Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow should get nothing less than a life prison sentence because of his corruption of those around him, his lack of remorse and his mockery of rehabilitation, federal prosecutors argued Friday.
A federal jury found Chow guilty of 162 counts, including a racketeering conspiracy in 2006 to murder of Allen Leung, the head of the Chee Kung Tong, to clear the way for Chow to take over. Chow threatened Leung over a purported debt, the government said in sentencing papers.
Chow was also accused of a conspiracy to murder Jim Tat Kong because Kong was viewed as a potential rival to Chow’s power in Chinatown.
Chow will be sentenced in two weeks, on August 4, by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer.
Chow, the leader or “dragonhead” of Chee Kung Tong fraternal association, was convicted of narcotics trafficking, money laundering, illegal firearms sales and other illegal activities. Chow’s conduct also drew in former state Senator Leland Yee, a Democrat, and the former San Francisco School Board president Keith Jackson. Jackson pleaded guilty to racketeering.
On July 1, veteran politician, Yee, admitted he took bribes from undercover FBI agents in exchange for votes on legislation, pleading guilty to a single count of racketeering. He had been accused of a scheme to smuggle guns from the Philippines.
In Chow’s case, the government contends Chow sought to “play to the easy and occasionally unquestioning attention of the press” by arguing the government “created” the crimes and that he was a “scapegoat and “trophy” for the government.
But prosecutors said Chow made false claims of rehabilitation and positive community activities that “mocked” the efforts of the truly reformed.
Prosecutors said he has engaged in crime from as young as age eight, engaged in extreme violence, ensnared young people in his criminal conspiracy that ruined their lives and refused every chance to accept responsibility or express remorse.
Case: U.S. Chow, No. 14-196
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