Henry Liu and the Bamboo Union

Patricia Nunan begins to explore the question of which triad or organized crime syndicate had the capacity to carry out a killing in the United States.

That search leads to another case: the 1984 assassination of Taiwanese-American journalist Henry Liu, carried out by members of the Bamboo Union — a powerful triad with a history of transnational violence.

The parallels are circumstantial but also  -- hard to ignore. Two prominent Asian Americans. Both gunned down in California.

This is a mini “cheat sheet” episode to introduce a complicated story. It sets the stage for a deeper investigation into the Bamboo Union, and its presence in Cambodia during the years leading up to Ngor’s death.

The next episode, “Original Gangsters,” drops Friday, May 8, 2026.