The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream (60 page)

208
When he was asked:
Interview with William J. Murray, April 19, 2007.

208
Before Tam hung up:
Alan Tam testimony, the Teaneck trial; interview with Tom Trautman, May 3, 2007.

209
At considerable expense:
Interview with Tom Trautman, May 3, 2007; interview with Luke Rettler, July 26, 2007. The detective who recognized Tam was Margie Yee.

209-10
Ah Kay was already:
Testimony in United States v. Kwok Ling Kay, et al., 93 CR. 783, October 12, 1993.

210
When Ah Kay fled:
Interview with Ray Kerr, May 22, 2007.

210
Of course Ah Kay:
Ibid.

210
The older man found:
Ibid.

210
“Are you on the cell phone?”:
Ibid.

210
The members of the Fuk Ching

207
gang:
Interview with Luke Rettler, May 30, 2008.

210
Like Mock Duck:
Asbury,
Gangs of New York
, p. 282.

211
Since the
Golden Venture:
Interview with Konrad Motyka and Bill McMurry, October 31, 2005.

211
So he started making trips:
Ibid.

211
He ran up debts:
Ah Kay testimony, Sister Ping trial.

211
One day in mid-August:
Transcript of a telephone conversation between Ah Kay and “Ah Shu,” August 16, 1993.

207
Under Title III:
Interview with Luke Rettler, July 26, 2007; interview with Chauncey Parker, May 29, 2007.

212
When Ah Kay’s telephone calls:
Interview with Konrad Motyka and Bill McMurry, December 15, 2005.

212
In New York, Rettler was told:
Interview with Luke Rettler, July 26, 2007.

212
Standing six feet tall:
Unless otherwise noted, all details relating to the Fat Man, Dickson Yao, are drawn from an interview with Richard LaMagna, July 17, 2008; and from James Mills,
The Underground Empire
(New York: Dell, 1986), pp. 36, 46, 47, 188–201. Yao was still alive when Mills’s book came out, and to protect his identity, Mills used a pseudonym, Robert Yang, though he also used Yao’s actual code name, the Fat Man. Jerry Stuchiner
confirmed for me that Four Star was Dickson Yao, in an e-mail on July 26, 2007. (Stuchiner had already revealed as much to
Newsweek
in 1997; see Brook Larmer and Melinda Liu, “Smuggling People,”
Newsweek
, March 17, 1997.)

213
The agents knew:
Mills,
The Underground Empire
, p. 799.

214
Before long the Fat Man:
Interview with Jerry Stuchiner, May 23, 2007.

214
Short and pugnacious:
This account of Jerry Stuchiner is based on an interview with him on May 23, 2007; Larmer and Liu, “Smuggling People;” and interviews with over a dozen current and former FBI and immigration officials who worked with him over the years.

215
Still, in 1984:
Larmer and Liu, “Smuggling People.”

215
He developed a habit:
Confidential interviews with two of Stuchiner’s former colleagues.

215
From the Fat Man:
Interview with Jerry Stuchiner, May 23, 2007.

215
In the days after the
Golden Venture:
Confidential interviews with three of Stuchiner’s former colleagues.

215
The Fat Man told Stuchiner:
Interview with Jerry Stuchiner, May 23, 2007.

215
Before long, Stuchiner was paying:
Larmer and Liu, “Smuggling People.”

215
With Hong Kong’s changeover:
Interview with Richard LaMagna, July 17, 2008.

216
Many people who find themselves:
Interview with Richard LaMagna, June 3, 2008.

216
They even discussed:
Larmer and Liu, “Smuggling People;” William Branigin, “Hong Kong Set to Free Jailed Former INS Agent,”
Washington Post
, June 13, 1997.

216
One day in August 1993:
Interview with Jerry Stuchiner, May 23, 2007.

216
Stuchiner was excited:
Confidential interview.

216
Several days later:
Interview with Jerry Stuchiner, May 23, 2007.

216
Stuchiner wanted to stake out:
Confidential interview.

216
Instead, the FBI took over:
Interview with Michael di Pretoro, an FBI agent based in Hong Kong at the time, May 8, 2007.

217
During his time in Hong Kong:
Joseph Treaster, “Arrest Ends Gang Chief’s Rich Life on the Run,”
New York Times
, September 3, 1993.

217
On Friday August 27:
Ibid.

217
Suddenly they were surrounded:
Ibid.; Greg Torode, “Gang Suspect Link Denied,”
South China Morning Post
, September 1, 1993.

217
When the officers searched him:
Treaster, “Arrest Ends Gang Chief’s Rich Life;” Torode, “Gang Suspect Link Denied.”

217
Jerry Stuchiner was furious:
Interview with Jerry Stuchiner, May 23, 2007.

217
For his part, the Fat Man:
Larmer and Liu, “Smuggling People.”

217
As soon as Ah Kay:
Interview with Michael di Pretoro, May 8, 2007.

217
The following day:
Unless otherwise noted, details of the Green-Wood Cemetery raid are drawn from interviews with Konrad Motyka on October 31, 2005, December 15, 2005, and October 19, 2007, and on a photograph of Motyka and Shafer in the cemetery taken following the raid.

218
As Motyka rounded up:
Seth Faison, “Gang Leader Is Arrested in Hong Kong,”
New York Times
, August 29, 1993.

218
They wrapped the whole building:
Interview with Tom Trautman, May 3, 2007.

219
From a high-tech command center:
Interview with Luke Rettler, July 26, 2007.

219
Several weeks after the roundup:
Interview with Konrad Motyka and Bill McMurry, October 31, 2005.

219
But in the basement restaurant:
Interview with Konrad Motyka and Bill McMurry, October 31, 2005; closing arguments of Leslie Brown, Sister Ping trial.

220
In addition to worrying:
Interview with Ying Chan, November 21, 2005.

220
Chan visited Sister Ping:
Sister Ping sentencing remarks.

220
Early in 1994:
Interview with Ying Chan, November 21, 2005; Kwong,
Forbidden Workers
, p. 134.

221
Chan reported the threat:
Interview with Ying Chan, November 21, 2005. These details were corroborated by Dougie Lee in an interview on February 10, 2006.

221
Dougie Lee, the Cantonese American detective:
Interview with Dougie Lee, February 10, 2006.

221
Sister Ping denies:
Sister Ping sentencing remarks.

221
With both Ah Kay and Weng Yu Hui:
Written declaration of Special Agent Peter Lee.

221
Its agents obtained a warrant:
Ibid.

221
In March 1994:
Criminal indictment, United States v. Cheng Chui Ping, aka “Sister Ping,” aka “Ping Jai,” 94 CR 953, December 2, 1994.

222
The following month:
Transcript of recorded telephone conversation between Guang Yong, Guang Yong’s sister, and Ma Ji Son, April 5, 1994.

222
After months of painstaking investigation:
Criminal indictment, United States v. Cheng Chui Ping, aka “Sister Ping,” aka “Ping Jai.”

222
But by then:
Closing arguments by Leslie Brown, Sister Ping trial.

CHAPTER 13: FREEDOM BIRDS

The story of the
Golden Venture
detainees and how they changed the community of York was first related to me by Craig Trebilcock and Bev Church in 2005. They have elaborated on that story in multiple formal and informal interviews, conversations, e-mails, and telephone messages over the intervening years. This chapter is based on their recollections and on extensive archives of letters, photographs, video footage, press clippings, court filings, and paper sculptures that they have each maintained. I made two trips to York, one in October 2005 and one in July 2008. On the second trip, Joan Maruskin arranged a potluck dinner with a dozen members of the People of the Golden Vision, who shared their recollections and are cited in the notes by name. Maruskin also opened up her personal files, including numerous handwritten letters from the
Golden Venture
detainees and scores of back issues of the Golden Vision newsletter produced by Cindy Lobach. The asylum claims of Pin Lin and Sean Chen are based in part on their case files and on multiple interviews with their lawyers, Craig Trebilcock and Ann Carr. The account of the paper-folding is drawn largely from an interview with Yang You Yi, who was one of the most talented folders, and on my own exposure to the sculptures themselves, which seem to ornament every horizontal surface in the homes and offices of the York residents who rallied around the detainees.

223
To Craig Trebilcock:
Unless otherwise noted, the account of Craig Trebilcocks involvement in the case of the
Golden Venture
detainees is drawn from interviews with Craig Trebilcock, October 28, 2005, and July 23, 2008.

224
A local joke:
Interview with Joan Maruskin, July 17, 2008.

224
The town was home:
Interview with Byron Borger, July 22, 2008.

224.
The INS had contacted:
Inter views with Jeff Lobach, July 22, 2008, and July 24, 2008.

225.
It was slow going:
Some of the de tails of the circumstances under which Pin left China are drawn from Pin Lin, “Request for Asylum in the United States,” undated, June 1993, and other items in Pin Lin’s case file.

226.
At the foot of the American watchtower:
Serge Schmemann, “On the Central Front in Germany, Quiet Duty and Good Life for GI’s,”
New York Times
, February 27, 1989.

224
Craig’s secretary Margo:
Interview with Margo Einsig, July 22, 2008.

229
About a month later:
Unless otherwise indicated, details relating to Joan Maruskin’s involvement in supporting the
Golden Venture
detainees are drawn from interviews with Joan Maruskin, July 17, 2008, and July 22, 2008.

230
Along with Maruskin there was Beverly Church:
Unless otherwise indicated, details about Bev Church’s involvement come from interviews with Beverly Church, October 30, 2005, and December 11, 2005.

230.
She drove out to the prison:
Zheng Xin Bin’s case is summarized in
“Golden Venture
Chinese Refugees Who Wish Third Country Resettlement,” an undated document provided by Craig Trebilcock.

231.
There was Sterling Showers:
Interviews with Sterling Showers, January 22, 2008, and July 22, 2008.

231
There was Lena Ngo:
Interview with Lena Ngo, July 22, 2008.

231
There was Rod Merrill:
Interview with Robert “Rod” Merrill, July 22, 2008.

231
There was Demian Yumi:
Interview with Demian Yumi, July 22, 2008.

232
There was Cindy Lobach:
Interview with Cindy Lobach, July 22, 2008.

232
To help them communicate:
Interview with Zehao Zhou, July 22, 2008; Caryl Clarke, “Zehao Zhou: York College Librarian,”
York Daily Record
, February 10, 2003.

232
The members of the group:
Interview with Joan Maruskin, July 17, 2008.

232
They found passages:
Leviticus 19:33-34. Cited in the mission statement, “Mission of the People of the Golden Venture.”

233
“The Bible is the ultimate”:
Mary Corey, “From Refugees to Friends,”
Baltimore Sun
, February 21, 1997.

233
“It’s injustice”:
Ian Fisher, “A Town’s Strange Bedfellows Unite Behind Chinese Refugees,”
New York Times
, February 21, 1997.

233
To Caryl Clarke:
Caryl Clarke, “Plight of Detainees Creates Circle of Friends,”
York Daily Record
, June 9, 1996.

234
Maruskin insisted:
Interview with Joan Maruskin, July 17, 2008.

235
In the summer of 1995:
“Coercive Population Control in China,” hearing before the United States House of Representatives, Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights, Washington, D.C., July 19, 1995. At least as of this writing, a portion of the testimony is on YouTube, under the title “Congressional Hearings on China’s Forced Abortion Policy.” Craig Trebilcock is sitting in the foreground. In the background, you can see some of the paper sculptures on a table.

235
Chen Yun Fei recounted:
Ibid.

235
“The crimes that have been committed”:
Ibid.

236
In Bakersfield they caught:
Kenneth Chang, “Freedom Dreams,”
Los Angeles Times
, May 15, 1996.

236
When they learned that the
women:
Julia Duin, “Hopes Frustrated, Refugees from China Languish in Jail,”
Washington Times
, September 4, 1996.

236
On February 29, 1996:
Chang, “Freedom Dreams.”

236
Six months later:
Duin, “Hopes Frustrated.”

236
Word of their predicament had
spread:
Interview with Joan Maruskin, July 17, 2008.

236
In order to secure the deal:
Chang, “Freedom Dreams.”

236
“They have a well-founded fear”:
Joan Treadway, “Vatican Intercedes for Chinese Detainees,”
New Orleans Times-Picayune
, May 25, 1995.