Hong Kong-born ‘Shrimp boy’ ‘killed his way to top of Chinatown group in San Francisco’

To ascend to the position of “dragon head” of one of San Francisco Chinatown’s fraternal organisations turned criminal enterprises, Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow arranged the assassination of his predecessor, according to a federal grand jury indictment on Friday.

Chow, 55, took control of Ghee Kung Tong in 2006 shortly after Allen Leung, its leader, was gunned down by a masked assassin at his import-export business. At the time of his death Leung, 56, was involved in Chinese community brotherhoods, or tongs, and had been appointed to city task forces by two San Francisco mayors.

In the wake of Leung death’s, Chow, who arrived from Hong Kong in 1976 at the age of 16, allegedly turned the fraternal organisation Leung had led into a criminal group that was behind the trafficking of stolen goods, narcotics, bulletproof vests and guns, while also unleashing violence.

Prosecutors allege that Chow’s racketeering enterprise laundered US$2.6 million in cash from illegal bookmaking.

The undercover FBI investigation led to a guilty plea from ex-state Senator Leland Yee for taking bribes. Yee, the investigation revealed, was a close associate of Chow. Yee was accused of winning passage of a state Senate resolution honoring Chow’s organisation in exchange for a bribe, as well as offering to broker a weapons sale.