"Tai Huen Chai" - The Great Circle Gang

     My introduction to Tai Huen Chai, the Great Circle Gang, also called the "Big Circle Gang" or "Great Circle Boys," took place in the early fall of 1986, about a week after I arrived in Paraguay.  An Asuncion newspaper had on its front page a large, grisly color photograph of a  naked, bullet riddled and blood splattered corpse of a Chinese man.  The headlines read that a gambling disagreement between chinos (Chinese) ended in a bloody shootout at a popular steam bath house.  The article went on to explain that chinos were incorrigible gamblers and were often given to disagreements amongst themselves which resulted in violence. The article had a condescending tone, suggesting that Chinese lacked self control and were often given to violence. There was no mention of the fact that the shooting involved gang members.  Having some knowledge of Chinese, I knew that Chinese did not go around shooting each other over gambling disputes!  So I knew there were gangs involved, just didn't know which gang.
     A few weeks later I ran into a Consul from the Nationalist Chinese Embassy (Taiwan) in Asuncion.  Paraguay under Alfredo Stroessner was a very anti-communist country.  This was a legacy of the White Russians who fought for Paraguay during Chaco War who were all fervent anti communists and naturally passed on their mind set to Paraguayans.  So, Paraguay was one of the few countries in the world that had a Nationalist Chinese Embassy as well as South African Embassy during apartheid.  There was no PRC or Soviet Embassy, nor any other communist bloc embassy!
     The Taiwan Consul, whose name was Joseph, was a very friendly sort, mostly educated in the United States, so I could have easily mistaken him for a Chinese-American, especially with a Christian first name!  We became pretty good friends, and during one of our conversations, I mentioned to him about the shooting a few months earlier and that I was surprised that there was no mention of any gangs.  He seemed surprised that I didn't know that gangs were involved.  He told me that the shooting was the work of the "Great Circle Gang" which was moving in on the local Triad.  The victim of the shooting was the head of the local Triad which the Great Circle Gang decided to remove, literally!  That was the first time that I had heard the name Great Circle Gang.
     When I asked around the different offices in our embassy, no one seemed to know anything about the Chinese gang activities.  In fact, no one even seemed to know that there was a Triad in Paraguay!
     Joseph was more surprised than I was that we had no information on the Triad.  He asked me if I wanted information on the Great Circle Gang and I told him that I was very much interested in learning about this criminal organization.  He proceeded to give me information, went through the trouble of translating some of their files into English and passed them on to me.  He said that their embassy was very much interested in keeping an eye on the Triad because aside from being just a criminal gang, it was also an ultra-left wing communist organization that had its leadership made up of former Red Guards!  He said that they were even too extreme for the PRC government!
     Joseph gave me documentation and all the background information on the Great Circle Gang.  He said that their main goal was to spread their activities throughout South America and into North America.  They were especially interested in narco-trafficking and human smuggling.  They had ties with a minor Triad in the Fujien Province in China and wanted to establish a pipeline of human smuggling into the United States.  They were already involved in human trafficking as well as narcotics which they were sending up to the U.S. in various interesting ways.
     The Great Circle Gang was still primarily headquartered in Hong Kong.  But they were spreading fast.  Their first foray into South America was by way of Sao Paolo in Brazil.  Sao Paolo has one of the largest Asian populations in South America, so the Triad felt that it could easily blend in and start their operations.  What they didn't realize was that Sao Paolo's Asian population was predominantly Japanese!  The Japanese Yakuza was already established there so they didn't appreciate the Triad trying to move in on them.  After some bloody clashes with the Yakuza, the Triad decided to leave Brazil and move to Paraguay, that was in the early 1980s.  By mid 1980s, they were well established.  They had bought their way solidly into Paraguay.  Everyone from the president down to some low level bureaucrats were all in their pockets.  The most notable Paraguayan official "owned" by the Triad was Sabino Montanaro, the Minister of Interior of Paraguay!  Considering Paraguay's avowed hatred for communists, it is interesting that they were willing to accept the Triad that was known to have communist leadership, but perhaps they didn't know.  I didn't know until my friend Joseph told me and showed me documentation!
     So, the Great Circle Gang became firmly entrenched in Paraguay. 
     It will probably take several blogs to cover the Great Circle Gang's activities in Paraguay, so I will end this blog now and pick up the story of the Triad in the next blog.