[3] In the case of anti-union violence, goon squads are traditionally hired by employers as an attempt at union busting, and resort to many of the same tactics, including intimidation, espionage, and assault.
[4] During the labor unrest of the late 19th century in the United States, businessmen hired goon squads composed of Pinkerton agents to infiltrate unions, and as guards to keep strikers and suspected unionists out of factories.
[6] An example of goon squad activity outside the US was the 2019 Yuen Long attack, or 721 incident, during the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, in which an armed mob of suspected triad members dressed in white indiscriminately attacked civilians on the streets and in Yuen Long station with steel rods and rattan canes,[7][8] including the elderly, children,[9] protesters returning from a demonstration in Sheung Wan on Hong Kong Island,[10] journalists, and lawmakers.
[16] The term "goon" was reputedly coined by F. L. Allen in 1921,[17] perhaps a variant of the US slang "gooney" which had been around since at least 1872, meaning a simpleton or fool,[18] which may have derived from "gony", applied by sailors to the albatross and similar big, clumsy birds (c.1839).
[17][19] "Goon" evolved into slang for a thug (1938),[20] someone hired by racketeers to terrorize political or industrial opponents (1938),[21] or a German stalag guard for American POWs (1945).