Over a dozen Asian organized crime figures were indicted by the Feds in an expanded 31-count superseding indictment, charging them with Racketeering, Racketeering Conspiracy, Nationwide Sex Trafficking Conspiracy, Interstate Prostitution Conspiracy, Felonious Assault in-aid-of racketeering, Extortion, Robbery, Violent Beatings, Forced Labor, Conspiracy to Commit Extortion and Robbery,

"Manager of Sex Trafficking and Prostitution Ring Indicted on Racketeering and Related Charges, Along With Two of the Organization’s Enforcers"

This Superseding Indictment Charges Additional Assaults and Three New Defendants in Connection with Major Queens-Based Criminal Enterprise that Committed Violence Against Women Across the United States

A 31-count superseding indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn adding three defendants, Yuan Yuan Chen, also known as “Xiao Pang,” Yichu Chen and Johnnie Kim, as well as 10 additional assaults in-aid-of racketeering to the pending charges against co-defendants Rong Rong Xu, also known as “Eleanor,” Siyang Chen, Siyu Chen, also known as “Ban Ban,” Carlos Cury, also known as “Red,” Bo Jiang, Meizhen Song, also known as “Die Die,” and Jilong Yu.  The charges relate to the defendants’ alleged participation in a Queens-based criminal organization that engaged in sex trafficking, beatings, and robberies of dozens of women across the United States.  The three newly indicted defendants were arrested today and will be arraigned this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo. 
Yuan Yuan Chen (“Yuan Yuan”) is charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking conspiracy, interstate prostitution conspiracy, and assault in-aid-of racketeering, among other crimes, and Yichu Chen (“Yichu”) and Johnnie Kim are variously charged with Hobbs Act robbery and conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery.  The superseding indictment also adds charges against Cury, Xu, Siyang Chen, and Jiang. 
Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and James Smith, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI) and Edward A. Caban, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the superseding indictment and arrests.
“As alleged, the defendants preyed on vulnerable women for sex trafficking, brutally assaulting them to enforce loyalty to the criminal enterprise.  Human beings are not property and deserve to be free from violence and coerced sexual activity,” stated United States Attorney Peace.  “This case is another example of our Office’s longstanding commitment to bringing to justice sex trafficking organizations that exploit and seek to dehumanize victims for financial gain.” 

Mr. Peace praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI and the NYPD.  This investigation was aided by law enforcement agencies throughout the country.  Mr. Peace expressed his thanks to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska, as well as the Oklahoma City and Manchester field offices of United States Homeland Security Investigations and United States Immigration & Customs Enforcement.  In addition, local police departments across the United States have provided invaluable assistance, including the Beaverton (Oregon) Police Department, Michigan State Police, Missouri Highway Patrol, Oklahoma City (Oklahoma) Police Department, Omaha (Nebraska) Police Department, Overland Park (Kansas) Police Department, Portland (Oregon) Police Department, Southfield (Michigan) Police Department, and Troy (Michigan) Police Department.
“These defendants allegedly engaged in the heinous crime of forced labor and chose to brutally exploit their fellow human beings for profit,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Smith.  “The FBI is committed to working with our partners to pursue justice on behalf of victims of human trafficking and prosecuting perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law.”
“The crimes outlined in today’s indictment are among the most heinous we confront,” stated NYPD Commissioner Caban.  “The NYPD and our law enforcement partners share an unwavering commitment to protect survivors of sex trafficking, and to ensure that anyone seeking to profit through the abuse and exploitation of others is brought to justice. I thank and commend for their sustained dedication everyone involved in investigating and prosecuting this important case.”
As set forth in court filings, between April 2019 and September 2021, the defendants allegedly participated in or performed work on behalf of an organization that ran a nationwide prostitution business, trafficked women and directed and carried out violent attacks on women throughout the United States to protect its turf and deter commercial sex workers from working for rival organizations or independently.  In carrying out these attacks, several defendants’ zip-tied the victims’ hands, stuffed or covered their mouths to silence them, and then viciously beat them with hammers, wrenches, baseball bats, rolling pins and other blunt objects, leaving the victims bloody, terrified, and, in many cases, seriously injured.

Yuan Yuan engaged in a conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and managed the Organization’s interstate prostitution business.  She, along with her co-defendants, sought to keep women working for the Organization through force, fraud or coercion.  For example, Yuan Yuan required women to provide passports, or copies of passports, to the Organization and then would later remind them of such information when warning them not to cross the “boss.”  The Organization also sought to protect their business’s territory through violence, and Yuan Yuan played a pivotal role in devising a scheme to circulate video recordings of assaults among large groups or sex workers to deter them from working independently or for rivals.  Yuan Yuan personally recruited sex workers for the Organization, took commissions from each of their jobs, identified rival businesses for purposes of planning targeted assaults of their employees, and kept the Organization’s own employees engaged in sex work by instilling fear in them. 
As alleged, Yichu Chen and Johnnie Kim were enforcers employed by the Organization to carry out attacks on commercial sex workers.  Yichu and Kim directly participated in the violent assaults of two victims on September 15, 2020 and April 21, 2021, respectively.  A co-conspirator in a contemporaneous electronic communication described Yichu’s beating of the restrained victim on September 15, 2020 as “super severe.”  As for Kim, he, along with co-defendant Cury, stomped all over the body of a victim on April 22, 2021 and kicked her hard and repeatedly to the point that she lost consciousness. 

The superseding indictment also charges 10 additional assaults-in-aid-of-racketeering and adds defendants to previously charged counts.  WeChat messages reveal the planning of assaults by the defendants on behalf of the Organization, and describe details of the violence that occurred during the assaults.  In some cases, videos of the attacks were circulated between the defendants to demonstrate to more senior members of the Organization that the beatings were sufficiently severe.  Some videos depict victims struggling while they are bound, bleeding and being beaten with hammers, baseball bats and rolling pins, among other weapons. 
The charges in the superseding indictment are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.  If convicted, Yuan Yuan faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment and up to life imprisonment. Yichu and Kim each face up to 20 years’ imprisonment on Hobbs Act robbery charges. 

Two defendants charged in the original indictment, Raymond Jiarun Yan, also known as “Raymond Yan” and “Mike,” and Zerong Tang, pleaded guilty earlier this month and are awaiting sentencing.
The government’s case is being handled by the office’s Organized Crime and Gangs and Civil Rights Sections.  Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew R. Galeotti, Kayla C. Bensing, Sophia M. Suarez and Genny Ngai are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from paralegal specialist Anna November. 
The FBI’s New York Joint Asian Criminal Enterprise Task Force believes this enterprise may be responsible for the assaults of even more commercial sex workers throughout the country.  If you are a victim or have information to provide, there are several ways to contact the FBI: send a tip online at tips.fbi.gov or call 1-800-CALL-FBI.  They have people ready to work with you in your native language, regardless of your immigration status.  Please select English when prompted and ask the operator for a translator by stating your language of choice. Online tips may be submitted in any language.  In an emergency, always call 911 for the police.

The Defendants:
RONG RONG XU (also known as “Eleanor”)
Age:  31?Queens, New York
SIYANG CHEN
Age:  34?Queens, New York
SIYU CHEN (also known as “Ban Ban”)
Age:  26?Queens, New York
YUAN YUAN CHEN (also known as “Xiao Pang”)
Age:  30
Queens, New York
YICHU CHEN
Age: 21
Queens, New York
CARLOS CURY
Age:  43?Queens, New York
BO JIANG
Age:  28?Queens, New York
JOHNNIE KIM
Age: 53
Queens, New York
MEIZHEN SONG (also known as “Die Die”)
Age:  25?Dallas, Texas
JILONG YU
Age:  25?Dallas, Texas

---                     
United States Attorney’s Office

Probably Fujianese organized crime. The Triads from Hong Kong and Taiwan are not really connected to these large scale prostitution networks, but the Fujianese Gang (or Fuk Ching or any other name they're going by) run massive prostitution operations in multiple countries. These operations started in New York, but they also are detected in Western European countries like Italy, Spain, France, Belgium (especially in Brussels), etc...

How Triads run prostitution skyscraper in Hong Kong https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/b...nues-to-dominate-the-prostitution-busine

The Modern-Day Pimp: Toronto boss operated dozens of illegal Asian brothels in US, Canada, and Australia https://gangstersinc.org/blog/the-modern-day-pimp-toronto-boss-operated-dozens-of-illegal-asian

As far as I know, in the United States, certainly here on the eastern seaboard and especially in the NY-Tristate area, these sprawling prostitution rings (networks really) are headed and operated by Chinese and Korean racketeers.

Maybe on the west coast in California and nearby states some Japanese Yakuza are involved too (no doubt,) but the Chinese and Korean have become very prominent in this racket.

Yes, I think Koreans are more prominent in the USA than they are in Europe, but over in Europe there's a huge Chinese prostitution network (especially from the Fujian region). For instance in Brussels you'll find squares with plenty of Chinese prostitutes searching for customers. They often live in nearby tiny apartments for some time and they get moved around Europe after working a few weeks/months in a certain city. They are pressured into doing almost everything and having to have unprotected sex with customers is very common with Chinese prostitutes. At the moment the Chinese prostitution networks are basically as rough as the Nigerian ones. It's a disturbing racket to be honest...

TKJ, what you say is almost a mirror image of whats going on here in NYC and across the USA. These girls are constantly rotated from whorehouse to whorehouse. They'll work several weeks or several months at one location, and then get shuttled across town or to other states where there are similar "houses" established. A constant rotation to keep "fresh faces" for their customers.

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indictment also charges 10 additional assaults-in-aid-of-racketeering and adds defendants to previously charged counts. WeChat messages reveal the planning of assaults by the defendants on behalf of the Organization, and describe details of the violence that occurred during the assaults. In some cases, videos of the attacks were circulated between the defendants to demonstrate to more senior members of the Organization that the beatings were sufficiently severe. Some videos depict victims struggling while they are bound, bleeding and being beaten with hammers, baseball bats and rolling pins, among other weapons.

They seem to be more nationwide across The United States than international. Oregon, Nebraska, Kansas plus New York City. They may be mostly home grown or have come here as teens. They will not get much news coverage.

This is, literally, a billion-dollar-a-year nationwide racket for these various asian organized crime rings. And, aside from drugs, prostitution is probably one of the more lucrative illegal rackets operated today.

I am surprised the mob doesn’t make more money behind prostitution. Being a male born in early 50’s our mind were on women constantly and the world is different now a huge chunk of women now are enjoying women .

As long as no minors are not involved and no kidnapping bullshit the time guys get is not like drugs and other mob staples .

I know they been in prostitution for years but they haven’t done anything with it like the Asian folks do ….

Surprised there good high end card games are not more like back in the day with full service even if you are not there to just play cards .

Surprised there is not big clubs with all these party favors open all over the east coast city’s .

Hi Serpiente,

As you said, certain elements of the Italian mob have always had their hand in the flesh trade, be it traditional prostitution, topless bars, pornography, etc. Especially in the early days...the 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, etc. In fact, the Camorra and certain Sicilian clans specialized in this racket.

But once they were all blended into Cosa Nostra, it was generally frowned upon as a "dishonorable" racket (if you wanna call it that, lol.) Making a living off of women's bodies.

But, I agree, considering all the other heavy rackets that bring significant time, nowadays plain ole prostitution seems almost benign, yet, a potentially huge moneymaker for them.

As far as "high end" card games and backdoor casinos, thats not gonna happen anymore. Nearly every state has a major casino and entertainment venue nearby (that comps any decent recognized gambler with free meals, food and top notch entertainment.) What could a few bent nose guys from Brooklyn offer that could even come close to mating that? Lol. Right?

The big question is, which kind of demographic would the Mob be able to exploit when it comes to prostitution. What for instance Chinese, Nigerian, Albanian or Bulgarian networks have going for them is that they have lots and lots of poor young girls to pick from. Those girls come from nothing so they can easily manipulate them in promising a better life after which they send them off to a country where they can't even speak the language. And seeing that there's always huge market for "exotic" looking girls they know they're going to end up making a ton of cash.

The Mob aren't really able to bring in poor young girls from the "old country" so the only flesh businesses they'll be able to muscle in on are perhaps luxury escort services and strip clubs. Which can still generate a ton of money of course, but it won't be as large scale as what those transnational networks get up to.

My thoughts exactly...look @ Lucky..busted 4 chicks who from what i've read did not speak much english.......BTW...good 2 hear f rom u Serp.

These women being brought in from Poland and Russia are gorgeous and can charge big $$$$ for their services.

My next door neighbor is straight up Russian and is f--ckin' gorgeous .but , un beknowest 2 her asshole husband , she is a question mark about the men coming & going when he is not @ home..which is not alot..he claimes he is a "truck driver"..but ever since they moved in , they made the house look like a fortress..what r they hiding????..I noticed that a lot of Russian restaurants are the same way...all closed @ the eye section..but alot of "disco" on the weekends..russian mafia I suppose...

Who even knows if they are really married. May just be an act to cover up for an illegal operation out of their own home. She could be bringing in thousands per day through in person sex services and only fans online.