Gyeonggi ‘MZ’ gangsters charged with threatening rival thug

Members of the ″Anyang Tigers″ gang bow to their leaders as they leave the 80th birthday party of a gang member’s mother. (GYEONGGI NAMBU PROVINCIAL POLICE)

Gangsters from the Gyeonggi-based gang “Anyang Tigers” were charged with making mass threats against a rival gangster.

The Anyang branch of the Suwon District Public Prosecutor’s Office announced on Wednesday that eight people, including a 27-year-old gang member, have been charged with violating the Violence Punishment Act and are currently in custody.

The gang members are accused of threatening a 29-year-old member of a Suwon gang by brandishing weapons and provoking a confrontation on the street in Suwon, Gyeonggi, on January 28 and 29 this year.

The incident is said to have taken place after the 27-year-old gangster from Anyang Tiger told his gang that his 29-year-old rival had attacked him because he could not repay a debt.

A total of 13 members were involved in the crime, but only eight of those whose investigations were completed were first charged, the prosecutor said. The remaining members are still under investigation.

The Anyang Tigers, a gang formed near Anyang in 1986, was reportedly downsized after several police crackdowns, including the arrest of some 40 members in 2016. However, the recent case revealed that the gang has revived its activities and has been recruiting new MZ members since 2019.

Reportedly, all of the defendants were in their 20s, known as MZ gangsters: members of the millennial generation or Gen Z, and thus in their 20s and 30s.

It is said that these so-called MZ gang members carry out their criminal activities by keeping in touch with each other through an emergency contact system, while still leading separate personal lives, unlike traditional gangs who operate and live together.

Some of the defendants showed deep-seated loyalty to the gang, having the word “tiger” tattooed in Korean on their chests.

The gang reportedly maintains its organization and discipline by engaging senior members in prison, giving them prison pay and visiting them regularly to report on the gang’s activities.

Although the incident did not involve any significant violence between rival gangs, they were nevertheless brought to justice by police given the importance and risks posed by the gang’s organised activities and the nature of the crime.

“We will take strict action against gang crimes that threaten the peaceful lives of citizens. For example, we will limit gang formation and activities by emphasizing a zero-tolerance policy,” a prosecutor said, adding that we want to ensure that those involved receive punishments commensurate with the severity of their offense.

BY CHOI MO-RAN, WOO JI-WON ([email protected])