Police round up 40 gangsters claiming to be successors to legendary mob boss

Police said Thursday they have apprehended 40 gangsters, who claimed to be successors to a legendary mob boss from the 1950s and 1960s, following a series of inter-gang clashes across the Seoul metropolitan area.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said it has detained 21 members of the Dongdaemun Gang and 19 members of three smaller gangs affiliated with the Dongdaemun Gang on charges of violating the violent crimes punishment law.

A 33-year-old mid-ranking leader of the Dongdaemun Gang and 13 others were referred to the prosecution while in custody and the group's remaining seven members were sent to the prosecution without detention.

The arrested gangsters were active in the Dongdaemun Gang between 2017 and this year, helping run the organization by recruiting recent high school graduates and engaging in violent clashes with rival gangs, the police said.

Notably, members of the Dongdaemun Gang claimed to be successors to the legendary mob boss Lee Jeong-jae, who led a gang of the same name in Seoul's Dongdaemun district in the 1950s and 1960s, forming a three-way power structure with ...