In a scene that could have been taken from a Godfather movie, thousands of Asian gang members, including rival bosses from Japan, Hong Kong and Macau, have attended the funeral of a veteran Taiwanese crime boss.

The gangsters, clad in black and bearing tattoos, paid tribute to Hsu Hai Ching at a ceremony in the capital Taipei.

Mr Hsu, widely recognised as a "godfather" of Taiwanese organised crime, died in April at the age of 93 after a long illness.

Under the protective eye of over 100 policemen, the funeral procession for Mr Hsu, better known as Wen Ko (Mosquito Brother) or Supreme Arbitrator, stretched for 10 kilometres.

Led by bands and honour guards, a motorcade carrying his ashes was escorted by an estimated 10,000 mourners who walked in files of three to a suburban Taipei cemetery.

Fears of an outbreak of violence proved unfounded, with attendees keeping to their pledge not to use the gathering to settle old scores on what they said was Peace Day of Gangs.

"We have actively gathered information throughout the event. We'll take
powerful measures to crack down on any one found using the occasion to make trouble," said Taipei police officer Wang Ching-ling.

Local television stations, which carried the funeral proceedings live, said the island's major gangs – the Bamboo Union, the Pine Union, the Four Seas and the Heavenly Way Gang – took advantage of the gathering to show off their strength.

Showing Mr Hsu’s international reach, gang bosses from Japan's crime syndicate Yamaguchi-gumi also turned up for the funeral.

Japanese police said the Yamaguchi-gumi, based in Kobe near Osaka, had 38,100 members at the end of 2003, or 45 percent of the country’s yakuza gangsters.

Mr Hsu started his gang business in a Taipei market and built up links
with political figures when he was elected as a deputy of the city council.For decades, he was involved in Taiwan's fruit exports to Japan and ran a range of businesses from hotels to nightclubs.

With his seniority in the gang world, he reportedly gained respect by preventing many gang wars through personal intervention.

"He was trusted by everybody. He was very fair in settling disputes," Kuo
Wen-ching, a close aide to Mr Hsu, told reporters.