Raymond ‘Shrimp Boy’ Chow co-defendants unexpectedly plead guilty
By Bob Egelko Updated 6:27 pm, Wednesday, September 9, 2015

55


What began last year as a sprawling investigation into political corruption, gun-running and murder plots in San Francisco narrowed its focus Wednesday to a single defendant: Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, the onetime Chinatown gang leader, later an ex-con lauded for his redeeming community work, and finally the leader of a community organization he allegedly converted to a criminal enterprise.
Six of Chow’s co-defendants pleaded guilty in federal court to money laundering and trafficking in stolen goods, catching prosecutors by surprise and raising question marks about the next scheduled phase of the case, a Nov. 2 trial of all six, plus Chow and another defendant, on charges of racketeering.

Those charges became the centerpiece of the case after the other headline defendant, former state Sen. Leland Yee, pleaded guilty in July to a separate racketeering count and admitted taking bribes from undercover agents.
While Chow’s seven co-defendants are still charged with racketeering, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said he would consider a request to postpone the co-defendants’ trial on Tuesday and questioned the need for the charges, in view of the sentences of five to 20 years that their guilty pleas carry.
“Does it make any sense to place (them) on trial on other charges?” Breyer asked Assistant U.S. Attorney William Franzen. Franzen indicated that prosecutors would probably drop the remaining charges against at least some of the defendants after consulting with the Justice Department.

That would leave the spotlight on Chow, who faces a much longer sentence if convicted and is being held without bail. Curtis Briggs, one of his lawyers, cast Wednesday’s guilty pleas as a victory.
“The government’s racketeering theory just lost all credibility,” Briggs told reporters, noting that most of the defendants, in their admissions of guilt, had not mentioned any actions by Chow, the alleged leader of the criminal enterprise.
But one defendant, George Nieh, 42, said in his guilty plea that he had conspired with Chow in sales of stolen liquor and stolen cigarettes to undercover agents. That admission seems to contradict Chow’s claim that he steadfastly resisted agents’ pressure to approve criminal activity. Nieh also pleaded guilty to illegal sales of guns and marijuana and to 130 counts of money laundering.

Another defense lawyer, Dennis Riordan, told Breyer that the charges admitted by his client, Leslie Yun — money laundering and trafficking with undercover agents in marijuana and stolen cigarettes — did not implicate Chow or any other defendant.
“She has not agreed that she conspired with Mr. Chow,” Riordan said. Franzen later observed to the judge that some defendants were “selective” in implicating others in their guilty pleas, which had not been negotiated with the prosecutors.
Defense lawyers didn’t say what prompted their clients to plead guilty. As recently as Tuesday, Riordan filed papers with Breyer seeking the identity of the prosecution’s chief undercover agent in the case, and accusing the agent of dishonest and biased statements that undercut his credibility.
It was “like waking up on Christmas morning with a true surprise,“ Franzen told Breyer, referring to the unexpected pleas.
In addition to Nieh and Yun, 47, others entering guilty pleas were Yun’s husband, James Pau, 66; Kevin Siu, 32; Alan Chiu, 52; and Andy Li, 46.
Four other defendants in the case pleaded guilty in July, including Yee.
Sixteen more defendants charged in the undercover investigation are awaiting trial.