsiao Kao" (?p高), reportedly the leader of the Tienmu Branch of the Bamboo Union and believed to be connected to Saturday's violence.
Investigations into the Tienmu gang battle have revealed a long-standing and strikingly violent feud between the two groups of youths.
The rivalry was played out last year through what is known as "plantings" (種?H) in gang-speech. A "planting" is when one gang captures and beats a rival gang member unconscious and buries him up to his head in a secluded mountain area. Gang members then urinate on the head of their victim, "watering" the "seedling." A call to rival gangs informs them of the location of their humiliated fellow member.
Both gangs fought turf wars in Tienmu this past year, during which a network of henchmen (?p弟) would keep a lookout for rival gang members and organize a group to "plant" any intruders found.
The already violent situation intensified last year when Chen joined the Tienmu Branch of the Bamboo Union and quickly became a leading bodyguard (
Tensions escalated to the point that Chen Ming-teh (
The recent gentrification of Tienmu over the past few years has attracted Bamboo Union gang members to the numerous pubs and pool halls in the neighborhood.
The arrest of a gang leader last year cleared out the old organized crime forces in the area.
With a power vacuum and different gangs currently vying for control of the wealthy Tienmu area, police say this violence is "just the tip of the iceberg."
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