Abstract
This article analyzes the investigation and prosecution of contemporary Chinese criminal organizations through the study of one major human smuggling case: the trial of “Sister Ping.” Data were obtained from media reports, court documents, and from interviews with parties familiar with the case. It is argued that modern human smuggling groups such as the one run by Sister Ping are informal and decentralized organizations against which the RICO statute may be of little use.
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Notes
See Ko-lin Chin Chinese Triad Societies, Tongs, Organized Crime, and Street Gangs in Asia and the United States 1 (1986) (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania).
See Ko-lin Chin, Chinatown Gangs: Extortion, Enterprise, and Ethnicity 114–115 (1996).
These gang names included Ghost Shadows, Flying Dragons, and White Tigers.
Chin, supra note 2, at 7–10.
See id. at 11.
Telephone Interview with Special Agent William McMurry, Federal Bureau of Investigation (Nov. 30, 2007).
These gangs are more common on the west coast. Members are often Chinese-Americans who have been raised in the United States. Id.
Id.
As recently as November 2004, the FBI, NYPD, and ICE arrested more than fifty alleged members of two nameless Chinese gangs for their participation in extortion, gambling, loan sharking, counterfeiting, and alien smuggling operations. Julia Preston, U.S. Charges 51 With Chinatown Smuggling, N.Y. Times, November 13, 2004; see also Press Release, United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (Nov. 12, 2004), available at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/November04/chineseocindictment.pdf. These gangs developed around particularly strong-willed leaders, rather than the domination of a particular neighborhood. Preston, supra.
Denny Lee, Years of the Dragons, N.Y. Times, May 11, 2003.
The decline of the gangs has correlated with an overall decline in violent crime in Chinatown. In Manhattan’s Fifth Precinct, which includes Chinatown, police officers now devote considerable time and effort to enforcing street vendor regulations. Michael Wilson, Policing a City Where Streets Are Less Mean, N.Y. Times, August 8, 2004. Fifteen years ago, when dangerous street crime was more common, these offenses were a much lower priority. Id.
See Sheldon Zhang & Ko-lin Chin, The Declining Significance of Triad Societies in Transnational Illegal Activities: A Structural Deficiency Perspective, 43 Brit. J. Criminology 469 (2003).
Id. at 469.
This is not to suggest that street gangs did not smuggle immigrants or traffic illegal drugs. Beginning in the late 1980s, they began to branch out from crimes like extortion to transnational crimes, like drug trafficking, human smuggling, and credit card fraud. Chin, supra note 2, at 7. In general, though, Chin argued the extent of their participation in these activities was “exaggerated.” Id. at 163.
Chin, supra note 2, at 123.
Id. at 7–10.
Id. at 162–163.
Id. at 7, 57.
William Kleinknecht, The New Ethnic Mobs: The Changing Face of Organized Crime in America, 94–95 (1996).
Id.
Id.
“Triads” are also mentioned frequently in the Chinese organized crime literature. Triads are centuries-old criminal organizations, usually headquartered in Hong Kong, that operate internationally. Ko-lin Chin, The Social Organization of Chinese Human Smuggling, in Global Human Smuggling, Comparative Perspectives, 229–230 (David Kyle & Rey Koslowski, eds.). Chinese-American street gangs are distinct from triads, although the gangs may emulate triad traditions, and the groups may collaborate when it is convenient. Chin, supra note 1, at 333–34.
Chin, supra note 2, at 166.
Id. at 172.
Kleinknecht, supra note 19, at 19.
Chin, supra note 2, at 173.
Alexander Reid, 25 Reputed Members of Chinatown Gang are Charged with Racketeering, N.Y. Times, February 19, 1985.
Chin, supra note 2, at 173.
A major catalyst for the later prosecutions was the human smuggling disaster involving the Golden Venture. See Chin, supra note 2. That voyage was organized in part by Sister Ping, whose prosecution is the subject of this article.
Id. at 174–75.
Id. at 174.
Letter from Mary Jo White, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, to Mary D. Demory, U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (Dec. 3, 1999), available at http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/reports/EOUSA/ e0003/app3.htm#one.
Sheldon Zhang & Ko-lin Chin, Characteristics of Chinese Human Smugglers: A Cross-National Study, Final Report 2 (October, 2002) available at http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/200607.pdf.
Id. at 1.
Id. at 13.
Id. at 3.
This number has been proposed by American officials. Sheldon Zhang & Ko-lin Chin, Enter the Dragon: Inside Chinese Human Smuggling Organizations, 40 Criminology 737, 739 (2002) (citing Dan Freedman, Asian Gangs Turn to Smuggling People, San Francisco Examiner (Dec. 30, 1991) at A7; Seth Mydans, Chinese Smugglers’ Lucrative Cargo: Humans, New York Times (Mar. 21, 1992) at A1). However, Zhang and Chin suggest that the sophistication of smugglers’ worldwide organization might be exaggerated. Id. at 741.
Zhang & Chin, supra note 33, at 16–17.
Zhang & Chin, supra note 37, at 751.
Chin, supra note 22.
Interview with William McMurry, supra note 6.
Preferred methods of transport are cyclical, and it is possible that boats will come back into favor in future years. Id. However, many more affluent smugglees have always shunned the sea route, which is “reserved mostly for the peasantry and villagers from small townships.” Zhang & Chin, supra note 37, at 739.
Zhang & Chin, supra note 33, at 22.
See Chin, supra note 22.
The Fuk Ching gang, for example, performed this task for Sister Ping.
See Chin, supra note 22, at 224.
National Drug Intelligence Center, National Drug Threat Assessment 2007 (October 2006), available at http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs21/21137/dtos.htm.
Id.
Id.
Chin, supra note 2, at 156.
Id.
Patrick Radden Keefe, The Snakehead: The Criminal Odyssey of Chinatown’s Sister Ping, The New Yorker, April 24, 2006.
According to several current snakeheads interviewed by Zhang and Chin, her reputation as the most successful or prolific smuggler was probably overblown. One interviewee stated, “I know people in Fuzhou right now who are far more successful than Sister Ping....” Zhang & Chin, supra note 37, at 749.
Mother of All Snakeheads, Asian Pacific Post, July 10, 2003, available at http://www.asianpacificpost.com/portal2/402881910674ebab010674f4ae3a12db.do.html.
Keefe, supra note 52.
Id.
Id.
Interview with William McMurry, supra note 6.
As she became known as an effective snakehead who ran a profitable operation, would-be associates proactively sought to work with her. Id.
Sister Ping did have an “inner circle” of trusted associates, but they were not necessarily a cohesive organization. Id.
Keefe, supra note 52.
Telephone Interview with former Assistant United States Attorney David Burns (October 26, 2007).
Keefe, supra note 52.
Id.
Alleged People-Smuggler to be Extradited, Chicago Tribune, June 14, 2001 at 6.
Cheng Chui Ping: “Mother of Snakeheads”, BBC News, March 17, 2006, available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4816354.stm.
Trial Transcript at 39 (Government Opening).
Interview with William McMurry, supra note 6.
Id.
The federal government would ultimately procure an indictment against the Fuk Ching in 1993. Chin, supra note 2, at 173. Like her, members of the Fuk Ching came from Fujian province in China, James O. Finckenauer, International Center, National Institute of Justice, Chinese Transnational Organized Crime: The Fuk Ching, available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/international/chinese.html, and were active human smugglers, Interview with William McMurry, supra note 6.
Indeed, law enforcement authorities hastened their investigations of Chinese organized crime after this incident. Chin, supra note 2.
Interview with William McMurry, supra note 6.
Id.
Tr. at 1624 (Government Summation).
Mother of All Snakeheads, Asian Pacific Post, July 10, 2003, available at http://www.asianpacificpost.com/portal2/402881910674ebab010674f4ae3a12db.do.html.
Keefe, supra note 52.
18 U.S.C. §§ 1201(a)(1) and 2.
18 U.S.C. §§ 1203(a) and 2.
18 U.S.C. § 1202.
8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2.
To violate 18 U.S.C. §§ 1201(a)(1), 1951, 1202, 1203(a), 875(a), and 8 U.S.C. §§ 1324(a)(1)(A), (B), and (C).
The alleged acts of kidnapping and hostage taking played a more prominent role in the 1994 indictment than that from 2000, which included only one hostage taking count and no kidnapping counts.
Mother of All Snakeheads, Asian Pacific Post, July 10, 2003, available at http://www.asianpacificpost.com/ portal2/402881910674ebab010674f4ae3a12db.do.html.
David W. Chen, People-Smuggling Suspect Is Held After 5-Year Hunt, New York Times, April 21, 2000 at B3.
Tr. at 1622–23 (Government Summation).
Tr. at 1623, Joseph P. Fried, Mastermind of Golden Venture Smuggling Ship Gets 20 Years, New York Times, December 2, 1998 at B12.
These co-conspirators included Weng Yu Hui, Ah Kay, and Lee Peng Fei, or “Char Lee.”
Keefe, supra note 52.
Interview with William McMurry, supra note 6.
18 U.S.C. § 3181 note (2006) (Treaties of Extradition).
Interview with William McMurry, supra note 6.
Edward Barnes, Two-Faced Woman, Time, July 23, 2000, available at http://www.time.com/time/ magazine/article/0,9171,50610–2,00.html.
Id.
Sentencing Hearing Transcript at 5.
Interview with David Burns, supra note 62.
Her address book contained phone numbers for “immigration offices” in Malaysia, Thailand, and Belize and the phone number for a “special immigration friend.” Government Appeal Brief at 14.
Sentencing Hearing Transcript at 5.
Sara Bradford, Big Sister Extradition Bid Too Late, Says Lawyer, South China Morning Post, December 21, 2001 at 2.
Defense Appeal Brief at 4.
Hong Kong authorities resisted Sister Ping’s extradition on one of two hostage taking charges and a charge of operating an illegal money transmitting business, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §1960(a) and 2. Government Appeal Brief at 2.
Interview with David Burns, supra note 62.
In violation of 8 U.S.C. §1324(a)(1)(A) and 18 U.S.C.§§1202, 1203(a), 1956(a)(2)(A), and 1960(a).
In violation of 18 U.S.C. §1203(a) and 2.
See 2000 Superseding Indictment; Summation, 1591–92.
In violation of 18 U.S.C. §§1956(a)(2)(A) and 2.
In violation of 18 U.S.C. §§1202 and 2.
Tr. at 1631 (Government Summation).
Press Release, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Queen “Snakehead” Sister Ping is Extradited from Hong Kong to New York to Face Alien Smuggling and Hostage Taking Charges (July 1, 2003), available at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/July03/ping222extradite.pdf.
Chow Chung-yan, Golden Venture Suspect In Court, South China Morning Post, June 17, 2000 at 2.
Id.
Magdalen Chow, “Big Sister Ping” Tries to Block Extradition, South China Morning Post, September 7, 2000 at 4.
Id.
Lily Dizon, Tung to Decide Fate of “Big Sister Ping”, Standard (China), September 28, 2000.
Angel Lau, Extradition Battle Heads Back to Court, South China Morning Post, June 28, 2001, at 8.
Magdalen Chow, Tung Not a Court of Law, Say Judges, South China Morning Post, September 11, 2002, at 6.
Press Release, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Queen “Snakehead” Sister Ping is Extradited from Hong Kong to New York to Face Alien Smuggling and Hostage Taking Charges (July 1, 2003), available at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/July03/ping222extradite.pdf.
Id.
During the three years between her arrest and extradition, the government had ample time to strengthen the 2000 indictment. To their frustration, however, the U.S. Attorney’s Office could not seek another superseding indictment, Interview with David Burns, supra note 62, because of the “doctrine of specialty,” which requires that defendants be tried only on the charges for which they were extradited, United States v. Rauscher, 119 U.S. 407 (1886).
Julia Preston, Trial Starts With Details of Immigrant Smuggling, New York Times, May 17, 2005 at B1.
Tr. at 1626 (Government Summation).
Interview with David Burns, supra note 62.
The facts surrounding the Blue Chip were also important to the government’s case, but were not necessarily offered to prove that Sister Ping was an alien smuggler.
Tr. at 1609 (Government Summation).
Tr. at 1599 (Government Summation).
Tr. at 315–316.
Tr. at 318, 320.
Tr. at 395.
Tr. at 396, 399.
The two first crossed paths in early 1985, when members of the Fuk Ching gang twice robbed her house in Brooklyn. Tr. at 344, 355.
Tr. at 404.
Tr. at 406.
Tr. at 409–412.
Tr. at 411.
Cho Yee Yeung testified about the process of unloading the Boston boat. They used a crude and dangerous method where passengers would jump between vessels, waiting for waves to raise Cho’s smaller boat to their level. Tr. at 1604 (Government Summation). The smugglees were so unruly that Cho fired shots into the air to restore order, and then did so again when they would not obey his commands. Tr. at 1605 (Government Summation).
Tr. at 1605–1606 (Government Summation).
Tr. at 1605–1606 (Government Summation).
Tr. at 1607 (Government Summation).
Tr. at 413–414.
Tr. at 418–419.
See Tr. at 147–148.
Tr. at 457.
Weng Yu Hui was arrested in New York in April 1994. He entered into a cooperation agreement with the government in June 1994, and Judge Raggi sentenced him to ten years’ imprisonment in October 1995. Tr. at 115–118.
Tr. at 80–81.
Tr. at 112.
Tr. at 119–122.
Weng testified that Sister Ping reacted to the circumstances by joking, “Oh, now you’re my competitor.” Tr. at 120–123. The significance of this statement—and whether it established that she knew the funds were intended for alien smuggling—would play a major role in the defense’s post-verdict motions and appeal.
According to Weng, corrupt Thai customs agents warned him the United States had increased enforcement at the Bangkok airport. Tr. at 135.
Tr. at 136–138.
Tr. at 138–139.
Tr. at 140, 142.
See Tr. at 147.
Tr. at 146–147.
Tr. at 152–153.
The smugglers did not force their customers to board the Golden Venture. Often, snakeheads only exercise complete control over smugglees after arriving in the U.S., when there is a serious risk that they will escape without paying their fee. Interview with William McMurry, supra note 6.
Tr. at 1612 (Government Summation).
Tr. at 149–150.
Tr. at 150.
There was additional evidence that Sister Ping used her banking business to transfer money for the Golden Venture. The government, which was poised to bring a racketeering case against the Fuk Ching in 1993, had tapped the phone line at the gang’s preferred hangout. Interview with David Burns, supra note 62. During a wiretapped phone call, Ah Kay stated that he had sent about $300,000 to Thailand for the boat through Sister Ping’s business. Tr. at 1637 (Government Summation).
Tr. at 602.
Tr. at 460.
Keefe, supra note 52.
Id.
Id.
Ah Kay was still in China when he was arrested in August 1993, Tr. at 466, and the Fuk Ching remained active in human smuggling while he was there. Tr. at 467.
Keefe, supra note 52.
Tr. at 115; see also Joseph P. Fried, Mastermind of Golden Venture Smuggling Ship Gets 20 Years, New York Times, December 2, 1998 at B12.
This landing was quite dangerous because the water was too shallow for the Golden Venture to reach land. The boat became caught on a sandbar 200 yards offshore. Without proper lifeboats, lifejackets, or other safety precautions, the passengers were ordered to swim that distance in cold, dark, and rough waters. These were the circumstances under which ten passengers died. See Joseph P. Fried, Mastermind of Golden Venture Smuggling Ship Gets 20 Years, New York Times, December 2, 1998 at B12. Char Lee was arrested in Thailand in November 1995. Joseph P. Fried, Mastermind of Golden Venture Smuggling Ship Gets 20 Years, New York Times, December 2, 1998 at B12. After being extradited to the U.S., he pled guilty to manslaughter, alien smuggling, and conspiracy, for which he was sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment. Id. This was a significant upward departure from the federal Sentencing Guidelines’ recommended sentence. Id. Judge Reena Raggi (Eastern District of New York) explained her decision by pointing to several aggravating factors, including “inhuman treatment” and Char Lee’s “callous decision” to ground the boat and order the passengers to swim to shore. Id.
Tr. at 1612–1614 (Government Summation).
Tr. at 1611–1612 (Government Summation).
Tr. at 1612–1614 (Government Summation).
Interview with David Burns, supra note 62.
At the times of his testimony, Feng had not yet been sentenced. Tr. at 1615 (Government Summation).
Sister Ping had long used Guatemala as a launching point for the last portion of her customers’ journey. In 1984, Weng Yu Hui was brought to Guatemala before being smuggled over the U.S.-Mexico border by car. Tr. at 1595–1596 (Government Summation). It was common for her ships to sail from China to Thailand, then to a point in Central America, like Guatemala, Belize, or Mexico, then to the United States. Julia Preston, Trial Starts With Details of Immigrant Smuggling, New York Times, May 17, 2005 at B1.
Tr. at 1615 (Government Summation).
Tr. at 1617 (Government Summation).
Interview with David Burns, supra note 62.
Id.
Tr. at 1619–1620 (Government Summation).
Tr. at 1620 (Government Summation).
Id.
Tr. at 1619 (Government Summation).
Id.
Tr. at 1618 (Government Summation).
Interview with David Burns, supra note 62.
Tr. at 1630–31 (Government Summation).
Niall Fraser, Golden Venture Suspect Arrested: Detention of Woman Ends Five-Year Hunt Linked to New York Smuggling Tragedy, South China Morning Post, April 20, 2000.
Tr. at 1631 (Government Summation).
Tr. at 1630.
Tr. at 1632
Zheng testified that the code was intended to help them evade law enforcement while communicating. Id. at 1630–1632. Precisely how the beeper code would achieve this purpose is unclear, which was a point raised on appeal of her conviction on Count 5.
Id. at 1632–1633.
Patricia Hurtado, She’s Back in NY: “Queen Snakehead” Facing Federal Charges, Newsday, July 2, 2003 at A06.
Tr. at 1634 (Government Summation).
Telephone Interview with Lawrence Hochheiser (January 24, 2008).
Id.
Sister Ping’s attorney, Lawrence Hochheiser, stressed that the human smuggling was incidental to her banking business, however. Julia Preston, Trial Starts With Details of Immigrant Smuggling, New York Times, May 17, 2005 at B1.
Interview with Lawrence Hochheiser, supra note 194.
Tr. at 1696 (Government Rebuttal Summation).
Julia Preston, Trial Starts With Details of Immigrant Smuggling, New York Times, May 17, 2005 at B1.
Tr. at 1593 (Government Summation).
Id. at 1597–1598.
Tr. at 1698–99 (Government Rebuttal Summation).
Government Appeal Brief.
Government Appeal Brief.
Press Release, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Sister Ping Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison for Alien Smuggling, Hostage Taking, Money Laundering and Ransom Proceeds Conspiracy (March 16, 2006), available at http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel06/ sispter_ping031606.htm.
Judge Mukasey declared a mistrial with respect to Count Two on June 28, 2005. Government Appeal Brief at 3.
18 U.S.C. § 1203.
The charges in Counts Two and Four were supported largely by testimony from Fuk Ching gang members. Interview with David Burns, October 26, 2007. Both David Burns, lead prosecutor in the case, and Lawrence Hochheiser, the defense attorney, speculate that the jury failed to convict on these counts because of their uneasiness with the gang members’ credibility. Interviews with David Burns and Lawrence Hochheiser, supra notes 62 and 194.
Pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29.
Pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 33.
Defendant’s Memorandum in Support of Fed. R. Crim. P. 29 and 33 Motion to Set Aside the Verdict (July 14, 2005).
Tr. at 122.
Defendant’s Memorandum in Support of Fed. R. Crim. P. 29 and 33 Motion to Set Aside the Verdict (July 14, 2005) at 8–9.
Id. at 15.
Hearing Transcript (January 5, 2006) at 4–5.
Defendant’s Memorandum in Support of Fed. R. Crim. P. 29 and 33 Motion to Set Aside the Verdict (July 14, 2005) at 6.
Hearing Transcript (January 5, 2006) at 8–9.
Hearing Transcript (January 5, 2006) at 8–12. The defense dropped this argument on appeal.
Earlier, the court had also rejected the defense’s request for an interrogatory asking specifically which offense the jury had concluded to be Sister Ping’s purpose. Defense Appeal Brief at 23.
Defendant’s Memorandum in Support of Fed. R. Crim. P. 29 and 33 Motion to Set Aside the Verdict (July 14, 2005) at 10–11.
Id. at 20.
Hearing Transcript (January 5, 2006) at 7–8.
Hearing Transcript (January 5, 2006) at 12.
Hearing Transcript (January 5, 2006) at 12. The defense also dropped this argument on appeal.
Sentencing Transcript at 4–7.
Sentencing Transcript at 8–12.
Sentencing Transcript at 12.
Sentencing Transcript at 15–16.
Sentencing Transcript at 34–35.
Sentencing Transcript at 37.
This essentially amounted to a life sentence for the 57-year old defendant.
Goldberg was joined on the brief by Scott Tulman, Jared Lefkowitz, and Susan Papano.
United States v. Ping, No. 06–1996-cr, 2007 WL 4102736 at *1 (2d Cir. Nov. 19, 2007).
18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(2)(A) prohibits the transfer of money “with the intent to promote the carrying on of specified unlawful activity,” which includes alien smuggling offenses “committed for the purpose of financial gain,” 18 U.S.C. § 1961(1)(F).
Defense Appeal Brief at 5–6.
Defense Appeal Brief at 6.
Defense Appeal Brief at 6–7.
Ping at *1.
Ping at *2.
Defense Appeal Brief at 34–36.
Defense Appeal Brief at 34. A conscious avoidance charge is appropriate where a “factual predicate for the charge exists, i.e., the evidence is such that a rational juror may reach the conclusion ‘beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was aware of a high probability of the fact in dispute and consciously avoided confirming that fact.’” United States v. Nektalov, 461 F.3d 309, 314 (2d Cir. 2006) (quoting United States v. Aina-Marshall, 336 F.3d 167, 170 (2d Cir. 2003)).
Ping at 2.
Defense Appeal Brief at 40.
Ping at 2.
The defense argued that “smuggling fees” are “paid to a person committing the crime of alien smuggling for commercial gain in violation of the RICO statute... or the applicable immigration offense...,” while “ransom is money received in connection with a violation of the kidnapping statute.” Defense Appeal Brief at 42.
Defense Appeal Brief at 43.
Ping at 2 (quoting United States v. MacPherson, 424 F.3d 183, 189 (2d Cir. 2005)).
Zhang & Chin, supra note 33, at 3.
Ko-lin Chin, Smuggled Chinese: Clandestine Immigration to the United States 29, 32 (1999). The counterpart to big snakeheads are “little snakeheads,” typically China-based middlemen who perform tasks like recruiting and collecting payments. Id.
Chinese snakeheads are reported to live in the first three countries, and Taiwanese in the latter four. Id. at 32.
Interview with David Burns, supra note 62.
Id.
Id.
Phillip G. Autry, An Analysis of the Effectiveness of Sino-U.S. Law Enforcement Cooperation to Combat Human Smuggling 34–36 (2007) (Master’s Thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology).
Since September 11th, U.S. and Chinese authorities have also increased cooperation on counterterrorism issues. Strengthening the relationship between the two countries in that context may ultimately assist in the effort against transnational organized crime. See id. at 61–66.
One proposed explanation for this inertia is that the country is benefited by having ethnic Chinese overseas, many of whom send their earnings back home. Chin, supra note 249, at 132 (citing Pamela Burdman, China Cracks Down on Smuggling, San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 19, 1993 at A1).
Ko-lin Chin & Roy Godson, Organized Crime and the Political-Criminal Nexus in China, 9 Trends in Organized Crime, at 13 (2006).
Chin, supra note 249, at 159.
See generally Chin & Godson, supra note 257; see also U.S. Gen. Accounting Office, Alien Smuggling: Management and Operational Improvements Needed to Address Growing Problem 26–27 (2000) (citing a 1999 INS Intelligence Assessment describing corruption “among foreign government officials and airline personnel” and, more particularly, ties between the People’s Liberation Army of China and Chinese organized crime groups involved in human smuggling).
Mother of All Snakeheads, Asian Pacific Post, July 10, 2003, available at http://www.asianpacificpost.com/portal2/402881910674ebab010674f4ae3a12db.do.html.
Id.
See James O. Finckenauer & Ko-lin Chin, Asian Transnational Organized Crime and its Impact on the United States: Developing a Transnational Crime Research Agenda 22 (November 2004), available at http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/213310.pdf (citing James Finckenauer & Elin Waring, Russian Mafia in America (1998)).
Zhang & Chin, supra note 33, at 1.
See id.
Interview with William McMurry, supra note 6.
Perhaps the closest it ever came to having continuous members was during its earliest incarnation, when it consisted of close family members.
China, supra note 2.
Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, Pub. L. No. 104–132, § 433, 110 Stat. 1214, 1274 (1996) (codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1961(1)(F)).
18 U.S.C. § 1962.
United States v. Turkette, 452 U.S. 576, 583 (1981).
United States v. Crenshaw, 359 F.3d 977, 991 (8th Cir. 2004).
Zhang & Chin, supra note 37, at 754–55.
The Fuk Ching is one such example, as is the “Frank Ma Organization,” which was indicted in 2004, United States v. Ma, No. 03-cr-734, 2006 WL 708559 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 21, 2006).
18 U.S.C. § 1961(5).
See e.g., Tr. at 1626 (Government Summation) (“Hostage taking and alien smuggling go hand-in-hand”).
Amy Zimmer, Journey to the Golden Mountain: Indentured Servitude, Locked-Down Borders and the Prosecution of a Smuggling Kingpin—None of it Deters Chinese Migrants from Making it to East Broadway, 29 City Limits, January 1, 2004.
Finckenauer & Chin, supra note 262, at 21.
Id.
Historically, large numbers of smugglees have been Fujianese. Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian province, has produced “what is certainly among the most concentrated flows, both geographically and over time, of transcontinental clandestine migration in history.” Marlowe Hood, Sourcing the Problem: Why Fuzhou?, in Human Smuggling: Chinese Migrant Trafficking and the Challenge to America’s Immigration Tradition 76, 76 (Paul J. Smith ed., 1997). The prevalence of western migration in this region may be explained, in part, by Fujian’s coastal location, its “proximity to Taiwan,” a “tradition of smuggling and clandestine activity,” and the “prevalence of tightly knit kinship structures.” Id. at 91.
Zimmer, supra note 276.
Id.
Id.
U.S. State Department, Interview with Ko-lin Chin, available at http://usinfo.state.gov/eap/Archive_Index/ Interview_with_Kolin_Chin.html.
Acknowledgment
The author would like to sincerely thank Professor James B. Jacobs of New York University School of Law. His suggestions motivated this research, and his guidance helped lead it to its completion. His contribution was simply invaluable. The author would also like to thank David Burns, William McMurry, and Lawrence Hochheiser for graciously agreeing to be interviewed for this article.
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Author is a 2008 graduate of New York University School of Law.
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Sein, A.J. The prosecution of Chinese organized crime groups: the Sister Ping case and its lessons. Trends Organ Crim 11, 157–182 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-008-9036-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-008-9036-y