The Violent Crime Division of the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Park Sungmin), in cooperation with the police, announced on the 28th that it had apprehended 97 members of the four major organized crime groups in the Incheon area over the past three years and indicted them on charges including violations of the Act on the Punishment of Violent Acts (organization and activities of groups, etc.).
The indicted gang members belong to the Ganseok Sikgu-pa, Juan Sikgu-pa, Kkolmang-pa (Sinpodoong Sikgu-pa), and Bupyeong Sikgu-pa. Among them, a man in his 20s identified as A, a member of the Bupyeong Sikgu-pa, was found to have beaten two junior members with a baseball bat from 2022 to last year under the pretext of maintaining discipline within the organization, and during the police investigation, he allegedly named another member as the perpetrator.
Other gang members indiscriminately assaulted pedestrians in busy districts without any particular reason, demanded excessive debt repayment while assaulting and threatening citizens to extort money and valuables, and also damaged vehicles in groups.
B, a member of the Kkolmang-pa, was indicted and detained on charges of creating a lottery number prediction website and defrauding approximately 5,000 victims of about 5.1 billion won. Five members from the Bupyeong Sikgu-pa, Kkolmang-pa, and Juan Sikgu-pa were indicted without detention for jointly committing used car fraud against 16 victims, amounting to about 480 million won. C, a member of the Ganseok Sikgu-pa, was indicted and detained on charges of committing virtual asset fraud worth over 1 billion won.
In addition, five members of the Ganseok Sikgu-pa and Bupyeong Sikgu-pa who engaged in a mass brawl at a restaurant in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon in December last year, and four members of the Juan Sikgu-pa who robbed a luxury watch worth approximately 120 million won from a former gang member last month, were also indicted.
Organized crime groups in the Incheon area had weakened in scale following the 'Gil Hospital Funeral Hall Mass Brawl' in 2011. However, recently, there has been a movement to regain strength as a large number of the so-called 'MZ generation' (those born in the early 1980s to early 2000s), in their 20s and 30s, have joined these groups.
According to the prosecution, unlike previous generations who engaged in illegal businesses such as collecting protection fees from entertainment venues and gambling dens, illegal lending, and dominating distribution businesses based on specific territories, MZ generation gang members tend to form and disband around specific crimes rather than factions. They also actively share criminal information among members via social networking services (SNS). The prosecution emphasized that these gangs are also committing non-face-to-face crimes such as voice phishing and virtual asset fraud, resulting in ordinary citizens becoming victims.
An official from the prosecution stated, "There is a continuing trend of new gang members joining. These individuals openly display tattoos while frequenting gyms, public bathhouses, and busy districts, causing public anxiety and committing various crimes against citizens, resulting in harm."
The official added, "Some members of the MZ generation join gangs as a means of 'showing off their status.' We will continue to provide crime prevention education to make young people aware that even simply joining a criminal organization can result in severe punishment."
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