Gaybutton Posted January 26, 2008 Posted January 26, 2008 Last night, around midnight, the Banglamung Police staged the latest raid on Sunee Plaza. IDs and ages of the boys were checked and bar licensing papers were checked. Several under-age boys were carted off to wherever they end up going and several bars were shut down. I wasn't there when the raid occurred, but I was there this evening. Every bar was open and running normally and there were just as many under-age boys working in the bars I visited as ever. Some of the bars that were forcibly closed were shut down not because of under-age boys, but because of improper licensing. That is not necessarily the fault of the bars. The licensing requirements are so confusing that sometimes even the attorneys don't know just what is necessary. Obviously, whatever the problems were, the bars all managed to get them resolved today since they were all open again. Quote
Guest LoeplohandNalac Posted January 26, 2008 Posted January 26, 2008 quote:reverse order ] Gaybutton Posted Today, 11:05 PM Last night, around midnight thats 23 hours to late to warn us. Thanks G.B...are you ready to burn this reply again ?? Quote
Guest Posted January 26, 2008 Posted January 26, 2008 Some of the bars that were forcibly closed were shut down not because of under-age boys, but because of improper licensing. That is not necessarily the fault of the bars. The licensing requirements are so confusing that sometimes even the attorneys don't know just what is necessary. Obviously, whatever the problems were, the bars all managed to get them resolved today since they were all open again. Do you really think that the licensing is too difficult or just not enough money paid? Bars like Memories, which never had underage, only had one issue I know of and that was with Thai Music. Are the laws that hard to understand? Or, is there more to it? drugs? underage? pressure from Big police? high season crackdown for more cash? If it is licensing, why don't the bars in Boyztown have the same issues all the time? Quote
Gaybutton Posted January 26, 2008 Author Posted January 26, 2008 Do you really think that the licensing is too difficult or just not enough money paid? Those are all good questions and I don't know the answers. One reason might simply be because the raids are almost always in Sunee Plaza. Raids sometimes do occur in Boyztown, but in comparison to the number of raids that occur in Sunee Plaza, it's rare. Your guess is as good as mine as to why. During this latest raid, so I'm told, even Memories was forcibly shut down. I imagine if the police are bent on finding something wrong - an 'I' not dotted or a 'T' not crossed - they will. Quote
Guest luvthai Posted January 27, 2008 Posted January 27, 2008 Seems like everytime they raid they check the papers. You think they would all have the correct paperwork by now. How many times do you have to check the same bar to see if they are operating properly? I also think it is just a money rip-off. How do these bars survive with all the graft they have to pay? Quote
Guest wowpow Posted January 27, 2008 Posted January 27, 2008 C&P from CFS by sextile "-- On sat. forenoon a visitor from SGP. - contributing to the web-site SGBOY.COM - wrote that on the preceeding evening,(fri.), the Police were in Soi Twilight and around 22.oo.hrs. all bars were CLOSING-DOWN for the night. Possibly they've become as disgusted with the perfs. there as some of our contributors? Ha! - Last night,(sat.), I walked through Soi T'light. just after 23.oo.hrs. and the soi was its usual and sat. night self. -- bibi. --" sextile Quote
Guest YardenUK Posted January 27, 2008 Posted January 27, 2008 As a matter of interest can anyone confirm what I have been told on many occasions (by Thai people) - namely that this particular area of Pattaya is very much a "mafia" turf - because of that apparent reputation I know a number of Thai guys who feel very uncomfortable there. If that is the case, perhaps these raids are ways for the Pattaya Police to show their ultimate strength and keep the mafia bosses in their place? Or perhaps as GT hinted at, the "commission" negotiations with the Police just havent been going too well that week Quote
Guest luvthai Posted January 27, 2008 Posted January 27, 2008 There is a definate Mafia presence in pattaya and through out thailand but I think the recent raids are aimed more at drugs and harrassing the bar owners and keeping the bribes comming in. Quote
Guest buaseng Posted January 28, 2008 Posted January 28, 2008 There is a definate Mafia presence in pattaya and through out thailand And a lot of Thai people think that the BIB have a large mafia membership!! Quote
payless Posted January 28, 2008 Posted January 28, 2008 There is a definate Mafia presence in pattaya and through out thailand but I think the recent raids are aimed more at drugs and harrassing the bar owners and keeping the bribes comming in. What are you talking about? The only so called Mafia in Pattaya associated with the gay scene is the Police in their various forms. There is no other Mafia. If you think there is tell us what this Mafia does and how it does it? I have no knowledge of Bangkok apart from it being a city near the airport. You are probably right in that the police are hassling just to get money. After all if the fines are legit the policeman can legally pocket 60% as his lawful share. If not legit they of course keep 100%. Please tell us about this Mafia here in Pattaya and through out Thailand. Do they speak Thai with Sicilian accents? Quote
Guest YardenUK Posted January 28, 2008 Posted January 28, 2008 What are you talking about? The only so called Mafia in Pattaya associated with the gay scene is the Police in their various forms. There is no other Mafia. If you think there is tell us what this Mafia does and how it does it? I have no knowledge of Bangkok apart from it being a city near the airport. You are probably right in that the police are hassling just to get money. After all if the fines are legit the policeman can legally pocket 60% as his lawful share. If not legit they of course keep 100%. Please tell us about this Mafia here in Pattaya and through out Thailand. Do they speak Thai with Sicilian accents? Just a point of clarification: I wasn't assuming that the Cosa Nostra had set up a Pattaya branch! Although who knows what goes on behind the closed doors of the pizzerias and trattorias I was merely using the term "mafia" in the wider sense of any organised group whose modus operandi is to carry out illegal/criminal actvities (eg extortion, bribery, kidnapping, people smuggling, money-laundering, drug smuggling/dealing, illegal arms sales, etc etc) I think it is widely documented that mafia-like groups do operate in Thailand - both homegrown and imported (eg Russian mafia groups). I have no direct evidence myself about Sunee Plaza as was pretty clear in my post, I was merely sounding out a potential idea. grazie mille Quote
Guest Posted January 28, 2008 Posted January 28, 2008 I have no doubt in my mind that there is a mafia presence in Sunee. None at all. Having spoken to too many guys over the years and several of them who said the mafia was after then and they ended up dead, it is not coincidental. I don't think they target foreigners but I do think they control a lot of what happens with the Thai's and esp those that gamble, do drugs or borrow money. Quote
Gaybutton Posted January 28, 2008 Author Posted January 28, 2008 I have no doubt in my mind that there is a mafia presence in Sunee. I also have no idea whether a mafia presence is fact or nothing more than rumor. I know what I think, but what I think doesn't make it a fact either way. I have no real evidence one way or the other. But if someone comes along, resembles Marlon Brando, and makes an offer I can't refuse, then I'll know . . . Quote
Guest Posted January 28, 2008 Posted January 28, 2008 But if someone comes along, resembles Marlon Brando, and makes an offer I can't refuse, then I'll know . . . LOL Well, don't half of the residents of the Plaza look similar to Brando now? Quote
Gaybutton Posted January 28, 2008 Author Posted January 28, 2008 LOL Well, don't half of the residents of the Plaza look similar to Brando now? Considering that Brando has been dead for several years, yes . . . Quote
Guest luvthai Posted January 29, 2008 Posted January 29, 2008 What happened to the 10 boys and the DJ from sundance that beat and cut the thai man after the previous raid? One never hears of the results. Quote
Guest buckeroo2 Posted January 29, 2008 Posted January 29, 2008 "beat and cut the Thai" - what does that mean? Quote
Guest buaseng Posted January 29, 2008 Posted January 29, 2008 "beat and cut the Thai" - what does that mean? Ask Wowpow - maybe it's new terminology for 'cut and paste' Quote
Guest gwm4sian Posted January 29, 2008 Posted January 29, 2008 "beat and cut the Thai" - what does that mean? I think this is the answer you are seeking http://www.pattayacitynews.net/news_11_01_51_3.htm Quote
Guest CurlyEye Posted January 29, 2008 Posted January 29, 2008 I think this is the answer you are seeking http://www.pattayacitynews.net/news_11_01_51_3.htm It's pretty sad that the attackers used the lame excuse that they were verbally taunted as an excuse to nearly kill the alleged taunter. Quote
payless Posted January 31, 2008 Posted January 31, 2008 It's pretty sad that the attackers used the lame excuse that they were verbally taunted as an excuse to nearly kill the alleged taunter. They are the language mafia! Gay thailand "I have no doubt in my mind that there is a mafia presence in Sunee. None at all. Having spoken to too many guys over the years and several of them who said the mafia was after then and they ended up dead, it is not coincidental. I don't think they target foreigners but I do think they control a lot of what happens with the Thai's and esp those that gamble, do drugs or borrow money." I think these are not Mafia just money lenders who lend small amounts of money at 20% interest per month and inevitably the boys cannot pay either the interest or the capital back and the small loan becomes a big loan. Generally moneylenders are not organised gang or Mafia types but individuals. Money lending is a major industry in Thailand and many teachers and factory workers et al use their services to buy the big ticket items or to pay off other creditors and to meet the unexpected medical bills. Some boys with sugar-daddy farangs become money lenders and that is typically the money lender type in Sunee Plaza. Quote
Guest YardenUK Posted February 1, 2008 Posted February 1, 2008 I think these are not Mafia just money lenders who lend small amounts of money at 20% interest per month and inevitably the boys cannot pay either the interest or the capital back and the small loan becomes a big loan. Generally moneylenders are not organised gang or Mafia types but individuals. Money lending is a major industry in Thailand and many teachers and factory workers et al use their services to buy the big ticket items or to pay off other creditors and to meet the unexpected medical bills. With all due respect payless, while I know nothing of the intimacies of the workings of crime in Sunee Plaza, the existence of mafia groups in Thailand is very well documented - both Thai mafia gangs and recently imported Russian gangs. Even Pattaya Police Chief Gen. Seriphisut Temiyawej as recently as March 2007 was quoted in the press as saying: "It is time to clean up the crime and deal with mafia gangs that are deeply rooted in Pattaya" Quote