UPDATE 5:17 P.M.: (AP) — Closing arguments in the trial of Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow have finished for the day, with the defense expected to resume Tuesday morning.
The 56-year-old Chow is charged with racketeering and murder.
Prosecutors say Chow took over a Chinese fraternal group after having its previous leader killed and ran an enterprise that engaged in drug trafficking, money laundering and sales of stolen cigarettes and alcohol. He is also accused of a second killing.
Chow’s lead attorney, J. Tony Serra, said he expects another hour. After that, the prosecution has a chance to rebut and then the case goes to jurors, likely Tuesday.
3:20 p.m.
The defense has started its closing in the trial of Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow.
Chow is charged with racketeering and murder. An invigorated J. Tony Serra asked his client to stand and he asked jurors to take a good look.
His voice rising at times, he told jurors that if they convict Chow, they would be sending an innocent man to prison.
Prosecutors say Chow took over a Chinese fraternal group after having its previous leader killed and ran an enterprise that engaged in drug trafficking, money laundering and sales of stolen cigarettes and alcohol. He is also accused of a second killing.
___3:05 p.m.
The prosecution has concluded its closing in the trial of a key defendant in a San Francisco Chinatown organized crime probe.
Over nearly four hours, Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Badger painted Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow as a cold-blooded killer and skilled liar.
He is charged with racketeering and murder of a rival Chinese gang leader.
Prosecutors say Chow took over a Chinese fraternal group after having its previous leader killed and ran an enterprise that engaged in drug trafficking, money laundering and sales of stolen cigarettes and alcohol. He is also accused of a second killing.
Badger detailed Chow’s involvement in multiple transactions to sell illegal whiskey and cognac. She rejected his defense as a reformed man who knew nothing of the criminal activities taking place around him.
Chow’s attorney, J. Tony Serra, is expected to give his closing argument next.
___11:15 a.m.
Closing arguments are underway in the trial of a key defendant in a San Francisco Chinatown organized crime probe that also ensnared a state senator.
Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow is charged with racketeering and murder.
The district court room was packed Monday as Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Badger painted Chow as a cold-blooded killer and skilled liar.
Prosecutors say Chow took over a Chinese fraternal group after having its previous leader killed and ran an enterprise that engaged in drug trafficking, money laundering and sales of stolen cigarettes and alcohol. He is also accused of a second killing.
J. Tony Serra, Chow’s lead attorney, is scheduled to give his closing argument later.
The probe led to the indictment of more than two dozen people in 2014 and the subsequent racketeering conviction of state Sen. Leland Yee.
UPDATE 2:14 PM: Court resumed at 1:30 p.m. Dozens of weapons seized during this in investigation were on display for the jury. Among the items were about 30 pistols, shotguns, and semi-auto.
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON/BCN) — Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, the leader of a Chinatown fraternal association, was described as a “ruthless, opportunistic, ego-driven thug” by a prosecutor during closing arguments Monday in Chow’s murder and racketeering trial in federal court in San Francisco.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Badger told the jury during the prosecution’s closing argument that Chow “based his whole life on deception.”
Chow, 56, the chief or dragonhead of the Chee Kung Tong, is accused of racketeering conspiracy, the murder of his predecessor as dragonhead, soliciting the murder of another rival, conspiring in the trafficking of stolen goods and aiding and abetting dozens of money laundering transactions by his subordinates.
The closing arguments began Monday morning in the court of U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer after two months of prosecution and defense testimony. The jury is expected to begin deliberating either Monday or Tuesday.
Chow’s lawyers, who will present defense arguments later Monday, maintain that he renounced crime after completing a racketeering and gun trafficking sentence in 2003 and is now dedicated to community service and guiding Chinatown youth away from crime.
But Badger argued to the jury, “Raymond Chow was not a changed man after he got out of prison. Raymond Chow has been planning for this defense … since he was discharged from prison.”
She contended that Chow learned from his previous convictions that he should beware of wiretaps, put on a face of being devoted to community service and seek to appear insulated from the crimes committed by his associates.
Badger told the jury that Chow is responsible for the crimes, including the 2006 gunfire slaying of then-dragonhead Allen Leung, because he allegedly arranged and conspired in them.
An undercover FBI agent who posed as a Mafia member testified that Chow accepted 24 envelopes containing a total of $60,000 as payment for introductions to tong associates who carried out crimes such as money laundering and sales of stolen liquor and cigarettes.
Chow was recorded as saying “no, no, no” as he received the envelopes. He testified last month that he thought the payments were gestures of love and respect from the purported Mafia member.
Badger told the jury, “Raymond Chow is a man who says one thing and means another. He says ‘no, no, no, I can’t take the money’ and then takes it.”