The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 18

18 THE BOSTON GLOBE FRIDAY, JANUARY 7, 1994 ft Arrest in Hong Kong leaves Sky Dragon grounded in Boston 1 Reputed hiembers pf gang arrested Charges include murder try, bribery -t 14 It ese gang, has survived numerous recent power struggles to become the top player in organized crime in Chinatown. And Trung Chi had been thrown out of the Ping On by Tse for his propensity to commit unsanctioned jewelry store robberies, has been released from prison and is back in Boston. A source said Truong has ties to the New York-based Vietnamese gang B.T.K., or Born to Kill. Ming once ran a gambling den with former Chinatown gang leader Wayne Kwong, but the GLOBE STAFF PHOTO DAVID RYAN FBI agents with alleged members of the Ping On, a Chinatown gang, at federal court in Boston yesterday. The indictment charges Ping On was a racketeering enterprise, dominating Chinatown from 1978-1990.

There's no more high-stakes extortion. There's some minor shakedowns, but that's it. You don't see the gangs on the street like you used DR.ROBERT GUEN Chinatown Neighborhood Council PING ON Continued from Page 1 began cooperating with the FBI and Boston police when confronted with evidence of the alleged payoffs he pocketed in 1988 and 1989, according to sources. Efforts yesterday to reach White were unsuccessful. Frank Shields, clerk magistrate of the Boston Municipal Court, said White, the former assistant clerk, resigned two weeks ago, complaining of a stomach ailment The indictment also alleges that Boston Police Detectives George Costigan and Vincent Logan were bribed by the Ping On from 1984 to 1986 in exchange for information to protect its gambling The indictment doesn't charge Costigan or Logan, who were convicted in 1991 of taking bribes from Chinatown restaurateur Harry Mook and sentenced to 90 days in prison.

Mook was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison for bribery and money laundering. The Ping On also is accused of paying bribes to Boston Police Detective LL James M. Cox, who was cooperating with the FBI and secretly recording conversations. The indictment charges the Ping On triad was a racketeering enterprise that dominated Chinatown from 1978 to 1990 with Tse as its ringleader. Reputed Ping On members Kwok-Wah Chyan, Vuong Ba Nguyen, Jimmy Soo Hoo and Cheuk Man Tsang are accused of plotting to murder Chao Va Meng and Dai Keung, who were both wounded in a Dec.

29, 1988, shooting in which 30 By Matthew Brelis and Charles M. Sennott GLOBE STAFF He allegedly controlled gambling and extortion in Chinatown for two decades as the leader of the Ping On, but with his arrest yesterday in Hong Kong, Stephen (Sky Dragon) Tse's last vestige of power over Asian organized crime in Boston appears gone, law enforcement sources said. Tse's grasp on organized crime in Chinatown had slipped considerably since 1989, when he fled to his native Hong Kong to avoid gambling charges, and the man he entrusted to run the Ping On's daily operations in Boston was executed. The Aug. 11, 1989, murder of Michael Kwong inside his Arlington Heights restaurant and Tse's failure to exact retribution for it, sounded a death knell of the POs.

But, law enforcement sources said the final blow to the Ping On came yesterday with the unsealing of a federal racketeering indictment against Tse, his wife, and 14 alleged underlings. Although the power of Tse's organization has been eclipsed by other groups in the past three years, "they still maintained a presence in Chinatown," said a law enforcement source, "so this is a significant indictment." Chinatown civic leaders said the neighborhood has been quiet recently. "There's nothing to fight for down there anymore," said Dr. Robert Guen, a member of the Chinatown Neighborhood Council and board of directors of the South Cove YMCA on Tyler Street. "The gambling parlors are closed down, there's no more high-stakes extortion There's some minor shakedowns, but that's it.

You don't see the gangs on the street like you used to." But a law enforcement source said the quiet could be a momentary calm. "Boston is kind of open right now and up for grabs," the source said. "There may be some type of a power Law enforcement sources said "Bai Ming" also called "Bike Ming," the leader of a Vietnam shots were fired. Tse, who came to Boston in the mid-1970s, allegedly organized his Ping On group shortly thereafter by gathering other Chinese immigrants and extorting protection money from pimps and prostitutes. A member of a rival Chinese gang known as the Ghost Shadows, testified before a 1985 presidential commission on organized crime that Boston's Ghost Shadows were summoned to New York in 1979 to take part in a gang war and when they returned, the Ping On had moved in.

Tse served 16 months in jail rather than testify before the commission. Tse fled to his native Hong Kong in 1989 to avoid gambling charges, according to authorities. Edward Quinn, supervisory agent of the FBI's organized crime squad, said Tse's absence from the local scene in recent years is a sign of the Ping On's waning influence. But the indictment focuses on a range of crimes from Ping On's heyday extracting tribute from prostitution enterprises in Chinatown, operating gambling houses and smuggling aliens across the Canadian border. While Tse has lived in Hong Kong for several years, his wife, Angela Tse, who was arrested yester- befuddled by the English pronunciations he heard from the court Assistant US Attorney Susan Hanson-Philbrick asked for $50,000 bail for Chin Kan Sang, citing his regular travels to Hong Kong and China, and particularly the inability to extradite him from China.

Sang stood to protest, citing his two young children and his wife's need for his help after a recent operation. "Where am I going? I love America," he said. Cohen relented and allowed an unsecured bond. Of the 10 in court yesterday, Cohen ordered three held without bail: Jimmy Soo Hoo, 35, of New York, Cheuk Man Tsang, 27, of Quincy, and Vuong Ba Nguyen, 32, of Dorchester. Howard Lo, 47, of New York, is already in federal custody in Massachusetts on a heroin trafficking case.

Arrested in Portland, Maine, were Szeto Sui Fong, 38, of Natick along with Andrew Chu, 43, of Stoughton. Also arrested yesterday were Chao Va Fai, 37, of Tower Street, Jamaica Plain; Wei Hua Ye, 23, of Chelsea, Kwok-Wah Chan, 35, of Florida, Liu Ah Den, 47, of Boston, Hong Ming Kwong, 38, of Randolph, Lam Yuen Fat, 41, of Allston and Angela Tse, 43, of Braintree. Still at large last night were Lam Tien Yen, 34, of Newton, and Kwok-Wah Chan, 35, of Florida. Boston police superintendent Joseph V. Saia hailed the arrests.

"This shows the Chinese community and the victims of these crimes that we haven't forgotten about them." day in Massachusetts, lives in Brain-tree, and offered her home there to secure a $100,000 bond. Defense Lawyer Martin G. Weinberg, representing Angela Tse, said he expects a protracted process is in store for the government in seeking to have Tse extradited from Hong Kong. Angela Tse and nine men arrested in Massachusetts appeared before US Magistrate Judge Lawrence Cohen yesterday afternoon for a bail hearing. The defense lawyers, interpreters and Judge Cohen were laboring with their unfamiliarity with Vietnamese and Chinese dialects, and one defendant, Chin Kan Sang, 43, of Quincy, appeared to be equally two had a falling out after Tse's departure, sources said.

Kwong was arrested on June 2, 1992 at his Randolph home on charges that he dealt heroin and had hired Raymond Chow, of the Hop Sing tong in San Francisco, and two juveniles to come to Boston and murder Ming. Law enforcement sources said another powerful Vietnamese group that emerged in Chinatown four years ago was led by Hun Suk. But that group has been weakened since Suk and an asso- ciate fled the area several years ago after being named as suspects in the Jan. 12, 1990, massacre of five men playing cards at an after hours social club on Tyler Street. Globe staff writer Kevin Cul-len and editorial assistant Cheong Chow contributed to this report A Televised Town Meeting 'After the Handshake: Globe staff writer Matthew Brelis contriimted to this report Peace or Jairaary WaMe Mtomtln At The Israel-PLO Declaration in Perspective Photo by Roben A.

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