Emilio Changco

Emilio Changco
Emilio Changco in 1992 at the New Bilibid Prison
Died	1992 New Bilibid Prison
Criminal charge	Piracy

Emilio Changco was a pirate gang leader based out of Manila Bay in the Philippines. He was responsible for many of the ships that went missing in the area. He specialized in piracy-for-order, where a client would choose a ship and the Changco Gang would seize it, transfer the cargo, and then sell the ship. He was captured and imprisoned by Philippine authorities. In 1992 he was killed by law-enforcement agents under suspicious circumstances. Philippine government officials claim that he was shot while trying to escape from the New Bilibid Prison.

Modern piracy

Main article: Modern piracy

Suspected pirates assemble on the deck of a dhow near waters off of western Malaysia.

While piracy in the western hemisphere has been largely eliminated it is still a problem in South East Asia. The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reports worldwide pirate attacks fell for the third year in a row in 2006. Attacks on ships at sea in 2006 fell to 239 vessels, down from 276 in 2005. That same trend echoed in the Strait of Malacca where attacks dropped from 79 in 2005 to 50 in 2006. Nonetheless, in 2004, the region accounted for 40% of piracy worldwide. The IMB reported in October 2007 that Indonesia continued to be the world's most pirate-struck region with 37 attacks since January 2007, though an improvement from the same nine-month period of 2006.^[1] While there has been a drop in South East Asia there has been a rise of acts of piracy with groups based out of Somalia attacking many ships.

Changco Gang

In the 1980s and 1990s while operating out of Manila Bay, Changco and his men used the area's thousands of islands and many small ports to their advantage.^[2] They specialized in targeted piracy where a client would pay $US 300,000 and then tell the gang which ship was to be targeted. The ship would be raided by the gang and then the ship, its crew confined, would be sailed to an out of the way port all the while transmitting to its owners that it was stricken by mechanical difficulties and confined to port. In at least one instance, members of Changco's gang would stowaway on the ship before it set sail and then assist other pirates in boarding once the ship set sail.^[3] After the seizure, either in port or at sea, the cargo would be transferred to another ship and then the crew would be unloaded and told not to report the incident for a few days. This allowed the Changco gang to paint over the ship making it a "phantom-ship" that could be used for other tasks such as smuggling goods or human smuggling.^[4]

Changco was well known throughout the region and companies would often hire him to steal back their cargoes.^[2] Companies would also hire him for insurance fraud. The insurance fraud was when the company would have a ship near the end of its service life, the ship would be over-insured and then Changco would be hired to make it disappear so the shipping company could claim the insurance money.^[2]

A ship too far

Changco became so brazen that he stole the tanker the M/T Tabangao, a Philippine government owned vessel. The authorities could not tolerate this flaunting of his power and took Changco and his gang down. He was quickly arrested and imprisoned in the early 90s at the New Bilibid Prison in Manila.^[5]^[6] In prison in 1992 he was shot and killed while trying to escape from jail. The circumstances surrounding his death are suspicious as at the time of his death he could barely walk and needed a cane to get around. In his book, The Brutal Seas: Organised Crime at Work, author Douglas Stewart discusses how Changco's death was more likely an effort to silence him than a legitimate escape attempt.^[6]

References

AP (2007-10-16). "Pirate attacks up 14 percent worldwide". MSNBC. Retrieved April 1, 2011.
Cottrill, Ken (1997). "Modern Marauders". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved April 1, 2011.
Farley, Mark C. (1993). "International and regional trends in maritime piracy 1989-1993" (PDF). United States Navy. Retrieved April 1, 2011.
Stewart, Douglas (2006). The Brutal Seas: Organised Crime at Work (2006 ed.). AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-4259-8710-7. - Total pages: 372

Piracy

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Modern times	1990s 21st century

Types of pirate	Pirates Privateers Buccaneers Corsairs Sindhi corsairs Timber pirate River pirate Caribbean Pirates Barbary pirates Moro pirates Wōkòu Vikings Ushkuiniks Narentines Cilician pirates Baltic Slavic pirates Uskoks Cossack pirates Sea Beggars Sea Dogs Freebooters

Areas	Piracy in the Caribbean Piracy on Lake Nicaragua Piracy in the British Virgin Islands Piracy in the Strait of Malacca Piracy off the coast of Somalia Piracy in the Sulu Sea Piracy on Falcon Lake Anglo-Turkish piracy Port Royal Tortuga Saint-Malo Barbary Coast Lundy Lagos Salé Spanish Main Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea Piracy in Indonesia Barataria Bay Piracy in the Persian Gulf

Noted pirates	Bartholomew Roberts Hendrick Lucifer Hayreddin Barbarossa Blackbeard Stede Bonnet Anne Bonny Abshir Boyah Laurens de Graaf Michel de Grammont Calico Jack Alexandre Exquemelin William Kidd Edward Low Redbeard William Dampier Black Caesar Henri Caesar Roberto Cofresí Jean Lafitte Henry Morgan Lawrence Prince François l'Olonnais Henry Strangways Charles Gibbs Benito de Soto Diabolito Pedro Gilbert Mansel Alcantra Hippolyte Bouchard Samuel Hall Lord Nathaniel Gordon Albert W. Hicks Eli Boggs Bully Hayes Rahmah ibn Jabir al-Jalahimah Louis-Michel Aury Shirahama Kenki John Newland Maffitt Joseph Baker Joseph Barss Jørgen Jørgensen Vincenzo Gambi Dominique You Pierre Lafitte John Hawkins Peter Easton Nicholas van Hoorn Moses Cohen Henriques Piet Pieterszoon Hein Charlotte de Berry Samuel Bellamy Benjamin Hornigold Samuel Mason Henry Every Roche Braziliano Gan Ning Liang Daoming Wang Zhi Limahong Zheng Zhilong Zheng Jing Cai Qian Cheung Po Tsai Ching Shih Shap Ng-tsai Chui A-poo Lai Choi San Fūma Kotarō Olivier Levasseur

Categories	Piracy Pirates By nationality Barbary pirates Female pirates Years in piracy Fictional pirates

Pirate ships	Adventure Galley Fancy Ganj-i-Sawai Queen Anne's Revenge Quedagh Merchant Saladin Whydah Gally Marquis of Havana Ambrose Light York

Pirate hunters	Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Angelo Emo Richard Avery Hornsby Robert Maynard Chaloner Ogle Pompey Woodes Rogers David Porter James Brooke Miguel Enríquez (privateer)

Pirate battles and incidents	Jiajing wokou raids Turkish Abductions Chepo Expedition Battle of Mandab Strait Blockade of Charleston Battle of Cape Fear River Battle of Ocracoke Inlet Capture of the William Sack of Campeche Attack on Veracruz Raid on Cartagena Battle of Cape Lopez Capture of the Fancy Persian Gulf Campaign Battle of New Orleans Anti-Piracy in the Aegean Anti-piracy in the West Indies Capture of the Bravo Action of 9 November 1822 Capture of the El Mosquito Battle of Doro Passage Falklands Expedition Great Lakes Patrol Balanguingui Expedition Battle of Tysami Battle of Tonkin River Battle of Nam Quan Battle of Ty-ho Bay Battle of the Leotung Antelope incident North Star affair Battle off Mukah Salvador Pirates Battle of Boca Teacapan Capture of the Ambrose Light Irene incident 1985 Lahad Datu ambush Operation Enduring Freedom – HOA Action of 18 March 2006 Action of 3 June 2007 Action of 28 October 2007 Operation Atalanta Carré d'As IV incident Action of 11 November 2008 Action of 9 April 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking Operation Ocean Shield Action of 23 March 2010 Action of 1 April 2010 Action of 30 March 2010 Action of 5 April 2010 MV Moscow University hijacking Operation Dawn of Gulf of Aden Operation Dawn 8: Gulf of Aden Beluga Nomination incident Battle off Minicoy Island Quest incident MT Zafirah hijacking MT Orkim Harmony hijacking

Slave trade	African slave trade Atlantic slave trade Arab slave trade Barbary slave trade Blockade of Africa African Slave Trade Patrol Capture of the Providentia Capture of the Presidente Capture of the El Almirante Capture of the Marinerito Capture of the Veloz Passagera Capture of the Brillante Amistad Incident Capture of the Emanuela

Fictional pirates	Tom Ayrton Barbe Rouge Hector Barbossa Captain Blood Captain Crook Captain Flint José Gaspar Captain Hook Don Karnage Monkey D. Luffy Captain Nemo Captain Pugwash Red Rackham Captain Sabertooth Captain Stingaree Sandokan Long John Silver Jack Sparrow Roronoa Zoro

Miscellaneous	Truce of Ratisbon Piracy Act 1698 Piracy Act 1717 Piracy Act 1837 Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law Golden Age of Piracy Confederate privateer Jolly Roger Walking the plank Treasure map Buried treasure Pirate booty No purchase, no pay Marooning Pirate code Pirate utopia Victual Brothers Pirate Round Libertatia Sack of Baltimore A General History of the Pyrates Mutiny Pegleg Eyepatch Letter of marque Davy Jones' Locker Air pirate Space pirate

Lists	Pirates Privateers Timeline of piracy Pirate films Women in piracy Fictional pirates Pirates in popular culture List of ships attacked by Somali pirates

Literature	Treasure Island Facing the Flag On Stranger Tides Castaways of the Flying Dutchman The Angel's Command Voyage of Slaves Pirate Latitudes

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