It was the Sunday before Chrstmas 2015. The heavily guarded alleged triad leader Kwok Wing-hung, called "Shanghai Boy", had afternoon tea in Hong Kong’s noble Peninsula hotel, when suddenly someone walked in, punched him in the face, before he ran away, forcing him to seek hospital treatment. One day later "Shanghai Boy" showed his face to reporters and commented: “Someone said [I was] killed. You see. I’m in good shape” and added according to South China Morning Post: “[I] just bumped into a table corner. You see how handsome [I am].”
"Shanghay Boy" then invited Hong Kongs media for a press conference on Tuesday 29 December. But his public relations manager had to try to explain to the waiting reporters and police men, why he did non show up. On Thursday 31 December posters offering a reward in return for the whereabouts of Kwok Wing-hung were stuck up around parts of Hong Kong. Masked men were sticking flyers on the walls of Peninsula hotel, as CCTV-cams registered.
Like this a year ended, during which "Shanghai Boy" literally had lost a lot of his face - and according to rumours a lot of money in Macau. As the Wall Street Journal reported, Kwok was a partner in VIP gambling rooms at MGM Resorts International’s casino and Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd.’s City of Dreams resort in Macau. Such rooms are operated by middlemen, who bring rich Chinese gamblers to Macau, lend them money and collect their gambling debts. But many of these rooms were closed in 2015, when Macaus game revenue went down by 34 percent and rich Chinese didn't show up anymore after a warning by President Xi Jinping during his anticorruption campaign. "Crashing revenue forced Mr. Kwok’s VIP rooms to shut, leaving him with financial disputes and considerable personal gambling debts", wrote the Wall Street Journal.
So far, "Shanghai Boy" has not been seen in public anymore. But more flyers appeared in Hongkong, this time seeking for one of his right hands, Lee Kai-yau. These events led some media to remember Macau's bad old days, when the casino middlemen and their triad partners were notorious for gun battles in Macau’s streets.
Read more:
Game over in Macau?
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