Matthew Cox

area, including, among others, to Tim Robles and John Ellenberger, two of the principal FBI and DEA targets in my L.A.

investigation.

Independently, during that same era, we had four Chinese triads operating in the greater L.A.

area.

The triad based down in Orange County was known as the 14K Triad.

For those of you unfamiliar with Los Angeles, Orange County is located in the bottom third of this map.

OC has always been home to a large Asian population, which, as you can see, is clustered in the cities of Westminster, Garden Grove, and Fountain Valley.

The leader of the office for the 14K in Los Angeles was a powerful Chinese gangster named Frank Ma.

Frank Ma.

I know that name.

His organization, known as Ma Gor, was based in Westminster.

Now, what's interesting about the 14K is that this was the first of the powerful Hong Kong-based triads to accept operatives from the mainland.

See, in China, proper, they really didn't have triads.

That's more of a Hong Kong phenomena.

But you did have organized crime groups.

And so in southern China, you had, based around the city of Guangzhou, the organization known as the Big Circle Boys.

And the Big Circle Boys was essentially the paramilitary arm of the Red Guard back in the Cultural Revolution.

And then when Mao realized, hey, these guys are getting too powerful, he crossed them, threw them in re-education camps.

Once they get released, they band together to form like a criminal confederacy, go around causing all kinds of mischief in southern China.

And whenever they're about to get charged, those that are able to do so, boom, slip into Hong Kong.