Suspect in Chinatown killing dies of cancer

A man charged with taking part in a notorious 2006 murder in San Francisco’s Chinatown, a killing for which former crime boss Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow is serving life in prison, has died while awaiting trial, his lawyer said Thursday.

Wen Bing Lei, 51, of Las Vegas, had been indicted in January 2017 on a charge of murdering Allen Leung during racketeering activity. Leung, 56, led the Ghee Kung Tong, a Chinatown community organization that included members who dealt drugs and committed other crimes. He was also a public figure who ran an import-export business and was appointed to city economic task forces by mayors Willie Brown and Gavin Newsom.

A masked gunman shot Leung to death in his store in February 2006. Chow, who succeeded Leung as the tong’s leader, was convicted by a federal court jury in January 2016 of operating the organization as a racketeering enterprise and ordering Leung’s murder. He is appealing his conviction.

At Chow’s trial, one prosecution witness, a convicted drug dealer, testified that Chow had ordered him to work with Lei, known as “Skinny Ray,” to kill Leung. A grand jury indictment alleged that Lei had taken part in the murder for the purpose of “maintaining and increasing his position” in the Ghee Kung Tong.

Lei denied guilt. His lawyer, Mark Vermeulen, said the prosecution witness had testified in exchange for leniency in his own case.

Vermeulen said Lei, in custody on other charges since December 2015, was diagnosed recently with lung cancer that had spread to his brain and his spine. He said Lei was granted compassionate release from jail by a federal judge on June 29, was transferred to a hospital and died there on July 8 with family members attending to him.