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Wah Ching

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WAH CHING (華青)
Founded1960s
Founding locationSan Francisco, California, United States
Years active1960s – present [citation needed]
TerritoryHong Kong, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles
EthnicityChinese
Membership30,000
Criminal activitiesDrug trafficking, extortion, illegal gambling, loan sharking, fraud, murder
AlliesBloods, Sun Yee On, 14K, Tiny Rascal gang, Big Circle Gang, Bamboo Union, Hop Sing Tong
RivalsWo Hop To, Joe Boys, Asian Boyz, Vietnamese Boyz, Jackson Street Boys, Black Dragons, Four Seas Gang

Wah Ching (traditional Chinese: 華青; simplified Chinese: 华青; pinyin: Huá Qīng; Jyutping: Waa4 Cing1) is a Chinese American Triad Society (secret society) and street gang also known as "Dub C" originating in San Francisco, California during the early 1960s. At the time, Wah Ching was organized into one enormous gang. Wah Ching controlled most of the criminal vices throughout the San Francisco and Los Angeles Asian American communities.

History

Wah Ching is composed mainly of young men. Triad member clothing ranges from casual to business attire making it hard for officials to distinguish them from other citizens. Wah Ching first received widespread media attention because of the 1977 Golden Dragon massacre involving another Chinese gang, the Chung Ching Yee (Joe Boys). The event took place at the Golden Dragon Restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown. Five people were killed, and eleven others were injured. None of the victims were gang members. Five Joe Boys members were convicted of the shooting. The cause of the attack was vandalism by Wah Ching to the graves of several Joe Boy members and a shootout that took place a few months earlier that left one Joe Boy dead and two others wounded.[1][2]

In 1991, Danny "Ah Pai" Wong, the leader of Wah Ching, was shot and killed by Wo Hop To hitmen.[3]

The Wah Ching Gang has an ongoing conflict with another rival Asian gang in Los Angeles, the Asian Boyz (ABZ) who also aligned themselves with the Vietnamese Boyz (VBZ) in opposition to Wah Ching. Wah Ching's move from its original home in the Bay Area to the southern California region is probably one of the sources of the disputes over gang turf. Over the decades, the Wah Ching has evolved from a street gang to an organized crime group. There is law enforcement anecdotal evidence that suggests as a group the gang has developed strong associations with other Asian organized crime groups, such as the Sun Yee On and 14K Triads in Hong Kong.

Currently, the gang have shown signs of mixed ideology. Despite the fact that Wah Ching in Chinese literally means "Chinese Youth," there are still some individuals of non-Chinese descent who claim Wah Ching. The gang now consists of a great number of Vietnamese members. The same applies with their rivals, the Vietnamese Boyz, who have a great number of Chinese members. It is rumored that their reasoning for this is that it is the "Chinese Youth" gang, and that the members working or fighting for the gang do not have to be of Chinese ethnicity.

Rivalries

The Wah Ching has been in a long conflict with the Asian Boyz gang. One of the first shoot outs between the two the gangs occurred in the 1990s. The shooting occurred in El Monte at a Pool Hall. An Asian Boyz gang member named Lea Mek was viciously killed by a Wah Ching gang member named Chung Lewong Yang. Another shoot out between the two gangs occurred in San Marino that led to the deaths of two youths at a San Marino high school graduation party in June. After investigations from the authorities; police claimed that when the Asian Boyz gang members arrived to the party, they saw that some Wah Ching gang member were there, so they left, and came back with weapons to open fire on the Wah Ching gang members. Over nine gang members were arrested. Police searched the homes of the gang members and seized five weapons. The shoot outs between the two gangs was called "Summer Madness" by the Asian Boyz gang.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ Make First Arrest in Golden Dragon Massacre of 1977, UPI, March 24, 1978.
  2. ^ "People v. Yu (1983) 143 Cal.App.3d 358 , 191 Cal.Rptr. 859". Court of Appeals of California. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  3. ^ "Asian gang Chief takes fifth". LA times. 6 November 1991. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  4. ^ "Officials Link Gang Rivalry to Party Slayings". Viki Torres (LA Times). 19 August 1994. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  5. ^ "Multi Agency Effort to Bring Two Violent Gang members to Justice". lapdonline.org. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
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