Updated: Triad-Affiliated Organization Raised $70,000 for John Liu’s Comptroller Campaign

NEW YORK—The Fukien American Association, identified by experts on gangs as a tong with connections to human trafficking and other organized crime, has given at least $70,000 to John Liu’s campaign for New York City comptroller, according to the World Journal. Liu has urged the members of the Fukien Association to help elect him.

The term tong is explained in the report “Chinese Transnational Organized Crime: The Fuk Ching” by James O. Finckenauer, Ph.D. at the National Institute for Justice, which is a branch of the U.S. Department of Justice, “One of the structural characteristics that makes Chinese organized crime different from other forms is the relationship between some of the street gangs and certain adult organizations. The latter are called tongs.”

According to Finckenauer, “Any political influence Chinese gangs have is exerted through the tongs with which they are affiliated.”

The Fukien American Association, which donated money to Liu’s campaign, is also affiliated with the Fuk Ching gang, according to Finckenauer. The Fuk Ching gang is known for its involvement in human trafficking, as well as extortion and protection rackets, also according to Finckenauer.

The report by Finckenauer, which explains the connections between the Fukien American Association and organized crime, continues that the Fukien American Association also provides the Fuk Ching with a physical place to hang out—helps legitimize them in the community by allowing the gang to operate in their territory; and “provide[s] criminal opportunities (such as protecting gambling operations), as well as supplying money and guns.”

In addition to involvement in organized crime, the Fukien American Association maintains close ties with the Chinese Communist Party. They work as the hosts of visiting officials from [China]. “Once that organization, the Fukien American Association, became one of the leading [China]-supported organizations, they became the host of almost all these Chinese officials who are visiting New York,” said Ko-lin Chin, a leading expert on Chinese gangs in a phone interview.

There are two kinds of organizations in Chinatown, explained Chin—ones that are pro-Taiwan, and others that are pro-mainland China. “And of course, the Fukien American Association is a pro-China organization,” said Chin.

According to Chin, the Fukien American Association is “not like the Italian mafia group. They have thousands of legitimate members, they are involved in a lot of illegal activities ... at the same time, the organization is affiliated with a street gang, is involved in illegal gambling, and also the leadership of the organization is pretty much controlled by people who are involved in human smuggling.”

The Fukien American Association’s president back in the late 90s was referred to as the “commander-in-chief of illegal smuggling,” according to Ko-lin Chin, in his book Chinatown Gangs.

The Triads

Chin further explained the term triad, which has no firm generally agreed-upon definition. According to Chin, some people do not differentiate triads from tongs. Depending on who’s talking, the term triad may include the street gangs, Chinese associations (tongs), and/or organizations inside China that are involved in organized crime.

“The Chinese organized crime group has been very clever to create different facades to prevent probes from the police,” said Brian McAdam, a retired Canadian diplomat who specialized in exposing human smuggling, espionage, and corruption, in a phone interview.

“The majority of women who come [through human smuggling organized by the tongs], women and children, basically end up as sex slaves, and the men end up working in restaurants and doing menial labor and carrying out crime,” according to McAdam.

According to a 2008 report from the National Gang Crime Research Center, “Females and Gangs: Sexual Violence, Prostitution, and Exploitation,” the Fukien American Association and the Fuk Ching are also involved in organized prostitution, which is typically run out of massage parlors.

“A lot of these people are murdered on the way, thrown off the ship, or are murdered in the U.S. if they do not pay off their debts,” McAdam said.

The Epoch Times contacted John Liu’s office with questions on his connections with the Fukien American Association but received no response at press time.