A prosecutor told jurors Monday that a man charged with murder and racketeering in a Chinatown organized crime investigation was not the reformed bad boy he claimed to be during his testimony.
In her lengthy closing argument in a packed San Francisco courtroom, Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Badger depicted defendant Raymond 'Shrimp Boy' Chow, 55, as a cold-blooded killer and skilled liar.
Chow, on the other hand, presented himself as a reformed criminal during his testimony.
While he acknowledged serving more than seven years in prison after a 1978 armed robbery conviction, and admitted formerly running an escort service, dealing cocaine and being involved in a street gang, he claimed that upon his release from prison in 1989 for a second time, he got jobs at a supermarket and law office.
Raymond 'Shrimp Boy' Chow is accused of arranging hits on rivals and gangsters but he says he meditates and is working on his memoir
Chow said after engaging in meditation, he decided to renounce criminal activity and focused instead on writing his biography.
The prosecutor strongly disagreed with his version of his life.
'He is not the victim here,' Badger said during her nearly four-hour presentation Monday morning. 'He is not the world's most misunderstood criminal.'
'The evidence is that Raymond Chow was a vicious gangster,' said Badger. 'Raymond Chow was not a changed man after he got out of prison. Raymond Chow has been planning for this defense … since he was discharged from prison.'
The prosecution finished its closing argument in the case that previously ensnared former State Sen. Leland Yee and former school board member Keith Jackson.
Raymond 'Shrimp Boy' Chow is accused of running one of the biggest crime syndicates in Chinatown but he says prosecutors hounded him as he tried to start a new life out of prison
Yee and Jackson committed a series of crimes to further Yee’s political ambitions. The two have since pleaded guilty to racketeering and other charges.
Yee, a vocal gun control advocate, was accused of buying automatic firearms and shoulder-launched missiles from an extremist group located in the southern Philippines and attempting to re-sell those weapons to an undercover FBI agent.
He was also accused of accepting a $10,000 bribe from an undercover agent in exchange for using his influence to try and get a contract with the California Department of Public Health.
Prosecutors have said Chow took over a Chinese crime syndicate, Ghee Kung Tong, after having its previous leader killed and ran an enterprise that engaged in drug trafficking, money laundering and the sale of stolen cigarettes and alcohol.
He is charged in the 2006 slaying of then-dragonhead (or 'Godfather') Allen Leung and Jimmy Tat Kong, an alleged gangster who was allegedly involved in growing marijuana before he was found dead in a minivan in rural Mendocino County in 2013, according to the San Francisco Examiner.
Chow's lead attorney, J. Tony Serra, told jurors at the start of his closing argument that prosecutors had not proven their allegations.
'If you convict this man on the nature and quality of the evidence that has been produced, you will be convicting an innocent person,' Serra said.
The investigation was spearheaded by an undercover FBI agent posing as a member of an East Coast crime syndicate.
He testified that he spent hours with Chow and people connected to him at fancy restaurants and nightclubs, recording many of their conversations.
The agent, who testified under a pseudonym to protect his identity, said Chow tried to distance himself from any criminal activity - court transcripts showed he would repeatedly say things like 'No, no, don't tell me about any criminal activity,' and 'Stop doing illegal stuff.'
The years-long probe ended up snagging former state Senator Leland Yee, who faces up to 20 years in prison
But the agent said he repeatedly accepted money after introducing the agent to money launderers.
The probe led to the indictment of more than two dozen people in 2014 and the subsequent racketeering conviction of state Sen. Leland Yee.
Yee faces up to 20 years in prison.
Chow testified to dealing drugs and getting involved in a street gang but said he decided to renounce criminal activity after engaging in meditation.
He denied involvement in the slayings and said the agent gave him the money because the agent was looking out for him, not in exchange for criminal activity.
Chow said he didn't want to know whether the agent was involved in illegal activity, so he would walk away from conversations involving the man. Those conversations included discussions about money laundering, according to testimony.
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