Two Chinese men died and several others were badly injured (including one blinded for life) after a bloody battle broke out between rival groups outside the New Universal Chinese Restaurant on Middle Abbey Street in the summer of 1979.
A .22 long rifle, butchers cleavers, kitchen knives and iron bars were used in the fight which left blood spattered across the road and traffic cordoned off for a number of hours.
Witnesses said the fight on July 17 1979 started:
when a group of about seven well-dressed young Chinese arrived in two cars and went into the New Universal Chinese Restaurant, near the corner of Liffey Street. Within minutes, eye witnessed said, there was a commotion inside inside and young Chinese were seen rushing out of the street.
The violence was the climax of a building conflict when a Triad protection gang from Cork, Belfast and England tried to muscle its way on a Dublin Chinese restaurant chain.
Cinema goers at the Curzon and the Adelphi had to run for cover when the fighting broke out. Ms Pat Keating, manageress of the Curzeon, said the scene on the street was ‘much worse than any Kung Fu film we ever showed here’.
One of the the key personalities in the affair, Tony Lee based in Cork, allegedly a ‘big boss in the 14K’ triad had his throat slashed and died shortly afterwards. His wife, Louise Lee, who was a secretary-director of a limited company set up by her husband in the early 1960s in Cork vigorously denied that he had anything to do with the Triads.
Michael Tsin (26) from Dublin was shot dead in the brawl. Tsoi Foh Sing of Cork was charged with Tsim’s murder but was later acquitted.
It was revealed at the trial at the Central Criminal Court in November 1981 that trouble had been brewing between the two groups for at least three months before the fight. One group had demanded protection money from the other group who ran the Bamboo House restaurant on Dorset Street. There had also been a fight recently between members of the two groups outside the National Stadium after a martial arts exhibition.
In August 1983, twelve members of the 14K triad were arrested in Limerick in connection with the attempted extorting of protection money from the owners of Chinese restaurant in the city. Nine of the men were believed to have come over from Britain. During the operation a hoard of weapons including knifes, pickaxes, bars and clubs were found.
It was believed that the attempt to extract money had reached a critical point and the arrests may have ‘just managed to forestall a fight which could have been as bloody as that in Dublin’ in 1979. Contemporary newspaper reports suggested that the triad gangs – 14K, Sing Woo and Shui Fong all operated in the different parts of the country.
If I remember rightly, the cinemas closed their doors to protect those inside.
No wonder I sat terrified 53 weeks later in the Chinese on O’Connell street on the 27th of July after the Police concert in Leixlip, although it may have been the foo that worried me. We had rice in our house but it never got cooked!!
But as a leading criminologist informed us in the Irish Times two weeks back, people kicking each other in the head was unknown 30 years ago. Meat cleavers seem to have been ok though.
I remember that. Unheard of in Dublin at the time, murder. I also remeber the Police concert, Sting threw bottles into the crowd.
Hoary old joke”What do you call an ambulance going down Abbey St.? A Chinese takeaway!”Can’t believe it hasn’t been posted yet!!!!
No no Colin, the drummer(Gordon Sumner?) was bottled and hit on the leg. Sting saw who threw it and had him man handled to the stage where the Guad he arresticated him> Sting was very upset indeed, there is audio out there on the net!!. Can you guys find any reports on The Police gig? There were much better bands on stage that day but they were the biggest thing in the World at that moment!!
[…] Comments « Triad violence in Dublin (July 1979) […]
That restaurant re-opened a couple of weeks later. It was renamed “The Friendly House”. I kid you not.
Strangely enough I remember going to a showing of Bruce Lee’s “Way Of The Dragon” in the Astor cinema on Eden Quay on the same day, and about half way through the movie at least 4-5 oriental lads arrived in the cinema, where they stood around the exit door for a good 10-15 minutes before eventually sitting down, their behaviour struck me as being a bit odd at the time, but probably not related at all 😉
[…] on O’Connell St (early 1970s), the New Universal Chinese Restaurant on Middle Abbey St (1970s – scene of a bloody Triad street battle in 1979 which left two dead), Kingsland on Dame Street (1980) and the China Sichuan in Kilmacud […]
[…] Una Bean Mhic Mhathuna‘s illustrious political career, Colloquial areas of the city, 1970s Triad violence, the late night cafe The Manhattan, Foreign Nationals in 1911, Atheists and Agnostics in […]
What is your source for suggesting that “Tony Lee was the big boss of the 14K Triad”?
The Irish Times, 14 Nov 1981
[…] in 1942; vigilante violence in Dublin (1970 – 1984) Bugsy Malone gangs of the 1970s and Triad gang violence in […]
[…] https://comeheretome.com/2012/08/29/triad-violence-in-dublin-july-1979/ The Irish Times: Jul 18, 1979; Jul 19, 1979; Nov 14, 1981; Aug 27, 1983; The Irish Press: Nov 06, […]
[…] 1942; vigilante violence in Dublin (1970 – 1984); the Bugsy Malone gangs of the 1970s and Triad gang violence in […]
[…] 1942; vigilante violence in Dublin (1970 – 1984); the Bugsy Malone gangs of the 1970s and Triad gang violence in […]