The triads are an important, sophisticated and international criminal force, involved in protection, drugs, gambling, prostitution, human smuggling and other forms of organized crime. This book presents a systematic overview of the triads and their activities. It shows how, since the handover of Hong Kong to China, there have been increasing fears that the influence of the triads will spread to the West through emigration. This new edition builds on the first edition, which was published in 2000 and which covered the period up to 1997. The new edition updates the information to the present, and covers a number of additional areas of triad activity.