Background of Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow case
SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - The murder and racketeering trial of alleged Chinatown gang leader Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow began Monday in federal court in San Francisco with opening statements, the latest chapter in a case that led to the downfall of former state Sen. Leland Yee.
The highly anticipated case pits federal prosecutors, who accuse Chow of taking part in two slayings, against a defense team that includes colorful attorney J. Tony Serra, who says the feds are overreaching and relying on unreliable testimony by former co-defendants who took plea deals.
According to the FBI, Chow arranged the 2006 killing of Allen Leung, Chow’s predecessor as leader of the Chinese fraternal group Ghee Kung Tong. Prosecutors say the group was in fact a racketeering organization. Leung was killed by a masked assailant who has not been identified, but Chow was angry at Leung because of an alleged debt, authorities say.
Then, in 2013, Jim Tat Kong, an alleged gang member, was shot and killed in Mendocino County. Chow is also accused of conspiring with others to solicit Kong’s killing.
But Serra says two of Chow’s former co-defendants in the racketeering case are lying to save themselves. The defense has also accused undercover FBI agents of living the high life, spending more than $1 million at expensive restaurants and bars to entertain Chow and his friends.
The trial, which could last for months, is taking place before U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco. Chow is being held without bail.
Yee pleaded guilty in July to accepting bribes from agents posing as campaign contributors. Yee became a target as a result of his interactions with Keith Jackson, a former San Francisco school board president and an associate of Chow.
WHO IS ON TRIAL?
Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, alleged leader of a Chinatown brotherhood. Legal name is Kwok Cheung Chow.
WHO ARE HIS ATTORNEYS?
Famed lawyer J. Tony Serra, Curtis Briggs and Tyler Smith
WHO IS REPRESENTING THE GOVERNMENT?
Asst. U.S. Attorneys William Frentzen, Susan Badger and Waqar Hasib