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Associated Press

The prime defendant in a San Francisco racketeering case ordered the killing of a rival before taking over his organisation in Chinatown and engaging in money laundering and trafficking in guns and drugs, a prosecutor said during his opening statement at the high-profile trial.
The 2006 slaying of Allen Leung was a “cold-blooded, gangland-style hit” ordered by defendant Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, federal prosecutor Waqar Hasib told jurors on Monday as he described the killing.
Defence attorney Tony Serra countered in his opening statement that Chow did not participate in any killings or other criminal activity detailed in the investigation that led to the conviction of former state Senator Leland Yee on a racketeering charge.
Chow pleaded guilty to racketeering in 2000 amid accusations that included heroin and cocaine trafficking, attempted murder and robbery, according to an FBI affidavit in Chow’s current case.

But Serra said Chow, who will testify in his own defence, reformed and was looking forward to a lucrative book deal about his life.
“My client is not, and they will never show he is anything analogous to a godfather,” Serra said.
Chow was the focus of a lengthy investigation that included an FBI agent posing as a member of the mafia who plied his targets in Chinatown — one of San Francisco’s most popular tourist attractions — with fancy meals, liquor and cash. More than two dozen people were indicted last year as part of the probe.
Hasib called Chow the sun at the centre of a criminal universe and accused him of repeatedly accepting money from the undercover FBI agent.
Serra said the FBI agent instigated the crimes for which people were later arrested. He said his client was broke after leaving prison, and the agent forced money on him, often when Chow was drunk.
Hasib said a co-defendant will testify that Chow ordered the killing of Leung, who was then head of the fraternal organisation known as the Ghee Kung Tong, the prosecutor said.
Federal investigators say Chow took over the Ghee Kung Tong after having Leung killed.

“This case is about this group of people engaging in this pattern of criminal activity,” Hasib said. “But most importantly, this case is about the person who is at the centre of that, around whom all of that criminal activity revolved, around whom all those people revolved.”
Serra said Chow’s co-defendants would say anything to get a lighter sentence.
Federal agents say one of Chow’s associates was Keith Jackson, a former San Francisco school board president who raised money for Yee’s campaigns for San Francisco mayor and secretary of state.
Jackson led investigators to Yee, who acknowledged as part of his plea deal that he accepted thousands of dollars in exchange for favours and discussed helping an undercover FBI agent buy automatic weapons from the Philippines.
Yee is scheduled to be sentenced in December and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. Jackson pleaded guilty to the same racketeering charge as Yee and is also scheduled to be sentenced next month.
Judge Charles Breyer said Chow’s trial could last until February.
Regardless of the outcome of the trial, the investigation has sent a message to other politicians and Chinatown power brokers, said Rory Little, a law professor at the University of California, Hastings and a former federal prosecutor.
“Even Chinatown can be penetrated by government investigations, so stay on the up and up,” he said. “And if you’re a state senator, don’t assume you’re safe.”


Raymond 'Shrimp Boy' Chow ordered Chinatown rival’s murder, San Francisco racketeering trial hears

After a lengthy, costly federal investigation, Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow has finally gone on trial.  Photo: SCMP Picture


Allen Leung was killed in 2006

An FBI agent carries out boxes of evidence after a search of a Chinatown fraternal organisation in San Francisco.  File photo: AP

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

FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2006 file photo, Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow smiles after being sworn in as the "Dragon Head" of the Chee Kung Tong in Chinatown in San Francisco. Chow, a central figure in a sweeping San Francisco organized crime and public corruption case, pleaded not guilty. The FBI spent many millions of dollars and used more than a dozen undercover operatives posing as honest businessmen and Mafia figures alike during its seven year organized crime investigation centered in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Now, an increasing number of the defendants caught up in the probe that has ensnared a state senator and an aide are arguing that the FBI and its undercover agents are guilty of entrapment, luring otherwise honest people to go along with criminal schemes hatched by federal officials. (AP Photo/Sing Tao Daily, File)

An agent with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) removes boxes from the Ghee Kung Tong building, which houses the Chinese Freemasons, in the Chinatown neighborhood in San Francisco, California March 26, 2014. California state Senator Leland Yee was arrested on Wednesday as federal investigators conducted public corruption raids across California, shaking up the election season in the nation's most populous state. In addition, federal authorities arrested Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, FBI spokesman Peter Lee said, referring to a figure previously convicted in a San Francisco organized crime probe. Chow once served as head of the Chinese Freemasons, who own the Ghee Kung Tong Supreme Lodge, now being searched by investigators in connection to the case. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW POLITICS)

In this photo taken August 11, 2013, state Senator Leland Yee, second from left, and Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, right, are shown attending a Chinese restaurant grand opening ceremony in Daly City, Calif. Investigators say Chow is the leader and the dragonhead of one of the most powerful Asian gangs in North America. Chow's gang is said to have lured state Sen. Leland Yee into its clutches through money and campaign contributions in exchange for legislative help, as Yee sought to build his campaign coffers to run for California secretary of state. Born in Hong Kong in 1960, Chow came to the United States at 16 and was reportedly nicknamed "Shrimp Boy" by his grandmother, in part due to his small stature. (AP Photo/Sing Tao Daily)

Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow smiles after being sworn in as the “Dragon Head”of the Chee Kung Tong in Chinatown in San Francisco in 2006. Photo: AP

California state senator Leland Yee pleads not guilty to graft charges

Senator Leland Yee

Reformed gangster Raymond 'Shrimp Boy' Chow caught in the FBI's net

Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow

State Senator Leland Yee, second left, has been charged with conspiring to deal firearms for campaign contributions. Photo: AP

An FBI agent during a raid in San Francisco's Chinatown last month. Photo: Reuters

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Raymond 'Shrimp Boy' Chow ordered Chinatown rival’s murder, San Francisco racketeering trial hears

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