PATTERNS OF CHINESE GANG EXTORTION

• NCJ Number: 143557
• Journal: Justice Quarterly Volume: 9 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1992) Pages: 625-646
• Author(s): K L Chin; J Fagan; R J Kelly
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 22 pages
• Grant Number(s): 89-IJ-CX-0021
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Survey

Annotation

Interviews with the owners or managers of 603 Chinese- owned businesses in 3 Chinese neighborhoods in New York City provided information on the structure of extortion and other forms of victimization by Chinese gangs and on how the political economy and sociocultural contexts of the Chinese community have institutionalized the forms of gang victimization.

Abstract

The study used multistage cluster sampling; businesses uniquely vulnerable to extortion attempts were oversampled. Most participants were well-educated young Cantonese males from Hong Kong who had lived in the United States for about 10 years. The businesses were mostly restaurants or retail stores and were relatively new. Results revealed that 69 percent had been approached by Chinese gang members and 54.7 percent had been victimized. Only 20.1 percent did not yield to gang members' demands. Although 8.8 percent stated that their stores were robbed and 26.9 percent reported burglaries, most said that the offenders either were non- Chinese or were not affiliated with Chinese gangs. Findings suggested that the three social and economic factors that cause and sustain the pervasiveness of extortion in the Chinese community: (1) are the uniqueness of the political economy of the Chinese communities, (3) community cultural norms and customs, (3) and the symbiotic relationship between the gangs and adult organizations providing illegal services such as gambling. Tables, footnotes, and 47 references