Sometimes Crime Does Pay

The $500 Million Man is dead at 90.

Lui Lok, the most notorious of the incredibly corrupt "Four Great Sergeants" (the others being Hon Sum, Nan Kong and Ngan Hung) of the 1960s colonial police force, turned bribery into an art form. From 1956 through his early retirement in 1968 Lui garnered massive personal wealth and the nickname "$500 Million Man". He emigrated to Canada five years later, one step ahead of the Independent Commission Against Corruption that had begun to investigate him (Lui has been on the ICAC's most wanted list since 1976), and later to Taiwan to avoid extradition.

Lui remained hidden until his quiet funeral in Vancouver, in which his portrait was included along with the usual Taoist paper effigies: houses, cars, domestic helpers, mobile phones and of course Hell Money, of which he would need a ton to maintain his lifestyle in the afterlife.

In short, he had his cake and now also gets to eat it.

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