In late March, 2014, Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow was arrested on the streets
of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Prior to his takedown, Chow’s Ghee Kung Tong
organization was infiltrated by the FBI for five years. After the bust, he was charged with money
laundering and conspiracy to traffic stolen goods in a far-reaching federal
indictment that included over two dozen other defendants. To the shock of many, the indictment also included California
State Senator Leland Yee.
Chow was born in 1960 in Hong Kong and nicknamed "Shrimp Boy" by
his grandmother due to his small stature. He soon made up for his physical size by gaining a large reputation.
Chow joined a gang in his native Hong Kong when he was only nine years old after he
stabbed a guy. Sources say Chow was then inducted as a youngster into
an organized-crime group in Macau. He came to the United States at the age of 16, soon dropped
out of high school, and became involved with the Hop Sing Tong gang in San Francisco.
When Chow was 17 years old he survived an attack
by a rival gang called the “Joe Boys” at the Golden Dragon Chinese Restaurant in
Chinatown on December 4, 1977. The attack was soon referred to as the “Golden
Dragon Massacre”. The incident left five people dead and eleven others injured, none of
whom were gang members, and it shocked the entire community. The assault was supposed to be a retaliation assassination for the death of Joe Boys member Felix Huey who was killed in a
shootout with the Wah Ching in Chinatown's Ping Yuen housing project two months
earlier. Both attacks led to the creation of San Francisco PD’s Asian Gang Task Force that still exists today.
Chow was locked up for a series of
crimes starting with a robbery conviction in 1978. He was released in 1985, but
in '86 Chow was charged with 28 counts of assault with a deadly weapon,
attempted murder, mayhem, and illegal possession of a firearm. He served three
years in prison and was released again in 1989. In 1992, Chow was arrested for
racketeering and charged under two separate trials. The first was for
illegal gun sales and the second was for prostitution, drugs, and money
laundering. He was eventually convicted and sentenced to 24 years but he blamed many
of his acts on just following orders under pressure from Peter Chong, head of the powerful Wo Hop To.
Prosecutors alleged that Chong, along with Wayne Kwong, and Shrimp Boy, planned
to murder Boston Chinese underground figure Bike Ming in an effort to form new
umbrella organization called Tien Ha Wui ("Whole Earth Association")
that would dominate crime in Chinatowns throughout the United States. Chong fled to Hong
Kong just days before his indictment in 1992 for his role in the plot, but he was extradited
to the U.S. in 2000. After Chong was captured, Chow turned on his old boss and
cooperated with authorities, testifying against him in exchange for a reduced
sentence. As a condition of his release, Shrimp Boy surrendered his visa. He requested witness protection but his request was denied by the prosecuting attorney.
When Shrimp Boy was released from prison in 2003 he claimed to be reformed. Chow's professed recovery and youth work earned him praise from such politicians as California State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano and U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein.
But according to federal authorities it was all an act.
In the current case, lawyers
believe most of the 29 defendants will say they were illegally entrapped by the
FBI, but they emphasized entrapment won't be part of Chow's defense.
"Our
defense theory based on the investigation we have is that there was no entrapment
because he didn't do anything wrong," Defense Attorney Curtis Briggs said.
Ironically, prior to his arrest, Sen. Yee was a gun control advocate. He was charged with attempting to buy automatic firearms and shoulder-launched missiles from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Philippines. Prosecutors allege he was desperate for more campaign money in his efforts to run for Secretary of State for California.
In the meantime, the FBI's interest has expanded
to San Francisco City Hall and is far from over.
