Michael Chen | |
---|---|
![]() NYPD Mugshot of Chen at the time of his arrest | |
Born | c. 1950 |
Died | 13 March 1983 33) | (aged
Cause of death | Gunshot wound |
Nationality | China, United States |
Other names | The Scientist |
Occupation(s) | Crime Boss, Gangster, Extortionist, Racketeer, Triad member |
Known for | Leader of the Flying Dragons |
Criminal status | Deceased |
Michael Chen (c. 1950–March 13, 1983) was a Chinese-born American gangster who was leader of the Flying Dragons gang from the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Michael Chen, was born in the Canton region of China in 1950, and the family re-located to British Hong Kong shortly thereafter. During this period, tensions existed in Hong Kong between a corrupt police force, Chinese communist agitators, and the Hong Kong colonial government. This, along with other socio-economic pressures drove Chen's father to emigrate to the United States after Chen was conceived, but before he was born. In 1963, when he was 13 years old, Chen, his mother and his sister left Hong Kong to re-unite with Chen senior in New York City. Chen worked as a delivery boy for a Chinese restaurant in Upper Manhattan while attending Seward Park High School near Chinatown. His father was a taxi driver. He graduated from high school in 1968, and briefly attended college. [1]
In the mid-1970s, Chen became the leader ('Dragon Head') of the Flying Dragons. He was arrested in Queens for homicide in 1976, but the charges were later dismissed. The following year, he was indicted in the slayings of two members of the rival Ghost Shadows during a brazen shoot-out in the crowded Pagoda Theater on East Broadway in Manhattan's Chinatown. However, he was acquitted of these crimes at trial. In a separate incident, he was arrested while carrying 12-gauge shotgun, and had 150 rounds of ammunition hidden in the ceiling of his apartment.
In August 1976, a substantial Federal Grant was awarded to the youths in Harlem to reform children from gang-related activities. In an attempt to swindle money from the same scheme, Chen colluded with Nicky Louie of the Ghost Shadows and Paul Ma of the White Eagles, along with the Tongs, to fake a peace between themselves. The deal, however, fell apart due to the deep animosity between the gang leaders, opposition from the Tongs and reluctance from the lower members of the gangs to maintain a facade of peace. The truce lasted one month until September 10, 1976, when an attack left five people injured. [2] [3] [4]
In 1983, Chen ordered the murder of Chi-ho Lau, who had convinced three members of the Flying Dragons to quit the gang. When the three members changed their minds, Chen would only allow their return if they took out a contract on Lau. On March 5, 1983, Lau was murdered by Tat Li at the Riviera Diner on Astor Place after being shot three times in the back. [1] [5]
Chen was nicknamed "The Scientist" because of his patience, cool, calm demeanor and patient ways. He had a reputation for being polite and never seemed outrageous or rude; and he was generous toward others especially to his parents and was affectionate toward his grandmother. He did not drink, smoke, or gamble, however, known as a womanizer, he had a weakness for women as well as modern technology. He owned three expensive sports cars and dressed only in designer clothes. Chen thought of himself as a businessman and had invested in nightclubs in Flushing, Queens, a meat market and in a Manhattan paper supply house. Before his death, he allegedly told his friends he was contemplating completely disassociating himself from the gangland of Chinatown and conducting himself as a legitimate businessperson. [1]
On March 13, 1983, Chen was woken in the middle of the night by a phone call, left his apartment located above the Hip Sing Tong Credit Union, and went to a coffee shop adjacent to the credit union. There, he was shot with a handgun fourteen times - four of which went through his eyes. The NYPD Spokesman Sgt. Edwin LeSchack identified Chen's body, which was found at 12:30 pm by an officer of the Hip Sing Association.
Although Michael Chen's murder has never been solved, suspects include renowned Italian mobster Enzo Mangano. Initial speculation by police Captain Robert Larkin was that it was a revenge killing by the Freemasons Gang who accused the Flying Dragons of killing three of their members in a restaurant in Chinatown the previous December. However, after conducting further investigations, police theorized that the killing was carried out by people known to Chen, as he would not have gotten out of bed so late in the night to meet with strangers.
In the early 1980s, a struggle existed amongst the Flying Dragons' leadership with Chen holding the position that the gang should stick to traditional racketeering with the crimes of extortion and gambling. Chen's rival was his underling Johnny "Machine Gun" Eng. Eng wanted to expand into more lucrative crimes such as heroin trafficking. A deeper investigation uncovered that Chen's murder was the result of a power grab by Johnny Eng to take full control of the Flying Dragons. It was speculated since the murder had taken place across the street from the Hip Sing Tong Credit Union, the assassination could not have occurred without the blessing of the Hip Sing Tong leader, Benny Ong. Ong was considered the Godfather of Chinatown and therefore must have sanctioned the murder. Chen's death was a clear message that Johnny Eng was now the new and undisputed leader of the Flying Dragons. [1] [6] [7] [8]
On May 8, 1998, Fun Biu Tok was extradited from Los Angeles to New York City to stand trial for Michael Chen's murder. At the time, Fun Biu Tok was a Lieutenant in the Flying Dragons and was instructed to kill Michael Chen by two other gangsters. [9] The reason for the killing was believed to be that Chen was suspected of skimming money from the gang's receipts. [10]
The Corruptor is a 1999 American action thriller film directed by James Foley, written by Robert Pucci, and starring Chow Yun-fat and Mark Wahlberg. The film was released in the United States on March 12, 1999.
The United Bamboo Gang, also known as the Bamboo Union, is the largest of Taiwan's three main criminal Triads. They are reported to have roughly 20,000 members. The membership consists largely of waishengren and has had historic ties to the Kuomintang; they are said to be motivated as much by political ideology as by profit. They are known to simply call themselves "businessmen", but in reality, are also involved in organized killings and drug trafficking. The gang gained global notoriety when it became directly involved in politics in the early 1980s.
The Golden Dragon massacre was a gang-related mass shooting that took place on September 4, 1977, inside the Golden Dragon Restaurant at 822 Washington Street in Chinatown, San Francisco, California, United States. The five perpetrators, members of the Joe Boys, a Chinese youth gang, were attempting to kill leaders of the Wah Ching, a rival Chinatown gang. The attack left five people dead and 11 others injured, none of whom were gang members. Seven perpetrators were later convicted and sentenced in connection with the murders. The massacre led to the establishment of the San Francisco Police Department's Asian Gang Task Force, credited with ending gang-related violence in Chinatown by 1983. The restaurant itself closed in 2006.
Wah Ching 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.
Wo Hop To, or WHT, is a triad group based in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. The name translates to "Harmoniously United Association", or "Harmonious Union Plan", and is thought to have been founded in 1908 in Sai Ying Pun as a secret political organisation in opposition to the Qing dynasty. They are one of the Four Major Gangs (四大黑幫) of Hong Kong, the others being Wo Shing Wo, 14K and Sun Yee On.
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 1980s, 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, was 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 Manhattan Chinatown in the early 1900s.
Ah Hoon was a Chinese American comedian, actor, and associate of the On Leong Tong. A celebrated comic in New York's Chinatown during the tong wars between the On Leong and Hip Sing Tong, Ah Hoon began insulting the rival Hip Sings during performances at the Chinese Theater on Doyers Street.
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.
Raymond Kwok-Cheung Chow, nicknamed "Shrimp Boy", is a Hong Kong-born felon with ties to a San Francisco Chinatown street gang and an organized crime syndicate, including the American branch of the Hong Kong-based triad Wo Hop To and the Hop Sing Boys.
The Terror of the Tongs is a 1961 British adventure film directed by Anthony Bushell and starring Geoffrey Toone, Christopher Lee and Yvonne Monlaur.
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.
Johnny Eng, also known as Onionhead or Machinegun Johnny, is a Hong Kong-born American Drug Lord and Gang Leader. He is the Former Boss (Dai-Lo) Of the Flying Dragons Street Gang
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 Ping On was a Boston-based criminal organization. The organization rose to power in the 1970s and continued to operate throughout the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. The Ping On was founded by Stephen "Sky Dragon" Tse who had heavy ties to the infamous 14K Triad in Hong Kong.
David Thai,, is a Vietnamese-born American gangster who was the founder and leader of the notorious Born to Kill gang during the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was also responsible for running a massive illegal counterfeit watch operation and at his peak controlled the market and distribution of counterfeit watches in New York by means of blackmail and extortion. He was the official leader of Born to Kill from 1988 until his arrest in 1991, which was the combination of months of investigation by the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in conjunction with the aid of a former gang member who defected from the gang and became an undercover informant, helping secure the convictions of David Thai and several of his high-ranking officers.
The Continentals were a Chinese American street gang that was prominent in New York City's Chinatown in the early 1960s.
The Boston Chinatown massacre or Tyler Street Massacre was a gang-related shooting in which five men were killed execution-style in a Boston Chinatown gambling den in the early morning hours of January 12, 1991. A sixth victim was seriously injured but survived. While no motive has been officially established, initial police reports and later Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigations indicated that the Ping On gang and one of the victims were vying for power in Boston Chinatown.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Mike Chen.