The Ghost Shadows or GSS () was a Chinese American street gang that was prominent in New York City's Chinatown from the early 1970s to the mid 1990s. Formed in 1971 by immigrants from

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, the gang is affiliated with the

On Leong Tong The On Leong Chinese Merchants Association () or simply Chinese Merchants Association, formerly known as the On Leong Tong (), is a tong society operating out of its territory in Mott Street in New York's Chinatown. Established in November 1893 ...

. They adopted the colors black and white as their clothing to match the name of the set. Throughout the 80s, the gang was often engaged in bloody turf wars with other Chinatown gangs such as the older Flying Dragons, affiliated with

Hip Sing Tong The Hip Sing Association or HSA (), formerly known as the Hip Sing Tong (), is a Chinese-American criminal organization/gang formed as a labor organization in New York City's Chinatown during the early 20th century (perhaps c. 1904). The Canton ...

and the Division Street Boys affiliated with Tung On Association, and their activities included

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

, kidnapping, murder, racketeering, drug trafficking and

illegal gambling Gaming law is the set of rules and regulations that apply to the gaming or gambling industry. Gaming law is not a branch of law in the traditional sense but rather is a collection of several areas of law that include criminal law, regulatory law, ...

. The Ghost Shadows' influence was widespread, having links to Chinatowns in other cities as well as links to Sicilian-American Mafia families. The organization is defunct due to Federal RICO crackdowns during the 1990s.

Members

Wing Yeung Chan

Wing Yeung Chan was president of On Leong Tong and for a decade the leader of the Ghost Shadows. Charged with murder and racketeering, he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

Applehead

Applehead (pronounced Apo with silent-L) one of the original founders of Ghost Shadows and a leader of breakaway factions of Ghost Shadows"Youth gang leader isn't smiling anymore"
1978, Peter Arnett, AP Bayard Boys during the late 1970s up to his indictments on

RICO The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. RICO was en ...

statutes in the mid-1980s.

References

External links

Chinese – Asian Organized Crime Groups: Tongs and Street Gangs
Information on Ghost Shadows from MafiaNJ.com. * http://www.nychinatown.org/articles/voice19770131.html * *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghost Shadows Chinese-American organized crime groups Chinese-American culture in New York City Former gangs in New York City Street gangs Triad groups