Chapter 29 On "Underworld Organizations"

Underworld organization is a newly created legal term in the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China revised in 1997. It should be said that this is a legal title with Chinese characteristics.Although the criminal law has made principled provisions on gangland-type organizations, and the Supreme People's Court has also issued a more detailed judicial interpretation, but the current legal title has its own uncertainty, and it is not easy to accurately grasp its connotation and extension.Obviously, "underworld organizations" are the origin and difference from "underworld organizations". Under the current situation that the understanding of underworld organizations is not quite scientific and incisive, it is quite difficult to distinguish between these two types of organizations.It can be considered that a gangster organization is the primary form of a gangster organization, but to what extent does a criminal group develop to be a gangster organization, and to what extent is it a gangster organization?We need the unity of quantitative and qualitative.At the same time, what are the similarities and differences between underworld organizations and organized crime groups, gangsters, gangs, etc.?Without comparison, it is easy to fall into ambiguity, and it is difficult to draw conclusions, which will definitely affect or even endanger the identification and crackdown on gangland-type organizations in practice.

1. The legal identification of gangland organizations According to Article 294 of the "Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China" revised in 1997, gangland organizations refer to "organized illegal and criminal activities by means of violence, threats or other means, dominating one party, In December 2000, the Supreme People's Court promulgated the "Specific Application of the Law on the Trial of Criminal Cases of Underworld-type Organizations" on the eve of the special campaign of "cracking down on gangsters and eradicating evil". The Interpretation of Several Issues (hereinafter referred to as the "Judicial Interpretation") clearly stipulates that gangster organizations should generally have the following characteristics:

(1) The organizational structure is relatively strict, the number of people is relatively large, there are relatively clear organizers and leaders, the backbone members are basically fixed, and there are relatively strict organizational disciplines; (2) Obtain economic benefits through illegal and criminal activities or other means, and have certain economic strength; (3) Using bribery, threats, and other means to lure or force state functionaries to participate in activities organized by underworld organizations, or to provide them with illegal protection; (4) In a certain region or industry, using violence, threats, nuisance, and other means to wantonly carry out illegal and criminal activities such as extortion, bullying the market, gathering crowds to fight, picking quarrels and provoking trouble, and intentionally hurting, seriously disrupting the order of economic and social life.

Previously, the "Interpretation of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China" (hereinafter referred to as the "Interpretation of the Criminal Law") edited by the Legal Work Committee of the National People's Congress had made a more detailed list of the characteristics of gangland organizations, which were divided into organizational characteristics and behavioral characteristics. The former is manifested as : (1) There are three or more members of a criminal organization; (2) Having a relatively clear organizational purpose, strict organizational structure and internal division of labor;

(3) Having strict and brutal organizational discipline; (4) It has a certain source of funds, and its members mainly rely on the power of the organization they belong to to obtain funds. The latter manifests itself as: (1) backed by force, whether in criminal activities or in economic activities, by means of violence, threats, etc.; (2) Bribing and soliciting state cadres to infiltrate state organs; (3) Doing evil, oppressing and harming the masses; (4) Be king and hegemony in a certain area or area; (5) Seriously disrupting the economic order or social order of a certain area or region.

It is not difficult to see that the four major characteristics stipulated in the Judicial Interpretation are similar to those listed in the Interpretation of the Criminal Law for gangland-type organizations, with a slight difference in textual expression (see Table 1 for details). The characteristics stipulated in the Judicial Interpretation ( 1) Similar to the organizational features (1), (2) and (3) listed in the Interpretation of the Criminal Law; the feature (2) stipulated in the Judicial Interpretation and the organizational feature (4) ) are similar; the feature (3) stipulated in the Judicial Interpretation is the same as the behavioral feature (1) listed in the Criminal Law Interpretation; The organizational features (2), (3), (4), and (5) are similar.It is worth mentioning that, long before the criminal law added provisions on gangland crimes, in the face of increasingly rampant gangland crimes, the public security department once summed up six criteria for identifying gangster organizations (hereinafter referred to as the "Six Standards")

(1) The number of people is generally large and relatively fixed; (2) often have certain economic strength, and some even control some economic entities and sites; (3) Do everything possible to win over and corrupt public security, judicial, and party and government cadres, seeking protection; (4) Professionalized crimes, engaging in one or more crimes for a long time; (5) Being particularly anti-social, committing many crimes, and harming the masses; (6) An evil force has formed in the local area with a certain sphere of influence (see Table 1 for details). It can be seen that the "Six Standards" and the "Judicial Interpretation" are strikingly similar.In short, the "Judicial Interpretation", "Interpretation of Criminal Law" and "Six Standards" analyze the basic characteristics of gangster organizations from different perspectives.

Table 1 (Continued) A deep and comprehensive understanding of the four major characteristics stipulated in the Judicial Interpretation is the key to correctly identifying gangster organizations.At present, in actual work, most of them are set according to the four characteristics, and none of them is indispensable. This is obviously incorrect, and it will definitely make our anti-gangster work embarrassing.According to Article 1 of the "Judicial Interpretation", the "underworld organization" stipulated in Article 294 of the Criminal Law should generally have the following characteristics.Here the word "general" is used very scientifically and precisely, and it may be biased and fair if the word "must" is replaced.In fact, this is true. Among the four major characteristics, characteristics (1) and (2) belong to organizational characteristics; characteristics (3) and (4) belong to behavioral characteristics, and (4) is also an attribute characteristic (fundamental characteristic) of a gangster organization. From the analysis of constituent elements, features (1), (2), and (3) are only sufficient conditions for constituting a gangster organization, while feature (4) is a necessary condition for constituting a gangster organization.When verifying gangland-type organizations, we should statically analyze their organizational characteristics and dynamically examine their behavioral characteristics. Based on the combination of static and dynamic characteristics, we should abstract their attribute characteristics (fundamental characteristics) to determine whether a criminal group is a gangster-like organization. The key is to see whether it is fully capable of "using violence, threats, nuisance and other means within a certain area or industry to wantonly carry out illegal and criminal activities such as extortion, bullying the market, gathering crowds to fight, picking quarrels and provoking troubles, intentional injury, etc., seriously damaging the economy, It is also necessary to check whether the organization has a relatively strict organizational structure, a large number of people, relatively clear organizers and leaders, basically fixed key members, and relatively strict organizational discipline." , "obtain economic benefits through illegal and criminal activities or other means, and have certain economic strength"; Enticing and coercing state functionaries to participate in the activities of underworld organizations, or providing them with illegal protection” is a behavior characteristic.When identifying gangster organizations, it is irrational to examine metaphysically from organizational characteristics and behavioral characteristics.In fact, it is impossible for us to find even two underworld organizations with exactly the same organizational characteristics and behavior characteristics. Only attribute characteristics are the fundamental characteristics that all underworld organizations must and must have.Just as the attribute characteristics of human beings are "the sum of all production relations" and the organizational characteristics of human beings are:

(1) Composed of head, upper limbs and lower limbs; (2) The head is composed of eyes, nose, mouth, etc.; (3) It consists of the digestive system, respiratory system and endocrine system. The behavioral characteristics are: (1) Ability to use and make tools; (2) be able to exchange information through language; (3) Able to walk upright; etc. Obviously, we do not negate the fact that someone is human just because he does not fully possess human organizational characteristics (such as no lower limbs) or human behavior characteristics (such as not being able to walk).As long as he conforms to the fundamental characteristic of "the sum of all production relations", he is a human being.In short, the first three features of the "Judicial Interpretation" are sufficient conditions for constituting a gangster organization, and only the fourth feature is a necessary condition, and the fourth feature is exactly the same as the definition of a gangster organization in the first paragraph of Article 294 of the Criminal Law. , legislation and judicial practice to achieve a perfect unity.

2. The relationship between underworld organizations and underworld organizations The term underworld organization is not a legal term in our country at present. Strictly speaking, it belongs to knowing sociology terms.From a lexical point of view, it is a partial formal phrase.Literally speaking, "black" means "secret and illegal". Get a sustainable source of income.Just like the mafia, in the eyes of Western anti-mafia experts, it is a sub-social system with blurred boundaries.Rather than saying it is an informal organization created in a specific social and cultural background, it is better to say that it is a secret society with its own admission ceremony, charter, activity method and hierarchy. The mafia family almost constitutes a quasi-social group.In this small world, the operation of population, economy, society, and politics is no different from that of a society in a broad sense.

Regarding the definition of underworld organizations, many domestic experts and scholars have put forward their own views and opinions from different entry points in the field of sociology or crime.The more representative ones are: (1) Treating underworld organizations as secret societies (gang organizations) For example, Cai Shaoqing believes that underworld organizations are part of secret societies and have the following characteristics: (1) forming a gang through sworn worship or other means; (2) There is a strict division of labor and strict discipline internally; (3) There are internal cryptic codes; (4) The activities are generally kept secret; (5) There is a certain umbrella. (2) Treat underworld organizations as professional criminal groups.For example, Mr. Su Zhiliang believes that underworld organizations are a combination of criminal groups. Some people in foreign countries call it "Criminal Syndicate". Its main feature is that it has a social system of professional crime. It has the following characteristics: (1) Have a stable, long-standing, and huge source of organization and funding; (2) There are unique behaviors, lifestyles and norms within the group; (3) The activities are generally kept secret; (4) There are industrial and geographical differences in criminal activities among groups; (5) Behavior and activities are strongly predatory, parasitic, and antisocial. (3) Treat underworld organizations as sub-social systems.For example, Mr. Zhou Liangtuo believes that: Underworld organizations are an anti-social system that engages in organized crime and is independent of normal society, connected by anti-social values, common cultural psychology, and strict organizational forms.Its essence is the alien power of national politics that exists in any society. Social forces formed in the form of a special secret organization participate in the distribution of national interests. (4) Treat underworld organizations as advanced forms of organized crime.For example, Mr. Zhao Ke believes that underworld organizations are a narrow term for organized crime groups, specifically referring to those well-organized, strictly hierarchical, clear internal division of labor, strict code of conduct, premeditated and planned crimes in order to obtain huge economic benefits active criminal group. It is not difficult to see that although there are some differences in the elucidation of underworld organizations from different disciplines and professional perspectives, they are similar.In a nutshell, the basic characteristics of underworld organizations are mainly manifested in: In terms of organizational characteristics: (1) Have a stable personnel composition, internal leadership system, hierarchy and division of responsibilities; (2) Have strict organizational discipline and rules, and have a certain internal management, coordination, reward and punishment system; (3) Having certain economic strength, controlling and operating some economic entities. In terms of behavioral characteristics: (1) Committing organized crime by means of violence, threats, conspiracy, etc.; (2) Enticing or coercing government officials and other staff members of power departments to join their organizations or provide protection by means of bribery and threats; (3) Doing evil in a certain area or industry, bullying the market, dominating one side, demarcating land as the king, and forming an underground criminal force. In short, underworld organizations refer to organized or controlled criminal forces, backed by violence, using or threatening to use violence, conspiracy and corruption, through organized crime, in an attempt to illegally form some kind of extrajudicial order and illegal forces and A criminal group that takes advantage of it and has a certain protection system.Its essence is to try to create an extrajudicial society in the existing society, form a second order, and create a so-called "state within a state". There are currently two main opinions on the relationship between "underworld organizations" and "underworld organizations".One thinks that the underworld organization is an intermediate form of general criminal gangs developing into underworld organizations, and does not yet belong to underworld organizations.The other thinks that the underworld organization has the basic characteristics of the underworld organization, and from its essence, it should belong to the underworld organization category.I basically agree with the latter opinion.At present, there is a general misunderstanding, or stereotype, in the understanding of underworld organizations.When it comes to underworld organizations, one can only think of the mafia in the West, Xin Ngee Ann in Hong Kong and Macau, and the Qinggang and Paoge in the Republic of China.This kind of rigid dogmatic understanding is undoubtedly not objective, and we should be soberly aware that different social and economic conditions will produce different underworld organizations in different historical periods.It is absurd to always use the Mafia, Youth Gang, etc. as a standard to judge whether a criminal group belongs to the underworld organization. Even the Mafia, "Our Cause" in Sicily, Italy, and the five major families in New York, USA have their own characteristics. Mafia in the mid-19th century was not the same as today's crime syndicates.The underworld organization should not be mystified. In fact, the underworld organization is nothing more than an organized crime group with a certain protection umbrella that has certain members and uses violence, threats, conspiracy and other means to become king in a certain area or industry division, bully the market, and dominate one party. .At best, it is a sinister underground power.Only in turbulent times will it be drawn and used by various social forces. Once it appears "beautiful" and "magical" in a certain period of time, it will be reduced to the target of being eliminated once it loses power.Du Yuesheng, the first member of China's 500-year-old gang and Shanghai Youth Gang tycoon, once compared the underworld organization to a "night pot", which is really brilliant. Underworld organizations and underworld organizations should be understood literally, and there should be a certain difference.The differences are embodied in the following: the former has great differences in terms of organizational level, organizational scale, number of personnel, activities, economic strength, and political corruption, but basically possesses some of the most essential qualities of the latter. Characteristics, such as certain organizational members, internal organizational discipline, the use of threats of violence, etc., doing evil and dominating one side in a certain industry or region, so it is called a triad organization.In fact, an organization of the underworld nature should be an organization of the underworld.Adding the word "nature" in the middle of the term "underworld organization" seems to reduce the social psychology of everyone talking about "blackness", and it seems to ease the social evaluation of the increasingly severe social security situation. This is actually an overly mysterious and exaggerated understanding of underworld organizations. result.At the same time, the term triad organization is a noun of understanding, and there is great uncertainty when defining it. If the word "nature" is added, it will be more difficult to identify it in practice.Furthermore, it is unscientific to distinguish between underworld organizations and underworld organizations based on the number of people, the strictness of organizational discipline, and the size of economic strength, because some have small numbers of people, loose organizational discipline, and relatively small economic strength. Criminal groups with a large number of people, strict organizational discipline, and strong economic power may damage the social and economic order more seriously. We should look at the size of the criminal energy and see whether it dominates one side in the local area and forms an underground force to participate in social and public affairs. The distribution of power and affairs, and this is the common ground between gangster organizations and gangster organizations. 3. The similarities and differences between underworld organizations and organized criminal groups What is organized crime?So far, no precise and uniform definition has been formed in the world.According to Mr. Mo Hongxian's research, the definition of organized crime among foreign scholars mainly includes "behavioral concept theory" (focusing on revealing the typical behavior characteristics of organized crime), "functional concept theory" (emphasizing the concept of organized crime functional role), "structural concept theory" (focusing on the analysis of the organizational structure or behavioral structure of organized crime) and "broad and narrow concept theory" (defining the definition of organized crime from broad and narrow perspectives); theory", "essential characteristics theory" and "broad and narrow concept theory".Although different scholars have their own views on organized crime, they basically explain it from the perspective of organizational structure, organizational function or organizational behavior.It is not difficult for us to summarize the main connotation of organized crime: (1) From the perspective of organizational structure, it has stable members and has a certain internal leadership system, hierarchy and division of responsibilities; (2) From the perspective of the operating mechanism, there is a certain organizational discipline, and a certain internal management and reward and punishment system; (3) From the perspective of crime types, it has the characteristics of premeditation, occupation and organization; (4) From the point of view of criminal methods, the main methods are violence, conspiracy, intimidation and corruption; (5) From the perspective of criminal purpose, it is to obtain huge economic benefits or social status; (6) From the perspective of prevention mechanism, there is a certain protection system and social network. Raymond Kendall, Secretary-General of Interpol, once gave a more incisive definition of organized crime. He believes that it refers to some groups in which like-minded people have been engaged in illegal and criminal activities for a long time. The purpose is to Do everything possible to make huge profits as soon as possible, which can be roughly divided into four categories: (1) Mafia category; (2) professional criminal groups; (3) Ethnic organized criminal groups; (4) Terrorist organizations. According to the definition of organized crime by scholars at home and abroad and Kendall's classification of organized crime groups, combined with the actual situation in our country, it can be clearly seen that underworld organizations belong to the category of organized crime groups, but they are different from general occupational groups. Organized criminal groups are different, and of course they are more different from some terrorist organizations and extremist organizations. They are advanced organized criminal groups. Whether it is "high-level" does not depend on the number of members of its organization, the strictness of organizational discipline, or the strength of its economic strength. The key depends on whether its behavior and activities are organized to carry out illegal and criminal activities through violence, threats, or other means. Dominate one side, designate land as king, form underground forces in the local area, and even participate in the distribution of social public power and affairs.And this can only be achieved by triad-type organizations, and this is exactly where its "advanced" lies. In practice, on the one hand, it is easy for people to identify certain professional criminal groups with stable organizational members, a certain internal division of labor, and organized activities as underworld organizations. Undoubtedly, it is inappropriate to regard criminal groups such as illegal criminal groups, criminal groups that organize smuggling of people and snakes, smuggling criminal groups, and theft criminal groups as underworld organizations.Although the above-mentioned criminal groups have the basic characteristics of organized crime (there are many organizational members, there is a clear division of labor among members, certain organizational disciplines have been established, and illegal and criminal activities are carried out in a planned and organized manner), as long as their illegal and criminal activities are not In a certain industry or region, bullying the market, dominating a party, bullying and harming the people cannot be identified as a gangster organization.Of course, if these criminal groups conduct professional crimes (referring to abduction and trafficking of women and children, smuggling of people and snakes, smuggling, theft, etc.) and do evil in the local area and dominate one side, they can be identified as underworld organizations.For example, Shaanxi Houma Houlinshan and Guo Binglin smuggling criminal groups.On the other hand, people tend to regard certain serious violent criminal groups with certain organizational members, certain internal organizational discipline, and violent murder, robbery, and intentional injury as underworld organizations.For example, Zhang Jun, the instigator of the so-called "China's No. 1 criminal case," is called a gangster organization.It is undeniable that violence is a distinctive behavioral feature of underworld organizations.However, when using violence, there is a certain difference in the nature of serious violent criminal groups and gangsters. The former commits illegal crimes through direct violence, such as violent robbery and violent murder; or threaten to use it to commit crimes.Violence is not the fundamental feature of identifying a gangster-like organization. Even if a criminal group kills dozens or even hundreds of people, it is not necessarily a gangster-like organization, but it must be a serious violent criminal group.In short, underworld-type organizations are advanced organized criminal groups. We should pay attention to the differences between underworld-type organizations and ordinary organized criminal groups. Serious violent criminal groups are confused with underworld organizations. 4. Discrimination and Analysis of Underworld Organizations, Hooligans, and Gang Organizations Some scholars believe that: From the perspective of origin and attributes, my country’s underworld organizations are mainly composed of gangsters and gangs that are both different and related.This is very insightful. Rogue and evil forces are collectively referred to as rogue organizations and evil forces.As the new criminal law breaks down hooligan crimes into crimes of molesting women, insulting women, crimes of aggression, and crimes of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, hooligan organizations are no longer legal terms.However, it is necessary to further interpret and review related terms such as hooligans here, which is crucial for us to understand the origin and attributes of current underworld organizations. The term "hooligan" originally referred to a vagrant who had no job or property.Hooligans refer to flow, gangsters with the people.For example, "Shuowen Jiezi" "Mang, the people are also; from the people, the voice of death, read like a blind." Later, it was gradually extended to be a rogue who does not do business properly, commits crimes, and oppresses the people.For example, "Qing Barnyard Banknotes" explained: "Those who specialize in floating waves are like Japanese ronin. Beijing calls them soil gangsters, Hangzhou calls them bachelors, and Yangzhou calls them green skins. Although they have different names, they are actually the same." "Shanghai Travel Miscellaneous Notes" notes that "any vagrant who encounters troubles is regarded as a rogue. A rogue is a gadfly, and the dictionary notes that bites a flying insect, and its meaning is similar." It can be seen that the meaning of a rogue has fundamentally changed.According to Mr. Lu Deyang's "History of Hooligans", there are the following types of hooligans: (1) The cunning who dominates one side, such as village tyrants, crossing tyrants, city tyrants, etc. (2) A shameless rascal.He is well-known in the world for his habit of using tricks, stalking, robbery, pretending to be crazy, and stalking. In order to achieve his goals, there is nothing he can't do. (3) An idler who works as a minion for a tiger.Help the master to help the evildoer. (4) A licentious adulterer.Extensively molesting, insulting, molesting, seducing and even raping women. (5) Gamblers who gamble wildly. (6) Insidious and treacherous lawyers, who specialize in "scheming tricks, supporting gangs to file lawsuits, defrauding money and taking profits" in society. It is not difficult to see that although these types of hooligans have different activities and content, they all have common characteristics such as moral corruption, neglect of business, lack of public law, doing evil, and taking advantage of the common people. Their activities involve many fields such as politics, society, economy, and official administration. , Seriously disrupting social order and family stability. Before the promulgation of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China revised in 1997, in judicial practice, certain criminal organizations that committed crimes in the local area and dominated one side were generally classified as rogue criminal groups.For example, Wang Yinghan criminal group in Chengmai, Hainan, He Changli criminal group in Yucheng, Hemian, Duan's criminal group in Yingkou, Liaoning, etc.As early as 1983, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China pointed out in Document No. 31 of that year: Hooligans and gang members are new social scum and underworld elements produced under new historical conditions.The following year, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued the "Opinions on How to Identify and Deal with Rogue Groups", which clearly pointed out that: a rogue group refers to three or more people who often get together, organized and planned by the ringleaders. A criminal group that jointly commits hooligan crimes under the command of a criminal group and seriously endangers social order.In terms of identification, the main acts that constitute a rogue criminal group are listed as follows: (1) Organizing or participating in a large-scale brawl with a large number of people, or organizing or participating in an armed brawl, or organizing or participating in a mass brawl for many times, causing serious harm; (2) Picking quarrels and provoking trouble, repeatedly insulting and beating the masses, or insulting and beating the masses, the circumstances are vile; (3) Taking things by force, bullying the market, disrupting normal trade activities and public order, causing public indignation, causing disturbances in public places, or causing traffic jams, property damage, suspension of performances, etc. Seriously endanger public order. Although the term evil forces is not a legal term, it is widely used in judicial practice and the media. In the special action of "fighting against evil and eliminating evil", "eliminating evil" refers to sweeping away evil forces.At present, the definition of evil forces is still very vague.The Ministry of Public Security's "Crackdown on Black and Evil" Special Struggle Office defined "evil forces" in the "National Public Security Organs' Statistical Table of Evil Forces" as follows: "Using violence, threats, nuisance, etc. Organizations that carry out all kinds of illegal and criminal activities within the country, seek hegemony, run amok, oppress the people, and disrupt social order." Zhang Qiong, deputy chief procurator of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, argued in his article "About the Issues of Law Application in the "Strike Hard" Rectification Struggle" that evil forces refer to the formation of illegal and criminal forces in a relatively fixed area or industry, and wantonly committing various illegal crimes Active illegal and criminal organizations or groups, and further pointed out that evil forces should generally have the following characteristics: (1) From the perspective of organizational structure, there are generally three or more members, and there are relatively obvious organizers and leaders, who often gather together to carry out illegal and criminal activities. (2) From the perspective of the scope of activities, they generally operate in relatively fixed areas or industries and form illegal and criminal forces, including regional "evil forces" and industrial "evil forces" such as village tyrants, city tyrants, row tyrants, and road tyrants etc. These "evil forces" harm one side, oppress the people, disrupt public order, hinder social management order, make the masses feel insecure, and are hated by the people of one side in the area of ​​their activities. (3) Judging from the behavior performance, it is obviously open and violent, and the methods of committing the crime are cruel, oppressing and harming the people.With the help of the organization's notoriety and illegal power, its members frequently hurt people, extort money, gather crowds to fight, use violence and threats to monopolize operations, and some even engage in pornography, gambling and drug activities. (4) From the point of view of the means of committing crimes, violence, threats, nuisance and other means are often used to gather crowds to fight, pick quarrels and cause trouble, intentionally hurt, extort, bully the market, usury, violent debt collection, rape, insult women, force , Housing women for prostitution, opening underground casinos and other illegal and criminal activities. Literally, there should be a difference between evil forces and underworld organizations, but in the current practice, there is no fundamental difference between the two. The former highlights the characteristics of "evil", while the latter reflects the attributes of blackness.Basically just different names for the same thing. The gang is the general term for the feudal folk secret associations in old China.Specifically, "gang" is a variant form of feudal guilds, such as the Green Gang, based on the patriarchal relationship between master and apprentice; Since the end of the 19th century, gangs and associations have interpenetrated and grown together, collectively referred to as gangs.In modern China, gangs are almost synonymous with underworld organizations.When it comes to the underworld, people immediately think of famous gang organizations such as the Green Gang, the Red Gang, and Brother Pao.To sum up, modern gangs have the following basic characteristics: (1) Have a strict organizational structure.For example, Hongmen's organizational system is divided into eight internal and external halls, with a total of thirty-six and a half positions.The inner eight halls are the dragon head, sitting hall, accompanying hall, management hall, executive hall, punishment hall, auditorium, and alliance certificate; the outer eight halls are confidants, sages, Huanhou, red flags, blue flags, black flags, Xunfeng, and white flags. (2) Have strict organizational discipline.Still taking Hongmen as an example, it not only formulated ten articles and ten items, ten prohibitions, eighteen law books, twenty-one rules, etc., but also had cruel family laws. According to the seriousness of the circumstances, it was divided into six punishments: ), severe punishment (drowning or burying alive), minor punishment (cutting flesh with a knife or three knives and six eyes), light punishment (beating ten or eighty sticks), dismissal (dismissal from office) and demotion (demotion) (3) There are certain joining ceremonies and secret codes.For example, the Youth Gang recruits apprentices to open incense halls, which are divided into large and small incense halls.When opening the incense hall, there must be three masters (principal teacher, introduction teacher and missionary teacher). Those who join the gang must remember their own three gangs and nine generations.In addition, you should also memorize a large number of cryptic codes (sign language, tea bowl formation, shoulder pole formation, etc.) (4) Procurement of gambling and prostitution, smuggling and drug trafficking, killing and extortion, harming the common people, and doing evil.This is the most fundamental symbol of the gang organization's transformation from an early mutual aid secret society to a triad organization.Relying on a large number of people, the gang organization uses violence as the backing to operate pornography, gambling, and drugs, bully and dominate the market, take hard things by force, exploit the common people, form evil forces in the local area, and dominate one side. (5) Possess certain social relations and political resources.As an illegal social force, gang organizations need to seek protection on the one hand, and on the other hand, they often become the targets of various social groups, political organizations and even the authorities.Under the influence of internal and external factors, gang organizations are usually able to create social networks of different sizes, gain certain political resources, and some gang leaders even participate in the discussion of politics, forming a relationship with the authorities that "continuously cuts and manages chaos."At present, there are no gang organizations similar to the Qinggang and Hongmen in our country. Some criminal organizations have only inherited some of the mantle of traditional gangs, such as having a certain organizational structure and discipline, formed through sworn brothers, etc., but their illegal and criminal activities have seriously damaged It is an authentic underworld organization that disrupts the economic and social order. V. Conclusion With the deepening of the anti-gangster practice and the development of the social economy, the understanding of the organization of the nature of the underworld will become more and more rational and comprehensive.There is no doubt that it is an advanced form of organized crime.From the perspective of behavioral attributes, it includes most of the characteristics of gangsters and evil forces; from the perspective of organizational characteristics, it has inherited some of the mantle of modern gang organizations.At present, although it is difficult to determine whether the underworld organization is the primary form of the underworld organization, and to what extent the underworld organization must be developed to be considered a underworld organization, but it is certain that the emergence of underworld organizations in our country is not based on people's good will. Willingness is transferred. In fact, some of the largest underworld organizations in China are already typical underworld organizations.