ABSTRACT
The obscured human drama beneath the "Big Spender" case provides connecting tissues and communicating nerves between legal evidence and sociological fact. A true and comprehensive understanding of the "Big Spender" case must start with "experiencing" the case in its totality of circumstances, starting with investigating the contextual background of the case. A comprehensive understanding of the case, away from the case-specific legal issues and particular public concerns, helps to see the case in a different light. The directive to bring the "Big Spender" gang members to justice came from President Jiang Zemin personally. The People's Republic of China (PRC) and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) police were specifically instructed to work with each other to eliminate the gang and to serve as a warning for the Hong Kong–Macau criminals. The PRC was concerned with runaway criminality by intelligent and ruthless gangs, such as the "Big Spender" gang.
