One of Taiwan's biggest gangs, the Bamboo Union, is expected to choose a new leader after its last boss died in February. Police are on alert, but there's political fallout too after the gang's senior members, including the infamous "White Wolf" Chang An-lo, planned to meet at a restaurant in the Legislative Yuan.
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00:00Tension builds outside the headquarters of the Chinese Unification Promotion Party.
00:06Dozens of police stand guard as news cameras roll.
00:09All are wondering the same thing.
00:11Will party leader and organized crime figure White Wolf show up?
00:24With his support for Taiwan's unification with China and his underworld ties,
00:29White Wolf, real name Zhang Anle, is used to the attention.
00:33He's known for his high rank in one of Taiwan's biggest gangs, the Bamboo Union,
00:37and for his ten-year stint in a U.S. prison for drug smuggling.
00:41But there's a new controversy around him and his associates
00:44that has powerful people trading accusations and police across greater Taipei on alert.
00:50Exactly what happened is unclear,
00:52but the rumor is that White Wolf and other bosses in his triad
00:55met Tuesday to vote for a new leader after their chief boss's death in February.
01:00The original venue, a restaurant inside the legislature.
01:04White Wolf himself says the gathering was for some old friends catching up,
01:08none of the rumored gang business.
01:17The government abruptly shut the restaurant down for the day, forcing a change in location.
01:22But just the idea of a gang choosing its next leader inside the halls of power has caused an uproar.
01:28Some in the Democratic Progressive Party have accused Speaker Han Kuo-yu of enabling organized crime.
01:34But some in Han's party, the Kuomintang, say the restaurant is open to all.
01:39As that argument plays out, the questions become when and where the gang's election might take place.
01:44Police have spread out.
01:46But supposed plans have come out only to be canceled more than once.
01:50So far, White Wolf has been silent.
01:52And the reporters gathered outside the headquarters of his pro-China party,
01:56hoping for answers, left disappointed.
02:08Police say they're still ready to pounce whenever the gang does hold a vote.
02:21But organized crime runs deep in Taiwan.
02:24In the roughly 70-year-old Bamboo Union Gang, police face a persistent opponent.
02:30Andy Xue and John Ventriest for Taiwan Plus.