National Geographic Inside Chinatown Mafia

Wherever there is a Chinese community, including almost every city in the Western world, groups of Secret Societies known as Triads control the hard drug trade through bribery, extortion, and murder.
A major portion of the world's raw opium is grown in the Golden Triangle, the mountainous country on the borders of Laos, Burma, North Vietnam, and Thailand. After processing, the distribution of this heroin is under the control of Triad leaders in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia, who distribute it worldwide through their couriers. Western police officials did not realize either the extent of the heroin traffic or its organization until well into the 1970's.

In the underground of San Francisco, a secretive network of gangs was breeding in Chinatown, gaining strength as immigrants flooded the city. After a bloody 1977 showdown, these gangs were deemed an imminent threat to the city. Now, rare archival footage and intimate interviews with those closest to the case reveal the dark side of San Francisco of illegal gambling, brutal robberies, drugs, and violence.