Career
Chong came to the United States. from Hong Kong in 1982, ostensibly to start a Chinese opera company, but was accused in court documents of becoming the boss of the Wo Hop To (和合桃) crime syndicate in northern California, a gang involved in loan sharking and extorting protection money from restaurants and gambling dens. Prosecutors alleged that Chong along with Wayne Kwong and Raymond Kwok Chow were behind plot to murder Boston Chinese underground figure Bike Ming in an effort to form an umbrella organization called Tien Ha Wui ("Whole Earth Association"), that would dominate crime in Chinatowns throughout the United States. Chong fled to Hong Kong days before his indictment in 1992 for his role in the plot, but was extradited to the United States. in 2000. In 2002, Chong was found guilty of racketeering, murder-for-hire, extortion, and arson, and was sentenced to 15 years and eight months in prison.
The murder for hire conviction was overturned in 2005 by the Ninth United States. Circuit Court of Appeals due to a lack of monetary payment to the killers, evidence of proof of involvement was taken to support additional prison time for the racketeering charge.
He was thus sentenced to 11 and a half years on the remaining charges. Chong was released from prison on July 29, 2008.
