State Senator’s Arrest Reveals Alleged Ties to Chinese Gangster Underground Society

California’s Democratic Party appears to have been infiltrated by a state senator with supposed ties to a Chinese Triad that was allegedly involved in an extensive criminal conspiracy to traffic guns and drugs, launder money, assassinate for cash, and influence public policy.

The FBI’s stunning arrest of State Senator Leland Yee at his San Francisco home in a raid at dawn was followed by the release of a massive 137 page affidavit. It names 26 defendants and outlines a sophisticated five-year investigation into a Chinese secret society — called the Chee Kung Tong — and its alleged crimes. The results of the investigation include dozens of charges leveled against well-known gangsters, such as Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, who is Chee Kung Tong’s “Dragonhead,” or leader, as well as the exposure of political corruption in Senator Yee’s office that is said to have been going on for years.

The affidavit reads like a screenplay, with an outrageous cast of characters that would be at home in a mob movie, including power-hungry politicians and flamboyant gangsters. Take “Shrimp Boy” — a name given to Chow by his grandmother on account of his height — for example. A self-proclaimed gangster, Chow originally immigrated from China and almost immediate fell into a life of crime. “That’s why, first thing, I go back to where I come from: the gang,” he remarked in 2007. His rap sheet is longer than a prog-rock guitar solo, dating back to the 1970s, when he was an enforcer for the Hop Sing Boys, a Chinatown gang in San Francisco.

Since then, he’s been in and out of the clink several times, serving time for armed robbery and arms trafficking. His longest sentence was nearly eight years, ending in 2003. But when he finally got out, Chow insisted that he was a changed man. Instead of returning to the underworld, he said that he’d focus on improving the community and landing a book and movie deal — and ended up rubbing shoulders with political elites like California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom and celebrities like Randy Jackson.

Chow took over the Chee Kung Tong in 2006, after its previous Dragonhead was gunned down in his home — a homicide that remains unsolved. Feds accuse him of several counts of money laundering and conspiracy to traffic cigarettes, which all told carry a maximum sentence of nearly 90 years in federal prison.

Contact between Chow and Senator Yee was limited. Yee told one of the undercover agents that the gangster was “hot stuff,” and that contact between the two of them could damage Yee’s reputation.

Yee is an ambitious fellow. After stints on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors and in the California State Assembly, he was elected to the state senate in 2006, an office he has held ever since. But this is not the first time Yee has been accused of “dirty politics.”

Publicly, Yee has been a staunch gun control advocate. Court documents suggest that in private, however, Yee displayed a sophisticated knowledge of both weapons and trafficking. The affidavit details discussions he had with one of the undercover agents in which he outlined a scheme to obtain hundreds of Tavor assault rifles — an Israeli manufactured equivalent to the M16 that Yee had tested himself, according to the document — and shoulder-fired rocket launchers. Yee said that he could use family connections in the Philippines to purchase the arms from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a rebel group that had been funded by the deceased Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi.

The plan was to ship the $2.5 million of weapons to North Africa via New Jersey, where Yee’s family would bribe Port of Newark officials, according to the affidavit.

Yee was a candidate to become California’s secretary of state; he allegedly told one of the undercover FBI agents that, once elected, he would be able to “utilize his position” to ship weapons directly to Africa, describing the continent as a “largely untapped market for trade.” (Understandably, Yee has since pulled out of the race.)

He is also accused of accepting $42,000 in bribes from undercover FBI agents — acting as a Chee Kung Tong “consultants” — in exchange for political connections, legislative action to amend marijuana policy, and to help friends obtain government tech contracts. Additionally, Yee was paid to make a senatorial proclamation honoring the Chee Kung Tong’s 165th anniversary.

Although Yee didn’t attend the 165th anniversary event where the proclamation was presented — he was in Los Angeles on business — the affidavit says that he socialized on several occasions with others that have been charged with narcotics trafficking and commissioning assassinations. For example, on Feb. 28 2014, he gave a speech at a dinner celebrating the Hop Sing Tong, another Triad organization similar to the Chee Kung Tong. Interestingly, several of the attendees’ names were redacted from the court documents. The other men held various positions of authority within the Chee Kung Tong.

The Chee Kung Tong is believed to be an offshoot of the Hung Mun, a Chinese secret anarchist society — also known as a Triad — with roots dating back to the mid-17th century. Hung Mun was founded with the intention of overthrowing the Qing dynasty. The reason was simple: the Qing were actually Manchurian invaders and conquerors of China, controlling it until the early 20th century.

The Qing pursued the Hung Mun doggedly, forcing them and other opposition groups to work in secret. Many fled mainland China and began operations in the US, with the Hung Mun — now known as the Chee Kung Tong — rising to become one of the most powerful.

The Chee Kung Tong has long been suspected of having a criminal element that engages in the usual range of mafia-like activities: tobacco and arms smuggling, drug trafficking, prostitution, extortion, and murder. With the host of charges leveled against many senior members of the society, those suspicions appear to have been justified. But it’s important to note that the criminal activities of some members are not necessarily representative of what such groups actually stand for.

Yee was released from custody after posting a $500,000 bond. His attorney, Paul DeMeester, has informed the press that Yee plans to plead not guilty to the charges, and that he hasn’t yet decided whether to resign from the state senate. The FBI’s investigation is ongoing.