Golden Triangle Digest #12: Titans of Thai Crime
True Crime Thailand hands a broom to the guys cleaning up Thai streets in the now. And we go back in time to meet a Titan of Thai Crime.
Dear expats and readers,
In last week’s newsletter I noted that:
This is exactly why I want to double down on long-form written content (which I will also cross-produce with audio content in the form of podcasts).
I will raise the bar of production and quality here because it’s actually what gives True Crime Thailand the best bang for the buck — the most reach, the most clicks, and the most engagement.
After the action and reflection of the past week since I spilled that ink, I’ve come to realize that the path forward for producing high-quality content for True Crime Thailand comes in three flavors:
Farang Murder and Cases of Interest
Doing the long-form written content that I mentioned above. An example of this can be found in the reader’s favorite The Cold Deep Sleep, which looks at a modern murder case of a farang in Bangkok.
I have a whole list of other farang murder cases that I’m looking into — and the next one I’m likely to do is the 2008 murder of Gary Bruce Poretsky by William Thomas Douglas in Chiang Mai. If you’re unfamiliar with the case, no worries — True Crime Thailand has you covered!
And if you’ve come to this newsletter by way of Chuck Ditlefsen, I’ve got good news for you, too: I’ve talked with his ex-girlfriend more, another journalist who did research on the case (but who never published his findings), and a mystery figure from Chuck’s past who contacted me after reading the story.
The 2nd installment of Chuck’s story will be out soon enough, it’s in the “shitty 1st draft stage” as we speak.
Thai Historical & Modern True Crime
I’ve also received positive feedback on historical Thai true crime that I’ve done. Like in the Iron Chest Killers piece, which looks at a serial killer monk from the turn of the century along with a modern Thai serial killer.
Let’s just say this — I plan on doing more of both of these style of stories. Modern farang murder mysteries and cases of interest, along with historic (and modern) Thai criminals and killers.
The latter brings me to the Titans of Thai Crime series, which I will return to later on in the newsletter.
Original Investigative Reports
Original and investigative reports that bring to light crime stories never told before are the third flavor that we’re experimenting with here. And this is where the magic of True Crime Thailand happens, in my opinion. What am I even talking about here?
I’ll give a few recent examples: this short piece on a prolific farang scammer that hits expat Facebook groups to find his marks. I’m in contact with one person who’s been on the hunt for the scammer for nearly 2 years, and a victim who I’ve met up with for beers who has audio recordings of the scammer, which I will be releasing soon.
Anecdotally we can say the scammer’s activity has ceased since releasing this report, which was shared widely the past week.
Another example? This enigmatic and baffling story of a car accident and alleged extortion. I don’t have the answers on this one — and the sleuthier segment of my readership has chipped in with their two cents on what could be happening. I will be doing a follow-up to the story soon.
Something that I haven’t written much about, but has been happening behind the scenes, was a productive connection I was able to make between a Hong Kong company that was scammed for $500,000 when PPE latex gloves they ordered were never delivered, and a private investigative team on the ground that gets the scammers to cough the money back up.
The Hong Kong company reached out to me because of glove scam reports I’ve done in the past, and one guy from the private team on the ground in Bangkok connected with me for the same reason.
I was able to connect the two and it’s likely the Hong Kong company will be made whole in the process. You may have read reports like this in the Thai or English press — glove scams are huge in Thailand right now.
It might sound kind of foolish or whatever… “glove scams, sounds real scary there True Crime Thailand.” But there have been hundreds of millions of baht scammed from both Thai and international businesses, the bulk of that happening in the past year. And there’s a massive shit-ton of corruption attached to it.
I have an interview scheduled with the guy who leads the team on the ground that’s going after glove scammers — and I’ll be accompanying that with a full original report.
Titans of Thai Crime
If I was perfectly honest with you, my ideal routine would look something like this:
11AM: wake up, drink a coffee — or three
Noon to 3PM: dick around on Twitter, write emails, pluck some stories from the Thai press to translate for my readers
3PM to 6PM: eat a big meal and nap
6PM to 4AM: copious amounts of rabbit-hole research on a Thai historical crime or farang murder mystery; another coffee or 2; clack thousands of words I’m dissatisfied with on the keyboard; slaughter the weakest of the bunch. Finally, pass out on the disheveled mattress, a haze of crime scene photos and finer turns of phrase that I’ll forget by morning swirling behind my eyelids.
Repeat like a broken record. That’s all this song-and-dance of True Crime Thailand is, at the end of the day.
So, what’s this whole Titans of Thai Crime all about?
I am looking at the biggest, most prolific crime bosses, killers, gangsters, and goons of Thai history and mining everything I can to put together exhaustive profiles on them.
I want angles that can connect true crime, Thai history, and modern Thai society in a thread of murder, gambling, drugs, and anything else seedy enough to make the cut.
I’m in the research stage of the first Titan of Thai Crime, and he’s pictured here:
Out of the ~500 or so people that get this newsletter, I bet there’s at least 1 or 2 of you who know this face.
If you don’t, it’s OK — you’ll know soon enough in a story that paints the picture of his life & legacy on the page.
I won’t tell you who it is now, that’d be cheating — and I hate cheaters — but I’ll give you 3 clues:
If you’re found dead on the side of the road, it’s the legacy of his hand that may pick you up.
Gamblers find luck with his face around their necks.
He was friend’s with a central figure in a Chinese revolution.
Methinks only the most astute readers will put the clues together, but I’m sure a few of you can do it.
If you have any guesses, let me know. If you’re right, I’ll be sure to give you recognition in some way.
Well, that’s about it for now.
You can expect the 2nd installment of the Chuck Ditlefsen case, interview with a private team going after glove scammers, the story of the 2008 murder of Gary Bruce Poretsky, and the 1st installment of the Titans of Thai Crime in future dispatches.
Until then,
True Crime Thailand