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Asian Gang Sweep 2 Chinatown biz bigs busted Newsday; 12/10/1993; Pete Bowles Newsday 12-10-1993 Asian Gang Sweep 2 Chinatown biz bigs busted By Pete Bowles. STAFF WRITER. Anthony M. DeStefano, Russ Buettner and contributed to the story Leaders of two influential Chinatown business associations were arrested and charged yesterday as being bosses of a violent Asian organized-crime gang linked to a series of murders and robberies. Chi Fai Wong, 39, an officer of Tung On Association, and Kwok Fu Lai, 59, an officer in the Tsung Tsin Association, were charged in a federal indictment as being Dai Lo Dai's - the highest leaders - of the Tung On gang. Authorities said the gang is one of the largest and most violent Asian crime rings operating in the United States. The businessmen were specifically charged with murder, extortion and gambling and face up to life imprisonment if convicted. The fraternal organizations, or tongs, assist Chinese residents and businesses and enabled the Tung On gang to "thrive and prey" on Chinese-Americans by allowing association buildings to be used as gang headquarters, the indictment charged. Both men are well known in the Chinese-American community. In February, Gov. Mario Cuomo appointed Lai, also known as Paul Lai, to his 16-member Asian-American Advisory Committee. "We didn't know anything about him that was problematic," said Charles Porcari, a spokesman for the governor. Wong, who also uses the name Clifford Wong, in 1991 was subpoenaed to testify before a U.S. Senate subcommittee looking into Asian crime families and invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Wong, who lives on Staten Island, operates entertainment businesses and a travel agency and has an interest in a Chinatown restaurant, according to community sources. Lai was arrested at his home in Albany, where he owns two restaurants. The two men were among 15 reputed Tung On gang leaders and soldiers named yesterday in a 31-count racketeering indictment. The alleged underlings were charged with murders, firebombings, assaults, extortion and robbery of Asian businesses and heroin trafficking. According to an indictment, the two associations allowed their headquarters to be used for gang activities, including strategy sessions for murders, assaults and extortions. Tong On gang members stored their guns there, the indictment said. "He didn't do it - they got the wrong guy," said Wong's attorney, Susan Kellman, after his arraignment before U.S. District Court Judge Reena Raggi. Kellman called the case weak because of its lack of wiretaps. "Basically, they must have two rats who said my guy did it," she told a reporter. "How do you defend yourself against that?" Yesterday afternoon, police and federal agents dressed in bullet-proof vests and carrying battering rams raided the associations, disrupting several elderly mah-jongg players. U.S. marshals posted notices that the buildings were being seized because of illegal gambling. The properties are valued at about $1 million. U.S. Attorney Zachary Carter said that because the tong buildings "were such integral parts" of the gang's operation, the government would seek to confiscate the properties. The Tung On Association is at 27-29 Division St.; the Tsung Tsin Association is at 1 Division St. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters that tongs "are generally good things. But in this instance these tongs were infiltrated by a criminal element." Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Palmer, who is prosecuting the case, said the indictment charges gang members with six murders, two attempted murders and a host of firebombings and assaults directed at rival gangs. She said that over the past year, the gang realized $10,000 to $15,000 a month in extortion payments from 40 businesses in Chinatown, Brooklyn and Queens. Wong and Lai are named in a single murder - the Feb. 28, 1992, slaying of James Rou, 17, a Stuyvesant High School student. Tung On gangsters mistakenly believed he was a member of the rival Ghost Shadows gang. According to the indictment, Wong and Lai became enraged because the Ghost Shadows had encroached on Tung On gang territory. The case was developed by investigators from four agencies, including city police Det. William Oldham of the Major Case Squad, Nassau homicide Det. Peter Blum, Special Agent Dan Kumor of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Special Agents Jesse Fong and Peter Carpanini of the Drug Enforcement Administration. News Topics | Home | Research | History | Blood Gangs | Crip Gangs | People| Life in a Gang | Gallery | Iraqi Cards | Memorial | Migration | Graffiti | Resume| Injunctions Homicides | Maps | California Prisons | Contact

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