At a wedding hall in Jungnang-gu, Seoul, men in suits bow deeply over and over again.

This footage shows members of a crime syndicate operating in Seoul performing a "bending bow" in a style reminiscent of the Japanese Yakuza.

Police found that this organization operated around Seoul from 2017 until February of this year, engaging in multiple group brawls with rival factions.

In February of this year, while drinking at a restaurant in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, they got into a dispute with members of another criminal organization, complaining "Why are you looking at us?" They then summoned dozens of members from each side to stage a mass street brawl.

It was revealed that they approached students known as the top fighters at local middle and high schools, coercing them to join by telling them, "If you are going to get tattoos, you should live the real life officially."

After recruiting them into the syndicate, they lived in dormitories managed by middle management, learning hierarchical order and rules of conduct, and participated in various acts of violence.

Police explained that their oral code of conduct included instructions such as "Engrave the organization's name as a tattoo on your body" and "Inherit the spirit of Lee Jung-jae of the Dongdaemun division."

They referred to Lee Jung-jae—a notorious "political gangster" during the Syngman Rhee administration who was executed in 1961—as "Chairman," and even held a memorial service for him in October of last year in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, which is Lee's hometown.

The Division 2 of the Wide Area Investigation Unit under the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency arrested 40 syndicate members in their 20s and 30s, including 21 members of this specific organization and 19 members from three other allied groups, on charges of forming and engaging in a criminal organization under the Act on the Punishment of Violent Acts, etc.

Among them, 14 key figures, including an enforcer who played a central role, were detained.

[Bae Eun-cheol / Head of Investigation Division 2, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency : Once they are designated as a violent criminal organization, the penalties for assault or extortion are further aggravated. They face extremely heavy punishment.]

Police stated that they have also found evidence of the group participating in voice phishing crimes, such as managing a voice phishing dormitory in Qingdao, China since 2013, as well as managing cash collectors and burner accounts domestically. They also confirmed signs of investment leading room operations and plan to continue additional investigations into the individual crimes of the members.

(Photo courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency)

Reported by Jeong Jiyeon | Video by Kim Seung-tae | Produced by SBS Digital News