Chinese Transnational Organized Crime: The Fuk Ching

• NCJ Number: 218463
• Author(s): James O. Finckenauer Ph.D.
• Date Published: 2001
• Length: 5 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Issue Overview

Annotation

This paper provides an overview of the history, organization, and activities of the Fuk Ching gang, a Chinese transnational organized crime group based in New York City's Chinatown.

Abstract

The Fuk Ching emerged in New York City in the mid-1980s, founded by a group of young Chinese from China's Fujian Province. Many, if not all, of the founders had criminal records in China. Fuk Ching recruitment continues among Fujianese teens. Currently, the Fuk Ching is estimated to have approximately 35 members, with another 20 members in prison. Experts agree that the Fuk Ching, like other Chinese gangs, do not have the connections and sophistication necessary to corrupt U.S. police and judges. Although Fuk Ching has some ability to manipulate the political system through corruption in Fujian Province with respect to their human trafficking, there is no evidence that Fuk Ching has corrupted the political process in the United States. Police strategies for countering Fuk Ching include informants, undercover investigators, and electronic surveillance. Both the New York City police and the FBI encourage extortion victims to use hot lines to report their victimization. The Fuk Ching mainly operates extortion and protection rackets in defined neighborhoods in New York's Chinatown, with victims being mostly businesses. Its transnational criminal activities consist of the smuggling of migrants across national borders and human trafficking that includes coercion (kidnapping) and exploitation in the destination country. Fujian Province is the primary source area for Chinese smuggled and trafficked into the United States. Fuk Ching members are violent, but their violence is not strategically targeted toward the protection and expansion of their criminal enterprises. Members tend to engage in random street violence with guns. 3 references