I was born and raised in Singapore. As a child, I heard stories of the old-time local gangsters who ran illegal businesses. They were the ones that everyone looked up to and feared.
As I grew older, I realized that these gangsters were not always doing the most legal of activities. When I got old I was shocked I was to learn that many of these old-time local gangsters had moved their illegal business overseas.
At first, it seemed like a good idea. They were able to make a lot of money, and they could do it without the fear of being caught. But as time went on, I began to realize the dangers of this kind of activity. Not only were there risks to the gangsters themselves, but also to the people in their communities.
When these old-time gangsters moved their business overseas, they were able to take advantage of countries with lax regulations and laws. This allowed them to basically do whatever they wanted without any consequences. They were able to make a lot of money without having to worry about getting caught.
This also puts a lot of people at risk. For example, with the lack of regulation, these gangsters would often employ people from the local area to do their dirty work. This means that people who already lived in poverty were being taken advantage of and put in very dangerous situations.
It was also difficult for the police to keep up with these gangsters. Since they were no longer operating in the same area, it was hard to track down their activities. This made it nearly impossible to shut down their operations.
Moved to where?
My childhood friend who is kind of an Ah Beng said: “Most of them are in Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar. Doing from loanshark, chicken business to other illegal activities.”
I was amazed to see how far these old-time local gangsters had come. It was sad to see that they had to resort to these tactics to make money. Not only were they taking advantage of people who were already living in poverty, but they were also putting a lot of people in danger.