For the unrelated Triad gang war in the 3D Universe, see Triads-Leone War.
For the HD Universe game of the same name, see Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.
Triad bosses and investigators involved in the 2009 War in Chinatown.
The 2009 War in Chinatown, eponymously known as the Chinatown Wars, is a major inner gang conflict within the Liberty City Triads, foreshadowed throughout Grand Theft Auto IV and occurring during the events of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.
The war started after the elderly head of the Triads, Hsin Jaoming, announced his retirement and his appointed successor, Mr. Lee, mysteriously died, leading to a dispute between the three Triad bosses Wu "Kenny" Lee, Zhou Ming and Hsin's son Chan Jaoming, to impress The Tongs and get their approvement to succeed Hsin as the new leader of the Triads in Liberty City.
People Involved[]
Investigators[]
- Huang Lee - Investigating the theft of the Yu Jian Sword and, later, searching for the FIB informant within the Triads.
- Wade Heston - Undercover police detective in search of the boss of the Wonsu Nodong, the gang involved in the sword theft, in order to get the Internal Affairs Division off his case.
- Lester Leroc - Hired private investigator looking for a possible Angels of Death biker who might have been ratting the Triads to the FIB.
Suspects[]
- Zhou Ming - Ming Family Triad boss suspected of being the Triad rat. Owns a smuggling operation in Fishmarket North.
- Chan Jaoming - Jaoming Family Triad underboss suspected of being the Triad rat. Owns a counterfeit operation in East Island City.
- Jimmy Capra - Messina Crime Family made man suspected of being the FIB informant. He has a truce with the Triads and is Rudy D'Avanzo's arch-enemy.
Culprits[]
- Hsin Jaoming - Demanding the Yu Jian Sword from Wu "Kenny" Lee in exchange of his Triad leader position, indirectly resulting in the death of his successor Mr. Lee and the sword theft.
- Wu "Kenny" Lee - Disrupting other Triad family businesses through Huang Lee and an FIB contact, before using the aforementioned contact to frame both his rivals as FIB informants. Also happening to be the Wonsu Nodong boss and thus the true rat within the Triads.
- Wade Heston's FIB Contact - Tricking Wade Heston and Huang Lee into disrupting Zhou Ming's contraband operation for Kenny's benefits, in addition to framing Zhou Ming and Chan Jaoming as FIB informants.
- Rudy D'Avanzo - Tricking Huang Lee into ruining Hsin Jaoming's truce with the Messina Family in an attempt to get Jimmy Capra killed and as a revenge for his father's death in a factory explosion by the Triads.
Consequences[]
The Monoglobe crashed into the Meadows Park Museum, along with dead bodies of The Lost MC bikers.
- The destruction of the Meadows Park Museum and The Monoglobe - An iconic landmark built for the Liberty City World's Fair and kept in the center of the Meadows Park. It was blown off its base by Huang Lee (while posing as Lester Leroc during his Angels of Death initiation) in order to kill The Lost MC bikers hanging out at the nearby Meadows Park Museum, also partially destroyed by the impact. After the event, Leroc managed to pass his initiation test and began his investigation into the gang, looking for a possible FIB informant.
- The destruction of the Rusty Schit Salvage warehouse - Destroyed by Huang Lee in order to kill a drug dealer blackmailing Wade Heston.
- The destruction of the Xero Gas Warehouse - Former Rascalov Mafiya hideout. Destroyed by Huang Lee after the Midtown Gangsters moved their base of operations to the warehouse.
- Beechwood City Massacre - Several Jamaican drug dealers were massacred by Zhou Ming in order to impress Hsin Jaoming after the gang disrespected him.
- Happiness Island Massacre - Several Jaoming Family Triad members were burned alive by Huang Lee near the Statue of Happiness after Chan began suspecting of them being traitors.
- Ming Family Triad wiped out - After Zhou Ming was framed as an FIB informant, his crime family instantly lost all of their influence with the Triads. In Kenny's first day as the new Triad boss, he ordered Huang to get rid of Zhou and his bodyguards.
- Jaoming Family Triad splinter group wiped out - After Chan Jaoming was framed as an FIB informant, he managed to somehow convince some of Hsin's entourage to protect him while trying to escape by boat from the Broker Navy Yard. In Kenny's first day as the new Triad boss, he ordered Huang to get rid of Chan and his bodyguards.
- All of Hsin's successors killed - After the deaths of Zhou Ming, Chan Jaoming and Wu "Kenny" Lee, along with the arrest of Hsin Jaoming, the fate of the Liberty City Triad Organization's leadership was left unknown. Shortly before his arrest, Hsin suggested Huang to become the new Triad leader, but Huang did not respond, as he found out Hsin was indirectly involved in his father's murder.
Timeline[]
Before the War[]
Events of Grand Theft Auto IV and Episodes from Liberty City[]
Zhou Ming's Triad gang and their drug smuggling business making a cameo appearance in Grand Theft Auto IV.
In 2008, during the events of Grand Theft Auto IV, the Liberty City Triads are the one the largest crime organizations in Liberty City, second only to the Russian crime syndicates Rascalov Mafiya and Petrovic Mafiya, as Russian organized crime is treated as a "plague" by news networks at that time.
The Angels of Death biker gang at their main supplier Hsin Jaoming's Linen Lounge nightclub in North Holland, linking The Lost and Damned with Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.
Idle dialogues from the older Triad members found in Chinatown, they claim they will "take over Liberty City very soon", foreshadowing their status as the largest crime syndicate in the city after Rascalov Mafiya's collapse and Petrovic Mafiya moving to the State of Alderney after Kenny Petrovic's arrival.
The three major Triad families - Jaoming, Lee and Ming families - and their bosses are first mentioned in Grand Theft Auto IV, although it is not possible to identify which families are they from by their character models. However, the Ming Family does make a cameo appearance during Harboring a Grudge, as identified by their Triad warehouse owned by Zhou Ming, their drug smuggling operation and vehicles used for smuggling.
The police files of Rudy D'Avanzo also reveal that his father was killed in a fish factory explosion by the Triads, explaining why he decided to get even with his sworn enemy, the Messina Family, getting Huang to disrupt the Triads' truce with the Messinas the following year.
During the War[]
Events of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars[]
The Successor's Death and the Yu Jian Theft[]
Mr. Lee's stolen Yu Jian Sword.
In 2009, Hsin's appointed successor, Mr. Lee, is killed in a mysterious way in Kowloon. Huang is invited by his uncle, Wu "Kenny" Lee, to Liberty City, to help deliver a family 'heirloom', the Yu Jian Sword, and secure the family's claim to the leadership of the Liberty City Triads. In reality, Kenny was planning to give away the sword to Hsin Jaoming in exchange for Hsin's approval as the next leader.
However, as soon as Huang arrives at the Francis International Aiport, he is ambushed by a group of North Korean assassins, who shoot him unconscious, steal the sword and dump him in the Humboldt River, leaving him presumed dead inside a sinking car. Huang manages to escape the car and drives to Kenny's restaurant, Sum Yung Gai, in Cerveza Heights to give him the bad news.
After informing Hsin about the incident, Kenny has been dishonored by the sword's loss, leaving Huang and Kenny to work to keep their business afloat. With Kenny out of the race to succeed Hsin after he retires, Chan and Zhou are the only Triad bosses disputing the leadership of the Triads.
Working for Chan and Zhou[]
The demise of the Irish American Killers' street race champion, his car having been sabotaged by Huang Lee.
Huang begins working for Chan Jaoming, Hsin's incompetent son and the first in the line of succession, and Zhou Ming, another potential successor.
Huang helps Chan win an illegal street race against the Irish American Killers in order to impress the Tongs. However, it causes the Irish gang to kidnap Chan after discovering he cheated on the race, but Huang manages to save him. Instead of thanking him for saving his life, Chan blames Huang for his own incompetence.
Meanwhile, Huang helps Zhou steal crates of goods from the Yardies and retrieve stash cars containing drugs, the latter about to be bombed by Hsin Jaoming's men. Zhou later reveals that he was confronted by Hsin over the matter, but managed to bribe him with part of Huang's cut.
Investigating the Spanish Lords[]
Kenny acquires a warehouse in East Island City with the Huang's drug dealing profits. They use the warehouse as a base of operations while investigating the Spanish Lords for a clue about the Yu Jian Sword, as a renowed art dealer is affiliated to them and might have been interested in the item.
Wonsu Nodong[]
Huang and Chan escaping the Spanish Lords ambush in East Holland.
Chan sets up a deal with the Spanish Lords, a gang who has been enemies of the Triads for years, in order to impress the Tongs. While driving to the meeting place, Chan is ambushed by the Spanish Lords, but is saved once again by Huang and taken to Hsin's Linen Lounge club safely.
Shortly after dropping Chan off at Linen Lounge, a police squad corners them at the club. But the leader, Wade Heston, who is actually an undercover cop, says that he's trying to help Huang recover the Yu Jian sword and avenge Huang's father. Heston has been in search of the Wonsu Nodong boss for a while, and wants to solve this case in order to clear things with the Internal Affairs.
While working with Heston, they find out that the Yu Jian sword was stolen by the boss of the Wonsu Nodong, a inner circle within the North Korean Midtown Gangsters in Bohan.
Chan Jaoming's Arrest[]
A Police Maverick picking up Chan after a Spanish Lords attack.
After acquiring one of Kenny's territories, Chan invites Huang to celebrate the his recent success by racing Huang in his new speedboat that he stole from the Spanish Lords. Shortly thereafter, Chan's boat starts to smoke and slows down. It is revealed that the Spanish Lords sabotaged it to attack and kill Chan. So until help arrives, Huang protects Chan from the attacking gang members.
A Police Maverick arrives and picks up Chan. Soon after, it is revealed through e-mails that Chan has been arrested.
However, Chan is released after a while, leading Zhou and Huang to suspect that he's been talking inside.
Investigating Zhou Ming and his Triad gang[]
Huang and Zhou using the Chinatown parade to perform a bank robbery and escape without getting police attention.
After hearing about Chan being quickly released, Kenny tells Huang to watch out for Chan or Zhou, as he suspects that they might be informants. Shortly after, Zhou messages Huang telling him to meet him at his residence at The Hotel on Luddite East.
Zhou plans on a robbery at the Chinatown Bank of Liberty, which is covered up by the Chinese festivities occurring at the same time in the neighborhood. Unlike in the previous Chinatown bank robbery carried out by some Irish gangsters, Zhou and his Triad gang manages to successfully escape without being identified or being pursued by the law.
Soon after, Heston e-mails Huang about an FIB contact of his who will give a file revealing the Triad rat's identity if they help him with a job - sinking Zhou Ming's contraband boat. Huang manages to do that using a stolen police boat, as well as killing any Triad who witnessed the attack before they warn Zhou.
Zhou eventually asks Huang to retrieve the sunken cargo using a sonar and deliver to his Triad-owned warehouse in Fishmarket North, not knowing he was the one who sank his contraband.
Jaoming Family Triad Rats[]
Huang killing suspected Jaoming Family Triad rats on Happiness Island.
Hsin informs Huang that Chan has been released from prison and now is under bail conditions. He discovers that one of the members of Chan's entourage is an FIB informant and a key witness against Chan. He orders Huang to go assassinate the informant, but to do it from a safe distance to not compromise the Triads. He assassinates the informant outside the Castle Gardens Hotel using a sniper rifle.
Huang meets Chan again on the roof of the Videogeddon arcade roof, where he informs him about the informant he killed earlier. Chan is aware of the fact and says that his entourage are all rats and deserve to die, and arranges for all his entourage to meet him on Happiness Island. Arriving at the island, Huang burns down several of Chan's own entourage alive with Molotov Cocktails.
Investigating the Midtown Gangsters[]
Huang collecting the ID of a beheaded Triad traitor for Hsin.
Under orders of Hsin, Huang tracks down the Midtown Gangsters safehouse in order to find out if they are still truly loyal to the Triads and confirm his suspicions about Huang being the Triad rat.
The Jaoming Family Triad eventually raids their safehouse and steal their files, only to find out none of the files mention Huang, much to Hsin's disapointment. However, two Triad traitors are mentioned in the files, which Hsin orders Huang to behead using a sword and deliver their IDs to Hsin as proof of their deaths.
Investigating the Angels of Death[]
Huang (posing as Lester Leroc) attacking The Lost MC bikers as part of his initiation for the Angels of Death.
After the attack on the Triad traitors, Hsin sends an e-mail to Huang asking him to help an associate private investigator of his, Lester Leroc, to infiltrate the Angels of Death, a biker gang which the Jaoming Family supplies with drugs, in order to investigate the gang and find a possible informant there.
Huang helps Lester pass the initiation of the Angels of Death, by killing several The Lost MC bikers while posing as Lester. During the investigation, he eventually has an affair with Meredith, the girlfriend of the biker gang's leader Arnie. Some of the bikers eventually finds out and attempts to kill Lester, but he is protected by Huang while trying to get information from Meredith. The investigation ends up with no FIB informants found within the Angels of Death.
Investigating the Messina Crime Family[]
Huang meets Italian mobster Rudy D'Avanzo at the Dukes Cemetery.
At this point, an Italian mobster Rudy D'Avanzo suddenly contacts Huang, claiming the true informant is Jimmy Capra, a made man of the Messina Crime Family, one of the five Mafia families in Liberty City who has a truce with the Triads. Rudy tells Huang to steal Capra's car from a Messina-owned parking lot in Bohan so he can put a recorder inside in order to investigate Capra.
Soon after, Rudy claims he has a recording of Capra talking to the feds. He asks Huang for other favors in exchange of a copy of that recording - kill several of Capra's men and helping him kill Capra during a "peace talk". However, the meeting with Jimmy Capra ends up being an ambush to kill Rudy. Both Capra and Rudy escapes alive during the ambush, with several Messina mobsters killed by Huang.
This causes the end of the truce between the Messinas and the Triads. After informing Hsin about Rudy's recording proving that Capra is a fed rat, Huang finds out that he has been tricked by D'Avanzo, and is ordered by Hsin to kill him.
Triad Rat's Identity and Hsin's Retirement[]
Hsin retires and Kenny becomes the new head of the Triads in Liberty City.
After getting rid of Rudy, Wade Heston tells Huang that his FIB contact has the Triad rat's ID on a encrypted file on the FIB mainframe, and can still be acquired by hacking the network and taking the file. After downloading and decoding the file, it reveals that both Chan and Zhou are listed as fed rats, who have been ratting out Hsin and each other to the feds. Huang realizes that one of them must be the Wonsu Nodong boss and his father's killer.
Huang and Kenny delivers the file to Hsin, who is devastated by their betrayal and decides to turn Kenny into the new head of the Triads. Kenny's first decision as the new boss of the Triads is to get rid of Chan and Zhou.
Huang eliminates Zhou Ming and his Triad gang in a construction site in Castle Gardens. Kenny sends some of his men to help Huang take down Chan Joaming and his bodyguards in East Hook.
Truth Revealed[]
Huang about to kill Kenny to avenge his father's death.
After killing Zhou and Chan for Kenny, Huang receives a call from Heston, who reveals that the file was fake all along. His FIB contact, as it turns out, works for the true Triad rat, who is also the Wonsu boss.
Huang and Heston drive to Charge Island where the FIB contact is meeting the Wonsu boss, revealed to be Kenny - all of the previous "legally sensitive jobs" given by the FIB contact were Kenny's orders to disrupt the other Triad families so he could move up.
After discovering that Kenny had the Yu Jian sword all along and was the Wonsu boss and the Triad's FIB informant, all at the same time, a massive shootout happens between Huang and the Triads at the desalination plant. Kenny manages to escape to Hsin's penthouse on the border of Chinatown, where he blames Hsin for everything - also revealing that Hsin is indirectly responsible for the death of Huang's father and the sword theft.
As soon as Huang and Heston arrive at the penthouse, Kenny stabs Hsin with the Yu Jian, but the latter survives his injuries. Huang kills his uncle Kenny to avenge his father's death, leaving no Triad bosses alive or possible known successors for the gang leadership. Shortly before his arrest by Heston, Hsin offers Huang the position of leadership at the Triads, but Huang does not respond. The fate of the Triads' leadership is unknown after Kenny's death.