"They Are Different from Common Thugs": Bowing Four Times to Four Senior Bosses

[Anchor]

Some 40 gangsters who formed a syndicate claiming to succeed the notorious 1950s political hoodlum Lee Jeong-jae's "Dongdaemun faction" and engaged in habitual group street fights were recently apprehended by the police. Police explained that these individuals are distinct from ordinary troublemakers.

VideoMug reporter Jo Gi-ho brings us the details.

[Reporter]

A group of people suddenly line up in front of an elevator.

Wondering why they are greeting each other while keeping a beat,

[Bae Eun-cheol / Head of Division 2, Metropolitan Crime Investigation Unit, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency: Taking the elevator? They don't just do it once. They do it four times? That's because four of them are riding.]

It turns out they were members of the so-called "Dongdaemun faction," bowing four times because four senior bosses got on the elevator.

Since 2017, they recruited top fighters from middle and high schools to expand their influence, allied with friendly organizations such as the Sanggye, Itaewon, and Eagles factions to engage in group gang fights with rival groups, and even turned a first-birthday party banquet hall into a formal runway. It was also revealed that they set up a voice phishing camp in Qingdao, China, to commit crimes and recently opened an investment leading room office.

Amidst such busy activities, there was a strict code of conduct they had to follow.

Superiors must be called "hyungnim" (older brother/boss), and you must append "Yes, sir" to your words!

Members also had to get tattoos of the organization's name—oh, this member with a bare body joined today, so he hadn't done it yet.

While they had to designate shifts to visit imprisoned members and offer condolences, a striking phrase catches the eye:

"We succeed the spirit of Lee Jeong-jae."

The Dongdaemun faction, led by prominent political hoodlum Lee Jeong-jae who was active in the 1950s and 1960s, was dismantled during the 1990 "War on Crime" before being re-organized in 1996 by local troublemakers claiming to succeed them.

And now, it has been proven that those who bowed four times in the elevator are a "continuous syndicate" with the organization formed in 1996. A total of 40 individuals, including 21 members of the Dongdaemun faction and 19 members of other allied violent organizations, were arrested on charges including violations of the Act on the Punishment of Violent Acts, etc.

[Bae Eun-cheol / Head of Division 2, Metropolitan Crime Investigation Unit, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency: Usually, kids with some tattoos fight each other, and beyond the routine mutual beatings, when there is extortion and things like that, they get the title of gangsters and are actually disclosed to the media a lot, but strictly speaking, that's not really the case. They are closer to general troublemakers or street punks. What makes this case different is that it is very significant because the existence of a violent criminal organization has been proven.]

In particular, it was revealed that they lived in communal quarters, lined up like screens to display their influence during organizational events, or acted as an "emergency strike force" that deployed immediately when fights broke out with other groups.

Proving that they were not mere troublemakers but a violent criminal organization was a complex process that required 95 record volumes, amounting to about 25,000 pages.

[Bae Eun-cheol / Head of Division 2, Metropolitan Crime Investigation Unit, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency: What is the significance of uncovering this? Once uncovered, simply by joining, their sentence is aggravated. They are punished very severely. Then what is another significance? The reason they clearly do this is money, money. Then what do they do with that money? They run illegal businesses with it. Ultimately, innocent citizens suffer. So we need to have a sense of vigilance about that.]

An invitation created to commemorate the 65th anniversary of political hoodlum Lee Jeong-jae's death.

However, even misspelling the character for "anniversary" (je), whom and how are they trying to follow?

No matter how young these MZ-generation gangsters are, one can only hope that blind admiration or curiosity will not ruin not only others' lives but their own as well.

(Produced by Lee Se-mi | Edited by Chae Ji-won | Designed by Chae Ji-woo | Narrated by Jo Gi-ho | Produced by Knowledge Contents IP Team)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.