Chinese People Smuggling (Part II - notes and bibliography)

By Mark Craig
Volume 10, Number 2 (Winter 1999-2000)
Issue theme: "Ober borders: gateways for criminals and terrorists"

NOTES

(1) See Chin, Ko-lin and Robert Kelly, Human Snakes Illegal Chinese Immigrants in the United States. National Science Foundation, 25 March 1997, Washington, D.C.

(2) See Kristof, Nicholas D., and Sheryl Wudunn, (1994),China Wakes The Struggle For The Soul of a Rising Power, Vintage Books, p. 198, New York.

(3) See Dudley L. Poston, Jr., and Yu Mei-Yu. (1992), 'The Distribution of the Overseas Chinese' in Poston, D. L. Jr., Yaukey D., (Eds), The Population of Modern China, Plenum Press, New York, pp.117-148.

(4) From 1749-1851 China's population grew from 177,495,000 to 431,896,000. Banister, Judith, (1987), 'A Brief History of China's Population' in Poston, D. L.,Jr. and Yaukey D., (Eds), The Population of Modern China, Plenum Press, New York, p.51.

(5) Yen, Ching-hwang, (1986), A Social History of Chinese in Singapore and Malaya 1800- 1911, Oxford University Press, Singapore, pp.111-112.

(6) Although, over the next four years more than three thousand coolies arrived in Australia, the Hokkien coolies did not establish the kind of communities founded by the Cantonese, who maintained a continuous presence in Australia, and in many cases replaced those who had returned to China with a son or relative. This explains why in 1965 there were only fifty or so Hokkien Chinese in eastern Australia, most arriving after World War II. Price, Charles A., (1974), The Great White Walls Are Built Restrictive Immigration to North America and Australasia 1836-1888, Australian National University Press, Canberra, pp.46-48.

(7) There were other mechanisms for creating Chinatowns. Chinese from French-Indo China and the Dutch East Indies settled in France and Holland. Belleville in Paris became a Chinatown as a result of the expulsion of the Jews. The Chinatowns in Germany began with intra-European migrants but are now being expanded by masses of illegals.

(8) For example, the 1901 Immigration Restriction Act (Australia), 1904 Chinese Exclusion Act (South Africa), 1920 Immigration Restriction Amendment Act (New Zealand), 1923 Chinese Immigration Act. and the 1924 Immigration Act (United States). These functioned in conjunction with various Chinese exclusion acts, such as those that operated in the United States between 1882-1943.

(9) Dr. Sun Yat Sen was a Three Harmonies Triad member. He repaid Triad members who had assisted him in coming to power in 1911 with positions in the government, police and military.

(10) Sterling, Seagrave, (1985), The Soong Dynasty, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, p.75.

(11) Booth, Martin, (1999), The Dragon Syndicates The Global Phenomenon of the Triads, Doubleday, London, p.327.

(12) Chin, Ko-lin, (1996), Chinatown Gangs Extortion, Enterprise. & Ethnicity, Oxford University Press, New York, p.12.

(13) One gang, known as the Joe Boys, refused to heed warnings from Chinatown elders and went after the powerful Wah Ching. On Labor Day 1977, they located the Wah Ching leader, 'Crazy' Melvin Yu, at the Golden Dragon restaurant. Upon entering the restaurant they blasted away with shotguns and an assault rifle, killing four Japanese students and a Chinese waiter and left a further eleven wounded. The Wah Ching and another vicious Chinatown gang, the Hip Sing, also present at the time, were all unharmed. Interview with Detective Sergeant Daniel Foley, Gang Task Force, San Francisco Police Department, 22 April, 1996, San Francisco.

(14) Interview with Detective Sergeant Daniel Foley, Gang Task Force, San Francisco Police Department, 22 April, 1996, San Francisco.

(15) Many illegal immigrants have difficulty in repaying their passage to the criminal syndicates, while others simply seek to shorten their indentured servitude via criminal activities. Still others are forced to commit crimes. Kleinknecht, William, (1996), The New Ethnic Mobs, The Free Press, New York, p.173.

(16) Interviews with Detective Ming Li, NYPD, 5th Precinct; Detective Thomas Ong, Organized Crime Investigation Division, Asian Organized Crime Section, NYPD; and Detective Agnes Chan, Gang Unit, Intelligence Division, NYPD, in March and May, 1996, New York City.

(17)This gang was formed in 1986 by breakaway members of the Ghost Shadows and Flying Dragons. The BTK gang are comprised predominantly of Vietnamese and Sino-Vietnamese and are considered by the Chinese community to be ruthless. This gang gained much notoriety for encroaching on rival gang territories. On 27 July, 1990 gang members carried the coffin of their slain second-in-command through rival gang territory in Chinatown. Later at the cemetery, while mourners gathered around the grave site, three rival gang members opened fire with machine pistols. BTK members returned fire, and although no one was killed, seven people were wounded. The BTK were decimated through intense law enforcement action. However, they have now reformed and regrouped and the initials 'BTK' are said to stand for Back To Kill. For a further account of contemporary Chinese organized crime activity, see Craig, M., 'Chinese Organised Crime in North America,' Australian Police Journal, Vol. 51, No. 2, June 1997, pp.85-110.

(18) Estimates of gang members and activities as reported by the Department of The Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Office of Enforcement, Criminal Enforcement Programs, Intelligence Division, Tactical Intelligence Branch, in Overview of Asian Crime in the United States, March 1995, p.8.

(19) See Craig, Mark, The New Coolie Trade Organised Illegal Emigration for Chinese and its Implications for Australia, MA Thesis, Griffith University, January, 1995, p.47.

(20) In March 1994 Changle was reclassified as a County-level City. Fuzhou's new international airport is located there.

(21) Burrman, P., (1993), 'Huge Boom in human smuggling- inside story of flight from China,' San Francisco Chronicle, April 27 A-1. Cited in Ko-tin Chin and Robert Kelly (1997), Human Snakes Illegal Chinese Immigrants in the United States, Report submitted to the National Science Foundation for the research project entitled 'Illegal Chinese Immigrants in the United States, p.40.

(22) Prime Minister's Coastal Surveillance Task Force Report, The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, June 1999, Canberra.

(23) Ibid.

(24) Interview with Lieutenant Joseph Pollini, Commander, Detective Squad, Cold Case Unit, NYPD; Tai Park, Assistant United States Attorney, Southern District of New York; and Detective Margie Yee, NYPD, Cold Case Squad, by author on 26 March, 1996, New York City.

25 Craig, M., 'Chinese Organised Crime in North America,' Australian Police Journal, Vol. 51, No. 2, pp. 85-110, June 1997.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bell, Daniel, (1953), 'Crime as an American Way of Life', In Marvin E. Wolfgang, Leonard Savitz, and Norman Johnston (Eds.), The Sociology of Crime and Delinquency, John Wiley & Sons, New York, pp. 213-225.

Booth, Martin, (1999), The Dragon Syndicates The Global Phenomenon of the Triads, Doubleday, London.

Burdman, P., (1993), 'Huge Boom in human smuggling - inside story of flight from China,' San Francisco Chronicle, April 27 A-1. Cited in Ko-lin Chin and Robert Kelly, (1997), Human Snakes Illegal Chinese Immigrants in the United States, report submitted to the National Science Foundation for the Research Project Entitled 'Illegal Chinese Immigrants in the United States,' p. 40.

Chin, Ko-lin, (1996), Chinatown Gangs Extortion, Enterprise, & Ethnicity, Oxford University Press, New York.

Chin, Ko-lin, and Robert Kelly, (1997), Human Snakes Illegal Chinese Immigrants in the United States, National Science Foundation, Washington D.C.

Craig, Mark, The New Coolie Trade Organised Illegal Emigration for Chinese and its Implications for Australia, MA Thesis. Griffith University, January, 1995.

Craig, M., 'Chinese Organised Crime in North America,' Australian Police Journal, Vol. 51, No. 2, pp. 85-110, June 1997.

Kleinknecht, William, (1996), The New Ethnic Mobs, The Free Press, New York.

Poston, Dudley L., Jr., and Yu Mei-Yu, (1992), 'The Distribution of the Overseas Chinese,' in

Poston, D. L., Jr., and Yaukey, D., (Eds), The Population of Modern China, Plenum Press, New York, pp.117-148.

Price, Charles A., (1974), The Great White Walls Are Built Restrictive Immigration to North America and Australasia, 1836-1888, Australian National University Press, Canberra.

Prime Minister's Coastal Surveillance Task Force Report, The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, June 1999, Canberra.

Sterling, Seagrave, (1985) The Soong Dynasty, Harper and Row Publishers, New York.

Yen, Ching-hwang, (1986), A Short History of Chinese in Singapore and Malaya, 1800-1911, Oxford University Press, Singapore.

About the author

Mark Craig is on the Faculty of Law, Department of Justice Studies, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. This paper was given at the 1999 Social Contract Writer's Workshop.