New Year, New Attitude Toward Chinatown Extortion

SAN FRANCISCO — A tourist spotting a kumquat tree decorated with shiny red envelopes might see only the color and pageantry of the Chinese New Year.

But merchants in San Francisco's Chinatown recognize the symbols of extortion.

Gang members often drop off the trees, the gold fruit a traditional symbol of prosperity, at businesses. They expect the envelopes to be returned with up to $500 in cash--or else windows will be broken. Or maybe bones.

It's a practice as old and worn as the threats themselves, and for almost 100 years merchants have quietly paid up.

But all that may be changing as the community ushers in the Year of the Golden Dragon. For the first time, many merchants are calling police for help.

'Chinatown is its own world. It's very insular," said San Francisco Police Inspector Garret Tom, a gang detail detective who grew up here in the nation's most populous Chinatown. "But I think people are fed up with being picked on."

In recent weeks, the San Francisco Police Department has received 14 complaints of extortion attempts by Asian gangs in Chinatown--a conspicuous increase from years past when not a single merchant called. Last week, investigators launched their first raid on gang members suspected of targeting businesses.

The department has long tried to forge ties in this community, but tradition, ties and culture keep Chinatown a place apart.

This is a place where Walter Lee, 82, was born in a third-floor apartment above the calligraphy store that once belonged to his grandfather and now is his. Ben Wong, a young hotel clerk, was able to rent a Chinatown apartment because he has the right last name. The building, like many others, is owned by a family organization. In Chinatown there are entire apartment buildings in which all the renters are named Wong or Lee.

People matter of factly identify themselves by generation. Many first-generation Chinese, whether they are aged shopkeepers or new immigrants, never leave the confines of Chinatown.

The shadowy side of Chinatown is just as established and interrelated.

"You walk through the areas above and behind the street and it feels like a movie. Punks with guns at the back tables. Gambling and whispering," said Inspector Phillip Wong, Tom's partner. "Sometimes it doesn't seem real even to me."

Chinese gang members can be hard to identify. They blend into Chinatown's teeming life. They don't wear gang colors, flash signs or dress in a way to draw attention. When questioned by police they are unfailingly polite.