An alleged Bamboo Union (竹聯幫) gang boss who had escaped criminal prosecution for two decades returned to Taiwan yesterday, reportedly to see his ailing mother, and was taken into police custody upon arrival at the airport, before being taken to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning.
Polic allege Tang Shih-sheng (唐實生) headed the “Wind Chapter” (風堂) of the Bambo Union gang, which operated illegal businesses and extortion rackets in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山).
Tang was a prominent target of a major Taipei police crackdown on organized crime in 1995, but he fled and has lived most of the past 20 years in China.
At the time, he was charged with racketeering and other offenses stemming from his chapter’s alleged engagement in bid-rigging on construction projects, loan sharking, debt collecting and extortion.
Tang, now 58, had been placed on the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s list of wanted criminals who had fled the nation, and due to the charges of organized crime, the statute of limitations on his case will not run out until 2025.
Police said Tang retained his gangster connections and business links, investing in a major Taiwanese KTV chain franchise and expanding his business based in China, where Tang reportedly supplies alcohol beverages.
The KTV franchise had good connections with Chinese government officials, so it was profitable in China for the past two decades and Tang lived comfortably there. In the past few years, he had relocated to the Philippines to pursue other investments, police said.
Boarding a flight from the Philippines, Tang returned to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at about noon yesterday.
Tang allegedly contacted police in Taiwan two weeks ago to inform them that he wanted to return home to Taiwan because his ailing 90-year-old mother needed to be looked after, and agreed to face prosecution.
When he was transferred to the prosecutors’ office yesterday afternoon, Tang said he was innocent, and that the organized crime charges came only as a result of his reputation.
He was still being questioned as of press time last night.
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