Trial will feature testimony from San Francisco gangster 'Shrimp Boy'
By Dan Levine
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow will testify in his own defense at a trial where he is accused of running a San Francisco criminal organization that organized drug trafficking, money laundering and ordered a gangland murder, Chow's attorney said in court on Monday.
Chow has been accused of being the so-called dragonhead of Chinatown's Chee Kung Tong, a Chinese fraternal organization that federal agencies say have a criminal component, according to a federal indictment.
Opening statements began in the criminal prosecution of Chow, as part a wide ranging federal sting dubbed "Operation White Suit." Assistant U.S. attorney S. Waqar Hasib told jurors that Chow ordered the murder of a Chinatown rival, and led other criminal activity "like something straight out of the Godfather."
"Like planets revolving around the sun, this case is about the man who is at the center of this criminal universe," Hasib said.
However, Chow's attorney Tony Serra said the government is relying on untrustworthy career criminals to testify that Chow ordered a murder.
"The evidence will not show that my client murdered or participated in the murder of anyone! Period!" Serra boomed in court.
Hasib said prosecutors will play recorded conversations incriminating Chow, but Serra said Chow will take the stand to dispute the government's characterizations of his statements.
Defendants have the right to remain silent in U.S. criminal proceedings. It is rare for one to testify at trial.
Chow was arrested last year with several others including Leland Yee, a former Democratic state senator who has pleaded guilty to racketeering.
U.S. prosecutors contend that Chow ordered the 2006 murder of Chee Kung Tong official Allen Leung in Leung's import/export shop in a dispute over money, according to court filings.
At Leung's funeral Chow wore a white suit, which Chow's attorneys have said was a sign of respect.
"Unfortunately," his lawyers wrote in a court filing, "the uninformed FBI interpreted Raymond's choice of suit color to be a 'rise to power' thereby launching a decade of undercover operations."
Chow is a longtime fixture in San Francisco's Chinatown. In 2000 he testified for the government in a separate prosecution against his former gang and served a prison sentence.
Chow's lawyers have claimed that after his release, Chow reformed his past ways. But prosecutors have said that he assumed power in Chinatown and directed criminal activity.
(Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Bernard Orr)
