THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, February 24, 1996            TAG: 9602240348
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                         LENGTH: Medium:   53 lines

JUSTICE DEPT. SAYS RAIDS IN 6 STATES CRACKS CHINESE GANG AFTER THE YEARLONG INVESTIGATION, ONE OF THE GANG'S MEMBERS WAS ARRESTED IN NORFOLK.

In a series of raids in six states, including one in Norfolk, federal agents have cracked what they said was a powerful Chinese gang that terrorized New York's Chinatown, engaging in murder, extortion, kidnapping and alien-smuggling.

Thursday and Friday raids in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Delaware, Colorado and Pennsylvania capped a yearlong investigation of the Fukienese Flying Dragons gang, which authorities described as a violent criminal enterprise made up mostly of young men from the Chinese province of Fujian, also known as Fukien.

Sixty-four alleged gang leaders and members were charged with a range of violent crimes in eight federal indictments that were unsealed in Manhattan federal court Friday. So far, at least 35 have been arrested, and others are being sought, officials said.

``This violent gang was responsible for hundreds of kidnappings, robberies, acts of extortion, and smuggling hundreds of illegal aliens into the United States,'' Attorney General Janet Reno said. She said the Justice Department is committed to ``ending the illegal and exploitive trade in human beings.''

The main indictment, in which 41 defendants are charged with racketeering and other criminal activity, covers two murders, one attempted murder, four robberies, five extortions of businesses and eight kidnapings in which more than 100 Chinese were held.

The Fukienese Flying Dragons was composed mostly of Chinese in their mid- to late-20s who entered the United States illegally and, in some cases, claimed political asylum in order to remain in the country, Immigration and Naturalization Service officials said. The gang preyed mostly on fellow Chinese illegal aliens, sometimes kidnapping them for ransom after having smuggled them into the country, the indictments charged.

Authorities identified two of the gang's top leaders as Wong Ke and Cheng Ren. Also arrested was Wang Xiang, who was picked up by the FBI in Norfolk on charges of involvement in alien smuggling and kidnapping.

After a boatload of about 200 illegal Chinese aliens arrived off the coast of New Jersey in 1993, the indictments charged, the gang took more than 100 of them hostage, held them in apartments in Chinatown and Brooklyn and forced them at gunpoint to call their families in China to raise ransom money, usually amounting to $30,000 each.

KEYWORDS: GANGS by CNB