Flying Dragons Vs Ghost Shadows
During the 1980s in Chinatown, New York, Chinese gangs were quite rampant on the streets. With colorful names like the Ghost Shadow, Flying Dragons, Born to Kill, White Tigers and Green Dragons, their stories made for perfect movie material for a niche market that included me.
Flying Dragons Vs Ghost Shadows Game
NEW YORK (AP) A federal grand jury has indicted 25 members one of Chinatown’s largest gang on charges of racketeering activity that included murders, extortion, robberies and kidnappings, officials said Monday.The defendants include present and former leaders of the Ghost Shadows, a 40-member gang that also operates in Boston, Chicago, New Orleans and other cities, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said at a news conference.Eighteen of the gang members, including their alleged leader, Yin Poy ″Nicky″ Louie, 29, were in custody, and seven remained at large. About 90 detectives and federal agents were looking for the fugitives, Morgenthau said. Those in custody are expected to be arraigned Tuesday in federal court.The DA said the suspects were charged with 85 illegal acts, including 54 that resulted in 13 murders and numerous murder conspiracies and attempts.The indictment was issued in January and sealed until Monday, after the arrests were made, said Dennison Young Jr., administrative assistant to U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani.Most of the killings, Morgenthau said, resulted from the Ghost Shadows’ fights with other gangs over money earned from protecting illegal gambling dens, and from shakedowns of stores, restaurants and other legitimate businesses in Chinatown.Giuliani accused the gang of ″the most parasitic and primitive kind of crime - preying on innocent people.
Like the Mafia and the Black Hand, these gangs prey on their own people.″The federal prosecutor also said innocent bystanders had been slain in gangs wars. On March 31, 1976, for example, Ghost Shadows members fired into the crowded Chinese restaurant, intending to kill members of the rival Flying Dragons. Instead, Giuliani said, they killed Victoria Kwa, 40, and wounded six other people.In a case of mistaken identity, Giuliani said, the Ghost Shadows kidnapped Kam Piu Lui and Man Sze Wei on Jan. 15, 1980, and killed them, believing they were rival gang members.Morgenthau said the other principal gangs in Chinatown - the Flying Dragons, the Eagles, the Tung On and the Fu Chow - could try to step into the void created by the arrests.The problem could get worse in the next 12 years, according to FBI Special Agent Tom Sheer.
The Mafia in New Jersey - Asian Organized Crime Groups - Tongs and Street Gangs - Asian Organized Crime Groups Chinese Asian Organized Crime Groups Tongs and Street GangsThe Tongs originated as Chinese Benevolent Associations on the west coast of the UnitedStates during the Gold Rush era. Although believedto be offshoots of the Triads, they were formedprimarily as a means of protection from whiteracists who periodically raided 'Chinatown' areas.Anti-Chinese riots were common in the late 1800's,especially in San Francisco and New York City.
Itwas not unusual, for instance, for groups of Chinese to be murdered while local authorities remained indifferent.The Tongs exist openly and are based chieflyon business affiliations. Many Triad members emigrating from China joined the Tongs when theyarrived in the United States. This is not to say thatthe five or six Tong organizations that are activetoday are criminally controlled, but in many citiesTong chapters are certainly influenced by membersof Triad groups.Three of the major Tongs, the Hip SingTong, the Tung On Association, and the On LeongMerchants Association, are headquartered in NewYork City and maintain branches in Philadelphia.These Tongs are involved in illegal gambling activities. As in most Tongs, the gambling is confined tothe Tong building or lodge.
The Tongs in both citiesuse Chinese gangs to protect their illegal activitiesChinese street gangs have flourished in theUnited States since the liberalization of immigration laws in 1965. Some Tongs have used the gangsin extortion, gambling and narcotics operations.The Ghost Shadows gang is under the direction andcontrol of the On Leong Tong in New York City.The gang was organized in 1971 by immigrantsfrom Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia. It also hasmembers in Boston, Chicago and New Orleans.There is also a close relationship between the Tong-controlled street gangs in New York City and thosein Philadelphia.There are indications that some members ofthe Ghost Shadows live in New Jersey. RaymondChia Chi Cheng (aka Cheng Wei Mun), a NewJersey resident, was indicted on October 30, 1989,on charges by the Federal Organized Crime StrikeForce in Boston for bribing an immigration officerand unlawfully obtaining immigration documents.Cheng is an officer in the On Leong Tong and hasacted in an advisory capacity to both factions of theGhost Shadows gang.
He gained prominence when former Tong president Eddie Chan vanished andCheng took control of the Tong operations. He isthought to be heavily involved in narcotics distribution.Another street gang, the Flying Dragons,reportedly is present in the Hudson County area.The Flying Dragons are affiliated with the Hip SingTong, which is headquartered in New York City andis led by Ong Hon Shew (aka Benny Eng, aka UncleSeven), an 80-year-old immigrant from Harbin,China. The Dragons are also active in Philadelphia.Shew developed the close relationship between theDragons and the Hip Sing Tong immediately afterassuming control of the Tong in 1974. A year later,he and eight others were convicted on a multi-countbribery indictment, and Shew was sentenced to aneight-year prison term.A member of the Flying Dragons, Ah ThankLee, was convicted in 1987 for the robbery andmurder of Philadelphia restaurant manager JadeWong when she refused his demand for an extortionpayment.
Lee was also convicted in another case onextortion charges involving a New York City restaurant.Another Tong, the Tung On Association, isheaded by Clifford Chi Fai Wong, who along withhis brother, Steven (Tiger Boy) Wong, also controlsthe Tung On gang. The gang is involved in smuggling members of the Sun Yee On Triad from HongKong into the United States. The Tung On is alsobelieved to be engaged in homicide, gambling andnarcotics trafficking and provides protection for thegroup's illegal casino on Catherine Street in LowerManhattan.
Presently, there are some 30 membersof this gang in New York and Philadelphia. StevenWong was recently convicted of narcotics violations and is awaiting sentencing in New York City.He has previous arrests for rape, kidnapping andillegal firearms possession. This narcotics conviction resulted from a heroin purchase from a memberof the 14K Triad in Hong Kong.Clifford Chi Fai Wong was placed on the exclusion list by the New Jersey Casino ControlCommission on October 12, 1989, for his involvement with the Tung On organization. He waspreviously involved in a bus junket operation whicharranged bus transportation for Oriental patronsfrom New York City to the casinos.Wong is a close associate of Peter Chan,who also provided junkets to Atlantic City and wasarrested for accepting $200,000 in kickbacks fromthe vice president of marketing at the Trump Casino, a charge of which he was acquitted. CliffordWong was known to be involved in the booking andmanaging of oriental entertainers including manywho appeared in Atlantic City casinos.The Fuk Ching, another New York City-based street gang comprised of members whosefamily origin was Fukien Province has expanded itsoperations to New Jersey. Ching Kwok, a Chinesebusinessman who owns and operates restaurants inHoboken and Englewood, was the victim of thisFukienese extortion ring in September, 1985.
Thegang threatened to kill the family of Ching Kwok ifprotection money was not paid. This is a commonand under-reported crime against Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants. Kwok broke with tradition byreporting the threat to the police and was immediately given police protection. Epson et linux drivers download. Four Fuk Ching gangmembers were arrested.The Fuk Ching is now under the leadershipof Lung Kee Kwok (aka Ah Kay) and has some 60members engaged in armed robberies, extortion.narcotics and auto theft. The United States Department of Justice indicates that the majority of heroinfrom Southeast Asia coming into the New York Cityarea is now being smuggled by people from FukienProvince.One of the most visible Chinese criminalgroups in the United States in recent times is theUnited Bamboo gang, or Chu Lien Pang.
Thisorganization was founded in 1957 in Taipei on theIsland of Taiwan. Out of about 14,000 members worldwide, several hundred operate in this country.The United Bamboo has aggressively expanded itsoperations in the United States since 1979 and hasinitiated new members in New York City, Washington, D.C., Houston and San Francisco.
The gang isheavily involved in heroin trafficking, extortion,contract murder and gambling.In September, 1986, four United Bamboomembers were convicted in Manhattan Federal Courtand sentenced to long prison terms for racketeering,arms dealing and narcotics trafficking. The drugcase involved the importation of more than 600pounds of Southeast Asian heroin to New YorkCity.The New York office of the Drug Enforcement Administration believes that the importationof Southeast Asian heroin is now totally controlledby Chinese criminal organizations.
Kon Yu-Leung(aka Johnny Kon), a Chinese businessman andimporter of furs and watches, was arrested in NewYork City and charged with importing 500 poundsof heroin into the United States from SoutheastAsia. He was also charged with illegally takingmore than $1.4 million out of the country in 1987.Kon pleaded guilty in April, 1989, to importingmore than 300 pounds of heroin and was sentencedin September, 1989, to 27 years in prison.Kon Yu-Leung is affiliated with the WoSaing Wo Triad in Hong Kong and the Big Circlegang in New York City, a relatively new groupcomposed of former Chinese military Red Guardswho fled to Taiwan and Hong Kong from theCanton area. The gang's size is unknown but narcotics trafficking and contract murder are its specialtyin New York.As with other organized criminal groups,New York- based Asian organized crime impacts onNew Jersey as well.
For example, there have alsobeen some large-scale heroin seizures in New Jerseyrecently involving Chinese residents. Kaw Ting T.(aka Tony Kaw), an Ocean Township, Monmouth County, restaurateur, was arrested in February,1988, in New York along with three other defendants and charged with importing 165 pounds ofpure heroin hidden inside Oriental statues shippedfrom Thailand.
Flying Dragons Ghost Shadows
Pleaded guilty inMarch, 1989, to heroin possession and was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison and fined $500,000.Interestingly, the other defendants from Hong Kongand New York City had $350,000 on deposit at theGolden Nugget and Caesar's casinos in AtlanticCity. One of the defendants, Sak Chai Suwannapeng, a major Thai heroin wholesaler, is awaiting extradition from Hong Kong.Most of the members of the Ghost Shad-ows, Flying Dragons, Fuk Ching, Tung On andother Chinese street gangs in New York are betweenthe ages of 16 and 28. They are recruited mostlyfrom high schools, community colleges and innercity universities. Many are in this country onstudent visas, with a sizeable number attendingclasses only long enough to achieve marginally adequate grades.Other gang members are immigrants whoare employed as waiters and kitchen help.