Singapore Mafia
Ah Kong is an organized crime gang with Singapore origins. It was based in Amsterdam and Thailand but had operations in other European cities and the Asia-Pacific, and used to control the European drug trade in the 1970s to 1990s. 'Ah Kong' which literally means "The Company" or short for Kongsi, has never been based in Singapore. It is also known to have Malaysian members and has strong Thai and Indonesian connections, and over the years they had built strong ties with the infamous Penang based Sio Sam Ong. Most of the members of Ah Kong are Singaporeans and the members continue to speak Hokkien although they were European and Thailand based. It was formed when several members of See Tong which means 'Buddies' killed and injured members of their rival gang, Pek Kim Leng (108 group), in a gang clash, and escaped to Holland. Most of them are of Hainanese origin from a Hainanese village at Upper Serangoon. They were later joined by others whom are non See Tong members and were known to have receive National Service military training back in Singapore and wiped out the 14K triad. The police have classified the See Tong as one of the most well organized gang in Singapore. Many of their gang members have escaped the country even before the police catch them for their crimes.
After the assassination of the Ah Kong boss in 1997 they had began to lose their influence to the Sin Ma gang (Singapore Malaysia gang) lead by a Singaporean fugitive wanted for first degree murder with a fire-arm in the 1980s. The last Ah Kong boss died in March 2010. Currently, Amsterdam is taken over by the Mainland Chinese gang.
The Rise and Fall of Ah Kong.
1969
Roland led his men in 2 cars armed with knives to Bras Basah road to clash with rival gang and ended up killing one of them. He escaped with some of his men to Holland but some were arrested and were jail without trial under section 55. They were received and taken care by Johnny (he was mentioned in the book Chinese Mafia written by a British journalist but was wrongly reported as he was never a member of See Tong), an ex seaman from Singapore who resided in the Netherland (there are a few Johnny and not to be mistaken with Small Johnny and fat bald specky Johnny who has cowardly nature that disgraced Singaporean and was once Henry's driver). They went into partnership and founded the Ah Kong (in the beginning they operated with the See Tong flag and have a name change after non See Tong members joined them), Roland and his men operated as the muscles and Johnny imported the heroin. By 1973, life was good and their dealings had grown and became a major player in the heroin trade.
1975
The 14K godfather, ‘Unicorn’ was gunned down outside his restaurant in Rotterdam, master-minded by rival Hong Kong triad (rumoured to be Pye Ho) and the hit was carried out by a Singapore and a Malaysian fugitive. The headquarters in Hong Kong sent a 426 Double Flower Red-Pole, Mo Dedong (alias) to replace him as the new dragon head. Soon after he arrived he went to ‘Yau Li’ domino club co-owned by Johnny and 14K member Mo Yong whom they were sworn brothers. On that day, Mo Dedong won a few million guilders on domino or pai kow from Mo Yong and asked the cash to be ready for collection the next day. Mo Yong contacted Johnny who was in Hong Kong and requested a hit because he was unable to pay up. After Mo Dedong walked out of Yau li he was gunned down along with his bodyguards about 2 blocks away by the Ah Kong commandos. From there on they dominated Holland and set a rule that whoever imports heroin into the country must hand over to them for distribution and they get a 20% cut so they can control the heroin price. By now, their activities have expanded to other European cities and had their men stationed in major cities across Europe.
Roland is a habitual gambler that resulted to embezzling the company’s fund, he would replace the accountant if he refuses to go in cahoots with him. Eventually, it was exposed and Johnny broke up with Roland and ended in bad blood. Johnny retreated to Bangkok and established the Hainan gang and continued to import large quantities of heroin into Europe amounting to tonnes annually. Besides the illicit trade he owned many legitimate businesses from restaurants to travel agency and into movie production in Hong Kong. Ironically, he was known to the underworld as the one who took out Mo Dedong yet he’d very close ties with the 14K in Hong Kong and Macau. Roland gave the order to take out Johnny but one of his men owed him favour, he informed Johnny of the hit and he faked his death for a while so he can better carry out his operation as a dead man.
There was a time Roland was detained by the European authorities and the Singapore police was ready to get him extradite back to Singapore to face a death sentence, but it never happened. Rumours were he talked to the authorities and fingered Johnny.
1977
Authorities from the west were ready to arrest Johnny at Bangkok airport once he touched down, he exited the arrival hall they walked up to him and identified themselves his men opened fire and there was a shoot out and he managed to escaped. He returned to Amsterdam and was arrested and had 17 murder charges on him. The same year he was sentenced to 10 years in a Swedish prison.
Later, Roland moved to Copenhagen and permanently resided there. There was once he visited Amsterdam with friends from Taiwan and Henry openly disrespected him and he was humiliated.
Roland has a reputation of ripping off his friends and robbed fellow Singaporean of their heroin (in the 70s there were many Singapore groups operating in Holland, 24, 32, 108 etc.). And there was even once he publicly humiliated a prominent visiting See Tong member, Michael. Some of his followers have good things to say about him but not his peers, and his ‘runner’ shot him in 2009 but he survived the assassination. As for Johnny, he is generous and many people owed him favour and some were willing to risk for him, and there were people always ready to finance his risky business and trust him with money, but not Roland.
1980s
The new generation
Benson, who headed the Ah Kong till the early 80s was jailed without trial in Singapore and the new generation lead by Siam Kia began a new episode. Siam Kia who received a university degree while he was in prison under section 55 handpicked a team of elite enforcer and ran the drug gang in mafia style and opened their casino at 23 Kerkstraat. On one occasion, he was disrespected by 14K boss ‘Ngau Si’, he called in his men and a gang clash erupted and they easily defeated them although they were outnumbered. After the clash, Ngau Si knew they were out to get him and realized he’s not their match he feared for his life and left Holland for London for good. The Ah Kong has an upper hand because their men were either trained boxer or military trained, or were fugitives wanted for death row or face long prison term and they rather die gloriously on the street than to face the gallows. Even if they were not on death row they will be beaten up like a dog, tortured and humiliated by the CID during interrogation, and prison life in Singapore is terrible unlike those in Europe.
Siam Kia
At his peak he owned over 100 race horses in Singapore and Malaysia. He began betting heavily on horse racing and was accused to have loss a huge fortune of the company’s fund. His underboss, Dennis aka ‘Nor Du’ or number 2 (not a See Tong) lead a coup implicating him of embezzling and overthrew him and became the new boss.
Siam Kia was deported to Thailand and went through difficult times but he wasn’t deterred to start all over again from scratch. He learned to cook ecstasy and began producing in his home lab and operated in Southeast Asia and supplied to the Asia-Pacific market, and made a loud comeback in 1997 but remained in Asia. Today, he has made an enormous windfall from real estate investment in Cambodia and has gone into legitimate businesses.
1990s
Dennis ruled Holland like a king with an iron fist, under his leadership Ah Kong became even more influential than ever. He well managed his organization and his business dealings extended to the Italian mafia and the Yugoslavian crime syndicate. He has great leadership qualities and speaks Dutch, English, Italian and several Chinese dialects. He was ruthless to his kind but a heroic figure to the folks, he taught his men to be polite and courteous to the community and gave the order to execute the head of a mainland Chinese gang who extorted Chinese restaurants and gang raped a female restaurant employee. Under his leadership he recruited Malaysian and even Dutch, but his underboss Henry and number 3 in command were See Tong. His men dress in Versace and diamond studded gold Rolex but he chose to dresses simple without any luxury accessories. Everyday, his men patrol the street, airport and train station for illegal drug traffickers. Anyone caught dealing behind their back will be punished and those who snitched will be awarded a cut from the drug seized.
1997
Dennis received a call from a female friend to meet up; he went alone and was assassinated by 2 men on motorbike armed with submachine guns. The female friend’s family was heavily indebted but few days before the assassination the debts were cleared. Siam Kia announced that he was the one who ordered the hit but some people from the inner-circle discredit his claim and some said the chief of the Sin Ma gang has a part in the conspiracy.
Henry was automatically promoted to become the new boss from number 2 in command. He was an enforcer not on the management level, has limited connections and has bad relation and little support from his peers. He was fond of gambling at Holland casino and karaoke and he did not show much enthusiasm for the revenge for his predecessor. The Ah Kong based in Thailand in charged of transporting the drugs to Europe refused to send shipments as a protest of his leadership. The company’s fund dried out and the Ah Kong slowly disbanded.
1998
Johnny released from prison for the second time, he was framed by a small-time Malaysian heroin trafficker and spent more than 4 years behind bars in a Zurich prison. He is back in Holland and this time he enters new trades, Cocaine and Ecstasy. Henry was on his own and in difficult times and Johnny opened his door to him.
1999
Johnny was found dead in a hotel room in Hong Kong after a huge cocaine shipment was busted. The Hong Kong police concluded he committed suicide and the day before he died he handed over his possessions and identity documents to a close friend of the 14K. Rumours were he was unable to answer to his people for the loss shipment and death is his only answer.
The new millennium
Henry joined Jack’s crew, a prominent Ah Kong figure until the latter died of heart attack. Henry returned to Singapore, he’d cancer and died in March 2010.
Ah Kong’s glorious days are over. There are still active Ah Kong members who operate individually or in very small groups and stay very low profile, and they are scattered all over Europe, Asia and Australia.
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