Chinatown Crime | Sentencing set for ex-state senator in racketeering case

California state Sen. Leland Yee

Former California state senator Leland Yee is expected to be sentenced today after acknowledging in a plea deal that he accepted thousands of dollars in bribes and discussed helping an undercover FBI agent buy automatic weapons from the Philippines.
Yee’s attorneys have called for no more than five years and three months behind bars, saying Yee has a history of public service and his wife is ill. Prosecutors recommended an eight-year sentence, saying that would reflect the extent of Yee’s crimes and deter others from committing such crimes.
Senior District Court Judge Charles Breyer also has the option of imposing a different prison term at the hearing.
Yee, 67, is a long-time politician who also served in the state Assembly and on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
He pleaded guilty in July to one count of conspiracy to engage in racketeering. The charge was filed as part of an organized crime investigation in San Francisco’s Chinatown that led to charges against more than two dozen people.
The probe also snared Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, a flamboyant leader of a Chinese fraternal organization — the Ghee Kung Tong.
Federal agents say one of Chow’s associates was Keith Jackson, a former San Francisco school board president and well-­known political consultant who raised money for Yee’s unsuccessful mayoral run in 2011 and his bid for secretary of state.
Yee was trying to pay off the debt from his mayoral campaign with the money he solicited, according to prosecutors.
Jackson led authorities to Yee and pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge. He also is expected to be sentenced today.
Yee has remained free while awaiting sentencing. He acknowledged accepting USD11,000 in exchange for setting up a meeting with another state senator, $10,000 for recommending someone for a grant, and $6,800 for providing a certificate on California State Senate letterhead honoring the Ghee Kung Tong.
He also acknowledged that he discussed helping an undercover FBI agent buy automatic weapons from the Philippines that were intended to be brought to the U.S. for distribution.
Prosecutors say Chow and some other members of the fraternal group engaged in drug trafficking, money laundering and the sale of stolen cigarettes and top-shelf liquors. The case against Chow was largely the work of an undercover FBI agent who posed for years as a foul-mouthed East Coast businessman with mafia ties. Sudhin Thanawala, San Francisco, AP