High Number Of Foreign 'gangsters' In Thailand?

[Dr. Burrito]

I was reading with interest in the Western Foods section of the forum about English breakfasts and someone on there was going on about Dubliner and Irish Exchange being owned by gangsters and someone else included an old article from a paper about a conviction related to the owners of said pubs, so I guess that was a pretty fair assessment of those.

But it does make me curious as to there possibly being a lot of other such characters running about our kind little adopted country.

I know we have the Russian fellows down in Pattaya, though they may be even more involved than I read about.

There was supposedly the fellow from Boston who was the subject of THE DEPARTED laying low here for some time as well.

Is this a pretty common occurrence? Other than the 'I wish I was a famous criminal,' John Carr thankfully being deported last year, are there a lot of other people who have been nabbed, sussed out or are rumored to be hanging out here in Thailand?

Just curious and its late, late, late, here at work, so I needed something new to read about.

Dr. B

[Austhaied]

You talkin ta me ??

[zamp]

Ive heard of a few wanted people being found in thailand,it seems its the new costa del sol(part of spain where crims used to/maybe still like to call home).I know where i would rathe be.

[redrus]

Cheap livin, cheap lovin, cheap shots.....!

redrus

[the gent]

" if you go down the woods today you can be sure of a big surprise..... "

[baboon]

I am sure there is a high number of foreign scumbags in Thailand, residing in the usual places, which is why I believe Immigration seem to be becoming increasingly hostile towards arrivals.

As for gangsters, there must be a few but far outweighed by the wannabees.

[JR Texas]

I am sure there is a high number of foreign scumbags in Thailand, residing in the usual places, which is why I believe Immigration seem to be becoming increasingly hostile towards arrivals.

As for gangsters, there must be a few but far outweighed by the wannabees.

IM (not so humble) O, the immigration Nazis with their insane/xenophobic rules and regulations have created a system that favors the "foreign, quality scumbags with their bags of dirty money."

Good, honest, decent people are being pushed out or are willingly leaving LOS for better places.

The new class of "high quality foreign scumbags" seems to blend in well with current Thai society.....a society that is corrupt to the core and embracing the worst human values. It is not surprising that they are being welcomed with open arms.

Corrupt people feel better when they are surrounded by corrupt people.

Now........something good about Thailand: Huuummmmmmmm..........I like Doi Suthep and Loy Kratong.

[HarryHacker]

Don't know about gangsters, but there are an awful lot of 'meter thieves' here!

[solo siam]

Wasn't "The Departed" simply a remake of "Infernal affairs".

[Ulysses G.]

It is pretty well known that some Western Motorcycle Gangs have branches in Thailand that carry out criminal activities - lots in Samui.

[Tattoo180sx]

all countries have problems with this kind of thing, in australia there are Motorcycle Gangs everywhere, known as 'bikies'. they are always at each others throats about drug territory, recently there was a shooting at a nightclub in my city.

[onzestan]

I am sure there is a high number of foreign scumbags in Thailand, residing in the usual places, which is why I believe Immigration seem to be becoming increasingly hostile towards arrivals.

As for gangsters, there must be a few but far outweighed by the wannabees.

IM (not so humble) O, the immigration Nazis with their insane/xenophobic rules and regulations have created a system that favors the "foreign, quality scumbags with their bags of dirty money."

Good, honest, decent people are being pushed out or are willingly leaving LOS for better places.

The new class of "high quality foreign scumbags" seems to blend in well with current Thai society.....a society that is corrupt to the core and embracing the worst human values. It is not surprising that they are being welcomed with open arms.

Corrupt people feel better when they are surrounded by corrupt people.

Now........something good about Thailand: Huuummmmmmmm..........I like Doi Suthep and Loy Kratong.

Ehh, Houston we have a problem !!!

[steveromagnino]

IM (not so humble) O, the immigration Nazis with their insane/xenophobic rules and regulations have created a system that favors the "foreign, quality scumbags with their bags of dirty money."

Good, honest, decent people are being pushed out or are willingly leaving LOS for better places.

The new class of "high quality foreign scumbags" seems to blend in well with current Thai society.....a society that is corrupt to the core and embracing the worst human values. It is not surprising that they are being welcomed with open arms.

Corrupt people feel better when they are surrounded by corrupt people.

Now........something good about Thailand: Huuummmmmmmm..........I like Doi Suthep and Loy Kratong.

THanks mate. You can always be counted on to cheer me up.

[Heng]

"...first you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the woman."

[suiging]

Human nature I'm afraid. Now if I was a gangster and things were getting pretty hot at home, where would I go..Mmmmmmmmmmmm I'd want sun, sea. girls and a place to blend in where the locals don't question newcomers that closely.................Ah yes Margate.

Not.

[backflip]

"Wasn't 'The Departed' simply a remake of 'Infernal affairs'."

Scorsese openly admitted that he used "Internal Affairs" as a template. "Internal Affairs" is a trilogy, with part 3 one of the worse movies I've seen in my life. The first 2 are great, and Scorsese used several plot points exactly as filmed from "Internal Affairs".

[Stephen Cleary]

A lot of the news about stacks of foreign gangsters in Thailand is really sensationalist and the local Thai media is the leading source of exaggerated reporting.

Take any Farang who is caught candid-camera style by the likes of The Thai Rath newspaper - running a shoddy sex-tour website business. His story will be headlined along the lines of 'Farang Intenational Mafia Sex Gang Member Arrested'. In fact, any Farang in the likes of Pattaya or Samui caught running some kind of illegitimate scheme will be branded as a gangster/mafia etc...

And it isn't just Farang, i remember the nonsense story last year of a Middle-Eastern guy who was arrested in Aranya Prathet market on a visa-overstay. Within no time at all, the Thai Rath sensationally advised of the return of al-Qaeda and that perhaps the criminal was part of a fearsome terrorist plot. Of course not, instead, within a few days, the police simply admitted the guy had over-stayed his visa and would be deported and blacklisted.

As for supposed-gangsters running bars in Pattaya, i can think of the members of the Dogs <deleted> Pub who were once members of the Chelsea Headhunters gang. I doubt they are still that scary like....

Edited August 3, 2007 by Stephen Cleary

[chinthee]

I heard that shortly before he was so publicly arrested in Bangkok, the famed John Marc Karr was the leader of the feared subversive underground society of "farangs who wear 12 year old girls' underwear."

Luckily, there aren't many members of that evil mafia as most farangs can't even fit into XXXL Thai men size underwear.

[mellow1]

I think the climate here would not be to their liking.The pay outs would be endless,and then they would become the fox in a sport,with no forest to blend in.

[Heng]

Well they are certainly here, but as mentioned, are just a drop in the bucket compared to local criminal organizations (with true 'codes of silence' IMO mostly because here they are real blood families, instead of "families" of completely unrelated individuals in other crime organizations around the world). The real gangsters, both here and in other places in the world, deal in white collar crime.

[Ricardo]

" if you go down the woods today you can be sure of a big surprise..... "

Yep, they have been chopped-down, and exported.

[solo siam]

"Wasn't 'The Departed' simply a remake of 'Infernal affairs'."

Scorsese openly admitted that he used "Internal Affairs" as a template. "Internal Affairs" is a trilogy, with part 3 one of the worse movies I've seen in my life. The first 2 are great, and Scorsese used several plot points exactly as filmed from "Internal Affairs".

I don't mean to be pedantic, but it is "Infernal Affairs", not "Internal Affairs".

[Gumballl]

Good, honest, decent people are being pushed out or are willingly leaving LOS for better places.

Some are being pushed out, but many folks that are being affected by the Thai tourist policies are NOT "good, honest, decent people"... they are in Thailand to squirt their juices around, fake their educational credentials to get a lousy job, and/or are possibly running away from troubles caused in their own countries.

If you dislike LOS so much, why do you participate in the TV forum? Do you really feel that your posts will make a difference with the Thai immigration policies? Trust me, they won't. Did you not learn as a child that if you have nothing good to say it is best to not say anything at all? I'm sure you did.

Anyhow, I hope you can tone down your complaints about Thailand and just enjoy what it does have to offer. It may not be a perfect place, but you probably wouldn't find any other place that fits the bill either... and that includes Texas.

[think_too_mut]

they are in Thailand to squirt their juices around, fake their educational credentials to get a lousy job, and/or are possibly running away from troubles caused in their own countries.

And someone can call the scumbags like that "gangsters"?

Someone earlier even said "I am pretty sure there are many farang gangsters in Thailand...".

How could anyone have an idea, let alone "be pretty sure"?

I would say there might be some well hidden "gangsters" but nothing noticeable.

Those Ruskies in Pattaya are there on a package tour and are prompt to go back to gangster's haven - whatever part of the former USSR empire they are coming from.

"Dirty money" as someone who could not arrange a trivial ATM card from a world's leading bank for 13 months called it - has been stopped.

No more visa after purchase of 3 mil baht condo and the holders of it won't be able to renew it. There should be no-one on that visa by now, or soon.

[theseveredhead]

their are only two types of illegal activites that would go in thailand

money laundering. this to me would be where the smart guys would be. flipside, any clever investamagator could suss this out.

drug dealing (to expat/tourists). youd have to be really stupid to deal drugs here, youd get about 10x the amount of time in a THAI prison and it seems like the dope is about 10x less expensive so i presume - the profit is basically nil.

would not even work for you to take illegal money outside and bring it here to start a business becasue as we all know - businesses here do not make money.

years ago the italians basically got out of teh rackets. they sent their kids all to good professional schools to manage legit business. so much fo rthe mob :-) after three generations - why do it illegally when you can have a legal business -duh

their are lots of creepy guys wanted by thai police - john mark carr types. man that guy is creepy.

Edited August 4, 2007 by theseveredhead

[meemiathai]

Good, honest, decent people are being pushed out or are willingly leaving LOS for better places.

Some are being pushed out, but many folks that are being affected by the Thai tourist policies are NOT "good, honest, decent people"... they are in Thailand to squirt their juices around, fake their educational credentials to get a lousy job, and/or are possibly running away from troubles caused in their own countries.

If you dislike LOS so much, why do you participate in the TV forum? Do you really feel that your posts will make a difference with the Thai immigration policies? Trust me, they won't. Did you not learn as a child that if you have nothing good to say it is best to not say anything at all? I'm sure you did.

Anyhow, I hope you can tone down your complaints about Thailand and just enjoy what it does have to offer. It may not be a perfect place, but you probably wouldn't find any other place that fits the bill either... and that includes Texas.

I think JR has found China.

[TAWP]

The people from my homelocation aren't doing much crime _here_, they take this as a resort and a place to use up the money they have 'created' back home.

One armed robber-group did several-million stints and was sometimes caught (but most of the money never recovered) and after a few years in the pen they went here for several years, and then bck and repeated. last I heard they where on their 3th or 4thturn, this time getting up to 9 years in prison finally. Guess they finally understood that these guys wasn't doing a 'mistake' the other times around...