cial and political upheaval in their countries of origin. Former members of the military created many of these crime groups. So, some have their roots in political unrest in their home countries. Most of these gangs immigrated to the West Coast in large numbers following the end of the Vietnam War. (Takaki, 1989)Gangs have been a part of society in Asian countries for centuries. Gangs like the Japanese Yakuza and the Chinese Tong (formerly known as the Triads) has been around since feudal times. The origin of the Yakuza can be traced back to as early as 1612, when Kabuki mono "crazy ones" began to attract the attention of the local officials. The Kabuki monos were eccentric samurai who took outrageous names for their bands and spoke heavily in slang. They were also servants of the Shogun. The groups were compromised of nearly 500,000 samurai that were forced into unemployment during the time of peace, the Tokugawa era. This forced them to become ronin, or masterless samurai and many of them turned into bandits, looting towns and villages as they wandered through Japan. (Lee, 1992)The Yakuza as they are known today did not surface until the middle to late 1700's. They include the bakuto (traditional gamblers) and the tekiya (street peddlers). These terms are still used to describe yakuza members today, although a third group, gurentai (hoodlums) was added in the post World War Two era. "Everyone in those groups came from the same backround: poor, landless, delinquents and misfits. The groups stuck closely in the same small areas without problems, as the bakuto remained mostly along the highways and towns, and the tekiya operated in the markets and fairs" (Lee, 1992, p. 201). "Asian criminal groups arrived to the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries" (Yablonski, 1997). In the early days of Asian immigration, many of them served as legal and business advisors to their communities, helping the ...
