Data sources for this analysis were newspaper reports, court rulings, interviews with six police officers, and literature on corruption in Hong Kong society. Each of Hong Kong's four police districts are divided into divisions, the most important base for law enforcement operations and the most common location for corruption syndicates. The syndicate had a symbiotic relationship with its clients which fell into two categories: illegal activities such as gambling dens, drug divans, and hawkers and people who were engaged in lawful occupations but committed occasional offenses. All new arrivals to a unit would find money, usually in their lockers, and if they took it agreed to become syndicate members. Control was a paramount concern, but the tight-knit fraternal nature of police officer subculture facilitated this task. Religious practices, coercive measures, and harassment were also used. Europeans generally occupied the upper echelons of the police and relied on staff sergeants to oversee the Chinese rank and file. The critical leaders of syndicate corruption were thus the staff sergeants who also possessed enormous informal power and usually had close connections with the triad societies as well as with their counterparts in other divisions. This situation has changed considerably since the early 1970's when an organizational shakeup curtailed the staff sergeants' powers. The article includes 57 footnotes.