A tong is a type of organization found among Chinese immigrants predominantly living in the United States, with smaller numbers in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. In Chinese, the word tong means "hall" or "gathering place". These organizations are described as secret societies or sworn brotherhoods and are often tied to criminal activity. In the 1990s, in most American Chinatowns, clearly marked tong halls could easily be found, many of which have had affiliations with Chinese organized crime.
Wah Ching, meaning Chinese Youth, is a Chinese American criminal organization and street gang that was founded in San Francisco, California in 1964. The Wah Ching has been involved in crimes including narcotic sales, racketeering and gambling.
The Ghost Shadows or GSS was a Chinese American street gang that was prominent in New York City's Chinatown from the early 1970s to the mid 1990s. Formed in 1971 by immigrants from Taiwan and Hong Kong, the gang is affiliated with the On Leong Tong. They adopted the colors black and white as their clothing to match the name of the set. Throughout the 80s, the gang was often engaged in bloody turf wars with other Chinatown gangs such as the older Flying Dragons, affiliated with Hip Sing Tong and the Division Street Boys affiliated with Tung On Association, and their activities included extortion, kidnapping, murder, racketeering, drug trafficking and illegal gambling. The Ghost Shadows' influence was widespread, having links to Chinatowns in other cities as well as links to Sicilian-American Mafia families. The organization is defunct due to Federal RICO crackdowns during the 1990s.
The Flying Dragons, also known as FDS, is a Chinese American street gang that was prominent in New York City's Chinatown from the 1970s to the early 1990s. Formed in 1967, by immigrants primarily from Hong Kong, they are affiliated with the Hip Sing Tong. Throughout the 1980s, the gang often engaged in bloody turf wars with the newer Ghost Shadows gang. Their activities have included extortion, kidnapping, murder, racketeering, and illegal gambling. The gang moved heavily into heroin trafficking after the Italian-American Mafia lost the trade as a result of the Pizza Connection prosecutions in the mid-1980s.
Sai Wing Mock was a Chinese-American criminal and leader of the Hip Sing Tong, which replaced the On Leong Tong as the dominant Chinese-American Tong in the Manhattan Chinatown in the early 1900s.
"Big" Mike Abrams was a New York criminal and a longtime figure in the underworld of New York's Chinatown.
Little Pete was a prominent leader of the Som Yop Tong during the Tong wars of San Francisco's Chinatown in the 1890s.
The Hip Sing Association or HSA, formerly known as the Hip Sing Tong, is a Chinese-American criminal organization/gang formed as a labor organization in New York City's Chinatown during the early 20th century. The Cantonese name "Hip Sing" translates roughly to "cooperating for success." The Hip Sing Tong, along with their rivals the Four Brothers and the On Leong Tong, would be involved in violent Tong wars for control of Chinatown during the early 1900s. During the 1930s and 1940s, the Hip Sings were involved in drug trafficking operations with the Kuomintang (KMT) and later the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC). They would later establish chapters in Chinese-American communities throughout the United States in major cities such as Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco. Recently some branches have begun to transform back into the legitimate fraternal organization they started as over a century prior.
Doyers Street is a 200-foot-long (61 m) street in the Chinatown neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is one block long with a sharp bend in the middle. The street runs south and then southeast from Pell Street to the intersection of Bowery, Chatham Square, and Division Street. Doyers Street contains several restaurants, barber shops, and hair stylists, as well as the Chinatown branch of the United States Postal Service. The Nom Wah Tea Parlor opened at 13 Doyers Street in 1920, and is still in operation; other longstanding business include Ting's Gift Shop at 18 Doyers which opened in 1957.
The On Leong Chinese Merchants Association or simply Chinese Merchants Association, formerly known as the On Leong Tong, is a tong society operating out of its territory in Mott Street in New York's Chinatown. Established in November 1893, the tong fought a violent war for control of Chinatown's rackets and businesses with the Hip Sing Tong. In recent years the Tong has been linked to the Ghost Shadows street gang led by Wing Yeung Chan. Currently, there are over 30,000 registered On Leong members, the majority of them with a commercial or industrial background.
Bow Kum known as Sweet Flower was a Chinese-born slave girl who belonged to the Hip Sing Tong and later to the On Leong Tong around the turn of the 20th century. Her murder was one of the most well-publicized and notorious crimes in New York's history and was the cause of the year-long Tong War between the On Leong Tong and its rivals the Hip Sings and the Four Brothers.
Giovanni de Silvio or Jimmy Kelly was an American saloon keeper, political organizer and underworld figure in New York City during the start of the 20th century. He was the owner the Fourteenth Street saloon The Folly as well as the popular Mandarin Cafe in Chinatown, located in the notorious "Bloody Angle" along Doyers Street, and was a hangout for politicians, gang leaders and other noted criminals of the era. His cafe was also the scene of several violent incidents, especially during the Tong War, which included, in 1910, the fourth attempted suicide of Chinatown character John "Dippy" Rice and the 1912 murder of Hen Ken Yum, the latter a high-level member of the On Leong Tong and a lieutenant of Mock Duck.
William H. "Big Bill" Hodgins was an American law enforcement officer and police captain in the New York City Police Department. He is credited for the breaking up numerous street gangs, most notably the Eastman and Humpty Jackson gangs at the start of the 20th century. He was also involved in the initial negotiations, along with a number of prominent Chinese-American merchants, which eventually ended the Tong wars between the Four Brothers, Hip Sing and On Leong Tongs.
Frank Moss was an American lawyer, reformer and author. He was involved in many of the reform movements in New York City shortly before the start of the 20th century up until his death. As a longtime assistant to District Attorney Charles S. Whitman, he was involved in several high-profile criminal cases such as the Rosenthal murder trial in which police detective Charles Becker was found guilty of murder and executed.
John D. Coughlin was an American law enforcement officer, detective and police inspector in the New York City Police Department. He served as head of the NYPD detectives division from 1920 until 1928 when he was removed from office amid charges of police laxity following the murder of underworld figure Arnold Rothstein.
The Joe Boys, or JBS, was a Chinese American youth gang founded in the 1960s in San Francisco's Chinatown. The Joe Boys were originally known as Joe Fong Boys, after its founder Joe Fong, a former member of the Wah Ching. Most of their members were born in Hong Kong or were of Hong Kongese descent.
The Tong Wars were a series of violent disputes beginning in the late 19th century among rival Chinese Tong factions centered in the Chinatowns of various American cities, in particular San Francisco. Tong wars could be triggered by a variety of inter-gang grievances, from the public besmirching of another Tong's honor, to failure to make full payment for a "slave girl", to the murder of a rival Tong member. Each Tong had salaried soldiers, known as boo how doy, who fought in Chinatown alleys and streets over the control of opium, prostitution, gambling, and territory.
Warry S. Charles was a Chinese American businessman and Hip Sing Association leader who was tried and convicted for organizing a hit during the Tong Wars in Boston's Chinatown.
