Hard men reign in Packer's dream city [SMH]
Packer and Ho have learnt their lessons hard. Their Crown Macau casino flopped after it opened in June 2007. Within weeks they replaced the public slot machines with rooms for VIPs and stitched up a deal with Macau's most savvy promoter, an arrangement that attracted admiration and derision in equal measure.

By January last year turnover at their Crown Macau - re-badged Altira - had shot up from 3 per cent to 18 per cent of the Macau market. Altira's trick, said a Melco Crown executive, was working the credit system harder and more effectively than anybody else. "If there's a building in China at the arse end of Macau but they are providing credit that no one else can provide, then that's where they will go," he said, perhaps referring to Altira.

The task of filling Altira's VIP rooms, plying guests with credit and collecting their debts is almost entirely organised by low-profile promoters. And Melco Crown has a secret weapon: the man who created the junket networks in the 1980s for tycoon Stanley Ho.

Ten years ago the name "Street Market Wai" was pulled from Macau's gambling dens and on to the world stage because the city's bloody triad wars had spilled on to the streets.

Broken Tooth, whose body bears the scars of two gunshot wounds and a meat cleaver that crushed his hand, has spent the past decade in a high-security island jail. He is said to retain access to women and his mobile phone.

Street Market Wai has now rehabilitated himself and has long since left behind his colourful tag. He goes by the name of Ng Wai or Ng Man Sun. And he prefers now to control his businesses through an altogether different institution: the Hong Kong stock exchange