Vietnamese criminal underworld

Xã hội đen, (chữ Nôm: 社會顛, literally means "black societies"), is a Vietnamese term used to describe criminal underworld.

"[f] Although the law would also make political groups, such as Việt Tân[6] and DTVNCH,[7][8] criminal organizations,[g] they are not part of xã hội đen as their stated aim and genesis is ideological rather than commercial.

[9][3] A larger criminal syndicate, băng đảng, has a clearer, more sustainable organizational structure with long-term operational goals.

Ordinary members, known as đàn em, are those who directly carry out criminal acts, as well as all tasks assigned by the leaders.

In 1865, the China-based brigand Black Flag Army crossed the border from Guangxi into northern Vietnam, created a profitable extortion network along the course of the Red River.

Saigon in the 1960s saw the rise of four powerful Vietnamese gangs, whose leaders are known as "Four Great Kings" (Vietnamese: Tứ đại thiên vương) and were behide almost all of criminal activities and rackets within the city:[27] Beside the "Four Kings", there was also an infamous Chinese crime boss called Tín Mã Nàm (nicknamed "Mad Horse").

Triads in Chợ Lớn and Hongkong tried to intervene by sending a petition to the embassy of the Republic of Vietnam in Taipei, Taiwan, but failed.

On January 7 of 1967, Đại and his men escaped from the camp, but when he passed through the front gate, the alarmed sound, alerting the guards surrounding the prison.

This, however, had allowed Năm Cam, a former follower of Đại Cathay, to developed a powerful criminal organization and dominated the South.

[20][21] Vietnamese-American gangs had their genesis in southern California, typically commit home invasion robbery against Vietnamese and other Asian refugee families.

[36] Vietnamese gangs are known to be highly mobile, often travel interstate, perpetrating a variety of criminal acts in a short period of time.

[37] The impact of gangsters such as Đại Cathay and Năm Cam has created a generation that admired the xã hội đen culture.

One notable example is Khá Bảnh, a YouTuber known for creating videos that showed him as a man of honor who possesses many moral principles of a giang hồ.