Customer Reviews

Paper Fan: The Hunt for Triad Gangster Steven Wong

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While Steven Wong the Triad Gangster rose through the ranks in Vancouver's Gangland, I was a Vancouver cop who had many dealings with him. I probably knew Wong, and of his activities, more so than anyone in the Vancouver Police Department, other than a handfull of other cops who might be inclined to say the same thing. I was a cop who used Wong to my own end, while Wong used me to his. I still don't know who, if anyone, came out on top.
Due to my personal knowledge of Wong and his Red Eagles, his rivals the Viet Ching, Jung Ching and Lotus Gangs, plus their victims etc., I feel competant to say, "In writing Paper Fan, Terry Gould did an excellent job describing Wong and the events of the day." Terry knows his stuff, and he tells his story extremely well. It is not often one can learn such an immense amount of true information while at the same time be entertained. The book reads like a novel.

Terry Gould came to my school and discuss his book and the gave us in insight of the Triads and Kwan Kung. Just as he did when he came to the school, his book gives great information of how the Triads were created and why they chose the God Kwan Kung. Many more intresting facts he provides in his book. It is intresting and difficult to put down.

This book needed a strong editor. We get too much of the writer's thoughts, his interaction with people, and his supposedly brilliant investigative work. Information that should be summarized in a paragraph become pages long. Cut the fat and stick to the story: why is Steven so dangerous, what crimes did he commit, how did he escape, where is he now?

If you need to know more about Asian crime, I guess you should buy this. Otherwise, there are much better books.

Triad members are very secretive of their organization. One must be initiated to be a member. Young recruits will usually start as a street soldier. In order to rise up the rank one need to be able to be a good earner. With $$ come power. Eventually that will lead to more "heng dai" brothers working under him. Which in hand controls different biz and Enterprises. This book is a good read for those that want to know more about the Chinese Triad. Catch the Hong Kong movie Young & Dangerous and you'll get an even better idea how Triads operates. You hv to give all due respect to them cause they do operate much better then most large Corp. Peace Steven.

While I found the subject matter of this book fascinating, I was disgusted with the man who wrote it. Written with cockiness, subtle racist ovetones and overall bad attitude, he made the book almost unreadable. He is constantly building himself up as some kind of tough guy who is smarter than the criminals who he bashes in this book. If he's so smart how come he still hasn't found Steven Wong? It is clear that deep down he wants desperatly to be like these gangsters, he just doesn't have the guts. He acts like he launched this whole campaign on a moral level, but really it's all about a story and fame for Terry Gould. He is a coward. What I found especially offensive was his depiction of Asian women. My wife is Asian so I was personally offended. He constantly feeds into the stereotype that all Asian women are prostitutes, referring to the gangsters' girls as "tarts" and describing the poor Filipino girls who approached him as "a plague". Clearly this guy has no concept of what it's like to grow up with nothing, having to do things you'd rather not do to survive. He tells his pathetic sob story of how he got beat up once, his mother's friend was raped and he was a witness to violence as a kid. Boo hoo. I used to get beat up every day until I decided to start fighting back like a man. I know plenty of people who've been through all those terrible things and more. Terry Gould is a typical cocky New Yorker who thinks he's better than everyone. In reality, he is a scared, cowardly wannabe-gangster, wannabe-cop and worst of all a wannabe-snitch. I hope he never finds Steven Wong, rather I hope Wong and his friends find him.