Dramatic Testimony as ‘Shrimp Boy’ Trial Wraps

     SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – An FBI agent testified Wednesday that Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow rejected an offer of witness protection and named a murder victim in a taped conversation, suggesting he orchestrated the hit.
     Wrapping up testimony in the racketeering trial that started seven weeks ago, FBI agent Mark Jaroszewski described his conversations with Chow in the early 2000s, while preparing Chow to testify against his former boss, Peter Chong.
     Prosecutors also called murder victim Allen Leung’s daughter, Olivia Leung, to testify that Chow spoke her father’s name in a wiretapped conversation, suggesting that Chow was responsible for that 2006 murder in Leung’s Chinatown shop.
     Chow is accused of running the Ghee Kung Tong as a criminal organization that trafficked in drugs, guns and stolen goods, and of conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering.
     Jaroszewski said Chow’s relationship with Chong, former leader of the Hong Kong-based Wo Hop To, blossomed after Chow got out of jail for shooting Danny Wong, a rival gang member, at the Golden Key Bar in San Francisco in 1986.
     After Chow was released from prison, a shooting targeting Wo Hop Tong members at the Purple Onion night club was blamed on Wong. Jaroszewski said that incident prompted Chong to devise a plan to murder the rival gang leader.
     “Chow said Peter Chong asked him to get a volunteer to commit the murder, and they were encouraged to leave the area so they would be away when the murder happened,” Jaroszewski said.
     Chow tapped an associate from Oakland to do the hit while he flew to Hawaii for his honeymoon, Jaroszewski said.
     When Chow returned, he asked how the hit played out and disapproved of the way the murder weapon was disposed of, Jaroszewski said.
     “They told Chow they discarded the murder weapon somewhere off an old section of the freeway,” Jaroszewski testified. “Chow asked them to retrieve the weapon so he could properly dispose of it.”
     Chow personally dismantled the weapon, “asked members to urinate on the weapon, believing that would expedite the process of removing fingerprints and DNA,” and then personally saw that the weapon was thrown over the San Mateo Bridge into San Francisco Bay, Jaroszewski told the jury.
     The agent also described a plot to murder a rival gang member in Boston, a scheme Chong asked Chow to oversee. Chow assembled a team to travel to New England and take out the target, who was hindering a plan to traffic large quantities of heroin from China into the Northeastern United States. But that assassination attempt failed, Jaroszewski said.
     During cross-examination, defense attorney Tony Serra questioned the accuracy of the agent’s recollection of conversations that took place more than 10 years ago, regarding crimes that occurred 10 year prior to that.
     “Ten years later, you’re interviewing him on what may have occurred in ’92,” Serra said.
     The FBI agent also recalled Chow saying he was encouraged to “display a positive public image” by taking part in a charity event to benefit earthquake victims in China.
     “Chong told Chow it would be beneficial for him to be involved in this charity event to make political connections and create a positive public image to make it easier to do illegal activity in the future,” Jaroszewski said.
     Regarding Chow’s claim that the government denied him protection after he testified against Chong, Jaroszewski said he worked to get Chow enrolled in the witness protection program, but Chow rejected the offer.
     “He waffled back and forth on his entry into the program,” the agent said. “He initially expressed interest, but he wanted it on his terms.”
     Chow said he wanted a new identity with a clean criminal record, but he did not want to leave the Bay Area or stop communicating with associates from his criminal past, according to Jaroszewski.
     On cross examination, Serra asked the agent if he wanted Chow to enter the federal Witness Security Program, or WITSEC.
     “Yes, I had hoped he would, because I thought that would be his best opportunity to rehabilitate and disassociate from some of the people he had been associating with and lead not a criminal life,” Jaroszewski said. “It was his decision not to go into WITSEC.”
     The prosecution then called its final witness, Olivia Leung, daughter of Allen Leung, former head of the Ghee Kong Tong. Chow is accused of conspiring to murder him in 2006.
     Olivia Leung testified about the correct Cantonese pronunciation of her family name, to corroborate the prosecution’s claim that Chow was referring to Allen Leung in a wiretapped conversation, in which he said: “You know, even Allen Leung, even back then you know when I’m talking to him, I’ll tell you one time. And I don’t not like them enough to make a second time so …”
     A few seconds later, Chow said: “You fuck around, you gone.”
     Chow claims he said, “I learn,” not “Allen Leung” in that conversation.
     His attorneys said they may want to present two more witnesses to challenge the prosecution’s claims that Chow was referring to Leung in that tape, and that Chow refused to enter the witness protection program after testifying against his former boss.
     U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer gave the defense until 9 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 31, to notify the court if it plans to present more witnesses.
     If the defense decides to present new witnesses, a hearing to determine whether those witnesses will be allowed to testify will take place at 10 a.m. Thursday.
     Breyer said he will rule on a defense motion for a mistrial by Monday.
     The defense says the judge made “blatant, disrespectful and disparaging” remarks to discredit the defense in front of the jury, and consistently interrupted the defense’s cross-examination with “lengthy, prejudicial speaking objections and explanations.”
     Closing arguments and jury instructions and deliberations are expected to begin early next week.