‘Defendant changed his life’:
America
A prime defendant in a San Francisco racketeering case ordered the killing of a rival before taking over his organization in Chinatown and engaging in money laundering and trafficking in guns and drugs, a prosecutor said during his opening statement Monday at the high-profile trial.
The 2006 slaying of Allen Leung was a “cold-blooded, gangland-style hit” ordered by defendant Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, federal prosecutor Waqar Hasib told jurors as he described the killing.
Defense attorney Tony Serra countered in his opening statement that Chow did not participate in any killings or other criminal activity detailed in the investigation that led to the conviction of former state Sen Leland Yee on a racketeering charge.
Chow pleaded guilty to racketeering in 2000 amid accusations that included heroin and cocaine trafficking, attempted murder and robbery, according to an FBI affidavit in Chow’s current case.
But Serra said Chow, who will testify in his own defense, reformed and was looking forward to a lucrative book deal about his life.
“My client is not, and they will never show he is anything analogous to a godfather,” Serra said.
Chow was the focus of a lengthy investigation that included an FBI agent posing as a member of the mafia who plied his targets in Chinatown — one of San Francisco’s most popular tourist attractions — with fancy meals, liquor and cash. More than two dozen people were indicted last year as part of the probe.
Hasib called Chow the sun at the center of a criminal universe and accused him of repeatedly accepting money from the undercover FBI agent.
Serra said the FBI agent instigated the crimes for which people were later arrested. He said his client was broke after leaving prison, and the agent forced money on him, often when Chow was