Abstract
The prominent Big Circle Boys (BCB) players, including Lee and the Chans, formed a dense and small BCB network that was exclusive. High elastic features of the resilient market were attributed to the intimate and repeat business partnerships among the BCB, where they shared social, financial, human, and drug resources. The ability to become an investor and/or an importer in heroin shipments was key to improving one’s network position. However, there are associated security risks and costs if it is not done the right way by continuing local wholesale distribution. Therefore, an increase in one’s brokerage value and discreetness (betweenness centrality) rather than dominance and influence (degree and eigenvector centralities) is necessary for moving safely upstream in heroin trafficking. The credit system among the BCB is examined. They also used competitive cooperation and tactics of spy via investment (in shipments) to gain a lead. These characteristics illustrated how ethnic homogeneity and network closure helped them succeed and keep the market afloat.
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Notes
- 1.
Although they were relatives, sometimes Lee still had to go through Yu Kwong’s underlings in business matters. Lee had many uncles in Vancouver who were not involved in the heroin trade (in the restaurant and supermarket businesses, for instance), but they handled money for Lee and were aware of its origin (SCBC 2001a: Nov 27, informant information from October 1997). Therefore, Lee’s extended family assisted him just as the family support the Chan brothers had. However, it appeared that Lee’s Canadian relatives were embedded within sectors of the licit and formal economy, whereas the Chans were not supported in the same way. On the contrary, the cloak of legitimate businesses was set up by the Chans deliberately to facilitate their criminal undertakings.
- 2.
Other sources also indicated that Yu Kwong was common to both Kwok Keung and Lee’s groups at the heroin exportation level, which meant that he supplied to both camps (SCBC 2001c: Dec 18, informant information from Jun 1999).
- 3.
The calculations of the network density of the 19 nodes with 59 dyads are as follows: 19 × (19−1) / 2 = 171, which is the maximum number of possible ties; 59 / 171 = 0.345 when converted into a percentage is 34.50%.
- 4.
The outliers are Chang Yat Kwok, Mok Siu Hung, Tang Yu Rang, and Yip Sing Lung, deemed as such since their activities bore no significance on the police investigations and they were only mentioned in passing. Nonetheless, as known BCB, they were included in the original sociogram which was meant to encompass all BCB whose names had been mentioned at least once in the police files.
- 5.
This worked similarly for heroin and ecstasy transactions when Ho was the local buyer, as he noted: ‘I would just be getting a source of goods from here, a supply from here, and then be selling here. So, I don’t need any capital. The thing is if there’s a supply available, then I would have to talk to him about how much period of credit he could give me and also the price. It was the same way as in heroin’ (SCBC 2002h: Oct 2).
- 6.
Competitive negotiation is an approach that treats the negotiation process as a ‘zero sum game,’ where one side’s gain is the other side’s loss. This usually occurs in one-off transactions that involve impersonal relationships.
- 7.
Ho goes on to explain the rationale behind the secretive nature of the drug business: ‘Because you wouldn’t know people in the market to talk about you or to have word get out that this batch is from a particular person. Because, as you know, in this circle, there are a lot of informants for the police’ (ibid.).
- 8.
Lee Sa was originally based in Toronto but he rented a house in Richmond, BC, in the late 1990s to distribute heroin locally there.
- 9.
Pang Lap San, who was related to Bao Kang, was in China at the time working with him on exporting heroin.
- 10.
Proceeds from the sale were transferred from the distributors back into the hands of Chi Keung. They preferred to conduct money exchanges in casinos in case they got stopped by the police, where they would use casino winnings as an excuse to explain cash possession.
- 11.
I1 convinced Vongvilay that his people (undercover officers) were capable of conducting large heroin deals in the US, and that they had connections in the US military who could provide safe importation channels into the US (PCBC 1994, Jun 8: 119).
- 12.
Ho likely organised this shipment in partnership with Lee, since the off-loaders that anticipated the arrival—Pang Chak Yan and Tsang Siu Wan—were Lee’s workers. However, the details of their shares and roles were unknown.
- 13.
After being deported in 1998, Yuan Chang smuggled himself back into Canada sometime in the early 2000s. He reappeared in Project Okapi where he worked with Ze Wai on ecstasy trafficking, to be discussed in Chap. 10.
- 14.
The theoretical implication of this network topological feature, according to Wood (2017), is that post-vertex removal (in this case the leader of the network which is Lee or the Chans), the portion of the criminal network that contains individuals with contrasting degree associations such as Vongvilay should become vulnerable and exposed. Although Vongvilay was also arrested as a result of the E-Congee investigation, this aspect of the network changes was not examined.
- 15.
Territorial arrangement was out of the question as territoriality was not required in high-level trafficking; the customer base also did not change readily in the absence of major disruptions or external influences.
- 16.
Kwok Keung would have had reliable indications on the quality of his batch as he had independent assessments coming from buyers who sampled them prior to making an offer. This was indicated in his November 24 conversation with Chi Hang (SCBC 2001c: Dec 18).
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Supreme Court of British Columbia (SCBC). (2002c, January 17). Her Majesty the Queen against See Chun Lee, Gou Din Ho, Wei Bo Chen, Chuk Fong Tao, Chak Nam Chan, Siu Wah Chau and Cheung Hung: Ruling re Authorization P5/99 on Voir Dire. Vancouver Registry: Docket CC010051.
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Supreme Court of British Columbia (SCBC). (2002e, March 1). Her Majesty the Queen against See Chun Lee, Gou Din Ho, Wei Bo Chen, Chuk Fong Tao, Chak Nam Chan, Siu Wah Chau and Cheung Hung: Publication Ban Pursuant to S. 648 of the Criminal Code (Ruling re Authorization P48/99). Vancouver Registry: Docket CC010051.
Supreme Court of British Columbia (SCBC). (2002f, September 20). Her Majesty the Queen against See Chun Lee, Chuk Fong Tao, Wei Bo Chen, Chak Nam Chan, Siu Wah Chau and Cheung Hung: Proceeding at Trial (Voir Dire). Vancouver Registry: Docket CC010051.
Supreme Court of British Columbia (SCBC). (2002g, September 23). Her Majesty the Queen against See Chun Lee, Chuk Fong Tao, Wei Bo Chen, Chak Nam Chan, Siu Wah Chau and Cheung Hung: Proceeding at Trial (Voir Dire). Vancouver Registry: Docket CC010051.
Supreme Court of British Columbia (SCBC). (2002h, October 2). Her Majesty the Queen against See Chun Lee, Chuk Fong Tao, Wei Bo Chen, Chak Nam Chan, Siu Wah Chau and Cheung Hung: Proceeding at Trial (Voir Dire). Vancouver Registry: Docket CC010051.
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Chung, A. (2019). Heroin 2: BCB Competitive Cooperation. In: Chinese Criminal Entrepreneurs in Canada, Volume II. Transnational Crime, Crime Control and Security. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05135-8_4
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