Triads

The Triads are Chinese underground organizations operating in Hong Kong. Two triads seen in Deus Ex are the Luminous Path led by Gordon Quick, and the Red Arrow led by Max Chen, there is also the Wo Shing Wo Triad mentioned in the Deus Ex Icarus Effect novel. The triads are similar to the mafia - they are involved in criminal activities such as smuggling and drug trafficking, and there is often fighting between opposing triads.

Know Your Enemy -- The Triads
UNATCO surveillance of Hong Kong is currently a high priority given the renewed threat of Chinese organized crime in the form of the Triads. Despite being a model of prosperity and technological leadership for decades, Hong Kong persists as a haven for organized crime.

The Triads, namely the Luminous Path and Red Arrow, vie for control of the ten-trillion credit shipping business, much of which supplies greater Asia with pirated technology, illegal drugs, and weapons. Most disturbing of all, the Triads preach an ethic of technopiracy that has found enthusiastic support among small shopkeepers and businessmen who often aid the gangsters and buy their bootlegged software.

Gullible and greedy, this army of middlemen remain insensitive to how their violations of intellectual property and copyright laws damage the global information economy.