1. Organized Crime

Wo Hop To

Formed in 1884 as a workers’ union, the Wo Hop To expanded dramatically during the Canton–Hong Kong strike (1925-6). The Wo Hop To was more like a federation of various tiny tongs separated by their ancestral origins, but was slightly centralized following a pact in 1909. Eventually, internal strife caused the splitting off of two of its more prominent tongs: Wo Shing Wo and Wo On Lok.
Wo Shing Wo then grew to overshadow its former overlord, becoming one of the largest organization in Hong Kong. Its members were mostly Hakka.

Wo On Lok, also called Shui Fong (“Water Room”) due to the fact that they were originally an union for workers of the now defunct Connaught Aerated Water Company, split off in 1934. Most of its original members were from Sze Yup, Guangdong. Because of its origins, they dominated the restaurant/dining businesses of Hong Kong. During the interwar they were the predominant gang of Hong Kong. Their leader was a person named Wan Gwai (溫貴, active in c. 1921).

During the Japanese invasion (1941), groups of gangsters called “Victory Boys” would extort, rob and rape during the wartime chaos. They were so named because they would lure the barricaded civilians out by announcing that the Japanese was defeated. They were organized by Japanese agent Sakata Makoto (坂田誠盛), who headed the "Honkon Kikan" (香港機関, "Hong Kong Agency") under the alias Tanaka (田誠). The "Victory Boys" was codenamed Yu-Gumi (佑組) and organised with the help of the Hongmen chief Lok Po-shan (駱寶山). Rarely were the true affiliations of the Victory Boys noted in publications, because the Wo triads were still very active in Hong Kong. But it was heavily implied by scholarly publications that they were behind the atrocities. Nonetheless, during the Japanese occupation, many of these Victory Boys were purged by the Japanese themselves.

14K

The 14K was originally the “Southwest Hongmen” formed as a pro-Japan gang led by collaborationists in the Reformed Government such as Guangdong Construction Department Deputy Li Yinnan (廣東建設廳長 李蔭南), Guangdong Commissioner of Police Guo Weimin (廣東省政府警務處長 郭衛民) and Panyu District Magistrate Feng Pichiao (番禺縣長 馮壁峭). They took part in petty extortion and espionage.

Collaborationists were named by KMT Admiral Chan Chak in a conspiracy to massacre Europeans during the Japanese invasion, though the name of the organization was not explicitly named. This group was codenamed Ama-Gumi (天組) and was likewise organised by Sakata  and Lok. The incident was as follows:

By December 11, Kowloon has fallen and the British forces had retreated to the Hong Kong Island. Collaborationist gangs, encouraged by disgruntled, defeatist policemen, declared that they would begin killing all European residents of the island. The police force then raised HKD$20,000 and attempted to negotiate with the triad through Chan Chak (at the time stationed in Hong Kong as a KMT intelligence agent). The police force, Chan, KMT agents and Green Gang representative Chang Tzulien (張子廉) met up with the triad forces and bribed them into submission. While this incident was publicized post-war, the details were not made known, as this was deemed a humiliating submission by the British authority to petty gangsters.

After the war, the Southwest Hongmen was taken over by KMT agent Got Siu Wong (葛肇煌) under instructions from the Juntong. It was renamed 14K. Got’s sons continue to run the organization today.

Yee On

Formed in 1866, Yee On became a workers’ union in 1921 under the leadership of Heung Chin (向前). Its members were mostly from Teochew and Shanwei. After the war, Yee On pledged alliance to KMT and Heung was made a major general. When the union was forcefully disbanded by the government in 1947, it went underground and renamed itself Sun (“New”) Yee On. Today it is the largest criminal organization in Hong Kong, and the descendants of Heung Chin permeates the entertainment industry. The China Star Entertainment Group was owned by the Heung family, and the company made a multitude of acclaimed gangster movies.

2. Opium Traders

Robert Hotung
Sir Robert Hotung Bosman was a Dutch-Jewish-Chinese businessman. While he became rich from trading, real estate, insurance and opium smuggling, he became a philanthropist in the latter part of his life. He also funded the Xinhai Revolution. By the 1930s he was one of the richest men in Hong Kong, enjoying his luxurious residence called “The Falls” and entertaining guests such as John Nance Garner, who visited him in 1935.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Robert_Hotung_John_Garner_in_1935.jpg

Lee Hysan
Unlike Hotung, Lee was primarily an opium trader, a business that he inherited from his father. In 1923, he sought to construct an opium refinery in Hong Kong but the plan was scrapped after opposition from the government. In 1928, he was caught in a legal battle with Pedro Lobo, Director of the Repartição Central dos Serviços Económicos in Macao, who attempted to undercut Lee’s profit in Macao. Lee won the legal battle, and two weeks later Lee was assassinated in Hong Kong. The killer was never identified, but many celebrated the death of the drug lord.