TBT: A reminder of my 1987 police escort into Hong Kong's notorious slum, the Walled City

TBT: A recent article in the Daily Mail about Hong Kong’s notorious Walled City, the gang-controlled, densest slum on the planet, was a vivid reminder that Trisha and I were two of the few Westerners to ever get inside.  With a police escort, of course.  That was back in 1987 while researching “Warlords of Crime," an investigation of the Triads and the heroin trade.

As I wrote in that book, the Walled City was “a haven for drug addicts, a stronghold of gangsters, and a refuge for those fleeing legitimate authorities. It is a center for numerous illicit businesses ranging from snake vendors to counterfeiting shops. At times it was ‘governed’ by a motley crew of adventurers comprised of gunrunners and narcotics smugglers. It was inevitable that it should also become one of the chief breeding grounds for the Triads.”

The Walled City was torn down in 1992.

Chapter 10, “White Powder Ma” describes the beginning of our ‘tour’:

"Three police were in front of me and another two stepped in

just behi…